The sleigh-bells are ringing, and deep in the snow,
O'er its soft-polished surface, we merrily go:
What if Boreas hail us with voice rough and bleak,
We will welcome his kiss as it glows on our cheek;
And laugh at his frown, though the cloud-mantled sky,
With Jack Frost peeping forth, to alarm us may try.

Come welcome gay Winter with music and song,
Let us cheer our fleet coursers while bounding along;
See pleasure and happiness beam in each eye,
And the rocks and the woods to our chorus reply;
As like a swift bark o'er the wave's liquid flow,
But swifter and surer, we merrily go.

[white,

Now down in the valley, now over the hill,
We pass the dark forest and ice-fettered rill;
Though the woods, late so green, are now shrouded in
What can equal the ice-drops that sparkle so bright?
Then welcome gay Winter and welcome the snow,
As o'er its smooth surface we merrily go.

On, on and what care we if evening draw nigh?
To light our lone path-way, the moon shines on high;
The stars twinkle bright in the clear frosty air,
Away with all fear, and away with dull care;
Speed, speed on our course! seize the moments that flow,
Ere to Sol's burning rays we surrender the snow.

"ARE you sure that these horses are not too restive this morning?" asked Colonel Stanbrook, as, after placing Laura and Inez in the sleigh, he handed the reins to Frederick Howard. "Although so certain of your skill in driving, my young friend, I am half afraid to trust my treasures to you. Had you not better take Joseph? He understands the dispositions of these fiery steeds better than yourself."

"Though I might not have been able to subdue Bucephalus, I think I can manage your horses, sir. But I will not venture if the ladies are afraid to trust me. What say you, Miss Laura?"

"I think there can be no danger," replied the fair girl, glancing timidly at the prancing steeds, and then wrapping the buffalo robe around her feet.

And you, Miss Laurence ?"

'Oh, we are perfectly safe, I have no doubt," answered Inez, whose bright eyes were dancing merrily beneath one of those saucy-looking hoods, which pretend to cover the face, while they reveal it to greater advantage.

Yes; you always feel safe, pet," said the Colonel, patting her blooming cheek. "I am afraid your wild spirits will run away with you, if the horses do not."

"Oh, the cold, bracing air, will freeze them into quiet, I have no doubt," replied the laughing girl; or if you think it desirable to our safety, I will not utter a syllable during our ride. Laura and myself will sit gravely wrapped in our cloaks, and count the icicles along the road; while Mr. Howard can watch the horses, and compose his next speech for the court: or he can imagine Silence and Beauty his audience, and rehearse it aloud, while Laura and myself will be judges. No! Laura shall be the judge, and I the criminal; for we must have some one to try, you know."

"Then let her condemn you to be left in a snow-bank, by the way-side, if convicted of

any misdemeanor," said the Colonel, laughing, in spite of his anxiety, at her lively sallies.

"But I protest against this silence on the part of Miss Laurence," said Howard, endeavoring to catch a glimpse of the face she was muffling up, for the purpose of fulfilling her threat.

you are a coward, and afraid of hurting your horses. By George! I'll give them a cut myself, for the fun of the thing."

แ

"Stop! stop! for Heaven's sake!" screamed Cornelia, grasping his arm. "My uncle's horses have never felt the whip; it will make them mad. Oh, mercy! save them! I have

แ

Good-by!" cried Inez, obliged to withdraw the muffler a moment, for her parting salutation; "you will probably see us again before morning, covered with icicles, or drenched by a snow-bank. Ah, there go the Beaumonts and Cornelia! Don't let them pass us, Mr. Howard; our horses are better than theirs!" Rash girl; she did not foresee the consequences of this request.

Merrily jingled the bells; bright glanced the sunbeams along the frozen ground; and brighter beamed the smiles of many a beauty, from amid feathers and furs, as their sleigh dashed along, outstripping all others, and defying competition.

"Bravely done, Fred!" shouted Beaumont, as he stood up and cracked his whip; "it's a race for Burnham's; and let him laugh who wins. Come, Hercules, show your strength, and Jupiter, your power! John, give me the reins. Now for victory!"

Loud rang the merry laugh from either sleigh; sharp cracked the whip of Beaumont, as his horses dashed on in the vain endeavor to take the lead. For a time, Colonel Stanbrook's horses went on in a quiet, even, but exceedingly swift pace, snuffing the air, and apparently enjoying their release from the confinement of a stable. But there was a certain pricking up of the ears, and a wildness of the eyes, that betrayed greater mettle than they had heretofore exhibited. Howard was a good driver, but he felt the responsibility of his situation, with the lives of two young and beautiful girls intrusted to his care; consequently, when he heard the loud shout of Beaumont, and his challenge, instead of using the whip, and quickening the pace of his already flying steeds, he drew in the reins, and endeavored to restrain their impetuosity. On dashed his opponent, shouting and laughing, accusing Howard of cowardice in not giving his horses the bit, and declaring that they wanted a cut of the whip to stir up their spirit.

"Give them a stinger, boy! Show them the silk, Fred, or we shall outstrip you yet. Why,

It was, indeed, too late. The two sleighs were now abreast; for, although Beaumont's, at first, was left far behind, it had been, through Howard's sudden check, enabled to overtake him. Beaumont's whip described a circle in the air, and fell upon the backs of the highspirited animals. As if stung by a serpent, they reared, for a moment, upon their haunches, and threatened to fall backwards upon the party in the sleigh; then, with eyes dilated, and nostrils expanded, they plunged forward through the yielding snow, with a force that scattered it in every direction, almost blinding those with whom it came in contact. Taking the bits between their teeth, the infuriated animals rushed wildly along the road, at lightning speed. Cornelia shrieked with terror, and even Beaumont, heartless as he was, for an instant, stood aghast at the effects of his premeditated sport.

"Drive on! drive on as fast as you can, Augustus!" cried Mrs. Beaumont. "They are making towards the railroad. Oh, if the cars should be coming down!" Cornelia shuddered at the thought.

"If we can only reach them before they arrive at the foot of Murray Hill," said Beaumont, "I think we can stop the horses. The old barn there may possibly attract them. Do you see anything of them now, John?"

"Yes sir; but they are at the top, not at the foot of the hill. Mr. Howard still has the reins, but the horses are as wild as ever. I do not see the ladies, sir. They must have been thrown out."

But to return to Frederick Howard and his fair companions. At the first plunge of the startled horses, and their sudden and furious start forward, Inez turned very pale, but did not lose her self-possession. Laura screamed, and fell insensible against the back of the sleigh.

"Speak to the horses in a soothing tone, Mr. Howard," said Inez. "It is the only way to curb them."

He did so, but they were unused to his voice, and it had no effect. He tightened the reins, but they were too much for his feeble strength.

They tore the reins from his grasp as if they had been cotton thread, and spurning restraint, and snorting defiance, dashed still more recklessly onward, plowing up the deep snow with their hoofs, which, instead of retarding their progress, but maddened them the more. Arrived at the top of the hill, with only a few feet intervening between them and the gorge cut for the rail-road track, the peril of being thrown over the precipice by the slightest sheering of the horses, was imminent, and the excited feelings of Howard became so intense, that his eyes seemed as if they were about to leap from their sockets, and large drops of perspired blood stood upon his forehead. To add still more to the horror of the scene, the sharp shrill whistle of an approaching locomotive announced a new and more terrible danger, and another second brought it to view, wheezing and whizzing around the point immediately beyond the Asylum for the Dumb. Even the courage of Inez now gave way. She sank down, shuddering and powerless, and with closed eyes awaited the sure and horrible fate which now seemed destined to overtake them.

"Inez ! dear Inez!" cried Howard, in a voice of agony, "do not despair; their strength will soon be exhausted;" and, nerved to desperate energy,-determined to make one last effort for safety, in an endeavor to change their course, so as to bring them up against a fence to the right, he made a spring to reach the reins draggling at the horses' heels. The effort threw him from the sleigh with great violence, and his head coming in contact with a rock, he lay stunned and bleeding upon the ground. On a sudden, the fiery beasts, as if by one impulse, came to a dead pause, trembling with exhaustion in every limb. In any other place it would have been well. But they stopped directly across the track, while, at a short distance, Inez could see the cars approaching with lightning's speed. Inez would have sprung from the sleigh, and secured her own safety, but there lay poor Laura, her friend, the companion of her youth, quite lifeless, and the generous girl would have died a thousand deaths rather than desert her at such a moment.

"If I can only make the engineer see us, we shall be saved;" and at this moment Inez jumped up on the seat, and with all her remaining strength, endeavored to wave her scarf high in the air, in hopes that it might catch his eye. An intervening bridge, how

ever, for a moment, intercepted the view, and on came the engine with unabated velocity. Inez relinquished the effort as of no avail; but at that very moment, the engineer, perceiving the situation of affairs, cut off the steam, and endeavored to stop the farther progress of the cars; but it was now too late. The undaunted Inez sprang from the sleigh, and seizing the reins, strove to lead the horses forward, but they were immovable. Shivering both with cold and terror, she cast a despairing look upon the motionless form of Howard, and then upon poor Laura, who had not yet recovered from insensibility, and whose fate appeared inevitable. Inez clasped her hands, and kneeling on the cold ground, appealed to Heaven for the relief it was not in her power to render. As if in answer to her prayer, a man on horseback appeared from around the hill. "Mr. Clarkson!" she screamed, save her! save poor Laura! I can do no more."

With the rapidity of lightning Donald Clark-son-for it was he leaped from his horse, and making to the sleigh, first seized the inanimate form of Laura, which he placed in the arms of her weeping friend; and then grasping the bridles, succeeded, by a powerful effort in forcing the horses from the track, at the very moment that the cars approached with such rapidity, that, but for this timely succor, no earthly power could have prevented the certain death of one, perhaps both. On swept the terrible engine, grazing the sleigh as it passed, and causing a deep shudder in the hearts of those rescued from the destruction it threatened.

Howard had not revived, and Inez threw her-self by his side, exclaiming in heart-piercing, frantic tones, that he was dead, and that she had killed him.

"It was all my fault!" she cried. "I urged. him to the trial of speed! I have killed him, and perhaps dear Laura, too. Oh! Mr. Clarkson, what will become of me?" and again she dashed herself by the side of the inanimate form of him whom she this moment felt was dearer to her than all the world. Perhaps it was

"the warmth of those young lips Pressed on his eyes, which chased their short eclipse," for they at length unclosed, and his first look. was upon the kneeling form and anxious face of her, who, until this moment, had never, by look or word, evinced the preference she felt. He attempted to rise, but his right arm was sprained, and fell lifeless by his side, while his