Clinton by Walter Aimwell

The days were now perceptibly longer, and the sun had begun to make / quite an impression on the huge snow-banks in which Brookdale had been / nearly buried up all winter. "Bare ground," that looks so pleasant to / the boy in a northern climate, after a long winter, began to appear in / little brown patches, in particularly sunny and sheltered spots. The / ice upon the pond was still quite thick, but it was too soft and rough / for skating. The sled runners cut in so deeply, that there was little / fun in sliding down hill. Besides, skating and coasting had got to / be old stories, and the boys were heartily tired of all their winter / sports. The sleighing was about spoiled, the roads were sloppy, the / fields and meadows impassable, and the woods uncomfortable. In fact, / while all the outdoor amusements of winter were at an end, it was / too early for the various summer games and sports that supply their / places. This brief season, which usually attends the breaking up of / winter in northern latitudes, is generally the dullest of all the year / to boys in the country, unless they are so fortunate as to be able to / amuse themselves indoors, a part of the time at least.

Clinton's favorite place of resort, at such seasons, was the shop in / the rear of the house. Here, surrounded with tools, and patterns, and / plans, and specimens of his own work, and perhaps absorbed by some / object upon which he was engaged, he was never at a loss for amusement. / A day or two after his return from the logging camp, he went to work / on the "settle," which he had determined to make, in imitation of the / one he had seen at Uncle Tim's. This was a job that would require some / little thinking and planning, as well as skill at handling tools,-for / his mother had promised to give it a place in the kitchen, if it was / well made,-and he felt anxious to do his best on this occasion. He / first sawed out from a plank the two end pieces, rounding off one / corner of each, in a sort of long scroll pattern. Having planed these / smooth, he next made the seat, which was also of stiff plank, and / fastened it firmly in its place. Nothing remained to be done but to / make the back, which was of boards, planed and matched, and screwed / into the end pieces. In the course of a week the settle was finished; / and it was not only neat and well-finished, but really substantial. / It looked as though it might do service full as long as Uncle Tim's. / Clinton was quite satisfied with his success, and his mother was so / well pleased with the settle, that she not only decided to place it in / the kitchen, but promised to make a handsome cushion for it.