Clinton by Walter Aimwell

The sun rose clear, the next morning, and after an early and bountiful / breakfast, Mr. Davenport and Clinton bid good-bye to Uncle Tim and / his family, and resumed their journey. The country through which they / rode was much the same as that they had already passed over, with the / exception that it was if possible even more stern and wild, not a / single house or cultivated spot meeting their eyes during the whole / forenoon's ride. After the first hour, Clinton was not quite as lively / as usual. In fact, he felt a trifle less cheerful than ordinary-he / could not tell whether it sprang from a touch of home-sickness, or / from a sense of lonesomeness. But his unpleasant feelings arose more / from the influence of the dreary winter scenery upon his mind, than / from either of these causes. His father, noticing this, chatted away / in a more lively strain than usual, and after awhile succeeded in / dispelling the tinge of gloom from his mind.

The road being travelled but very little, the sleighing was poor, and / there was no prospect of their reaching their destination before the / middle of the afternoon. Accordingly, about noon, they reined up, for / the purpose of resting the horse, and eating their dinner. Having given / Fanny a wisp of hay, to take up her mind, they collected together a / heap of dead wood, the remnants of fallen trees, etc., which they found / near the road, and set it on fire. It burned finely, and sent out a / cheerful warmth, in which they seated themselves, and partook with / a keen relish of the various good things which Clinton's mother had / stowed away in the sleigh-box.