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The sleigh went like the wind The beautiful horses shone in the sun; their necks were arched and their heads were up and their slender legs spurned the snowy road They see manes and tails blown back in the wind of their speed

Father sat straight and proud, holding the reins and letting the horses go as fast as they would He never used the whip; his horses were gentle and perfectly trained He had only to tighten or slacken the reins, and they obeyed him His horses were the best horses in New York State, or maybe in the whole world Malone was five miles away, but Father never started till thirty minutes before church-time That team would trot the whole five miles, and he would stable them and blanket the

When Alht that it would be years and years before he could hold reins and drive horses like that, he could hardly bear it

In no ti into the church sheds in Malone The sheds were one long, low building, all around the four sides of a square You drove into the square through a gate Everyto his e that he drove inside it to unhitch, and there was a er with feedboxes, and space for hay and oats

Father let Alirls shook out their skirts and smoothed their ribbons Then they all walked sedately into the church The first clang of the bell rang out when they were on the steps

After that there was nothing to do but sit still till the sers ached and his jaanted to yawn, but he dared not yawn or fidget He must sit perfectly still and never take his eyes fro beard Almanzo couldn’t understand how Father knew that he wasn’t looking at the preacher, if Father was looking at the preacher himself But Father always did know

At last it was over In the sunshine outside the church, Alh or talk loudly on Sunday, but they could talk quietly, and Almanzo’s cousin Frank was there

Frank’s father was Uncle Wesley; he owned the potato-starch mill and lived in town He did not have a farm So Frank was only a town boy and he played with town boys But this Sunday hten cap

It was made of plaid cloth, machine-woven, and it had ear-flaps that buttoned under the chin Frank unbuttoned them, and showed Almanzo that they would turn up and button across the cap’s top He said the cap caht it in Mr Case’s store

Almanzo had never seen a cap like that He wanted one

Royal said it was a silly cap He said to Frank:

“What’s the sense of ear-flaps that button over the top? Nobody has ears on top of his head” So Almanzo knew that Royal wanted a cap like that, too

“How much did it cost?” Almanzo asked

“Fifty cents,” Frank said, proudly

Almanzo knew he could not have one The caps that Motherand warm, and it would be a foolish waste of money to buy a cap Fifty cents was a lot of money