Stella plays!

Once, only, in my childhood did I witness my mother, Stella at play!
Stella was stern, Stella was sad.
I had often been told that Stella had been a figure skater, though it was difficult for me to believe this.

She had taken us up to the Square Piece to skate.

The Square Piece was a few miles above the Mill Dam, and then there was still a walk to the apartment from there.
The current flowed through the middle of Square Piece, from the Red Dam on to the Mill Dam, and then on through the basement level of one of the Mill Buildings! I know because when my father had been night watchman there, I would bring his supper pail to him, and I saw this!

It was the year that my brothers' were making sailboats out of their sleds. They had been gliding around on the ice for hours! I had been fallling on the ice for hours!

When we were all sufficiently wet and frozen, Stella declared it was time to go home.

To our surprise, she unbuttoned her long wool coat, held the sides of the coat out,and made a sail out of herself! She sailed in front of us all the way to the Mill dam, right down the middle over the current! As she moved along, the ice at the shore edges BOOMED! and BOOMED, and KA-BOOMED!

We followed along after her, in shock and in fear that the ice would crack open under us. It was a quick trip to the Dam!

It must have been quite a sight for the deer!