"If we don't get 'em, everybody else will, and we might as well have our share,” he replied. "Well, then," I continued, "I have a proposition to make to you and Junior. I'd like you both to promise not to shoot robins except on the wing. That will teach you to be expert and quick-eyed. A true sportsman is not one who tries to kill as much game as possible, but to shoot scientifically, skillfully. There is more pleasure in giving your game a chance, and in bringing it down with a fine long shot, than in slaughtering the poor creatures like chickens in a coop. Anybody can shoot a robin sitting on a bough a few yards off, but to bring one down when in rapid flight is the work of a sportsman. And for my part I had rather live on pork than on robins or any useful birds." He readily agreed not to fire at robins except when flying, and to induce Junior to do likewise, and I was satisfied that not many of my little favorites would suffer. "Very well," I said, "I'll coax Mr. Jones to let Junior off to-morrow, and you can have the entire day for hunting. This evening you can go down to the village and get a stock of ammunition." The boy went to his work happy and contented. Now Bobsey had a little wagon, and having finished his morning stint of work, he, with Mousie and Winnie, started off to the nearest butternut-tree, and during the remainder of the day, except during the time occupied with lessons, they were busily gathering the nuts. By night they had at least one of the "million" bushels spread out, and drying. As they brought in their last load about five o'clock in the afternoon, I said to them: "Come and see what I have here." I led the way to the sty, where were grunting three half-grown pigs. Having learned from Rollins that he was willing to sell some of his stock, I had bought three pigs and put them into the new sty as soon as it was ready. The children welcomed the new-comers with shouts, but I said, "That wont do; you'll frighten them so that they'll try to jump out of the pen. Run now and pick up a load of apples in your wagon and throw them to the pigs; they'll understand and like such a welcoming better." At supper I added: "Children, picking up apples, which was such fun this afternoon, will be part of your regular morning work, for a while. In the room over the sty is a bin which must be filled with the fallen apples before any nuts can be gathered." Even Bobsey laughed at the idea that this was work, but I knew that it would soon become so. "I have good news about the Bagley children," said my wife. "I was down there to-day, and all the children begin school next Monday. Between clothes which our children have outgrown and what Mrs. Bagley has been able to buy and make, all three of the young Bagleys present a very respectable appearance. I took it upon myself to tell the children that, if they went to school regularly, we would make them nice Christmas presents." 66 "And I confirm the bargain heartily," I cried, 'Merton, look out for yourself or the Bagley boy will get ahead of you at school." He laughed and started for the village, with Junior, who now appeared, to get their powder and shot. The next morning, after loading up a good lot of cartridges before breakfast, the two boys started, and having all day before them, took their luncheons, with the intention of exploring Schunnemunk mountain. The squirrels, birds, and rabbits near home were reserved for odd times when they could slip away for a few hours only. Our new barn, now about completed, gave as much pleasure to my wife and myself as the nuts and game afforded the children. I went through it, adding here and there some finishing touches and little conveniences, a painter meanwhile giving it a final coat of dark, cheap wash. Our poultryhouse was now ready for use and I said to Winnie: "To-night we will catch the chickens and put them in it." The old horse had already been established in the stable, and I resolved that the cow also should come in, at night. In the afternoon, I began turning over the fodder-corn, and saw that a very few more days would cure it. Toward night, I examined the apples, and resolved to adopt old Mr. Jamison's plan of picking the largest and ripest at once, leaving the smaller and greener fruit to mature until the last of the month. The dark apple-and-root cellar was already half filled with potatoes, but the space left for such apples as we should keep was ready. From time to time, when returning from the village, I had brought empty barrels, and in some of these, earlier apples, like fall pippins and greenings, had already been packed and shipped to Mr. Bogart. By his advice I had resolved to store the later and good keeping varieties, and dispose of them gradually to the best advantage. I resolved that the morrow should see the beginning of our chief labor in the orchard. I had sold a number of barrels of wind-falls, but they brought a price that barely repaid us. My examination of the trees now proved that there should be no more delay in taking off the large, and fine-looking fruit. With the setting sun, Merton and Junior appeared, scarcely able to drag their weary feet down the lane. Nevertheless their fatigue was caused by efforts entirely after their own hearts, and they declared that they had had a “splendid time." Then they emptied their game-bags. Each of the boys had a partridge, Merton one rabbit, and Junior two. Merton kept up his prestige by showing two gray squirrels to Junior's one. Red squirrels abounded, and there were a few robins, brought down on the wing, as the boys had promised. What interested me most was the rattles of the deadly snake which Junior had nearly stepped on, and then had shot. "Schunnemunk is full of rattlers," he said. "Please don't hunt there any more, then,' " I replied. after, but our main task was the gathering of all the grapes except those hanging against the sides of the house. These, I believed, would be so sheltered as to escape injury. We had been enjoying this delicious fruit for some time, carrying out our plan, however, of reserving the best for the market. The berries on the small clusters were just as sweet and luscious, and the children were content. Sure enough, on the following morning white hoar-frost covered the grass and leaves. "No matter," cried Winnie, at the breakfast table, "the chestnut burrs are opening!" By frequent stirring the rest of the corn-fodder was soon dried out again, and stacked. Then we took up the beets and carrots and stored them also 66 No, we 'll go into the main Highlands to the in the root cellar. east'erd next time." Merton had also brought down a chicken hawk, and the game, spread out on the kitchen table, suggested much interesting wild life, about which I said we should read during the coming winter, adding, "Well, boys, you have more than earned your salt in your sport to-day, for each of you have supplied two game dinners." Merton was allowed to sleep late the next morning, and was then set to work in the orchard, while I divided my time between aiding in picking the apples and turning over the fodder-corn. 66 "You can climb like a squirrel, Merton," said I, "and I must depend on you chiefly for gathering the apples. Handle them like eggs, so as not to bruise them and then they will keep better. After we have been over the trees once and have stacked the fodder-corn, you shall have a good time with your gun." For the next few days we worked hard, and nearly finished the first picking of the apples and getting into shocks the greater part of the corn. Then came a storm of wind and rain, and the best apples on one tree, not picked over, were soon lying on the ground bruised and unfit for winter keeping. "You see, Merton," I said, "that we must manage to get over the trees earlier next year. Live and learn." The wind came out of the north the day after the storm, and Mr. Jones shouted, as he passed down the road, "We'll have frost to-night." Then, indeed, we bestirred ourselves. Mousie's flowers were carried in; the lima-bean poles, still hanging full of green pods more or less filled out, were pulled up and stacked together under a tree; and some tomato vines, with their green and partially ripe fruit, were taken up by the roots and hung under the shed. "We may thus keep a supply of this wholesome vegetable some weeks longer," I said. We had frost now almost every night, and the trees were gorgeous in their various hues, while others were already losing their foliage. The days were filled with delight for the children. The younger ones were up with the sun to gather the nuts that had fallen during the night, Merton accompanying them with his gun, and bringing in squirrels daily, and now and then a robin, shot on the wing. His chief exploit, however, was the bagging of half a dozen quails that unwarily chose the lower part of our meadow as a Then he and Junior took several long outings in the Highlands with fair success, for the boys had become decidedly expert. resort. "If we only had a dog," cried Merton, "we could do wonders." "Save your money next summer and buy one," I replied; "I'll give you a chance, Merton." By the middle of October, the weather became dry and warm, and the mountains were almost hidden by the Indian summer haze. "Now for the corn-husking," I said, "and the planting of the ground in raspberries, and then we shall be through with our chief labors for the year." Merton helped me at the husking, but I allowed him to keep his gun near, and he obtained an occasional shot, which enlivened his toil. Two great bins over the sty and poultry-house received the yellow ears, the longest and fairest being stored in one, and in the other the "nubbins.' Part of the stalks were tied up and put in the old "corn-stalk barn," as we called it, and the remainder stacked near. Our cow certainly was provided for. Having removed the corn, Mr. Jones plowed the field deeply, and then Merton and I set out the varieties of raspberries which promised best in our locality, making the hills four feet apart in the row, and the rows five feet from each other. I Everything that we could protect was looked followed the instructions of my fruit-book closely, and cut back the canes of the plants to six inches, sunk the roots so deeply as to leave about four inches of soil above them, putting two or three plants in the hill. Then, over and about the hills, on the surface of the ground, we put two shovelfuls of compost, finally covering the plants beneath a slight mound of earth. This would protect them from the severe frost of winter. These labors and the final picking of the apples brought us to the last week of the month. Of the smaller fruit, kept clean and sound for the purpose, we reserved enough to make two barrels of ior were given one more day's outing in the mountains with their guns. On the following Monday they trudged off to the nearest public school, feeling that they had been treated liberally and that brainwork must now begin in earnest. Indeed, for months from that time, school and lessons took precedence of everything else, and the proper growth of our boys and girls was the prominent thought. November weather was occasionally so blustering and stormy that I turned school-master now and then, to relieve my wife. During the month, her interest in the poultry, and Merton regularly aided in the care of the stock and in looking after the evening supply of fire-wood. Thanksgiving Day was celebrated with due observance. In the morning we all heard Dr. Lyman preach, and came home with the feeling that neither we, nor the country at large, were going to the bad. Mr. and Mrs. Jones, with Junior, dined with us in great state, and we had our first four-course dinner since arriving in Maizeville, and at the fashionable hour of six in the evening. Our feast was a very informal affair, seasoned with mirth and spiced with hunger. My wife looked after the transfers from the kitchen at critical moments, while Winnie and Mousie were our waitresses. A royal blaze crackled in the open fire-place, and seemed to share in the sparkle of our rustic wit and unforced mirth, which kept plump Mrs. Jones in a perpetual quiver of delight. Her husband came out strong in his comical summary of the past year's experience, concluding: "Well, we owe you and Mrs. Durham a vote of thanks for reforming the Bagley tribe. That appears to me an orthodox case of convarsion. First we gave them the terrors of the law. I tell you we were smoking in wrath around him that mornin', like Mount Sinai, and you had the sense to bring, in the nick of time, the gospel of 'givin' a feller a chance.'" "Well," I replied, becoming thoughtful for a moment with boyish memories, "my good old mother taught me that it was God's plan to give us a chance, and help us make the most of it." I remembered the Bagleys to-day," Mrs. Jones remarked, nodding to my wife. "We felt that they might be encouraged." "So did we," my wife replied. It was afterward learned that, out of good-will, the neighbors had provisioned the Bagleys for nearly a month. By eight o'clock everything was cleared away, and then we all gathered around the glowing hearth, Junior's rat-a-tat-snap! proving that our final course of nuts and cider would be provided at the usual time. How homely it all was, how free from any attempt at display or style, yet equally free from any trace of coarseness, vulgarity, or ill-natured gossip! Mousie had added grace to the table with her blooming plants and dried grasses, and although the dishes had been set on the table by my wife's and the children's hands, they were daintily ornamented and inviting. All had been within our means and within ourselves, and the following morning brought no regretful thoughts. Our helpful friends went home, feeling that they had not bestowed their kindness on unthankful people whose scheme of life was to get and take, but not to return. Well, our first year was drawing to a close. The first of December was celebrated by an event no less momentous than the killing of our pigs, to Winnie's and Bobsey's intense excitement. In this affair my wife and I were almost helpless; but Mr. Jones and Bagley were on hand, and proved themselves veterans. I next gave all my attention, when the weather permitted, to the proper winter covering of all the strawberries, and to the cutting and carting home of dead and dying trees from the wood-lot. The increasing cold brought new and welcome pleasures to the children. There was ice on the neighboring ponds, and skates were bought as premature Christmas presents. New sleds, also, were forthcoming, and the first fall of snow enabled Merton and Junior to track some rabbits that, until then, had eluded their search. By the middle of December we realized that winter had begun in all its rather stern reality, but we were sheltered and provided for. We had so far imitated the ants, that we had abundant stores until the flinty earth should again yield its bounty. Christmas brought us more than its wonted joy, and a fulfillment of the hopes and anticipations which we had cherished on the same day of the previous year. We were far from regretting our flight to the country, although it had involved hard toil and many anxieties. My wife was greatly pleased by my many hours of rest at the fireside in her companionship, caused by days too cold and wintry for outdoor work; but our deepest and most abiding content was expressed one evening, as we sat alone after the children were asleep. "You have solved the problem, Robert, that was troubling you. There is space here for the children to grow, and the Daggetts and the Ricketts and their kind are not so near as to make them grow wrong almost in spite of us. A year ago we felt that we were virtually being driven to the country. I now feel as if we had been led by a kindly and Divine hand." I said to the whole family, at breakfast, next day: "On New Year's morning, I will tell you all the result of our first year's effort, according to my account-book." So, on that day, after our greetings and good wishes for the New Year, they all looked expectantly at me as I opened our financial record. As carefully and clearly as possible, so that even Winnie might understand, in part, I went over the different items and the expense and proceeds of the different crops, so far as I was able to separate them. Bobsey's attention soon wandered,— he had an abiding faith that breakfast, dinner and |