"Oh, that is nice--nearly half a year of white snow, and sleigh-drives
every day, and bells ringing all the time! I tried to make out a tune, but
they only seemed to say, 'Up-hill, up-hill! down-hill, down-hill!' all the
way. Nurse, please tell me what are sleigh-robes made of?"

"Some sleigh-robes, Lady Mary, are made of bear-skins, lined with red or
blue flannel; some are of wolf-skins, lined with bright scarlet cloth; and
some of racoon; the commonest are buffalo-skins: I have seen some of
deer-skins, but these last are not so good, as the hair comes off, and they
are not so warm as the skins of the furred or woolly-coated animals."

"I sometimes see long tails hanging down over the backs of the sleigh and
cutters--they look very pretty, like the end of mamma's boa."

"The wolf and racoon skin robes are generally made up with the tails, and
sometimes the heads of the animals are also left. I noticed the head of a
wolf, with its sharp ears, and long white teeth, looking very fierce, at
the back of a cutter, the other day."

"Nurse, that must have looked very droll. Do you know, I saw a gentleman
the other day, walking with papa, who had a fox-skin cap on his head, and
the fox's nose was just peeping over his shoulder, and the tail hung down
his back, and I saw its bright black eyes looking so cunning. I thought it
must be alive, and that it had curled itself round his head; but the
gentleman took it off, and showed me that the eyes were glass."

"Some hunters, Lady Mary, make caps of otter, mink, or badger skins, and
ornament them with the tails, heads, and claws."

"I have seen a picture of the otter, nurse; it is a pretty, soft-looking