Oh I Wish I Had a River
John O'Brien Inman "Tonight, they took the road that wound around away from the house, through a copse, and then out into the clearing to where there was a dip. And in the dip, surrounded by sloping grassy banks, lay the Lake. As they drew near to it, looking ahead, Fanny saw lights flickering, yellow and white and green and red and blue, like a rainbow in the darkness, and then the Lake lay before them, frozen, glittering, unearthly under the rising moon. And set all around it on poles in the grass were Chinese lanterns, and in other places, fires, logs set within iron hurdles, and blazing bright, and right on the edge of the ice were two great braziers, glowing like the smithy's forge, and sending showers of white sparks flying up into the night sky. Already people were skating, in pairs and singly..." Susan Hill, "Lanterns Across the Snow" Barbara Whipple "