LEGENDS
"I am afraid I shall have to go to lumbering this winter," said Mari's father, as the family sat around the great open fireplace.
Henrik had been home from the mountain pasture for two weeks. It was growing cold, and Jack Frost had paid several visits to the farm already.
"What a shame it is that the crops turned out so badly," answered his wife. "In one more week of good weather, you could have saved everything."
"Yes, that is true, wife, but we cannot help it. We lost nearly everything on account of the frost. If you are to live in comfort, I must earn money now in some other way. Two of the farm-hands can go with me to the camp in the woods, so I shall not be very lonely."
The farmer looked around the cheerful room, and sighed. Mari went to his side, and put her arms around his neck.
"Dear father, we shall miss you so much," she said. "You will come home at Christmas, anyway, won't you?"
"O yes, the camp is not so far away but I shall try to be back for one night out of every two weeks. Henrik and Ole will take good care of you girls and your mother, I know. They will be able to visit me, too. They are both good runners on the skis (skees). Although the camp is miles away, it will not seem much to them, eh, Ole?"
SKI-LOBING.