All the boys are sliding: you must learn to slide. There is a man skating. How fast he goes! You shall have a pair of skates. Take care! there is a hole in the ice. Come in. It is four o’clock. It is dark. Light the candles: and, Ralph! get some wood from the wood-house, and get some coals, and make a very good fire.
Now get the large picture-book, and let us look at the pretty pictures, and I will tell you stories about them.
FEBRUARY.
It is still very cold, but the days are longer, and there is the yellow crocus coming up, and the mezereon tree is in blossom, and there are some white snow-drops peeping up their little heads. Pretty white snow-drop, with a green stalk! May I gather it? Yes, you may; but you must always ask leave before you gather a flower.
When spring comes again there will be green leaves and flowers, daisies and pinks, and violets and roses; and there will be young lambs, and warm weather. Come again, spring!
What a noise the rooks make! Caw! caw! caw! and how busy they are! They are going to build their nests. There is a man ploughing the field. In a few days the farmer will sow it with barley. Wheat is sown in the autumn. In some places oxen draw the plough instead of horses.