At a hint from one of the disputants, redskin and negro servants in a crowd made for the river, where in a short time they marked and cleared a course across and down stream, lighting the way with torches and lanterns. Peter Van Loan, the overseer, was master of ceremonies, and King Charles, a famous jockey in his day, rode Sturgeon. The bets were large, Schuyler having backed his own horse heavily, and the excitement was intense as the contestants went flying down the course between the rows of flaring lights and shouting spectators. When old Sturgeon came in first, we may hope that Douw concealed his satisfaction and Schuyler his chagrin, since both were true-blue sportsmen of the old school, who could take good or ill fortune and give no sign. After a century and a half we find that the old spirit has not died out. Still the ice-decked river is the scene of many a winter carnival. Horses of famous pedigrees, sharp-shod and with nerves tingling in an atmosphere like an electric bath, have literally flung distance to the winds over those crystal courses, where, in summer, the boats tack lazily from shore to shore. Even more exciting than the horse-races are the contests of ice-boats, for which the upper Hudson, especially inthe neighbourhood of Tivoli and Hyde Park, is famous. An ice-boat is to an ordinary boat what the Empire State Express is to a way freight. It does not

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sail, it flies, reminding one of the Chinaman's famous descri] )tion of his first toboggan shde, -- ' ' Phwt !!! Walkee back two mik^e." At a speed of something approaching a mile a minute, a zero temperature is very much