“BUFFETS THE ICE IN A SKIFF.
“The boatmen at first positively refused to take me into the skiff. The man waiting could go, they said, but the woman must be left behind. I thought of my danger in embarking and being swallowed up by waves; and I thought of husband and child awaiting me at home, and no one to care for them; then I asked why I could not cross as well as the man. The boatmen said, because women would get frightened and jump and rock the boat and upset it, and there was really great danger. Then I said if I will promise to sit very still and not stir, can I go? The gentleman interceded, and on my promise I was allowed to get into the boat. I sat in the middle of my seat and held on to each side of the boat, and I am sure I never stirred a muscle or winked an eye or hardly breathed while those brave men guided their skiff over the tossing waves, which seemed to engulf us at times and anon bore us on their tossing crests. Soon we were safely over and landed, ready to take stage for home, feeling that we had been mercifully preserved on our two very dangerous trips, and on my part resolved never to incur a like danger again.