They are exceedingly fatiguing, too, as they become very heavy when wet;
and the wearer is compelled to walk with long and rapid strides, in
order to prevent the rackets from striking against each other.
Sometimes, when the day's journey was a long one, the faithful terrier
which accompanied your grandfather throughout the whole route would howl
for very exhaustion; and whenever his master stopped to look about him,
or to set his compass, the poor brute would scratch about and make
himself a bed for a few minutes' rest in the soft snow."
"Poor Doggy!" said George, "I can pity him for I remember once when I
walked some miles through the snow, and my shoes got clogged up, I was
so tired, what Uncle Tom called 'dead beat,' that I could not help
crying the last mile before I reached home."
"Imagine, then, your grandfather starting and making the best of his way
over the snow-clad country until the afternoon began to warn him that he
must make a halt. At about four o'clock the traveller has to begin his
preparation for the night's lodging, and this he does by clearing away
the snow (which is sometimes ten feet deep) from a square space; for
which purpose he makes a rude shovel, cut out of the side of some
standing tree; and, as snow does not adhere to wood as it does to iron,
this is the best thing to be used in removing the snow.
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