initial commit of ebook 28098HEAD main

author: Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> 2025-10-15 02:37:24 -0700
committer: Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> 2025-10-15 02:37:24 -0700
commit: ca8332a92cb52fb9224c20758a052d24da7fdf00 (patch)
tree: fd308130dc663715f1c958a915b158142eb50bd3
144 files changed, 10824 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/28098-8.txt b/28098-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f12c6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3461 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Holiday Tales, by W. H. H. Murray
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Holiday Tales
+       Christmas in the Adirondacks
+
+
+Author: W. H. H. Murray
+
+
+
+Release Date: February 16, 2009  [eBook #28098]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLIDAY TALES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Sigal Alon, Chris Logan, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) from digital
+material generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 28098-h.htm or 28098-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/9/28098/28098-h/28098-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/9/28098/28098-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/holidaytaleschr00murriala
+
+
+
+
+
+HOLIDAY TALES.
+
+Christmas in the Adirondacks.
+
+by
+
+W. H. H. MURRAY.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: W. H. H. MURRAY,
+THE MURRAY HOMESTEAD GUILFORD, CONN.]
+
+
+
+Copyrighted, 1897.
+All Rights Reserved.
+
+Press of
+Springfield Printing and Binding Company,
+Springfield, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+
+    I.
+
+    HOW JOHN NORTON THE TRAPPER KEPT HIS CHRISTMAS,                 11
+
+
+    II.
+
+    JOHN NORTON'S VAGABOND,                                         77
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE WILD DEER'S HOME.]
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD TRAPPER'S HOME.]
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+    THE WILD DEER'S HOME,
+      _By J. Gurner Fisher_,                      _Frontispiece No. 1_
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER'S HOME,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                 _Frontispiece No. 2_
+
+    HOW JOHN NORTON THE TRAPPER KEPT HIS CHRISTMAS,     (_Heading_) 11
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER'S FIREPLACE,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                  between pages 12-13
+
+    "ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN STOOD
+    THE DISMAL HUT,"
+      _By J. Gurner Fisher_,                          "      "   30-31
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER'S SHOT,
+      _By J. Gurner Fisher_,                          "      "   44-45
+
+    THE MOUNTAIN TORRENT,
+      _By J. Gurner Fisher_,                      _Frontispiece No. 3_
+
+    THE VAGABOND'S ROCK,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles,_                 _Frontispiece No. 4_
+
+    JOHN NORTON'S VAGABOND,                             (_Heading_) 76
+
+    "VAGABONDS INCLUDED IN THIS INVITE,"
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                  between pages 80-81
+
+    "AND ABOVE THE WORDS WAS A STAR,"
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                     "      "   82-83
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER'S PADDLE,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                   85
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER'S RIFLE,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                   88
+
+    AN OLD TIME GUN,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                   89
+
+    CHRISTMAS HOLLY,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                   93
+
+    "WHERE BE THE SHIPS?"
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                  between pages 98-99
+
+    "AND FINALLY THE WORDS PASSED INTO THE AIR,"
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                  105
+
+    "YE CRADLE OF YE OLDEN TIME,"
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                  108
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER AND HIS DOGS,
+      "Friends come and go, but until death enters kennel
+      or cabin the hunter and his hounds bide together."
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                between pages 112-113
+
+
+
+
+HOW JOHN NORTON THE TRAPPER KEPT
+HIS CHRISTMAS.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+
+A cabin. A cabin in the woods. In the cabin a great fireplace piled
+high with logs, fiercely ablaze. On either side of the broad
+hearthstone a hound sat on his haunches, looking gravely, as only a
+hound in a meditative mood can, into the glowing fire. In the center
+of the cabin, whose every nook and corner was bright with the ruddy
+firelight, stood a wooden table, strongly built and solid. At the
+table sat John Norton, poring over a book,--a book large of size, with
+wooden covers bound in leather, brown with age, and smooth as with the
+handling of many generations. The whitened head of the old man was
+bowed over the broad page, on which one hand rested, with the
+forefinger marking the sentence. A cabin in the woods filled with
+firelight, a table, a book, an old man studying the book. This was the
+scene on Christmas Eve. Outside, the earth was white with snow, and in
+the blue sky above the snow was the white moon.
+
+"It says here," said the Trapper, speaking to himself, "it says here,
+'_Give to him that lacketh, and from him that hath not, withhold not
+thine hand._' It be a good sayin' fur sartin; and the world would be
+a good deal better off, as I conceit, ef the folks follered the sayin'
+a leetle more closely." And here the old man paused a moment, and,
+with his hand still resting on the page, and his forefinger still
+pointing at the sentence, seemed pondering what he had been reading.
+At last he broke the silence again, saying:--
+
+"Yis, the world would be a good deal better off, ef the folks in it
+follered the sayin';" and then he added, "There's another spot in the
+book I'd orter look at to-night; it's a good ways furder on, but I
+guess I can find it. Henry says the furder on you git in the book, the
+better it grows, and I conceit the boy may be right; for there be a
+good deal of murderin' and fightin' in the fore part of the book, that
+don't make pleasant readin', and what the Lord wanted to put it in fur
+is a good deal more than a man without book-larnin' can understand.
+Murderin' be murderin', whether it be in the Bible or out of the
+Bible; and puttin' it in the Bible, and sayin' it was done by the
+Lord's commandment, don't make it any better. And a good deal of the
+fightin' they did in the old time was sartinly without reason and
+ag'in jedgment, specially where they killed the womenfolks and the
+leetle uns." And while the old man had thus been communicating with
+himself, touching the character of the Old Testament, he had been
+turning the leaves until he had reached the opening chapters of the
+New, and had come to the description of the Saviour's birth, and the
+angelic announcement of it on the earth. Here he paused, and began to
+read. He read as an old man unaccustomed to letters must read,--slowly
+and with a show of labor, but with perfect contentment as to his
+progress, and a brightening face.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD TRAPPER'S FIREPLACE.]
+
+"This isn't a trail a man can hurry on onless he spends a good deal of
+his time on it, or is careless about notin' the signs, fur the words
+be weighty, and a man must stop at each word, and look around awhile,
+in order to git all the meanin' out of 'em--yis, a man orter travel
+this trail a leetle slow, ef he wants to see all there is to see on
+it."
+
+Then the old man began to read:--
+
+"'_Then there was with the angels a multitude of the heavenly
+host_,'--the exact number isn't sot down here," he muttered; "but I
+conceit there may have been three or four hunderd,--'_praisin' God and
+singin', Glory to God in the highest, and on 'arth, peace to men of
+good will_.' That's right," said the Trapper. "Yis, peace to men of
+good will. That be the sort that desarve peace; the other kind orter
+stand their chances." And here the old man closed the book,--closed it
+slowly, and with the care we take of a treasured thing; closed it,
+fastened the clasps, and carried it to the great chest whence he had
+taken it, putting it away in its place. Having done this, he returned
+to his seat, and, moving the chair in front of the fire, he looked
+first at one hound, and then at the other, and said, "Pups, this be
+Christmas Eve, and I sartinly trust ye be grateful fur the comforts ye
+have."
+
+He said this deliberately, as if addressing human companions. The two
+hounds turned their heads toward their master, looked placidly into
+his face, and wagged their tails.
+
+"Yis, yis, I understand ye," said the Trapper. "Ye both be
+comfortable, and, I dare say, that arter yer way ye both be grateful,
+fur, next to eatin', a dog loves the heat, and ye be nigh enough to
+the logs to be toastin'. Yis, this be Christmas Eve," continued the
+old man, "and in the settlements the folks be gittin' ready their
+gifts. The young people be tyin' up the evergreens, and the leetle uns
+be onable to sleep because of their dreamin'. It's a pleasant pictur',
+and I sartinly wish I could see the merry-makin's, as Henry has told
+me of them, sometime, but I trust it may be in his own house, and with
+his own children." With this pleasant remark, in respect to the one he
+loved so well, the old man lapsed into silence. But the peaceful
+contentment of his face, as the firelight revealed it, showed plainly
+that, though his lips moved not, his mind was still active with
+pleasant thoughts of the one whose name he had mentioned, and whom he
+so fondly loved. At last a more sober look came to his countenance,--a
+look of regret, of self-reproach, the look of a man who remembers
+something he should not have forgotten,--and he said:--
+
+"I ax the Lord to pardin me, that in the midst of my plenty I have
+forgot them that may be in want. The shanty sartinly looked open
+enough the last time I fetched the trail past the clearin', and though
+with the help of the moss and the clay in the bank she might make it
+comfortable, yit, ef the vagabond that be her husband has forgot his
+own, and desarted them, as Wild Bill said he had, I doubt ef there be
+vict'als enough in the shanty to keep them from starvin'. Yis, pups,"
+said the old man, rising, "it'll be a good tramp through the snow,
+but we'll go in the mornin', and see ef the woman be in want. The boy
+himself said, when he stopped at the shanty last summer, afore he went
+out, that he didn't see how they was to git through the winter, and I
+reckon he left the woman some money, by the way she follered him
+toward the boat; and he told me to bear them in mind when the snow
+came, and see to it they didn't suffer. I might as well git the
+pack-basket out, and begin to put the things in't, fur it be a goodly
+distance, and an 'arly start will make the day pleasant to the woman
+and the leetle uns, ef vict'als be scant in the cupboard. Yis, I'll
+git the pack-basket out, and look round a leetle, and see what I can
+find to take 'em. I don't conceit it'll make much of a show, fur what
+might be good fur a man won't be of sarvice to a woman; and as fur the
+leetle uns, I don't know ef I've got a single thing but vict'als
+that'll fit 'em. Lord! ef I was near the settlements, I might swap a
+dozen skins fur jest what I wanted to give 'em; but I'll git the
+basket out, and look round and see what I've got."
+
+In a moment the great pack-basket had been placed in the middle of the
+floor, and the Trapper was busy overhauling his stores to see what he
+could find that would make a fitting Christmas gift for those he was
+to visit on the morrow. A canister of tea was first deposited on the
+table, and, after he had smelled of it, and placed a few grains of it
+on his tongue, like a connoisseur, he proceeded to pour more than half
+of its contents into a little bark box, and, having carefully tied the
+cover, he placed it in the basket.
+
+"The yarb be of the best," said the old man, putting his nose to the
+mouth of the canister, and taking a long sniff before he inserted the
+stopple--"the yarb be of the best, fur the smell of it goes into the
+nose strong as mustard. That be good fur the woman fur sartin, and
+will cheer her sperits when she be downhearted; fur a woman takes as
+naterally to tea as an otter to his slide, and I warrant it'll be an
+amazin' comfort to her, arter the day's work be over, more specially
+ef the work had been heavy, and gone sorter crosswise. Yis, the yarb
+be good fur a woman when things go crosswise, and the box'll be a
+great help to her many and many a night, beyend doubt. The Lord
+sartinly had women in mind when He made the yarb, and a kindly feelin'
+fur their infarmities, and, I dare say, they be grateful accordin' to
+their knowledge."
+
+A large cake of maple sugar followed the tea into the basket, and a
+small chest of honey accompanied it.
+
+"That's honest sweetenin'," remarked the Trapper with decided
+emphasis; "and that is more'n ye can say of the sugar of the
+settlements, leastwise ef a man can jedge by the stuff they peddle at
+the clearin'. The bees be no cheats; and a man who taps his own trees,
+and biles the runnin' into sugar under his own eye, knows what kind of
+sweetenin' he's gittin'. The woman won't find any sand in her teeth
+when she takes a bite from that loaf, or stirs a leetle of the honey
+in the cup she's steepin'."
+
+Some salt and pepper were next added to the packages already in the
+basket. A sack of flour and another of Indian meal followed. A
+generous round of pork, and a bag of jerked venison, that would
+balance a twenty-pound weight, at least, went into the pack. On these,
+several large-sized salmon trout, that had been smoked by the
+Trapper's best skill, were laid. These offerings evidently exhausted
+the old man's resources, for, after looking round a while, and
+searching the cupboard from bottom to top, he returned to the basket,
+and contemplated it with satisfaction, indeed, yet with a face
+slightly shaded with disappointment.
+
+"The vict'als be all right," he said, "fur there be enough to last 'em
+a month, and they needn't scrimp themselves either. But eatin' isn't
+all, and the leetle uns was nigh on to naked the last time I seed 'em;
+and the woman's dress, in spite of the patchin', looked as ef it would
+desart her, ef she didn't keep a close eye on't. Lord! Lord! what
+shall I do? fur there's room enough in the basket, and the woman and
+the leetle uns need garments; that is, it's more'n likely they do, and
+I haven't a garment in the cabin to take 'em."
+
+"Hillo! Hillo! John Norton! John Norton! Hillo!" The voice came sharp
+and clear, cutting keenly through the frosty air and the cabin walls.
+"John Norton!"
+
+"Wild Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper. "I sartinly hope the vagabond
+hasn't been a-drinkin'. His voice sounds as ef he was sober; but the
+chances be ag'in the signs, fur, ef he isn't drunk, the marcy of the
+Lord or the scarcity of liquor has kept him from it. I'll go to the
+door, and see what he wants. It's sartinly too cold to let a man stand
+in the holler long, whether he be sober or drunk;" with which remark
+the Trapper stepped to the door, and flung it open.
+
+"What is it, Wild Bill? what is it?" he called. "Be ye drunk, or be ye
+sober, that ye stand there shoutin' in the cold with a log cabin
+within a dozen rods of ye?"
+
+"Sober, John Norton, sober. Sober as a Moravian preacher at a
+funeral."
+
+"Yer trappin' must have been mighty poor, then, Wild Bill, for the
+last month, or the Dutchman at the clearin' has watered his liquor by
+a wrong measure for once. But ef ye be sober, why do ye stand there
+whoopin' like an Indian, when the ambushment is onkivered and the
+bushes be alive with the knaves? Why don't ye come into the cabin,
+like a sensible man, ef ye be sober? The signs be ag'in ye, Wild Bill;
+yis, the signs be ag'in ye."
+
+"Come into the cabin!" retorted Bill. "An' so I would mighty lively,
+ef I could; but the load is heavy, and your path is as slippery as the
+plank over the creek at the Dutchman's, when I've two horns aboard."
+
+"Load! What load have ye been draggin' through the woods?" exclaimed
+the Trapper. "Ye talk as ef my cabin was the Dutchman's, and ye was
+balancin' on the plank at this minit."
+
+"Come and see for yourself," answered Wild Bill, "and give me a lift.
+Once in your cabin, and in front of your fire, I'll answer all the
+questions you may ask. But I'll answer no more until I'm inside the
+door."
+
+"Ye be sartinly sober to-night," answered the Trapper, laughing, as he
+started down the hill, "fur ye talk sense, and that's more'n a man can
+do when he talks through the nozzle of a bottle.
+
+"Lord-a-massy!" exclaimed the old man as he stood over the sled, and
+saw the huge box that was on it. "Lord-a-massy, Bill! what a tug ye
+must have had! and how ye come to be sober with sech a load behind ye
+is beyend the reckinin' of a man who has knowed ye nigh on to twenty
+year. I never knowed ye disapp'int one arter this fashion afore."
+
+"It is strange, I confess," answered Wild Bill, appreciating the humor
+that lurked in the honesty of the old man's utterance. "It is strange,
+that's a fact, for it's Christmas Eve, and I ought to be roaring drunk
+at the Dutchman's this very minit, according to custom; but I pledged
+him to get the box through jest as he wanted it done, and that I
+wouldn't touch a drop of liquor until I had done it. And here it is,
+according to promise, for here I am sober, and here is the box."
+
+"H'ist along, Bill, h'ist along!" exclaimed the Trapper, who suddenly
+became alive with interest, for he surmised whence the box had come.
+"H'ist along, Bill, I say, and have done with yer talkin', and let's
+see what ye have got on yer sled. It's strange that a man of yer sense
+will stand jibberin' here in the snow with a roarin' fire within a
+dozen rods of ye."
+
+Whatever retort Wild Bill may have contemplated, it was effectually
+prevented by the energy with which the Trapper pushed the sled after
+him. Indeed, it was all he could do to keep it off his heels, so
+earnestly did the old man propel it from behind; and so, with many a
+slip and scramble on the part of Wild Bill, and a continued muttering
+on the part of the Trapper about the "nonsense of a man's jibberin' in
+the snow arter a twenty mile drag, with a good fire within a dozen
+rods of him," the sled was shot through the doorway into the cabin,
+and stood fully revealed in the bright blaze of the firelight.
+
+"Take off yer coat and yer moccasins, Wild Bill," exclaimed the
+Trapper, as he closed the door, "and git in front of the fire; pull
+out the coals, and set the tea pot a-steepin'. The yarb will take the
+chill out of ye better than the pizen of the Dutchman. Ye'll find a
+haunch of venison in the cupboard that I roasted to-day, and some
+johnnycake; I doubt ef either be cold. Help yerself, help yerself,
+Bill, while I take a peep at the box."
+
+No one can appreciate the intensity of the old man's feelings in
+reference to the mysterious box, unless he calls to mind the
+strictness with which he was wont to interpret and fulfill the duties
+of hospitality. To him the coming of a guest was a welcome event, and
+the service which the latter might require of the host both a sacred
+and a pleasant obligation. To serve a guest with his own hand, which
+he did with a natural courtesy peculiar to himself, was his delight.
+Nor did it matter with him what the quality of the guest might be. The
+wandering trapper or the vagabond Indian was served with as sincere
+attention as the richest visitor from the city. But now his feelings
+were so stirred by the sight of the box thus strangely brought to
+him, and by his surmise touching who the sender might be, that Wild
+Bill was left to help himself without the old man's attendance.
+
+It was evident that Bill was equal to the occasion, and was not aware
+of the slightest neglect. At least, his actions were not, by the
+neglect of the Trapper, rendered less decided, or the quality of his
+appetite affected, for the examination he made of the old man's
+cupboard, and the familiarity with which he handled the contents, made
+it evident that he was not in the least abashed, or uncertain how to
+proceed; for he attacked the provisions with the energy of a man who
+had fasted long, and who has at last not only come suddenly to an
+ample supply of food, but also feels that for a few moments, at least,
+he will be unobserved. The Trapper turned toward the box, and
+approached it for a deliberate examination.
+
+"The boards be sawed," he said, "and they come from the mills of the
+settlement, for the smoothin'-plane has been over 'em." Then he
+inspected the jointing, and noted how truly the edges were drawn.
+
+"The box has come a goodly distance," he said to himself, "fur there
+isn't a workman this side of the Horicon that could j'int it in that
+fashion. There sartinly ought to be some letterin', or a leetle bit of
+writin', somewhere about the chest, tellin' who the box belonged to,
+and to whom it was sent." Saying this, the old man unlashed the box
+from the sled, and rolled it over, so that the side might come
+uppermost. As no direction appeared on the smoothly planed surface, he
+rolled it half over again. A little white card neatly tacked to the
+board was now revealed. The Trapper stooped, and on the card read,--
+
+                             JOHN NORTON,
+
+                      TO THE CARE OF WILD BILL.
+
+"Yis, the 'J' be his'n," muttered the old man, as he spelled out the
+word J-o-h-n, "and the big 'N' be as plain as an otter-trail in the
+snow. The boy don't make his letters over plain, as I conceit, but the
+'J' and the 'N' be his'n." And then he paused for a full minute, his
+head bowed over the box. "The boy don't forgit," he murmured, and he
+wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "The boy don't forgit." And
+then he added, "No, he isn't one of the forgittin' kind. Wild Bill,"
+said the Trapper, as he turned toward that personage, whose attack on
+the venison haunch was as determined as ever, "Wild Bill, this box be
+from Henry!"
+
+"I shouldn't wonder," answered that individual, speaking from a mass
+of edibles that filled his mouth.
+
+"And it be a Christmas gift!" continued the old man.
+
+"It looks so," returned Bill, as laconically as before.
+
+"And it be a mighty heavy box!" said the Trapper.
+
+"You'd 'a' thought so, if you had dragged it over the mile-and-a-half
+carry. It was good sleddin' on the river, but the carry took the stuff
+out of me."
+
+"Very like, very like," responded the Trapper; "fur the gullies be
+deep on the carry, and it must have been slippery haulin'. Didn't ye
+git a leetle 'arnest in yer feelin's, Bill, afore ye got to the top of
+the last ridge?"
+
+"Old man," answered Bill, as he wheeled his chair toward the Trapper,
+with a pint cup of tea in the one hand, and wiping his mustache with
+the coat sleeve of the other, "I got it to the top three times, or
+within a dozen feet from the top, and each time it got away from me
+and went to the bottom agin; for the roots was slippery, and I
+couldn't git a grip on the toe of my moccasins; but I held on to the
+rope, and I got to the bottom neck and neck with the sled every time."
+
+"Ye did well, ye did well," responded the Trapper, laughing; "for a
+loaded sled goes down hill mighty fast when the slide is a steep un,
+and a man who gits to the bottom as quick as the sled must have a good
+grip, and be considerably in 'arnest. But ye got her up finally by the
+same path, didn't ye?"
+
+"Yes, I got her up," returned Bill. "The fourth time I went for that
+ridge, I fetched her to the top, for I was madder than a hornet."
+
+"And what did ye do, Bill?" continued the Trapper. "What did ye do
+when ye got to the top?"
+
+"I jest tied that sled to a sapling so it wouldn't git away agin, and
+I got on to the top of that box, and I talked to that gulch a minit or
+two in a way that satisfied my feelings."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder," answered the Trapper, laughing, "fur ye must
+have ben a good deal riled. But ye did well to git the box through,
+and ye got here in time, and ye've 'arnt yer wages; and now, ef ye'll
+tell me how much I am to pay ye, ye shall have yer money, and ye
+needn't scrimp yerself on the price, Wild Bill, for the drag has been
+a hard un; so tell me yer price, and I'll count ye out the money."
+
+"Old man," answered Bill, "I didn't bring that box through for money,
+and I won't take a--"
+
+Perhaps Wild Bill was about to emphasize his refusal by some verbal
+addition to the simple statement, but, if it was his intention, he
+checked himself, and said, "a cent."
+
+"It's well said," answered the Trapper; "yis, it's well said, and does
+jestice to yer feelin's, I don't doubt; but an extra pair of breeches
+one of these days wouldn't hurt ye, and the money won't come amiss."
+
+"I tell ye, old man," returned Wild Bill earnestly, "I won't take a
+cent. I'll allow there's several colors in my trousers, for I've
+patched in a dozen different pieces off and on, and I doubt, as ye
+hint, if the patching holds together much longer; but I've eaten at
+your table and slept in your cabin more than once, John Norton, and
+whether I've come to it sober or drunk, your door was never shut in my
+face; and I don't forget either that the man who sent you that box
+fished me from the creek one day, when I had walked into it with two
+bottles of the Dutchman's whisky in my pocket, and not one cent of
+your money or his will I take for bringing the box in to you."
+
+"Have it yer own way, ef ye will," said the Trapper; "but I won't
+forgit the deed ye have did, and the boy won't forgit it neither.
+Come, let's clear away the vict'als, and we'll open the box. It's
+sartinly a big un, and I would like to see what he has put inside of
+it."
+
+The opening of the box was a spectacle such as gladdens the heart to
+see. At such moments the countenance of the Trapper was as facile in
+the changefulness of its expression as that of a child. The passing
+feelings of his soul found an adequate mirror in his face, as the
+white clouds of a summer day find full reflection in the depth of a
+tranquil lake. He was not too old or too learned to be wise, for the
+wisdom of hearty happiness was his,--the wisdom of being glad, and
+gladly showing it.
+
+As for Wild Bill, the best of his nature was in the ascendant, and
+with the curiosity and pleasure of a child, and a happiness as sincere
+as if the box were his own, he assisted at the opening.
+
+"The man who made this box did the work in a workmanlike fashion,"
+said the Trapper, as he strove to insert the edge of his hatchet into
+the jointing of the cover, "fur he shet these boards together like the
+teeth of a bear trap when the bars be well 'iled. It's a pity the boy
+didn't send him along with the box, Wild Bill, fur it sartinly looks
+as ef we should have to kindle a fire on it, and burn a hole in
+through the kiver."
+
+At last, by dint of great exertion, and with the assistance of Wild
+Bill and the poker, the cover of the box was wrenched off, and the
+contents were partially revealed.
+
+"Glory to God, Wild Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper. "Here be yer
+breeches!" and he held up a pair of pantaloons made of the stoutest
+Scotch stuff. "Yis, here be yer breeches, fur here on the waistband be
+pinned a bit of paper, and on it be written, 'Fur Wild Bill.' And here
+be a vest to match; and here be a jacket; and here be two pairs of
+socks in the pocket of the jacket; and here be two woolen shirts, one
+packed away in each sleeve. And here!" shouted the old man, as he
+turned up the lapel of the coat, "Wild Bill, look here! Here be a
+five-dollar note!" and the old man swung one of the socks over his
+head, and shouted, "Hurrah for Wild Bill!" And the two hounds,
+catching the enthusiasm of their master, lifted their muzzles into the
+air, and bayed deep and long, till the cabin fairly shook with the
+joyful uproar of man and dogs.
+
+It is doubtful if any gift ever took the recipient more by surprise
+than this bestowed upon Wild Bill. It is true that, judged by the law
+of strict deserts, the poor fellow had not deserved much of the world,
+and certainly the world had not forgotten to be strictly just in his
+case, for it had not given him much. It is a question if he had ever
+received a gift before in all his life, certainly not one of any
+considerable value. His reception of this generous and thoughtful
+provision for his wants was characteristic both of his training and
+his nature.
+
+The Old Trapper, as he ended his cheering, flung the pantaloons, the
+vest, the jacket, the socks, the shirts, and the money into his lap.
+
+For a moment the poor fellow sat looking at the warm and costly
+garments that he held in his hands, silent in an astonishment too
+profound for speech, and then, recovering the use of his organs, he
+gasped forth:--
+
+"I swear!" and then broke down, and sobbed like a child.
+
+The Trapper, kneeling beside the box, looked at the poor fellow with a
+face radiant with happiness, while his mouth was stretched with
+laughter, utterly unconscious that tears were brimming his own eyes.
+
+"Old Trapper," said Wild Bill, rising to his feet, and holding the
+garments forth in his hands, "this is the first present I ever
+received in my life. I have been kicked and cussed, sneered at and
+taunted, and I deserved it all. But no man ever gave me a lift, or
+showed he cared a cent whether I starved or froze, lived or died. You
+know, John Norton, what a fool I've been, and what has ruined me, and
+that when sober I'm more of a man than many who hoot me. And here I
+swear, old man, that while a button is on this jacket, or two threads
+of these breeches hold together, I'll never touch a drop of liquor,
+sick or well, living or dying, so help me God! and there's my hand on
+it."
+
+"Amen!" exclaimed the Trapper, as he sprang to his feet, and clasped
+in his own strong palm the hand that the other had stretched out to
+him. "The Lord in His marcy be nigh ye when tempted, Bill, and keep ye
+true to yer pledge!"
+
+Of all the pleasant sights that the angels of God, looking from their
+high homes, saw on earth that Christmas Eve, perhaps not one was
+dearer in their eyes than the spectacle here described,--the two
+sturdy men standing with their hands clasped in solemn pledge of the
+reformation of the one, and the helping sympathy of the other, above
+that Christmas box in the cabin in the woods.
+
+It is not necessary to follow in detail the Trapper's further
+examination of the box. The reader's imagination, assisted by many a
+happy reminiscence, will enable him to realize the scene. There was a
+small keg of powder, a large plug of lead, a little chest of tea, a
+bag of sugar, and also one of coffee. There were nails, matches,
+thread, buttons, a woolen under-jacket, a pair of mittens, and a cap
+of choicest fur, made of an otter's skin that Henry himself had
+trapped a year before. All these and other packages were taken out one
+by one, carefully examined, and characteristically commented on by the
+Trapper, and passed to Wild Bill, who in turn inspected and commented
+on them, and then laid them carefully on the table. Beneath these
+packages was a thin board, constituting a sort of division between its
+upper and lower half.
+
+"There seems to be a sort of cellar to this box," said the Trapper, as
+he sat looking at the division. "I shouldn't be surprised ef the boy
+himself was in here somewhere, so be ready, Bill, fur anything, fur
+the Lord only knows what's underneath this board." Saying which, the
+old man thrust his hand under one end of the division, and pulled out
+a bundle loosely tied with a string, which became unfastened as the
+Trapper lifted the roll from its place in the box, and, as he shook it
+open, and held its contents at arm's length up to the light, the
+startled eyes of Wild Bill, and the earnest gaze of the Trapper,
+beheld a woman's dress!
+
+"Heavens and 'arth, Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, "what's this?" And
+then a flash of light crossed his face, in the illumination of which
+the look of wonder vanished, and, dropping upon his knees, he flung
+the dividing board out of the box, and his companion and himself saw
+at a glance what was underneath.
+
+Children's shoes, and dresses of warmest stuffs; tippets and mittens;
+a full suit for a little boy, boots and all; a jackknife and whistle;
+two dolls dressed in brave finery, with flaxen hair and blue eyes; a
+little hatchet; a huge ball of yarn, and a hundred and one things
+needed in the household; and underneath all a Bible; and under that a
+silver star on a blue field, and pinned to the silk a scrap of paper,
+on which was written,--
+
+"Hang this over the picture of the lad."
+
+"Ay, ay," said the Trapper in a tremulous voice, as he looked at the
+silver star, "it shall be done as ye say, boy; but the lad has got
+beyend the clouds, and is walkin' a trail that is lighted from eend to
+eend by a light clearer and brighter than ever come from the shinin'
+of any star. I hope we may be found worthy to walk it with him, boy,
+when we, too, have come to the edge of the Great Clearin'."
+
+To the Trapper it was perfectly evident for whom the contents of the
+box were intended; but the sender had left nothing in doubt, for, when
+the old man had lifted from the floor the board that he had flung out,
+he discovered some writing traced with heavy penciling on the wood,
+and which without much effort he spelled out to Wild Bill,--
+
+"Give these on Christmas Day to the woman at the dismal hut, and a
+merry Christmas to you all."
+
+"Ay, ay," said the Trapper, "it shall be did, barrin' accident, as ye
+say; and a merry Christmas it'll make fur us all. Lord-a-massy! what
+_will_ the poor woman say when she and her leetle uns git these warm
+garments on? There be no trouble about fillin' the basket now; no, I
+sartinly can't git half of the stuff in. Wild Bill, I guess ye'll have
+to do some more sleddin' to-morrow, fur these presents must go over
+the mountain in the mornin', ef we have to harness up the pups." And
+then he told his companion of the poor woman and the children, and his
+intended visit to them on the morrow.
+
+"I fear," he said, "that they be havin' a hard time of it, 'specially
+ef her husband has desarted her."
+
+"Little good he would do her, if he was with her," answered Wild Bill,
+"for he's a lazy knave when he is sober, and a thief as well, as you
+and I know, John Norton; for he's fingered our traps more than once,
+and swapped the skins for liquor at the Dutchman's; but he's thieved
+once too many times, for the folks in the settlement has ketched him
+in the act, and they put him in the jail for six months, as I heard
+day before yesterday."
+
+"I'm glad on't; yis, I'm glad on't," answered the Trapper; "and I hope
+they'll keep him there till they've larnt him how to work. I've had my
+eye on the knave for a good while, and the last time I seed him I told
+him ef he fingered any more of my traps, I'd larn him the commandments
+in a way he wouldn't forgit; and, as I had him in hand, and felt a
+leetle like talkin' that mornin', I gin him a piece of my mind,
+techin' his treatment of his wife and leetle uns, that he didn't
+relish, I fancy, fur he winced and squirmed like a fox in a trap. Yis,
+I'm glad they've got the knave, and I hope they'll keep him till he's
+answered fur his misdoin'; but I'm sartinly afeered the poor woman be
+havin' a hard time of it."
+
+"I fear so, too," answered Wild Bill; "and if I can do anything to
+help you in your plans, jest say the word, and I'm your man to back or
+haul, jest as you want me."
+
+And so it was arranged that they should go over the mountain together
+on the morrow, and take the provisions and the gifts that were in the
+box to the poor woman. And, after talking awhile of the happiness
+their visit would give, the two men, happy in their thoughts, and with
+their hearts full of that peace which passeth the understanding of the
+selfish, laid themselves down to sleep; and over the two,--the one
+drawing to the close of an honorable and well-spent life, the other
+standing at the middle of a hitherto useless existence, but facing the
+future with a noble resolution,--over the two, as they slept, the
+angels of Christmas kept their watch.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+
+On the other side of the mountain stood the dismal hut; and the stars
+of that blessed eve had shone down upon the lonely clearing in which
+it stood, and the smooth white surface of the frozen and snow-covered
+lake which lay in front of it, as brightly as they had shone on the
+cabin of the Trapper; but no friendly step had made its trail in the
+surrounding snow, and no blessed gift had been brought to its solitary
+door.
+
+[Illustration: "On the other side of the mountain stood the dismal
+hut."]
+
+As the evening wore on, the great clearing round about it remained
+drearily void of sound or motion, and filled only with the white
+stillness of the frosty, snow-lighted night. Once, indeed, a wolf
+stole from underneath the dark balsams into the white silence, and,
+running up a huge log that lay aslant a ledge of rocks, looked across
+and round the great opening in the woods, stood a moment, then gave a
+shivering sort of a yelp, and scuttled back under the shadow of the
+forest, as if its darkness was warmer than the frozen stillness of the
+open space. An owl, perched somewhere amid the pine-tops, snug and
+warm within the cover of its arctic plumage, engaged from time to time
+in solemn gossip with some neighbor that lived on the opposite shore
+of the lake. And once a raven, roosting on the dry bough of a
+lightning-blasted pine, dreamed that the white moonlight was the light
+of dawn, and began to stir his sable wings, and croak a harsh welcome;
+but awakened by his blunder, and ashamed of his mistake, he broke off
+in the very midst of his discordant call, and again settled gloomily
+down amid his black plumes to his interrupted repose, making by his
+sudden silence the surrounding silence more silent than before.
+
+It seemed as if the very angels, who, we are taught, fly abroad over
+all the earth that blessed night, carrying gifts to every household,
+had forgotten the cabin in the woods, and had left it to the cold
+hospitality of unsympathetic nature.
+
+Within the lonely hut, which thus seemed forgotten of Heaven itself,
+sat a woman huddling her young--two girls and a boy. The fireplace was
+of monstrous proportions, and the chimney yawned upward so widely that
+one looking up the sooty passage might see the stars shining overhead.
+A little fire burned feebly in the huge stone recess: scant warmth
+might such a fire yield, kindled in such a fireplace, to those around
+it. Indeed, the little flame seemed conscious of its own inability,
+and burned with a wavering and mistrustful flicker, as if it were
+discouraged in view of the task set before it, and had more than half
+concluded to go out altogether.
+
+The cabin was of large size, and undivided into apartments. The little
+fire was only able to illuminate the central section, and more than
+half of the room was hidden in utter darkness. The woman's face, which
+the faint flame over which she was crouched revealed with painful
+clearness, showed pale and haggard. The induration of exposure and the
+tightening lines of hunger sharpened and marred a countenance which a
+happier fortune would have kept even comely. It had that old look
+about it which comes from wretchedness rather than age, and the
+weariness of its expression was pitiful to see. Was it work or vain
+waiting for happier fortunes that made her look so tired? Alas! the
+weariness of waiting for what we long for, and long for purely, but
+which never comes! Is it the work or the longing--the long
+longing--that has put the silver in your head, friend, and scarred
+the smooth bloom of your cheeks, my lady, with those ugly lines?
+
+"Mother, I'm hungry," said the little boy, looking up into the woman's
+face. "Can't I have just a little more to eat?"
+
+"Be still," answered the woman sharply, speaking in the tones of vexed
+inability. "I've given you almost the last morsel in the house."
+
+The boy said nothing more, but nestled up more closely to his mother's
+knee, and stuck one little stockingless foot out until the cold toes
+were half hidden in the ashes. O warmth! blessed warmth! how pleasant
+art thou to old and young alike! Thou art the emblem of life, as thy
+absence is the evidence and sign of life's cold opposite. Would that
+all the cold toes in the world could get to my grate to-night, and all
+the shivering ones be gathered to this fireside! Ay, and that the
+children of poverty, that lack for bread, might get their hungry hands
+into that well-filled cupboard there, too!
+
+In a moment the woman said, "You children had better go to bed. You'll
+be warmer in the rags than in this miserable fireplace."
+
+The words were harshly spoken, as if the very presence of the
+children, cold and hungry as they were, was a vexation to her; and
+they moved off in obedience to her command.
+
+O cursed poverty! I know thee to be of Satan, for I myself have eaten
+at thy scant table, and slept in thy cold bed. And never yet have I
+seen thee bring one smile to human lips, or dry one tear as it fell
+from a human eye. But I have seen thee sharpen the tongue for biting
+speech, and harden the tender heart. Ay, I've seen thee make even the
+presence of love a burden, and cause the mother to wish that the puny
+babe nursing her scant breast had never been born. And so the children
+went to their unsightly bed, and silence reigned in the hut.
+
+"Mother," said one of the girls, speaking out of the
+darkness,--"mother, isn't this Christmas Eve?"
+
+"Yes," answered the woman sharply. "Go to sleep." And again there was
+silence.
+
+Happy is childhood, that amid whatever deprivation and misery it can
+so weary itself in the day that when night comes on it can lose in the
+forgetfulness of slumber its sorrows and wants!
+
+Thus, while the children lost the sense of their unhappy surroundings,
+including the keen pangs of hunger, for a time, and under the tattered
+blankets that covered them saw, perhaps, visions of enchanting lands,
+and in their dreams feasted at those wonderful tables which hungry
+children see only in sleep, to the poor woman sitting at the failing
+fire there came no surcease of sorrow, and no vision threw even an
+evanescent brightness over the hard, cold facts of her surroundings.
+And the reality of her condition was dire enough, God knows. Alone in
+the wilderness, miles from any human habitation, the trails covered
+deep with snow, her provisions exhausted, actual suffering already
+upon them, and starvation staring them squarely in the face,--no
+wonder that her soul sank within her; no wonder that her thoughts
+turned toward bitterness.
+
+"Yes, it's Christmas Eve," she muttered, "and the rich will keep it
+gayly. God sends them presents enough; but you see if He remembers me!
+Oh, they may talk about the angels of Christmas Eve flying abroad
+to-night, loaded with gifts, but they'll fly mighty high above this
+shanty, I reckon; no, they won't even drop a piece of meat as they
+soar past." And so she sat muttering and moaning over her woes, and
+they were heavy enough,--too heavy for her poor soul, unassisted, to
+lift,--while the flame on the hearth grew thinner and thinner, until
+it had no more warmth in it than the shadow of a ghost, and, like its
+resemblance, was about to flit and fade away. At last she said, in a
+softened tone, as if the remembrance of the Christmas legend had
+softened her surly thoughts and sweetened the bitter mood:--
+
+"Perhaps I'm wrong to take on so. Perhaps it isn't God's fault that I
+and my children are deserted and starving. But why should the innocent
+be punished for the guilty, and why should the wicked have enough and
+to spare, while those who do no evil go half naked and starved?"
+
+Alas, poor woman! that puzzle has puzzled many besides thee, and many
+lips besides thine have asked that question, querulously or
+entreatingly, many a time; but whether they asked it in vexation and
+rebellion of spirit, or humbly besought Heaven to answer, to neither
+murmur nor prayer did Heaven vouchsafe a response. Is it because we
+are so small, or, being small, are so inquisitive, that the Great
+Oracle of the blue remains so dumb when we cry?
+
+At this point the poor little flame, as if unable to abide the cold
+much longer, flared fitfully, and uneasily shifted itself from brand
+to brand, threatening with many a flicker to go out; but the woman,
+with her elbows on her knees, and her face settled firmly between her
+hands, still sat with eyes that saw not the feeble flame at which they
+so steadily gazed.
+
+"I will do it, _I will do it!_" she suddenly exclaimed. "I will make
+one more effort. They shall not starve while I have strength to try.
+Perhaps God will aid me. They say He always does at the last pinch,
+and He certainly sees that I am there now. I wonder if He's been
+waiting for me to get just where I am before He helped me. There is
+one more chance left, and I'll make the trial. I'll go down to the
+shore where I saw the big tracks in the snow. It's a long way, but I
+shall get there somehow. If God is going to be good to me, He won't
+let me freeze or faint on the way. Yes, I'll creep into bed now, and
+try to get a little sleep, for I must be strong in the morning." And
+with these words the poor woman crept off to her bed, and burrowed
+down, more like an animal than a human being, beside her little ones,
+as they lay huddled close together and asleep, down in the rags.
+
+What angel was it that followed her to her miserable couch, and
+stirred kindly feelings in her bosom? Some sweet one, surely; for she
+shortly lifted herself to a sitting posture, and, gently drawing down
+the old blanket with which the children, for warmth's sake, had
+wrapped their heads, looked as only a mother might at the three little
+faces lying side by side, and, bending tenderly over them, she placed
+a gentle kiss upon the forehead of each; then she nestled down again
+in her own place, and said, "Perhaps God will help me." And with this
+sentence, half a prayer and half a doubt, born on the one hand from
+that sweet faith which never quite deserts a woman's bosom, and on the
+other from that bitter experience which had made her seem in her own
+eyes deserted of God, she fell asleep.
+
+She, too, dreamed; but her dreaming was only the prolongation of her
+waking thoughts; for long after her eyes closed she moved uneasily on
+her hard couch, and muttered, "Perhaps God will. Perhaps--"
+
+Sad is it for us who are old enough to have tasted the bitterness of
+that cup which life sooner or later presents to all lips, and have
+borne the burden of its toil and fretting, that our vexations and
+disappointments pursue us even in our slumber, disturbing our sleep
+with reproachful visions and the sound of voices whose upbraiding robs
+us of our otherwise peaceful repose. Perhaps somewhere in the years to
+come, after much wandering and weariness, guided of God, we may come
+to that fountain of which the ancients dreamed, and for which the
+noblest among them sought so long, and died seeking; plunging into
+which, we shall find our lost youth in its cool depths, and, rising
+refreshed and strengthened, shall go on our eternal journey re-clothed
+with the beauty, the innocence, and the happiness of our youth.
+
+The poor woman slept uneasily, and with much muttering to herself;
+but the rapid hours slid noiselessly down the icy grooves of night,
+and soon the cold morning put its white face against the frozen
+windows of the east, and peered shiveringly forth. Who says the earth
+cannot look as cold and forbidding as the human countenance? The sky
+hung over the frozen world like a dome of gray steel, whose invisibly
+matched plates were riveted here and there by a few white, gleaming
+stars. The surface of the snow sparkled with crystals that flashed
+colorlessly cold. The air seemed armed, and full of sharp, eager
+points that pricked the skin painfully. The great tree-trunks cracked
+their sharp protests against the frosty entrances being made beneath
+their bark. The lake, from under the smothering ice, roared in dismay
+and pain, and sent the thunders of its wrath at its imprisonment
+around the resounding shores. A bitter morn, a bitter morn,--ah me! a
+bitter morn for the poor!
+
+The woman, wakened by the gray light, moved in the depths of the
+tattered blankets, sat upright, rubbed her eyes with her hands, looked
+about her as if to recall her scattered senses, and then, as thought
+returned, crept stealthily out of the hole in which she had lain, that
+she might not wake the children, who, coiled together, slumbered on,
+still closely clasped in the arms of blessed unconsciousness.
+
+"They had better sleep," she said to herself. "If I fail to bring them
+meat, I hope they will never wake!"
+
+Ah! if the poor woman could only have foreseen the bitter
+disappointment, or that other something which the future was to bring
+her, would she have made that prayer? Is it best for us, as some say,
+that we cannot see what is coming, but must weep on till the last tear
+is shed, uncheered by the sweet fortune so nigh, or laugh unchecked
+until the happy tones are mingled with, and smothered by, the rising
+moan? Is it best, I wonder?
+
+She noiselessly gathered together what additions she could make to her
+garments, and then, taking down the rifle from its hangings, opened
+the door, and stepped forth into the outer cold. There was a look of
+brave determination in her eyes as she faced the chilly greeting the
+world gave her, and, with more of hopefulness than had before appeared
+upon her countenance, she struck bravely off along the lake shore,
+which at this point receded toward the mountain.
+
+For an hour she kept steadily on, with her eyes constantly on the
+alert for the least sign of the wished and prayed-for game. Suddenly
+she stopped, and crouched down in the snow, peering straight ahead.
+Well might she seek concealment, for there, standing on a point of
+land that jutted sharply out into the lake, not forty rods away,
+unscreened and plain to view, stood a buck of such goodly proportions
+as one even in years of hunting might not see.
+
+The woman's eyes fairly gleamed as she saw the noble animal standing
+thus in full sight; but who may tell the agony of fear and hope that
+filled her bosom! The buck stood lordly erect, facing the east, as if
+he would do homage to, or receive homage from, the rising sun, whose
+yellow beams fell full upon his uplifted front. The thought of her
+mind, the fear of her heart, were plain. The buck would soon move;
+when he moved, which way would he move? Would he go from or come
+toward her? Would she get him, or would she lose him? Oh, the agony of
+that thought!
+
+"God of the starving," burst from her quivering lips, "let not my
+children die!"
+
+Many prayers more ornate rose that day to Him whose ears are open to
+all cries. But of all that prayed on that Christmas morn, whether with
+few words or many, surely, no heart rose with the seeking words more
+earnestly than that of the poor woman kneeling as she prayed, rifle in
+hand, amid the snow.
+
+"God of the starving, let not my children die!"
+
+That was her prayer; and, as if in answer to her agonizing petition,
+the buck turned and began to advance directly toward her, browsing as
+he came. Once he stopped, looked around, and snuffed the air
+suspiciously. Had he scented her presence, and would he bound away?
+Should she fire now? No; her judgment told her she could not trust the
+gun or her aim at such a range. He must come nigher,--come even to the
+big maple, and stand there, not ten rods away; then she felt sure she
+should get him. So she waited. Oh, how the cold ate into her! How her
+teeth chattered as the chills ran their torturing courses through her
+thin, shivering frame! But still she clutched the cold barrel, and
+still she watched and waited, and still she prayed:--
+
+"God of the starving, let not my children die!"
+
+Alas, poor woman! My own body shivers as I think of thine, and my pen
+falters to write what misery befell thee on that wretched morn.
+
+Did the buck turn? Did he, having come so tantalizingly near, retrace
+his steps? No. He continued to advance. Had Heaven heard her prayer?
+Her soul answered it had; and with such feelings in it toward Him to
+whom she had appealed as she had not felt in all her life before, she
+steadied herself for the shot. For even as she prayed, the deer came
+on,--came to the big maple, and lifted his muzzle to its highest reach
+to seize with his tongue a thin streamer of moss that lay against the
+smooth bark. There he stood, his blue-brown side full toward her,
+unconscious of her presence. Noiselessly she cocked the piece.
+Noiselessly she raised it to her face, and, with every nerve drawn to
+its tightest tension, sighted the noble game, and--_fired_.
+
+Had the frosty air watered her eye? was it a tear of joy and gratitude
+that dimmed the clearness of its sight? or were the half-frozen
+fingers unable to steady the cold barrel at the instant of its
+explosion? We know not. We only know that in spite of prayer, in spite
+of noblest effort, she missed the game. For, as the rifle cracked, the
+buck gave a snort of fear, and with swift bounds flew up the mountain;
+while the poor woman, dropping the gun with a groan, fell fainting on
+the snow.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+
+At the same moment the rifle sounded, two men, the Trapper with his
+pack, and Wild Bill with his sled heavily loaded, were descending the
+western slope of the mountain, not a mile from the clearing in which
+stood the lonely cabin. The sound of the piece brought them to a halt
+as quickly as if the bullet had cut through the air in front of their
+faces. For several minutes both stood in the attitude of listening.
+
+"Down into the snow with ye, pups!" exclaimed the Trapper, in a hoarse
+whisper. "Down into the snow with ye, I say! Rover, ef ye lift yer
+muzzle agin, I'll warm yer back with the ramrod. By the Lord, Bill,
+the buck is comin' this way; ye can see his horns lift above the
+leetle balsams as he breaks through the thicket yender. Ef he strikes
+the runway, he'll sartinly come within range;" and the Old Trapper
+slipped his arms from the pack, and, lowering it to the earth, sank on
+his knees beside it, where he waited as motionless as if the breath
+had departed his body.
+
+Onward came the game. As the Trapper had suggested, the buck, with
+mighty and far-reaching bounds, cleared the shrubby obstructions, and,
+entering the runway, tore up the familiar path with the violence of a
+tornado. Onward he came, his head flung upward, his antlers laid well
+back, tongue lolling from his mouth, and his nostrils smoking with the
+hot breaths that burst in streaming columns from them. Not until his
+swift career had brought him exactly in front of his position did the
+old man stir a muscle. But then, quick as the motion of the leaping
+game, his rifle jumped to his cheek, and even as the buck was at the
+central point of his leap, and suspended in the air, the piece cracked
+sharp and clear, and the deer, stricken to his death, fell with a
+crash to the ground. The quivering hounds rose to their feet, and
+bayed long and deep; Wild Bill swung his hat and yelled; and for a
+moment the woods rang with the wild cries of dogs and man.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD TRAPPER'S SHOT.]
+
+"Lord-a-massy, Bill, what a mouth ye have when ye open it!" exclaimed
+the Trapper, as he leisurely poured the powder into the still smoking
+barrel. "Atween ye and the pups, it's enough to drive a man crazy. I
+should sartinly think ye had never seed a deer shot afore, by the way
+ye be actin'."
+
+"I've seen a good many, as you know, John Norton; but I never saw one
+tumbled over by a single bullet when at the very top of his jump, as
+that one was. I surely thought you had waited too long, and I wouldn't
+have given a cent for your chances when you pulled. It was a wonderful
+shot, John Norton, and I would take just such another tramp as I have
+had, to see you do it again, old man."
+
+"It wasn't bad," returned the Trapper; "no, it sartinly wasn't bad,
+for he was goin' as ef the Old Harry was arter him. I shouldn't wonder
+ef he had felt the tech of lead down there in the holler, and the
+smart of his hurt kept him flyin'. Let's go and look him over, and see
+ef we can't find the markin's of the bullit on him."
+
+In a moment the two stood above the dead deer.
+
+"It is as I thought," said the Trapper, as he pointed with his ramrod
+to a stain of blood on one of the hams of the buck. "The bullit drove
+through his thigh here, but it didn't tech the bone, and was a sheer
+waste of lead, fur it only sot him goin' like an arrer. Bill, I
+sartinly doubt," continued the old man, as he measured the noble
+animal with his eye, "I sartinly doubt ef I ever seed a bigger deer.
+There's seven prongs on his horns, and I'd bet a horn of powder agin a
+chargerful that he'd weigh three hunderd pounds as he lies. Lord! what
+a Christmas gift he'll be fur the woman! The skin will make a blanket
+fit fur a queen to sleep under, and the meat, jediciously cared fur,
+will last her all winter. We must manage to git it to the edge of the
+clearin', anyhow, or the wolves might make free with our venison,
+Bill. Yer sled is a strong un, and it'll bear the loadin', ef ye go
+keerful."
+
+The Trapper and his companion set themselves to their task with the
+energy of men accustomed to surmount every obstacle, and in a short
+half-hour the sled, with its double loading, stopped at the door of
+the lonely cabin.
+
+"I don't understand this, Wild Bill," said the Trapper. "Here be a
+woman's tracks in the snow, and the door be left a leetle ajar, but
+there be no smoke in the chimney, and they sartinly ain't very noisy
+inside. I'll jest give a knock or two, and see ef they be stirrin';"
+and, suiting the action to the word, he knocked long and loud on the
+large door. But to his noisy summons there came no response, and
+without a moment of farther hesitation he shoved open the door, and
+entered.
+
+"God of marcy! Wild Bill," exclaimed the Trapper, "look in here."
+
+A huge room dimly lighted, holes in the roof, here and there a heap of
+snow on the floor, an immense fireplace with no fire in it, and a
+group of scared, wild-looking children huddled together in the farther
+corner, like young and timid animals that had fled in affright from
+the nest where they had slept, at some fearful intrusion. That is what
+the Trapper saw.
+
+"I"--Whatever Wild Bill was about to say, his astonishment, and, we
+may add, his pity, were too profound for him to complete his
+ejaculation.
+
+"Don't ye be afeerd, leetle uns," said the Trapper, as he advanced
+into the center of the room to survey more fully the wretched place.
+"This be Christmas morn, and me and Wild Bill and the pups have come
+over the mountain to wish ye all a merry Christmas. But where be yer
+mother?" queried the old man, as he looked kindly at the startled
+group.
+
+"We don't know where she is," answered the older of the two girls; "we
+thought she was in bed with us, till you woke us. We don't know where
+she has gone."
+
+"I have it, I have it, Wild Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, whose eyes
+had been busy scanning the place while talking with the children. "The
+rifle be gone from the hangin's, and the tracks in the snow be hern.
+Yis, yis, I see it all. She went out in hope of gittin' the leetle uns
+here somethin' to eat, and that was her rifle we heerd, and her bullit
+made that hole in the ham of the buck. What a disapp'intment to the
+poor creetur when she seed she hadn't hit him! Her heart eena'most
+broke, I dare say. But the Lord was in it--leastwise, He didn't go
+agin the proper shapin' of things arterwards. Come, Bill, let's stir
+round lively, and git the shanty in shape a leetle, and some vict'als
+on the table afore she comes. Yis, git out your axe, and slash into
+that dead beech at the corner of the cabin, while I sorter clean up
+inside. A fire is the fust thing on sech a mornin' as this; so scurry
+round, Bill, and bring in the wood as ef ye was a good deal in
+'arnest, and do ye cut to the measure of the fireplace, and don't
+waste yer time in shortenin' it, fur the longer the fireplace, the
+longer the wood; that is, ef ye want to make it a heater."
+
+His companion obeyed with alacrity; and by the time the Trapper had
+cleaned out the snow, and swept down the soot from the sides of the
+fireplace, and put things partially to rights, Bill had stacked the
+dry logs into the huge opening, nearly to the upper jamb, and, with
+the help of some large sheets of birch bark, kindled them to a flame.
+"Come here, leetle uns," said the Trapper, as he turned his
+good-natured face toward the children,--"come here, and put yer leetle
+feet on the h'arthstun, fur it's warmin', and I conceit yer toes be
+about freezin'."
+
+It was not in the power of children to withstand the attraction of
+such an invitation, extended with such a hearty voice and such
+benevolence of feature. The children came promptly forward, and stood
+in a row on the great stone, and warmed their little shivering bodies
+by the abundant flames.
+
+"Now, leetle folks," said the Trapper, "jest git yerselves well
+warmed, then git on what clothes ye've got, and we'll have some
+breakfast,--yis, we'll have breakfast ready by the time yer mother
+gits back, fur I know where she be gone, and she'll be hungry and cold
+when she gits in. I don't conceit that this leetle chap here can help
+much, but ye girls be big enough to help a good deal. So, when ye be
+warm, do ye put away the bed to the furderest corner, and shove out
+the table in front of the fire, and put on the dishes, sech as ye
+have, and be smart about it, too, fur yer mother will sartinly be
+comin' soon, and we must be ahead of her with the cookin'."
+
+What a change the next half-hour made in the appearance of the cabin!
+The huge fire sent its heat to the farthest corner of the great room.
+The miserable bed had been removed out of sight, and the table, drawn
+up in front of the fire, was set with the needed dishes. On the
+hearthstone a large platter of venison steak, broiled by the Trapper's
+skill, simmered in the heat. A mighty pile of cakes, brown to a turn,
+flanked one side, while a stack of potatoes baked in the ashes
+supported the other. The teapot sent forth its refreshing odor through
+the room. The children, with their faces washed and hair partially, at
+least, combed, ran about with bare feet on the warm floor, comfortable
+and happy. To them it was as a beautiful dream. The breakfast was
+ready, and the visitors sat waiting for the coming of her to whose
+assistance the angel of Christmas Eve had sent them.
+
+"Sh!" whispered the Trapper, whose quick ear had caught the sound of a
+dragging step in the snow. "She's comin'!"
+
+Too weary and faint, too sick at heart and exhausted in body to
+observe the unaccustomed signs of human presence around her dwelling,
+the poor woman dragged herself to the door, and opened it. The gun she
+still held in her hand fell rattling to the floor, and, with eyes
+wildly opened, she gazed bewildered at the spectacle. The blazing
+fire, the set table, the food on the hearthstone, the smiling
+children, the two men! She passed her hands across her eyes as one
+waking from sleep. Was she dreaming? Was this cabin the miserable hut
+she had left at daybreak? Was that the same fireplace in front of
+whose cold and cheerless recess she had crouched the night before? And
+were those two strangers there men, or were they angels? Was what she
+saw real, or was it only a fevered vision born of her weakness?
+
+Her senses actually reeled to and fro, and she trembled for a moment
+on the verge of unconsciousness. Indeed, the shock was so overwhelming
+that in another instant she would have swooned and fallen to the floor
+had not the growing faintness been checked by the sound of a human
+voice.
+
+"A merry Christmas to ye, my good woman," said the Trapper. "A merry
+Christmas to ye and yourn!"
+
+The woman started as the hearty tones fell on her ear, and, steadying
+herself by the door, she said, speaking as one partially dazed:--
+
+"Are you John Norton the Trapper, or are you an ang--"
+
+"Ye needn't sight agin," interrupted the old man. "Yis, I'm old John
+Norton himself, nothin' better and nothin' wuss; and the man in the
+chair here by my side is Wild Bill, and ye couldn't make an angel out
+of him, ef ye tried from now till next Christmas. Yis, my good woman,
+I'm John Norton, and this is Wild Bill, and we've come over the
+mountain to wish ye a merry Christmas, ye and yer leetle uns, and help
+ye keep the day; and, ye see, we've been stirrin' a leetle in yer
+absence, and breakfast be waitin'. Wild Bill and me will jest go out
+and cut a leetle more wood, while ye warm and wash yerself; and when
+ye be ready to eat, ye may call us, and we'll see which can git into
+the house fust."
+
+So saying the Trapper, followed by his companion, passed out of the
+door, while the poor woman, without a word, moved toward the fire,
+and, casting one look at her children, at the table, at the food on
+the hearthstone, dropped on her knees by a chair, and buried her face
+in her hands.
+
+"I say," said Wild Bill to the Trapper, as he crept softly away from
+the door, to which he had returned to shut it more closely, "I say,
+John Norton, the woman is on her knees by a chair."
+
+"Very likely, very likely," returned the old man reverently; and then
+he began to chop vigorously at a huge log, with his back toward his
+comrade.
+
+Perhaps some of you who read this tale will come sometime, when weary
+and heart-sick, to something drearier than an empty house, some bleak,
+cold day, some lonely morn, and with a starving heart and benumbed
+soul,--ay, and empty-handed, too,--enter in only to find it swept and
+garnished, and what you most needed and longed for waiting for you.
+Then will you, too, drop upon your knees, and cover your face with
+your hands, ashamed that you had murmured against the hardness of your
+lot, or forgotten the goodness of Him who suffered you to be tried
+only that you might more fully appreciate the triumph.
+
+"My good woman," said the Trapper, when the breakfast was eaten,
+"we've come, as we said, to spend the day with ye; and accordin' to
+custom--and a pleasant un it be fur sartin--we've brought ye some
+presents. A good many of them come from him who called on ye as he and
+me passed through the lake last fall. I dare say ye remember him, and
+he sartinly has remembered ye. Fur last evenin', when I was makin' up
+a leetle pack to bring ye myself,--fur I conceited I had better come
+over and spend the day with ye,--Wild Bill came to my door with a box
+on his sled that the boy had sent in from his home in the city; and in
+the box he had put a great many presents fur him and me; and in the
+lower half of the box he had put a good many presents fur ye and yer
+leetle uns, and we've brought them all over with us. Some of the
+things be fur eatin' and some of them be fur wearin'; and that there
+may be no misunderstandin', I would say that all the things that be in
+the pack-basket there, and all the things that be on the sled, too,
+belong to ye. And as I see the wood-pile isn't a very big un fur this
+time of the year, Bill and me be goin' out to settle our breakfast a
+leetle with the axes. And while we be gone, I conceit ye had better
+rummage the things over, and them that be good fur eatin' ye had
+better put in the cupboard, and them that be good fur wearin' ye had
+better put on yerself and yer leetle uns; and then we'll all be ready
+to make a fair start. Fur this be Christmas Day, and we be goin' to
+keep it as it orter be kept. Ef we've had sorrers, we'll forgit 'em;
+and we'll laugh, and eat, and be merry. Fur this be Christmas, my good
+woman! children, this be Christmas! Wild Bill, my boy, this be
+Christmas; and, pups, this be Christmas! And we'll all laugh, and eat,
+and be merry."
+
+The joyfulness of the old man was contagious. His happiness flowed
+over as waters flow over the rim of a fountain. Wild Bill laughed as
+he seized his axe, the woman rose from the table smiling, the girls
+giggled, the little boy stamped, and the hounds, catching the spirit
+of their merry master, swung their tails round, and bayed in canine
+gladness; and amid the joyful uproar the Old Trapper spun himself out
+of the door, and chased Wild Bill through the snow like a boy.
+
+The dinner was to be served at two o'clock; and what a dinner it was,
+and what preparations preceded! The snow had been shoveled from around
+the cabin, the holes in the roof roughly but effectually thatched. A
+good pile of wood was stacked in front of the doorway. The spring that
+bubbled from the bank had been cleared of ice, and a protection
+constructed over it. The huge buck had been dressed, and hung high
+above the reach of wolves. Cedar and balsam branches had been placed
+in the corners and along the sides of the room. Great sprays of the
+tasseled pine and the feathery tamarack were suspended from the
+ceiling. The table had been enlarged, and extra seats extemporized.
+The long-unused oven had been cleaned out, and under its vast dome the
+red flames flashed and rolled upward. What a change a few hours had
+brought to that lonely cabin and its wretched inmates! The woman,
+dressed in her new garments, her hair smoothly combed, her face
+lighted with smiles, looked positively comely. The girls, happy in
+their fine clothes and marvelous toys, danced round the room, wild
+with delight; while the little boy strutted about the floor in his new
+boots, proudly showing them to each person for the hundredth time.
+
+The hostess's attention was equally divided between the temperature of
+the oven and the adornment of the table. A snow-white sheet, one of a
+dozen she had found in the box, was drafted peremptorily into service,
+and did duty as a tablecloth. Oh, the innocent and funny makeshifts of
+poverty, and the goodly distance it can make a little go! Perhaps some
+of us, as we stand in our rich dining rooms, and gaze with pride at
+the silver, the gold, the cut glass, and the transparent china, can
+recall a little kitchen in a homely house far away, where our good
+mothers once set their tables for their guests, and what a brave show
+the few extra dishes made when they brought them out on the rare
+festive days.
+
+However it might strike you, fair reader, to the poor woman and her
+guests there was nothing incongruous in a sheet serving as a
+tablecloth. Was it not white and clean and properly shaped, and would
+it not have been a tablecloth if it hadn't been a sheet? How very
+nice and particular some people can be over the trifling matter of a
+name! And this sheet had no right to be a sheet, since any one with
+half an eye could see at a glance that it was predestined from the
+first to be a tablecloth, for it sat as smoothly on the wooden surface
+as pious looks on a deacon's face, while the easy and nonchalant way
+it draped itself at the corners was perfectly jaunty.
+
+The edges of this square of white sheeting that had thus
+providentially found its true and predestined use were ornamented with
+the leaves of the wild myrtle, stitched on in the form of scallops. In
+the center, with a brave show of artistic skill, were the words,
+"Merry Christmas," prettily worked with the small brown cones of the
+pines. This, the joint product of Wild Bill's industry and the woman's
+taste, commanded the enthusiastic admiration of all; and even the
+little boy, from the height of a chair into which he had climbed, was
+profoundly affected by the show it made.
+
+The Trapper had charge of the meat department, and it is safe to say
+that no Delmonico could undertake to serve venison in greater variety
+than did he. To him it was a grand occasion, and--in a culinary
+sense--he rose grandly to meet it. What bosom is without its little
+vanities? and shall we laugh at the dear old man because he looked
+upon the opportunity before him with feeling other than pure
+benevolence,--even of complacency that what he was doing was being
+done as no one else could do it?
+
+There was venison roasted, and venison broiled, and venison fried;
+there was hashed venison, and venison spitted; there was a side-dish
+of venison sausage, strong with the odor of sage, and slightly dashed
+with wild thyme; and a huge kettle of soup, on whose rich creamy
+surface pieces of bread and here and there a slice of potato floated.
+
+"I tell ye, Bill," said the Trapper to his companion, as he stirred
+the soup with a long ladle, "this pot isn't act'ally runnin' over with
+taters, but ye can see a bit occasionally ef ye look sharp and keep
+the ladle goin' round pretty lively. No, the taters ain't over
+plenty," continued the old man, peering into the pot, and sinking his
+voice to a whisper, "but there wasn't but fifteen in the bag, and the
+woman took twelve of 'em fur her kittle, and ye can't make three
+taters look act'ally crowded in two gallons of soup, can ye, Bill?"
+And the old man punched that personage in the ribs with the thumb of
+the hand that was free from service, while he kept the ladle going
+with the other.
+
+"Lord!" exclaimed the Trapper, speaking to Bill, who, having taken a
+look into the old man's kettle, was digging his knuckles into his eyes
+to free them from the spray that was jetted into them from the
+fountains of mirth within that were now in full play,--"Lord! ef there
+isn't another piece of tater gone all to pieces! Bill, ef I make
+another circle with this ladle, there won't be a whole slice left, and
+ye'll swear there wasn't a tater in the soup." And the two men, with
+their faces within twenty inches, laughed and laughed like boys.
+
+How sweet it is to think that when the Maker set up this strange
+instrument we call ourselves, and strung it for service, He selected
+of the heavy chords so few, and of the lighter ones so many! Some
+muffled ones there are; some slow and solemn sounds swell sadly forth
+at intervals, but blessed be God that we are so easily tickled, and
+the world is so funny that within it, even when exiled from home and
+friends, we find, as the days come and go, the causes and occasions of
+hilarity!
+
+Wild Bill had been placed in charge of the liquids. What a satire
+there is in circumstances, and how those of to-day laugh at those of
+yesterday! Yes, Wild Bill had charge of the liquids,--no mean charge,
+when the occasion is considered. Nor was the position without its
+embarrassments, as few honorable positions are, for it brought him
+face to face with the problem of the day--dishes; for, between the two
+cooks of the occasion, every dish in the cabin had been brought into
+requisition, and poor Bill was left in the predicament of having to
+make tea and coffee with no pots to make them in.
+
+But Bill was not lacking in wit, if he was in pots, and he solved the
+conundrum how to make tea without a teapot in a manner that extorted
+the woman's laughter, and commanded the Old Trapper's admiration.
+
+In ransacking the lofts above the apartment, he had lighted on several
+large stone jugs, which, with the courage--shall we call it the
+audacity?--of genius, he had seized upon; and, having thoroughly
+rinsed them, and freed them from certain odors,--with which we are
+free to say Bill was more or less familiar,--he brought them forward
+as substitutes for kettle and pot. Indeed, they worked admirably, for
+in them the berry and the leaves might not only be properly steeped,
+but the flavor could be retained beyond what it might in many of our
+famous and high-sounding patented articles.
+
+But Bill, while ingenious and courageous to the last degree, was
+lacking in education, especially in scientific directions. He had
+never been made acquainted with that great promoter of modern
+civilization--the expansive properties of steam. The corks he had
+whittled out for his bravely extemporized tea and coffee pots were of
+the closest fit; and, as they had been inserted with the energy of a
+man who, having conquered a serious difficulty, is determined to reap
+the full benefit of his triumph, there was at least no danger that the
+flavor of the concoctions would escape through any leakage at the
+muzzle. Having thus prepared them for steeping, he placed the jugs in
+his corner of the fireplace, and pushed them well up through the ashes
+to the live coals.
+
+"Wild Bill," said the Trapper, who wished to give his companion the
+needed warning in as delicate and easy a manner as possible, "Wild
+Bill, ye have sartinly got the right idee techin' the makin' of tea
+and coffee, fur the yarb should be steeped, and the berry,
+too,--leastwise, arter it's biled up once or twice,--and therefore it
+be only reasonable that the nozzles should be closed moderately tight;
+but a man wants considerable experience in the business, or he's
+likely to overdo it jest a leetle, and ef ye don't cut some slots in
+them wooden corks ye've driven into them nozzles, Bill, there'll be a
+good deal of tea and coffee floatin' round in yer corner of the
+fireplace afore many minits, and I conceit there'll be a man about yer
+size lookin' fur a couple of corks and pieces of jugs out there in the
+clearin', too."
+
+"Do you think so?" answered Bill, incredulously. "Don't you be scared,
+old man, but keep on stirring your soup and turning the meat, and I'll
+keep my eye on the bottles."
+
+"That's right, Bill," returned the Trapper; "ye keep yer eye right on
+'em, specially on that un that's furderest in toward the butt of the
+beech log there; fur ef there's any vartue in signs, that jug be
+gittin' oneasy. Yis," continued the old man, after a minute's pause,
+during which his eye hadn't left the jug, "yis, that jug will want
+more room afore many minits, ef I'm any jedge, and I conceit I had
+better give it the biggest part of the fireplace;" and the Trapper
+hastily moved the soup and his half-dozen plates of cooked meats to
+the other end of the hearthstone, whither he retired himself, like one
+who, feeling that he is called upon to contend with unknown forces,
+wisely beats a retreat. He even put himself behind a stack of wood
+that lay piled up in his corner, like one who does not despise, in a
+sudden emergency, an artificial protection.
+
+"Bill," called the Trapper, "edge round a leetle,--edge round, and git
+in closer to the jamb. It's sheer foolishness standin' where ye be,
+fur the water will be wallopin' in a minit, and ef the corks be
+swelled in the nozzle, there'll be an explosion. Git in toward the
+jamb, and watch the ambushment under kiver."
+
+"Old man," answered Bill, as he turned his back carelessly toward the
+fireplace, "I've got the bearin's of this trail, and know what I'm
+about. The jugs are as strong as iron kittles, and I ain't afraid of
+their bust--"
+
+Bill never finished the sentence, for the explosion predicted by the
+Trapper occurred. It was a tremendous one, and the huge fireplace was
+filled with flying brands, ashes, and clouds of steam. The Trapper
+ducked his head, the woman screamed, and the hounds rushed howling to
+the farthest end of the room; while Bill, with half a somersault,
+disappeared under the table.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted the Trapper, lifting his head from behind the wood,
+and critically surveying the scene. "Hurrah, Bill!" he shouted, as he
+swung the ladle over his head. "Come out from under the table, and man
+yer battery agin. Yer old mortars was loaded to the muzzle, and ef ye
+had depressed the pieces a leetle, ye'd 'a' blowed the cabin to
+splinters; as it was, the chimney got the biggest part of the
+chargin', and ye'll find yer rammers on the other side of the
+mountain."
+
+It was, in truth, a scene of uproarious hilarity; for once the
+explosion was over, and the woman and children saw there was no
+danger, and apprehended the character of the performance, they joined
+unrestrainedly in the Trapper's laughter, in which they were assisted
+by Wild Bill, as if he were not the victim of his own over-confidence.
+
+"I say, Old Trapper," he called from under the table, "did both guns
+go off? I was getting under cover when the battery opened, and didn't
+notice whether the firing was in sections or along the whole line. If
+there's a piece left, I think I will stay where I am; for I am in a
+good position to observe the range, and watch the effect of the shot.
+I say, hadn't you better get behind the wood-pile again?"
+
+"No, no," interrupted the Trapper; "the whole battery went at the
+word, Bill, and there isn't a gun or a gun-carriage left in the
+casement. Ye've wasted a gill of the yarb, and a quarter of a pound of
+the berry; and ye must hurry up with another outfit of bottles, or
+we'll have nothin' but water to drink at the dinner."
+
+The dinner! That great event of the day, the crown and diadem to its
+royalty, and which became it so well, was ready promptly to the hour.
+The table, enlarged as it was to nearly double its original
+dimensions, could scarcely accommodate the abundance of the feast. Ah,
+if some sweet power would only enlarge our hearts when, on festive
+days, we enlarge our tables, how many of the world's poor, that now go
+hungry while we feast, would then be fed!
+
+At one end of the table sat the Trapper, Wild Bill at the other. The
+woman's chair was at the center of one of the sides, so that she sat
+facing the fire, whose generous flames might well symbolize the
+abundance which amid cold and hunger had so suddenly come to her. On
+her right hand the two girls sat; on her left, the boy. A goodly
+table, a goodly fire, and a goodly company,--what more could the Angel
+of Christmas ask to see?
+
+Thus were they seated, ready to begin the repast; but the plates
+remained untouched, and the happy noises which had to that moment
+filled the cabin ceased; for the Angel of Silence, with noiseless
+step, had suddenly entered the room. There's a silence of grief,
+there's a silence of hatred, there's a silence of dread; of these, men
+may speak, and these they can describe. But the silence of our
+happiness, who can describe that? When the heart is full, when the
+long longing is suddenly met, when love gives to love abundantly, when
+the soul lacketh nothing and is content,--then language is useless,
+and the Angel of Silence becomes our only adequate interpreter. A
+humble table, surely, and humble folk around it; but not in the houses
+of the rich or the palaces of kings does gratitude find her only home,
+but in more lowly abodes and with lowly folk--ay, and often at the
+scant table, too,--she sitteth a perpetual guest. Was it memory? Did
+the Trapper at that brief moment visit his absent friend? Did Wild
+Bill recall his wayward past? Were the thoughts of the woman busy with
+sweet scenes of earlier days? And did memory, by thus reminding them
+of the absent and the past, of the sweet things that had been and
+were, stir within their hearts thoughts of Him from whom all gifts
+descend, and of His blessed Son, in whose honor the day was named?
+
+O Memory! thou tuneful bell that ringeth on forever, friend at our
+feasts, and friend, too, let us call thee, at our burial, what music
+can equal thine? For in thy mystic globe all tunes abide,--the
+birthday note for kings, the marriage peal, the funeral knell, the
+gleeful jingle of merry mirth, and those sweet chimes that float our
+thoughts, like fragrant ships upon a fragrant sea, toward heaven,--all
+are thine! Ring on, thou tuneful bell; ring on, while these glad ears
+may drink thy melody; and when thy chimes are heard by me no more,
+ring loud and clear above my grave that peal which echoes to the
+heavens, and tells the world of immortality, that they who come to
+mourn may check their tears and say, "_Why do we weep? He liveth
+still!_"
+
+"The Lord be praised fur His goodness!" said the Trapper, whose
+thoughts unconsciously broke into speech. "The Lord be praised fur His
+goodness, and make us grateful fur His past marcies, and the plenty
+that be here!" And looking down upon the viands spread before him he
+added, "The Lord be good to the boy, and make him as happy in his city
+home as be they who be wearin' and eatin' his gifts in the woods!"
+
+"Amen!" said the woman softly, and a grateful tear fell on her plate.
+
+"A--hem!" said Wild Bill; and then looking down upon his warm suit, he
+lifted his voice, and, bringing it out in a clear, strong tone, said,
+"_Amen! hit or miss!_"
+
+At many a table that day more formal grace was said, by priest and
+layman alike, and at many a table, by lips of old and young, response
+was given to the benediction; but we doubt if over all the earth a
+more honest grace was said or more honestly assented to than the Lord
+heard from the cabin in the woods.
+
+The feast and the merrymaking now began. The Old Trapper was in his
+best mood, and fairly bubbled over with humor. The wit of Wild Bill
+was naturally keen, and it flashed at its best as he ate. The children
+stuffed and laughed as only children on such an elastic occasion can.
+And as for the poor woman, it was impossible for her, in the midst of
+such a scene, to be otherwise than happy, and she joined modestly in
+the conversation, and laughed heartily at the witty sallies.
+
+But why should we strive to put on paper the wise, the funny, and the
+pleasant things that were said, the exclamations, the laughter, the
+story, the joke, the verbal thrust and parry of such an occasion?
+These, springing from the center of the circumstance, and flashed into
+being at the instant, cannot be preserved for after-rehearsal. Like
+the effervescence of champagne, they jet and are gone; their force
+passes away with the noise that accompanied its out-coming.
+
+Is it not enough to record that the dinner was a success, that the
+Trapper's meats were put upon the table in a manner worthy of his
+reputation, that the woman's efforts at pastry-making were generously
+applauded, and that Wild Bill's tea and coffee were pronounced by the
+hostess the best she had ever tasted? Perhaps no meal was ever more
+enjoyed, as certainly none was ever more heartily eaten.
+
+The wonder and pride of the table was the pudding,--a creation of
+Indian meal, flour, suet, and raisins, re-enforced and assisted by
+innumerable spicy elements supposed to be too mysterious to be grasped
+by the masculine mind. In the production of this wonderful
+centerpiece,--for it had been unanimously voted the place of
+honor,--the poor woman had summoned all the latent resources of her
+skill, and in reference to it her pride and fear contended, while the
+anxiety with which she rose to serve it was only too plainly depicted
+on her countenance. What if it should prove a failure? What if she had
+made a miscalculation as to the amount of suet required,--a point upon
+which she had been somewhat confused? What if the raisins were not
+sufficiently distributed? What if it wasn't done through, and should
+turn out pasty? Great Heavens! The last thought was of so overwhelming
+a character that no feminine courage could encounter it. Who may
+describe the look with which she watched the Trapper as he tasted it,
+or the expression of relief which brightened her anxious face when he
+pronounced warmly in its favor?
+
+"It's a wonderful bit of cookin'," he said, addressing himself to Wild
+Bill, "and I sartinly doubt ef there be anythin' in the settlements
+to-day that can equal it. There be jest enough of the suet, and there
+be a plum for every mouthful; and it be solid enough to stay in the
+mouth ontil ye've had time to chew it, and git a taste of the
+corn,--and I wouldn't give a cent for a puddin' ef it gits away from
+yer teeth fast. Yis, it be a wonderful bit of cookin'," and, turning
+to the woman, he added, "ye may well be proud of it."
+
+What higher praise could be bestowed? And as it was re-echoed by all
+present, and plate after plate was passed for a second filling, the
+dinner came to an end with the greatest good feeling and hilarity.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+
+"Now fur the sled!" exclaimed the Trapper, as he rose from the table.
+"It be a good many years since I've straddled one, but nothin' settles
+a dinner quicker, or suits the leetle folks better. I conceit the
+crust be thick enough to bear us up, and, ef it is, we can fetch a
+course from the upper edge of the clearin' fifty rods into the lake.
+Come, childun, git on yer mittens and yer tippets, and h'ist along to
+the big pine, and ye shall have some fun ye won't forgit ontil yer
+heads be whiter than mine."
+
+It is needless to record that the children hailed with delight the
+proposition of the Trapper, or that they were at the appointed spot
+long before the speaker and his companion reached it with the sled.
+
+"Wild Bill," said the Trapper, as they stood on the crest of the slope
+down which they were to glide, "the crust be smooth as glass, and the
+hill be a steep un. I sartinly doubt ef mortal man ever rode faster
+than this sled'll be goin' by the time it gits to where the bank
+pitches into the lake; and ef ye should git a leetle careless in yer
+steerin', Bill, and hit a stump, I conceit that nothin' but the help
+of the Lord or the rottenness of the stump would save ye from
+etarnity."
+
+Now, Wild Bill was blessed with a sanguine temperament. To him no
+obstacle seemed serious if bravely faced. Indeed, his natural
+confidence in himself bordered on recklessness, to which the drinking
+habits of his life had, perhaps, contributed.
+
+When the Trapper had finished speaking, Bill ran his eye carelessly
+down the steep hillside, smooth and shiny as polished steel, and said,
+"Oh, this isn't anything extry for a hill. I've steered a good many
+steeper ones, and in nights when the moon was at the half, and the
+sled overloaded at that. It don't make any difference how fast you
+go," he added, "if you only keep in the path, and don't hit anything."
+
+"That's it, that's it," replied the Trapper. "But the trouble here be
+to keep in the path, fur, in the fust place, there isn't any path, and
+the stumps be pretty thick, and I doubt ef ye can line a trail from
+here to the bank by the lake without one or more sudden twists in it,
+and a twist in the trail, goin' as fast as we'll be goin', has got to
+be taken jediciously, or somethin' will happen. I say, Bill, what
+p'int will ye steer fur?"
+
+Wild Bill, thus addressed, proceeded to give his opinion touching the
+proper direction of the flight they were to make. Indeed, he had been
+closely examining the ground while the Trapper was speaking, and
+therefore gave his opinion promptly and with confidence.
+
+"Ye have chosen the course with jedgment," said the old man
+approvingly, after he had studied the line his companion pointed out
+critically for a moment. "Yis, Bill, ye have a nateral eye for the
+business, and I sartinly have more confidence in ye than I had a minit
+ago, when ye was talkin' about a steeper hill than this; fur this hill
+drops mighty sudden in the pitches, and the crust be smooth as ice,
+and the sled'll go like a streak when it gits started. But the course
+ye've p'inted out be a good un, fur there be only one bad turn in it,
+and good steerin' orter put a sled round that. I say," continued the
+old man, turning toward his companion, and pointing out the crook in
+the course at the bottom of the second dip, "can ye swing around that
+big stump there without upsettin', when ye come to it?"
+
+"Swing around? Of course I can," retorted Wild Bill, positively.
+"There's plenty room to the left, and--"
+
+"Ay, ay; there be plenty of room, as ye say, ef ye don't take too much
+of it," interrupted the Trapper. "But--"
+
+"I tell you," broke in the other, "I'll turn my back to no man in
+steering a sled; and I can put this sled, and you on it, around that
+stump a hundred times, and never lift a runner."
+
+"Well, well," responded the Trapper, "have it yer own way. I dare say
+ye be good at steerin', and I sartinly know I'm good at ridin'; and I
+can ride as fast as ye can steer, ef ye hit every stump in the
+clearin'. Now, childun," continued the old man, turning to the little
+group, "we be goin' to try the course; and ef the crust holds up, and
+Wild Bill keeps clear of the stumps, and nothin' onusual happens, ye
+shall have all the slidin' ye want afore ye go in. Come, Bill, git yer
+sled p'inted right, and I'll be gittin' on, and we'll see ef ye can
+steer an old man round a stump as handily as ye say ye can."
+
+The directions of the Trapper were promptly obeyed, and in an instant
+the sled was in the right position, and the Trapper proceeded to seat
+himself with the carefulness of one who feels he is embarking on a
+somewhat uncertain venture, and has grave misgivings as to what will
+be the upshot of the undertaking. The sled was large and strongly
+built; and it added not a little to his comfort to feel that he could
+put entire confidence in the structure beneath them.
+
+"The sled'll hold," he said to himself, "ef the loadin' goes to the
+jedgment."
+
+The Trapper was no sooner seated than Wild Bill threw himself upon the
+sled, with one leg under him and the other stretched at full length
+behind. This was a method of steering that had come into vogue since
+the Trapper's boyhood, for in his day the steersman sat astride the
+sled, with his feet thrust forward, and steered by the pressure of
+either heel upon the snow.
+
+"Hold on, Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, whose eye this novel method of
+steering had not escaped. "Hold on, and hold up a minit. Heavens and
+'arth! ye don't mean to steer this sled with one toe, do ye, and that,
+too, the length of a rifle-barrel astarn? Wheel round, and spread yer
+legs out as ye orter, and steer this sled in an honest fashion, or
+there'll be trouble aboard afore ye git to the bottom."
+
+"Sit round!" retorted Bill. "How could I see to steer if I was sitting
+right back of you? For you're nigh a foot taller then I be, and your
+shoulders are as broad as the sled."
+
+"Yer p'ints be well taken, fur sartin," replied the Trapper; "fur it
+be no more than reasonable that the man that steers should see where
+he be goin', and I am as anxious as ye be that ye should. Yis, I
+sartinly want ye to see where ye be goin' on this trip, anyhow, fur
+the crew be a fresh un, and the channel be a leetle crooked. But be ye
+sartin, Bill, that ye can fetch round that stump there as it orter be
+did, with nothin' but yer toe out behind? It may be the best way, as
+ye say, but it don't look like honest steerin' to a man of my years."
+
+"I have used both ways," answered Bill, "and I give you my word, old
+man, that this is the best one. You can get a big swing with your foot
+stretched out in this fashion, and the sled feels the least pressure
+of the toe. Yes, it's all right. John Norton, are you ready?"
+
+"Yis, yis, as ready as I ever shall be," answered the Trapper, in a
+voice in which doubt and resignation were equally mingled. "It may be
+as ye say," he continued; "but the rudder be too fur behind to suit
+me, and ef anything happens on this cruise, jest remember, Wild Bill,
+that my jedgment--"
+
+The sentence the Trapper was uttering was abruptly cut short at this
+point; for Bill had started the sled with a sudden push, and leaped to
+his seat behind the Trapper as it glided downward and away. In an
+instant the sled was under full headway, for the dip was a sharp one,
+and the crust smooth as ice. Scarce had it gone ten rods from the
+point where it started before it was in full flight, and was gliding
+downward with what would have been, to any but a man of the steadiest
+nerve, a frightful velocity. But the Trapper was of too cool and
+courageous temperament to be disturbed even by actual danger. Indeed,
+the swiftness of their downward career, as the sled with a buzz and a
+roar swept along over the resounding crust, stirred the old man's
+blood with a tingle of excitement; while the splendid manner with
+which Wild Bill was keeping it to the course settled upon filled him
+with admiration, and was fast making him a convert to the new method
+of steering.
+
+Downward they flashed. The Trapper's cap had been blown from his head;
+and as the old man sat bolt-upright on his sled, his feet bravely
+planted on the round, his face flushed, and his white hair streaming,
+he looked the very picture of hearty enjoyment. Above his head the
+face of Wild Bill looked actually sharpened by the pressure of the air
+on either cheek as it clove through it; but his lips were bravely set,
+and his eyes were fastened without winking on the big stump ahead,
+toward which they were rushing.
+
+It was at this point that Wild Bill vindicated his ability as a
+steersman, and at the same time barely escaped shipwreck. At the
+proper moment he swept his foot to the left, and the sled, in
+obedience to the pressure, swooped in that direction. But in his
+anxiety to give the stump a wide berth, Bill overdid the pressure that
+was needed a trifle; for in calculating the curve required he had
+failed to allow for the sidewise motion of the sled, and, instead of
+hitting one stump, it looked for an instant as if he would be
+precipitated among a dozen.
+
+"Heave her starn up, Wild Bill! up with her starn, I say," yelled the
+Trapper, "or there won't be a stump left in the clearin'."
+
+With a quickness and courage that would have done credit to
+any steersman,--for the speed at which they were going was
+terrific,--Bill swept his foot to the right, leaning his body well
+over at the same instant. The Trapper instinctively seconded his
+endeavors, and with hands that gripped either side of the sled he hung
+over that side which was upon the point of going into the air. For
+several rods the sled glided along on a single runner, and then,
+righting itself with a lurch, jumped the summit of the last dip, and
+raced away, like a swallow in full flight, toward the lake.
+
+Now, at the edge of the clearing that bounded the shore was a bank of
+considerable size. Shrubs and stunted bushes fringed the crest of it.
+These had been buried beneath the snow, and the crust had formed
+smoothly over them; and as it was upheld by no stronger support than
+such as the hidden shrubbery furnished, it was incapable of sustaining
+any considerable pressure.
+
+Certainly no sled was ever moving faster than was Wild Bill's when it
+came to this point; and certainly no sled ever stopped quicker, for
+the treacherous crust dropped suddenly under it, and the sled was left
+with nothing but the hind part of one of the runners sticking up in
+sight. But though the sled was suddenly checked in its career, the
+Trapper and Wild Bill continued their flight. The former slid from the
+sled without meeting any obstruction, and with the same velocity with
+which he had been moving. Indeed, so little was his position changed,
+that one might almost fancy that no accident had happened, and that
+the old man was gliding forward to the end of the course with an
+adequate structure under him. But with the latter it was far
+different; for, as the sled stopped, he was projected sharply upward
+into the air, and, after turning several somersaults, he actually
+landed in front of the Trapper, and glided along on the slippery
+surface ahead of him. And so the two men shot onward, one after the
+other, while the children cackled from the hill-top, and the woman
+swung her bonnet over her head, and laughed from her position in the
+doorway.
+
+"Bill," called the Trapper, when by dint of much effort they had
+managed to check their motion somewhat, "Bill, ef the cruise be about
+over, I conceit we'd better anchor hereabouts. But I shipped fur the
+voyage, and ye be capt'in, and as ye've finally got the right way to
+steer, I feel pretty safe techin' the futur'."
+
+It was not until they had come to a full stop, and looked around them,
+that they realized the distance they had come; for they had in truth
+slid nearly across the bay.
+
+"I've boated a good many times on these waters, and under
+sarcumstances that called fur 'arnest motion, but I sartinly never
+went across this bay as fast as I've did it to-day. How do ye feel,
+Bill, how do ye feel?"
+
+"A good deal shaken up," was the answer, "a good deal shaken up."
+
+"I conceit as much," answered the Trapper, "I conceit as much, fur ye
+left the sled with mighty leetle deliberation; and when I saw yer legs
+comin' through the air, I sartinly doubted ef the ice would hold ye.
+But ye steered with jedgment; yis, ye steered with jedgment, Bill; and
+I'd said it ef we'd gone to the bottom."
+
+The sun was already set when they returned to the cabin; for,
+selecting a safer course, they had given the children an hour's happy
+sliding. The woman had prepared some fresh tea and a lunch, which they
+ate with lessened appetites, but with humor that never flagged. When
+it was ended, the Old Trapper rose to depart, and with a dignity and
+tenderness peculiarly his own, thus spoke:--
+
+"My good woman," he said, "the moon will soon be up, and the time has
+come fur me to be goin'. I've had a happy day with ye and the leetle
+uns; and the trail over the mountain will seem shorter, as the pups
+and me go home, thinkin' on't. Wild Bill will stay a few days, and put
+things a leetle more to rights, and git up a wood-pile that will keep
+ye from choppin' fur a good while. It's his own thought, and ye can
+thank him accordin'ly." Then, having kissed each of the children, and
+spoken a few words to Wild Bill, he took the woman's hand, and said:--
+
+"The sorrers of life be many, but the Lord never forgits. I've lived
+until my head be whitenin', and I've noted that though He moves
+slowly, He fetches most things round about the time we need 'em; and
+the things that be late in comin', I conceit we shall git somewhere
+furder on. Ye didn't kill the big buck this mornin', but the meat ye
+needed hangs at yer door, nevertheless." And shaking the woman
+heartily by the hand, he whistled to the hounds, and passed out of the
+door. The inmates of the cabin stood and watched him, until, having
+climbed the slope of the clearing, he disappeared in the shadows of
+the forest; and then they closed the door. But more than once Wild
+Bill noted that as the woman stood wiping her dishes, she wiped her
+eyes as well; and more than once he heard her say softly to herself,
+"God bless the dear old man!"
+
+Ay, ay, poor woman, we join thee in thy prayer. God bless the dear old
+man! and not only him, but all who do the deeds he did. God bless them
+one and all!
+
+Over the crusted snow the Trapper held his course, until he came, with
+a happy heart, to his cabin. Soon a fire was burning on his own
+hearthstone, and the hounds were in their accustomed place. He drew
+the table in front, where the fire's fine light fell on his work, and,
+taking some green vines and branches from the basket, began to twine a
+wreath. One he twined, and then he began another; and often, as he
+twined the fadeless branches in, he paused, and long and lovingly
+looked at the two pictures hanging on the wall; and when the wreaths
+were twined, he hung them on the frames, and, standing in front of the
+dumb reminders of his absent ones, he said, "_I miss them so!_"
+
+Ah! friend, dear friend, when life's glad day with you and me is
+passed, when the sweet Christmas chimes are rung for other ears than
+ours, when other hands set the green branches up, and other feet glide
+down the polished floor, may there be those still left behind to twine
+us wreaths, and say, "_We miss them so!_"
+
+And this is the way John Norton the Trapper kept his Christmas.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE MOUNTAIN TORRENT.]
+
+[Illustration: THE VAGABOND'S ROCK.]
+
+
+
+
+JOHN NORTON'S VAGABOND.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+A cabin. A cabin in the woods. Of it I have written before, and of it
+I write again. The same great fireplace piled high with logs fiercely
+ablaze. Again on either side of the fireplace are the hounds gazing
+meditatively into the fire. The same big table, and on it the same
+great book, leather-bound and worn by the hands of many generations.
+And at the strong table, bending over the sacred book, with one huge
+finger marking a sentence, the same whitened head, the same man, large
+of limb and large of feature--John Norton, the Trapper.
+
+"Yis, pups," said the Trapper, speaking to his dogs as one speaks to
+companions in council, "yis, pups, it must go in, for here it be writ
+in the Book--Rover, ye needn't have that detarmined look in yer
+eye--for here it be writ in the Book, I say, '_Do unto others as ye
+would that others should do unto you._'
+
+"I know, old dog, that ye have seed me line the sights on the
+vagabonds, when ye and me have ketched 'em pilferin' the traps or
+tamperin' with the line, and I have trusted yer nose as often as my
+own eyes in trackin' the knaves when they'd got the start of us. And I
+will admit it, Rover, that the Lord gave ye a great gift in yer nose,
+so that ye be able to desarn the difference atween the scent of an
+honest trapper's moccasin and that of a vagabond. But that isn't to
+the p'int, Rover. The p'int is, Christmas be comin' and ye and me and
+Sport, yender, have sot it down that we're to have a dinner, and the
+question in council to-night is, Who shall we invite to our dinner?
+Here we have been arguin' the matter three nights atween us, pups, and
+we didn't git a foot ahead, and the reason that we didn't git a foot
+ahead was, because ye and me, Rover, naterally felt alike, for we have
+never consorted with vagabonds, and we couldn't bear the idee of
+invitin' 'em to this cabin and eatin' with 'em. So, ye and me agreed
+to-night we'd go to the Book and go by the Book, hit or miss. And the
+reason we should go to the Book and by the Book is, because, ef it
+wasn't for the Book, there wouldn't be any Christmas nor any Christmas
+dinner to invite anyone to, and so we went to the Book, and the Book
+says--I will read ye the words, Rover. And, Sport, though ye be a
+younger dog, and naterally of less jedgment, yit ye have yer gifts,
+and I have seed ye straighten out a trail that Rover and me couldn't
+ontangle. So do ye listen, both of ye, like honest dogs, while I read
+the words:--
+
+"'_Give to him that lacketh and from him that hath not withhold not
+thine hand._'
+
+"There it be, Rover,--we are to give to the man that lacks, vagabond
+or no vagabond. Ef he lacks vict'als, we are to give him vict'als; ef
+he lacks garments, we are to give him garments; ef he lacks a
+Christmas dinner, Rover, we are to give him a Christmas dinner. But
+how are we to give him a Christmas dinner onless we give him an invite
+to it? For ye know yerself, Rover, that no vagabond would ever come to
+a cabin where ye and me be onless we axed him to.
+
+"But there's another sentence here somewhere in the Book that bears on
+the p'int we be considerin'. '_When thou makest a dinner_'--that be
+exactly our case, Rover,--'_or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy
+brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also
+bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a
+feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt
+be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be
+recompensed at the resurrection of the just._'
+
+"Furdermore, Rover, there's another passage that the lad, when he was
+on the 'arth, used to say each night afore he went to sleep, whether
+in the cabin or on the boughs. Sport, ye must remember it, for ye was
+his own dog. I am not sartin where it be writ in the Book, but that
+doesn't matter, for we all know the words,--it be from the great
+prayer,--'_Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
+against us_,' and the great prayer, as I conceit, is the only blazin'
+a man can trail by ef he hopes to fetch through to the Great Clearin'
+in peace.
+
+"Now these vagabonds, Rover,--I needn't name 'em to ye,--have
+trespassed agin us; ye and me know it, for we've ketched 'em in their
+devilment, and, what is more to the p'int, the Lord knows it, too, for
+He's had His eye on 'em, and there's one up in the north country that
+wouldn't git an invite to this dinner, Bible or no Bible. But, barrin'
+this knave, who is beyend the range of our trails, there is not a
+single vagabond that has trespassed agin us that we mustn't forgive.
+For this be Christmas time, pups, and Christmas be a time for
+forgivin' and forgittin' all the evil that's been done agin us."
+
+And here the old man paused and looked at the dogs and then gazed long
+and earnestly into the fire. To his face as he gazed came the look of
+satisfaction and a most placid peace. It was evident that if there had
+been a struggle between his natural feelings and his determination to
+celebrate the great Christmas festival in the true Christmas spirit
+the latter had won, and that the Christmas mood had at last entered
+into and possessed his soul. And after an interval he rose and
+carefully closing the great volume said:--
+
+"And now, pups, as we've settled it atween us, and we all stand agreed
+in the matter, I'll git the bark and the coal, and we'll see how the
+decision of the council looks when it be put in writin'."
+
+And in a moment the Trapper was again seated at the table with a large
+piece of birch bark in front of him and a hound on either side.
+
+"I conceit, pups, that the letterin'," said the old man as he
+proceeded to sharpen the piece of charcoal he held in his hands,
+"should be of goodly size, for it may help some in readin', and I
+sartinly know it will help me in writin'."
+
+With this honest confession of his lack of practice in penmanship, he
+proceeded to write:--
+
+"_Any man or animil that be in want of vict'als or garments is
+invited to come on Christmas day--which be next week Thursday--without
+furder axin', to John Norton's cabin, on Long Lake, to eat Christmas
+dinner. Vagabonds included in this invite._"
+
+[Illustration: "Vagabonds included in this invite."]
+
+"I can't say," said the Trapper, as he backed off a few paces and
+looked at the writing critically, "I can't say that the wordin' be
+exactly as the missioners would put it, and as for the spellin', I
+haven't any more confidence in it than a rifle that loads at the
+breech pin. The letterin' sartinly stands out well, for the coal is a
+good un, and I put as much weight on it as I thought it would bear,
+but there is sartinly a good deal of difference atween the ups and
+downs of the markin's, and the lines slope off to'ard the northwest as
+ef they had started out to blaze a trail through to St. Regis. That
+third line looks as ef it would finally come together ef ye'd gin it
+time enough to git round the circle, but the bark had a curve in it
+there, and the coal followed the grain of the bark, and I am not to
+blame for that. Rover, I more than half conceit by the look in yer eye
+that ye see the difference in the size of them letters yerself. But ef
+ye do ye be a wise dog to keep yer face steddy, for ef ye showed yer
+feelin's, old as ye be, I'd edicate ye with the help of a moccasin."
+And he looked at the old dog, whose face, as if he realized the peril
+of his position, bore an expression of supernatural gravity, with
+interrogative earnestness. "Never mind the shape and size of the
+letters or the curve of the lines," he added; "the charcoal markin'
+stands out strong, and any hungry man with a leaky cabin for his home
+can sartinly study out the words, and that's the chief p'int, as I
+understand it."
+
+With this comforting reflection the Trapper made his preparations to
+retire for the night. He placed the skins for the dogs in the
+accustomed spot, lifted another huge log into the monstrous fireplace,
+swept the great hearthstone, bolted the heavy door, and then stretched
+himself upon his bed. But before he slept he gazed long and earnestly
+at the writing on the bark, and murmured: "'Vagabonds included in this
+invite.' Yis, the Book be right, Christmas be a day for forgivin' and
+forgittin'. And even a vagabond, ef he needs vict'als or garments or a
+right sperit, shall be welcome to my cabin." And then he slept.
+
+In the vast and cheerless woods that night were some who were hungry
+and cold and wicked. What were Christmas and its cheer to them? What
+were gifts and giving, or who would spread for them a full table at
+which as guests of honor they might eat and be merry? And above the
+woods was a star leading men toward a manger, and a multitude of
+angels and an Eye that seeth forever the hungry and the cold and the
+wicked. On his bed slept the Trapper, with the look of the Christ on
+his face, and as he slept he murmured:--
+
+"Yis, the Book be right: '_Let him who hath, give to them that hath
+not._'" And above the woods, above the wicked and the cold, above the
+sleeping Trapper, and above the blessed words on the bark on his wall,
+above the spot where the Christ had thus received a forest
+incarnation, a great multitude of the heavenly host broke forth and
+sang:--
+
+"_Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
+men._"
+
+[Illustration: "And above the woods was a star."]
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+
+It was on the day before Christmas, and the sun was at its meridian.
+It was a day of brilliance and prophecy, and the prophecy which the
+Trapper read in the intense sky and vivid brightness of the sun's
+light told him of coming storm.
+
+"Yis," muttered the old man, as he stood just outside the doorway of
+his cabin and carefully studied the signs of forest and sky, "yis,
+this is a weather breeder for sartin. I smell it in the air. The light
+is onnaterally bright and the woods onnaterally still. Snow will be
+flyin' afore another sunrise, and the woods will roar like the great
+lakes in a gale. I am sorry that it's comin', for some will be kept
+from the dinner. It's sartinly strange that the orderin' of the Lord
+is as it is, for a leetle more hurryin' and a leetle more stayin' on
+His part of the things that happen on the 'arth would make mortals a
+good deal happier, as I conceit."
+
+Aye, aye, John Norton; a little more hurrying and a little more
+staying of things that happen on the earth would make mortals much
+happier. The great ship that is to-day a wreck would be sailing the
+sea, and the faces that stare ghastly white from its depths would be
+rosy with life's happy health. The flowers on her tomb would be twined
+in the bride's glossy hair, and the tower that now stands half builded
+would go on to its finishing. The dry fountain would still be in play
+and the leafless tree would stand green in its beauty and bloom. Who
+shall read us the riddle of the ordering in this world? Who shall
+read the riddle, O man of whitened head, O woman whose life is but a
+memory, who shall read us the Trapper's riddle, I say?
+
+"There comes Wild Bill," exclaimed the Trapper joyfully, "and one
+plate will have its eater for sartin." And the old man laughed at the
+recollection of his companion's appetite. "Lord-a-massy! that box on
+his sled is as big as the ark. I wonder ef he has got a drove of
+animils in it."
+
+Had the Trapper known the closeness of his guess as to the contents of
+the huge box he would have marveled at his guessing, for there
+certainly were animals in the box and of a sort that usually are noisy
+enough and sure, at the least provocation, to proclaim their name and
+nature.
+
+But every animal, whether wild or domesticated, has its habits, and
+many of the noisiest of mouths, when the mood is on them, can be as
+dumb as a sphinx, and as Wild Bill came shuffling up on his snowshoes,
+with a box of goodly size lashed to his sled, not a sound proceeded
+therefrom. It is needless to record that the greeting between the two
+men was most hearty. How delightful is the meeting of men of the
+woods! Manly are they in life and manly in their greeting.
+
+"What have ye in the box, Bill?" queried the Trapper good-naturedly.
+"It's big enough to hold a church bell, and a good part of the steeple
+beside."
+
+"It's a Christmas present for you, John Norton," replied Bill
+gleefully. "You don't think I would come to your cabin to-day and not
+bring a present, do you?"
+
+"Gift or no gift, yer welcome would be the same," answered the
+Trapper, "for yer heart and yer shootin' be both right, and ye will
+find the door of my cabin open at yer comin', whether ye come full
+handed or empty, sober or drunk, Wild Bill."
+
+"I haven't touched a drop for twelve months," responded the other.
+"The pledge I gave you above the Christmas box in your cabin here last
+Christmas eve I have kept, and shall keep to the end, John Norton."
+
+"I expected it of ye, yis, I sartinly expected it of ye, Bill, for ye
+came of good stock. Yer granther fit in the Revolution, and a man's
+word gits its value a good deal from his breedin', as I conceit,"
+replied the Trapper. "But what have ye in the box,--bird, beast, or
+fish, Bill?"
+
+"The trail runs this way," answered Bill. "I chopped a whole winter
+four year ago for a man who never paid me a cent for my work at the
+end of it. Last week I concluded to go and collect the bill myself,
+but not a thing could I get out of the knave but what's in the box. So
+I told him I'd take them and call the account settled, for I had read
+the writing on the bark you had nailed up on Indian Carry, and I said:
+'They will help out at the dinner.'" And Bill proceeded to start one
+of the boards with his hatchet.
+
+The Trapper, whose curiosity was now thoroughly excited, applied his
+eye to the opening, and as he did so there suddenly issued from the
+box the most unearthly noises, accompanied by such scratchings and
+clawings as could only have proceeded from animals of their nature
+under such extraordinary treatment as they had experienced.
+
+"Heavens and 'arth!" exclaimed the Trapper, "ye have pigs in that box,
+Bill!"
+
+"That's what I put in it," replied Bill, as he gave it another whack,
+"and that's what will come out of it if I can start the clinchings of
+these nails." And he bent himself with energy to his work.
+
+"Hold up! Hold up, Bill!" cried the Trapper. "This isn't a bit of
+business ye can do in a hurry ef ye expect to git any profit out of
+the transaction. I can see only one of the pigs, but the one I can see
+is not over-burdened with fat, and it's agin reason to expect that he
+will be long in gittin' out when he starts, or wait for ye to scratch
+him when he breaks cover."
+
+"Don't you be afraid of them pigs getting away from me, old man,"
+rejoined Bill, as he pried away at the nails. "I don't expect that the
+one that starts will be as slow as a funeral when he makes his first
+jump, but he won't be the only pig I've caught by the leg when he was
+two feet above the earth."
+
+"Go slow, I say, go slow!" cried the Trapper, now thoroughly alarmed
+at the reckless precipitancy of his companion; "the pigs, as I can
+see, belong to a lively breed, and it is sheer foolishness to risk a
+whole winter's choppin'--"
+
+Not another word of warning did the Old Trapper utter, for suddenly
+the nails yielded, the board flew upward, and out of the box shot a
+pig. It is in the interest of accurate statement and everlasting proof
+of Wild Bill's alertness to affirm and record that the flying pig had
+taken only two jumps before his owner was atop of him, and both
+disappeared over the bank in a whirlwind of flying snow. Nor had the
+Trapper been less dexterous, for no sooner had the sandy colored
+streak shot through the hole made by the hatchet of the man who had
+sledded him forty miles that he might present him to the Trapper as a
+contribution to the Christmas dinner, than the old man dropped himself
+on to the box, thereby effectually barring the exit of the other
+porcine sprinter.
+
+"Get your gun, get your gun, Old Trapper!" yelled Bill from the
+whirlwind of snow. "Get your gun, I say, for this infernal pig is
+getting the best of me."
+
+"I can't do it, Bill," cried the Trapper; "I can't do it. I am doin'
+picket duty on the top of this box, with a big hole under me and
+another pig under the hole."
+
+At the same instant the pig and Wild Bill shot up the bank into full
+view. Bill had lost his grip on the leg, but had made good his hold on
+an ear, and had the Trapper been a betting man, it is doubtful if he
+would have placed money on either. Had he done so, the odds would have
+been slightly in favor of the pig.
+
+"Hold on to him, Bill!" cried the Trapper, laughing at the spectacle
+in front of him till the tears stood in his eyes. "Hold on to him, I
+say. Remember, ye have three months of choppin' in yer grip; the pig
+under me is gittin' lively, and the profits of the other three months
+be onsartin. O Lord!" ejaculated the old man, partially sobered at the
+prospect, "here comes the pups and the devil himself will now be to
+pay!"
+
+The anxiety and alarming prediction of the Trapper were in the next
+instant fully justified, for the two dogs, unaccustomed to the scent
+and cries of the animals, but thoroughly aroused at the noise and fury
+of the contest, came tearing down the slope through the snow at full
+speed. The pig saw them coming and headed for the southern angle of
+the cabin, with Bill streaming along at his side. In an instant he
+reappeared at the northern corner, with Bill still fastened to his ear
+and the hounds in full cry just one jump behind him. It is not an
+accurate statement to say that Wild Bill was running beside the pig,
+for his stride was so elongated that when one of his feet left the
+ground it was impossible to predict when or where it would strike the
+earth, or whether it would ever strike again. The two flying objects,
+as they came careering down the slope directly toward the Trapper, who
+was heroically holding himself above the aperture in the box with the
+porcine volcano in full play under him, presented the dreadful
+appearance of Biela's comet when, rent by some awful explosion, the
+one half was on the point of taking its eternal farewell of the other.
+
+"Lift the muzzle of yer piece, Wild Bill!" yelled the Trapper. "Lift
+the muzzle, I say, and allow three feet for windage, or ye'll make me
+the bull's-eye for yer pig!"
+
+The advice, or rather, let us say, the expostulation of the Trapper,
+was the best which, under the circumstances, could be given, but no
+directions, however correct, might prevent the dreadful catastrophe.
+The old man stuck heroically to his post, and the pig stuck with equal
+pertinacity to his course. He struck the box on which the Trapper sat
+with the force of a stone from a catapult, and dogs, men, and pigs
+disappeared in the snow.
+
+When the Trapper had wiped the snow from his eyes, the spectacle that
+he beheld was, to say the least, extraordinary. The head of one dog
+was in sight above the snow, and nigh the head he could make out the
+hind legs and tail of another. In an instant Wild Bill's cap came in
+sight, and from under it a series of sounds was coming as if he were
+talking earnestly to himself, while far down the trail leading to the
+river he caught the glimpse of two sandy-colored objects going at a
+speed to which matter can only attain when it has become permanently
+detached from this earth and superior to the laws of gravitation.
+
+For several minutes not a word was said. The catastrophe had been so
+overwhelming and the wreck of Bill's hopes so complete that it made
+speech on his part impossible. The Trapper, from a fine sense of
+feeling and regard for his companion, remained silent, and the dogs,
+uncertain as to what was expected of them, kept their places in the
+snow. At last the old man struggled to his feet and silently started
+toward the cabin. Wild Bill followed in equal silence, and the dogs as
+mutely brought up the rear. The depressed, not to say woe-begone,
+appearance of the singular procession certainly had in it, in the
+fullest measure, all the elements of humor. In this suggestive manner
+the column filed into the cabin. The dogs stole softly to their
+accustomed places, Wild Bill dropped into a chair, and the Trapper
+addressed himself mechanically to some domestic concerns. At last the
+silence became oppressive. Wild Bill turned in his chair, and, facing
+the Trapper, said:--
+
+"It's too devilish bad!"
+
+"Ef ye was in council, ginerals or privits, ye'd carry every vote with
+ye on that statement, Bill," said the Trapper with deliberation.
+
+"Do you think there is any chance, old man?" queried Bill, earnestly.
+
+"Not on the 'arth, Bill," answered the Trapper. "Ye see," he
+continued, "the snow wasn't so deep on my side the trail and I had my
+eye on them pigs afore ye got yer head above the drift, and I noted
+the rate of their movin'. They was goin' mighty fast, Bill, mighty
+fast. Ye must take into account that they had the slope in their favor
+and sartin experiences behind. I've sighted on a good many things that
+was gifted in runnin' and flyin', and I never kept a bullit in the
+barrel when I wanted feather, fur, or meat, because of the swiftness
+of the motion, but ef I had ben standin' ten rods from that trail and
+loved the meat like a settler, I wouldn't have wasted powder or lead
+on them pigs, Bill." And the two men, looking into each other's faces,
+laughed like boys.
+
+"Where do you think they'll fetch up, John Norton?" queried Bill, at
+last.
+
+"They won't fetch up," replied the Trapper, wiping his eyes,
+"leastwise not this year. Henry has told me that it is twenty-four
+thousand miles around the 'arth, and it looked to me as ef them pigs
+had started out to sarcumnavigate it, and I conceit it'll be about a
+month afore they will come through this clearin' agin. I may be a
+little amiss in my calkerlatin', but a day more or less won't make any
+difference with you and me, nor with the pigs, either, Bill. They may
+be a trifle leaner when they pass the cabin next time, but their gait
+will be jest the same, as I conceit." And after a moment, he asked,
+sympathetically:--
+
+"How far did ye sled them pigs, Bill?"
+
+"Forty mile," answered Bill, dejectedly.
+
+"It's a goodly distance, considerin' the natur' of the animils,"
+replied the Trapper, "and ye must have been tempted to onload the sled
+more'n once, Bill."
+
+"I would have unloaded it," responded the other, "I would have
+unloaded the cussed things more than once, but I had nothing else to
+bring you, and I thought they'd look mighty fine standing up on the
+table with an apple in each mouth and their tails curled up, as I've
+seen them at the barbecues."
+
+"So they would, so they would, Bill; but ye never could have kept 'em
+on the table. No amount of cookin' would have ever taken the speed out
+of them pigs. Ef ye had nailed 'em to the table they'd have taken the
+table and cabin with 'em. It's better as it is, Bill; so cheer up and
+we'll git at the cookin'."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Cooking is more than an art; it is a gift. Genius, and genius alone,
+can prepare a feast fit for the feaster. Woe be to the wretch who sees
+nothing in preparing food for the mouth of man save manual labor. Such
+a knave should be basted on his own spit. An artist in eating can
+alone appreciate an artist in cooking. When food is well prepared it
+delights the eye, it intoxicates the nose, it pleases the tongue, it
+stimulates the appetite, and prolongs the healthy craving which it
+finally satisfies, even as the song of the mother charms the child
+which it gradually composes for slumber.
+
+The Old Trapper was a man of gifts and among his gifts was that of
+cooking. For sixty years he had been his own _chef_, with a continent
+for his larder, and to more than one gourmand of the great cities the
+tastiness and delicacy of his dishes had been a revelation--more than
+one epicure of the clubs had gone from his cabin not only with a full
+but a surprised stomach.
+
+It is easy to imagine the happiness that this host of the woods
+experienced in preparing the feast for the morrow. He entered upon his
+labors, whose culmination was to be the great event of the year, with
+the alacrity of one who had mentally discussed and decided every point
+in anticipation. There was no cause for haste, and hence there was no
+confusion. He could not foretell the number of his guests, but this
+did in no way disconcert him. He had already decided that no matter
+how many might come there should be enough. In Wild Bill he had an
+able and willing assistant, and all through the afternoon and well
+into the evening the two men pushed on the preparation for the great
+dinner.
+
+The large table, constructed of strong maple plank, was sanded and
+scoured until it shone almost snowy white. On it was placed a buck,
+roasted a la barbecue, the skin and head skillfully reconnected with
+the body and posed, muzzle lifted, antlers laid well back, head
+turned, ears alert, as he stood in the bush when the Trapper's bullet
+cut him down. At one end of the table a bear's cub was in the act of
+climbing a small tree, while at the other end a wild goose hung in
+mid-air, suspended by a fine wire from the ceiling, with neck
+extended, wings spread, legs streaming backward, as he looked when he
+drove downward toward open water to his last feeding.
+
+The great cabin was a bower of beauty and fragrance. The pungent odor
+of gummy boughs and of bark, under which still lurked the
+amber-colored sweat of heated days and sweltering nights, pervaded it.
+On one side of the cabin hung a huge piece of white cotton cloth, on
+which the Trapper, with a vast outlay of patience, had stitched small
+cones of the pine into the conventional phrase,
+
+                    "A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YE ALL."
+
+"It must have taken you a good many evenings to have done that job,"
+said Wild Bill, pointing with the ladle he held in his hand toward the
+illuminated bit of sheeting.
+
+"It did, Bill, it did," replied the Trapper, "and a solemn and a
+lively time I had of it, for I hadn't but six big needles in the cabin
+and I broke five on 'em the fust night, for the cones was gummy and
+hard, and it takes a good, stiff needle to go through one ef the man
+who is punchin' it through hasn't any thimble and the ball of his
+thumb is bleedin'. Lord-a-massy, Bill, Rover knew the trouble I was
+havin' as well as I did, for arter I had broken the second needle and
+talked about it a moment, the old dog got oneasy and began to edge
+away, and by the time I had broken the fourth needle and got through
+washin' my thumb he had backed clean across the cabin and sat jammed
+up in the corner out there flatter than a shingle."
+
+"And what did he do when the fifth needle broke?" queried Bill, as he
+thrust his ladle into the pot.
+
+"Heavens and 'arth, Bill, why do ye ax sech foolish questions? Ye know
+it wasn't a minit arter that fifth needle broke, leavin' the bigger
+half stickin' under the nail of my forefinger, afore both of the pups
+was goin' out through the door there as ef the devil was arter 'em
+with a fryin' pan, and a chair a leetle behind him. But a man can't
+stand everything, ef he be a Christian man and workin' away to git a
+Christmas sign ready; can he, Bill?"
+
+It is in harmony with the facts of the case for me to record that Wild
+Bill never answered the Old Trapper's very proper interrogation, but
+sat down on the floor and thrust his legs up in the air and yelled,
+and after the spasm left him he got up slowly, sat down in a chair,
+and looked at the Trapper with wet eyes and mouth wide open.
+
+The Old Trapper evidently relished the mirthfulness of his companion,
+for his face was lighted with the amused expression of the humorist
+when he has told to an appreciative comrade an experience against
+himself. But in an instant his countenance dropped, and, looking at
+the huge kettle that stood half buried in the coals and warm ashes in
+front of the glowing logs and into which Bill had been so determinedly
+thrusting his ladle only a moment before, he exclaimed:--
+
+"Bill, I have lost all confidence in yer cookin' abilities. Ye said
+that ye knew the natur' of corn meal and that ye could fill a puddin'
+bag jediciously, and though it isn't ten minits sence ye tied the
+string and the meal isn't half swollen yit, yer whole bag there is on
+the p'int of comin' out of the pot."
+
+At this alarming announcement Wild Bill jumped for the fireplace and
+in an instant he had placed the spade-shaped end of his ladle, whose
+handle was full three feet long, at the very center of the lid that
+was already lifted two inches from the rim of the kettle, and was
+putting a good deal of pressure upon it. Confident in his ability to
+resist any further upward tendency, and to escape the threatened
+catastrophe, he coolly replied:--
+
+"It strikes me that you are a good deal excited over a little matter,
+old man. The meal has got through swelling--"
+
+"No, it hasn't, no, it hasn't," returned the Trapper. "Half the
+karnels haven't felt the warmin' of the hot water yit, and I can see
+that the old lid is liftin'."
+
+"No, it isn't lifting, either, John Norton," returned Wild Bill
+determinedly; "and it won't lift unless the shaft of this ladle
+snaps."
+
+"The ladle be a good un," returned the Trapper, now fully assured that
+no human power could avert the coming catastrophe, and keenly enjoying
+his companion's extremity and the humor of the situation. "The ladle
+be a good un, for I fashioned it from an old paddle of second growth
+ash, whose blade I had twisted in the rapids, and ye can put yer whole
+weight on it."
+
+"Old man," cried Bill, now thoroughly alarmed, "the lid is lifting."
+
+"Sartinly, sartinly," returned the Trapper. "It's lifted fully half an
+inch sence ye placed yer ladle to it, and it'll keep on liftin'. Rover
+knows what is comin' as well as I do, for the old dog, as ye see,
+begins to edge away, and Sport has started for the door already."
+
+"What shall I do, John Norton? What shall I do? The lid is lifting
+again."
+
+"Is yer ladle well placed, Bill? Have ye got it in the center of the
+lid?" returned the Trapper.
+
+"Dead in the center, old man," responded Bill, confidently, "dead in
+the center."
+
+"Put yer whole weight on it, then, and don't waste yer strength in
+talkin'. Ye know yer own strength, and I know the strength of Indian
+meal when hot water gits at it, and ef the ladle don't slip or the
+kettle-lid split it's about nip and tuck atween ye."
+
+"Old man," yelled Bill, as he put his whole weight on the ladle
+handle, "this lid has lifted again. Get a stick and come here and help
+me."
+
+"No, no, Bill," answered the Trapper, "the puddin' is of yer own
+mixin' and ye must attend to the job yerself. I stuck to yer box with
+a hole underneath me and a pig under the hole till somethin' happened
+and ye must stick to yer puddin'."
+
+"But I can't hold it down, John Norton," yelled poor Bill. "The lid
+has lifted again and the whole darned thing is coming out of the
+pot."
+
+"I conceit as much, I conceit as much," answered the Trapper. "There
+go the pups out of the door, Bill, and when the dogs quit the cabin
+it's time for the master to foller." And the old man started for the
+door.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The catastrophe! Who could describe it? Bill's strength was adequate,
+but no human power could save the pudding. Even as Bill put his
+strength on to the ladle, the wooden cover of the kettle split with a
+sharp concussion in the middle, the kettle was upset, and poor Bill,
+covered with ashes and pursued by a cloud of steam, shot out of the
+door and plunged into the snow.
+
+Oh, laughter, sweet laughter, laugh on and laugh ever! In the smile of
+the babe thou comest from heaven. In the girl's rosy dimples, in the
+boy's noisy glee, in the humor of strong men, and the wit of sweet
+women, thou art seen as a joy and a comfort to us humans. When fortune
+deserts and friends fall away, he who keeps thee keeps solace and
+health, hope and heart, in his bosom. When the head groweth white and
+the eye getteth dim, and the soul goeth out through the slow closing
+gates of the senses, be thou then in us and of us, thou sweet angel of
+heaven, that the smile of the babe in its first happy sleep may
+come back to our faces as we lie at the gates in our last
+and--perhaps--most peaceful slumber!
+
+The laughter and the labor of the day were ended. The work of
+preparation for the dinner on the morrow had extended well into the
+evening, and at its conclusion the two men, satisfied with the result
+of the pleasant task and healthily weary, retired to their cots. It
+is needless to say that the thoughts of each were happy and their
+feelings peaceful, and to such slumber comes quickly. Outside the
+world was white and still, with the stillness that precedes the coming
+of a winter storm. Through the voiceless darkness a few feathery
+prophecies of coming snow were settling lazily downward. The great
+stones in the fireplace were still white with heat, and the cabin was
+filled with the warm afterglow of burned logs and massive brands that
+ever and anon broke apart and flamed anew.
+
+Suddenly the Trapper lifted himself on his couch, and, looking over
+toward his companion, said:--
+
+"Bill, didn't ye hear the bells ring?"
+
+Wild Bill lifted himself to his elbow, and in sheer astonishment
+stared at the Trapper, for he well knew there wasn't a bell within
+fifty miles. The old man noticed the astonishment of his companion
+and, realizing the incredibility of the supposition, said as if in
+explanation of the strangeness of his questioning:--
+
+"This be the night on which memory takes the home trail, Bill, and the
+thoughts of the aged go backward." And, laying his head again on the
+pillow, he murmured: "I sartinly conceited I heerd the bells ringin'."
+And then he slept.
+
+Aye, aye, Old Trapper; we of whitening heads know the truth of thy
+saying and thy dreaming. Thou didst hear the bells ring. For often as
+we sleep on Christmas eve the ringing of bells comes to us. Marriage
+peal and funeral knell, chimes and tolling, clash of summons and
+measured stroke, dying noises from a dead past swelling and
+sinking, sinking and swelling, like falling and failing surf on a
+wreck-strewn beach. Ah, me! where be the ships, the proud,
+white-sailed ships, the rich-laden ships, whose broken timbers and
+splintered spars lie now dank, weed-grown, sand-covered, on that
+sorrowful shore, on that mournfully resounding shore of our past?
+
+[Illustration: "Where be the ships?"]
+
+But other bells, thank God, sound for us all, Old Trapper, on
+Christmas eve,--not the bells of the past, but the bells of the
+future. And they ring loud and clear, and they will ring forever, for
+they are swung by the angels of God. And they tell of a new life, a
+new chance, and a new opportunity for us all.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Morning dawned. The day verified the Trapper's prophecy, for it came
+with storm. The mountain back of the cabin roared as if a�rial surf
+was breaking against it. The air was thick with snow that streamed,
+whirled, and eddied through it dry and light as feathers of down.
+
+"Never mind the storm, Bill," said the Trapper cheerily, as he pushed
+the door open in the gray dawn and looked out into the maze of
+whirling, rushing snowflakes. "A few may be hindered, and one or two
+fetch through a leetle late, but there'll be an 'arnest movement of
+teeth when the hour for eatin' comes and the plates be well filled."
+
+Dinner was called prompt to the hour, and again was the old man's
+prediction realized. The table lacked not guests, for nearly every
+chair was occupied. Twenty men had breasted the storm that they might
+be at that dinner, and some had traversed a thirty mile trail that
+they might honor the old man and share his generous cheer. It was a
+remarkable and, perhaps we may say, a motley company that the Trapper
+looked upon as he took his place, knife and fork in hand, at the head
+of the table, with a hound on either side of his great chair, to
+perform the duty of host and chief carver.
+
+"Friends," said the Trapper, standing erect in his place and looking
+cheerfully at the row of bearded and expectant faces on either hand in
+front of him, "friends, I axed ye to come and eat this Christmas
+dinner with me because I love the companionship of the woods and
+hated, on this day of human feastin' and gladness, to eat my food
+alone. I also conceited that some of ye felt as I did, and that the
+day would be happier ef we spent it together. I knew, furdermore, that
+some of ye were not born in the woods, but were newcomers, driven here
+as a canoe to a beach in a gale, and that the day might be long and
+lonesome to ye ef ye had to stay in yer cabins from mornin' till night
+alone by yerselves. And I also conceited that here and there might be
+a man who had been onfortunit in his trappin' or his venturs in the
+settlements, and might act'ally be in need of food and garments, or it
+may be he had acted wickedly at times, and had lost confidence in his
+own goodness and the goodness of others, and I said I will make the
+tarms of the invitin' broad enough to include each and all, whoever
+and whatever he may be.
+
+"And now, friends," continued the old man, "I be glad to see ye at my
+table, and I hope ye have brought a good appetite with ye, for the
+vic'tals be plenty and no one need scrimp the size of his eatin'. Let
+us all eat heartily and be merry, for this be Christmas. Ef we've had
+bad luck in the past we'll hope for better luck in the futur' and take
+heart. Ef we've been heavy-hearted or sorrowful we will chirk up. Ef
+any have wronged us we will forgive and forgit. For this be Christmas,
+friends, and Christmas be a day for forgivin' and forgittin.' And now,
+then," continued the old man, as he flourished his knife and grasped
+the huge fork preparatory to plunging it into the venison haunch in
+front of him, "with good appetites and a cheerful mind let us all fall
+to eatin'."
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+
+Thus went the feasting. Hunger had brought its appetite to the
+plentiful table, and the well cooked viands provoked its indulgence.
+If the past of any of the Trapper's guests had been sorrowful, the
+unhappiness of it for the moment was forgotten. Stories crisp as
+snow-crust and edged with aptness, happy memories and reminiscences of
+frolic and fun, sly hits and keen retorts, jokes and laughter,
+rollicked around the table and shook it with mirthful explosions. The
+merriment was at its height when a loud summons sounded upon the door.
+It was so imperious as well as so unexpected that every noise was
+instantly hushed, and every face at the table was turned in surprise
+to wait the entrance.
+
+"Come in," cried the Trapper, cheerily; "whoever ye be, ye be welcome
+ef ye be a leetle late."
+
+The response of him who so emphatically sought admission to the feast
+was as prompt as his summons had been determined. For, without an
+instant's delay or the least hesitancy of movement, the great door was
+pushed suddenly inward and a man stepped into the room.
+
+A sturdy fellow he was, swarth of skin and full whiskered. His hair
+was black and coarse and grown to his shoulders. His eyes were black
+as night, largely orbed under heavy brows, not lacking a certain
+wicked splendor. His face was strongly featured and stamped in every
+line and curve and prominence with the impress of unmistakable power.
+In his right hand he carried a rifle, and in his left a bundle, snugly
+packed and protected from the storm in wrappings of oiled cloth. The
+strong light, into the circle of which he had so suddenly stepped,
+blinded him for a moment, while to those who sat staring at him it
+brought out with vivid distinctiveness every feature of his strong
+and, save for a certain hardness of expression, handsome face. It was
+evident that the man, whoever he was and whatever he might be, was
+under the pressure of some impulse or conviction which had urged him
+on to the Trapper's cabin and the Trapper's presence. For, no sooner
+had he closed the door and shaken the snow, with which he was covered,
+from his garments, than, regardless of those who sat staring in
+startled interrogation at him, he strode to the head of the table
+where the Old Trapper sat, and, looking him straight in the face,
+said:--
+
+"Do you know who I am, John Norton?"
+
+"Sartinly," answered the Trapper, "ye be Shanty Jim, and ye have
+camped these three year and more at the outlet of Bog Lake."
+
+"Do you know that I am a thief, and a sneak thief at that?" continued
+the newcomer, speaking with a fierce directness that was startling.
+
+"I've conceited ye was," answered the Trapper, calmly.
+
+"Do you know it, know it to a certainty?" and the words came out of
+his mouth like the thrust of a knife.
+
+"Yis, I know that ye be a thief, Shanty Jim," replied the Trapper,
+"know it to a sartinty."
+
+"Do you know that I have stolen skins from you, old man, skins and
+traps both?" continued the other.
+
+"I laid in ambush for ye once at the falls of Bog River, and I seed ye
+take an otter from a trap that I sot," replied the Trapper.
+
+"Why didn't you shoot me when I stood skin in hand?" queried the
+self-confessed thief.
+
+"I can't tell ye," answered the Trapper, "fer my eye was at the sights
+and my finger on the trigger, and the feelin' of natur' was strong
+within me to crop one of yer ears then and there, Shanty Jim, but
+somethin', mayhap the sperit of the Lord, staid my finger, and ye went
+with yer thievin' in yer hand to yer camp ontetched and onhindered."
+
+"Do you know what brought me to this cabin and to your presence--the
+presence of the man whose skins and whose traps I have stolen--and
+made me confess to his face and before these men here that I am a
+thief and a scoundrel; do you know what brought me here, a miserable
+cuss that I am and have been for years, John Norton?" And the man's
+speech was the speech of one who had been educated to use words
+rightly and was marked with intense, even dramatic, earnestness.
+
+"I can't conceit, onless the sperit of the Lord."
+
+"The spirit of the Lord had nothing to do with it," interrupted the
+other fiercely. "If there is any such influence at work in this world
+as the preachers tell of, why has it not prevented me from being a
+thief? Why did it not prevent me from doing what I did and being what
+I was in my youth,--me, whose mother was an angel and whose father was
+a patriarch? No, it was nothing under God's heavens, old man, but your
+invitation scrawled with a coal on a bit of birch bark inviting anyone
+in these woods who needed victuals and clothes and a right spirit to
+come to your cabin on Christmas day; and had you written nothing else
+I would not have cared a cuss for it or for you, but you did write
+something else, and it was this: 'Vagabonds included in this invite.'
+
+"When I read that, old man, my breath left me and I stood and stared
+at the letters on that bark as a devil might gaze at a pardon signed
+with the seal manual of the Almighty, for in my hand was a trap that
+bore the stamp 'J. N.' and the skin of an otter I had taken from the
+trap. And there I stood, a thief and a scoundrel, with your property
+in my hands and read your invitation to all the needy in the woods to
+come to your cabin on Christmas day and that vagabonds were
+included."
+
+"That meant you, by thunder!" exclaimed Wild Bill.
+
+"Yes, it did mean me," returned Shanty Jim, "and I knew it. Standing
+there in the snow with the stolen skin and trap in my hand, I realized
+what I was and what John Norton was and the difference between him and
+myself and most of the world. I went to the tree to which the bark
+that bore the blessed letters was nailed; I took it down from the
+tree; I placed it next my bosom and buttoned my coat above it and,
+thus resting upon my heart, I bore it to my shanty."
+
+"It was as good as a Bible to you," said Wild Bill.
+
+"A Bible!" rejoined the man with emphasis. "Better than all Bibles.
+Better than churches and preachers, better than formal texts and
+utterances, for that bit of bark told me of a man here in the woods
+good enough and big enough to forgive and forget. All that night I sat
+and gazed at that piece of bark and the writing on it, and as I gazed
+my heart melted within me. For there it was ever before my
+eyes--'Vagabonds included in this invite.' 'Vagabonds included in this
+invite.' And finally the words passed into the air, and wherever I
+looked I saw, 'Vagabonds included in this invite.'"
+
+"Yis, them be the very words I writ," said the Trapper, gravely.
+
+"And I saw more than the words written on the bark, John Norton,"
+resumed the man. "For looking at it I saw all my past life and the
+evil of it and what a scoundrel I had become; my eyes saw with a new
+sight, and I said, when the sun comes I will rise and go to the man
+who wrote those words and tell him what they did for me. And here I
+am, a vagabond who has accepted your invitation to spend Christmas
+with you, and here in this pack are the skins and the traps I have
+stolen from you, and I ask your forgiveness and that you will take my
+hand in proof of it, that I may come to your table feeling that I am a
+man, and a vagabond no longer."
+
+"Heart and hand be yours now and forever, Shanty Jim," cried the
+Trapper, joyfully; and, rising from his chair, he met the outstretched
+hand of the repentant vagabond with his own hearty grasp. "And may the
+Lord be with ye ever more."
+
+"Amen!" It was Wild Bill, the once drunkard, who said the sweet word
+of prayer and assent, and he said it softly. And that murmur of amen
+and amen went round the great table like the murmur of prayer and of
+praise. And then it passed out and rose up from the cabin, and the air
+in its joy passed it on, and the stars took it up and thrilled it
+around their vast courses of glorified light, and through the high
+heavens it sang itself onward from order to order of angels until it
+reached Him whom no man hath seen or may ever see, in all and over
+all, God! blessed forever!
+
+Has Nature knowledge? Is she conscious of the evil and the good among
+men, and has she a heart that saddens at their sorrow and rejoices in
+their joy? Perhaps. For, suddenly, even as the two men joined their
+hands, the fury of the storm checked itself, and a stillness--the
+stillness of a great calm--fell on the woods, and through the sudden,
+the unexpected, the blessed stillness, to the ears of one of the two
+men--yea, to him who had forgiven--there came the melody of bells
+swinging slowly and softly to and fro.
+
+Oh, bells, invisible bells! Bells of the soul, bells high in heaven,
+swing softly, swing low, swing sweet, and swing ever for us, one and
+all, when we at our tables sit feasting. Swing for us living, swing
+for us dying, and may the cause of your swinging be our forgiving and
+forgetting.
+
+"John Norton," said the man, "you have called me Shanty Jim, and that
+is well, for in the woods here that is my name, but in the city where
+I lived and whence I fled, fled because of my misdeeds, years ago, I
+have another name, a name of power and wealth and honor for more than
+two centuries. There I have a home, and in that home to-night sits my
+aged father and white-haired mother. I am going back to them clothed
+and in my right mind. Think of it, Old Trapper, going back to my home,
+my boyhood's home, to my father and my mother. All day as I tramped on
+the trail toward your cabin, my mind has been filled with memories of
+the past, and the words of a sweet old song I used to sing when too
+young to feel the tenderness of it, have been ringing in my ears."
+
+"Sing us the song, sing us the song!" cried Wild Bill, and every man
+at the table cried with him, "Sing us the song!"
+
+"Aye, aye," assented the Trapper, "sing us the song, Shanty Jim; we be
+men of the woods at this table, and some of us have had losses and
+sorrers, and all of us have memories of happy days that be gone. Stand
+here by my side and sing us the song that has been ringin' in yer ears
+all day. This is a table of feastin', and feastin' means more than
+eatin'. Sing us the song that tells ye of the past, of yer boyhood's
+days and father and mother."
+
+Oh, the secrets of the woods! How many have fled to them for
+concealment and refuge! In them piety has built its retreat, learning
+has sought retirement, broken pride a mask, and misfortune a haven.
+And in response to the Trapper's invitation there had come to his
+cabin and were now grouped about his table more of ability, more of
+knowledge, more of struggle and failure, and more of reminiscence than
+might be found, perhaps, in the same number of guests at any other
+table on that Christmas day in the world.
+
+Never did singer sing sweeter or more touching song, or to more
+receptive company.
+
+    "Backward, turn backward, oh, Time, in your flight,
+    Make me a child again just for to-night.
+    Mother, come back from the echoless shore,
+    Take me again to your heart, as of yore;
+    Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care,
+    Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair,
+    Over my slumbers your loving watch keep;--
+    Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.
+
+      CHORUS:--"Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace,
+               With your light lashes just sweeping my face,
+               Never hereafter to wake or to weep;--
+               Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.
+
+    "Over my heart, in the days that are flown,
+    No love like mother-love ever has shone;
+    No other worship abides and endures,
+    Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours;
+    None like a mother can charm away pain
+    From the sick soul and the world-weary brain.
+    Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids creep;--
+    Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.
+
+      CHORUS.--
+
+    "Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,
+    Fall on your shoulders again, as of old;
+    Let it drop over my forehead to-night,
+    Shading my faint eyes away from the light;
+    For with its sunny-edged shadows once more,
+    Haply, will throng the sweet visions of yore;
+    Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep;--
+    Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep."
+
+      CHORUS.--
+
+Never was the sweet and touching song sung under more suggestive
+circumstances, and never was it received into more receptive hearts.
+The voice of the repentant vagabond was of the finest quality, a pure,
+resonant tenor, and, through the splendid avenue of expression which
+the words and music of the song made for his emotions, he poured his
+soul forth without restraint. The effect of his effort was what would
+be expected when the character of the audience and the occasion is
+considered. Many an eye was wet with tears, and the voices that took
+up the refrain here and there trembled with emotion. The Old Trapper,
+himself, was not unmoved, for, as the song closed, after a few moments
+of silence, he said:--
+
+"Ye sang the song well, Shanty Jim, and many be the memories it has
+stirred in the breasts of us all. May yer home-comin' be as happy as
+was the boy's we read of in the Scriptur', although I never could
+conceit why the mother was not there to go forth to meet him, and fall
+on his neck with the father, and ef I'd had the writin' of it I'd had
+the mother git to him a leetle fust, and hers the fust arms that was
+thrown round his neck, for that would be more nateral, as I conceit.
+And I sartinly trust, as do all of us here, that ye will find mother
+and father both waitin' and watchin' for ye when the curve of the
+trail brings ye in the sight of the cabin. And ye sartinly will take
+with ye the good wishes of us all. Come, take the chair here by my
+side, and we will all talk as we eat; aye, and sing, too, for this be
+Christmas, and Christmas be the time for eatin' and singin', but,
+above all else, for forgivin' and forgittin'." At the word the happy
+feasters went on with the feasting.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Long and merry was the meal. As the hours passed the eating ceased,
+and the feast of reason and the flow of soul began. Memories of other
+days were recalled, confessions made, sorrow for misdoings felt and
+spoken, and, gradually growing, as grows the light of dawn, a fine
+atmosphere of hope, charity, and courage spread from heart to heart,
+until at last it filled with its genial and illuminating presence
+every bosom. In such a mood on the part of the host and guests alike
+the feast came to its close. His Christmas dinner had been all that
+the Old Trapper had hoped, and his heart was filled with happiness. He
+rose from his chair, and, standing erect in his place, said:--
+
+"Ye tell me that the time has come for ye to go, and I dare say ye be
+right, but I be sorry we must part, for in partin' we be never sure of
+a meetin', and, therefore, as I conceit, all the partin's on the 'arth
+be more or less sad, but all parted trails, it may be, will come
+together in the eend. But afore ye go I want to thank ye for comin',
+and I hope ye will all come agin, and whenever yer needs or yer
+feelin's incline ye this way. One thing I want to say to ye in goin',
+and I want ye to take it away with ye, for it may help some of ye to
+aid some onfortunit man and to feel as happy as I feel to-night. It is
+this"--and here the old man paused a moment and looked with the face
+of an angel at his guests as they stood gazing at him; then he
+impressively said:--
+
+"I've lived nigh on to eighty year, and my head be whitenin' with the
+comin' and goin' of the years I have lived, and the Book has long been
+in my cabin. I have kept many a Christmas alone and in company, both,
+but never afore have I knowed the raal meanin' of the day nor read the
+lesson of it aright. And this be the lesson that I have larned and the
+one I want ye all to take away with ye as ye go--that Christmas is a
+day of feastin' and givin' and laughin', but, above everythin' else,
+it is the day for forgivin' and forgittin'. Some of ye be young and
+may yer days be long on the 'arth, and some of yer heads be as white
+as mine and yer years be not many, but be that as it may, whether our
+Christmas days be many or few, when the great day comes round let us
+remember in good or ill fortun', alone or with many, that Christmas,
+above all else, is the day for forgivin' and forgittin'."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The guests were gone and the Trapper seated himself in front of the
+fireplace, and called the two dogs to his side. It was a signal that
+they had heard many times and they responded with happy hearts. Each
+rested his muzzle on the Trapper's knee, and fixed his large hazel,
+love-lighted eyes wistfully on his master's face. The old man placed a
+large and age-wrinkled hand on either head, and murmured: "Whether ye
+be in sorrer or joy, friends come and go, but, ontil death enters
+kennel or cabin, the hunter and his hounds bide together. The lad
+camps beyend sight and beyend hearin'. Henry be on the other side of
+the world, to-night, and guests be gone. Rover, yer muzzle be as gray
+as my head, and few be livin' of the many we have met on the trail."
+And the Trapper lifted his eyes and looked around the large and empty
+room, and then added:--
+
+"It took me a good many years, yis, it sartinly took me a good many
+years, but, if I've larned the lesson of Christmas a leetle late, I've
+larned it at last. But the cabin does look a leetle empty now that the
+guests be gone. No, the lad can never come back, and Henry is on the
+other side of the world, and there is no good in longin'. But I do
+wish I could jest tech the boy's hand."
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD TRAPPER AND HIS DOGS.
+
+"Friends come and go, but until death enters kennel or cabin, the
+hunter and his hounds bide together."]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ah, friends, dear friends, as years go on and heads get gray--how fast
+the guests do go! Touch hands, touch hands with those that stay.
+Strong hands to weak, old hands to young, around the Christmas board,
+touch hands. The false forget, the foe forgive, for every guest will
+go and every fire burn low and cabin empty stand. Forget, forgive, for
+who may say that Christmas day may ever come to host or guest again.
+Touch hands.
+
+
+
+
+W. H. H.--ADIRONDACK--MURRAY'S
+
+COMPLETE
+WORKS
+
+
+CAREFULLY REVISED AND ENLARGED BY THE AUTHOR
+PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN
+
+UNIFORM EDITION
+
+
+ADIRONDACK TALES
+
+
+In all matters relating to his Writings or his Platform Engagements,
+address the author personally
+
+
+ADDRESS
+
+W. H. H. MURRAY
+GUILFORD, CONN.
+CARE THE MURRAY HOMESTEAD
+
+
+_Copyrighted by the Author. All rights reserved._
+1898
+
+
+
+
++--------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE.                                                |
+| ===================                                                |
+|                                                                    |
+| The following illustrations, although shown in the List of         |
+| Illustrations, appear not to have been included in the final       |
+| printed version of the book:                                       |
+|                                                                    |
+| - How John Norton the Trapper Kept His Christmas, p. 11            |
+| - John Norton's Vagabond, p. 76                                    |
+| - The Old Trapper's Paddle, p. 85                                  |
+| - The Old Trapper's Rifle, p. 88                                   |
+| - An Old Time Gun, p. 89                                           |
+| - Christmas Holly, p. 93                                           |
+| - "And Finally the Words Passed into the Air," p. 105              |
+| - "Ye Cradle of Ye Olden Time," p. 108                             |
+|                                                                    |
++--------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLIDAY TALES***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 28098-8.txt or 28098-8.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/9/28098
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/28098-8.zip b/28098-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d71c73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-8.zip
diff --git a/28098-h.zip b/28098-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..016de8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h.zip
diff --git a/28098-h/28098-h.htm b/28098-h/28098-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2c6c8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/28098-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,3886 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Holiday Tales, by W. H. H. Murray</title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+    body {
+      margin-left: 10%;
+      margin-right: 10%;
+    }
+
+    em {
+      font-style: italic;
+    }
+
+    h1,h2,h3,h4 {
+      clear: both;
+      text-align: center;
+    }
+
+    p {
+      margin-top: .75em;
+      text-align: justify;
+    }
+
+    table {
+      border-collapse: collapse;
+      margin-left: auto;
+      margin-right: auto;
+    }
+
+    td {
+      padding: 0em 1em;
+    }
+
+    th {
+      padding: 0em 1em;
+    }
+
+    #advert p {
+      text-align: center;
+    }
+
+    #advert .address {
+      font-size: 0.8em;
+      margin-top: 3em;
+    }
+
+    #advert .copyright {
+      font-size: 0.8em;
+      margin-top: 3em;
+    }
+
+    #advert .date {
+      font-size: 1.5em;
+    }
+
+    #advert .homestead {
+      font-size: 0.8em;
+    }
+
+    #advert .murray {
+      font-size: 1.5em;
+    }
+
+    #advert .tales {
+      font-size: 2.5em;
+    }
+
+    #advert .thought_break {
+      border-top: 2px solid black;
+      clear: both;
+      margin-top: 2em;
+      margin-bottom: 2em;
+      margin-left: auto;
+      margin-right: auto;
+      width: 10%;
+    }
+
+    #advert .uniform {
+      font-size: 2em;
+      margin-bottom: 2em;
+    }
+
+    #advert .works {
+      font-size: 3em;
+    }
+
+    .caption {
+      font-size: smaller;
+      font-weight: bold;
+    }
+
+    #card p {
+      text-align: center;
+    }
+
+    #card .norton {
+      font-size: 1.5em;
+    }
+
+    .chorus {
+      font-variant: small-caps;
+    }
+
+    #contents td {
+      font-variant: small-caps;
+    }
+
+    .figcenter {
+      margin: auto;
+      text-align: center;
+    }
+
+    #loi {
+      margin-left: auto;
+      margin-right: auto;
+    }
+
+    #loi .illo_title {
+      font-variant: small-caps;
+    }
+
+    #loi .illo_subtitle {
+      padding-left: 2em;
+    }
+
+    .merry {
+      text-align: center;
+    }
+
+    .pagenum {
+      font-size: 8px;
+      font-style: normal;
+      font-weight: normal;
+      left: 92%;
+      position: absolute;
+      text-align: right;
+      text-indent: 0;
+    }
+
+    .poem {
+      margin-left:10%;
+      margin-right:10%;
+      text-align: left;
+    }
+
+    .poem br {
+      display: none;
+    }
+
+    .poem .stanza {
+      margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;
+    }
+
+    .poem span.i0 {
+      display: block;
+      margin-left: 0em;
+      padding-left: 3em;
+      text-indent: -3em;
+    }
+
+    .poem span.i2 {
+      display: block;
+      margin-left: 1em;
+      padding-left: 3em;
+      text-indent: -3em;
+    }
+
+    .poem span.i12 {
+      display: block;
+      margin-left: 6em;
+      padding-left: 3em;
+      text-indent: -3em;
+    }
+
+    #press p {
+      text-align: center;
+    }
+
+    .section_break {
+      border-top: 2px solid gray;
+      clear: both;
+      margin-top: 2em;
+      margin-bottom: 2em;
+      margin-left: auto;
+      margin-right: auto;
+      width: 65%;
+    }
+
+    .table_center {
+      text-align: center;
+    }
+
+    .table_right {
+      text-align: right;
+    }
+
+    .thought_break {
+      border-top: 2px solid silver;
+      clear: both;
+      margin-top: 2em;
+      margin-bottom: 2em;
+      margin-left: auto;
+      margin-right: auto;
+      width: 45%;
+    }
+
+    #title_page h1 {
+      font-weight: normal;
+      margin-top: 2em;
+    }
+
+    #title_page p {
+      text-align: center;
+    }
+
+    #title_page .christmas {
+      font-size: 2em;
+      font-variant: small-caps;
+      margin-top: 3em;
+      margin-bottom: 5em;
+    }
+
+    #title_page .copyright {
+      font-variant: small-caps;
+      margin-top: 10em;
+    }
+
+    #title_page .murray {
+      font-size: 1.5em;
+    }
+
+    #title_page .thought_break {
+      border-top: 2px solid black;
+      clear: both;
+      margin-top: 2em;
+      margin-bottom: 2em;
+      margin-left: auto;
+      margin-right: auto;
+      width: 10%;
+    }
+
+    #trannote {
+      background-color: silver;
+      border: solid 2px;
+      margin-top: 4em;
+      padding: 0em 1em;
+    }
+
+    #trannote h2 {
+      font-size: 1.5em;
+      font-weight: bold;
+      text-align: center;
+    }
+
+    hr.full { width: 100%;
+              margin-top: 3em;
+              margin-bottom: 0em;
+              margin-left: auto;
+              margin-right: auto;
+              height: 4px;
+              border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */
+              border-style: solid;
+              border-color: #000000;
+              clear: both; }
+    pre      {font-size: 85%;}
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Holiday Tales, by W. H. H. Murray</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Holiday Tales</p>
+<p>       Christmas in the Adirondacks</p>
+<p>Author: W. H. H. Murray</p>
+<p>Release Date: February 16, 2009  [eBook #28098]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLIDAY TALES***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by Sigal Alon, Chris Logan,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/c/">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    from digital material generously made available by<br />
+    Internet Archive/American Libraries<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/americana">http://www.archive.org/details/americana</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/holidaytaleschr00murriala">
+      http://www.archive.org/details/holidaytaleschr00murriala</a>
+	</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 398px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="398" height="500" alt="Cover" title="Cover" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 351px;"><a name="W_H_H_Murray" id="W_H_H_Murray"></a>
+<img src="images/murray.jpg" width="351" height="500" alt="W. H. H. MURRAY" title="W. H. H. MURRAY" />
+<span class="caption">W. H. H. MURRAY,<br />
+THE MURRAY HOMESTEAD GUILFORD, CONN.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div id="title_page">
+<h1>HOLIDAY TALES.</h1>
+
+<p class="christmas">Christmas in the Adirondacks.</p>
+
+<div class="thought_break"></div>
+<p class="murray">W. H. H. MURRAY.</p>
+<div class="thought_break"></div>
+
+<p class="copyright">Copyrighted, 1897.<br />
+All Rights Reserved.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div id="press">
+<p>PRESS OF<br />
+SPRINGFIELD PRINTING AND BINDING COMPANY,<br />
+SPRINGFIELD, MASS.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div id="contents">
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<table summary="Contents.">
+<thead>
+<tr>
+  <th>&nbsp;</th>
+  <th>PAGE</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_center">I.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>How John Norton the Trapper Kept His Christmas,</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="table_center">II.</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>John Norton's Vagabond,</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;"><a name="deer" id="deer"></a>
+<img src="images/deer.jpg" width="353" height="500" alt="THE WILD DEER&#39;S HOME." title="THE WILD DEER&#39;S HOME." />
+<span class="caption">THE WILD DEER&#39;S HOME.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="home" id="home"></a>
+<img src="images/home.jpg" width="500" height="353" alt="THE OLD TRAPPER&#39;S HOME." title="THE OLD TRAPPER&#39;S HOME." />
+<span class="caption">THE OLD TRAPPER&#39;S HOME.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div id="loi">
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+<table summary="List of illustrations.">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">The Wild Deer's Home,</td>
+  <td><em>By J. Gurner Fisher</em>,</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><em><a href="#deer">Frontispiece No. 1</a></em></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">The Old Trapper's Home,</td>
+  <td><em>By&nbsp;W.&nbsp;L.&nbsp;Everett&nbsp;Knowles</em>,</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><em><a href="#home">Frontispiece No. 2</a></em></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">How John Norton the Trapper Kept His Christmas,</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="table_right">(<em>Heading</em>) <a href="#trannote">11</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">The Old Trapper's Fireplace,</td>
+  <td><em>By W. L. Everett Knowles</em>,</td>
+  <td class="table_right">between pages <a href="#fireplace">12&ndash;13</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">On the Other Side of the Mountain Stood the Dismal Hut,"</td>
+  <td><em>By J. Gurner Fisher</em>,</td>
+  <td class="table_right">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#hut">30&ndash;31</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">The Old Trapper's Shot,</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#shot">44&ndash;45</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">The Mountain Torrent,</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><em><a href="#torrent">Frontispiece No. 3</a></em></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">The Vagabond's Rock,</td>
+  <td><em>By W. L. Everett Knowles,</em></td>
+  <td class="table_right"><em><a href="#rock">Frontispiece No. 4</a></em></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">John Norton's Vagabond,</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="table_right">(<em>Heading</em>) <a href="#trannote">76</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">"Vagabonds Included in This Invite,"</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right">between pages <a href="#invite">80&ndash;81</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">"And Above the Words Was a Star,"</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right">"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="#star">82&ndash;83</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">The Old Trapper's Paddle,</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#trannote">85</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">The Old Trapper's Rifle,</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#trannote">88</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">An Old Time Gun,</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#trannote">89</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">Christmas Holly,</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#trannote">93</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">"Where Be the Ships?"</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right">between pages <a href="#ships">98&ndash;99</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">"And Finally the Words Passed into the Air,"</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;",</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#trannote">105</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">"Ye Cradle of Ye Olden Time,"</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right"><a href="#trannote">108</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_title">The Old Trapper and His Dogs,</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"</td>
+  <td class="table_right">between&nbsp;pages&nbsp;<a href="#trapper">112&ndash;113</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="illo_subtitle">"Friends come and go, but until death enters kennel or cabin the hunter and his hounds bide together."</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<h2>HOW JOHN NORTON THE TRAPPER KEPT<br />
+HIS CHRISTMAS.</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+<h3>I.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A cabin. A cabin in the woods. In the cabin a great fireplace piled
+high with logs, fiercely ablaze. On either side of the broad
+hearthstone a hound sat on his haunches, looking gravely, as only a
+hound in a meditative mood can, into the glowing fire. In the center
+of the cabin, whose every nook and corner was bright with the ruddy
+firelight, stood a wooden table, strongly built and solid. At the
+table sat John Norton, poring over a book,&mdash;a book large of size, with
+wooden covers bound in leather, brown with age, and smooth as with the
+handling of many generations. The whitened head of the old man was
+bowed over the broad page, on which one hand rested, with the
+forefinger marking the sentence. A cabin in the woods filled with
+firelight, a table, a book, an old man studying the book. This was the
+scene on Christmas Eve. Outside, the earth was white with snow, and in
+the blue sky above the snow was the white moon.</p>
+
+<p>"It says here," said the Trapper, speaking to himself, "it says here,
+'<em>Give to him that lacketh, and from him that hath not, withhold not
+thine hand.</em>' It be a good sayin' fur sartin; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> the world would be
+a good deal better off, as I conceit, ef the folks follered the sayin'
+a leetle more closely." And here the old man paused a moment, and,
+with his hand still resting on the page, and his forefinger still
+pointing at the sentence, seemed pondering what he had been reading.
+At last he broke the silence again, saying:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Yis, the world would be a good deal better off, ef the folks in it
+follered the sayin';" and then he added, "There's another spot in the
+book I'd orter look at to-night; it's a good ways furder on, but I
+guess I can find it. Henry says the furder on you git in the book, the
+better it grows, and I conceit the boy may be right; for there be a
+good deal of murderin' and fightin' in the fore part of the book, that
+don't make pleasant readin', and what the Lord wanted to put it in fur
+is a good deal more than a man without book-larnin' can understand.
+Murderin' be murderin', whether it be in the Bible or out of the
+Bible; and puttin' it in the Bible, and sayin' it was done by the
+Lord's commandment, don't make it any better. And a good deal of the
+fightin' they did in the old time was sartinly without reason and
+ag'in jedgment, specially where they killed the womenfolks and the
+leetle uns." And while the old man had thus been communicating with
+himself, touching the character of the Old Testament, he had been
+turning the leaves until he had reached the opening chapters of the
+New, and had come to the description of the Saviour's birth, and the
+angelic announcement of it on the earth. Here he paused, and began to
+read. He read as an old man unaccustomed to letters must read,&mdash;slowly
+and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> with a show of labor, but with perfect contentment as to his
+progress, and a brightening face.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="fireplace" id="fireplace"></a>
+<img src="images/fireplace.jpg" width="500" height="344" alt="THE OLD TRAPPER&#39;S FIREPLACE." title="THE OLD TRAPPER&#39;S FIREPLACE." />
+<span class="caption">THE OLD TRAPPER&#39;S FIREPLACE.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"This isn't a trail a man can hurry on onless he spends a good deal of
+his time on it, or is careless about notin' the signs, fur the words
+be weighty, and a man must stop at each word, and look around awhile,
+in order to git all the meanin' out of 'em&mdash;yis, a man orter travel
+this trail a leetle slow, ef he wants to see all there is to see on
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Then the old man began to read:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'<em>Then there was with the angels a multitude of the heavenly
+host</em>,'&mdash;the exact number isn't sot down here," he muttered; "but I
+conceit there may have been three or four hunderd,&mdash;'<em>praisin' God and
+singin', Glory to God in the highest, and on 'arth, peace to men of
+good will</em>.' That's right," said the Trapper. "Yis, peace to men of
+good will. That be the sort that desarve peace; the other kind orter
+stand their chances." And here the old man closed the book,&mdash;closed it
+slowly, and with the care we take of a treasured thing; closed it,
+fastened the clasps, and carried it to the great chest whence he had
+taken it, putting it away in its place. Having done this, he returned
+to his seat, and, moving the chair in front of the fire, he looked
+first at one hound, and then at the other, and said, "Pups, this be
+Christmas Eve, and I sartinly trust ye be grateful fur the comforts ye
+have."</p>
+
+<p>He said this deliberately, as if addressing human companions. The two
+hounds turned their heads toward their master, looked placidly into
+his face, and wagged their tails.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>"Yis, yis, I understand ye," said the Trapper. "Ye both be
+comfortable, and, I dare say, that arter yer way ye both be grateful,
+fur, next to eatin', a dog loves the heat, and ye be nigh enough to
+the logs to be toastin'. Yis, this be Christmas Eve," continued the
+old man, "and in the settlements the folks be gittin' ready their
+gifts. The young people be tyin' up the evergreens, and the leetle uns
+be onable to sleep because of their dreamin'. It's a pleasant pictur',
+and I sartinly wish I could see the merry-makin's, as Henry has told
+me of them, sometime, but I trust it may be in his own house, and with
+his own children." With this pleasant remark, in respect to the one he
+loved so well, the old man lapsed into silence. But the peaceful
+contentment of his face, as the firelight revealed it, showed plainly
+that, though his lips moved not, his mind was still active with
+pleasant thoughts of the one whose name he had mentioned, and whom he
+so fondly loved. At last a more sober look came to his countenance,&mdash;a
+look of regret, of self-reproach, the look of a man who remembers
+something he should not have forgotten,&mdash;and he said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I ax the Lord to pardin me, that in the midst of my plenty I have
+forgot them that may be in want. The shanty sartinly looked open
+enough the last time I fetched the trail past the clearin', and though
+with the help of the moss and the clay in the bank she might make it
+comfortable, yit, ef the vagabond that be her husband has forgot his
+own, and desarted them, as Wild Bill said he had, I doubt ef there be
+vict'als enough in the shanty to keep them from starvin'. Yis, pups,"
+said the old man, rising, "it'll be a good tramp through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> snow,
+but we'll go in the mornin', and see ef the woman be in want. The boy
+himself said, when he stopped at the shanty last summer, afore he went
+out, that he didn't see how they was to git through the winter, and I
+reckon he left the woman some money, by the way she follered him
+toward the boat; and he told me to bear them in mind when the snow
+came, and see to it they didn't suffer. I might as well git the
+pack-basket out, and begin to put the things in't, fur it be a goodly
+distance, and an 'arly start will make the day pleasant to the woman
+and the leetle uns, ef vict'als be scant in the cupboard. Yis, I'll
+git the pack-basket out, and look round a leetle, and see what I can
+find to take 'em. I don't conceit it'll make much of a show, fur what
+might be good fur a man won't be of sarvice to a woman; and as fur the
+leetle uns, I don't know ef I've got a single thing but vict'als
+that'll fit 'em. Lord! ef I was near the settlements, I might swap a
+dozen skins fur jest what I wanted to give 'em; but I'll git the
+basket out, and look round and see what I've got."</p>
+
+<p>In a moment the great pack-basket had been placed in the middle of the
+floor, and the Trapper was busy overhauling his stores to see what he
+could find that would make a fitting Christmas gift for those he was
+to visit on the morrow. A canister of tea was first deposited on the
+table, and, after he had smelled of it, and placed a few grains of it
+on his tongue, like a connoisseur, he proceeded to pour more than half
+of its contents into a little bark box, and, having carefully tied the
+cover, he placed it in the basket.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>"The yarb be of the best," said the old man, putting his nose to the
+mouth of the canister, and taking a long sniff before he inserted the
+stopple&mdash;"the yarb be of the best, fur the smell of it goes into the
+nose strong as mustard. That be good fur the woman fur sartin, and
+will cheer her sperits when she be downhearted; fur a woman takes as
+naterally to tea as an otter to his slide, and I warrant it'll be an
+amazin' comfort to her, arter the day's work be over, more specially
+ef the work had been heavy, and gone sorter crosswise. Yis, the yarb
+be good fur a woman when things go crosswise, and the box'll be a
+great help to her many and many a night, beyend doubt. The Lord
+sartinly had women in mind when He made the yarb, and a kindly feelin'
+fur their infarmities, and, I dare say, they be grateful accordin' to
+their knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>A large cake of maple sugar followed the tea into the basket, and a
+small chest of honey accompanied it.</p>
+
+<p>"That's honest sweetenin'," remarked the Trapper with decided
+emphasis; "and that is more'n ye can say of the sugar of the
+settlements, leastwise ef a man can jedge by the stuff they peddle at
+the clearin'. The bees be no cheats; and a man who taps his own trees,
+and biles the runnin' into sugar under his own eye, knows what kind of
+sweetenin' he's gittin'. The woman won't find any sand in her teeth
+when she takes a bite from that loaf, or stirs a leetle of the honey
+in the cup she's steepin'."</p>
+
+<p>Some salt and pepper were next added to the packages already in the
+basket. A sack of flour and another of Indian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> meal followed. A
+generous round of pork, and a bag of jerked venison, that would
+balance a twenty-pound weight, at least, went into the pack. On these,
+several large-sized salmon trout, that had been smoked by the
+Trapper's best skill, were laid. These offerings evidently exhausted
+the old man's resources, for, after looking round a while, and
+searching the cupboard from bottom to top, he returned to the basket,
+and contemplated it with satisfaction, indeed, yet with a face
+slightly shaded with disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>"The vict'als be all right," he said, "fur there be enough to last 'em
+a month, and they needn't scrimp themselves either. But eatin' isn't
+all, and the leetle uns was nigh on to naked the last time I seed 'em;
+and the woman's dress, in spite of the patchin', looked as ef it would
+desart her, ef she didn't keep a close eye on't. Lord! Lord! what
+shall I do? fur there's room enough in the basket, and the woman and
+the leetle uns need garments; that is, it's more'n likely they do, and
+I haven't a garment in the cabin to take 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Hillo! Hillo! John Norton! John Norton! Hillo!" The voice came sharp
+and clear, cutting keenly through the frosty air and the cabin walls.
+"John Norton!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wild Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper. "I sartinly hope the vagabond
+hasn't been a-drinkin'. His voice sounds as ef he was sober; but the
+chances be ag'in the signs, fur, ef he isn't drunk, the marcy of the
+Lord or the scarcity of liquor has kept him from it. I'll go to the
+door, and see what he wants. It's sartinly too cold to let a man stand
+in the holler long, whether<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> he be sober or drunk;" with which remark
+the Trapper stepped to the door, and flung it open.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Wild Bill? what is it?" he called. "Be ye drunk, or be ye
+sober, that ye stand there shoutin' in the cold with a log cabin
+within a dozen rods of ye?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sober, John Norton, sober. Sober as a Moravian preacher at a
+funeral."</p>
+
+<p>"Yer trappin' must have been mighty poor, then, Wild Bill, for the
+last month, or the Dutchman at the clearin' has watered his liquor by
+a wrong measure for once. But ef ye be sober, why do ye stand there
+whoopin' like an Indian, when the ambushment is onkivered and the
+bushes be alive with the knaves? Why don't ye come into the cabin,
+like a sensible man, ef ye be sober? The signs be ag'in ye, Wild Bill;
+yis, the signs be ag'in ye."</p>
+
+<p>"Come into the cabin!" retorted Bill. "An' so I would mighty lively,
+ef I could; but the load is heavy, and your path is as slippery as the
+plank over the creek at the Dutchman's, when I've two horns aboard."</p>
+
+<p>"Load! What load have ye been draggin' through the woods?" exclaimed
+the Trapper. "Ye talk as ef my cabin was the Dutchman's, and ye was
+balancin' on the plank at this minit."</p>
+
+<p>"Come and see for yourself," answered Wild Bill, "and give me a lift.
+Once in your cabin, and in front of your fire, I'll answer all the
+questions you may ask. But I'll answer no more until I'm inside the
+door."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>"Ye be sartinly sober to-night," answered the Trapper, laughing, as he
+started down the hill, "fur ye talk sense, and that's more'n a man can
+do when he talks through the nozzle of a bottle.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord-a-massy!" exclaimed the old man as he stood over the sled, and
+saw the huge box that was on it. "Lord-a-massy, Bill! what a tug ye
+must have had! and how ye come to be sober with sech a load behind ye
+is beyend the reckinin' of a man who has knowed ye nigh on to twenty
+year. I never knowed ye disapp'int one arter this fashion afore."</p>
+
+<p>"It is strange, I confess," answered Wild Bill, appreciating the humor
+that lurked in the honesty of the old man's utterance. "It is strange,
+that's a fact, for it's Christmas Eve, and I ought to be roaring drunk
+at the Dutchman's this very minit, according to custom; but I pledged
+him to get the box through jest as he wanted it done, and that I
+wouldn't touch a drop of liquor until I had done it. And here it is,
+according to promise, for here I am sober, and here is the box."</p>
+
+<p>"H'ist along, Bill, h'ist along!" exclaimed the Trapper, who suddenly
+became alive with interest, for he surmised whence the box had come.
+"H'ist along, Bill, I say, and have done with yer talkin', and let's
+see what ye have got on yer sled. It's strange that a man of yer sense
+will stand jibberin' here in the snow with a roarin' fire within a
+dozen rods of ye."</p>
+
+<p>Whatever retort Wild Bill may have contemplated, it was effectually
+prevented by the energy with which the Trapper pushed the sled after
+him. Indeed, it was all he could do to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> keep it off his heels, so
+earnestly did the old man propel it from behind; and so, with many a
+slip and scramble on the part of Wild Bill, and a continued muttering
+on the part of the Trapper about the "nonsense of a man's jibberin' in
+the snow arter a twenty mile drag, with a good fire within a dozen
+rods of him," the sled was shot through the doorway into the cabin,
+and stood fully revealed in the bright blaze of the firelight.</p>
+
+<p>"Take off yer coat and yer moccasins, Wild Bill," exclaimed the
+Trapper, as he closed the door, "and git in front of the fire; pull
+out the coals, and set the tea pot a-steepin'. The yarb will take the
+chill out of ye better than the pizen of the Dutchman. Ye'll find a
+haunch of venison in the cupboard that I roasted to-day, and some
+johnnycake; I doubt ef either be cold. Help yerself, help yerself,
+Bill, while I take a peep at the box."</p>
+
+<p>No one can appreciate the intensity of the old man's feelings in
+reference to the mysterious box, unless he calls to mind the
+strictness with which he was wont to interpret and fulfill the duties
+of hospitality. To him the coming of a guest was a welcome event, and
+the service which the latter might require of the host both a sacred
+and a pleasant obligation. To serve a guest with his own hand, which
+he did with a natural courtesy peculiar to himself, was his delight.
+Nor did it matter with him what the quality of the guest might be. The
+wandering trapper or the vagabond Indian was served with as sincere
+attention as the richest visitor from the city. But now his feelings
+were so stirred by the sight of the box thus strangely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> brought to
+him, and by his surmise touching who the sender might be, that Wild
+Bill was left to help himself without the old man's attendance.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident that Bill was equal to the occasion, and was not aware
+of the slightest neglect. At least, his actions were not, by the
+neglect of the Trapper, rendered less decided, or the quality of his
+appetite affected, for the examination he made of the old man's
+cupboard, and the familiarity with which he handled the contents, made
+it evident that he was not in the least abashed, or uncertain how to
+proceed; for he attacked the provisions with the energy of a man who
+had fasted long, and who has at last not only come suddenly to an
+ample supply of food, but also feels that for a few moments, at least,
+he will be unobserved. The Trapper turned toward the box, and
+approached it for a deliberate examination.</p>
+
+<p>"The boards be sawed," he said, "and they come from the mills of the
+settlement, for the smoothin'-plane has been over 'em." Then he
+inspected the jointing, and noted how truly the edges were drawn.</p>
+
+<p>"The box has come a goodly distance," he said to himself, "fur there
+isn't a workman this side of the Horicon that could j'int it in that
+fashion. There sartinly ought to be some letterin', or a leetle bit of
+writin', somewhere about the chest, tellin' who the box belonged to,
+and to whom it was sent." Saying this, the old man unlashed the box
+from the sled, and rolled it over, so that the side might come
+uppermost. As no direction appeared on the smoothly planed surface, he
+rolled it half over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> again. A little white card neatly tacked to the
+board was now revealed. The Trapper stooped, and on the card read,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div id="card">
+<p class="norton">JOHN NORTON,</p>
+
+<p>TO THE CARE OF WILD BILL.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Yis, the 'J' be his'n," muttered the old man, as he spelled out the
+word J-o-h-n, "and the big 'N' be as plain as an otter-trail in the
+snow. The boy don't make his letters over plain, as I conceit, but the
+'J' and the 'N' be his'n." And then he paused for a full minute, his
+head bowed over the box. "The boy don't forgit," he murmured, and he
+wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "The boy don't forgit." And
+then he added, "No, he isn't one of the forgittin' kind. Wild Bill,"
+said the Trapper, as he turned toward that personage, whose attack on
+the venison haunch was as determined as ever, "Wild Bill, this box be
+from Henry!"</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't wonder," answered that individual, speaking from a mass
+of edibles that filled his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"And it be a Christmas gift!" continued the old man.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks so," returned Bill, as laconically as before.</p>
+
+<p>"And it be a mighty heavy box!" said the Trapper.</p>
+
+<p>"You'd 'a' thought so, if you had dragged it over the mile-and-a-half
+carry. It was good sleddin' on the river, but the carry took the stuff
+out of me."</p>
+
+<p>"Very like, very like," responded the Trapper; "fur the gullies be
+deep on the carry, and it must have been slippery haulin'.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> Didn't ye
+git a leetle 'arnest in yer feelin's, Bill, afore ye got to the top of
+the last ridge?"</p>
+
+<p>"Old man," answered Bill, as he wheeled his chair toward the Trapper,
+with a pint cup of tea in the one hand, and wiping his mustache with
+the coat sleeve of the other, "I got it to the top three times, or
+within a dozen feet from the top, and each time it got away from me
+and went to the bottom agin; for the roots was slippery, and I
+couldn't git a grip on the toe of my moccasins; but I held on to the
+rope, and I got to the bottom neck and neck with the sled every time."</p>
+
+<p>"Ye did well, ye did well," responded the Trapper, laughing; "for a
+loaded sled goes down hill mighty fast when the slide is a steep un,
+and a man who gits to the bottom as quick as the sled must have a good
+grip, and be considerably in 'arnest. But ye got her up finally by the
+same path, didn't ye?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I got her up," returned Bill. "The fourth time I went for that
+ridge, I fetched her to the top, for I was madder than a hornet."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did ye do, Bill?" continued the Trapper. "What did ye do
+when ye got to the top?"</p>
+
+<p>"I jest tied that sled to a sapling so it wouldn't git away agin, and
+I got on to the top of that box, and I talked to that gulch a minit or
+two in a way that satisfied my feelings."</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't wonder," answered the Trapper, laughing, "fur ye must
+have ben a good deal riled. But ye did well to git the box through,
+and ye got here in time, and ye've 'arnt yer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> wages; and now, ef ye'll
+tell me how much I am to pay ye, ye shall have yer money, and ye
+needn't scrimp yerself on the price, Wild Bill, for the drag has been
+a hard un; so tell me yer price, and I'll count ye out the money."</p>
+
+<p>"Old man," answered Bill, "I didn't bring that box through for money,
+and I won't take a&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Wild Bill was about to emphasize his refusal by some verbal
+addition to the simple statement, but, if it was his intention, he
+checked himself, and said, "a cent."</p>
+
+<p>"It's well said," answered the Trapper; "yis, it's well said, and does
+jestice to yer feelin's, I don't doubt; but an extra pair of breeches
+one of these days wouldn't hurt ye, and the money won't come amiss."</p>
+
+<p>"I tell ye, old man," returned Wild Bill earnestly, "I won't take a
+cent. I'll allow there's several colors in my trousers, for I've
+patched in a dozen different pieces off and on, and I doubt, as ye
+hint, if the patching holds together much longer; but I've eaten at
+your table and slept in your cabin more than once, John Norton, and
+whether I've come to it sober or drunk, your door was never shut in my
+face; and I don't forget either that the man who sent you that box
+fished me from the creek one day, when I had walked into it with two
+bottles of the Dutchman's whisky in my pocket, and not one cent of
+your money or his will I take for bringing the box in to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Have it yer own way, ef ye will," said the Trapper; "but I won't
+forgit the deed ye have did, and the boy won't forgit it neither.
+Come, let's clear away the vict'als, and we'll open<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> the box. It's
+sartinly a big un, and I would like to see what he has put inside of
+it."</p>
+
+<p>The opening of the box was a spectacle such as gladdens the heart to
+see. At such moments the countenance of the Trapper was as facile in
+the changefulness of its expression as that of a child. The passing
+feelings of his soul found an adequate mirror in his face, as the
+white clouds of a summer day find full reflection in the depth of a
+tranquil lake. He was not too old or too learned to be wise, for the
+wisdom of hearty happiness was his,&mdash;the wisdom of being glad, and
+gladly showing it.</p>
+
+<p>As for Wild Bill, the best of his nature was in the ascendant, and
+with the curiosity and pleasure of a child, and a happiness as sincere
+as if the box were his own, he assisted at the opening.</p>
+
+<p>"The man who made this box did the work in a workmanlike fashion,"
+said the Trapper, as he strove to insert the edge of his hatchet into
+the jointing of the cover, "fur he shet these boards together like the
+teeth of a bear trap when the bars be well 'iled. It's a pity the boy
+didn't send him along with the box, Wild Bill, fur it sartinly looks
+as ef we should have to kindle a fire on it, and burn a hole in
+through the kiver."</p>
+
+<p>At last, by dint of great exertion, and with the assistance of Wild
+Bill and the poker, the cover of the box was wrenched off, and the
+contents were partially revealed.</p>
+
+<p>"Glory to God, Wild Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper. "Here<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> be yer
+breeches!" and he held up a pair of pantaloons made of the stoutest
+Scotch stuff. "Yis, here be yer breeches, fur here on the waistband be
+pinned a bit of paper, and on it be written, 'Fur Wild Bill.' And here
+be a vest to match; and here be a jacket; and here be two pairs of
+socks in the pocket of the jacket; and here be two woolen shirts, one
+packed away in each sleeve. And here!" shouted the old man, as he
+turned up the lapel of the coat, "Wild Bill, look here! Here be a
+five-dollar note!" and the old man swung one of the socks over his
+head, and shouted, "Hurrah for Wild Bill!" And the two hounds,
+catching the enthusiasm of their master, lifted their muzzles into the
+air, and bayed deep and long, till the cabin fairly shook with the
+joyful uproar of man and dogs.</p>
+
+<p>It is doubtful if any gift ever took the recipient more by surprise
+than this bestowed upon Wild Bill. It is true that, judged by the law
+of strict deserts, the poor fellow had not deserved much of the world,
+and certainly the world had not forgotten to be strictly just in his
+case, for it had not given him much. It is a question if he had ever
+received a gift before in all his life, certainly not one of any
+considerable value. His reception of this generous and thoughtful
+provision for his wants was characteristic both of his training and
+his nature.</p>
+
+<p>The Old Trapper, as he ended his cheering, flung the pantaloons, the
+vest, the jacket, the socks, the shirts, and the money into his lap.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the poor fellow sat looking at the warm and costly
+garments that he held in his hands, silent in an astonish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>ment too
+profound for speech, and then, recovering the use of his organs, he
+gasped forth:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I swear!" and then broke down, and sobbed like a child.</p>
+
+<p>The Trapper, kneeling beside the box, looked at the poor fellow with a
+face radiant with happiness, while his mouth was stretched with
+laughter, utterly unconscious that tears were brimming his own eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Old Trapper," said Wild Bill, rising to his feet, and holding the
+garments forth in his hands, "this is the first present I ever
+received in my life. I have been kicked and cussed, sneered at and
+taunted, and I deserved it all. But no man ever gave me a lift, or
+showed he cared a cent whether I starved or froze, lived or died. You
+know, John Norton, what a fool I've been, and what has ruined me, and
+that when sober I'm more of a man than many who hoot me. And here I
+swear, old man, that while a button is on this jacket, or two threads
+of these breeches hold together, I'll never touch a drop of liquor,
+sick or well, living or dying, so help me God! and there's my hand on
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Amen!" exclaimed the Trapper, as he sprang to his feet, and clasped
+in his own strong palm the hand that the other had stretched out to
+him. "The Lord in His marcy be nigh ye when tempted, Bill, and keep ye
+true to yer pledge!"</p>
+
+<p>Of all the pleasant sights that the angels of God, looking from their
+high homes, saw on earth that Christmas Eve, perhaps not one was
+dearer in their eyes than the spectacle here described,&mdash;the two
+sturdy men standing with their hands<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> clasped in solemn pledge of the
+reformation of the one, and the helping sympathy of the other, above
+that Christmas box in the cabin in the woods.</p>
+
+<p>It is not necessary to follow in detail the Trapper's further
+examination of the box. The reader's imagination, assisted by many a
+happy reminiscence, will enable him to realize the scene. There was a
+small keg of powder, a large plug of lead, a little chest of tea, a
+bag of sugar, and also one of coffee. There were nails, matches,
+thread, buttons, a woolen under-jacket, a pair of mittens, and a cap
+of choicest fur, made of an otter's skin that Henry himself had
+trapped a year before. All these and other packages were taken out one
+by one, carefully examined, and characteristically commented on by the
+Trapper, and passed to Wild Bill, who in turn inspected and commented
+on them, and then laid them carefully on the table. Beneath these
+packages was a thin board, constituting a sort of division between its
+upper and lower half.</p>
+
+<p>"There seems to be a sort of cellar to this box," said the Trapper, as
+he sat looking at the division. "I shouldn't be surprised ef the boy
+himself was in here somewhere, so be ready, Bill, fur anything, fur
+the Lord only knows what's underneath this board." Saying which, the
+old man thrust his hand under one end of the division, and pulled out
+a bundle loosely tied with a string, which became unfastened as the
+Trapper lifted the roll from its place in the box, and, as he shook it
+open, and held its contents at arm's length up to the light, the
+startled eyes of Wild Bill, and the earnest gaze of the Trapper,
+beheld a woman's dress!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>"Heavens and 'arth, Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, "what's this?" And
+then a flash of light crossed his face, in the illumination of which
+the look of wonder vanished, and, dropping upon his knees, he flung
+the dividing board out of the box, and his companion and himself saw
+at a glance what was underneath.</p>
+
+<p>Children's shoes, and dresses of warmest stuffs; tippets and mittens;
+a full suit for a little boy, boots and all; a jackknife and whistle;
+two dolls dressed in brave finery, with flaxen hair and blue eyes; a
+little hatchet; a huge ball of yarn, and a hundred and one things
+needed in the household; and underneath all a Bible; and under that a
+silver star on a blue field, and pinned to the silk a scrap of paper,
+on which was written,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Hang this over the picture of the lad."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, ay," said the Trapper in a tremulous voice, as he looked at the
+silver star, "it shall be done as ye say, boy; but the lad has got
+beyend the clouds, and is walkin' a trail that is lighted from eend to
+eend by a light clearer and brighter than ever come from the shinin'
+of any star. I hope we may be found worthy to walk it with him, boy,
+when we, too, have come to the edge of the Great Clearin'."</p>
+
+<p>To the Trapper it was perfectly evident for whom the contents of the
+box were intended; but the sender had left nothing in doubt, for, when
+the old man had lifted from the floor the board that he had flung out,
+he discovered some writing traced with heavy penciling on the wood,
+and which without much effort he spelled out to Wild Bill,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Give these on Christmas Day to the woman at the dismal hut, and a
+merry Christmas to you all."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, ay," said the Trapper, "it shall be did, barrin' accident, as ye
+say; and a merry Christmas it'll make fur us all. Lord-a-massy! what
+<em>will</em> the poor woman say when she and her leetle uns git these warm
+garments on? There be no trouble about fillin' the basket now; no, I
+sartinly can't git half of the stuff in. Wild Bill, I guess ye'll have
+to do some more sleddin' to-morrow, fur these presents must go over
+the mountain in the mornin', ef we have to harness up the pups." And
+then he told his companion of the poor woman and the children, and his
+intended visit to them on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear," he said, "that they be havin' a hard time of it, 'specially
+ef her husband has desarted her."</p>
+
+<p>"Little good he would do her, if he was with her," answered Wild Bill,
+"for he's a lazy knave when he is sober, and a thief as well, as you
+and I know, John Norton; for he's fingered our traps more than once,
+and swapped the skins for liquor at the Dutchman's; but he's thieved
+once too many times, for the folks in the settlement has ketched him
+in the act, and they put him in the jail for six months, as I heard
+day before yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad on't; yis, I'm glad on't," answered the Trapper; "and I hope
+they'll keep him there till they've larnt him how to work. I've had my
+eye on the knave for a good while, and the last time I seed him I told
+him ef he fingered any more of my traps, I'd larn him the commandments
+in a way he wouldn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> forgit; and, as I had him in hand, and felt a
+leetle like talkin' that mornin', I gin him a piece of my mind,
+techin' his treatment of his wife and leetle uns, that he didn't
+relish, I fancy, fur he winced and squirmed like a fox in a trap. Yis,
+I'm glad they've got the knave, and I hope they'll keep him till he's
+answered fur his misdoin'; but I'm sartinly afeered the poor woman be
+havin' a hard time of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear so, too," answered Wild Bill; "and if I can do anything to
+help you in your plans, jest say the word, and I'm your man to back or
+haul, jest as you want me."</p>
+
+<p>And so it was arranged that they should go over the mountain together
+on the morrow, and take the provisions and the gifts that were in the
+box to the poor woman. And, after talking awhile of the happiness
+their visit would give, the two men, happy in their thoughts, and with
+their hearts full of that peace which passeth the understanding of the
+selfish, laid themselves down to sleep; and over the two,&mdash;the one
+drawing to the close of an honorable and well-spent life, the other
+standing at the middle of a hitherto useless existence, but facing the
+future with a noble resolution,&mdash;over the two, as they slept, the
+angels of Christmas kept their watch.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<h3>II.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the other side of the mountain stood the dismal hut; and the stars
+of that blessed eve had shone down upon the lonely clearing in which
+it stood, and the smooth white surface of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> frozen and snow-covered
+lake which lay in front of it, as brightly as they had shone on the
+cabin of the Trapper; but no friendly step had made its trail in the
+surrounding snow, and no blessed gift had been brought to its solitary
+door.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 353px;"><a name="hut" id="hut"></a>
+<img src="images/hut.jpg" width="353" height="500" alt="&quot;On the other side of the mountain stood the dismal
+hut.&quot;" title="&quot;On the other side of the mountain stood the dismal
+hut.&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;On the other side of the mountain stood the dismal
+hut.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>As the evening wore on, the great clearing round about it remained
+drearily void of sound or motion, and filled only with the white
+stillness of the frosty, snow-lighted night. Once, indeed, a wolf
+stole from underneath the dark balsams into the white silence, and,
+running up a huge log that lay aslant a ledge of rocks, looked across
+and round the great opening in the woods, stood a moment, then gave a
+shivering sort of a yelp, and scuttled back under the shadow of the
+forest, as if its darkness was warmer than the frozen stillness of the
+open space. An owl, perched somewhere amid the pine-tops, snug and
+warm within the cover of its arctic plumage, engaged from time to time
+in solemn gossip with some neighbor that lived on the opposite shore
+of the lake. And once a raven, roosting on the dry bough of a
+lightning-blasted pine, dreamed that the white moonlight was the light
+of dawn, and began to stir his sable wings, and croak a harsh welcome;
+but awakened by his blunder, and ashamed of his mistake, he broke off
+in the very midst of his discordant call, and again settled gloomily
+down amid his black plumes to his interrupted repose, making by his
+sudden silence the surrounding silence more silent than before.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as if the very angels, who, we are taught, fly abroad over
+all the earth that blessed night, carrying gifts to every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> household,
+had forgotten the cabin in the woods, and had left it to the cold
+hospitality of unsympathetic nature.</p>
+
+<p>Within the lonely hut, which thus seemed forgotten of Heaven itself,
+sat a woman huddling her young&mdash;two girls and a boy. The fireplace was
+of monstrous proportions, and the chimney yawned upward so widely that
+one looking up the sooty passage might see the stars shining overhead.
+A little fire burned feebly in the huge stone recess: scant warmth
+might such a fire yield, kindled in such a fireplace, to those around
+it. Indeed, the little flame seemed conscious of its own inability,
+and burned with a wavering and mistrustful flicker, as if it were
+discouraged in view of the task set before it, and had more than half
+concluded to go out altogether.</p>
+
+<p>The cabin was of large size, and undivided into apartments. The little
+fire was only able to illuminate the central section, and more than
+half of the room was hidden in utter darkness. The woman's face, which
+the faint flame over which she was crouched revealed with painful
+clearness, showed pale and haggard. The induration of exposure and the
+tightening lines of hunger sharpened and marred a countenance which a
+happier fortune would have kept even comely. It had that old look
+about it which comes from wretchedness rather than age, and the
+weariness of its expression was pitiful to see. Was it work or vain
+waiting for happier fortunes that made her look so tired? Alas! the
+weariness of waiting for what we long for, and long for purely, but
+which never comes! Is it the work or the longing&mdash;the long
+longing&mdash;that has put the silver in your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> head, friend, and scarred
+the smooth bloom of your cheeks, my lady, with those ugly lines?</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, I'm hungry," said the little boy, looking up into the woman's
+face. "Can't I have just a little more to eat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Be still," answered the woman sharply, speaking in the tones of vexed
+inability. "I've given you almost the last morsel in the house."</p>
+
+<p>The boy said nothing more, but nestled up more closely to his mother's
+knee, and stuck one little stockingless foot out until the cold toes
+were half hidden in the ashes. O warmth! blessed warmth! how pleasant
+art thou to old and young alike! Thou art the emblem of life, as thy
+absence is the evidence and sign of life's cold opposite. Would that
+all the cold toes in the world could get to my grate to-night, and all
+the shivering ones be gathered to this fireside! Ay, and that the
+children of poverty, that lack for bread, might get their hungry hands
+into that well-filled cupboard there, too!</p>
+
+<p>In a moment the woman said, "You children had better go to bed. You'll
+be warmer in the rags than in this miserable fireplace."</p>
+
+<p>The words were harshly spoken, as if the very presence of the
+children, cold and hungry as they were, was a vexation to her; and
+they moved off in obedience to her command.</p>
+
+<p>O cursed poverty! I know thee to be of Satan, for I myself have eaten
+at thy scant table, and slept in thy cold bed. And never yet have I
+seen thee bring one smile to human lips, or dry one tear as it fell
+from a human eye. But I have seen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> thee sharpen the tongue for biting
+speech, and harden the tender heart. Ay, I've seen thee make even the
+presence of love a burden, and cause the mother to wish that the puny
+babe nursing her scant breast had never been born. And so the children
+went to their unsightly bed, and silence reigned in the hut.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said one of the girls, speaking out of the
+darkness,&mdash;"mother, isn't this Christmas Eve?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered the woman sharply. "Go to sleep." And again there was
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>Happy is childhood, that amid whatever deprivation and misery it can
+so weary itself in the day that when night comes on it can lose in the
+forgetfulness of slumber its sorrows and wants!</p>
+
+<p>Thus, while the children lost the sense of their unhappy surroundings,
+including the keen pangs of hunger, for a time, and under the tattered
+blankets that covered them saw, perhaps, visions of enchanting lands,
+and in their dreams feasted at those wonderful tables which hungry
+children see only in sleep, to the poor woman sitting at the failing
+fire there came no surcease of sorrow, and no vision threw even an
+evanescent brightness over the hard, cold facts of her surroundings.
+And the reality of her condition was dire enough, God knows. Alone in
+the wilderness, miles from any human habitation, the trails covered
+deep with snow, her provisions exhausted, actual suffering already
+upon them, and starvation staring them squarely in the face,&mdash;no
+wonder that her soul sank within her; no wonder that her thoughts
+turned toward bitterness.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>"Yes, it's Christmas Eve," she muttered, "and the rich will keep it
+gayly. God sends them presents enough; but you see if He remembers me!
+Oh, they may talk about the angels of Christmas Eve flying abroad
+to-night, loaded with gifts, but they'll fly mighty high above this
+shanty, I reckon; no, they won't even drop a piece of meat as they
+soar past." And so she sat muttering and moaning over her woes, and
+they were heavy enough,&mdash;too heavy for her poor soul, unassisted, to
+lift,&mdash;while the flame on the hearth grew thinner and thinner, until
+it had no more warmth in it than the shadow of a ghost, and, like its
+resemblance, was about to flit and fade away. At last she said, in a
+softened tone, as if the remembrance of the Christmas legend had
+softened her surly thoughts and sweetened the bitter mood:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I'm wrong to take on so. Perhaps it isn't God's fault that I
+and my children are deserted and starving. But why should the innocent
+be punished for the guilty, and why should the wicked have enough and
+to spare, while those who do no evil go half naked and starved?"</p>
+
+<p>Alas, poor woman! that puzzle has puzzled many besides thee, and many
+lips besides thine have asked that question, querulously or
+entreatingly, many a time; but whether they asked it in vexation and
+rebellion of spirit, or humbly besought Heaven to answer, to neither
+murmur nor prayer did Heaven vouchsafe a response. Is it because we
+are so small, or, being small, are so inquisitive, that the Great
+Oracle of the blue remains so dumb when we cry?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>At this point the poor little flame, as if unable to abide the cold
+much longer, flared fitfully, and uneasily shifted itself from brand
+to brand, threatening with many a flicker to go out; but the woman,
+with her elbows on her knees, and her face settled firmly between her
+hands, still sat with eyes that saw not the feeble flame at which they
+so steadily gazed.</p>
+
+<p>"I will do it, <em>I will do it!</em>" she suddenly exclaimed. "I will make
+one more effort. They shall not starve while I have strength to try.
+Perhaps God will aid me. They say He always does at the last pinch,
+and He certainly sees that I am there now. I wonder if He's been
+waiting for me to get just where I am before He helped me. There is
+one more chance left, and I'll make the trial. I'll go down to the
+shore where I saw the big tracks in the snow. It's a long way, but I
+shall get there somehow. If God is going to be good to me, He won't
+let me freeze or faint on the way. Yes, I'll creep into bed now, and
+try to get a little sleep, for I must be strong in the morning." And
+with these words the poor woman crept off to her bed, and burrowed
+down, more like an animal than a human being, beside her little ones,
+as they lay huddled close together and asleep, down in the rags.</p>
+
+<p>What angel was it that followed her to her miserable couch, and
+stirred kindly feelings in her bosom? Some sweet one, surely; for she
+shortly lifted herself to a sitting posture, and, gently drawing down
+the old blanket with which the children, for warmth's sake, had
+wrapped their heads, looked as only a mother might at the three little
+faces lying side by side, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> bending tenderly over them, she placed
+a gentle kiss upon the forehead of each; then she nestled down again
+in her own place, and said, "Perhaps God will help me." And with this
+sentence, half a prayer and half a doubt, born on the one hand from
+that sweet faith which never quite deserts a woman's bosom, and on the
+other from that bitter experience which had made her seem in her own
+eyes deserted of God, she fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>She, too, dreamed; but her dreaming was only the prolongation of her
+waking thoughts; for long after her eyes closed she moved uneasily on
+her hard couch, and muttered, "Perhaps God will. Perhaps&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Sad is it for us who are old enough to have tasted the bitterness of
+that cup which life sooner or later presents to all lips, and have
+borne the burden of its toil and fretting, that our vexations and
+disappointments pursue us even in our slumber, disturbing our sleep
+with reproachful visions and the sound of voices whose upbraiding robs
+us of our otherwise peaceful repose. Perhaps somewhere in the years to
+come, after much wandering and weariness, guided of God, we may come
+to that fountain of which the ancients dreamed, and for which the
+noblest among them sought so long, and died seeking; plunging into
+which, we shall find our lost youth in its cool depths, and, rising
+refreshed and strengthened, shall go on our eternal journey re-clothed
+with the beauty, the innocence, and the happiness of our youth.</p>
+
+<p>The poor woman slept uneasily, and with much muttering to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> herself;
+but the rapid hours slid noiselessly down the icy grooves of night,
+and soon the cold morning put its white face against the frozen
+windows of the east, and peered shiveringly forth. Who says the earth
+cannot look as cold and forbidding as the human countenance? The sky
+hung over the frozen world like a dome of gray steel, whose invisibly
+matched plates were riveted here and there by a few white, gleaming
+stars. The surface of the snow sparkled with crystals that flashed
+colorlessly cold. The air seemed armed, and full of sharp, eager
+points that pricked the skin painfully. The great tree-trunks cracked
+their sharp protests against the frosty entrances being made beneath
+their bark. The lake, from under the smothering ice, roared in dismay
+and pain, and sent the thunders of its wrath at its imprisonment
+around the resounding shores. A bitter morn, a bitter morn,&mdash;ah me! a
+bitter morn for the poor!</p>
+
+<p>The woman, wakened by the gray light, moved in the depths of the
+tattered blankets, sat upright, rubbed her eyes with her hands, looked
+about her as if to recall her scattered senses, and then, as thought
+returned, crept stealthily out of the hole in which she had lain, that
+she might not wake the children, who, coiled together, slumbered on,
+still closely clasped in the arms of blessed unconsciousness.</p>
+
+<p>"They had better sleep," she said to herself. "If I fail to bring them
+meat, I hope they will never wake!"</p>
+
+<p>Ah! if the poor woman could only have foreseen the bitter
+disappointment, or that other something which the future was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> to bring
+her, would she have made that prayer? Is it best for us, as some say,
+that we cannot see what is coming, but must weep on till the last tear
+is shed, uncheered by the sweet fortune so nigh, or laugh unchecked
+until the happy tones are mingled with, and smothered by, the rising
+moan? Is it best, I wonder?</p>
+
+<p>She noiselessly gathered together what additions she could make to her
+garments, and then, taking down the rifle from its hangings, opened
+the door, and stepped forth into the outer cold. There was a look of
+brave determination in her eyes as she faced the chilly greeting the
+world gave her, and, with more of hopefulness than had before appeared
+upon her countenance, she struck bravely off along the lake shore,
+which at this point receded toward the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>For an hour she kept steadily on, with her eyes constantly on the
+alert for the least sign of the wished and prayed-for game. Suddenly
+she stopped, and crouched down in the snow, peering straight ahead.
+Well might she seek concealment, for there, standing on a point of
+land that jutted sharply out into the lake, not forty rods away,
+unscreened and plain to view, stood a buck of such goodly proportions
+as one even in years of hunting might not see.</p>
+
+<p>The woman's eyes fairly gleamed as she saw the noble animal standing
+thus in full sight; but who may tell the agony of fear and hope that
+filled her bosom! The buck stood lordly erect, facing the east, as if
+he would do homage to, or receive homage from, the rising sun, whose
+yellow beams fell full upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> his uplifted front. The thought of her
+mind, the fear of her heart, were plain. The buck would soon move;
+when he moved, which way would he move? Would he go from or come
+toward her? Would she get him, or would she lose him? Oh, the agony of
+that thought!</p>
+
+<p>"God of the starving," burst from her quivering lips, "let not my
+children die!"</p>
+
+<p>Many prayers more ornate rose that day to Him whose ears are open to
+all cries. But of all that prayed on that Christmas morn, whether with
+few words or many, surely, no heart rose with the seeking words more
+earnestly than that of the poor woman kneeling as she prayed, rifle in
+hand, amid the snow.</p>
+
+<p>"God of the starving, let not my children die!"</p>
+
+<p>That was her prayer; and, as if in answer to her agonizing petition,
+the buck turned and began to advance directly toward her, browsing as
+he came. Once he stopped, looked around, and snuffed the air
+suspiciously. Had he scented her presence, and would he bound away?
+Should she fire now? No; her judgment told her she could not trust the
+gun or her aim at such a range. He must come nigher,&mdash;come even to the
+big maple, and stand there, not ten rods away; then she felt sure she
+should get him. So she waited. Oh, how the cold ate into her! How her
+teeth chattered as the chills ran their torturing courses through her
+thin, shivering frame! But still she clutched the cold barrel, and
+still she watched and waited, and still she prayed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"God of the starving, let not my children die!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>Alas, poor woman! My own body shivers as I think of thine, and my pen
+falters to write what misery befell thee on that wretched morn.</p>
+
+<p>Did the buck turn? Did he, having come so tantalizingly near, retrace
+his steps? No. He continued to advance. Had Heaven heard her prayer?
+Her soul answered it had; and with such feelings in it toward Him to
+whom she had appealed as she had not felt in all her life before, she
+steadied herself for the shot. For even as she prayed, the deer came
+on,&mdash;came to the big maple, and lifted his muzzle to its highest reach
+to seize with his tongue a thin streamer of moss that lay against the
+smooth bark. There he stood, his blue-brown side full toward her,
+unconscious of her presence. Noiselessly she cocked the piece.
+Noiselessly she raised it to her face, and, with every nerve drawn to
+its tightest tension, sighted the noble game, and&mdash;<em>fired</em>.</p>
+
+<p>Had the frosty air watered her eye? was it a tear of joy and gratitude
+that dimmed the clearness of its sight? or were the half-frozen
+fingers unable to steady the cold barrel at the instant of its
+explosion? We know not. We only know that in spite of prayer, in spite
+of noblest effort, she missed the game. For, as the rifle cracked, the
+buck gave a snort of fear, and with swift bounds flew up the mountain;
+while the poor woman, dropping the gun with a groan, fell fainting on
+the snow.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+<h3>III.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At the same moment the rifle sounded, two men, the Trapper with his
+pack, and Wild Bill with his sled heavily loaded, were descending the
+western slope of the mountain, not a mile from the clearing in which
+stood the lonely cabin. The sound of the piece brought them to a halt
+as quickly as if the bullet had cut through the air in front of their
+faces. For several minutes both stood in the attitude of listening.</p>
+
+<p>"Down into the snow with ye, pups!" exclaimed the Trapper, in a hoarse
+whisper. "Down into the snow with ye, I say! Rover, ef ye lift yer
+muzzle agin, I'll warm yer back with the ramrod. By the Lord, Bill,
+the buck is comin' this way; ye can see his horns lift above the
+leetle balsams as he breaks through the thicket yender. Ef he strikes
+the runway, he'll sartinly come within range;" and the Old Trapper
+slipped his arms from the pack, and, lowering it to the earth, sank on
+his knees beside it, where he waited as motionless as if the breath
+had departed his body.</p>
+
+<p>Onward came the game. As the Trapper had suggested, the buck, with
+mighty and far-reaching bounds, cleared the shrubby obstructions, and,
+entering the runway, tore up the familiar path with the violence of a
+tornado. Onward he came, his head flung upward, his antlers laid well
+back, tongue lolling from his mouth, and his nostrils smoking with the
+hot breaths that burst in streaming columns from them. Not until his
+swift career had brought him exactly in front of his position did the
+old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> man stir a muscle. But then, quick as the motion of the leaping
+game, his rifle jumped to his cheek, and even as the buck was at the
+central point of his leap, and suspended in the air, the piece cracked
+sharp and clear, and the deer, stricken to his death, fell with a
+crash to the ground. The quivering hounds rose to their feet, and
+bayed long and deep; Wild Bill swung his hat and yelled; and for a
+moment the woods rang with the wild cries of dogs and man.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="shot" id="shot"></a>
+<img src="images/shot.jpg" width="500" height="371" alt="THE OLD TRAPPER&#39;S SHOT." title="THE OLD TRAPPER&#39;S SHOT." />
+<span class="caption">THE OLD TRAPPER&#39;S SHOT.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Lord-a-massy, Bill, what a mouth ye have when ye open it!" exclaimed
+the Trapper, as he leisurely poured the powder into the still smoking
+barrel. "Atween ye and the pups, it's enough to drive a man crazy. I
+should sartinly think ye had never seed a deer shot afore, by the way
+ye be actin'."</p>
+
+<p>"I've seen a good many, as you know, John Norton; but I never saw one
+tumbled over by a single bullet when at the very top of his jump, as
+that one was. I surely thought you had waited too long, and I wouldn't
+have given a cent for your chances when you pulled. It was a wonderful
+shot, John Norton, and I would take just such another tramp as I have
+had, to see you do it again, old man."</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't bad," returned the Trapper; "no, it sartinly wasn't bad,
+for he was goin' as ef the Old Harry was arter him. I shouldn't wonder
+ef he had felt the tech of lead down there in the holler, and the
+smart of his hurt kept him flyin'. Let's go and look him over, and see
+ef we can't find the markin's of the bullit on him."</p>
+
+<p>In a moment the two stood above the dead deer.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>"It is as I thought," said the Trapper, as he pointed with his ramrod
+to a stain of blood on one of the hams of the buck. "The bullit drove
+through his thigh here, but it didn't tech the bone, and was a sheer
+waste of lead, fur it only sot him goin' like an arrer. Bill, I
+sartinly doubt," continued the old man, as he measured the noble
+animal with his eye, "I sartinly doubt ef I ever seed a bigger deer.
+There's seven prongs on his horns, and I'd bet a horn of powder agin a
+chargerful that he'd weigh three hunderd pounds as he lies. Lord! what
+a Christmas gift he'll be fur the woman! The skin will make a blanket
+fit fur a queen to sleep under, and the meat, jediciously cared fur,
+will last her all winter. We must manage to git it to the edge of the
+clearin', anyhow, or the wolves might make free with our venison,
+Bill. Yer sled is a strong un, and it'll bear the loadin', ef ye go
+keerful."</p>
+
+<p>The Trapper and his companion set themselves to their task with the
+energy of men accustomed to surmount every obstacle, and in a short
+half-hour the sled, with its double loading, stopped at the door of
+the lonely cabin.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand this, Wild Bill," said the Trapper. "Here be a
+woman's tracks in the snow, and the door be left a leetle ajar, but
+there be no smoke in the chimney, and they sartinly ain't very noisy
+inside. I'll jest give a knock or two, and see ef they be stirrin';"
+and, suiting the action to the word, he knocked long and loud on the
+large door. But to his noisy summons there came no response, and
+without a moment of farther hesitation he shoved open the door, and
+entered.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>"God of marcy! Wild Bill," exclaimed the Trapper, "look in here."</p>
+
+<p>A huge room dimly lighted, holes in the roof, here and there a heap of
+snow on the floor, an immense fireplace with no fire in it, and a
+group of scared, wild-looking children huddled together in the farther
+corner, like young and timid animals that had fled in affright from
+the nest where they had slept, at some fearful intrusion. That is what
+the Trapper saw.</p>
+
+<p>"I"&mdash;Whatever Wild Bill was about to say, his astonishment, and, we
+may add, his pity, were too profound for him to complete his
+ejaculation.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't ye be afeerd, leetle uns," said the Trapper, as he advanced
+into the center of the room to survey more fully the wretched place.
+"This be Christmas morn, and me and Wild Bill and the pups have come
+over the mountain to wish ye all a merry Christmas. But where be yer
+mother?" queried the old man, as he looked kindly at the startled
+group.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't know where she is," answered the older of the two girls; "we
+thought she was in bed with us, till you woke us. We don't know where
+she has gone."</p>
+
+<p>"I have it, I have it, Wild Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, whose eyes
+had been busy scanning the place while talking with the children. "The
+rifle be gone from the hangin's, and the tracks in the snow be hern.
+Yis, yis, I see it all. She went out in hope of gittin' the leetle uns
+here somethin' to eat, and that was her rifle we heerd, and her bullit
+made that hole in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>the ham of the buck. What a disapp'intment to the
+poor creetur when she seed she hadn't hit him! Her heart eena'most
+broke, I dare say. But the Lord was in it&mdash;leastwise, He didn't go
+agin the proper shapin' of things arterwards. Come, Bill, let's stir
+round lively, and git the shanty in shape a leetle, and some vict'als
+on the table afore she comes. Yis, git out your axe, and slash into
+that dead beech at the corner of the cabin, while I sorter clean up
+inside. A fire is the fust thing on sech a mornin' as this; so scurry
+round, Bill, and bring in the wood as ef ye was a good deal in
+'arnest, and do ye cut to the measure of the fireplace, and don't
+waste yer time in shortenin' it, fur the longer the fireplace, the
+longer the wood; that is, ef ye want to make it a heater."</p>
+
+<p>His companion obeyed with alacrity; and by the time the Trapper had
+cleaned out the snow, and swept down the soot from the sides of the
+fireplace, and put things partially to rights, Bill had stacked the
+dry logs into the huge opening, nearly to the upper jamb, and, with
+the help of some large sheets of birch bark, kindled them to a flame.
+"Come here, leetle uns," said the Trapper, as he turned his
+good-natured face toward the children,&mdash;"come here, and put yer leetle
+feet on the h'arthstun, fur it's warmin', and I conceit yer toes be
+about freezin'."</p>
+
+<p>It was not in the power of children to withstand the attraction of
+such an invitation, extended with such a hearty voice and such
+benevolence of feature. The children came promptly forward, and stood
+in a row on the great stone, and warmed their little shivering bodies
+by the abundant flames.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, leetle folks," said the Trapper, "jest git yerselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> well
+warmed, then git on what clothes ye've got, and we'll have some
+breakfast,&mdash;yis, we'll have breakfast ready by the time yer mother
+gits back, fur I know where she be gone, and she'll be hungry and cold
+when she gits in. I don't conceit that this leetle chap here can help
+much, but ye girls be big enough to help a good deal. So, when ye be
+warm, do ye put away the bed to the furderest corner, and shove out
+the table in front of the fire, and put on the dishes, sech as ye
+have, and be smart about it, too, fur yer mother will sartinly be
+comin' soon, and we must be ahead of her with the cookin'."</p>
+
+<p>What a change the next half-hour made in the appearance of the cabin!
+The huge fire sent its heat to the farthest corner of the great room.
+The miserable bed had been removed out of sight, and the table, drawn
+up in front of the fire, was set with the needed dishes. On the
+hearthstone a large platter of venison steak, broiled by the Trapper's
+skill, simmered in the heat. A mighty pile of cakes, brown to a turn,
+flanked one side, while a stack of potatoes baked in the ashes
+supported the other. The teapot sent forth its refreshing odor through
+the room. The children, with their faces washed and hair partially, at
+least, combed, ran about with bare feet on the warm floor, comfortable
+and happy. To them it was as a beautiful dream. The breakfast was
+ready, and the visitors sat waiting for the coming of her to whose
+assistance the angel of Christmas Eve had sent them.</p>
+
+<p>"Sh!" whispered the Trapper, whose quick ear had caught the sound of a
+dragging step in the snow. "She's comin'!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>Too weary and faint, too sick at heart and exhausted in body to
+observe the unaccustomed signs of human presence around her dwelling,
+the poor woman dragged herself to the door, and opened it. The gun she
+still held in her hand fell rattling to the floor, and, with eyes
+wildly opened, she gazed bewildered at the spectacle. The blazing
+fire, the set table, the food on the hearthstone, the smiling
+children, the two men! She passed her hands across her eyes as one
+waking from sleep. Was she dreaming? Was this cabin the miserable hut
+she had left at daybreak? Was that the same fireplace in front of
+whose cold and cheerless recess she had crouched the night before? And
+were those two strangers there men, or were they angels? Was what she
+saw real, or was it only a fevered vision born of her weakness?</p>
+
+<p>Her senses actually reeled to and fro, and she trembled for a moment
+on the verge of unconsciousness. Indeed, the shock was so overwhelming
+that in another instant she would have swooned and fallen to the floor
+had not the growing faintness been checked by the sound of a human
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"A merry Christmas to ye, my good woman," said the Trapper. "A merry
+Christmas to ye and yourn!"</p>
+
+<p>The woman started as the hearty tones fell on her ear, and, steadying
+herself by the door, she said, speaking as one partially dazed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Are you John Norton the Trapper, or are you an ang&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ye needn't sight agin," interrupted the old man. "Yis, I'm old John
+Norton himself, nothin' better and nothin' wuss; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> the man in the
+chair here by my side is Wild Bill, and ye couldn't make an angel out
+of him, ef ye tried from now till next Christmas. Yis, my good woman,
+I'm John Norton, and this is Wild Bill, and we've come over the
+mountain to wish ye a merry Christmas, ye and yer leetle uns, and help
+ye keep the day; and, ye see, we've been stirrin' a leetle in yer
+absence, and breakfast be waitin'. Wild Bill and me will jest go out
+and cut a leetle more wood, while ye warm and wash yerself; and when
+ye be ready to eat, ye may call us, and we'll see which can git into
+the house fust."</p>
+
+<p>So saying the Trapper, followed by his companion, passed out of the
+door, while the poor woman, without a word, moved toward the fire,
+and, casting one look at her children, at the table, at the food on
+the hearthstone, dropped on her knees by a chair, and buried her face
+in her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"I say," said Wild Bill to the Trapper, as he crept softly away from
+the door, to which he had returned to shut it more closely, "I say,
+John Norton, the woman is on her knees by a chair."</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely, very likely," returned the old man reverently; and then
+he began to chop vigorously at a huge log, with his back toward his
+comrade.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps some of you who read this tale will come sometime, when weary
+and heart-sick, to something drearier than an empty house, some bleak,
+cold day, some lonely morn, and with a starving heart and benumbed
+soul,&mdash;ay, and empty-handed, too,&mdash;enter in only to find it swept and
+garnished, and what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> you most needed and longed for waiting for you.
+Then will you, too, drop upon your knees, and cover your face with
+your hands, ashamed that you had murmured against the hardness of your
+lot, or forgotten the goodness of Him who suffered you to be tried
+only that you might more fully appreciate the triumph.</p>
+
+<p>"My good woman," said the Trapper, when the breakfast was eaten,
+"we've come, as we said, to spend the day with ye; and accordin' to
+custom&mdash;and a pleasant un it be fur sartin&mdash;we've brought ye some
+presents. A good many of them come from him who called on ye as he and
+me passed through the lake last fall. I dare say ye remember him, and
+he sartinly has remembered ye. Fur last evenin', when I was makin' up
+a leetle pack to bring ye myself,&mdash;fur I conceited I had better come
+over and spend the day with ye,&mdash;Wild Bill came to my door with a box
+on his sled that the boy had sent in from his home in the city; and in
+the box he had put a great many presents fur him and me; and in the
+lower half of the box he had put a good many presents fur ye and yer
+leetle uns, and we've brought them all over with us. Some of the
+things be fur eatin' and some of them be fur wearin'; and that there
+may be no misunderstandin', I would say that all the things that be in
+the pack-basket there, and all the things that be on the sled, too,
+belong to ye. And as I see the wood-pile isn't a very big un fur this
+time of the year, Bill and me be goin' out to settle our breakfast a
+leetle with the axes. And while we be gone, I conceit ye had better
+rummage the things over, and them that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> be good fur eatin' ye had
+better put in the cupboard, and them that be good fur wearin' ye had
+better put on yerself and yer leetle uns; and then we'll all be ready
+to make a fair start. Fur this be Christmas Day, and we be goin' to
+keep it as it orter be kept. Ef we've had sorrers, we'll forgit 'em;
+and we'll laugh, and eat, and be merry. Fur this be Christmas, my good
+woman! children, this be Christmas! Wild Bill, my boy, this be
+Christmas; and, pups, this be Christmas! And we'll all laugh, and eat,
+and be merry."</p>
+
+<p>The joyfulness of the old man was contagious. His happiness flowed
+over as waters flow over the rim of a fountain. Wild Bill laughed as
+he seized his axe, the woman rose from the table smiling, the girls
+giggled, the little boy stamped, and the hounds, catching the spirit
+of their merry master, swung their tails round, and bayed in canine
+gladness; and amid the joyful uproar the Old Trapper spun himself out
+of the door, and chased Wild Bill through the snow like a boy.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner was to be served at two o'clock; and what a dinner it was,
+and what preparations preceded! The snow had been shoveled from around
+the cabin, the holes in the roof roughly but effectually thatched. A
+good pile of wood was stacked in front of the doorway. The spring that
+bubbled from the bank had been cleared of ice, and a protection
+constructed over it. The huge buck had been dressed, and hung high
+above the reach of wolves. Cedar and balsam branches had been placed
+in the corners and along the sides of the room. Great sprays of the
+tasseled pine and the feathery tamarack were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> suspended from the
+ceiling. The table had been enlarged, and extra seats extemporized.
+The long-unused oven had been cleaned out, and under its vast dome the
+red flames flashed and rolled upward. What a change a few hours had
+brought to that lonely cabin and its wretched inmates! The woman,
+dressed in her new garments, her hair smoothly combed, her face
+lighted with smiles, looked positively comely. The girls, happy in
+their fine clothes and marvelous toys, danced round the room, wild
+with delight; while the little boy strutted about the floor in his new
+boots, proudly showing them to each person for the hundredth time.</p>
+
+<p>The hostess's attention was equally divided between the temperature of
+the oven and the adornment of the table. A snow-white sheet, one of a
+dozen she had found in the box, was drafted peremptorily into service,
+and did duty as a tablecloth. Oh, the innocent and funny makeshifts of
+poverty, and the goodly distance it can make a little go! Perhaps some
+of us, as we stand in our rich dining rooms, and gaze with pride at
+the silver, the gold, the cut glass, and the transparent china, can
+recall a little kitchen in a homely house far away, where our good
+mothers once set their tables for their guests, and what a brave show
+the few extra dishes made when they brought them out on the rare
+festive days.</p>
+
+<p>However it might strike you, fair reader, to the poor woman and her
+guests there was nothing incongruous in a sheet serving as a
+tablecloth. Was it not white and clean and properly shaped, and would
+it not have been a tablecloth if it hadn't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> been a sheet? How very
+nice and particular some people can be over the trifling matter of a
+name! And this sheet had no right to be a sheet, since any one with
+half an eye could see at a glance that it was predestined from the
+first to be a tablecloth, for it sat as smoothly on the wooden surface
+as pious looks on a deacon's face, while the easy and nonchalant way
+it draped itself at the corners was perfectly jaunty.</p>
+
+<p>The edges of this square of white sheeting that had thus
+providentially found its true and predestined use were ornamented with
+the leaves of the wild myrtle, stitched on in the form of scallops. In
+the center, with a brave show of artistic skill, were the words,
+"Merry Christmas," prettily worked with the small brown cones of the
+pines. This, the joint product of Wild Bill's industry and the woman's
+taste, commanded the enthusiastic admiration of all; and even the
+little boy, from the height of a chair into which he had climbed, was
+profoundly affected by the show it made.</p>
+
+<p>The Trapper had charge of the meat department, and it is safe to say
+that no Delmonico could undertake to serve venison in greater variety
+than did he. To him it was a grand occasion, and&mdash;in a culinary
+sense&mdash;he rose grandly to meet it. What bosom is without its little
+vanities? and shall we laugh at the dear old man because he looked
+upon the opportunity before him with feeling other than pure
+benevolence,&mdash;even of complacency that what he was doing was being
+done as no one else could do it?</p>
+
+<p>There was venison roasted, and venison broiled, and venison<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> fried;
+there was hashed venison, and venison spitted; there was a side-dish
+of venison sausage, strong with the odor of sage, and slightly dashed
+with wild thyme; and a huge kettle of soup, on whose rich creamy
+surface pieces of bread and here and there a slice of potato floated.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell ye, Bill," said the Trapper to his companion, as he stirred
+the soup with a long ladle, "this pot isn't act'ally runnin' over with
+taters, but ye can see a bit occasionally ef ye look sharp and keep
+the ladle goin' round pretty lively. No, the taters ain't over
+plenty," continued the old man, peering into the pot, and sinking his
+voice to a whisper, "but there wasn't but fifteen in the bag, and the
+woman took twelve of 'em fur her kittle, and ye can't make three
+taters look act'ally crowded in two gallons of soup, can ye, Bill?"
+And the old man punched that personage in the ribs with the thumb of
+the hand that was free from service, while he kept the ladle going
+with the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord!" exclaimed the Trapper, speaking to Bill, who, having taken a
+look into the old man's kettle, was digging his knuckles into his eyes
+to free them from the spray that was jetted into them from the
+fountains of mirth within that were now in full play,&mdash;"Lord! ef there
+isn't another piece of tater gone all to pieces! Bill, ef I make
+another circle with this ladle, there won't be a whole slice left, and
+ye'll swear there wasn't a tater in the soup." And the two men, with
+their faces within twenty inches, laughed and laughed like boys.</p>
+
+<p>How sweet it is to think that when the Maker set up this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> strange
+instrument we call ourselves, and strung it for service, He selected
+of the heavy chords so few, and of the lighter ones so many! Some
+muffled ones there are; some slow and solemn sounds swell sadly forth
+at intervals, but blessed be God that we are so easily tickled, and
+the world is so funny that within it, even when exiled from home and
+friends, we find, as the days come and go, the causes and occasions of
+hilarity!</p>
+
+<p>Wild Bill had been placed in charge of the liquids. What a satire
+there is in circumstances, and how those of to-day laugh at those of
+yesterday! Yes, Wild Bill had charge of the liquids,&mdash;no mean charge,
+when the occasion is considered. Nor was the position without its
+embarrassments, as few honorable positions are, for it brought him
+face to face with the problem of the day&mdash;dishes; for, between the two
+cooks of the occasion, every dish in the cabin had been brought into
+requisition, and poor Bill was left in the predicament of having to
+make tea and coffee with no pots to make them in.</p>
+
+<p>But Bill was not lacking in wit, if he was in pots, and he solved the
+conundrum how to make tea without a teapot in a manner that extorted
+the woman's laughter, and commanded the Old Trapper's admiration.</p>
+
+<p>In ransacking the lofts above the apartment, he had lighted on several
+large stone jugs, which, with the courage&mdash;shall we call it the
+audacity?&mdash;of genius, he had seized upon; and, having thoroughly
+rinsed them, and freed them from certain odors,&mdash;with which we are
+free to say Bill was more or less familiar,&mdash;he brought them forward
+as substitutes for kettle and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> pot. Indeed, they worked admirably, for
+in them the berry and the leaves might not only be properly steeped,
+but the flavor could be retained beyond what it might in many of our
+famous and high-sounding patented articles.</p>
+
+<p>But Bill, while ingenious and courageous to the last degree, was
+lacking in education, especially in scientific directions. He had
+never been made acquainted with that great promoter of modern
+civilization&mdash;the expansive properties of steam. The corks he had
+whittled out for his bravely extemporized tea and coffee pots were of
+the closest fit; and, as they had been inserted with the energy of a
+man who, having conquered a serious difficulty, is determined to reap
+the full benefit of his triumph, there was at least no danger that the
+flavor of the concoctions would escape through any leakage at the
+muzzle. Having thus prepared them for steeping, he placed the jugs in
+his corner of the fireplace, and pushed them well up through the ashes
+to the live coals.</p>
+
+<p>"Wild Bill," said the Trapper, who wished to give his companion the
+needed warning in as delicate and easy a manner as possible, "Wild
+Bill, ye have sartinly got the right idee techin' the makin' of tea
+and coffee, fur the yarb should be steeped, and the berry,
+too,&mdash;leastwise, arter it's biled up once or twice,&mdash;and therefore it
+be only reasonable that the nozzles should be closed moderately tight;
+but a man wants considerable experience in the business, or he's
+likely to overdo it jest a leetle, and ef ye don't cut some slots in
+them wooden corks ye've driven into them nozzles, Bill, there'll be a
+good deal of tea and coffee<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> floatin' round in yer corner of the
+fireplace afore many minits, and I conceit there'll be a man about yer
+size lookin' fur a couple of corks and pieces of jugs out there in the
+clearin', too."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think so?" answered Bill, incredulously. "Don't you be scared,
+old man, but keep on stirring your soup and turning the meat, and I'll
+keep my eye on the bottles."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, Bill," returned the Trapper; "ye keep yer eye right on
+'em, specially on that un that's furderest in toward the butt of the
+beech log there; fur ef there's any vartue in signs, that jug be
+gittin' oneasy. Yis," continued the old man, after a minute's pause,
+during which his eye hadn't left the jug, "yis, that jug will want
+more room afore many minits, ef I'm any jedge, and I conceit I had
+better give it the biggest part of the fireplace;" and the Trapper
+hastily moved the soup and his half-dozen plates of cooked meats to
+the other end of the hearthstone, whither he retired himself, like one
+who, feeling that he is called upon to contend with unknown forces,
+wisely beats a retreat. He even put himself behind a stack of wood
+that lay piled up in his corner, like one who does not despise, in a
+sudden emergency, an artificial protection.</p>
+
+<p>"Bill," called the Trapper, "edge round a leetle,&mdash;edge round, and git
+in closer to the jamb. It's sheer foolishness standin' where ye be,
+fur the water will be wallopin' in a minit, and ef the corks be
+swelled in the nozzle, there'll be an explosion. Git in toward the
+jamb, and watch the ambushment under kiver."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>"Old man," answered Bill, as he turned his back carelessly toward the
+fireplace, "I've got the bearin's of this trail, and know what I'm
+about. The jugs are as strong as iron kittles, and I ain't afraid of
+their bust&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Bill never finished the sentence, for the explosion predicted by the
+Trapper occurred. It was a tremendous one, and the huge fireplace was
+filled with flying brands, ashes, and clouds of steam. The Trapper
+ducked his head, the woman screamed, and the hounds rushed howling to
+the farthest end of the room; while Bill, with half a somersault,
+disappeared under the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" shouted the Trapper, lifting his head from behind the wood,
+and critically surveying the scene. "Hurrah, Bill!" he shouted, as he
+swung the ladle over his head. "Come out from under the table, and man
+yer battery agin. Yer old mortars was loaded to the muzzle, and ef ye
+had depressed the pieces a leetle, ye'd 'a' blowed the cabin to
+splinters; as it was, the chimney got the biggest part of the
+chargin', and ye'll find yer rammers on the other side of the
+mountain."</p>
+
+<p>It was, in truth, a scene of uproarious hilarity; for once the
+explosion was over, and the woman and children saw there was no
+danger, and apprehended the character of the performance, they joined
+unrestrainedly in the Trapper's laughter, in which they were assisted
+by Wild Bill, as if he were not the victim of his own over-confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Old Trapper," he called from under the table, "did both guns
+go off? I was getting under cover when the battery opened, and didn't
+notice whether the firing was in sections or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> along the whole line. If
+there's a piece left, I think I will stay where I am; for I am in a
+good position to observe the range, and watch the effect of the shot.
+I say, hadn't you better get behind the wood-pile again?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," interrupted the Trapper; "the whole battery went at the
+word, Bill, and there isn't a gun or a gun-carriage left in the
+casement. Ye've wasted a gill of the yarb, and a quarter of a pound of
+the berry; and ye must hurry up with another outfit of bottles, or
+we'll have nothin' but water to drink at the dinner."</p>
+
+<p>The dinner! That great event of the day, the crown and diadem to its
+royalty, and which became it so well, was ready promptly to the hour.
+The table, enlarged as it was to nearly double its original
+dimensions, could scarcely accommodate the abundance of the feast. Ah,
+if some sweet power would only enlarge our hearts when, on festive
+days, we enlarge our tables, how many of the world's poor, that now go
+hungry while we feast, would then be fed!</p>
+
+<p>At one end of the table sat the Trapper, Wild Bill at the other. The
+woman's chair was at the center of one of the sides, so that she sat
+facing the fire, whose generous flames might well symbolize the
+abundance which amid cold and hunger had so suddenly come to her. On
+her right hand the two girls sat; on her left, the boy. A goodly
+table, a goodly fire, and a goodly company,&mdash;what more could the Angel
+of Christmas ask to see?</p>
+
+<p>Thus were they seated, ready to begin the repast; but the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> plates
+remained untouched, and the happy noises which had to that moment
+filled the cabin ceased; for the Angel of Silence, with noiseless
+step, had suddenly entered the room. There's a silence of grief,
+there's a silence of hatred, there's a silence of dread; of these, men
+may speak, and these they can describe. But the silence of our
+happiness, who can describe that? When the heart is full, when the
+long longing is suddenly met, when love gives to love abundantly, when
+the soul lacketh nothing and is content,&mdash;then language is useless,
+and the Angel of Silence becomes our only adequate interpreter. A
+humble table, surely, and humble folk around it; but not in the houses
+of the rich or the palaces of kings does gratitude find her only home,
+but in more lowly abodes and with lowly folk&mdash;ay, and often at the
+scant table, too,&mdash;she sitteth a perpetual guest. Was it memory? Did
+the Trapper at that brief moment visit his absent friend? Did Wild
+Bill recall his wayward past? Were the thoughts of the woman busy with
+sweet scenes of earlier days? And did memory, by thus reminding them
+of the absent and the past, of the sweet things that had been and
+were, stir within their hearts thoughts of Him from whom all gifts
+descend, and of His blessed Son, in whose honor the day was named?</p>
+
+<p>O Memory! thou tuneful bell that ringeth on forever, friend at our
+feasts, and friend, too, let us call thee, at our burial, what music
+can equal thine? For in thy mystic globe all tunes abide,&mdash;the
+birthday note for kings, the marriage peal, the funeral knell, the
+gleeful jingle of merry mirth, and those sweet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> chimes that float our
+thoughts, like fragrant ships upon a fragrant sea, toward heaven,&mdash;all
+are thine! Ring on, thou tuneful bell; ring on, while these glad ears
+may drink thy melody; and when thy chimes are heard by me no more,
+ring loud and clear above my grave that peal which echoes to the
+heavens, and tells the world of immortality, that they who come to
+mourn may check their tears and say, "<em>Why do we weep? He liveth
+still!</em>"</p>
+
+<p>"The Lord be praised fur His goodness!" said the Trapper, whose
+thoughts unconsciously broke into speech. "The Lord be praised fur His
+goodness, and make us grateful fur His past marcies, and the plenty
+that be here!" And looking down upon the viands spread before him he
+added, "The Lord be good to the boy, and make him as happy in his city
+home as be they who be wearin' and eatin' his gifts in the woods!"</p>
+
+<p>"Amen!" said the woman softly, and a grateful tear fell on her plate.</p>
+
+<p>"A&mdash;hem!" said Wild Bill; and then looking down upon his warm suit, he
+lifted his voice, and, bringing it out in a clear, strong tone, said,
+"<em>Amen! hit or miss!</em>"</p>
+
+<p>At many a table that day more formal grace was said, by priest and
+layman alike, and at many a table, by lips of old and young, response
+was given to the benediction; but we doubt if over all the earth a
+more honest grace was said or more honestly assented to than the Lord
+heard from the cabin in the woods.</p>
+
+<p>The feast and the merrymaking now began. The Old Trapper was in his
+best mood, and fairly bubbled over with humor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> The wit of Wild Bill
+was naturally keen, and it flashed at its best as he ate. The children
+stuffed and laughed as only children on such an elastic occasion can.
+And as for the poor woman, it was impossible for her, in the midst of
+such a scene, to be otherwise than happy, and she joined modestly in
+the conversation, and laughed heartily at the witty sallies.</p>
+
+<p>But why should we strive to put on paper the wise, the funny, and the
+pleasant things that were said, the exclamations, the laughter, the
+story, the joke, the verbal thrust and parry of such an occasion?
+These, springing from the center of the circumstance, and flashed into
+being at the instant, cannot be preserved for after-rehearsal. Like
+the effervescence of champagne, they jet and are gone; their force
+passes away with the noise that accompanied its out-coming.</p>
+
+<p>Is it not enough to record that the dinner was a success, that the
+Trapper's meats were put upon the table in a manner worthy of his
+reputation, that the woman's efforts at pastry-making were generously
+applauded, and that Wild Bill's tea and coffee were pronounced by the
+hostess the best she had ever tasted? Perhaps no meal was ever more
+enjoyed, as certainly none was ever more heartily eaten.</p>
+
+<p>The wonder and pride of the table was the pudding,&mdash;a creation of
+Indian meal, flour, suet, and raisins, re-enforced and assisted by
+innumerable spicy elements supposed to be too mysterious to be grasped
+by the masculine mind. In the production of this wonderful
+centerpiece,&mdash;for it had been unanimously voted the place of
+honor,&mdash;the poor woman had summoned all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> the latent resources of her
+skill, and in reference to it her pride and fear contended, while the
+anxiety with which she rose to serve it was only too plainly depicted
+on her countenance. What if it should prove a failure? What if she had
+made a miscalculation as to the amount of suet required,&mdash;a point upon
+which she had been somewhat confused? What if the raisins were not
+sufficiently distributed? What if it wasn't done through, and should
+turn out pasty? Great Heavens! The last thought was of so overwhelming
+a character that no feminine courage could encounter it. Who may
+describe the look with which she watched the Trapper as he tasted it,
+or the expression of relief which brightened her anxious face when he
+pronounced warmly in its favor?</p>
+
+<p>"It's a wonderful bit of cookin'," he said, addressing himself to Wild
+Bill, "and I sartinly doubt ef there be anythin' in the settlements
+to-day that can equal it. There be jest enough of the suet, and there
+be a plum for every mouthful; and it be solid enough to stay in the
+mouth ontil ye've had time to chew it, and git a taste of the
+corn,&mdash;and I wouldn't give a cent for a puddin' ef it gits away from
+yer teeth fast. Yis, it be a wonderful bit of cookin'," and, turning
+to the woman, he added, "ye may well be proud of it."</p>
+
+<p>What higher praise could be bestowed? And as it was re-echoed by all
+present, and plate after plate was passed for a second filling, the
+dinner came to an end with the greatest good feeling and hilarity.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+<h3>IV.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Now fur the sled!" exclaimed the Trapper, as he rose from the table.
+"It be a good many years since I've straddled one, but nothin' settles
+a dinner quicker, or suits the leetle folks better. I conceit the
+crust be thick enough to bear us up, and, ef it is, we can fetch a
+course from the upper edge of the clearin' fifty rods into the lake.
+Come, childun, git on yer mittens and yer tippets, and h'ist along to
+the big pine, and ye shall have some fun ye won't forgit ontil yer
+heads be whiter than mine."</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to record that the children hailed with delight the
+proposition of the Trapper, or that they were at the appointed spot
+long before the speaker and his companion reached it with the sled.</p>
+
+<p>"Wild Bill," said the Trapper, as they stood on the crest of the slope
+down which they were to glide, "the crust be smooth as glass, and the
+hill be a steep un. I sartinly doubt ef mortal man ever rode faster
+than this sled'll be goin' by the time it gits to where the bank
+pitches into the lake; and ef ye should git a leetle careless in yer
+steerin', Bill, and hit a stump, I conceit that nothin' but the help
+of the Lord or the rottenness of the stump would save ye from
+etarnity."</p>
+
+<p>Now, Wild Bill was blessed with a sanguine temperament. To him no
+obstacle seemed serious if bravely faced. Indeed, his natural
+confidence in himself bordered on recklessness, to which the drinking
+habits of his life had, perhaps, contributed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>When the Trapper had finished speaking, Bill ran his eye carelessly
+down the steep hillside, smooth and shiny as polished steel, and said,
+"Oh, this isn't anything extry for a hill. I've steered a good many
+steeper ones, and in nights when the moon was at the half, and the
+sled overloaded at that. It don't make any difference how fast you
+go," he added, "if you only keep in the path, and don't hit anything."</p>
+
+<p>"That's it, that's it," replied the Trapper. "But the trouble here be
+to keep in the path, fur, in the fust place, there isn't any path, and
+the stumps be pretty thick, and I doubt ef ye can line a trail from
+here to the bank by the lake without one or more sudden twists in it,
+and a twist in the trail, goin' as fast as we'll be goin', has got to
+be taken jediciously, or somethin' will happen. I say, Bill, what
+p'int will ye steer fur?"</p>
+
+<p>Wild Bill, thus addressed, proceeded to give his opinion touching the
+proper direction of the flight they were to make. Indeed, he had been
+closely examining the ground while the Trapper was speaking, and
+therefore gave his opinion promptly and with confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye have chosen the course with jedgment," said the old man
+approvingly, after he had studied the line his companion pointed out
+critically for a moment. "Yis, Bill, ye have a nateral eye for the
+business, and I sartinly have more confidence in ye than I had a minit
+ago, when ye was talkin' about a steeper hill than this; fur this hill
+drops mighty sudden in the pitches, and the crust be smooth as ice,
+and the sled'll go like a streak when it gits started. But the course
+ye've p'inted out be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> a good un, fur there be only one bad turn in it,
+and good steerin' orter put a sled round that. I say," continued the
+old man, turning toward his companion, and pointing out the crook in
+the course at the bottom of the second dip, "can ye swing around that
+big stump there without upsettin', when ye come to it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Swing around? Of course I can," retorted Wild Bill, positively.
+"There's plenty room to the left, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, ay; there be plenty of room, as ye say, ef ye don't take too much
+of it," interrupted the Trapper. "But&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you," broke in the other, "I'll turn my back to no man in
+steering a sled; and I can put this sled, and you on it, around that
+stump a hundred times, and never lift a runner."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," responded the Trapper, "have it yer own way. I dare say
+ye be good at steerin', and I sartinly know I'm good at ridin'; and I
+can ride as fast as ye can steer, ef ye hit every stump in the
+clearin'. Now, childun," continued the old man, turning to the little
+group, "we be goin' to try the course; and ef the crust holds up, and
+Wild Bill keeps clear of the stumps, and nothin' onusual happens, ye
+shall have all the slidin' ye want afore ye go in. Come, Bill, git yer
+sled p'inted right, and I'll be gittin' on, and we'll see ef ye can
+steer an old man round a stump as handily as ye say ye can."</p>
+
+<p>The directions of the Trapper were promptly obeyed, and in an instant
+the sled was in the right position, and the Trapper proceeded to seat
+himself with the carefulness of one who feels he is embarking on a
+somewhat uncertain venture, and has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> grave misgivings as to what will
+be the upshot of the undertaking. The sled was large and strongly
+built; and it added not a little to his comfort to feel that he could
+put entire confidence in the structure beneath them.</p>
+
+<p>"The sled'll hold," he said to himself, "ef the loadin' goes to the
+jedgment."</p>
+
+<p>The Trapper was no sooner seated than Wild Bill threw himself upon the
+sled, with one leg under him and the other stretched at full length
+behind. This was a method of steering that had come into vogue since
+the Trapper's boyhood, for in his day the steersman sat astride the
+sled, with his feet thrust forward, and steered by the pressure of
+either heel upon the snow.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on, Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, whose eye this novel method of
+steering had not escaped. "Hold on, and hold up a minit. Heavens and
+'arth! ye don't mean to steer this sled with one toe, do ye, and that,
+too, the length of a rifle-barrel astarn? Wheel round, and spread yer
+legs out as ye orter, and steer this sled in an honest fashion, or
+there'll be trouble aboard afore ye git to the bottom."</p>
+
+<p>"Sit round!" retorted Bill. "How could I see to steer if I was sitting
+right back of you? For you're nigh a foot taller then I be, and your
+shoulders are as broad as the sled."</p>
+
+<p>"Yer p'ints be well taken, fur sartin," replied the Trapper; "fur it
+be no more than reasonable that the man that steers should see where
+he be goin', and I am as anxious as ye be that ye should. Yis, I
+sartinly want ye to see where ye be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> goin' on this trip, anyhow, fur
+the crew be a fresh un, and the channel be a leetle crooked. But be ye
+sartin, Bill, that ye can fetch round that stump there as it orter be
+did, with nothin' but yer toe out behind? It may be the best way, as
+ye say, but it don't look like honest steerin' to a man of my years."</p>
+
+<p>"I have used both ways," answered Bill, "and I give you my word, old
+man, that this is the best one. You can get a big swing with your foot
+stretched out in this fashion, and the sled feels the least pressure
+of the toe. Yes, it's all right. John Norton, are you ready?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yis, yis, as ready as I ever shall be," answered the Trapper, in a
+voice in which doubt and resignation were equally mingled. "It may be
+as ye say," he continued; "but the rudder be too fur behind to suit
+me, and ef anything happens on this cruise, jest remember, Wild Bill,
+that my jedgment&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The sentence the Trapper was uttering was abruptly cut short at this
+point; for Bill had started the sled with a sudden push, and leaped to
+his seat behind the Trapper as it glided downward and away. In an
+instant the sled was under full headway, for the dip was a sharp one,
+and the crust smooth as ice. Scarce had it gone ten rods from the
+point where it started before it was in full flight, and was gliding
+downward with what would have been, to any but a man of the steadiest
+nerve, a frightful velocity. But the Trapper was of too cool and
+courageous temperament to be disturbed even by actual danger. Indeed,
+the swiftness of their downward career, as the sled with a buzz and a
+roar swept along over the resounding crust,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> stirred the old man's
+blood with a tingle of excitement; while the splendid manner with
+which Wild Bill was keeping it to the course settled upon filled him
+with admiration, and was fast making him a convert to the new method
+of steering.</p>
+
+<p>Downward they flashed. The Trapper's cap had been blown from his head;
+and as the old man sat bolt-upright on his sled, his feet bravely
+planted on the round, his face flushed, and his white hair streaming,
+he looked the very picture of hearty enjoyment. Above his head the
+face of Wild Bill looked actually sharpened by the pressure of the air
+on either cheek as it clove through it; but his lips were bravely set,
+and his eyes were fastened without winking on the big stump ahead,
+toward which they were rushing.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this point that Wild Bill vindicated his ability as a
+steersman, and at the same time barely escaped shipwreck. At the
+proper moment he swept his foot to the left, and the sled, in
+obedience to the pressure, swooped in that direction. But in his
+anxiety to give the stump a wide berth, Bill overdid the pressure that
+was needed a trifle; for in calculating the curve required he had
+failed to allow for the sidewise motion of the sled, and, instead of
+hitting one stump, it looked for an instant as if he would be
+precipitated among a dozen.</p>
+
+<p>"Heave her starn up, Wild Bill! up with her starn, I say," yelled the
+Trapper, "or there won't be a stump left in the clearin'."</p>
+
+<p>With a quickness and courage that would have done credit to any
+steersman,&mdash;for the speed at which they were going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> was
+terrific,&mdash;Bill swept his foot to the right, leaning his body well
+over at the same instant. The Trapper instinctively seconded his
+endeavors, and with hands that gripped either side of the sled he hung
+over that side which was upon the point of going into the air. For
+several rods the sled glided along on a single runner, and then,
+righting itself with a lurch, jumped the summit of the last dip, and
+raced away, like a swallow in full flight, toward the lake.</p>
+
+<p>Now, at the edge of the clearing that bounded the shore was a bank of
+considerable size. Shrubs and stunted bushes fringed the crest of it.
+These had been buried beneath the snow, and the crust had formed
+smoothly over them; and as it was upheld by no stronger support than
+such as the hidden shrubbery furnished, it was incapable of sustaining
+any considerable pressure.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly no sled was ever moving faster than was Wild Bill's when it
+came to this point; and certainly no sled ever stopped quicker, for
+the treacherous crust dropped suddenly under it, and the sled was left
+with nothing but the hind part of one of the runners sticking up in
+sight. But though the sled was suddenly checked in its career, the
+Trapper and Wild Bill continued their flight. The former slid from the
+sled without meeting any obstruction, and with the same velocity with
+which he had been moving. Indeed, so little was his position changed,
+that one might almost fancy that no accident had happened, and that
+the old man was gliding forward to the end of the course with an
+adequate structure under him. But with the latter it was far
+different; for, as the sled stopped, he was pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>jected sharply upward
+into the air, and, after turning several somersaults, he actually
+landed in front of the Trapper, and glided along on the slippery
+surface ahead of him. And so the two men shot onward, one after the
+other, while the children cackled from the hill-top, and the woman
+swung her bonnet over her head, and laughed from her position in the
+doorway.</p>
+
+<p>"Bill," called the Trapper, when by dint of much effort they had
+managed to check their motion somewhat, "Bill, ef the cruise be about
+over, I conceit we'd better anchor hereabouts. But I shipped fur the
+voyage, and ye be capt'in, and as ye've finally got the right way to
+steer, I feel pretty safe techin' the futur'."</p>
+
+<p>It was not until they had come to a full stop, and looked around them,
+that they realized the distance they had come; for they had in truth
+slid nearly across the bay.</p>
+
+<p>"I've boated a good many times on these waters, and under
+sarcumstances that called fur 'arnest motion, but I sartinly never
+went across this bay as fast as I've did it to-day. How do ye feel,
+Bill, how do ye feel?"</p>
+
+<p>"A good deal shaken up," was the answer, "a good deal shaken up."</p>
+
+<p>"I conceit as much," answered the Trapper, "I conceit as much, fur ye
+left the sled with mighty leetle deliberation; and when I saw yer legs
+comin' through the air, I sartinly doubted ef the ice would hold ye.
+But ye steered with jedgment; yis, ye steered with jedgment, Bill; and
+I'd said it ef we'd gone to the bottom."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>The sun was already set when they returned to the cabin; for,
+selecting a safer course, they had given the children an hour's happy
+sliding. The woman had prepared some fresh tea and a lunch, which they
+ate with lessened appetites, but with humor that never flagged. When
+it was ended, the Old Trapper rose to depart, and with a dignity and
+tenderness peculiarly his own, thus spoke:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My good woman," he said, "the moon will soon be up, and the time has
+come fur me to be goin'. I've had a happy day with ye and the leetle
+uns; and the trail over the mountain will seem shorter, as the pups
+and me go home, thinkin' on't. Wild Bill will stay a few days, and put
+things a leetle more to rights, and git up a wood-pile that will keep
+ye from choppin' fur a good while. It's his own thought, and ye can
+thank him accordin'ly." Then, having kissed each of the children, and
+spoken a few words to Wild Bill, he took the woman's hand, and said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The sorrers of life be many, but the Lord never forgits. I've lived
+until my head be whitenin', and I've noted that though He moves
+slowly, He fetches most things round about the time we need 'em; and
+the things that be late in comin', I conceit we shall git somewhere
+furder on. Ye didn't kill the big buck this mornin', but the meat ye
+needed hangs at yer door, nevertheless." And shaking the woman
+heartily by the hand, he whistled to the hounds, and passed out of the
+door. The inmates of the cabin stood and watched him, until, having
+climbed the slope of the clearing, he disappeared in the shadows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> of
+the forest; and then they closed the door. But more than once Wild
+Bill noted that as the woman stood wiping her dishes, she wiped her
+eyes as well; and more than once he heard her say softly to herself,
+"God bless the dear old man!"</p>
+
+<p>Ay, ay, poor woman, we join thee in thy prayer. God bless the dear old
+man! and not only him, but all who do the deeds he did. God bless them
+one and all!</p>
+
+<p>Over the crusted snow the Trapper held his course, until he came, with
+a happy heart, to his cabin. Soon a fire was burning on his own
+hearthstone, and the hounds were in their accustomed place. He drew
+the table in front, where the fire's fine light fell on his work, and,
+taking some green vines and branches from the basket, began to twine a
+wreath. One he twined, and then he began another; and often, as he
+twined the fadeless branches in, he paused, and long and lovingly
+looked at the two pictures hanging on the wall; and when the wreaths
+were twined, he hung them on the frames, and, standing in front of the
+dumb reminders of his absent ones, he said, "<em>I miss them so!</em>"</p>
+
+<p>Ah! friend, dear friend, when life's glad day with you and me is
+passed, when the sweet Christmas chimes are rung for other ears than
+ours, when other hands set the green branches up, and other feet glide
+down the polished floor, may there be those still left behind to twine
+us wreaths, and say, "<em>We miss them so!</em>"</p>
+
+<p>And this is the way John Norton the Trapper kept his Christmas.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;"><a name="torrent" id="torrent"></a>
+<img src="images/torrent.jpg" width="399" height="500" alt="THE MOUNTAIN TORRENT." title="THE MOUNTAIN TORRENT." />
+<span class="caption">THE MOUNTAIN TORRENT.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="rock" id="rock"></a>
+<img src="images/rock.jpg" width="500" height="266" alt="THE VAGABOND&#39;S ROCK." title="THE VAGABOND&#39;S ROCK." />
+<span class="caption">THE VAGABOND&#39;S ROCK.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<h2>JOHN NORTON'S VAGABOND.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+<h3>I.</h3>
+
+<p>A cabin. A cabin in the woods. Of it I have written before, and of it
+I write again. The same great fireplace piled high with logs fiercely
+ablaze. Again on either side of the fireplace are the hounds gazing
+meditatively into the fire. The same big table, and on it the same
+great book, leather-bound and worn by the hands of many generations.
+And at the strong table, bending over the sacred book, with one huge
+finger marking a sentence, the same whitened head, the same man, large
+of limb and large of feature&mdash;John Norton, the Trapper.</p>
+
+<p>"Yis, pups," said the Trapper, speaking to his dogs as one speaks to
+companions in council, "yis, pups, it must go in, for here it be writ
+in the Book&mdash;Rover, ye needn't have that detarmined look in yer
+eye&mdash;for here it be writ in the Book, I say, '<em>Do unto others as ye
+would that others should do unto you.</em>'</p>
+
+<p>"I know, old dog, that ye have seed me line the sights on the
+vagabonds, when ye and me have ketched 'em pilferin' the traps or
+tamperin' with the line, and I have trusted yer nose as often as my
+own eyes in trackin' the knaves when they'd got the start of us. And I
+will admit it, Rover, that the Lord gave ye a great gift in yer nose,
+so that ye be able to desarn the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> difference atween the scent of an
+honest trapper's moccasin and that of a vagabond. But that isn't to
+the p'int, Rover. The p'int is, Christmas be comin' and ye and me and
+Sport, yender, have sot it down that we're to have a dinner, and the
+question in council to-night is, Who shall we invite to our dinner?
+Here we have been arguin' the matter three nights atween us, pups, and
+we didn't git a foot ahead, and the reason that we didn't git a foot
+ahead was, because ye and me, Rover, naterally felt alike, for we have
+never consorted with vagabonds, and we couldn't bear the idee of
+invitin' 'em to this cabin and eatin' with 'em. So, ye and me agreed
+to-night we'd go to the Book and go by the Book, hit or miss. And the
+reason we should go to the Book and by the Book is, because, ef it
+wasn't for the Book, there wouldn't be any Christmas nor any Christmas
+dinner to invite anyone to, and so we went to the Book, and the Book
+says&mdash;I will read ye the words, Rover. And, Sport, though ye be a
+younger dog, and naterally of less jedgment, yit ye have yer gifts,
+and I have seed ye straighten out a trail that Rover and me couldn't
+ontangle. So do ye listen, both of ye, like honest dogs, while I read
+the words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'<em>Give to him that lacketh and from him that hath not withhold not
+thine hand.</em>'</p>
+
+<p>"There it be, Rover,&mdash;we are to give to the man that lacks, vagabond
+or no vagabond. Ef he lacks vict'als, we are to give him vict'als; ef
+he lacks garments, we are to give him garments; ef he lacks a
+Christmas dinner, Rover, we are to give him a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>Christmas dinner. But
+how are we to give him a Christmas dinner onless we give him an invite
+to it? For ye know yerself, Rover, that no vagabond would ever come to
+a cabin where ye and me be onless we axed him to.</p>
+
+<p>"But there's another sentence here somewhere in the Book that bears on
+the p'int we be considerin'. '<em>When thou makest a dinner</em>'&mdash;that be
+exactly our case, Rover,&mdash;'<em>or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy
+brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also
+bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a
+feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt
+be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be
+recompensed at the resurrection of the just.</em>'</p>
+
+<p>"Furdermore, Rover, there's another passage that the lad, when he was
+on the 'arth, used to say each night afore he went to sleep, whether
+in the cabin or on the boughs. Sport, ye must remember it, for ye was
+his own dog. I am not sartin where it be writ in the Book, but that
+doesn't matter, for we all know the words,&mdash;it be from the great
+prayer,&mdash;'<em>Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
+against us</em>,' and the great prayer, as I conceit, is the only blazin'
+a man can trail by ef he hopes to fetch through to the Great Clearin'
+in peace.</p>
+
+<p>"Now these vagabonds, Rover,&mdash;I needn't name 'em to ye,&mdash;have
+trespassed agin us; ye and me know it, for we've ketched 'em in their
+devilment, and, what is more to the p'int, the Lord knows it, too, for
+He's had His eye on 'em, and there's one up in the north country that
+wouldn't git an invite to this dinner, Bible or no Bible. But, barrin'
+this knave, who is beyend the range of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> our trails, there is not a
+single vagabond that has trespassed agin us that we mustn't forgive.
+For this be Christmas time, pups, and Christmas be a time for
+forgivin' and forgittin' all the evil that's been done agin us."</p>
+
+<p>And here the old man paused and looked at the dogs and then gazed long
+and earnestly into the fire. To his face as he gazed came the look of
+satisfaction and a most placid peace. It was evident that if there had
+been a struggle between his natural feelings and his determination to
+celebrate the great Christmas festival in the true Christmas spirit
+the latter had won, and that the Christmas mood had at last entered
+into and possessed his soul. And after an interval he rose and
+carefully closing the great volume said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And now, pups, as we've settled it atween us, and we all stand agreed
+in the matter, I'll git the bark and the coal, and we'll see how the
+decision of the council looks when it be put in writin'."</p>
+
+<p>And in a moment the Trapper was again seated at the table with a large
+piece of birch bark in front of him and a hound on either side.</p>
+
+<p>"I conceit, pups, that the letterin'," said the old man as he
+proceeded to sharpen the piece of charcoal he held in his hands,
+"should be of goodly size, for it may help some in readin', and I
+sartinly know it will help me in writin'."</p>
+
+<p>With this honest confession of his lack of practice in penmanship, he
+proceeded to write:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"<em>Any man or animil that be in want of vict'als or garments<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> is
+invited to come on Christmas day&mdash;which be next week Thursday&mdash;without
+furder axin', to John Norton's cabin, on Long Lake, to eat Christmas
+dinner. Vagabonds included in this invite.</em>"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 418px;"><a name="invite" id="invite"></a>
+<img src="images/invite.jpg" width="418" height="500" alt="&quot;Vagabonds included in this invite.&quot;" title="&quot;Vagabonds included in this invite.&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;Vagabonds included in this invite.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"I can't say," said the Trapper, as he backed off a few paces and
+looked at the writing critically, "I can't say that the wordin' be
+exactly as the missioners would put it, and as for the spellin', I
+haven't any more confidence in it than a rifle that loads at the
+breech pin. The letterin' sartinly stands out well, for the coal is a
+good un, and I put as much weight on it as I thought it would bear,
+but there is sartinly a good deal of difference atween the ups and
+downs of the markin's, and the lines slope off to'ard the northwest as
+ef they had started out to blaze a trail through to St. Regis. That
+third line looks as ef it would finally come together ef ye'd gin it
+time enough to git round the circle, but the bark had a curve in it
+there, and the coal followed the grain of the bark, and I am not to
+blame for that. Rover, I more than half conceit by the look in yer eye
+that ye see the difference in the size of them letters yerself. But ef
+ye do ye be a wise dog to keep yer face steddy, for ef ye showed yer
+feelin's, old as ye be, I'd edicate ye with the help of a moccasin."
+And he looked at the old dog, whose face, as if he realized the peril
+of his position, bore an expression of supernatural gravity, with
+interrogative earnestness. "Never mind the shape and size of the
+letters or the curve of the lines," he added; "the charcoal markin'
+stands out strong, and any hungry man with a leaky cabin for his home
+can sartinly study out the words, and that's the chief p'int, as I
+understand it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>With this comforting reflection the Trapper made his preparations to
+retire for the night. He placed the skins for the dogs in the
+accustomed spot, lifted another huge log into the monstrous fireplace,
+swept the great hearthstone, bolted the heavy door, and then stretched
+himself upon his bed. But before he slept he gazed long and earnestly
+at the writing on the bark, and murmured: "'Vagabonds included in this
+invite.' Yis, the Book be right, Christmas be a day for forgivin' and
+forgittin'. And even a vagabond, ef he needs vict'als or garments or a
+right sperit, shall be welcome to my cabin." And then he slept.</p>
+
+<p>In the vast and cheerless woods that night were some who were hungry
+and cold and wicked. What were Christmas and its cheer to them? What
+were gifts and giving, or who would spread for them a full table at
+which as guests of honor they might eat and be merry? And above the
+woods was a star leading men toward a manger, and a multitude of
+angels and an Eye that seeth forever the hungry and the cold and the
+wicked. On his bed slept the Trapper, with the look of the Christ on
+his face, and as he slept he murmured:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Yis, the Book be right: '<em>Let him who hath, give to them that hath
+not.</em>'" And above the woods, above the wicked and the cold, above the
+sleeping Trapper, and above the blessed words on the bark on his wall,
+above the spot where the Christ had thus received a forest
+incarnation, a great multitude of the heavenly host broke forth and
+sang:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"<em>Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
+men.</em>"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;"><a name="star" id="star"></a>
+<img src="images/star.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="&quot;And above the woods was a star.&quot;" title="&quot;And above the woods was a star.&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;And above the woods was a star.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+<h3>II.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was on the day before Christmas, and the sun was at its meridian.
+It was a day of brilliance and prophecy, and the prophecy which the
+Trapper read in the intense sky and vivid brightness of the sun's
+light told him of coming storm.</p>
+
+<p>"Yis," muttered the old man, as he stood just outside the doorway of
+his cabin and carefully studied the signs of forest and sky, "yis,
+this is a weather breeder for sartin. I smell it in the air. The light
+is onnaterally bright and the woods onnaterally still. Snow will be
+flyin' afore another sunrise, and the woods will roar like the great
+lakes in a gale. I am sorry that it's comin', for some will be kept
+from the dinner. It's sartinly strange that the orderin' of the Lord
+is as it is, for a leetle more hurryin' and a leetle more stayin' on
+His part of the things that happen on the 'arth would make mortals a
+good deal happier, as I conceit."</p>
+
+<p>Aye, aye, John Norton; a little more hurrying and a little more
+staying of things that happen on the earth would make mortals much
+happier. The great ship that is to-day a wreck would be sailing the
+sea, and the faces that stare ghastly white from its depths would be
+rosy with life's happy health. The flowers on her tomb would be twined
+in the bride's glossy hair, and the tower that now stands half builded
+would go on to its finishing. The dry fountain would still be in play
+and the leafless tree would stand green in its beauty and bloom. Who
+shall read us the riddle of the ordering in this world? Who shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+read the riddle, O man of whitened head, O woman whose life is but a
+memory, who shall read us the Trapper's riddle, I say?</p>
+
+<p>"There comes Wild Bill," exclaimed the Trapper joyfully, "and one
+plate will have its eater for sartin." And the old man laughed at the
+recollection of his companion's appetite. "Lord-a-massy! that box on
+his sled is as big as the ark. I wonder ef he has got a drove of
+animils in it."</p>
+
+<p>Had the Trapper known the closeness of his guess as to the contents of
+the huge box he would have marveled at his guessing, for there
+certainly were animals in the box and of a sort that usually are noisy
+enough and sure, at the least provocation, to proclaim their name and
+nature.</p>
+
+<p>But every animal, whether wild or domesticated, has its habits, and
+many of the noisiest of mouths, when the mood is on them, can be as
+dumb as a sphinx, and as Wild Bill came shuffling up on his snowshoes,
+with a box of goodly size lashed to his sled, not a sound proceeded
+therefrom. It is needless to record that the greeting between the two
+men was most hearty. How delightful is the meeting of men of the
+woods! Manly are they in life and manly in their greeting.</p>
+
+<p>"What have ye in the box, Bill?" queried the Trapper good-naturedly.
+"It's big enough to hold a church bell, and a good part of the steeple
+beside."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a Christmas present for you, John Norton," replied Bill
+gleefully. "You don't think I would come to your cabin to-day and not
+bring a present, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Gift or no gift, yer welcome would be the same," answered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> the
+Trapper, "for yer heart and yer shootin' be both right, and ye will
+find the door of my cabin open at yer comin', whether ye come full
+handed or empty, sober or drunk, Wild Bill."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't touched a drop for twelve months," responded the other.
+"The pledge I gave you above the Christmas box in your cabin here last
+Christmas eve I have kept, and shall keep to the end, John Norton."</p>
+
+<p>"I expected it of ye, yis, I sartinly expected it of ye, Bill, for ye
+came of good stock. Yer granther fit in the Revolution, and a man's
+word gits its value a good deal from his breedin', as I conceit,"
+replied the Trapper. "But what have ye in the box,&mdash;bird, beast, or
+fish, Bill?"</p>
+
+<p>"The trail runs this way," answered Bill. "I chopped a whole winter
+four year ago for a man who never paid me a cent for my work at the
+end of it. Last week I concluded to go and collect the bill myself,
+but not a thing could I get out of the knave but what's in the box. So
+I told him I'd take them and call the account settled, for I had read
+the writing on the bark you had nailed up on Indian Carry, and I said:
+'They will help out at the dinner.'" And Bill proceeded to start one
+of the boards with his hatchet.</p>
+
+<p>The Trapper, whose curiosity was now thoroughly excited, applied his
+eye to the opening, and as he did so there suddenly issued from the
+box the most unearthly noises, accompanied by such scratchings and
+clawings as could only have proceeded from animals of their nature
+under such extraordinary treatment as they had experienced.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>"Heavens and 'arth!" exclaimed the Trapper, "ye have pigs in that box,
+Bill!"</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I put in it," replied Bill, as he gave it another whack,
+"and that's what will come out of it if I can start the clinchings of
+these nails." And he bent himself with energy to his work.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold up! Hold up, Bill!" cried the Trapper. "This isn't a bit of
+business ye can do in a hurry ef ye expect to git any profit out of
+the transaction. I can see only one of the pigs, but the one I can see
+is not over-burdened with fat, and it's agin reason to expect that he
+will be long in gittin' out when he starts, or wait for ye to scratch
+him when he breaks cover."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you be afraid of them pigs getting away from me, old man,"
+rejoined Bill, as he pried away at the nails. "I don't expect that the
+one that starts will be as slow as a funeral when he makes his first
+jump, but he won't be the only pig I've caught by the leg when he was
+two feet above the earth."</p>
+
+<p>"Go slow, I say, go slow!" cried the Trapper, now thoroughly alarmed
+at the reckless precipitancy of his companion; "the pigs, as I can
+see, belong to a lively breed, and it is sheer foolishness to risk a
+whole winter's choppin'&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Not another word of warning did the Old Trapper utter, for suddenly
+the nails yielded, the board flew upward, and out of the box shot a
+pig. It is in the interest of accurate statement and everlasting proof
+of Wild Bill's alertness to affirm and record that the flying pig had
+taken only two jumps before his owner was atop of him, and both
+disappeared over the bank in a whirl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>wind of flying snow. Nor had the
+Trapper been less dexterous, for no sooner had the sandy colored
+streak shot through the hole made by the hatchet of the man who had
+sledded him forty miles that he might present him to the Trapper as a
+contribution to the Christmas dinner, than the old man dropped himself
+on to the box, thereby effectually barring the exit of the other
+porcine sprinter.</p>
+
+<p>"Get your gun, get your gun, Old Trapper!" yelled Bill from the
+whirlwind of snow. "Get your gun, I say, for this infernal pig is
+getting the best of me."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't do it, Bill," cried the Trapper; "I can't do it. I am doin'
+picket duty on the top of this box, with a big hole under me and
+another pig under the hole."</p>
+
+<p>At the same instant the pig and Wild Bill shot up the bank into full
+view. Bill had lost his grip on the leg, but had made good his hold on
+an ear, and had the Trapper been a betting man, it is doubtful if he
+would have placed money on either. Had he done so, the odds would have
+been slightly in favor of the pig.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on to him, Bill!" cried the Trapper, laughing at the spectacle
+in front of him till the tears stood in his eyes. "Hold on to him, I
+say. Remember, ye have three months of choppin' in yer grip; the pig
+under me is gittin' lively, and the profits of the other three months
+be onsartin. O Lord!" ejaculated the old man, partially sobered at the
+prospect, "here comes the pups and the devil himself will now be to
+pay!"</p>
+
+<p>The anxiety and alarming prediction of the Trapper were in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> the next
+instant fully justified, for the two dogs, unaccustomed to the scent
+and cries of the animals, but thoroughly aroused at the noise and fury
+of the contest, came tearing down the slope through the snow at full
+speed. The pig saw them coming and headed for the southern angle of
+the cabin, with Bill streaming along at his side. In an instant he
+reappeared at the northern corner, with Bill still fastened to his ear
+and the hounds in full cry just one jump behind him. It is not an
+accurate statement to say that Wild Bill was running beside the pig,
+for his stride was so elongated that when one of his feet left the
+ground it was impossible to predict when or where it would strike the
+earth, or whether it would ever strike again. The two flying objects,
+as they came careering down the slope directly toward the Trapper, who
+was heroically holding himself above the aperture in the box with the
+porcine volcano in full play under him, presented the dreadful
+appearance of Biela's comet when, rent by some awful explosion, the
+one half was on the point of taking its eternal farewell of the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Lift the muzzle of yer piece, Wild Bill!" yelled the Trapper. "Lift
+the muzzle, I say, and allow three feet for windage, or ye'll make me
+the bull's-eye for yer pig!"</p>
+
+<p>The advice, or rather, let us say, the expostulation of the Trapper,
+was the best which, under the circumstances, could be given, but no
+directions, however correct, might prevent the dreadful catastrophe.
+The old man stuck heroically to his post, and the pig stuck with equal
+pertinacity to his course. He struck the box on which the Trapper sat
+with the force of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> stone from a catapult, and dogs, men, and pigs
+disappeared in the snow.</p>
+
+<p>When the Trapper had wiped the snow from his eyes, the spectacle that
+he beheld was, to say the least, extraordinary. The head of one dog
+was in sight above the snow, and nigh the head he could make out the
+hind legs and tail of another. In an instant Wild Bill's cap came in
+sight, and from under it a series of sounds was coming as if he were
+talking earnestly to himself, while far down the trail leading to the
+river he caught the glimpse of two sandy-colored objects going at a
+speed to which matter can only attain when it has become permanently
+detached from this earth and superior to the laws of gravitation.</p>
+
+<p>For several minutes not a word was said. The catastrophe had been so
+overwhelming and the wreck of Bill's hopes so complete that it made
+speech on his part impossible. The Trapper, from a fine sense of
+feeling and regard for his companion, remained silent, and the dogs,
+uncertain as to what was expected of them, kept their places in the
+snow. At last the old man struggled to his feet and silently started
+toward the cabin. Wild Bill followed in equal silence, and the dogs as
+mutely brought up the rear. The depressed, not to say woe-begone,
+appearance of the singular procession certainly had in it, in the
+fullest measure, all the elements of humor. In this suggestive manner
+the column filed into the cabin. The dogs stole softly to their
+accustomed places, Wild Bill dropped into a chair, and the Trapper
+addressed himself mechanically to some domestic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> concerns. At last the
+silence became oppressive. Wild Bill turned in his chair, and, facing
+the Trapper, said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It's too devilish bad!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ef ye was in council, ginerals or privits, ye'd carry every vote with
+ye on that statement, Bill," said the Trapper with deliberation.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think there is any chance, old man?" queried Bill, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not on the 'arth, Bill," answered the Trapper. "Ye see," he
+continued, "the snow wasn't so deep on my side the trail and I had my
+eye on them pigs afore ye got yer head above the drift, and I noted
+the rate of their movin'. They was goin' mighty fast, Bill, mighty
+fast. Ye must take into account that they had the slope in their favor
+and sartin experiences behind. I've sighted on a good many things that
+was gifted in runnin' and flyin', and I never kept a bullit in the
+barrel when I wanted feather, fur, or meat, because of the swiftness
+of the motion, but ef I had ben standin' ten rods from that trail and
+loved the meat like a settler, I wouldn't have wasted powder or lead
+on them pigs, Bill." And the two men, looking into each other's faces,
+laughed like boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you think they'll fetch up, John Norton?" queried Bill, at
+last.</p>
+
+<p>"They won't fetch up," replied the Trapper, wiping his eyes,
+"leastwise not this year. Henry has told me that it is twenty-four
+thousand miles around the 'arth, and it looked to me as ef them pigs
+had started out to sarcumnavigate it, and I conceit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> it'll be about a
+month afore they will come through this clearin' agin. I may be a
+little amiss in my calkerlatin', but a day more or less won't make any
+difference with you and me, nor with the pigs, either, Bill. They may
+be a trifle leaner when they pass the cabin next time, but their gait
+will be jest the same, as I conceit." And after a moment, he asked,
+sympathetically:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How far did ye sled them pigs, Bill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Forty mile," answered Bill, dejectedly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a goodly distance, considerin' the natur' of the animils,"
+replied the Trapper, "and ye must have been tempted to onload the sled
+more'n once, Bill."</p>
+
+<p>"I would have unloaded it," responded the other, "I would have
+unloaded the cussed things more than once, but I had nothing else to
+bring you, and I thought they'd look mighty fine standing up on the
+table with an apple in each mouth and their tails curled up, as I've
+seen them at the barbecues."</p>
+
+<p>"So they would, so they would, Bill; but ye never could have kept 'em
+on the table. No amount of cookin' would have ever taken the speed out
+of them pigs. Ef ye had nailed 'em to the table they'd have taken the
+table and cabin with 'em. It's better as it is, Bill; so cheer up and
+we'll git at the cookin'."</p>
+
+<div class="thought_break"></div>
+
+<p>Cooking is more than an art; it is a gift. Genius, and genius alone,
+can prepare a feast fit for the feaster. Woe be to the wretch who sees
+nothing in preparing food for the mouth of man save manual labor. Such
+a knave should be basted on his own spit. An artist in eating can
+alone appreciate an artist in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> cooking. When food is well prepared it
+delights the eye, it intoxicates the nose, it pleases the tongue, it
+stimulates the appetite, and prolongs the healthy craving which it
+finally satisfies, even as the song of the mother charms the child
+which it gradually composes for slumber.</p>
+
+<p>The Old Trapper was a man of gifts and among his gifts was that of
+cooking. For sixty years he had been his own <em>chef</em>, with a continent
+for his larder, and to more than one gourmand of the great cities the
+tastiness and delicacy of his dishes had been a revelation&mdash;more than
+one epicure of the clubs had gone from his cabin not only with a full
+but a surprised stomach.</p>
+
+<p>It is easy to imagine the happiness that this host of the woods
+experienced in preparing the feast for the morrow. He entered upon his
+labors, whose culmination was to be the great event of the year, with
+the alacrity of one who had mentally discussed and decided every point
+in anticipation. There was no cause for haste, and hence there was no
+confusion. He could not foretell the number of his guests, but this
+did in no way disconcert him. He had already decided that no matter
+how many might come there should be enough. In Wild Bill he had an
+able and willing assistant, and all through the afternoon and well
+into the evening the two men pushed on the preparation for the great
+dinner.</p>
+
+<p>The large table, constructed of strong maple plank, was sanded and
+scoured until it shone almost snowy white. On it was placed a buck,
+roasted a la barbecue, the skin and head skillfully reconnected with
+the body and posed, muzzle lifted, antlers laid well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> back, head
+turned, ears alert, as he stood in the bush when the Trapper's bullet
+cut him down. At one end of the table a bear's cub was in the act of
+climbing a small tree, while at the other end a wild goose hung in
+mid-air, suspended by a fine wire from the ceiling, with neck
+extended, wings spread, legs streaming backward, as he looked when he
+drove downward toward open water to his last feeding.</p>
+
+<p>The great cabin was a bower of beauty and fragrance. The pungent odor
+of gummy boughs and of bark, under which still lurked the
+amber-colored sweat of heated days and sweltering nights, pervaded it.
+On one side of the cabin hung a huge piece of white cotton cloth, on
+which the Trapper, with a vast outlay of patience, had stitched small
+cones of the pine into the conventional phrase,</p>
+
+<p class="merry">"A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YE ALL."</p>
+
+<p>"It must have taken you a good many evenings to have done that job,"
+said Wild Bill, pointing with the ladle he held in his hand toward the
+illuminated bit of sheeting.</p>
+
+<p>"It did, Bill, it did," replied the Trapper, "and a solemn and a
+lively time I had of it, for I hadn't but six big needles in the cabin
+and I broke five on 'em the fust night, for the cones was gummy and
+hard, and it takes a good, stiff needle to go through one ef the man
+who is punchin' it through hasn't any thimble and the ball of his
+thumb is bleedin'. Lord-a-massy, Bill, Rover knew the trouble I was
+havin' as well as I did, for arter I had broken the second needle and
+talked about it a moment, the old dog got oneasy and began to edge
+away, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> by the time I had broken the fourth needle and got through
+washin' my thumb he had backed clean across the cabin and sat jammed
+up in the corner out there flatter than a shingle."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did he do when the fifth needle broke?" queried Bill, as he
+thrust his ladle into the pot.</p>
+
+<p>"Heavens and 'arth, Bill, why do ye ax sech foolish questions? Ye know
+it wasn't a minit arter that fifth needle broke, leavin' the bigger
+half stickin' under the nail of my forefinger, afore both of the pups
+was goin' out through the door there as ef the devil was arter 'em
+with a fryin' pan, and a chair a leetle behind him. But a man can't
+stand everything, ef he be a Christian man and workin' away to git a
+Christmas sign ready; can he, Bill?"</p>
+
+<p>It is in harmony with the facts of the case for me to record that Wild
+Bill never answered the Old Trapper's very proper interrogation, but
+sat down on the floor and thrust his legs up in the air and yelled,
+and after the spasm left him he got up slowly, sat down in a chair,
+and looked at the Trapper with wet eyes and mouth wide open.</p>
+
+<p>The Old Trapper evidently relished the mirthfulness of his companion,
+for his face was lighted with the amused expression of the humorist
+when he has told to an appreciative comrade an experience against
+himself. But in an instant his countenance dropped, and, looking at
+the huge kettle that stood half buried in the coals and warm ashes in
+front of the glowing logs and into which Bill had been so determinedly
+thrusting his ladle only a moment before, he exclaimed:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Bill, I have lost all confidence in yer cookin' abilities. Ye said
+that ye knew the natur' of corn meal and that ye could fill a puddin'
+bag jediciously, and though it isn't ten minits sence ye tied the
+string and the meal isn't half swollen yit, yer whole bag there is on
+the p'int of comin' out of the pot."</p>
+
+<p>At this alarming announcement Wild Bill jumped for the fireplace and
+in an instant he had placed the spade-shaped end of his ladle, whose
+handle was full three feet long, at the very center of the lid that
+was already lifted two inches from the rim of the kettle, and was
+putting a good deal of pressure upon it. Confident in his ability to
+resist any further upward tendency, and to escape the threatened
+catastrophe, he coolly replied:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It strikes me that you are a good deal excited over a little matter,
+old man. The meal has got through swelling&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it hasn't, no, it hasn't," returned the Trapper. "Half the
+karnels haven't felt the warmin' of the hot water yit, and I can see
+that the old lid is liftin'."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it isn't lifting, either, John Norton," returned Wild Bill
+determinedly; "and it won't lift unless the shaft of this ladle
+snaps."</p>
+
+<p>"The ladle be a good un," returned the Trapper, now fully assured that
+no human power could avert the coming catastrophe, and keenly enjoying
+his companion's extremity and the humor of the situation. "The ladle
+be a good un, for I fashioned it from an old paddle of second growth
+ash, whose blade I had twisted in the rapids, and ye can put yer whole
+weight on it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>"Old man," cried Bill, now thoroughly alarmed, "the lid is lifting."</p>
+
+<p>"Sartinly, sartinly," returned the Trapper. "It's lifted fully half an
+inch sence ye placed yer ladle to it, and it'll keep on liftin'. Rover
+knows what is comin' as well as I do, for the old dog, as ye see,
+begins to edge away, and Sport has started for the door already."</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I do, John Norton? What shall I do? The lid is lifting
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"Is yer ladle well placed, Bill? Have ye got it in the center of the
+lid?" returned the Trapper.</p>
+
+<p>"Dead in the center, old man," responded Bill, confidently, "dead in
+the center."</p>
+
+<p>"Put yer whole weight on it, then, and don't waste yer strength in
+talkin'. Ye know yer own strength, and I know the strength of Indian
+meal when hot water gits at it, and ef the ladle don't slip or the
+kettle-lid split it's about nip and tuck atween ye."</p>
+
+<p>"Old man," yelled Bill, as he put his whole weight on the ladle
+handle, "this lid has lifted again. Get a stick and come here and help
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, Bill," answered the Trapper, "the puddin' is of yer own
+mixin' and ye must attend to the job yerself. I stuck to yer box with
+a hole underneath me and a pig under the hole till somethin' happened
+and ye must stick to yer puddin'."</p>
+
+<p>"But I can't hold it down, John Norton," yelled poor Bill. "The lid
+has lifted again and the whole darned thing is coming out of the
+pot."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>"I conceit as much, I conceit as much," answered the Trapper. "There
+go the pups out of the door, Bill, and when the dogs quit the cabin
+it's time for the master to foller." And the old man started for the
+door.</p>
+
+<div class="thought_break"></div>
+
+<p>The catastrophe! Who could describe it? Bill's strength was adequate,
+but no human power could save the pudding. Even as Bill put his
+strength on to the ladle, the wooden cover of the kettle split with a
+sharp concussion in the middle, the kettle was upset, and poor Bill,
+covered with ashes and pursued by a cloud of steam, shot out of the
+door and plunged into the snow.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, laughter, sweet laughter, laugh on and laugh ever! In the smile of
+the babe thou comest from heaven. In the girl's rosy dimples, in the
+boy's noisy glee, in the humor of strong men, and the wit of sweet
+women, thou art seen as a joy and a comfort to us humans. When fortune
+deserts and friends fall away, he who keeps thee keeps solace and
+health, hope and heart, in his bosom. When the head groweth white and
+the eye getteth dim, and the soul goeth out through the slow closing
+gates of the senses, be thou then in us and of us, thou sweet angel of
+heaven, that the smile of the babe in its first happy sleep may come
+back to our faces as we lie at the gates in our last
+and&mdash;perhaps&mdash;most peaceful slumber!</p>
+
+<p>The laughter and the labor of the day were ended. The work of
+preparation for the dinner on the morrow had extended well into the
+evening, and at its conclusion the two men, satisfied with the result
+of the pleasant task and healthily weary, retired<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> to their cots. It
+is needless to say that the thoughts of each were happy and their
+feelings peaceful, and to such slumber comes quickly. Outside the
+world was white and still, with the stillness that precedes the coming
+of a winter storm. Through the voiceless darkness a few feathery
+prophecies of coming snow were settling lazily downward. The great
+stones in the fireplace were still white with heat, and the cabin was
+filled with the warm afterglow of burned logs and massive brands that
+ever and anon broke apart and flamed anew.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the Trapper lifted himself on his couch, and, looking over
+toward his companion, said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Bill, didn't ye hear the bells ring?"</p>
+
+<p>Wild Bill lifted himself to his elbow, and in sheer astonishment
+stared at the Trapper, for he well knew there wasn't a bell within
+fifty miles. The old man noticed the astonishment of his companion
+and, realizing the incredibility of the supposition, said as if in
+explanation of the strangeness of his questioning:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This be the night on which memory takes the home trail, Bill, and the
+thoughts of the aged go backward." And, laying his head again on the
+pillow, he murmured: "I sartinly conceited I heerd the bells ringin'."
+And then he slept.</p>
+
+<p>Aye, aye, Old Trapper; we of whitening heads know the truth of thy
+saying and thy dreaming. Thou didst hear the bells ring. For often as
+we sleep on Christmas eve the ringing of bells comes to us. Marriage
+peal and funeral knell, chimes and tolling, clash of summons and
+measured stroke, dying noises<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> from a dead past swelling and
+sinking, sinking and swelling, like falling and failing surf on a
+wreck-strewn beach. Ah, me! where be the ships, the proud,
+white-sailed ships, the rich-laden ships, whose broken timbers and
+splintered spars lie now dank, weed-grown, sand-covered, on that
+sorrowful shore, on that mournfully resounding shore of our past?</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="ships" id="ships"></a>
+<img src="images/ships.jpg" width="500" height="325" alt="&quot;Where be the ships?&quot;" title="&quot;Where be the ships?&quot;" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;Where be the ships?&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>But other bells, thank God, sound for us all, Old Trapper, on
+Christmas eve,&mdash;not the bells of the past, but the bells of the
+future. And they ring loud and clear, and they will ring forever, for
+they are swung by the angels of God. And they tell of a new life, a
+new chance, and a new opportunity for us all.</p>
+
+<div class="thought_break"></div>
+
+<p>Morning dawned. The day verified the Trapper's prophecy, for it came
+with storm. The mountain back of the cabin roared as if a�rial surf
+was breaking against it. The air was thick with snow that streamed,
+whirled, and eddied through it dry and light as feathers of down.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind the storm, Bill," said the Trapper cheerily, as he pushed
+the door open in the gray dawn and looked out into the maze of
+whirling, rushing snowflakes. "A few may be hindered, and one or two
+fetch through a leetle late, but there'll be an 'arnest movement of
+teeth when the hour for eatin' comes and the plates be well filled."</p>
+
+<p>Dinner was called prompt to the hour, and again was the old man's
+prediction realized. The table lacked not guests, for nearly every
+chair was occupied. Twenty men had breasted the storm that they might
+be at that dinner, and some had traversed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> a thirty mile trail that
+they might honor the old man and share his generous cheer. It was a
+remarkable and, perhaps we may say, a motley company that the Trapper
+looked upon as he took his place, knife and fork in hand, at the head
+of the table, with a hound on either side of his great chair, to
+perform the duty of host and chief carver.</p>
+
+<p>"Friends," said the Trapper, standing erect in his place and looking
+cheerfully at the row of bearded and expectant faces on either hand in
+front of him, "friends, I axed ye to come and eat this Christmas
+dinner with me because I love the companionship of the woods and
+hated, on this day of human feastin' and gladness, to eat my food
+alone. I also conceited that some of ye felt as I did, and that the
+day would be happier ef we spent it together. I knew, furdermore, that
+some of ye were not born in the woods, but were newcomers, driven here
+as a canoe to a beach in a gale, and that the day might be long and
+lonesome to ye ef ye had to stay in yer cabins from mornin' till night
+alone by yerselves. And I also conceited that here and there might be
+a man who had been onfortunit in his trappin' or his venturs in the
+settlements, and might act'ally be in need of food and garments, or it
+may be he had acted wickedly at times, and had lost confidence in his
+own goodness and the goodness of others, and I said I will make the
+tarms of the invitin' broad enough to include each and all, whoever
+and whatever he may be.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, friends," continued the old man, "I be glad to see ye at my
+table, and I hope ye have brought a good appetite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> with ye, for the
+vic'tals be plenty and no one need scrimp the size of his eatin'. Let
+us all eat heartily and be merry, for this be Christmas. Ef we've had
+bad luck in the past we'll hope for better luck in the futur' and take
+heart. Ef we've been heavy-hearted or sorrowful we will chirk up. Ef
+any have wronged us we will forgive and forgit. For this be Christmas,
+friends, and Christmas be a day for forgivin' and forgittin.' And now,
+then," continued the old man, as he flourished his knife and grasped
+the huge fork preparatory to plunging it into the venison haunch in
+front of him, "with good appetites and a cheerful mind let us all fall
+to eatin'."</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<h3>III.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Thus went the feasting. Hunger had brought its appetite to the
+plentiful table, and the well cooked viands provoked its indulgence.
+If the past of any of the Trapper's guests had been sorrowful, the
+unhappiness of it for the moment was forgotten. Stories crisp as
+snow-crust and edged with aptness, happy memories and reminiscences of
+frolic and fun, sly hits and keen retorts, jokes and laughter,
+rollicked around the table and shook it with mirthful explosions. The
+merriment was at its height when a loud summons sounded upon the door.
+It was so imperious as well as so unexpected that every noise was
+instantly hushed, and every face at the table was turned in surprise
+to wait the entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in," cried the Trapper, cheerily; "whoever ye be, ye be welcome
+ef ye be a leetle late."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>The response of him who so emphatically sought admission to the feast
+was as prompt as his summons had been determined. For, without an
+instant's delay or the least hesitancy of movement, the great door was
+pushed suddenly inward and a man stepped into the room.</p>
+
+<p>A sturdy fellow he was, swarth of skin and full whiskered. His hair
+was black and coarse and grown to his shoulders. His eyes were black
+as night, largely orbed under heavy brows, not lacking a certain
+wicked splendor. His face was strongly featured and stamped in every
+line and curve and prominence with the impress of unmistakable power.
+In his right hand he carried a rifle, and in his left a bundle, snugly
+packed and protected from the storm in wrappings of oiled cloth. The
+strong light, into the circle of which he had so suddenly stepped,
+blinded him for a moment, while to those who sat staring at him it
+brought out with vivid distinctiveness every feature of his strong
+and, save for a certain hardness of expression, handsome face. It was
+evident that the man, whoever he was and whatever he might be, was
+under the pressure of some impulse or conviction which had urged him
+on to the Trapper's cabin and the Trapper's presence. For, no sooner
+had he closed the door and shaken the snow, with which he was covered,
+from his garments, than, regardless of those who sat staring in
+startled interrogation at him, he strode to the head of the table
+where the Old Trapper sat, and, looking him straight in the face,
+said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know who I am, John Norton?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>"Sartinly," answered the Trapper, "ye be Shanty Jim, and ye have
+camped these three year and more at the outlet of Bog Lake."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know that I am a thief, and a sneak thief at that?" continued
+the newcomer, speaking with a fierce directness that was startling.</p>
+
+<p>"I've conceited ye was," answered the Trapper, calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know it, know it to a certainty?" and the words came out of
+his mouth like the thrust of a knife.</p>
+
+<p>"Yis, I know that ye be a thief, Shanty Jim," replied the Trapper,
+"know it to a sartinty."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know that I have stolen skins from you, old man, skins and
+traps both?" continued the other.</p>
+
+<p>"I laid in ambush for ye once at the falls of Bog River, and I seed ye
+take an otter from a trap that I sot," replied the Trapper.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you shoot me when I stood skin in hand?" queried the
+self-confessed thief.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell ye," answered the Trapper, "fer my eye was at the sights
+and my finger on the trigger, and the feelin' of natur' was strong
+within me to crop one of yer ears then and there, Shanty Jim, but
+somethin', mayhap the sperit of the Lord, staid my finger, and ye went
+with yer thievin' in yer hand to yer camp ontetched and onhindered."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what brought me to this cabin and to your presence&mdash;the
+presence of the man whose skins and whose traps I have stolen&mdash;and
+made me confess to his face and before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> these men here that I am a
+thief and a scoundrel; do you know what brought me here, a miserable
+cuss that I am and have been for years, John Norton?" And the man's
+speech was the speech of one who had been educated to use words
+rightly and was marked with intense, even dramatic, earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't conceit, onless the sperit of the Lord."</p>
+
+<p>"The spirit of the Lord had nothing to do with it," interrupted the
+other fiercely. "If there is any such influence at work in this world
+as the preachers tell of, why has it not prevented me from being a
+thief? Why did it not prevent me from doing what I did and being what
+I was in my youth,&mdash;me, whose mother was an angel and whose father was
+a patriarch? No, it was nothing under God's heavens, old man, but your
+invitation scrawled with a coal on a bit of birch bark inviting anyone
+in these woods who needed victuals and clothes and a right spirit to
+come to your cabin on Christmas day; and had you written nothing else
+I would not have cared a cuss for it or for you, but you did write
+something else, and it was this: 'Vagabonds included in this invite.'</p>
+
+<p>"When I read that, old man, my breath left me and I stood and stared
+at the letters on that bark as a devil might gaze at a pardon signed
+with the seal manual of the Almighty, for in my hand was a trap that
+bore the stamp 'J. N.' and the skin of an otter I had taken from the
+trap. And there I stood, a thief and a scoundrel, with your property
+in my hands and read your invitation to all the needy in the woods to
+come to your cabin on Christmas day and that vagabonds were
+included."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>"That meant you, by thunder!" exclaimed Wild Bill.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it did mean me," returned Shanty Jim, "and I knew it. Standing
+there in the snow with the stolen skin and trap in my hand, I realized
+what I was and what John Norton was and the difference between him and
+myself and most of the world. I went to the tree to which the bark
+that bore the blessed letters was nailed; I took it down from the
+tree; I placed it next my bosom and buttoned my coat above it and,
+thus resting upon my heart, I bore it to my shanty."</p>
+
+<p>"It was as good as a Bible to you," said Wild Bill.</p>
+
+<p>"A Bible!" rejoined the man with emphasis. "Better than all Bibles.
+Better than churches and preachers, better than formal texts and
+utterances, for that bit of bark told me of a man here in the woods
+good enough and big enough to forgive and forget. All that night I sat
+and gazed at that piece of bark and the writing on it, and as I gazed
+my heart melted within me. For there it was ever before my
+eyes&mdash;'Vagabonds included in this invite.' 'Vagabonds included in this
+invite.' And finally the words passed into the air, and wherever I
+looked I saw, 'Vagabonds included in this invite.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Yis, them be the very words I writ," said the Trapper, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"And I saw more than the words written on the bark, John Norton,"
+resumed the man. "For looking at it I saw all my past life and the
+evil of it and what a scoundrel I had become; my eyes saw with a new
+sight, and I said, when the sun comes I will rise and go to the man
+who wrote those words and tell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> him what they did for me. And here I
+am, a vagabond who has accepted your invitation to spend Christmas
+with you, and here in this pack are the skins and the traps I have
+stolen from you, and I ask your forgiveness and that you will take my
+hand in proof of it, that I may come to your table feeling that I am a
+man, and a vagabond no longer."</p>
+
+<p>"Heart and hand be yours now and forever, Shanty Jim," cried the
+Trapper, joyfully; and, rising from his chair, he met the outstretched
+hand of the repentant vagabond with his own hearty grasp. "And may the
+Lord be with ye ever more."</p>
+
+<p>"Amen!" It was Wild Bill, the once drunkard, who said the sweet word
+of prayer and assent, and he said it softly. And that murmur of amen
+and amen went round the great table like the murmur of prayer and of
+praise. And then it passed out and rose up from the cabin, and the air
+in its joy passed it on, and the stars took it up and thrilled it
+around their vast courses of glorified light, and through the high
+heavens it sang itself onward from order to order of angels until it
+reached Him whom no man hath seen or may ever see, in all and over
+all, God! blessed forever!</p>
+
+<p>Has Nature knowledge? Is she conscious of the evil and the good among
+men, and has she a heart that saddens at their sorrow and rejoices in
+their joy? Perhaps. For, suddenly, even as the two men joined their
+hands, the fury of the storm checked itself, and a stillness&mdash;the
+stillness of a great calm&mdash;fell on the woods, and through the sudden,
+the unexpected, the blessed stillness, to the ears of one of the two
+men&mdash;yea, to him who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> had forgiven&mdash;there came the melody of bells
+swinging slowly and softly to and fro.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, bells, invisible bells! Bells of the soul, bells high in heaven,
+swing softly, swing low, swing sweet, and swing ever for us, one and
+all, when we at our tables sit feasting. Swing for us living, swing
+for us dying, and may the cause of your swinging be our forgiving and
+forgetting.</p>
+
+<p>"John Norton," said the man, "you have called me Shanty Jim, and that
+is well, for in the woods here that is my name, but in the city where
+I lived and whence I fled, fled because of my misdeeds, years ago, I
+have another name, a name of power and wealth and honor for more than
+two centuries. There I have a home, and in that home to-night sits my
+aged father and white-haired mother. I am going back to them clothed
+and in my right mind. Think of it, Old Trapper, going back to my home,
+my boyhood's home, to my father and my mother. All day as I tramped on
+the trail toward your cabin, my mind has been filled with memories of
+the past, and the words of a sweet old song I used to sing when too
+young to feel the tenderness of it, have been ringing in my ears."</p>
+
+<p>"Sing us the song, sing us the song!" cried Wild Bill, and every man
+at the table cried with him, "Sing us the song!"</p>
+
+<p>"Aye, aye," assented the Trapper, "sing us the song, Shanty Jim; we be
+men of the woods at this table, and some of us have had losses and
+sorrers, and all of us have memories of happy days that be gone. Stand
+here by my side and sing us the song that has been ringin' in yer ears
+all day. This is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> table of feastin', and feastin' means more than
+eatin'. Sing us the song that tells ye of the past, of yer boyhood's
+days and father and mother."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the secrets of the woods! How many have fled to them for
+concealment and refuge! In them piety has built its retreat, learning
+has sought retirement, broken pride a mask, and misfortune a haven.
+And in response to the Trapper's invitation there had come to his
+cabin and were now grouped about his table more of ability, more of
+knowledge, more of struggle and failure, and more of reminiscence than
+might be found, perhaps, in the same number of guests at any other
+table on that Christmas day in the world.</p>
+
+<p>Never did singer sing sweeter or more touching song, or to more
+receptive company.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Backward, turn backward, oh, Time, in your flight,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Make me a child again just for to-night.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mother, come back from the echoless shore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Take me again to your heart, as of yore;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Over my slumbers your loving watch keep;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span class="chorus">Chorus</span>:&mdash;"Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace,<br /></span>
+<span class="i12">With your light lashes just sweeping my face,<br /></span>
+<span class="i12">Never hereafter to wake or to weep;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i12">Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Over my heart, in the days that are flown,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No love like mother-love ever has shone;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No other worship abides and endures,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">None like a mother can charm away pain<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">From the sick soul and the world-weary brain.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids creep;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span class="chorus">Chorus.</span>&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fall on your shoulders again, as of old;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Let it drop over my forehead to-night,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shading my faint eyes away from the light;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For with its sunny-edged shadows once more,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Haply, will throng the sweet visions of yore;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span class="chorus">Chorus.</span>&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Never was the sweet and touching song sung under more suggestive
+circumstances, and never was it received into more receptive hearts.
+The voice of the repentant vagabond was of the finest quality, a pure,
+resonant tenor, and, through the splendid avenue of expression which
+the words and music of the song made for his emotions, he poured his
+soul forth without restraint. The effect of his effort was what would
+be expected when the character of the audience and the occasion is
+considered. Many an eye was wet with tears, and the voices that took
+up the refrain here and there trembled with emotion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> The Old Trapper,
+himself, was not unmoved, for, as the song closed, after a few moments
+of silence, he said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ye sang the song well, Shanty Jim, and many be the memories it has
+stirred in the breasts of us all. May yer home-comin' be as happy as
+was the boy's we read of in the Scriptur', although I never could
+conceit why the mother was not there to go forth to meet him, and fall
+on his neck with the father, and ef I'd had the writin' of it I'd had
+the mother git to him a leetle fust, and hers the fust arms that was
+thrown round his neck, for that would be more nateral, as I conceit.
+And I sartinly trust, as do all of us here, that ye will find mother
+and father both waitin' and watchin' for ye when the curve of the
+trail brings ye in the sight of the cabin. And ye sartinly will take
+with ye the good wishes of us all. Come, take the chair here by my
+side, and we will all talk as we eat; aye, and sing, too, for this be
+Christmas, and Christmas be the time for eatin' and singin', but,
+above all else, for forgivin' and forgittin'." At the word the happy
+feasters went on with the feasting.</p>
+
+<div class="thought_break"></div>
+
+<p>Long and merry was the meal. As the hours passed the eating ceased,
+and the feast of reason and the flow of soul began. Memories of other
+days were recalled, confessions made, sorrow for misdoings felt and
+spoken, and, gradually growing, as grows the light of dawn, a fine
+atmosphere of hope, charity, and courage spread from heart to heart,
+until at last it filled with its genial and illuminating presence
+every bosom. In such a mood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> on the part of the host and guests alike
+the feast came to its close. His Christmas dinner had been all that
+the Old Trapper had hoped, and his heart was filled with happiness. He
+rose from his chair, and, standing erect in his place, said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ye tell me that the time has come for ye to go, and I dare say ye be
+right, but I be sorry we must part, for in partin' we be never sure of
+a meetin', and, therefore, as I conceit, all the partin's on the 'arth
+be more or less sad, but all parted trails, it may be, will come
+together in the eend. But afore ye go I want to thank ye for comin',
+and I hope ye will all come agin, and whenever yer needs or yer
+feelin's incline ye this way. One thing I want to say to ye in goin',
+and I want ye to take it away with ye, for it may help some of ye to
+aid some onfortunit man and to feel as happy as I feel to-night. It is
+this"&mdash;and here the old man paused a moment and looked with the face
+of an angel at his guests as they stood gazing at him; then he
+impressively said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I've lived nigh on to eighty year, and my head be whitenin' with the
+comin' and goin' of the years I have lived, and the Book has long been
+in my cabin. I have kept many a Christmas alone and in company, both,
+but never afore have I knowed the raal meanin' of the day nor read the
+lesson of it aright. And this be the lesson that I have larned and the
+one I want ye all to take away with ye as ye go&mdash;that Christmas is a
+day of feastin' and givin' and laughin', but, above everythin' else,
+it is the day for forgivin' and forgittin'. Some of ye be young and
+may yer days be long on the 'arth, and some of yer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> heads be as white
+as mine and yer years be not many, but be that as it may, whether our
+Christmas days be many or few, when the great day comes round let us
+remember in good or ill fortun', alone or with many, that Christmas,
+above all else, is the day for forgivin' and forgittin'."</p>
+
+<div class="thought_break"></div>
+
+<p>The guests were gone and the Trapper seated himself in front of the
+fireplace, and called the two dogs to his side. It was a signal that
+they had heard many times and they responded with happy hearts. Each
+rested his muzzle on the Trapper's knee, and fixed his large hazel,
+love-lighted eyes wistfully on his master's face. The old man placed a
+large and age-wrinkled hand on either head, and murmured: "Whether ye
+be in sorrer or joy, friends come and go, but, ontil death enters
+kennel or cabin, the hunter and his hounds bide together. The lad
+camps beyend sight and beyend hearin'. Henry be on the other side of
+the world, to-night, and guests be gone. Rover, yer muzzle be as gray
+as my head, and few be livin' of the many we have met on the trail."
+And the Trapper lifted his eyes and looked around the large and empty
+room, and then added:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It took me a good many years, yis, it sartinly took me a good many
+years, but, if I've larned the lesson of Christmas a leetle late, I've
+larned it at last. But the cabin does look a leetle empty now that the
+guests be gone. No, the lad can never come back, and Henry is on the
+other side of the world,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> and there is no good in longin'. But I do
+wish I could jest tech the boy's hand."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="trapper" id="trapper"></a>
+<img src="images/trapper.jpg" width="500" height="353" alt="THE OLD TRAPPER AND HIS DOGS." title="THE OLD TRAPPER AND HIS DOGS." />
+<span class="caption">THE OLD TRAPPER AND HIS DOGS.<br />
+"Friends come and go, but until death enters kennel or cabin, the
+hunter and his hounds bide together."</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="thought_break"></div>
+
+<p>Ah, friends, dear friends, as years go on and heads get gray&mdash;how fast
+the guests do go! Touch hands, touch hands with those that stay.
+Strong hands to weak, old hands to young, around the Christmas board,
+touch hands. The false forget, the foe forgive, for every guest will
+go and every fire burn low and cabin empty stand. Forget, forgive, for
+who may say that Christmas day may ever come to host or guest again.
+Touch hands.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div id="advert">
+
+<p class="murray">W. H. H.&mdash;ADIRONDACK&mdash;MURRAY'S</p>
+
+<p class="works">COMPLETE<br />
+WORKS</p>
+
+<p>CAREFULLY REVISED AND ENLARGED BY THE AUTHOR<br />
+PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN</p>
+
+<p class="uniform">UNIFORM EDITION</p>
+
+<div class="thought_break"></div>
+<p class="tales">ADIRONDACK TALES</p>
+<div class="thought_break"></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>In all matters relating to his Writings or his Platform Engagements,<br />
+address the author personally</p>
+
+<p class="address">ADDRESS</p>
+
+<p><span class="murray">W. H. H. MURRAY</span><br />
+GUILFORD, CONN.<br />
+<span class="homestead">CARE THE MURRAY HOMESTEAD</span></p>
+
+<p class="copyright"><em>Copyrighted by the Author. All rights reserved.</em></p>
+
+<p class="date">1898</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="section_break"></div>
+<div id="trannote">
+<h2>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE.</h2>
+
+<p>The following illustrations, although shown in the <a href="#loi">List of Illustrations</a>,
+appear not to have been included in the final printed version of the book:</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li>How John Norton the Trapper Kept His Christmas, p. 11</li>
+<li>John Norton's Vagabond, p. 76</li>
+<li>The Old Trapper's Paddle, p. 85</li>
+<li>The Old Trapper's Rifle, p. 88</li>
+<li>An Old Time Gun, p. 89</li>
+<li>Christmas Holly, p. 93</li>
+<li>"And Finally the Words Passed into the Air," p. 105</li>
+<li>"Ye Cradle of Ye Olden Time," p. 108</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLIDAY TALES***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 28098-h.txt or 28098-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/9/28098">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/9/28098</a></p>
+<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.</p>
+
+<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.</p>
+
+
+
+<pre>
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license)</a>.
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">http://www.gutenberg.org</a>
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a>
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a>
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/28098-h/images/cover.jpg b/28098-h/images/cover.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fcb33f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/cover.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/deer.jpg b/28098-h/images/deer.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61f0840
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/deer.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/fireplace.jpg b/28098-h/images/fireplace.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8410727
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/fireplace.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/home.jpg b/28098-h/images/home.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a245037
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/home.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/hut.jpg b/28098-h/images/hut.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..191b7d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/hut.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/invite.jpg b/28098-h/images/invite.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e444454
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/invite.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/murray.jpg b/28098-h/images/murray.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b28f00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/murray.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/rock.jpg b/28098-h/images/rock.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d05ba6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/rock.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/ships.jpg b/28098-h/images/ships.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..04e184b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/ships.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/shot.jpg b/28098-h/images/shot.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f9bcedc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/shot.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/star.jpg b/28098-h/images/star.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f5c1ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/star.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/torrent.jpg b/28098-h/images/torrent.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..25137f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/torrent.jpg
diff --git a/28098-h/images/trapper.jpg b/28098-h/images/trapper.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48d286d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-h/images/trapper.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/c0001-image1.jpg b/28098-page-images/c0001-image1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..352bd2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/c0001-image1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/f0001-image1.jpg b/28098-page-images/f0001-image1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d4cbf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/f0001-image1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/f0002.png b/28098-page-images/f0002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cab3834
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/f0002.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/f0005.png b/28098-page-images/f0005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39fd58e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/f0005.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/f0006.png b/28098-page-images/f0006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3bbe552
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/f0006.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/f0007.png b/28098-page-images/f0007.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06b1d79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/f0007.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/f0009-image1.jpg b/28098-page-images/f0009-image1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66862a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/f0009-image1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/f0010-image1.jpg b/28098-page-images/f0010-image1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aebaa26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/f0010-image1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/f0011.png b/28098-page-images/f0011.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..511c9f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/f0011.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/f0013.png b/28098-page-images/f0013.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f6b29ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/f0013.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0010.png b/28098-page-images/p0010.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56346c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0010.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0012-insert1.jpg b/28098-page-images/p0012-insert1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1e5a05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0012-insert1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0012.png b/28098-page-images/p0012.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff7085c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0012.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0013.png b/28098-page-images/p0013.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1a7049
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0013.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0014.png b/28098-page-images/p0014.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f951a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0014.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0015.png b/28098-page-images/p0015.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66288ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0015.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0016.png b/28098-page-images/p0016.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64aefa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0016.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0017.png b/28098-page-images/p0017.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71a5242
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0017.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0018.png b/28098-page-images/p0018.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0acc60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0018.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0019.png b/28098-page-images/p0019.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ab34ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0019.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0020.png b/28098-page-images/p0020.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..babbfa6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0020.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0021.png b/28098-page-images/p0021.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a3ea83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0021.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0022.png b/28098-page-images/p0022.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a69b356
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0022.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0023.png b/28098-page-images/p0023.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45a046c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0023.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0024.png b/28098-page-images/p0024.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ff5654
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0024.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0025.png b/28098-page-images/p0025.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c28c809
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0025.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0026.png b/28098-page-images/p0026.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c15fae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0026.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0027.png b/28098-page-images/p0027.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..addced5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0027.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0028.png b/28098-page-images/p0028.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f36c6bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0028.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0029.png b/28098-page-images/p0029.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f6b3bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0029.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0030-insert1.jpg b/28098-page-images/p0030-insert1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d289ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0030-insert1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0030.png b/28098-page-images/p0030.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6393ddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0030.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0031.png b/28098-page-images/p0031.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad3f59c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0031.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0032.png b/28098-page-images/p0032.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e383ca4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0032.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0033.png b/28098-page-images/p0033.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7037123
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0033.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0034.png b/28098-page-images/p0034.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ece5ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0034.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0035.png b/28098-page-images/p0035.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7d3691
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0035.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0036.png b/28098-page-images/p0036.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..209850b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0036.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0037.png b/28098-page-images/p0037.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61ed28f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0037.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0038.png b/28098-page-images/p0038.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e85a631
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0038.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0039.png b/28098-page-images/p0039.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1a7c38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0039.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0040.png b/28098-page-images/p0040.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df33ce0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0040.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0041.png b/28098-page-images/p0041.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..931b96b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0041.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0042.png b/28098-page-images/p0042.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d257b64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0042.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0043.png b/28098-page-images/p0043.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbc7b74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0043.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0044-insert1.jpg b/28098-page-images/p0044-insert1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..769ad94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0044-insert1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0044.png b/28098-page-images/p0044.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..84567eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0044.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0045.png b/28098-page-images/p0045.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..77f2dae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0045.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0046.png b/28098-page-images/p0046.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bf3d79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0046.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0047.png b/28098-page-images/p0047.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0cccf55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0047.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0048.png b/28098-page-images/p0048.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7a696a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0048.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0049.png b/28098-page-images/p0049.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c6d5a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0049.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0050.png b/28098-page-images/p0050.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64f842c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0050.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0051.png b/28098-page-images/p0051.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acb5e00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0051.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0052.png b/28098-page-images/p0052.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fca699
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0052.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0053.png b/28098-page-images/p0053.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1846bb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0053.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0054.png b/28098-page-images/p0054.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8426b31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0054.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0055.png b/28098-page-images/p0055.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..780f36d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0055.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0056.png b/28098-page-images/p0056.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a63ea98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0056.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0057.png b/28098-page-images/p0057.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58098f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0057.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0058.png b/28098-page-images/p0058.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c142d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0058.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0059.png b/28098-page-images/p0059.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..17ced6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0059.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0060.png b/28098-page-images/p0060.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e11b760
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0060.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0061.png b/28098-page-images/p0061.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa834e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0061.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0062.png b/28098-page-images/p0062.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0497335
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0062.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0063.png b/28098-page-images/p0063.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9c0401
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0063.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0064.png b/28098-page-images/p0064.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a9f220
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0064.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0065.png b/28098-page-images/p0065.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..829da50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0065.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0066.png b/28098-page-images/p0066.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee4811c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0066.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0067.png b/28098-page-images/p0067.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3003668
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0067.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0068.png b/28098-page-images/p0068.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0836200
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0068.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0069.png b/28098-page-images/p0069.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09fa7db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0069.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0070.png b/28098-page-images/p0070.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..997c71b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0070.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0071.png b/28098-page-images/p0071.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7009ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0071.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0072.png b/28098-page-images/p0072.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a7608fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0072.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0073.png b/28098-page-images/p0073.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1609cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0073.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0074-insert1a.jpg b/28098-page-images/p0074-insert1a.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d82a29d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0074-insert1a.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0074-insert1b.jpg b/28098-page-images/p0074-insert1b.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df32f07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0074-insert1b.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0074.png b/28098-page-images/p0074.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ebcbd1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0074.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0075.png b/28098-page-images/p0075.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..445bfbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0075.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0077.png b/28098-page-images/p0077.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91d4042
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0077.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0078.png b/28098-page-images/p0078.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6973921
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0078.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0079.png b/28098-page-images/p0079.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33ac19b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0079.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0080-insert1.jpg b/28098-page-images/p0080-insert1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1fcaa8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0080-insert1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0080.png b/28098-page-images/p0080.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..819f2f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0080.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0081.png b/28098-page-images/p0081.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31903cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0081.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0082-insert1.jpg b/28098-page-images/p0082-insert1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..544a948
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0082-insert1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0082.png b/28098-page-images/p0082.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfca991
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0082.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0083.png b/28098-page-images/p0083.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4ce385
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0083.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0084.png b/28098-page-images/p0084.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7659042
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0084.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0085.png b/28098-page-images/p0085.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a920c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0085.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0086.png b/28098-page-images/p0086.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8eae43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0086.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0087.png b/28098-page-images/p0087.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf73118
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0087.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0088.png b/28098-page-images/p0088.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e88fc87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0088.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0089.png b/28098-page-images/p0089.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c598ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0089.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0090.png b/28098-page-images/p0090.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f6b8ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0090.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0091.png b/28098-page-images/p0091.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf328be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0091.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0092.png b/28098-page-images/p0092.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..70c934e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0092.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0093.png b/28098-page-images/p0093.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3ff49c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0093.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0094.png b/28098-page-images/p0094.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1675a6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0094.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0095.png b/28098-page-images/p0095.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a4f304
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0095.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0096.png b/28098-page-images/p0096.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c44a971
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0096.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0097.png b/28098-page-images/p0097.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..131b48f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0097.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0098-insert1.jpg b/28098-page-images/p0098-insert1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0305e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0098-insert1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0098.png b/28098-page-images/p0098.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb84b2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0098.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0099.png b/28098-page-images/p0099.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b4bbeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0099.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0100.png b/28098-page-images/p0100.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd9838c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0100.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0101.png b/28098-page-images/p0101.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..144d760
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0101.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0102.png b/28098-page-images/p0102.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ced2ad3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0102.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0103.png b/28098-page-images/p0103.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc77b2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0103.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0104.png b/28098-page-images/p0104.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fd1807
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0104.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0105.png b/28098-page-images/p0105.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61bee71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0105.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0106.png b/28098-page-images/p0106.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0c01b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0106.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0107.png b/28098-page-images/p0107.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed10013
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0107.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0108.png b/28098-page-images/p0108.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..79738ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0108.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0109.png b/28098-page-images/p0109.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0dc7998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0109.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0110.png b/28098-page-images/p0110.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff5f59e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0110.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0111.png b/28098-page-images/p0111.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..542e07c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0111.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0112-insert1.jpg b/28098-page-images/p0112-insert1.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f39cbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0112-insert1.jpg
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0112.png b/28098-page-images/p0112.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cdb774f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0112.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/p0118.png b/28098-page-images/p0118.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c7a04a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/p0118.png
diff --git a/28098-page-images/q0001.png b/28098-page-images/q0001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2be3c63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098-page-images/q0001.png
diff --git a/28098.txt b/28098.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46b8a4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3461 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Holiday Tales, by W. H. H. Murray
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Holiday Tales
+       Christmas in the Adirondacks
+
+
+Author: W. H. H. Murray
+
+
+
+Release Date: February 16, 2009  [eBook #28098]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLIDAY TALES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Sigal Alon, Chris Logan, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) from digital
+material generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 28098-h.htm or 28098-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/9/28098/28098-h/28098-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/9/28098/28098-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/holidaytaleschr00murriala
+
+
+
+
+
+HOLIDAY TALES.
+
+Christmas in the Adirondacks.
+
+by
+
+W. H. H. MURRAY.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: W. H. H. MURRAY,
+THE MURRAY HOMESTEAD GUILFORD, CONN.]
+
+
+
+Copyrighted, 1897.
+All Rights Reserved.
+
+Press of
+Springfield Printing and Binding Company,
+Springfield, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+
+    I.
+
+    HOW JOHN NORTON THE TRAPPER KEPT HIS CHRISTMAS,                 11
+
+
+    II.
+
+    JOHN NORTON'S VAGABOND,                                         77
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE WILD DEER'S HOME.]
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD TRAPPER'S HOME.]
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+    THE WILD DEER'S HOME,
+      _By J. Gurner Fisher_,                      _Frontispiece No. 1_
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER'S HOME,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                 _Frontispiece No. 2_
+
+    HOW JOHN NORTON THE TRAPPER KEPT HIS CHRISTMAS,     (_Heading_) 11
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER'S FIREPLACE,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                  between pages 12-13
+
+    "ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN STOOD
+    THE DISMAL HUT,"
+      _By J. Gurner Fisher_,                          "      "   30-31
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER'S SHOT,
+      _By J. Gurner Fisher_,                          "      "   44-45
+
+    THE MOUNTAIN TORRENT,
+      _By J. Gurner Fisher_,                      _Frontispiece No. 3_
+
+    THE VAGABOND'S ROCK,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles,_                 _Frontispiece No. 4_
+
+    JOHN NORTON'S VAGABOND,                             (_Heading_) 76
+
+    "VAGABONDS INCLUDED IN THIS INVITE,"
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                  between pages 80-81
+
+    "AND ABOVE THE WORDS WAS A STAR,"
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                     "      "   82-83
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER'S PADDLE,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                   85
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER'S RIFLE,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                   88
+
+    AN OLD TIME GUN,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                   89
+
+    CHRISTMAS HOLLY,
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                   93
+
+    "WHERE BE THE SHIPS?"
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                  between pages 98-99
+
+    "AND FINALLY THE WORDS PASSED INTO THE AIR,"
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                  105
+
+    "YE CRADLE OF YE OLDEN TIME,"
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                                  108
+
+    THE OLD TRAPPER AND HIS DOGS,
+      "Friends come and go, but until death enters kennel
+      or cabin the hunter and his hounds bide together."
+      _By W. L. Everett Knowles_,                between pages 112-113
+
+
+
+
+HOW JOHN NORTON THE TRAPPER KEPT
+HIS CHRISTMAS.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+
+A cabin. A cabin in the woods. In the cabin a great fireplace piled
+high with logs, fiercely ablaze. On either side of the broad
+hearthstone a hound sat on his haunches, looking gravely, as only a
+hound in a meditative mood can, into the glowing fire. In the center
+of the cabin, whose every nook and corner was bright with the ruddy
+firelight, stood a wooden table, strongly built and solid. At the
+table sat John Norton, poring over a book,--a book large of size, with
+wooden covers bound in leather, brown with age, and smooth as with the
+handling of many generations. The whitened head of the old man was
+bowed over the broad page, on which one hand rested, with the
+forefinger marking the sentence. A cabin in the woods filled with
+firelight, a table, a book, an old man studying the book. This was the
+scene on Christmas Eve. Outside, the earth was white with snow, and in
+the blue sky above the snow was the white moon.
+
+"It says here," said the Trapper, speaking to himself, "it says here,
+'_Give to him that lacketh, and from him that hath not, withhold not
+thine hand._' It be a good sayin' fur sartin; and the world would be
+a good deal better off, as I conceit, ef the folks follered the sayin'
+a leetle more closely." And here the old man paused a moment, and,
+with his hand still resting on the page, and his forefinger still
+pointing at the sentence, seemed pondering what he had been reading.
+At last he broke the silence again, saying:--
+
+"Yis, the world would be a good deal better off, ef the folks in it
+follered the sayin';" and then he added, "There's another spot in the
+book I'd orter look at to-night; it's a good ways furder on, but I
+guess I can find it. Henry says the furder on you git in the book, the
+better it grows, and I conceit the boy may be right; for there be a
+good deal of murderin' and fightin' in the fore part of the book, that
+don't make pleasant readin', and what the Lord wanted to put it in fur
+is a good deal more than a man without book-larnin' can understand.
+Murderin' be murderin', whether it be in the Bible or out of the
+Bible; and puttin' it in the Bible, and sayin' it was done by the
+Lord's commandment, don't make it any better. And a good deal of the
+fightin' they did in the old time was sartinly without reason and
+ag'in jedgment, specially where they killed the womenfolks and the
+leetle uns." And while the old man had thus been communicating with
+himself, touching the character of the Old Testament, he had been
+turning the leaves until he had reached the opening chapters of the
+New, and had come to the description of the Saviour's birth, and the
+angelic announcement of it on the earth. Here he paused, and began to
+read. He read as an old man unaccustomed to letters must read,--slowly
+and with a show of labor, but with perfect contentment as to his
+progress, and a brightening face.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD TRAPPER'S FIREPLACE.]
+
+"This isn't a trail a man can hurry on onless he spends a good deal of
+his time on it, or is careless about notin' the signs, fur the words
+be weighty, and a man must stop at each word, and look around awhile,
+in order to git all the meanin' out of 'em--yis, a man orter travel
+this trail a leetle slow, ef he wants to see all there is to see on
+it."
+
+Then the old man began to read:--
+
+"'_Then there was with the angels a multitude of the heavenly
+host_,'--the exact number isn't sot down here," he muttered; "but I
+conceit there may have been three or four hunderd,--'_praisin' God and
+singin', Glory to God in the highest, and on 'arth, peace to men of
+good will_.' That's right," said the Trapper. "Yis, peace to men of
+good will. That be the sort that desarve peace; the other kind orter
+stand their chances." And here the old man closed the book,--closed it
+slowly, and with the care we take of a treasured thing; closed it,
+fastened the clasps, and carried it to the great chest whence he had
+taken it, putting it away in its place. Having done this, he returned
+to his seat, and, moving the chair in front of the fire, he looked
+first at one hound, and then at the other, and said, "Pups, this be
+Christmas Eve, and I sartinly trust ye be grateful fur the comforts ye
+have."
+
+He said this deliberately, as if addressing human companions. The two
+hounds turned their heads toward their master, looked placidly into
+his face, and wagged their tails.
+
+"Yis, yis, I understand ye," said the Trapper. "Ye both be
+comfortable, and, I dare say, that arter yer way ye both be grateful,
+fur, next to eatin', a dog loves the heat, and ye be nigh enough to
+the logs to be toastin'. Yis, this be Christmas Eve," continued the
+old man, "and in the settlements the folks be gittin' ready their
+gifts. The young people be tyin' up the evergreens, and the leetle uns
+be onable to sleep because of their dreamin'. It's a pleasant pictur',
+and I sartinly wish I could see the merry-makin's, as Henry has told
+me of them, sometime, but I trust it may be in his own house, and with
+his own children." With this pleasant remark, in respect to the one he
+loved so well, the old man lapsed into silence. But the peaceful
+contentment of his face, as the firelight revealed it, showed plainly
+that, though his lips moved not, his mind was still active with
+pleasant thoughts of the one whose name he had mentioned, and whom he
+so fondly loved. At last a more sober look came to his countenance,--a
+look of regret, of self-reproach, the look of a man who remembers
+something he should not have forgotten,--and he said:--
+
+"I ax the Lord to pardin me, that in the midst of my plenty I have
+forgot them that may be in want. The shanty sartinly looked open
+enough the last time I fetched the trail past the clearin', and though
+with the help of the moss and the clay in the bank she might make it
+comfortable, yit, ef the vagabond that be her husband has forgot his
+own, and desarted them, as Wild Bill said he had, I doubt ef there be
+vict'als enough in the shanty to keep them from starvin'. Yis, pups,"
+said the old man, rising, "it'll be a good tramp through the snow,
+but we'll go in the mornin', and see ef the woman be in want. The boy
+himself said, when he stopped at the shanty last summer, afore he went
+out, that he didn't see how they was to git through the winter, and I
+reckon he left the woman some money, by the way she follered him
+toward the boat; and he told me to bear them in mind when the snow
+came, and see to it they didn't suffer. I might as well git the
+pack-basket out, and begin to put the things in't, fur it be a goodly
+distance, and an 'arly start will make the day pleasant to the woman
+and the leetle uns, ef vict'als be scant in the cupboard. Yis, I'll
+git the pack-basket out, and look round a leetle, and see what I can
+find to take 'em. I don't conceit it'll make much of a show, fur what
+might be good fur a man won't be of sarvice to a woman; and as fur the
+leetle uns, I don't know ef I've got a single thing but vict'als
+that'll fit 'em. Lord! ef I was near the settlements, I might swap a
+dozen skins fur jest what I wanted to give 'em; but I'll git the
+basket out, and look round and see what I've got."
+
+In a moment the great pack-basket had been placed in the middle of the
+floor, and the Trapper was busy overhauling his stores to see what he
+could find that would make a fitting Christmas gift for those he was
+to visit on the morrow. A canister of tea was first deposited on the
+table, and, after he had smelled of it, and placed a few grains of it
+on his tongue, like a connoisseur, he proceeded to pour more than half
+of its contents into a little bark box, and, having carefully tied the
+cover, he placed it in the basket.
+
+"The yarb be of the best," said the old man, putting his nose to the
+mouth of the canister, and taking a long sniff before he inserted the
+stopple--"the yarb be of the best, fur the smell of it goes into the
+nose strong as mustard. That be good fur the woman fur sartin, and
+will cheer her sperits when she be downhearted; fur a woman takes as
+naterally to tea as an otter to his slide, and I warrant it'll be an
+amazin' comfort to her, arter the day's work be over, more specially
+ef the work had been heavy, and gone sorter crosswise. Yis, the yarb
+be good fur a woman when things go crosswise, and the box'll be a
+great help to her many and many a night, beyend doubt. The Lord
+sartinly had women in mind when He made the yarb, and a kindly feelin'
+fur their infarmities, and, I dare say, they be grateful accordin' to
+their knowledge."
+
+A large cake of maple sugar followed the tea into the basket, and a
+small chest of honey accompanied it.
+
+"That's honest sweetenin'," remarked the Trapper with decided
+emphasis; "and that is more'n ye can say of the sugar of the
+settlements, leastwise ef a man can jedge by the stuff they peddle at
+the clearin'. The bees be no cheats; and a man who taps his own trees,
+and biles the runnin' into sugar under his own eye, knows what kind of
+sweetenin' he's gittin'. The woman won't find any sand in her teeth
+when she takes a bite from that loaf, or stirs a leetle of the honey
+in the cup she's steepin'."
+
+Some salt and pepper were next added to the packages already in the
+basket. A sack of flour and another of Indian meal followed. A
+generous round of pork, and a bag of jerked venison, that would
+balance a twenty-pound weight, at least, went into the pack. On these,
+several large-sized salmon trout, that had been smoked by the
+Trapper's best skill, were laid. These offerings evidently exhausted
+the old man's resources, for, after looking round a while, and
+searching the cupboard from bottom to top, he returned to the basket,
+and contemplated it with satisfaction, indeed, yet with a face
+slightly shaded with disappointment.
+
+"The vict'als be all right," he said, "fur there be enough to last 'em
+a month, and they needn't scrimp themselves either. But eatin' isn't
+all, and the leetle uns was nigh on to naked the last time I seed 'em;
+and the woman's dress, in spite of the patchin', looked as ef it would
+desart her, ef she didn't keep a close eye on't. Lord! Lord! what
+shall I do? fur there's room enough in the basket, and the woman and
+the leetle uns need garments; that is, it's more'n likely they do, and
+I haven't a garment in the cabin to take 'em."
+
+"Hillo! Hillo! John Norton! John Norton! Hillo!" The voice came sharp
+and clear, cutting keenly through the frosty air and the cabin walls.
+"John Norton!"
+
+"Wild Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper. "I sartinly hope the vagabond
+hasn't been a-drinkin'. His voice sounds as ef he was sober; but the
+chances be ag'in the signs, fur, ef he isn't drunk, the marcy of the
+Lord or the scarcity of liquor has kept him from it. I'll go to the
+door, and see what he wants. It's sartinly too cold to let a man stand
+in the holler long, whether he be sober or drunk;" with which remark
+the Trapper stepped to the door, and flung it open.
+
+"What is it, Wild Bill? what is it?" he called. "Be ye drunk, or be ye
+sober, that ye stand there shoutin' in the cold with a log cabin
+within a dozen rods of ye?"
+
+"Sober, John Norton, sober. Sober as a Moravian preacher at a
+funeral."
+
+"Yer trappin' must have been mighty poor, then, Wild Bill, for the
+last month, or the Dutchman at the clearin' has watered his liquor by
+a wrong measure for once. But ef ye be sober, why do ye stand there
+whoopin' like an Indian, when the ambushment is onkivered and the
+bushes be alive with the knaves? Why don't ye come into the cabin,
+like a sensible man, ef ye be sober? The signs be ag'in ye, Wild Bill;
+yis, the signs be ag'in ye."
+
+"Come into the cabin!" retorted Bill. "An' so I would mighty lively,
+ef I could; but the load is heavy, and your path is as slippery as the
+plank over the creek at the Dutchman's, when I've two horns aboard."
+
+"Load! What load have ye been draggin' through the woods?" exclaimed
+the Trapper. "Ye talk as ef my cabin was the Dutchman's, and ye was
+balancin' on the plank at this minit."
+
+"Come and see for yourself," answered Wild Bill, "and give me a lift.
+Once in your cabin, and in front of your fire, I'll answer all the
+questions you may ask. But I'll answer no more until I'm inside the
+door."
+
+"Ye be sartinly sober to-night," answered the Trapper, laughing, as he
+started down the hill, "fur ye talk sense, and that's more'n a man can
+do when he talks through the nozzle of a bottle.
+
+"Lord-a-massy!" exclaimed the old man as he stood over the sled, and
+saw the huge box that was on it. "Lord-a-massy, Bill! what a tug ye
+must have had! and how ye come to be sober with sech a load behind ye
+is beyend the reckinin' of a man who has knowed ye nigh on to twenty
+year. I never knowed ye disapp'int one arter this fashion afore."
+
+"It is strange, I confess," answered Wild Bill, appreciating the humor
+that lurked in the honesty of the old man's utterance. "It is strange,
+that's a fact, for it's Christmas Eve, and I ought to be roaring drunk
+at the Dutchman's this very minit, according to custom; but I pledged
+him to get the box through jest as he wanted it done, and that I
+wouldn't touch a drop of liquor until I had done it. And here it is,
+according to promise, for here I am sober, and here is the box."
+
+"H'ist along, Bill, h'ist along!" exclaimed the Trapper, who suddenly
+became alive with interest, for he surmised whence the box had come.
+"H'ist along, Bill, I say, and have done with yer talkin', and let's
+see what ye have got on yer sled. It's strange that a man of yer sense
+will stand jibberin' here in the snow with a roarin' fire within a
+dozen rods of ye."
+
+Whatever retort Wild Bill may have contemplated, it was effectually
+prevented by the energy with which the Trapper pushed the sled after
+him. Indeed, it was all he could do to keep it off his heels, so
+earnestly did the old man propel it from behind; and so, with many a
+slip and scramble on the part of Wild Bill, and a continued muttering
+on the part of the Trapper about the "nonsense of a man's jibberin' in
+the snow arter a twenty mile drag, with a good fire within a dozen
+rods of him," the sled was shot through the doorway into the cabin,
+and stood fully revealed in the bright blaze of the firelight.
+
+"Take off yer coat and yer moccasins, Wild Bill," exclaimed the
+Trapper, as he closed the door, "and git in front of the fire; pull
+out the coals, and set the tea pot a-steepin'. The yarb will take the
+chill out of ye better than the pizen of the Dutchman. Ye'll find a
+haunch of venison in the cupboard that I roasted to-day, and some
+johnnycake; I doubt ef either be cold. Help yerself, help yerself,
+Bill, while I take a peep at the box."
+
+No one can appreciate the intensity of the old man's feelings in
+reference to the mysterious box, unless he calls to mind the
+strictness with which he was wont to interpret and fulfill the duties
+of hospitality. To him the coming of a guest was a welcome event, and
+the service which the latter might require of the host both a sacred
+and a pleasant obligation. To serve a guest with his own hand, which
+he did with a natural courtesy peculiar to himself, was his delight.
+Nor did it matter with him what the quality of the guest might be. The
+wandering trapper or the vagabond Indian was served with as sincere
+attention as the richest visitor from the city. But now his feelings
+were so stirred by the sight of the box thus strangely brought to
+him, and by his surmise touching who the sender might be, that Wild
+Bill was left to help himself without the old man's attendance.
+
+It was evident that Bill was equal to the occasion, and was not aware
+of the slightest neglect. At least, his actions were not, by the
+neglect of the Trapper, rendered less decided, or the quality of his
+appetite affected, for the examination he made of the old man's
+cupboard, and the familiarity with which he handled the contents, made
+it evident that he was not in the least abashed, or uncertain how to
+proceed; for he attacked the provisions with the energy of a man who
+had fasted long, and who has at last not only come suddenly to an
+ample supply of food, but also feels that for a few moments, at least,
+he will be unobserved. The Trapper turned toward the box, and
+approached it for a deliberate examination.
+
+"The boards be sawed," he said, "and they come from the mills of the
+settlement, for the smoothin'-plane has been over 'em." Then he
+inspected the jointing, and noted how truly the edges were drawn.
+
+"The box has come a goodly distance," he said to himself, "fur there
+isn't a workman this side of the Horicon that could j'int it in that
+fashion. There sartinly ought to be some letterin', or a leetle bit of
+writin', somewhere about the chest, tellin' who the box belonged to,
+and to whom it was sent." Saying this, the old man unlashed the box
+from the sled, and rolled it over, so that the side might come
+uppermost. As no direction appeared on the smoothly planed surface, he
+rolled it half over again. A little white card neatly tacked to the
+board was now revealed. The Trapper stooped, and on the card read,--
+
+                             JOHN NORTON,
+
+                      TO THE CARE OF WILD BILL.
+
+"Yis, the 'J' be his'n," muttered the old man, as he spelled out the
+word J-o-h-n, "and the big 'N' be as plain as an otter-trail in the
+snow. The boy don't make his letters over plain, as I conceit, but the
+'J' and the 'N' be his'n." And then he paused for a full minute, his
+head bowed over the box. "The boy don't forgit," he murmured, and he
+wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "The boy don't forgit." And
+then he added, "No, he isn't one of the forgittin' kind. Wild Bill,"
+said the Trapper, as he turned toward that personage, whose attack on
+the venison haunch was as determined as ever, "Wild Bill, this box be
+from Henry!"
+
+"I shouldn't wonder," answered that individual, speaking from a mass
+of edibles that filled his mouth.
+
+"And it be a Christmas gift!" continued the old man.
+
+"It looks so," returned Bill, as laconically as before.
+
+"And it be a mighty heavy box!" said the Trapper.
+
+"You'd 'a' thought so, if you had dragged it over the mile-and-a-half
+carry. It was good sleddin' on the river, but the carry took the stuff
+out of me."
+
+"Very like, very like," responded the Trapper; "fur the gullies be
+deep on the carry, and it must have been slippery haulin'. Didn't ye
+git a leetle 'arnest in yer feelin's, Bill, afore ye got to the top of
+the last ridge?"
+
+"Old man," answered Bill, as he wheeled his chair toward the Trapper,
+with a pint cup of tea in the one hand, and wiping his mustache with
+the coat sleeve of the other, "I got it to the top three times, or
+within a dozen feet from the top, and each time it got away from me
+and went to the bottom agin; for the roots was slippery, and I
+couldn't git a grip on the toe of my moccasins; but I held on to the
+rope, and I got to the bottom neck and neck with the sled every time."
+
+"Ye did well, ye did well," responded the Trapper, laughing; "for a
+loaded sled goes down hill mighty fast when the slide is a steep un,
+and a man who gits to the bottom as quick as the sled must have a good
+grip, and be considerably in 'arnest. But ye got her up finally by the
+same path, didn't ye?"
+
+"Yes, I got her up," returned Bill. "The fourth time I went for that
+ridge, I fetched her to the top, for I was madder than a hornet."
+
+"And what did ye do, Bill?" continued the Trapper. "What did ye do
+when ye got to the top?"
+
+"I jest tied that sled to a sapling so it wouldn't git away agin, and
+I got on to the top of that box, and I talked to that gulch a minit or
+two in a way that satisfied my feelings."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder," answered the Trapper, laughing, "fur ye must
+have ben a good deal riled. But ye did well to git the box through,
+and ye got here in time, and ye've 'arnt yer wages; and now, ef ye'll
+tell me how much I am to pay ye, ye shall have yer money, and ye
+needn't scrimp yerself on the price, Wild Bill, for the drag has been
+a hard un; so tell me yer price, and I'll count ye out the money."
+
+"Old man," answered Bill, "I didn't bring that box through for money,
+and I won't take a--"
+
+Perhaps Wild Bill was about to emphasize his refusal by some verbal
+addition to the simple statement, but, if it was his intention, he
+checked himself, and said, "a cent."
+
+"It's well said," answered the Trapper; "yis, it's well said, and does
+jestice to yer feelin's, I don't doubt; but an extra pair of breeches
+one of these days wouldn't hurt ye, and the money won't come amiss."
+
+"I tell ye, old man," returned Wild Bill earnestly, "I won't take a
+cent. I'll allow there's several colors in my trousers, for I've
+patched in a dozen different pieces off and on, and I doubt, as ye
+hint, if the patching holds together much longer; but I've eaten at
+your table and slept in your cabin more than once, John Norton, and
+whether I've come to it sober or drunk, your door was never shut in my
+face; and I don't forget either that the man who sent you that box
+fished me from the creek one day, when I had walked into it with two
+bottles of the Dutchman's whisky in my pocket, and not one cent of
+your money or his will I take for bringing the box in to you."
+
+"Have it yer own way, ef ye will," said the Trapper; "but I won't
+forgit the deed ye have did, and the boy won't forgit it neither.
+Come, let's clear away the vict'als, and we'll open the box. It's
+sartinly a big un, and I would like to see what he has put inside of
+it."
+
+The opening of the box was a spectacle such as gladdens the heart to
+see. At such moments the countenance of the Trapper was as facile in
+the changefulness of its expression as that of a child. The passing
+feelings of his soul found an adequate mirror in his face, as the
+white clouds of a summer day find full reflection in the depth of a
+tranquil lake. He was not too old or too learned to be wise, for the
+wisdom of hearty happiness was his,--the wisdom of being glad, and
+gladly showing it.
+
+As for Wild Bill, the best of his nature was in the ascendant, and
+with the curiosity and pleasure of a child, and a happiness as sincere
+as if the box were his own, he assisted at the opening.
+
+"The man who made this box did the work in a workmanlike fashion,"
+said the Trapper, as he strove to insert the edge of his hatchet into
+the jointing of the cover, "fur he shet these boards together like the
+teeth of a bear trap when the bars be well 'iled. It's a pity the boy
+didn't send him along with the box, Wild Bill, fur it sartinly looks
+as ef we should have to kindle a fire on it, and burn a hole in
+through the kiver."
+
+At last, by dint of great exertion, and with the assistance of Wild
+Bill and the poker, the cover of the box was wrenched off, and the
+contents were partially revealed.
+
+"Glory to God, Wild Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper. "Here be yer
+breeches!" and he held up a pair of pantaloons made of the stoutest
+Scotch stuff. "Yis, here be yer breeches, fur here on the waistband be
+pinned a bit of paper, and on it be written, 'Fur Wild Bill.' And here
+be a vest to match; and here be a jacket; and here be two pairs of
+socks in the pocket of the jacket; and here be two woolen shirts, one
+packed away in each sleeve. And here!" shouted the old man, as he
+turned up the lapel of the coat, "Wild Bill, look here! Here be a
+five-dollar note!" and the old man swung one of the socks over his
+head, and shouted, "Hurrah for Wild Bill!" And the two hounds,
+catching the enthusiasm of their master, lifted their muzzles into the
+air, and bayed deep and long, till the cabin fairly shook with the
+joyful uproar of man and dogs.
+
+It is doubtful if any gift ever took the recipient more by surprise
+than this bestowed upon Wild Bill. It is true that, judged by the law
+of strict deserts, the poor fellow had not deserved much of the world,
+and certainly the world had not forgotten to be strictly just in his
+case, for it had not given him much. It is a question if he had ever
+received a gift before in all his life, certainly not one of any
+considerable value. His reception of this generous and thoughtful
+provision for his wants was characteristic both of his training and
+his nature.
+
+The Old Trapper, as he ended his cheering, flung the pantaloons, the
+vest, the jacket, the socks, the shirts, and the money into his lap.
+
+For a moment the poor fellow sat looking at the warm and costly
+garments that he held in his hands, silent in an astonishment too
+profound for speech, and then, recovering the use of his organs, he
+gasped forth:--
+
+"I swear!" and then broke down, and sobbed like a child.
+
+The Trapper, kneeling beside the box, looked at the poor fellow with a
+face radiant with happiness, while his mouth was stretched with
+laughter, utterly unconscious that tears were brimming his own eyes.
+
+"Old Trapper," said Wild Bill, rising to his feet, and holding the
+garments forth in his hands, "this is the first present I ever
+received in my life. I have been kicked and cussed, sneered at and
+taunted, and I deserved it all. But no man ever gave me a lift, or
+showed he cared a cent whether I starved or froze, lived or died. You
+know, John Norton, what a fool I've been, and what has ruined me, and
+that when sober I'm more of a man than many who hoot me. And here I
+swear, old man, that while a button is on this jacket, or two threads
+of these breeches hold together, I'll never touch a drop of liquor,
+sick or well, living or dying, so help me God! and there's my hand on
+it."
+
+"Amen!" exclaimed the Trapper, as he sprang to his feet, and clasped
+in his own strong palm the hand that the other had stretched out to
+him. "The Lord in His marcy be nigh ye when tempted, Bill, and keep ye
+true to yer pledge!"
+
+Of all the pleasant sights that the angels of God, looking from their
+high homes, saw on earth that Christmas Eve, perhaps not one was
+dearer in their eyes than the spectacle here described,--the two
+sturdy men standing with their hands clasped in solemn pledge of the
+reformation of the one, and the helping sympathy of the other, above
+that Christmas box in the cabin in the woods.
+
+It is not necessary to follow in detail the Trapper's further
+examination of the box. The reader's imagination, assisted by many a
+happy reminiscence, will enable him to realize the scene. There was a
+small keg of powder, a large plug of lead, a little chest of tea, a
+bag of sugar, and also one of coffee. There were nails, matches,
+thread, buttons, a woolen under-jacket, a pair of mittens, and a cap
+of choicest fur, made of an otter's skin that Henry himself had
+trapped a year before. All these and other packages were taken out one
+by one, carefully examined, and characteristically commented on by the
+Trapper, and passed to Wild Bill, who in turn inspected and commented
+on them, and then laid them carefully on the table. Beneath these
+packages was a thin board, constituting a sort of division between its
+upper and lower half.
+
+"There seems to be a sort of cellar to this box," said the Trapper, as
+he sat looking at the division. "I shouldn't be surprised ef the boy
+himself was in here somewhere, so be ready, Bill, fur anything, fur
+the Lord only knows what's underneath this board." Saying which, the
+old man thrust his hand under one end of the division, and pulled out
+a bundle loosely tied with a string, which became unfastened as the
+Trapper lifted the roll from its place in the box, and, as he shook it
+open, and held its contents at arm's length up to the light, the
+startled eyes of Wild Bill, and the earnest gaze of the Trapper,
+beheld a woman's dress!
+
+"Heavens and 'arth, Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, "what's this?" And
+then a flash of light crossed his face, in the illumination of which
+the look of wonder vanished, and, dropping upon his knees, he flung
+the dividing board out of the box, and his companion and himself saw
+at a glance what was underneath.
+
+Children's shoes, and dresses of warmest stuffs; tippets and mittens;
+a full suit for a little boy, boots and all; a jackknife and whistle;
+two dolls dressed in brave finery, with flaxen hair and blue eyes; a
+little hatchet; a huge ball of yarn, and a hundred and one things
+needed in the household; and underneath all a Bible; and under that a
+silver star on a blue field, and pinned to the silk a scrap of paper,
+on which was written,--
+
+"Hang this over the picture of the lad."
+
+"Ay, ay," said the Trapper in a tremulous voice, as he looked at the
+silver star, "it shall be done as ye say, boy; but the lad has got
+beyend the clouds, and is walkin' a trail that is lighted from eend to
+eend by a light clearer and brighter than ever come from the shinin'
+of any star. I hope we may be found worthy to walk it with him, boy,
+when we, too, have come to the edge of the Great Clearin'."
+
+To the Trapper it was perfectly evident for whom the contents of the
+box were intended; but the sender had left nothing in doubt, for, when
+the old man had lifted from the floor the board that he had flung out,
+he discovered some writing traced with heavy penciling on the wood,
+and which without much effort he spelled out to Wild Bill,--
+
+"Give these on Christmas Day to the woman at the dismal hut, and a
+merry Christmas to you all."
+
+"Ay, ay," said the Trapper, "it shall be did, barrin' accident, as ye
+say; and a merry Christmas it'll make fur us all. Lord-a-massy! what
+_will_ the poor woman say when she and her leetle uns git these warm
+garments on? There be no trouble about fillin' the basket now; no, I
+sartinly can't git half of the stuff in. Wild Bill, I guess ye'll have
+to do some more sleddin' to-morrow, fur these presents must go over
+the mountain in the mornin', ef we have to harness up the pups." And
+then he told his companion of the poor woman and the children, and his
+intended visit to them on the morrow.
+
+"I fear," he said, "that they be havin' a hard time of it, 'specially
+ef her husband has desarted her."
+
+"Little good he would do her, if he was with her," answered Wild Bill,
+"for he's a lazy knave when he is sober, and a thief as well, as you
+and I know, John Norton; for he's fingered our traps more than once,
+and swapped the skins for liquor at the Dutchman's; but he's thieved
+once too many times, for the folks in the settlement has ketched him
+in the act, and they put him in the jail for six months, as I heard
+day before yesterday."
+
+"I'm glad on't; yis, I'm glad on't," answered the Trapper; "and I hope
+they'll keep him there till they've larnt him how to work. I've had my
+eye on the knave for a good while, and the last time I seed him I told
+him ef he fingered any more of my traps, I'd larn him the commandments
+in a way he wouldn't forgit; and, as I had him in hand, and felt a
+leetle like talkin' that mornin', I gin him a piece of my mind,
+techin' his treatment of his wife and leetle uns, that he didn't
+relish, I fancy, fur he winced and squirmed like a fox in a trap. Yis,
+I'm glad they've got the knave, and I hope they'll keep him till he's
+answered fur his misdoin'; but I'm sartinly afeered the poor woman be
+havin' a hard time of it."
+
+"I fear so, too," answered Wild Bill; "and if I can do anything to
+help you in your plans, jest say the word, and I'm your man to back or
+haul, jest as you want me."
+
+And so it was arranged that they should go over the mountain together
+on the morrow, and take the provisions and the gifts that were in the
+box to the poor woman. And, after talking awhile of the happiness
+their visit would give, the two men, happy in their thoughts, and with
+their hearts full of that peace which passeth the understanding of the
+selfish, laid themselves down to sleep; and over the two,--the one
+drawing to the close of an honorable and well-spent life, the other
+standing at the middle of a hitherto useless existence, but facing the
+future with a noble resolution,--over the two, as they slept, the
+angels of Christmas kept their watch.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+
+On the other side of the mountain stood the dismal hut; and the stars
+of that blessed eve had shone down upon the lonely clearing in which
+it stood, and the smooth white surface of the frozen and snow-covered
+lake which lay in front of it, as brightly as they had shone on the
+cabin of the Trapper; but no friendly step had made its trail in the
+surrounding snow, and no blessed gift had been brought to its solitary
+door.
+
+[Illustration: "On the other side of the mountain stood the dismal
+hut."]
+
+As the evening wore on, the great clearing round about it remained
+drearily void of sound or motion, and filled only with the white
+stillness of the frosty, snow-lighted night. Once, indeed, a wolf
+stole from underneath the dark balsams into the white silence, and,
+running up a huge log that lay aslant a ledge of rocks, looked across
+and round the great opening in the woods, stood a moment, then gave a
+shivering sort of a yelp, and scuttled back under the shadow of the
+forest, as if its darkness was warmer than the frozen stillness of the
+open space. An owl, perched somewhere amid the pine-tops, snug and
+warm within the cover of its arctic plumage, engaged from time to time
+in solemn gossip with some neighbor that lived on the opposite shore
+of the lake. And once a raven, roosting on the dry bough of a
+lightning-blasted pine, dreamed that the white moonlight was the light
+of dawn, and began to stir his sable wings, and croak a harsh welcome;
+but awakened by his blunder, and ashamed of his mistake, he broke off
+in the very midst of his discordant call, and again settled gloomily
+down amid his black plumes to his interrupted repose, making by his
+sudden silence the surrounding silence more silent than before.
+
+It seemed as if the very angels, who, we are taught, fly abroad over
+all the earth that blessed night, carrying gifts to every household,
+had forgotten the cabin in the woods, and had left it to the cold
+hospitality of unsympathetic nature.
+
+Within the lonely hut, which thus seemed forgotten of Heaven itself,
+sat a woman huddling her young--two girls and a boy. The fireplace was
+of monstrous proportions, and the chimney yawned upward so widely that
+one looking up the sooty passage might see the stars shining overhead.
+A little fire burned feebly in the huge stone recess: scant warmth
+might such a fire yield, kindled in such a fireplace, to those around
+it. Indeed, the little flame seemed conscious of its own inability,
+and burned with a wavering and mistrustful flicker, as if it were
+discouraged in view of the task set before it, and had more than half
+concluded to go out altogether.
+
+The cabin was of large size, and undivided into apartments. The little
+fire was only able to illuminate the central section, and more than
+half of the room was hidden in utter darkness. The woman's face, which
+the faint flame over which she was crouched revealed with painful
+clearness, showed pale and haggard. The induration of exposure and the
+tightening lines of hunger sharpened and marred a countenance which a
+happier fortune would have kept even comely. It had that old look
+about it which comes from wretchedness rather than age, and the
+weariness of its expression was pitiful to see. Was it work or vain
+waiting for happier fortunes that made her look so tired? Alas! the
+weariness of waiting for what we long for, and long for purely, but
+which never comes! Is it the work or the longing--the long
+longing--that has put the silver in your head, friend, and scarred
+the smooth bloom of your cheeks, my lady, with those ugly lines?
+
+"Mother, I'm hungry," said the little boy, looking up into the woman's
+face. "Can't I have just a little more to eat?"
+
+"Be still," answered the woman sharply, speaking in the tones of vexed
+inability. "I've given you almost the last morsel in the house."
+
+The boy said nothing more, but nestled up more closely to his mother's
+knee, and stuck one little stockingless foot out until the cold toes
+were half hidden in the ashes. O warmth! blessed warmth! how pleasant
+art thou to old and young alike! Thou art the emblem of life, as thy
+absence is the evidence and sign of life's cold opposite. Would that
+all the cold toes in the world could get to my grate to-night, and all
+the shivering ones be gathered to this fireside! Ay, and that the
+children of poverty, that lack for bread, might get their hungry hands
+into that well-filled cupboard there, too!
+
+In a moment the woman said, "You children had better go to bed. You'll
+be warmer in the rags than in this miserable fireplace."
+
+The words were harshly spoken, as if the very presence of the
+children, cold and hungry as they were, was a vexation to her; and
+they moved off in obedience to her command.
+
+O cursed poverty! I know thee to be of Satan, for I myself have eaten
+at thy scant table, and slept in thy cold bed. And never yet have I
+seen thee bring one smile to human lips, or dry one tear as it fell
+from a human eye. But I have seen thee sharpen the tongue for biting
+speech, and harden the tender heart. Ay, I've seen thee make even the
+presence of love a burden, and cause the mother to wish that the puny
+babe nursing her scant breast had never been born. And so the children
+went to their unsightly bed, and silence reigned in the hut.
+
+"Mother," said one of the girls, speaking out of the
+darkness,--"mother, isn't this Christmas Eve?"
+
+"Yes," answered the woman sharply. "Go to sleep." And again there was
+silence.
+
+Happy is childhood, that amid whatever deprivation and misery it can
+so weary itself in the day that when night comes on it can lose in the
+forgetfulness of slumber its sorrows and wants!
+
+Thus, while the children lost the sense of their unhappy surroundings,
+including the keen pangs of hunger, for a time, and under the tattered
+blankets that covered them saw, perhaps, visions of enchanting lands,
+and in their dreams feasted at those wonderful tables which hungry
+children see only in sleep, to the poor woman sitting at the failing
+fire there came no surcease of sorrow, and no vision threw even an
+evanescent brightness over the hard, cold facts of her surroundings.
+And the reality of her condition was dire enough, God knows. Alone in
+the wilderness, miles from any human habitation, the trails covered
+deep with snow, her provisions exhausted, actual suffering already
+upon them, and starvation staring them squarely in the face,--no
+wonder that her soul sank within her; no wonder that her thoughts
+turned toward bitterness.
+
+"Yes, it's Christmas Eve," she muttered, "and the rich will keep it
+gayly. God sends them presents enough; but you see if He remembers me!
+Oh, they may talk about the angels of Christmas Eve flying abroad
+to-night, loaded with gifts, but they'll fly mighty high above this
+shanty, I reckon; no, they won't even drop a piece of meat as they
+soar past." And so she sat muttering and moaning over her woes, and
+they were heavy enough,--too heavy for her poor soul, unassisted, to
+lift,--while the flame on the hearth grew thinner and thinner, until
+it had no more warmth in it than the shadow of a ghost, and, like its
+resemblance, was about to flit and fade away. At last she said, in a
+softened tone, as if the remembrance of the Christmas legend had
+softened her surly thoughts and sweetened the bitter mood:--
+
+"Perhaps I'm wrong to take on so. Perhaps it isn't God's fault that I
+and my children are deserted and starving. But why should the innocent
+be punished for the guilty, and why should the wicked have enough and
+to spare, while those who do no evil go half naked and starved?"
+
+Alas, poor woman! that puzzle has puzzled many besides thee, and many
+lips besides thine have asked that question, querulously or
+entreatingly, many a time; but whether they asked it in vexation and
+rebellion of spirit, or humbly besought Heaven to answer, to neither
+murmur nor prayer did Heaven vouchsafe a response. Is it because we
+are so small, or, being small, are so inquisitive, that the Great
+Oracle of the blue remains so dumb when we cry?
+
+At this point the poor little flame, as if unable to abide the cold
+much longer, flared fitfully, and uneasily shifted itself from brand
+to brand, threatening with many a flicker to go out; but the woman,
+with her elbows on her knees, and her face settled firmly between her
+hands, still sat with eyes that saw not the feeble flame at which they
+so steadily gazed.
+
+"I will do it, _I will do it!_" she suddenly exclaimed. "I will make
+one more effort. They shall not starve while I have strength to try.
+Perhaps God will aid me. They say He always does at the last pinch,
+and He certainly sees that I am there now. I wonder if He's been
+waiting for me to get just where I am before He helped me. There is
+one more chance left, and I'll make the trial. I'll go down to the
+shore where I saw the big tracks in the snow. It's a long way, but I
+shall get there somehow. If God is going to be good to me, He won't
+let me freeze or faint on the way. Yes, I'll creep into bed now, and
+try to get a little sleep, for I must be strong in the morning." And
+with these words the poor woman crept off to her bed, and burrowed
+down, more like an animal than a human being, beside her little ones,
+as they lay huddled close together and asleep, down in the rags.
+
+What angel was it that followed her to her miserable couch, and
+stirred kindly feelings in her bosom? Some sweet one, surely; for she
+shortly lifted herself to a sitting posture, and, gently drawing down
+the old blanket with which the children, for warmth's sake, had
+wrapped their heads, looked as only a mother might at the three little
+faces lying side by side, and, bending tenderly over them, she placed
+a gentle kiss upon the forehead of each; then she nestled down again
+in her own place, and said, "Perhaps God will help me." And with this
+sentence, half a prayer and half a doubt, born on the one hand from
+that sweet faith which never quite deserts a woman's bosom, and on the
+other from that bitter experience which had made her seem in her own
+eyes deserted of God, she fell asleep.
+
+She, too, dreamed; but her dreaming was only the prolongation of her
+waking thoughts; for long after her eyes closed she moved uneasily on
+her hard couch, and muttered, "Perhaps God will. Perhaps--"
+
+Sad is it for us who are old enough to have tasted the bitterness of
+that cup which life sooner or later presents to all lips, and have
+borne the burden of its toil and fretting, that our vexations and
+disappointments pursue us even in our slumber, disturbing our sleep
+with reproachful visions and the sound of voices whose upbraiding robs
+us of our otherwise peaceful repose. Perhaps somewhere in the years to
+come, after much wandering and weariness, guided of God, we may come
+to that fountain of which the ancients dreamed, and for which the
+noblest among them sought so long, and died seeking; plunging into
+which, we shall find our lost youth in its cool depths, and, rising
+refreshed and strengthened, shall go on our eternal journey re-clothed
+with the beauty, the innocence, and the happiness of our youth.
+
+The poor woman slept uneasily, and with much muttering to herself;
+but the rapid hours slid noiselessly down the icy grooves of night,
+and soon the cold morning put its white face against the frozen
+windows of the east, and peered shiveringly forth. Who says the earth
+cannot look as cold and forbidding as the human countenance? The sky
+hung over the frozen world like a dome of gray steel, whose invisibly
+matched plates were riveted here and there by a few white, gleaming
+stars. The surface of the snow sparkled with crystals that flashed
+colorlessly cold. The air seemed armed, and full of sharp, eager
+points that pricked the skin painfully. The great tree-trunks cracked
+their sharp protests against the frosty entrances being made beneath
+their bark. The lake, from under the smothering ice, roared in dismay
+and pain, and sent the thunders of its wrath at its imprisonment
+around the resounding shores. A bitter morn, a bitter morn,--ah me! a
+bitter morn for the poor!
+
+The woman, wakened by the gray light, moved in the depths of the
+tattered blankets, sat upright, rubbed her eyes with her hands, looked
+about her as if to recall her scattered senses, and then, as thought
+returned, crept stealthily out of the hole in which she had lain, that
+she might not wake the children, who, coiled together, slumbered on,
+still closely clasped in the arms of blessed unconsciousness.
+
+"They had better sleep," she said to herself. "If I fail to bring them
+meat, I hope they will never wake!"
+
+Ah! if the poor woman could only have foreseen the bitter
+disappointment, or that other something which the future was to bring
+her, would she have made that prayer? Is it best for us, as some say,
+that we cannot see what is coming, but must weep on till the last tear
+is shed, uncheered by the sweet fortune so nigh, or laugh unchecked
+until the happy tones are mingled with, and smothered by, the rising
+moan? Is it best, I wonder?
+
+She noiselessly gathered together what additions she could make to her
+garments, and then, taking down the rifle from its hangings, opened
+the door, and stepped forth into the outer cold. There was a look of
+brave determination in her eyes as she faced the chilly greeting the
+world gave her, and, with more of hopefulness than had before appeared
+upon her countenance, she struck bravely off along the lake shore,
+which at this point receded toward the mountain.
+
+For an hour she kept steadily on, with her eyes constantly on the
+alert for the least sign of the wished and prayed-for game. Suddenly
+she stopped, and crouched down in the snow, peering straight ahead.
+Well might she seek concealment, for there, standing on a point of
+land that jutted sharply out into the lake, not forty rods away,
+unscreened and plain to view, stood a buck of such goodly proportions
+as one even in years of hunting might not see.
+
+The woman's eyes fairly gleamed as she saw the noble animal standing
+thus in full sight; but who may tell the agony of fear and hope that
+filled her bosom! The buck stood lordly erect, facing the east, as if
+he would do homage to, or receive homage from, the rising sun, whose
+yellow beams fell full upon his uplifted front. The thought of her
+mind, the fear of her heart, were plain. The buck would soon move;
+when he moved, which way would he move? Would he go from or come
+toward her? Would she get him, or would she lose him? Oh, the agony of
+that thought!
+
+"God of the starving," burst from her quivering lips, "let not my
+children die!"
+
+Many prayers more ornate rose that day to Him whose ears are open to
+all cries. But of all that prayed on that Christmas morn, whether with
+few words or many, surely, no heart rose with the seeking words more
+earnestly than that of the poor woman kneeling as she prayed, rifle in
+hand, amid the snow.
+
+"God of the starving, let not my children die!"
+
+That was her prayer; and, as if in answer to her agonizing petition,
+the buck turned and began to advance directly toward her, browsing as
+he came. Once he stopped, looked around, and snuffed the air
+suspiciously. Had he scented her presence, and would he bound away?
+Should she fire now? No; her judgment told her she could not trust the
+gun or her aim at such a range. He must come nigher,--come even to the
+big maple, and stand there, not ten rods away; then she felt sure she
+should get him. So she waited. Oh, how the cold ate into her! How her
+teeth chattered as the chills ran their torturing courses through her
+thin, shivering frame! But still she clutched the cold barrel, and
+still she watched and waited, and still she prayed:--
+
+"God of the starving, let not my children die!"
+
+Alas, poor woman! My own body shivers as I think of thine, and my pen
+falters to write what misery befell thee on that wretched morn.
+
+Did the buck turn? Did he, having come so tantalizingly near, retrace
+his steps? No. He continued to advance. Had Heaven heard her prayer?
+Her soul answered it had; and with such feelings in it toward Him to
+whom she had appealed as she had not felt in all her life before, she
+steadied herself for the shot. For even as she prayed, the deer came
+on,--came to the big maple, and lifted his muzzle to its highest reach
+to seize with his tongue a thin streamer of moss that lay against the
+smooth bark. There he stood, his blue-brown side full toward her,
+unconscious of her presence. Noiselessly she cocked the piece.
+Noiselessly she raised it to her face, and, with every nerve drawn to
+its tightest tension, sighted the noble game, and--_fired_.
+
+Had the frosty air watered her eye? was it a tear of joy and gratitude
+that dimmed the clearness of its sight? or were the half-frozen
+fingers unable to steady the cold barrel at the instant of its
+explosion? We know not. We only know that in spite of prayer, in spite
+of noblest effort, she missed the game. For, as the rifle cracked, the
+buck gave a snort of fear, and with swift bounds flew up the mountain;
+while the poor woman, dropping the gun with a groan, fell fainting on
+the snow.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+
+At the same moment the rifle sounded, two men, the Trapper with his
+pack, and Wild Bill with his sled heavily loaded, were descending the
+western slope of the mountain, not a mile from the clearing in which
+stood the lonely cabin. The sound of the piece brought them to a halt
+as quickly as if the bullet had cut through the air in front of their
+faces. For several minutes both stood in the attitude of listening.
+
+"Down into the snow with ye, pups!" exclaimed the Trapper, in a hoarse
+whisper. "Down into the snow with ye, I say! Rover, ef ye lift yer
+muzzle agin, I'll warm yer back with the ramrod. By the Lord, Bill,
+the buck is comin' this way; ye can see his horns lift above the
+leetle balsams as he breaks through the thicket yender. Ef he strikes
+the runway, he'll sartinly come within range;" and the Old Trapper
+slipped his arms from the pack, and, lowering it to the earth, sank on
+his knees beside it, where he waited as motionless as if the breath
+had departed his body.
+
+Onward came the game. As the Trapper had suggested, the buck, with
+mighty and far-reaching bounds, cleared the shrubby obstructions, and,
+entering the runway, tore up the familiar path with the violence of a
+tornado. Onward he came, his head flung upward, his antlers laid well
+back, tongue lolling from his mouth, and his nostrils smoking with the
+hot breaths that burst in streaming columns from them. Not until his
+swift career had brought him exactly in front of his position did the
+old man stir a muscle. But then, quick as the motion of the leaping
+game, his rifle jumped to his cheek, and even as the buck was at the
+central point of his leap, and suspended in the air, the piece cracked
+sharp and clear, and the deer, stricken to his death, fell with a
+crash to the ground. The quivering hounds rose to their feet, and
+bayed long and deep; Wild Bill swung his hat and yelled; and for a
+moment the woods rang with the wild cries of dogs and man.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD TRAPPER'S SHOT.]
+
+"Lord-a-massy, Bill, what a mouth ye have when ye open it!" exclaimed
+the Trapper, as he leisurely poured the powder into the still smoking
+barrel. "Atween ye and the pups, it's enough to drive a man crazy. I
+should sartinly think ye had never seed a deer shot afore, by the way
+ye be actin'."
+
+"I've seen a good many, as you know, John Norton; but I never saw one
+tumbled over by a single bullet when at the very top of his jump, as
+that one was. I surely thought you had waited too long, and I wouldn't
+have given a cent for your chances when you pulled. It was a wonderful
+shot, John Norton, and I would take just such another tramp as I have
+had, to see you do it again, old man."
+
+"It wasn't bad," returned the Trapper; "no, it sartinly wasn't bad,
+for he was goin' as ef the Old Harry was arter him. I shouldn't wonder
+ef he had felt the tech of lead down there in the holler, and the
+smart of his hurt kept him flyin'. Let's go and look him over, and see
+ef we can't find the markin's of the bullit on him."
+
+In a moment the two stood above the dead deer.
+
+"It is as I thought," said the Trapper, as he pointed with his ramrod
+to a stain of blood on one of the hams of the buck. "The bullit drove
+through his thigh here, but it didn't tech the bone, and was a sheer
+waste of lead, fur it only sot him goin' like an arrer. Bill, I
+sartinly doubt," continued the old man, as he measured the noble
+animal with his eye, "I sartinly doubt ef I ever seed a bigger deer.
+There's seven prongs on his horns, and I'd bet a horn of powder agin a
+chargerful that he'd weigh three hunderd pounds as he lies. Lord! what
+a Christmas gift he'll be fur the woman! The skin will make a blanket
+fit fur a queen to sleep under, and the meat, jediciously cared fur,
+will last her all winter. We must manage to git it to the edge of the
+clearin', anyhow, or the wolves might make free with our venison,
+Bill. Yer sled is a strong un, and it'll bear the loadin', ef ye go
+keerful."
+
+The Trapper and his companion set themselves to their task with the
+energy of men accustomed to surmount every obstacle, and in a short
+half-hour the sled, with its double loading, stopped at the door of
+the lonely cabin.
+
+"I don't understand this, Wild Bill," said the Trapper. "Here be a
+woman's tracks in the snow, and the door be left a leetle ajar, but
+there be no smoke in the chimney, and they sartinly ain't very noisy
+inside. I'll jest give a knock or two, and see ef they be stirrin';"
+and, suiting the action to the word, he knocked long and loud on the
+large door. But to his noisy summons there came no response, and
+without a moment of farther hesitation he shoved open the door, and
+entered.
+
+"God of marcy! Wild Bill," exclaimed the Trapper, "look in here."
+
+A huge room dimly lighted, holes in the roof, here and there a heap of
+snow on the floor, an immense fireplace with no fire in it, and a
+group of scared, wild-looking children huddled together in the farther
+corner, like young and timid animals that had fled in affright from
+the nest where they had slept, at some fearful intrusion. That is what
+the Trapper saw.
+
+"I"--Whatever Wild Bill was about to say, his astonishment, and, we
+may add, his pity, were too profound for him to complete his
+ejaculation.
+
+"Don't ye be afeerd, leetle uns," said the Trapper, as he advanced
+into the center of the room to survey more fully the wretched place.
+"This be Christmas morn, and me and Wild Bill and the pups have come
+over the mountain to wish ye all a merry Christmas. But where be yer
+mother?" queried the old man, as he looked kindly at the startled
+group.
+
+"We don't know where she is," answered the older of the two girls; "we
+thought she was in bed with us, till you woke us. We don't know where
+she has gone."
+
+"I have it, I have it, Wild Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, whose eyes
+had been busy scanning the place while talking with the children. "The
+rifle be gone from the hangin's, and the tracks in the snow be hern.
+Yis, yis, I see it all. She went out in hope of gittin' the leetle uns
+here somethin' to eat, and that was her rifle we heerd, and her bullit
+made that hole in the ham of the buck. What a disapp'intment to the
+poor creetur when she seed she hadn't hit him! Her heart eena'most
+broke, I dare say. But the Lord was in it--leastwise, He didn't go
+agin the proper shapin' of things arterwards. Come, Bill, let's stir
+round lively, and git the shanty in shape a leetle, and some vict'als
+on the table afore she comes. Yis, git out your axe, and slash into
+that dead beech at the corner of the cabin, while I sorter clean up
+inside. A fire is the fust thing on sech a mornin' as this; so scurry
+round, Bill, and bring in the wood as ef ye was a good deal in
+'arnest, and do ye cut to the measure of the fireplace, and don't
+waste yer time in shortenin' it, fur the longer the fireplace, the
+longer the wood; that is, ef ye want to make it a heater."
+
+His companion obeyed with alacrity; and by the time the Trapper had
+cleaned out the snow, and swept down the soot from the sides of the
+fireplace, and put things partially to rights, Bill had stacked the
+dry logs into the huge opening, nearly to the upper jamb, and, with
+the help of some large sheets of birch bark, kindled them to a flame.
+"Come here, leetle uns," said the Trapper, as he turned his
+good-natured face toward the children,--"come here, and put yer leetle
+feet on the h'arthstun, fur it's warmin', and I conceit yer toes be
+about freezin'."
+
+It was not in the power of children to withstand the attraction of
+such an invitation, extended with such a hearty voice and such
+benevolence of feature. The children came promptly forward, and stood
+in a row on the great stone, and warmed their little shivering bodies
+by the abundant flames.
+
+"Now, leetle folks," said the Trapper, "jest git yerselves well
+warmed, then git on what clothes ye've got, and we'll have some
+breakfast,--yis, we'll have breakfast ready by the time yer mother
+gits back, fur I know where she be gone, and she'll be hungry and cold
+when she gits in. I don't conceit that this leetle chap here can help
+much, but ye girls be big enough to help a good deal. So, when ye be
+warm, do ye put away the bed to the furderest corner, and shove out
+the table in front of the fire, and put on the dishes, sech as ye
+have, and be smart about it, too, fur yer mother will sartinly be
+comin' soon, and we must be ahead of her with the cookin'."
+
+What a change the next half-hour made in the appearance of the cabin!
+The huge fire sent its heat to the farthest corner of the great room.
+The miserable bed had been removed out of sight, and the table, drawn
+up in front of the fire, was set with the needed dishes. On the
+hearthstone a large platter of venison steak, broiled by the Trapper's
+skill, simmered in the heat. A mighty pile of cakes, brown to a turn,
+flanked one side, while a stack of potatoes baked in the ashes
+supported the other. The teapot sent forth its refreshing odor through
+the room. The children, with their faces washed and hair partially, at
+least, combed, ran about with bare feet on the warm floor, comfortable
+and happy. To them it was as a beautiful dream. The breakfast was
+ready, and the visitors sat waiting for the coming of her to whose
+assistance the angel of Christmas Eve had sent them.
+
+"Sh!" whispered the Trapper, whose quick ear had caught the sound of a
+dragging step in the snow. "She's comin'!"
+
+Too weary and faint, too sick at heart and exhausted in body to
+observe the unaccustomed signs of human presence around her dwelling,
+the poor woman dragged herself to the door, and opened it. The gun she
+still held in her hand fell rattling to the floor, and, with eyes
+wildly opened, she gazed bewildered at the spectacle. The blazing
+fire, the set table, the food on the hearthstone, the smiling
+children, the two men! She passed her hands across her eyes as one
+waking from sleep. Was she dreaming? Was this cabin the miserable hut
+she had left at daybreak? Was that the same fireplace in front of
+whose cold and cheerless recess she had crouched the night before? And
+were those two strangers there men, or were they angels? Was what she
+saw real, or was it only a fevered vision born of her weakness?
+
+Her senses actually reeled to and fro, and she trembled for a moment
+on the verge of unconsciousness. Indeed, the shock was so overwhelming
+that in another instant she would have swooned and fallen to the floor
+had not the growing faintness been checked by the sound of a human
+voice.
+
+"A merry Christmas to ye, my good woman," said the Trapper. "A merry
+Christmas to ye and yourn!"
+
+The woman started as the hearty tones fell on her ear, and, steadying
+herself by the door, she said, speaking as one partially dazed:--
+
+"Are you John Norton the Trapper, or are you an ang--"
+
+"Ye needn't sight agin," interrupted the old man. "Yis, I'm old John
+Norton himself, nothin' better and nothin' wuss; and the man in the
+chair here by my side is Wild Bill, and ye couldn't make an angel out
+of him, ef ye tried from now till next Christmas. Yis, my good woman,
+I'm John Norton, and this is Wild Bill, and we've come over the
+mountain to wish ye a merry Christmas, ye and yer leetle uns, and help
+ye keep the day; and, ye see, we've been stirrin' a leetle in yer
+absence, and breakfast be waitin'. Wild Bill and me will jest go out
+and cut a leetle more wood, while ye warm and wash yerself; and when
+ye be ready to eat, ye may call us, and we'll see which can git into
+the house fust."
+
+So saying the Trapper, followed by his companion, passed out of the
+door, while the poor woman, without a word, moved toward the fire,
+and, casting one look at her children, at the table, at the food on
+the hearthstone, dropped on her knees by a chair, and buried her face
+in her hands.
+
+"I say," said Wild Bill to the Trapper, as he crept softly away from
+the door, to which he had returned to shut it more closely, "I say,
+John Norton, the woman is on her knees by a chair."
+
+"Very likely, very likely," returned the old man reverently; and then
+he began to chop vigorously at a huge log, with his back toward his
+comrade.
+
+Perhaps some of you who read this tale will come sometime, when weary
+and heart-sick, to something drearier than an empty house, some bleak,
+cold day, some lonely morn, and with a starving heart and benumbed
+soul,--ay, and empty-handed, too,--enter in only to find it swept and
+garnished, and what you most needed and longed for waiting for you.
+Then will you, too, drop upon your knees, and cover your face with
+your hands, ashamed that you had murmured against the hardness of your
+lot, or forgotten the goodness of Him who suffered you to be tried
+only that you might more fully appreciate the triumph.
+
+"My good woman," said the Trapper, when the breakfast was eaten,
+"we've come, as we said, to spend the day with ye; and accordin' to
+custom--and a pleasant un it be fur sartin--we've brought ye some
+presents. A good many of them come from him who called on ye as he and
+me passed through the lake last fall. I dare say ye remember him, and
+he sartinly has remembered ye. Fur last evenin', when I was makin' up
+a leetle pack to bring ye myself,--fur I conceited I had better come
+over and spend the day with ye,--Wild Bill came to my door with a box
+on his sled that the boy had sent in from his home in the city; and in
+the box he had put a great many presents fur him and me; and in the
+lower half of the box he had put a good many presents fur ye and yer
+leetle uns, and we've brought them all over with us. Some of the
+things be fur eatin' and some of them be fur wearin'; and that there
+may be no misunderstandin', I would say that all the things that be in
+the pack-basket there, and all the things that be on the sled, too,
+belong to ye. And as I see the wood-pile isn't a very big un fur this
+time of the year, Bill and me be goin' out to settle our breakfast a
+leetle with the axes. And while we be gone, I conceit ye had better
+rummage the things over, and them that be good fur eatin' ye had
+better put in the cupboard, and them that be good fur wearin' ye had
+better put on yerself and yer leetle uns; and then we'll all be ready
+to make a fair start. Fur this be Christmas Day, and we be goin' to
+keep it as it orter be kept. Ef we've had sorrers, we'll forgit 'em;
+and we'll laugh, and eat, and be merry. Fur this be Christmas, my good
+woman! children, this be Christmas! Wild Bill, my boy, this be
+Christmas; and, pups, this be Christmas! And we'll all laugh, and eat,
+and be merry."
+
+The joyfulness of the old man was contagious. His happiness flowed
+over as waters flow over the rim of a fountain. Wild Bill laughed as
+he seized his axe, the woman rose from the table smiling, the girls
+giggled, the little boy stamped, and the hounds, catching the spirit
+of their merry master, swung their tails round, and bayed in canine
+gladness; and amid the joyful uproar the Old Trapper spun himself out
+of the door, and chased Wild Bill through the snow like a boy.
+
+The dinner was to be served at two o'clock; and what a dinner it was,
+and what preparations preceded! The snow had been shoveled from around
+the cabin, the holes in the roof roughly but effectually thatched. A
+good pile of wood was stacked in front of the doorway. The spring that
+bubbled from the bank had been cleared of ice, and a protection
+constructed over it. The huge buck had been dressed, and hung high
+above the reach of wolves. Cedar and balsam branches had been placed
+in the corners and along the sides of the room. Great sprays of the
+tasseled pine and the feathery tamarack were suspended from the
+ceiling. The table had been enlarged, and extra seats extemporized.
+The long-unused oven had been cleaned out, and under its vast dome the
+red flames flashed and rolled upward. What a change a few hours had
+brought to that lonely cabin and its wretched inmates! The woman,
+dressed in her new garments, her hair smoothly combed, her face
+lighted with smiles, looked positively comely. The girls, happy in
+their fine clothes and marvelous toys, danced round the room, wild
+with delight; while the little boy strutted about the floor in his new
+boots, proudly showing them to each person for the hundredth time.
+
+The hostess's attention was equally divided between the temperature of
+the oven and the adornment of the table. A snow-white sheet, one of a
+dozen she had found in the box, was drafted peremptorily into service,
+and did duty as a tablecloth. Oh, the innocent and funny makeshifts of
+poverty, and the goodly distance it can make a little go! Perhaps some
+of us, as we stand in our rich dining rooms, and gaze with pride at
+the silver, the gold, the cut glass, and the transparent china, can
+recall a little kitchen in a homely house far away, where our good
+mothers once set their tables for their guests, and what a brave show
+the few extra dishes made when they brought them out on the rare
+festive days.
+
+However it might strike you, fair reader, to the poor woman and her
+guests there was nothing incongruous in a sheet serving as a
+tablecloth. Was it not white and clean and properly shaped, and would
+it not have been a tablecloth if it hadn't been a sheet? How very
+nice and particular some people can be over the trifling matter of a
+name! And this sheet had no right to be a sheet, since any one with
+half an eye could see at a glance that it was predestined from the
+first to be a tablecloth, for it sat as smoothly on the wooden surface
+as pious looks on a deacon's face, while the easy and nonchalant way
+it draped itself at the corners was perfectly jaunty.
+
+The edges of this square of white sheeting that had thus
+providentially found its true and predestined use were ornamented with
+the leaves of the wild myrtle, stitched on in the form of scallops. In
+the center, with a brave show of artistic skill, were the words,
+"Merry Christmas," prettily worked with the small brown cones of the
+pines. This, the joint product of Wild Bill's industry and the woman's
+taste, commanded the enthusiastic admiration of all; and even the
+little boy, from the height of a chair into which he had climbed, was
+profoundly affected by the show it made.
+
+The Trapper had charge of the meat department, and it is safe to say
+that no Delmonico could undertake to serve venison in greater variety
+than did he. To him it was a grand occasion, and--in a culinary
+sense--he rose grandly to meet it. What bosom is without its little
+vanities? and shall we laugh at the dear old man because he looked
+upon the opportunity before him with feeling other than pure
+benevolence,--even of complacency that what he was doing was being
+done as no one else could do it?
+
+There was venison roasted, and venison broiled, and venison fried;
+there was hashed venison, and venison spitted; there was a side-dish
+of venison sausage, strong with the odor of sage, and slightly dashed
+with wild thyme; and a huge kettle of soup, on whose rich creamy
+surface pieces of bread and here and there a slice of potato floated.
+
+"I tell ye, Bill," said the Trapper to his companion, as he stirred
+the soup with a long ladle, "this pot isn't act'ally runnin' over with
+taters, but ye can see a bit occasionally ef ye look sharp and keep
+the ladle goin' round pretty lively. No, the taters ain't over
+plenty," continued the old man, peering into the pot, and sinking his
+voice to a whisper, "but there wasn't but fifteen in the bag, and the
+woman took twelve of 'em fur her kittle, and ye can't make three
+taters look act'ally crowded in two gallons of soup, can ye, Bill?"
+And the old man punched that personage in the ribs with the thumb of
+the hand that was free from service, while he kept the ladle going
+with the other.
+
+"Lord!" exclaimed the Trapper, speaking to Bill, who, having taken a
+look into the old man's kettle, was digging his knuckles into his eyes
+to free them from the spray that was jetted into them from the
+fountains of mirth within that were now in full play,--"Lord! ef there
+isn't another piece of tater gone all to pieces! Bill, ef I make
+another circle with this ladle, there won't be a whole slice left, and
+ye'll swear there wasn't a tater in the soup." And the two men, with
+their faces within twenty inches, laughed and laughed like boys.
+
+How sweet it is to think that when the Maker set up this strange
+instrument we call ourselves, and strung it for service, He selected
+of the heavy chords so few, and of the lighter ones so many! Some
+muffled ones there are; some slow and solemn sounds swell sadly forth
+at intervals, but blessed be God that we are so easily tickled, and
+the world is so funny that within it, even when exiled from home and
+friends, we find, as the days come and go, the causes and occasions of
+hilarity!
+
+Wild Bill had been placed in charge of the liquids. What a satire
+there is in circumstances, and how those of to-day laugh at those of
+yesterday! Yes, Wild Bill had charge of the liquids,--no mean charge,
+when the occasion is considered. Nor was the position without its
+embarrassments, as few honorable positions are, for it brought him
+face to face with the problem of the day--dishes; for, between the two
+cooks of the occasion, every dish in the cabin had been brought into
+requisition, and poor Bill was left in the predicament of having to
+make tea and coffee with no pots to make them in.
+
+But Bill was not lacking in wit, if he was in pots, and he solved the
+conundrum how to make tea without a teapot in a manner that extorted
+the woman's laughter, and commanded the Old Trapper's admiration.
+
+In ransacking the lofts above the apartment, he had lighted on several
+large stone jugs, which, with the courage--shall we call it the
+audacity?--of genius, he had seized upon; and, having thoroughly
+rinsed them, and freed them from certain odors,--with which we are
+free to say Bill was more or less familiar,--he brought them forward
+as substitutes for kettle and pot. Indeed, they worked admirably, for
+in them the berry and the leaves might not only be properly steeped,
+but the flavor could be retained beyond what it might in many of our
+famous and high-sounding patented articles.
+
+But Bill, while ingenious and courageous to the last degree, was
+lacking in education, especially in scientific directions. He had
+never been made acquainted with that great promoter of modern
+civilization--the expansive properties of steam. The corks he had
+whittled out for his bravely extemporized tea and coffee pots were of
+the closest fit; and, as they had been inserted with the energy of a
+man who, having conquered a serious difficulty, is determined to reap
+the full benefit of his triumph, there was at least no danger that the
+flavor of the concoctions would escape through any leakage at the
+muzzle. Having thus prepared them for steeping, he placed the jugs in
+his corner of the fireplace, and pushed them well up through the ashes
+to the live coals.
+
+"Wild Bill," said the Trapper, who wished to give his companion the
+needed warning in as delicate and easy a manner as possible, "Wild
+Bill, ye have sartinly got the right idee techin' the makin' of tea
+and coffee, fur the yarb should be steeped, and the berry,
+too,--leastwise, arter it's biled up once or twice,--and therefore it
+be only reasonable that the nozzles should be closed moderately tight;
+but a man wants considerable experience in the business, or he's
+likely to overdo it jest a leetle, and ef ye don't cut some slots in
+them wooden corks ye've driven into them nozzles, Bill, there'll be a
+good deal of tea and coffee floatin' round in yer corner of the
+fireplace afore many minits, and I conceit there'll be a man about yer
+size lookin' fur a couple of corks and pieces of jugs out there in the
+clearin', too."
+
+"Do you think so?" answered Bill, incredulously. "Don't you be scared,
+old man, but keep on stirring your soup and turning the meat, and I'll
+keep my eye on the bottles."
+
+"That's right, Bill," returned the Trapper; "ye keep yer eye right on
+'em, specially on that un that's furderest in toward the butt of the
+beech log there; fur ef there's any vartue in signs, that jug be
+gittin' oneasy. Yis," continued the old man, after a minute's pause,
+during which his eye hadn't left the jug, "yis, that jug will want
+more room afore many minits, ef I'm any jedge, and I conceit I had
+better give it the biggest part of the fireplace;" and the Trapper
+hastily moved the soup and his half-dozen plates of cooked meats to
+the other end of the hearthstone, whither he retired himself, like one
+who, feeling that he is called upon to contend with unknown forces,
+wisely beats a retreat. He even put himself behind a stack of wood
+that lay piled up in his corner, like one who does not despise, in a
+sudden emergency, an artificial protection.
+
+"Bill," called the Trapper, "edge round a leetle,--edge round, and git
+in closer to the jamb. It's sheer foolishness standin' where ye be,
+fur the water will be wallopin' in a minit, and ef the corks be
+swelled in the nozzle, there'll be an explosion. Git in toward the
+jamb, and watch the ambushment under kiver."
+
+"Old man," answered Bill, as he turned his back carelessly toward the
+fireplace, "I've got the bearin's of this trail, and know what I'm
+about. The jugs are as strong as iron kittles, and I ain't afraid of
+their bust--"
+
+Bill never finished the sentence, for the explosion predicted by the
+Trapper occurred. It was a tremendous one, and the huge fireplace was
+filled with flying brands, ashes, and clouds of steam. The Trapper
+ducked his head, the woman screamed, and the hounds rushed howling to
+the farthest end of the room; while Bill, with half a somersault,
+disappeared under the table.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted the Trapper, lifting his head from behind the wood,
+and critically surveying the scene. "Hurrah, Bill!" he shouted, as he
+swung the ladle over his head. "Come out from under the table, and man
+yer battery agin. Yer old mortars was loaded to the muzzle, and ef ye
+had depressed the pieces a leetle, ye'd 'a' blowed the cabin to
+splinters; as it was, the chimney got the biggest part of the
+chargin', and ye'll find yer rammers on the other side of the
+mountain."
+
+It was, in truth, a scene of uproarious hilarity; for once the
+explosion was over, and the woman and children saw there was no
+danger, and apprehended the character of the performance, they joined
+unrestrainedly in the Trapper's laughter, in which they were assisted
+by Wild Bill, as if he were not the victim of his own over-confidence.
+
+"I say, Old Trapper," he called from under the table, "did both guns
+go off? I was getting under cover when the battery opened, and didn't
+notice whether the firing was in sections or along the whole line. If
+there's a piece left, I think I will stay where I am; for I am in a
+good position to observe the range, and watch the effect of the shot.
+I say, hadn't you better get behind the wood-pile again?"
+
+"No, no," interrupted the Trapper; "the whole battery went at the
+word, Bill, and there isn't a gun or a gun-carriage left in the
+casement. Ye've wasted a gill of the yarb, and a quarter of a pound of
+the berry; and ye must hurry up with another outfit of bottles, or
+we'll have nothin' but water to drink at the dinner."
+
+The dinner! That great event of the day, the crown and diadem to its
+royalty, and which became it so well, was ready promptly to the hour.
+The table, enlarged as it was to nearly double its original
+dimensions, could scarcely accommodate the abundance of the feast. Ah,
+if some sweet power would only enlarge our hearts when, on festive
+days, we enlarge our tables, how many of the world's poor, that now go
+hungry while we feast, would then be fed!
+
+At one end of the table sat the Trapper, Wild Bill at the other. The
+woman's chair was at the center of one of the sides, so that she sat
+facing the fire, whose generous flames might well symbolize the
+abundance which amid cold and hunger had so suddenly come to her. On
+her right hand the two girls sat; on her left, the boy. A goodly
+table, a goodly fire, and a goodly company,--what more could the Angel
+of Christmas ask to see?
+
+Thus were they seated, ready to begin the repast; but the plates
+remained untouched, and the happy noises which had to that moment
+filled the cabin ceased; for the Angel of Silence, with noiseless
+step, had suddenly entered the room. There's a silence of grief,
+there's a silence of hatred, there's a silence of dread; of these, men
+may speak, and these they can describe. But the silence of our
+happiness, who can describe that? When the heart is full, when the
+long longing is suddenly met, when love gives to love abundantly, when
+the soul lacketh nothing and is content,--then language is useless,
+and the Angel of Silence becomes our only adequate interpreter. A
+humble table, surely, and humble folk around it; but not in the houses
+of the rich or the palaces of kings does gratitude find her only home,
+but in more lowly abodes and with lowly folk--ay, and often at the
+scant table, too,--she sitteth a perpetual guest. Was it memory? Did
+the Trapper at that brief moment visit his absent friend? Did Wild
+Bill recall his wayward past? Were the thoughts of the woman busy with
+sweet scenes of earlier days? And did memory, by thus reminding them
+of the absent and the past, of the sweet things that had been and
+were, stir within their hearts thoughts of Him from whom all gifts
+descend, and of His blessed Son, in whose honor the day was named?
+
+O Memory! thou tuneful bell that ringeth on forever, friend at our
+feasts, and friend, too, let us call thee, at our burial, what music
+can equal thine? For in thy mystic globe all tunes abide,--the
+birthday note for kings, the marriage peal, the funeral knell, the
+gleeful jingle of merry mirth, and those sweet chimes that float our
+thoughts, like fragrant ships upon a fragrant sea, toward heaven,--all
+are thine! Ring on, thou tuneful bell; ring on, while these glad ears
+may drink thy melody; and when thy chimes are heard by me no more,
+ring loud and clear above my grave that peal which echoes to the
+heavens, and tells the world of immortality, that they who come to
+mourn may check their tears and say, "_Why do we weep? He liveth
+still!_"
+
+"The Lord be praised fur His goodness!" said the Trapper, whose
+thoughts unconsciously broke into speech. "The Lord be praised fur His
+goodness, and make us grateful fur His past marcies, and the plenty
+that be here!" And looking down upon the viands spread before him he
+added, "The Lord be good to the boy, and make him as happy in his city
+home as be they who be wearin' and eatin' his gifts in the woods!"
+
+"Amen!" said the woman softly, and a grateful tear fell on her plate.
+
+"A--hem!" said Wild Bill; and then looking down upon his warm suit, he
+lifted his voice, and, bringing it out in a clear, strong tone, said,
+"_Amen! hit or miss!_"
+
+At many a table that day more formal grace was said, by priest and
+layman alike, and at many a table, by lips of old and young, response
+was given to the benediction; but we doubt if over all the earth a
+more honest grace was said or more honestly assented to than the Lord
+heard from the cabin in the woods.
+
+The feast and the merrymaking now began. The Old Trapper was in his
+best mood, and fairly bubbled over with humor. The wit of Wild Bill
+was naturally keen, and it flashed at its best as he ate. The children
+stuffed and laughed as only children on such an elastic occasion can.
+And as for the poor woman, it was impossible for her, in the midst of
+such a scene, to be otherwise than happy, and she joined modestly in
+the conversation, and laughed heartily at the witty sallies.
+
+But why should we strive to put on paper the wise, the funny, and the
+pleasant things that were said, the exclamations, the laughter, the
+story, the joke, the verbal thrust and parry of such an occasion?
+These, springing from the center of the circumstance, and flashed into
+being at the instant, cannot be preserved for after-rehearsal. Like
+the effervescence of champagne, they jet and are gone; their force
+passes away with the noise that accompanied its out-coming.
+
+Is it not enough to record that the dinner was a success, that the
+Trapper's meats were put upon the table in a manner worthy of his
+reputation, that the woman's efforts at pastry-making were generously
+applauded, and that Wild Bill's tea and coffee were pronounced by the
+hostess the best she had ever tasted? Perhaps no meal was ever more
+enjoyed, as certainly none was ever more heartily eaten.
+
+The wonder and pride of the table was the pudding,--a creation of
+Indian meal, flour, suet, and raisins, re-enforced and assisted by
+innumerable spicy elements supposed to be too mysterious to be grasped
+by the masculine mind. In the production of this wonderful
+centerpiece,--for it had been unanimously voted the place of
+honor,--the poor woman had summoned all the latent resources of her
+skill, and in reference to it her pride and fear contended, while the
+anxiety with which she rose to serve it was only too plainly depicted
+on her countenance. What if it should prove a failure? What if she had
+made a miscalculation as to the amount of suet required,--a point upon
+which she had been somewhat confused? What if the raisins were not
+sufficiently distributed? What if it wasn't done through, and should
+turn out pasty? Great Heavens! The last thought was of so overwhelming
+a character that no feminine courage could encounter it. Who may
+describe the look with which she watched the Trapper as he tasted it,
+or the expression of relief which brightened her anxious face when he
+pronounced warmly in its favor?
+
+"It's a wonderful bit of cookin'," he said, addressing himself to Wild
+Bill, "and I sartinly doubt ef there be anythin' in the settlements
+to-day that can equal it. There be jest enough of the suet, and there
+be a plum for every mouthful; and it be solid enough to stay in the
+mouth ontil ye've had time to chew it, and git a taste of the
+corn,--and I wouldn't give a cent for a puddin' ef it gits away from
+yer teeth fast. Yis, it be a wonderful bit of cookin'," and, turning
+to the woman, he added, "ye may well be proud of it."
+
+What higher praise could be bestowed? And as it was re-echoed by all
+present, and plate after plate was passed for a second filling, the
+dinner came to an end with the greatest good feeling and hilarity.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+
+"Now fur the sled!" exclaimed the Trapper, as he rose from the table.
+"It be a good many years since I've straddled one, but nothin' settles
+a dinner quicker, or suits the leetle folks better. I conceit the
+crust be thick enough to bear us up, and, ef it is, we can fetch a
+course from the upper edge of the clearin' fifty rods into the lake.
+Come, childun, git on yer mittens and yer tippets, and h'ist along to
+the big pine, and ye shall have some fun ye won't forgit ontil yer
+heads be whiter than mine."
+
+It is needless to record that the children hailed with delight the
+proposition of the Trapper, or that they were at the appointed spot
+long before the speaker and his companion reached it with the sled.
+
+"Wild Bill," said the Trapper, as they stood on the crest of the slope
+down which they were to glide, "the crust be smooth as glass, and the
+hill be a steep un. I sartinly doubt ef mortal man ever rode faster
+than this sled'll be goin' by the time it gits to where the bank
+pitches into the lake; and ef ye should git a leetle careless in yer
+steerin', Bill, and hit a stump, I conceit that nothin' but the help
+of the Lord or the rottenness of the stump would save ye from
+etarnity."
+
+Now, Wild Bill was blessed with a sanguine temperament. To him no
+obstacle seemed serious if bravely faced. Indeed, his natural
+confidence in himself bordered on recklessness, to which the drinking
+habits of his life had, perhaps, contributed.
+
+When the Trapper had finished speaking, Bill ran his eye carelessly
+down the steep hillside, smooth and shiny as polished steel, and said,
+"Oh, this isn't anything extry for a hill. I've steered a good many
+steeper ones, and in nights when the moon was at the half, and the
+sled overloaded at that. It don't make any difference how fast you
+go," he added, "if you only keep in the path, and don't hit anything."
+
+"That's it, that's it," replied the Trapper. "But the trouble here be
+to keep in the path, fur, in the fust place, there isn't any path, and
+the stumps be pretty thick, and I doubt ef ye can line a trail from
+here to the bank by the lake without one or more sudden twists in it,
+and a twist in the trail, goin' as fast as we'll be goin', has got to
+be taken jediciously, or somethin' will happen. I say, Bill, what
+p'int will ye steer fur?"
+
+Wild Bill, thus addressed, proceeded to give his opinion touching the
+proper direction of the flight they were to make. Indeed, he had been
+closely examining the ground while the Trapper was speaking, and
+therefore gave his opinion promptly and with confidence.
+
+"Ye have chosen the course with jedgment," said the old man
+approvingly, after he had studied the line his companion pointed out
+critically for a moment. "Yis, Bill, ye have a nateral eye for the
+business, and I sartinly have more confidence in ye than I had a minit
+ago, when ye was talkin' about a steeper hill than this; fur this hill
+drops mighty sudden in the pitches, and the crust be smooth as ice,
+and the sled'll go like a streak when it gits started. But the course
+ye've p'inted out be a good un, fur there be only one bad turn in it,
+and good steerin' orter put a sled round that. I say," continued the
+old man, turning toward his companion, and pointing out the crook in
+the course at the bottom of the second dip, "can ye swing around that
+big stump there without upsettin', when ye come to it?"
+
+"Swing around? Of course I can," retorted Wild Bill, positively.
+"There's plenty room to the left, and--"
+
+"Ay, ay; there be plenty of room, as ye say, ef ye don't take too much
+of it," interrupted the Trapper. "But--"
+
+"I tell you," broke in the other, "I'll turn my back to no man in
+steering a sled; and I can put this sled, and you on it, around that
+stump a hundred times, and never lift a runner."
+
+"Well, well," responded the Trapper, "have it yer own way. I dare say
+ye be good at steerin', and I sartinly know I'm good at ridin'; and I
+can ride as fast as ye can steer, ef ye hit every stump in the
+clearin'. Now, childun," continued the old man, turning to the little
+group, "we be goin' to try the course; and ef the crust holds up, and
+Wild Bill keeps clear of the stumps, and nothin' onusual happens, ye
+shall have all the slidin' ye want afore ye go in. Come, Bill, git yer
+sled p'inted right, and I'll be gittin' on, and we'll see ef ye can
+steer an old man round a stump as handily as ye say ye can."
+
+The directions of the Trapper were promptly obeyed, and in an instant
+the sled was in the right position, and the Trapper proceeded to seat
+himself with the carefulness of one who feels he is embarking on a
+somewhat uncertain venture, and has grave misgivings as to what will
+be the upshot of the undertaking. The sled was large and strongly
+built; and it added not a little to his comfort to feel that he could
+put entire confidence in the structure beneath them.
+
+"The sled'll hold," he said to himself, "ef the loadin' goes to the
+jedgment."
+
+The Trapper was no sooner seated than Wild Bill threw himself upon the
+sled, with one leg under him and the other stretched at full length
+behind. This was a method of steering that had come into vogue since
+the Trapper's boyhood, for in his day the steersman sat astride the
+sled, with his feet thrust forward, and steered by the pressure of
+either heel upon the snow.
+
+"Hold on, Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, whose eye this novel method of
+steering had not escaped. "Hold on, and hold up a minit. Heavens and
+'arth! ye don't mean to steer this sled with one toe, do ye, and that,
+too, the length of a rifle-barrel astarn? Wheel round, and spread yer
+legs out as ye orter, and steer this sled in an honest fashion, or
+there'll be trouble aboard afore ye git to the bottom."
+
+"Sit round!" retorted Bill. "How could I see to steer if I was sitting
+right back of you? For you're nigh a foot taller then I be, and your
+shoulders are as broad as the sled."
+
+"Yer p'ints be well taken, fur sartin," replied the Trapper; "fur it
+be no more than reasonable that the man that steers should see where
+he be goin', and I am as anxious as ye be that ye should. Yis, I
+sartinly want ye to see where ye be goin' on this trip, anyhow, fur
+the crew be a fresh un, and the channel be a leetle crooked. But be ye
+sartin, Bill, that ye can fetch round that stump there as it orter be
+did, with nothin' but yer toe out behind? It may be the best way, as
+ye say, but it don't look like honest steerin' to a man of my years."
+
+"I have used both ways," answered Bill, "and I give you my word, old
+man, that this is the best one. You can get a big swing with your foot
+stretched out in this fashion, and the sled feels the least pressure
+of the toe. Yes, it's all right. John Norton, are you ready?"
+
+"Yis, yis, as ready as I ever shall be," answered the Trapper, in a
+voice in which doubt and resignation were equally mingled. "It may be
+as ye say," he continued; "but the rudder be too fur behind to suit
+me, and ef anything happens on this cruise, jest remember, Wild Bill,
+that my jedgment--"
+
+The sentence the Trapper was uttering was abruptly cut short at this
+point; for Bill had started the sled with a sudden push, and leaped to
+his seat behind the Trapper as it glided downward and away. In an
+instant the sled was under full headway, for the dip was a sharp one,
+and the crust smooth as ice. Scarce had it gone ten rods from the
+point where it started before it was in full flight, and was gliding
+downward with what would have been, to any but a man of the steadiest
+nerve, a frightful velocity. But the Trapper was of too cool and
+courageous temperament to be disturbed even by actual danger. Indeed,
+the swiftness of their downward career, as the sled with a buzz and a
+roar swept along over the resounding crust, stirred the old man's
+blood with a tingle of excitement; while the splendid manner with
+which Wild Bill was keeping it to the course settled upon filled him
+with admiration, and was fast making him a convert to the new method
+of steering.
+
+Downward they flashed. The Trapper's cap had been blown from his head;
+and as the old man sat bolt-upright on his sled, his feet bravely
+planted on the round, his face flushed, and his white hair streaming,
+he looked the very picture of hearty enjoyment. Above his head the
+face of Wild Bill looked actually sharpened by the pressure of the air
+on either cheek as it clove through it; but his lips were bravely set,
+and his eyes were fastened without winking on the big stump ahead,
+toward which they were rushing.
+
+It was at this point that Wild Bill vindicated his ability as a
+steersman, and at the same time barely escaped shipwreck. At the
+proper moment he swept his foot to the left, and the sled, in
+obedience to the pressure, swooped in that direction. But in his
+anxiety to give the stump a wide berth, Bill overdid the pressure that
+was needed a trifle; for in calculating the curve required he had
+failed to allow for the sidewise motion of the sled, and, instead of
+hitting one stump, it looked for an instant as if he would be
+precipitated among a dozen.
+
+"Heave her starn up, Wild Bill! up with her starn, I say," yelled the
+Trapper, "or there won't be a stump left in the clearin'."
+
+With a quickness and courage that would have done credit to
+any steersman,--for the speed at which they were going was
+terrific,--Bill swept his foot to the right, leaning his body well
+over at the same instant. The Trapper instinctively seconded his
+endeavors, and with hands that gripped either side of the sled he hung
+over that side which was upon the point of going into the air. For
+several rods the sled glided along on a single runner, and then,
+righting itself with a lurch, jumped the summit of the last dip, and
+raced away, like a swallow in full flight, toward the lake.
+
+Now, at the edge of the clearing that bounded the shore was a bank of
+considerable size. Shrubs and stunted bushes fringed the crest of it.
+These had been buried beneath the snow, and the crust had formed
+smoothly over them; and as it was upheld by no stronger support than
+such as the hidden shrubbery furnished, it was incapable of sustaining
+any considerable pressure.
+
+Certainly no sled was ever moving faster than was Wild Bill's when it
+came to this point; and certainly no sled ever stopped quicker, for
+the treacherous crust dropped suddenly under it, and the sled was left
+with nothing but the hind part of one of the runners sticking up in
+sight. But though the sled was suddenly checked in its career, the
+Trapper and Wild Bill continued their flight. The former slid from the
+sled without meeting any obstruction, and with the same velocity with
+which he had been moving. Indeed, so little was his position changed,
+that one might almost fancy that no accident had happened, and that
+the old man was gliding forward to the end of the course with an
+adequate structure under him. But with the latter it was far
+different; for, as the sled stopped, he was projected sharply upward
+into the air, and, after turning several somersaults, he actually
+landed in front of the Trapper, and glided along on the slippery
+surface ahead of him. And so the two men shot onward, one after the
+other, while the children cackled from the hill-top, and the woman
+swung her bonnet over her head, and laughed from her position in the
+doorway.
+
+"Bill," called the Trapper, when by dint of much effort they had
+managed to check their motion somewhat, "Bill, ef the cruise be about
+over, I conceit we'd better anchor hereabouts. But I shipped fur the
+voyage, and ye be capt'in, and as ye've finally got the right way to
+steer, I feel pretty safe techin' the futur'."
+
+It was not until they had come to a full stop, and looked around them,
+that they realized the distance they had come; for they had in truth
+slid nearly across the bay.
+
+"I've boated a good many times on these waters, and under
+sarcumstances that called fur 'arnest motion, but I sartinly never
+went across this bay as fast as I've did it to-day. How do ye feel,
+Bill, how do ye feel?"
+
+"A good deal shaken up," was the answer, "a good deal shaken up."
+
+"I conceit as much," answered the Trapper, "I conceit as much, fur ye
+left the sled with mighty leetle deliberation; and when I saw yer legs
+comin' through the air, I sartinly doubted ef the ice would hold ye.
+But ye steered with jedgment; yis, ye steered with jedgment, Bill; and
+I'd said it ef we'd gone to the bottom."
+
+The sun was already set when they returned to the cabin; for,
+selecting a safer course, they had given the children an hour's happy
+sliding. The woman had prepared some fresh tea and a lunch, which they
+ate with lessened appetites, but with humor that never flagged. When
+it was ended, the Old Trapper rose to depart, and with a dignity and
+tenderness peculiarly his own, thus spoke:--
+
+"My good woman," he said, "the moon will soon be up, and the time has
+come fur me to be goin'. I've had a happy day with ye and the leetle
+uns; and the trail over the mountain will seem shorter, as the pups
+and me go home, thinkin' on't. Wild Bill will stay a few days, and put
+things a leetle more to rights, and git up a wood-pile that will keep
+ye from choppin' fur a good while. It's his own thought, and ye can
+thank him accordin'ly." Then, having kissed each of the children, and
+spoken a few words to Wild Bill, he took the woman's hand, and said:--
+
+"The sorrers of life be many, but the Lord never forgits. I've lived
+until my head be whitenin', and I've noted that though He moves
+slowly, He fetches most things round about the time we need 'em; and
+the things that be late in comin', I conceit we shall git somewhere
+furder on. Ye didn't kill the big buck this mornin', but the meat ye
+needed hangs at yer door, nevertheless." And shaking the woman
+heartily by the hand, he whistled to the hounds, and passed out of the
+door. The inmates of the cabin stood and watched him, until, having
+climbed the slope of the clearing, he disappeared in the shadows of
+the forest; and then they closed the door. But more than once Wild
+Bill noted that as the woman stood wiping her dishes, she wiped her
+eyes as well; and more than once he heard her say softly to herself,
+"God bless the dear old man!"
+
+Ay, ay, poor woman, we join thee in thy prayer. God bless the dear old
+man! and not only him, but all who do the deeds he did. God bless them
+one and all!
+
+Over the crusted snow the Trapper held his course, until he came, with
+a happy heart, to his cabin. Soon a fire was burning on his own
+hearthstone, and the hounds were in their accustomed place. He drew
+the table in front, where the fire's fine light fell on his work, and,
+taking some green vines and branches from the basket, began to twine a
+wreath. One he twined, and then he began another; and often, as he
+twined the fadeless branches in, he paused, and long and lovingly
+looked at the two pictures hanging on the wall; and when the wreaths
+were twined, he hung them on the frames, and, standing in front of the
+dumb reminders of his absent ones, he said, "_I miss them so!_"
+
+Ah! friend, dear friend, when life's glad day with you and me is
+passed, when the sweet Christmas chimes are rung for other ears than
+ours, when other hands set the green branches up, and other feet glide
+down the polished floor, may there be those still left behind to twine
+us wreaths, and say, "_We miss them so!_"
+
+And this is the way John Norton the Trapper kept his Christmas.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE MOUNTAIN TORRENT.]
+
+[Illustration: THE VAGABOND'S ROCK.]
+
+
+
+
+JOHN NORTON'S VAGABOND.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+A cabin. A cabin in the woods. Of it I have written before, and of it
+I write again. The same great fireplace piled high with logs fiercely
+ablaze. Again on either side of the fireplace are the hounds gazing
+meditatively into the fire. The same big table, and on it the same
+great book, leather-bound and worn by the hands of many generations.
+And at the strong table, bending over the sacred book, with one huge
+finger marking a sentence, the same whitened head, the same man, large
+of limb and large of feature--John Norton, the Trapper.
+
+"Yis, pups," said the Trapper, speaking to his dogs as one speaks to
+companions in council, "yis, pups, it must go in, for here it be writ
+in the Book--Rover, ye needn't have that detarmined look in yer
+eye--for here it be writ in the Book, I say, '_Do unto others as ye
+would that others should do unto you._'
+
+"I know, old dog, that ye have seed me line the sights on the
+vagabonds, when ye and me have ketched 'em pilferin' the traps or
+tamperin' with the line, and I have trusted yer nose as often as my
+own eyes in trackin' the knaves when they'd got the start of us. And I
+will admit it, Rover, that the Lord gave ye a great gift in yer nose,
+so that ye be able to desarn the difference atween the scent of an
+honest trapper's moccasin and that of a vagabond. But that isn't to
+the p'int, Rover. The p'int is, Christmas be comin' and ye and me and
+Sport, yender, have sot it down that we're to have a dinner, and the
+question in council to-night is, Who shall we invite to our dinner?
+Here we have been arguin' the matter three nights atween us, pups, and
+we didn't git a foot ahead, and the reason that we didn't git a foot
+ahead was, because ye and me, Rover, naterally felt alike, for we have
+never consorted with vagabonds, and we couldn't bear the idee of
+invitin' 'em to this cabin and eatin' with 'em. So, ye and me agreed
+to-night we'd go to the Book and go by the Book, hit or miss. And the
+reason we should go to the Book and by the Book is, because, ef it
+wasn't for the Book, there wouldn't be any Christmas nor any Christmas
+dinner to invite anyone to, and so we went to the Book, and the Book
+says--I will read ye the words, Rover. And, Sport, though ye be a
+younger dog, and naterally of less jedgment, yit ye have yer gifts,
+and I have seed ye straighten out a trail that Rover and me couldn't
+ontangle. So do ye listen, both of ye, like honest dogs, while I read
+the words:--
+
+"'_Give to him that lacketh and from him that hath not withhold not
+thine hand._'
+
+"There it be, Rover,--we are to give to the man that lacks, vagabond
+or no vagabond. Ef he lacks vict'als, we are to give him vict'als; ef
+he lacks garments, we are to give him garments; ef he lacks a
+Christmas dinner, Rover, we are to give him a Christmas dinner. But
+how are we to give him a Christmas dinner onless we give him an invite
+to it? For ye know yerself, Rover, that no vagabond would ever come to
+a cabin where ye and me be onless we axed him to.
+
+"But there's another sentence here somewhere in the Book that bears on
+the p'int we be considerin'. '_When thou makest a dinner_'--that be
+exactly our case, Rover,--'_or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy
+brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also
+bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a
+feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt
+be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be
+recompensed at the resurrection of the just._'
+
+"Furdermore, Rover, there's another passage that the lad, when he was
+on the 'arth, used to say each night afore he went to sleep, whether
+in the cabin or on the boughs. Sport, ye must remember it, for ye was
+his own dog. I am not sartin where it be writ in the Book, but that
+doesn't matter, for we all know the words,--it be from the great
+prayer,--'_Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
+against us_,' and the great prayer, as I conceit, is the only blazin'
+a man can trail by ef he hopes to fetch through to the Great Clearin'
+in peace.
+
+"Now these vagabonds, Rover,--I needn't name 'em to ye,--have
+trespassed agin us; ye and me know it, for we've ketched 'em in their
+devilment, and, what is more to the p'int, the Lord knows it, too, for
+He's had His eye on 'em, and there's one up in the north country that
+wouldn't git an invite to this dinner, Bible or no Bible. But, barrin'
+this knave, who is beyend the range of our trails, there is not a
+single vagabond that has trespassed agin us that we mustn't forgive.
+For this be Christmas time, pups, and Christmas be a time for
+forgivin' and forgittin' all the evil that's been done agin us."
+
+And here the old man paused and looked at the dogs and then gazed long
+and earnestly into the fire. To his face as he gazed came the look of
+satisfaction and a most placid peace. It was evident that if there had
+been a struggle between his natural feelings and his determination to
+celebrate the great Christmas festival in the true Christmas spirit
+the latter had won, and that the Christmas mood had at last entered
+into and possessed his soul. And after an interval he rose and
+carefully closing the great volume said:--
+
+"And now, pups, as we've settled it atween us, and we all stand agreed
+in the matter, I'll git the bark and the coal, and we'll see how the
+decision of the council looks when it be put in writin'."
+
+And in a moment the Trapper was again seated at the table with a large
+piece of birch bark in front of him and a hound on either side.
+
+"I conceit, pups, that the letterin'," said the old man as he
+proceeded to sharpen the piece of charcoal he held in his hands,
+"should be of goodly size, for it may help some in readin', and I
+sartinly know it will help me in writin'."
+
+With this honest confession of his lack of practice in penmanship, he
+proceeded to write:--
+
+"_Any man or animil that be in want of vict'als or garments is
+invited to come on Christmas day--which be next week Thursday--without
+furder axin', to John Norton's cabin, on Long Lake, to eat Christmas
+dinner. Vagabonds included in this invite._"
+
+[Illustration: "Vagabonds included in this invite."]
+
+"I can't say," said the Trapper, as he backed off a few paces and
+looked at the writing critically, "I can't say that the wordin' be
+exactly as the missioners would put it, and as for the spellin', I
+haven't any more confidence in it than a rifle that loads at the
+breech pin. The letterin' sartinly stands out well, for the coal is a
+good un, and I put as much weight on it as I thought it would bear,
+but there is sartinly a good deal of difference atween the ups and
+downs of the markin's, and the lines slope off to'ard the northwest as
+ef they had started out to blaze a trail through to St. Regis. That
+third line looks as ef it would finally come together ef ye'd gin it
+time enough to git round the circle, but the bark had a curve in it
+there, and the coal followed the grain of the bark, and I am not to
+blame for that. Rover, I more than half conceit by the look in yer eye
+that ye see the difference in the size of them letters yerself. But ef
+ye do ye be a wise dog to keep yer face steddy, for ef ye showed yer
+feelin's, old as ye be, I'd edicate ye with the help of a moccasin."
+And he looked at the old dog, whose face, as if he realized the peril
+of his position, bore an expression of supernatural gravity, with
+interrogative earnestness. "Never mind the shape and size of the
+letters or the curve of the lines," he added; "the charcoal markin'
+stands out strong, and any hungry man with a leaky cabin for his home
+can sartinly study out the words, and that's the chief p'int, as I
+understand it."
+
+With this comforting reflection the Trapper made his preparations to
+retire for the night. He placed the skins for the dogs in the
+accustomed spot, lifted another huge log into the monstrous fireplace,
+swept the great hearthstone, bolted the heavy door, and then stretched
+himself upon his bed. But before he slept he gazed long and earnestly
+at the writing on the bark, and murmured: "'Vagabonds included in this
+invite.' Yis, the Book be right, Christmas be a day for forgivin' and
+forgittin'. And even a vagabond, ef he needs vict'als or garments or a
+right sperit, shall be welcome to my cabin." And then he slept.
+
+In the vast and cheerless woods that night were some who were hungry
+and cold and wicked. What were Christmas and its cheer to them? What
+were gifts and giving, or who would spread for them a full table at
+which as guests of honor they might eat and be merry? And above the
+woods was a star leading men toward a manger, and a multitude of
+angels and an Eye that seeth forever the hungry and the cold and the
+wicked. On his bed slept the Trapper, with the look of the Christ on
+his face, and as he slept he murmured:--
+
+"Yis, the Book be right: '_Let him who hath, give to them that hath
+not._'" And above the woods, above the wicked and the cold, above the
+sleeping Trapper, and above the blessed words on the bark on his wall,
+above the spot where the Christ had thus received a forest
+incarnation, a great multitude of the heavenly host broke forth and
+sang:--
+
+"_Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
+men._"
+
+[Illustration: "And above the woods was a star."]
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+
+It was on the day before Christmas, and the sun was at its meridian.
+It was a day of brilliance and prophecy, and the prophecy which the
+Trapper read in the intense sky and vivid brightness of the sun's
+light told him of coming storm.
+
+"Yis," muttered the old man, as he stood just outside the doorway of
+his cabin and carefully studied the signs of forest and sky, "yis,
+this is a weather breeder for sartin. I smell it in the air. The light
+is onnaterally bright and the woods onnaterally still. Snow will be
+flyin' afore another sunrise, and the woods will roar like the great
+lakes in a gale. I am sorry that it's comin', for some will be kept
+from the dinner. It's sartinly strange that the orderin' of the Lord
+is as it is, for a leetle more hurryin' and a leetle more stayin' on
+His part of the things that happen on the 'arth would make mortals a
+good deal happier, as I conceit."
+
+Aye, aye, John Norton; a little more hurrying and a little more
+staying of things that happen on the earth would make mortals much
+happier. The great ship that is to-day a wreck would be sailing the
+sea, and the faces that stare ghastly white from its depths would be
+rosy with life's happy health. The flowers on her tomb would be twined
+in the bride's glossy hair, and the tower that now stands half builded
+would go on to its finishing. The dry fountain would still be in play
+and the leafless tree would stand green in its beauty and bloom. Who
+shall read us the riddle of the ordering in this world? Who shall
+read the riddle, O man of whitened head, O woman whose life is but a
+memory, who shall read us the Trapper's riddle, I say?
+
+"There comes Wild Bill," exclaimed the Trapper joyfully, "and one
+plate will have its eater for sartin." And the old man laughed at the
+recollection of his companion's appetite. "Lord-a-massy! that box on
+his sled is as big as the ark. I wonder ef he has got a drove of
+animils in it."
+
+Had the Trapper known the closeness of his guess as to the contents of
+the huge box he would have marveled at his guessing, for there
+certainly were animals in the box and of a sort that usually are noisy
+enough and sure, at the least provocation, to proclaim their name and
+nature.
+
+But every animal, whether wild or domesticated, has its habits, and
+many of the noisiest of mouths, when the mood is on them, can be as
+dumb as a sphinx, and as Wild Bill came shuffling up on his snowshoes,
+with a box of goodly size lashed to his sled, not a sound proceeded
+therefrom. It is needless to record that the greeting between the two
+men was most hearty. How delightful is the meeting of men of the
+woods! Manly are they in life and manly in their greeting.
+
+"What have ye in the box, Bill?" queried the Trapper good-naturedly.
+"It's big enough to hold a church bell, and a good part of the steeple
+beside."
+
+"It's a Christmas present for you, John Norton," replied Bill
+gleefully. "You don't think I would come to your cabin to-day and not
+bring a present, do you?"
+
+"Gift or no gift, yer welcome would be the same," answered the
+Trapper, "for yer heart and yer shootin' be both right, and ye will
+find the door of my cabin open at yer comin', whether ye come full
+handed or empty, sober or drunk, Wild Bill."
+
+"I haven't touched a drop for twelve months," responded the other.
+"The pledge I gave you above the Christmas box in your cabin here last
+Christmas eve I have kept, and shall keep to the end, John Norton."
+
+"I expected it of ye, yis, I sartinly expected it of ye, Bill, for ye
+came of good stock. Yer granther fit in the Revolution, and a man's
+word gits its value a good deal from his breedin', as I conceit,"
+replied the Trapper. "But what have ye in the box,--bird, beast, or
+fish, Bill?"
+
+"The trail runs this way," answered Bill. "I chopped a whole winter
+four year ago for a man who never paid me a cent for my work at the
+end of it. Last week I concluded to go and collect the bill myself,
+but not a thing could I get out of the knave but what's in the box. So
+I told him I'd take them and call the account settled, for I had read
+the writing on the bark you had nailed up on Indian Carry, and I said:
+'They will help out at the dinner.'" And Bill proceeded to start one
+of the boards with his hatchet.
+
+The Trapper, whose curiosity was now thoroughly excited, applied his
+eye to the opening, and as he did so there suddenly issued from the
+box the most unearthly noises, accompanied by such scratchings and
+clawings as could only have proceeded from animals of their nature
+under such extraordinary treatment as they had experienced.
+
+"Heavens and 'arth!" exclaimed the Trapper, "ye have pigs in that box,
+Bill!"
+
+"That's what I put in it," replied Bill, as he gave it another whack,
+"and that's what will come out of it if I can start the clinchings of
+these nails." And he bent himself with energy to his work.
+
+"Hold up! Hold up, Bill!" cried the Trapper. "This isn't a bit of
+business ye can do in a hurry ef ye expect to git any profit out of
+the transaction. I can see only one of the pigs, but the one I can see
+is not over-burdened with fat, and it's agin reason to expect that he
+will be long in gittin' out when he starts, or wait for ye to scratch
+him when he breaks cover."
+
+"Don't you be afraid of them pigs getting away from me, old man,"
+rejoined Bill, as he pried away at the nails. "I don't expect that the
+one that starts will be as slow as a funeral when he makes his first
+jump, but he won't be the only pig I've caught by the leg when he was
+two feet above the earth."
+
+"Go slow, I say, go slow!" cried the Trapper, now thoroughly alarmed
+at the reckless precipitancy of his companion; "the pigs, as I can
+see, belong to a lively breed, and it is sheer foolishness to risk a
+whole winter's choppin'--"
+
+Not another word of warning did the Old Trapper utter, for suddenly
+the nails yielded, the board flew upward, and out of the box shot a
+pig. It is in the interest of accurate statement and everlasting proof
+of Wild Bill's alertness to affirm and record that the flying pig had
+taken only two jumps before his owner was atop of him, and both
+disappeared over the bank in a whirlwind of flying snow. Nor had the
+Trapper been less dexterous, for no sooner had the sandy colored
+streak shot through the hole made by the hatchet of the man who had
+sledded him forty miles that he might present him to the Trapper as a
+contribution to the Christmas dinner, than the old man dropped himself
+on to the box, thereby effectually barring the exit of the other
+porcine sprinter.
+
+"Get your gun, get your gun, Old Trapper!" yelled Bill from the
+whirlwind of snow. "Get your gun, I say, for this infernal pig is
+getting the best of me."
+
+"I can't do it, Bill," cried the Trapper; "I can't do it. I am doin'
+picket duty on the top of this box, with a big hole under me and
+another pig under the hole."
+
+At the same instant the pig and Wild Bill shot up the bank into full
+view. Bill had lost his grip on the leg, but had made good his hold on
+an ear, and had the Trapper been a betting man, it is doubtful if he
+would have placed money on either. Had he done so, the odds would have
+been slightly in favor of the pig.
+
+"Hold on to him, Bill!" cried the Trapper, laughing at the spectacle
+in front of him till the tears stood in his eyes. "Hold on to him, I
+say. Remember, ye have three months of choppin' in yer grip; the pig
+under me is gittin' lively, and the profits of the other three months
+be onsartin. O Lord!" ejaculated the old man, partially sobered at the
+prospect, "here comes the pups and the devil himself will now be to
+pay!"
+
+The anxiety and alarming prediction of the Trapper were in the next
+instant fully justified, for the two dogs, unaccustomed to the scent
+and cries of the animals, but thoroughly aroused at the noise and fury
+of the contest, came tearing down the slope through the snow at full
+speed. The pig saw them coming and headed for the southern angle of
+the cabin, with Bill streaming along at his side. In an instant he
+reappeared at the northern corner, with Bill still fastened to his ear
+and the hounds in full cry just one jump behind him. It is not an
+accurate statement to say that Wild Bill was running beside the pig,
+for his stride was so elongated that when one of his feet left the
+ground it was impossible to predict when or where it would strike the
+earth, or whether it would ever strike again. The two flying objects,
+as they came careering down the slope directly toward the Trapper, who
+was heroically holding himself above the aperture in the box with the
+porcine volcano in full play under him, presented the dreadful
+appearance of Biela's comet when, rent by some awful explosion, the
+one half was on the point of taking its eternal farewell of the other.
+
+"Lift the muzzle of yer piece, Wild Bill!" yelled the Trapper. "Lift
+the muzzle, I say, and allow three feet for windage, or ye'll make me
+the bull's-eye for yer pig!"
+
+The advice, or rather, let us say, the expostulation of the Trapper,
+was the best which, under the circumstances, could be given, but no
+directions, however correct, might prevent the dreadful catastrophe.
+The old man stuck heroically to his post, and the pig stuck with equal
+pertinacity to his course. He struck the box on which the Trapper sat
+with the force of a stone from a catapult, and dogs, men, and pigs
+disappeared in the snow.
+
+When the Trapper had wiped the snow from his eyes, the spectacle that
+he beheld was, to say the least, extraordinary. The head of one dog
+was in sight above the snow, and nigh the head he could make out the
+hind legs and tail of another. In an instant Wild Bill's cap came in
+sight, and from under it a series of sounds was coming as if he were
+talking earnestly to himself, while far down the trail leading to the
+river he caught the glimpse of two sandy-colored objects going at a
+speed to which matter can only attain when it has become permanently
+detached from this earth and superior to the laws of gravitation.
+
+For several minutes not a word was said. The catastrophe had been so
+overwhelming and the wreck of Bill's hopes so complete that it made
+speech on his part impossible. The Trapper, from a fine sense of
+feeling and regard for his companion, remained silent, and the dogs,
+uncertain as to what was expected of them, kept their places in the
+snow. At last the old man struggled to his feet and silently started
+toward the cabin. Wild Bill followed in equal silence, and the dogs as
+mutely brought up the rear. The depressed, not to say woe-begone,
+appearance of the singular procession certainly had in it, in the
+fullest measure, all the elements of humor. In this suggestive manner
+the column filed into the cabin. The dogs stole softly to their
+accustomed places, Wild Bill dropped into a chair, and the Trapper
+addressed himself mechanically to some domestic concerns. At last the
+silence became oppressive. Wild Bill turned in his chair, and, facing
+the Trapper, said:--
+
+"It's too devilish bad!"
+
+"Ef ye was in council, ginerals or privits, ye'd carry every vote with
+ye on that statement, Bill," said the Trapper with deliberation.
+
+"Do you think there is any chance, old man?" queried Bill, earnestly.
+
+"Not on the 'arth, Bill," answered the Trapper. "Ye see," he
+continued, "the snow wasn't so deep on my side the trail and I had my
+eye on them pigs afore ye got yer head above the drift, and I noted
+the rate of their movin'. They was goin' mighty fast, Bill, mighty
+fast. Ye must take into account that they had the slope in their favor
+and sartin experiences behind. I've sighted on a good many things that
+was gifted in runnin' and flyin', and I never kept a bullit in the
+barrel when I wanted feather, fur, or meat, because of the swiftness
+of the motion, but ef I had ben standin' ten rods from that trail and
+loved the meat like a settler, I wouldn't have wasted powder or lead
+on them pigs, Bill." And the two men, looking into each other's faces,
+laughed like boys.
+
+"Where do you think they'll fetch up, John Norton?" queried Bill, at
+last.
+
+"They won't fetch up," replied the Trapper, wiping his eyes,
+"leastwise not this year. Henry has told me that it is twenty-four
+thousand miles around the 'arth, and it looked to me as ef them pigs
+had started out to sarcumnavigate it, and I conceit it'll be about a
+month afore they will come through this clearin' agin. I may be a
+little amiss in my calkerlatin', but a day more or less won't make any
+difference with you and me, nor with the pigs, either, Bill. They may
+be a trifle leaner when they pass the cabin next time, but their gait
+will be jest the same, as I conceit." And after a moment, he asked,
+sympathetically:--
+
+"How far did ye sled them pigs, Bill?"
+
+"Forty mile," answered Bill, dejectedly.
+
+"It's a goodly distance, considerin' the natur' of the animils,"
+replied the Trapper, "and ye must have been tempted to onload the sled
+more'n once, Bill."
+
+"I would have unloaded it," responded the other, "I would have
+unloaded the cussed things more than once, but I had nothing else to
+bring you, and I thought they'd look mighty fine standing up on the
+table with an apple in each mouth and their tails curled up, as I've
+seen them at the barbecues."
+
+"So they would, so they would, Bill; but ye never could have kept 'em
+on the table. No amount of cookin' would have ever taken the speed out
+of them pigs. Ef ye had nailed 'em to the table they'd have taken the
+table and cabin with 'em. It's better as it is, Bill; so cheer up and
+we'll git at the cookin'."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Cooking is more than an art; it is a gift. Genius, and genius alone,
+can prepare a feast fit for the feaster. Woe be to the wretch who sees
+nothing in preparing food for the mouth of man save manual labor. Such
+a knave should be basted on his own spit. An artist in eating can
+alone appreciate an artist in cooking. When food is well prepared it
+delights the eye, it intoxicates the nose, it pleases the tongue, it
+stimulates the appetite, and prolongs the healthy craving which it
+finally satisfies, even as the song of the mother charms the child
+which it gradually composes for slumber.
+
+The Old Trapper was a man of gifts and among his gifts was that of
+cooking. For sixty years he had been his own _chef_, with a continent
+for his larder, and to more than one gourmand of the great cities the
+tastiness and delicacy of his dishes had been a revelation--more than
+one epicure of the clubs had gone from his cabin not only with a full
+but a surprised stomach.
+
+It is easy to imagine the happiness that this host of the woods
+experienced in preparing the feast for the morrow. He entered upon his
+labors, whose culmination was to be the great event of the year, with
+the alacrity of one who had mentally discussed and decided every point
+in anticipation. There was no cause for haste, and hence there was no
+confusion. He could not foretell the number of his guests, but this
+did in no way disconcert him. He had already decided that no matter
+how many might come there should be enough. In Wild Bill he had an
+able and willing assistant, and all through the afternoon and well
+into the evening the two men pushed on the preparation for the great
+dinner.
+
+The large table, constructed of strong maple plank, was sanded and
+scoured until it shone almost snowy white. On it was placed a buck,
+roasted a la barbecue, the skin and head skillfully reconnected with
+the body and posed, muzzle lifted, antlers laid well back, head
+turned, ears alert, as he stood in the bush when the Trapper's bullet
+cut him down. At one end of the table a bear's cub was in the act of
+climbing a small tree, while at the other end a wild goose hung in
+mid-air, suspended by a fine wire from the ceiling, with neck
+extended, wings spread, legs streaming backward, as he looked when he
+drove downward toward open water to his last feeding.
+
+The great cabin was a bower of beauty and fragrance. The pungent odor
+of gummy boughs and of bark, under which still lurked the
+amber-colored sweat of heated days and sweltering nights, pervaded it.
+On one side of the cabin hung a huge piece of white cotton cloth, on
+which the Trapper, with a vast outlay of patience, had stitched small
+cones of the pine into the conventional phrase,
+
+                    "A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YE ALL."
+
+"It must have taken you a good many evenings to have done that job,"
+said Wild Bill, pointing with the ladle he held in his hand toward the
+illuminated bit of sheeting.
+
+"It did, Bill, it did," replied the Trapper, "and a solemn and a
+lively time I had of it, for I hadn't but six big needles in the cabin
+and I broke five on 'em the fust night, for the cones was gummy and
+hard, and it takes a good, stiff needle to go through one ef the man
+who is punchin' it through hasn't any thimble and the ball of his
+thumb is bleedin'. Lord-a-massy, Bill, Rover knew the trouble I was
+havin' as well as I did, for arter I had broken the second needle and
+talked about it a moment, the old dog got oneasy and began to edge
+away, and by the time I had broken the fourth needle and got through
+washin' my thumb he had backed clean across the cabin and sat jammed
+up in the corner out there flatter than a shingle."
+
+"And what did he do when the fifth needle broke?" queried Bill, as he
+thrust his ladle into the pot.
+
+"Heavens and 'arth, Bill, why do ye ax sech foolish questions? Ye know
+it wasn't a minit arter that fifth needle broke, leavin' the bigger
+half stickin' under the nail of my forefinger, afore both of the pups
+was goin' out through the door there as ef the devil was arter 'em
+with a fryin' pan, and a chair a leetle behind him. But a man can't
+stand everything, ef he be a Christian man and workin' away to git a
+Christmas sign ready; can he, Bill?"
+
+It is in harmony with the facts of the case for me to record that Wild
+Bill never answered the Old Trapper's very proper interrogation, but
+sat down on the floor and thrust his legs up in the air and yelled,
+and after the spasm left him he got up slowly, sat down in a chair,
+and looked at the Trapper with wet eyes and mouth wide open.
+
+The Old Trapper evidently relished the mirthfulness of his companion,
+for his face was lighted with the amused expression of the humorist
+when he has told to an appreciative comrade an experience against
+himself. But in an instant his countenance dropped, and, looking at
+the huge kettle that stood half buried in the coals and warm ashes in
+front of the glowing logs and into which Bill had been so determinedly
+thrusting his ladle only a moment before, he exclaimed:--
+
+"Bill, I have lost all confidence in yer cookin' abilities. Ye said
+that ye knew the natur' of corn meal and that ye could fill a puddin'
+bag jediciously, and though it isn't ten minits sence ye tied the
+string and the meal isn't half swollen yit, yer whole bag there is on
+the p'int of comin' out of the pot."
+
+At this alarming announcement Wild Bill jumped for the fireplace and
+in an instant he had placed the spade-shaped end of his ladle, whose
+handle was full three feet long, at the very center of the lid that
+was already lifted two inches from the rim of the kettle, and was
+putting a good deal of pressure upon it. Confident in his ability to
+resist any further upward tendency, and to escape the threatened
+catastrophe, he coolly replied:--
+
+"It strikes me that you are a good deal excited over a little matter,
+old man. The meal has got through swelling--"
+
+"No, it hasn't, no, it hasn't," returned the Trapper. "Half the
+karnels haven't felt the warmin' of the hot water yit, and I can see
+that the old lid is liftin'."
+
+"No, it isn't lifting, either, John Norton," returned Wild Bill
+determinedly; "and it won't lift unless the shaft of this ladle
+snaps."
+
+"The ladle be a good un," returned the Trapper, now fully assured that
+no human power could avert the coming catastrophe, and keenly enjoying
+his companion's extremity and the humor of the situation. "The ladle
+be a good un, for I fashioned it from an old paddle of second growth
+ash, whose blade I had twisted in the rapids, and ye can put yer whole
+weight on it."
+
+"Old man," cried Bill, now thoroughly alarmed, "the lid is lifting."
+
+"Sartinly, sartinly," returned the Trapper. "It's lifted fully half an
+inch sence ye placed yer ladle to it, and it'll keep on liftin'. Rover
+knows what is comin' as well as I do, for the old dog, as ye see,
+begins to edge away, and Sport has started for the door already."
+
+"What shall I do, John Norton? What shall I do? The lid is lifting
+again."
+
+"Is yer ladle well placed, Bill? Have ye got it in the center of the
+lid?" returned the Trapper.
+
+"Dead in the center, old man," responded Bill, confidently, "dead in
+the center."
+
+"Put yer whole weight on it, then, and don't waste yer strength in
+talkin'. Ye know yer own strength, and I know the strength of Indian
+meal when hot water gits at it, and ef the ladle don't slip or the
+kettle-lid split it's about nip and tuck atween ye."
+
+"Old man," yelled Bill, as he put his whole weight on the ladle
+handle, "this lid has lifted again. Get a stick and come here and help
+me."
+
+"No, no, Bill," answered the Trapper, "the puddin' is of yer own
+mixin' and ye must attend to the job yerself. I stuck to yer box with
+a hole underneath me and a pig under the hole till somethin' happened
+and ye must stick to yer puddin'."
+
+"But I can't hold it down, John Norton," yelled poor Bill. "The lid
+has lifted again and the whole darned thing is coming out of the
+pot."
+
+"I conceit as much, I conceit as much," answered the Trapper. "There
+go the pups out of the door, Bill, and when the dogs quit the cabin
+it's time for the master to foller." And the old man started for the
+door.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The catastrophe! Who could describe it? Bill's strength was adequate,
+but no human power could save the pudding. Even as Bill put his
+strength on to the ladle, the wooden cover of the kettle split with a
+sharp concussion in the middle, the kettle was upset, and poor Bill,
+covered with ashes and pursued by a cloud of steam, shot out of the
+door and plunged into the snow.
+
+Oh, laughter, sweet laughter, laugh on and laugh ever! In the smile of
+the babe thou comest from heaven. In the girl's rosy dimples, in the
+boy's noisy glee, in the humor of strong men, and the wit of sweet
+women, thou art seen as a joy and a comfort to us humans. When fortune
+deserts and friends fall away, he who keeps thee keeps solace and
+health, hope and heart, in his bosom. When the head groweth white and
+the eye getteth dim, and the soul goeth out through the slow closing
+gates of the senses, be thou then in us and of us, thou sweet angel of
+heaven, that the smile of the babe in its first happy sleep may
+come back to our faces as we lie at the gates in our last
+and--perhaps--most peaceful slumber!
+
+The laughter and the labor of the day were ended. The work of
+preparation for the dinner on the morrow had extended well into the
+evening, and at its conclusion the two men, satisfied with the result
+of the pleasant task and healthily weary, retired to their cots. It
+is needless to say that the thoughts of each were happy and their
+feelings peaceful, and to such slumber comes quickly. Outside the
+world was white and still, with the stillness that precedes the coming
+of a winter storm. Through the voiceless darkness a few feathery
+prophecies of coming snow were settling lazily downward. The great
+stones in the fireplace were still white with heat, and the cabin was
+filled with the warm afterglow of burned logs and massive brands that
+ever and anon broke apart and flamed anew.
+
+Suddenly the Trapper lifted himself on his couch, and, looking over
+toward his companion, said:--
+
+"Bill, didn't ye hear the bells ring?"
+
+Wild Bill lifted himself to his elbow, and in sheer astonishment
+stared at the Trapper, for he well knew there wasn't a bell within
+fifty miles. The old man noticed the astonishment of his companion
+and, realizing the incredibility of the supposition, said as if in
+explanation of the strangeness of his questioning:--
+
+"This be the night on which memory takes the home trail, Bill, and the
+thoughts of the aged go backward." And, laying his head again on the
+pillow, he murmured: "I sartinly conceited I heerd the bells ringin'."
+And then he slept.
+
+Aye, aye, Old Trapper; we of whitening heads know the truth of thy
+saying and thy dreaming. Thou didst hear the bells ring. For often as
+we sleep on Christmas eve the ringing of bells comes to us. Marriage
+peal and funeral knell, chimes and tolling, clash of summons and
+measured stroke, dying noises from a dead past swelling and
+sinking, sinking and swelling, like falling and failing surf on a
+wreck-strewn beach. Ah, me! where be the ships, the proud,
+white-sailed ships, the rich-laden ships, whose broken timbers and
+splintered spars lie now dank, weed-grown, sand-covered, on that
+sorrowful shore, on that mournfully resounding shore of our past?
+
+[Illustration: "Where be the ships?"]
+
+But other bells, thank God, sound for us all, Old Trapper, on
+Christmas eve,--not the bells of the past, but the bells of the
+future. And they ring loud and clear, and they will ring forever, for
+they are swung by the angels of God. And they tell of a new life, a
+new chance, and a new opportunity for us all.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Morning dawned. The day verified the Trapper's prophecy, for it came
+with storm. The mountain back of the cabin roared as if aerial surf
+was breaking against it. The air was thick with snow that streamed,
+whirled, and eddied through it dry and light as feathers of down.
+
+"Never mind the storm, Bill," said the Trapper cheerily, as he pushed
+the door open in the gray dawn and looked out into the maze of
+whirling, rushing snowflakes. "A few may be hindered, and one or two
+fetch through a leetle late, but there'll be an 'arnest movement of
+teeth when the hour for eatin' comes and the plates be well filled."
+
+Dinner was called prompt to the hour, and again was the old man's
+prediction realized. The table lacked not guests, for nearly every
+chair was occupied. Twenty men had breasted the storm that they might
+be at that dinner, and some had traversed a thirty mile trail that
+they might honor the old man and share his generous cheer. It was a
+remarkable and, perhaps we may say, a motley company that the Trapper
+looked upon as he took his place, knife and fork in hand, at the head
+of the table, with a hound on either side of his great chair, to
+perform the duty of host and chief carver.
+
+"Friends," said the Trapper, standing erect in his place and looking
+cheerfully at the row of bearded and expectant faces on either hand in
+front of him, "friends, I axed ye to come and eat this Christmas
+dinner with me because I love the companionship of the woods and
+hated, on this day of human feastin' and gladness, to eat my food
+alone. I also conceited that some of ye felt as I did, and that the
+day would be happier ef we spent it together. I knew, furdermore, that
+some of ye were not born in the woods, but were newcomers, driven here
+as a canoe to a beach in a gale, and that the day might be long and
+lonesome to ye ef ye had to stay in yer cabins from mornin' till night
+alone by yerselves. And I also conceited that here and there might be
+a man who had been onfortunit in his trappin' or his venturs in the
+settlements, and might act'ally be in need of food and garments, or it
+may be he had acted wickedly at times, and had lost confidence in his
+own goodness and the goodness of others, and I said I will make the
+tarms of the invitin' broad enough to include each and all, whoever
+and whatever he may be.
+
+"And now, friends," continued the old man, "I be glad to see ye at my
+table, and I hope ye have brought a good appetite with ye, for the
+vic'tals be plenty and no one need scrimp the size of his eatin'. Let
+us all eat heartily and be merry, for this be Christmas. Ef we've had
+bad luck in the past we'll hope for better luck in the futur' and take
+heart. Ef we've been heavy-hearted or sorrowful we will chirk up. Ef
+any have wronged us we will forgive and forgit. For this be Christmas,
+friends, and Christmas be a day for forgivin' and forgittin.' And now,
+then," continued the old man, as he flourished his knife and grasped
+the huge fork preparatory to plunging it into the venison haunch in
+front of him, "with good appetites and a cheerful mind let us all fall
+to eatin'."
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+
+Thus went the feasting. Hunger had brought its appetite to the
+plentiful table, and the well cooked viands provoked its indulgence.
+If the past of any of the Trapper's guests had been sorrowful, the
+unhappiness of it for the moment was forgotten. Stories crisp as
+snow-crust and edged with aptness, happy memories and reminiscences of
+frolic and fun, sly hits and keen retorts, jokes and laughter,
+rollicked around the table and shook it with mirthful explosions. The
+merriment was at its height when a loud summons sounded upon the door.
+It was so imperious as well as so unexpected that every noise was
+instantly hushed, and every face at the table was turned in surprise
+to wait the entrance.
+
+"Come in," cried the Trapper, cheerily; "whoever ye be, ye be welcome
+ef ye be a leetle late."
+
+The response of him who so emphatically sought admission to the feast
+was as prompt as his summons had been determined. For, without an
+instant's delay or the least hesitancy of movement, the great door was
+pushed suddenly inward and a man stepped into the room.
+
+A sturdy fellow he was, swarth of skin and full whiskered. His hair
+was black and coarse and grown to his shoulders. His eyes were black
+as night, largely orbed under heavy brows, not lacking a certain
+wicked splendor. His face was strongly featured and stamped in every
+line and curve and prominence with the impress of unmistakable power.
+In his right hand he carried a rifle, and in his left a bundle, snugly
+packed and protected from the storm in wrappings of oiled cloth. The
+strong light, into the circle of which he had so suddenly stepped,
+blinded him for a moment, while to those who sat staring at him it
+brought out with vivid distinctiveness every feature of his strong
+and, save for a certain hardness of expression, handsome face. It was
+evident that the man, whoever he was and whatever he might be, was
+under the pressure of some impulse or conviction which had urged him
+on to the Trapper's cabin and the Trapper's presence. For, no sooner
+had he closed the door and shaken the snow, with which he was covered,
+from his garments, than, regardless of those who sat staring in
+startled interrogation at him, he strode to the head of the table
+where the Old Trapper sat, and, looking him straight in the face,
+said:--
+
+"Do you know who I am, John Norton?"
+
+"Sartinly," answered the Trapper, "ye be Shanty Jim, and ye have
+camped these three year and more at the outlet of Bog Lake."
+
+"Do you know that I am a thief, and a sneak thief at that?" continued
+the newcomer, speaking with a fierce directness that was startling.
+
+"I've conceited ye was," answered the Trapper, calmly.
+
+"Do you know it, know it to a certainty?" and the words came out of
+his mouth like the thrust of a knife.
+
+"Yis, I know that ye be a thief, Shanty Jim," replied the Trapper,
+"know it to a sartinty."
+
+"Do you know that I have stolen skins from you, old man, skins and
+traps both?" continued the other.
+
+"I laid in ambush for ye once at the falls of Bog River, and I seed ye
+take an otter from a trap that I sot," replied the Trapper.
+
+"Why didn't you shoot me when I stood skin in hand?" queried the
+self-confessed thief.
+
+"I can't tell ye," answered the Trapper, "fer my eye was at the sights
+and my finger on the trigger, and the feelin' of natur' was strong
+within me to crop one of yer ears then and there, Shanty Jim, but
+somethin', mayhap the sperit of the Lord, staid my finger, and ye went
+with yer thievin' in yer hand to yer camp ontetched and onhindered."
+
+"Do you know what brought me to this cabin and to your presence--the
+presence of the man whose skins and whose traps I have stolen--and
+made me confess to his face and before these men here that I am a
+thief and a scoundrel; do you know what brought me here, a miserable
+cuss that I am and have been for years, John Norton?" And the man's
+speech was the speech of one who had been educated to use words
+rightly and was marked with intense, even dramatic, earnestness.
+
+"I can't conceit, onless the sperit of the Lord."
+
+"The spirit of the Lord had nothing to do with it," interrupted the
+other fiercely. "If there is any such influence at work in this world
+as the preachers tell of, why has it not prevented me from being a
+thief? Why did it not prevent me from doing what I did and being what
+I was in my youth,--me, whose mother was an angel and whose father was
+a patriarch? No, it was nothing under God's heavens, old man, but your
+invitation scrawled with a coal on a bit of birch bark inviting anyone
+in these woods who needed victuals and clothes and a right spirit to
+come to your cabin on Christmas day; and had you written nothing else
+I would not have cared a cuss for it or for you, but you did write
+something else, and it was this: 'Vagabonds included in this invite.'
+
+"When I read that, old man, my breath left me and I stood and stared
+at the letters on that bark as a devil might gaze at a pardon signed
+with the seal manual of the Almighty, for in my hand was a trap that
+bore the stamp 'J. N.' and the skin of an otter I had taken from the
+trap. And there I stood, a thief and a scoundrel, with your property
+in my hands and read your invitation to all the needy in the woods to
+come to your cabin on Christmas day and that vagabonds were
+included."
+
+"That meant you, by thunder!" exclaimed Wild Bill.
+
+"Yes, it did mean me," returned Shanty Jim, "and I knew it. Standing
+there in the snow with the stolen skin and trap in my hand, I realized
+what I was and what John Norton was and the difference between him and
+myself and most of the world. I went to the tree to which the bark
+that bore the blessed letters was nailed; I took it down from the
+tree; I placed it next my bosom and buttoned my coat above it and,
+thus resting upon my heart, I bore it to my shanty."
+
+"It was as good as a Bible to you," said Wild Bill.
+
+"A Bible!" rejoined the man with emphasis. "Better than all Bibles.
+Better than churches and preachers, better than formal texts and
+utterances, for that bit of bark told me of a man here in the woods
+good enough and big enough to forgive and forget. All that night I sat
+and gazed at that piece of bark and the writing on it, and as I gazed
+my heart melted within me. For there it was ever before my
+eyes--'Vagabonds included in this invite.' 'Vagabonds included in this
+invite.' And finally the words passed into the air, and wherever I
+looked I saw, 'Vagabonds included in this invite.'"
+
+"Yis, them be the very words I writ," said the Trapper, gravely.
+
+"And I saw more than the words written on the bark, John Norton,"
+resumed the man. "For looking at it I saw all my past life and the
+evil of it and what a scoundrel I had become; my eyes saw with a new
+sight, and I said, when the sun comes I will rise and go to the man
+who wrote those words and tell him what they did for me. And here I
+am, a vagabond who has accepted your invitation to spend Christmas
+with you, and here in this pack are the skins and the traps I have
+stolen from you, and I ask your forgiveness and that you will take my
+hand in proof of it, that I may come to your table feeling that I am a
+man, and a vagabond no longer."
+
+"Heart and hand be yours now and forever, Shanty Jim," cried the
+Trapper, joyfully; and, rising from his chair, he met the outstretched
+hand of the repentant vagabond with his own hearty grasp. "And may the
+Lord be with ye ever more."
+
+"Amen!" It was Wild Bill, the once drunkard, who said the sweet word
+of prayer and assent, and he said it softly. And that murmur of amen
+and amen went round the great table like the murmur of prayer and of
+praise. And then it passed out and rose up from the cabin, and the air
+in its joy passed it on, and the stars took it up and thrilled it
+around their vast courses of glorified light, and through the high
+heavens it sang itself onward from order to order of angels until it
+reached Him whom no man hath seen or may ever see, in all and over
+all, God! blessed forever!
+
+Has Nature knowledge? Is she conscious of the evil and the good among
+men, and has she a heart that saddens at their sorrow and rejoices in
+their joy? Perhaps. For, suddenly, even as the two men joined their
+hands, the fury of the storm checked itself, and a stillness--the
+stillness of a great calm--fell on the woods, and through the sudden,
+the unexpected, the blessed stillness, to the ears of one of the two
+men--yea, to him who had forgiven--there came the melody of bells
+swinging slowly and softly to and fro.
+
+Oh, bells, invisible bells! Bells of the soul, bells high in heaven,
+swing softly, swing low, swing sweet, and swing ever for us, one and
+all, when we at our tables sit feasting. Swing for us living, swing
+for us dying, and may the cause of your swinging be our forgiving and
+forgetting.
+
+"John Norton," said the man, "you have called me Shanty Jim, and that
+is well, for in the woods here that is my name, but in the city where
+I lived and whence I fled, fled because of my misdeeds, years ago, I
+have another name, a name of power and wealth and honor for more than
+two centuries. There I have a home, and in that home to-night sits my
+aged father and white-haired mother. I am going back to them clothed
+and in my right mind. Think of it, Old Trapper, going back to my home,
+my boyhood's home, to my father and my mother. All day as I tramped on
+the trail toward your cabin, my mind has been filled with memories of
+the past, and the words of a sweet old song I used to sing when too
+young to feel the tenderness of it, have been ringing in my ears."
+
+"Sing us the song, sing us the song!" cried Wild Bill, and every man
+at the table cried with him, "Sing us the song!"
+
+"Aye, aye," assented the Trapper, "sing us the song, Shanty Jim; we be
+men of the woods at this table, and some of us have had losses and
+sorrers, and all of us have memories of happy days that be gone. Stand
+here by my side and sing us the song that has been ringin' in yer ears
+all day. This is a table of feastin', and feastin' means more than
+eatin'. Sing us the song that tells ye of the past, of yer boyhood's
+days and father and mother."
+
+Oh, the secrets of the woods! How many have fled to them for
+concealment and refuge! In them piety has built its retreat, learning
+has sought retirement, broken pride a mask, and misfortune a haven.
+And in response to the Trapper's invitation there had come to his
+cabin and were now grouped about his table more of ability, more of
+knowledge, more of struggle and failure, and more of reminiscence than
+might be found, perhaps, in the same number of guests at any other
+table on that Christmas day in the world.
+
+Never did singer sing sweeter or more touching song, or to more
+receptive company.
+
+    "Backward, turn backward, oh, Time, in your flight,
+    Make me a child again just for to-night.
+    Mother, come back from the echoless shore,
+    Take me again to your heart, as of yore;
+    Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care,
+    Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair,
+    Over my slumbers your loving watch keep;--
+    Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.
+
+      CHORUS:--"Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace,
+               With your light lashes just sweeping my face,
+               Never hereafter to wake or to weep;--
+               Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.
+
+    "Over my heart, in the days that are flown,
+    No love like mother-love ever has shone;
+    No other worship abides and endures,
+    Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours;
+    None like a mother can charm away pain
+    From the sick soul and the world-weary brain.
+    Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids creep;--
+    Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.
+
+      CHORUS.--
+
+    "Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,
+    Fall on your shoulders again, as of old;
+    Let it drop over my forehead to-night,
+    Shading my faint eyes away from the light;
+    For with its sunny-edged shadows once more,
+    Haply, will throng the sweet visions of yore;
+    Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep;--
+    Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep."
+
+      CHORUS.--
+
+Never was the sweet and touching song sung under more suggestive
+circumstances, and never was it received into more receptive hearts.
+The voice of the repentant vagabond was of the finest quality, a pure,
+resonant tenor, and, through the splendid avenue of expression which
+the words and music of the song made for his emotions, he poured his
+soul forth without restraint. The effect of his effort was what would
+be expected when the character of the audience and the occasion is
+considered. Many an eye was wet with tears, and the voices that took
+up the refrain here and there trembled with emotion. The Old Trapper,
+himself, was not unmoved, for, as the song closed, after a few moments
+of silence, he said:--
+
+"Ye sang the song well, Shanty Jim, and many be the memories it has
+stirred in the breasts of us all. May yer home-comin' be as happy as
+was the boy's we read of in the Scriptur', although I never could
+conceit why the mother was not there to go forth to meet him, and fall
+on his neck with the father, and ef I'd had the writin' of it I'd had
+the mother git to him a leetle fust, and hers the fust arms that was
+thrown round his neck, for that would be more nateral, as I conceit.
+And I sartinly trust, as do all of us here, that ye will find mother
+and father both waitin' and watchin' for ye when the curve of the
+trail brings ye in the sight of the cabin. And ye sartinly will take
+with ye the good wishes of us all. Come, take the chair here by my
+side, and we will all talk as we eat; aye, and sing, too, for this be
+Christmas, and Christmas be the time for eatin' and singin', but,
+above all else, for forgivin' and forgittin'." At the word the happy
+feasters went on with the feasting.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Long and merry was the meal. As the hours passed the eating ceased,
+and the feast of reason and the flow of soul began. Memories of other
+days were recalled, confessions made, sorrow for misdoings felt and
+spoken, and, gradually growing, as grows the light of dawn, a fine
+atmosphere of hope, charity, and courage spread from heart to heart,
+until at last it filled with its genial and illuminating presence
+every bosom. In such a mood on the part of the host and guests alike
+the feast came to its close. His Christmas dinner had been all that
+the Old Trapper had hoped, and his heart was filled with happiness. He
+rose from his chair, and, standing erect in his place, said:--
+
+"Ye tell me that the time has come for ye to go, and I dare say ye be
+right, but I be sorry we must part, for in partin' we be never sure of
+a meetin', and, therefore, as I conceit, all the partin's on the 'arth
+be more or less sad, but all parted trails, it may be, will come
+together in the eend. But afore ye go I want to thank ye for comin',
+and I hope ye will all come agin, and whenever yer needs or yer
+feelin's incline ye this way. One thing I want to say to ye in goin',
+and I want ye to take it away with ye, for it may help some of ye to
+aid some onfortunit man and to feel as happy as I feel to-night. It is
+this"--and here the old man paused a moment and looked with the face
+of an angel at his guests as they stood gazing at him; then he
+impressively said:--
+
+"I've lived nigh on to eighty year, and my head be whitenin' with the
+comin' and goin' of the years I have lived, and the Book has long been
+in my cabin. I have kept many a Christmas alone and in company, both,
+but never afore have I knowed the raal meanin' of the day nor read the
+lesson of it aright. And this be the lesson that I have larned and the
+one I want ye all to take away with ye as ye go--that Christmas is a
+day of feastin' and givin' and laughin', but, above everythin' else,
+it is the day for forgivin' and forgittin'. Some of ye be young and
+may yer days be long on the 'arth, and some of yer heads be as white
+as mine and yer years be not many, but be that as it may, whether our
+Christmas days be many or few, when the great day comes round let us
+remember in good or ill fortun', alone or with many, that Christmas,
+above all else, is the day for forgivin' and forgittin'."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The guests were gone and the Trapper seated himself in front of the
+fireplace, and called the two dogs to his side. It was a signal that
+they had heard many times and they responded with happy hearts. Each
+rested his muzzle on the Trapper's knee, and fixed his large hazel,
+love-lighted eyes wistfully on his master's face. The old man placed a
+large and age-wrinkled hand on either head, and murmured: "Whether ye
+be in sorrer or joy, friends come and go, but, ontil death enters
+kennel or cabin, the hunter and his hounds bide together. The lad
+camps beyend sight and beyend hearin'. Henry be on the other side of
+the world, to-night, and guests be gone. Rover, yer muzzle be as gray
+as my head, and few be livin' of the many we have met on the trail."
+And the Trapper lifted his eyes and looked around the large and empty
+room, and then added:--
+
+"It took me a good many years, yis, it sartinly took me a good many
+years, but, if I've larned the lesson of Christmas a leetle late, I've
+larned it at last. But the cabin does look a leetle empty now that the
+guests be gone. No, the lad can never come back, and Henry is on the
+other side of the world, and there is no good in longin'. But I do
+wish I could jest tech the boy's hand."
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD TRAPPER AND HIS DOGS.
+
+"Friends come and go, but until death enters kennel or cabin, the
+hunter and his hounds bide together."]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ah, friends, dear friends, as years go on and heads get gray--how fast
+the guests do go! Touch hands, touch hands with those that stay.
+Strong hands to weak, old hands to young, around the Christmas board,
+touch hands. The false forget, the foe forgive, for every guest will
+go and every fire burn low and cabin empty stand. Forget, forgive, for
+who may say that Christmas day may ever come to host or guest again.
+Touch hands.
+
+
+
+
+W. H. H.--ADIRONDACK--MURRAY'S
+
+COMPLETE
+WORKS
+
+
+CAREFULLY REVISED AND ENLARGED BY THE AUTHOR
+PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN
+
+UNIFORM EDITION
+
+
+ADIRONDACK TALES
+
+
+In all matters relating to his Writings or his Platform Engagements,
+address the author personally
+
+
+ADDRESS
+
+W. H. H. MURRAY
+GUILFORD, CONN.
+CARE THE MURRAY HOMESTEAD
+
+
+_Copyrighted by the Author. All rights reserved._
+1898
+
+
+
+
++--------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE.                                                |
+| ===================                                                |
+|                                                                    |
+| The following illustrations, although shown in the List of         |
+| Illustrations, appear not to have been included in the final       |
+| printed version of the book:                                       |
+|                                                                    |
+| - How John Norton the Trapper Kept His Christmas, p. 11            |
+| - John Norton's Vagabond, p. 76                                    |
+| - The Old Trapper's Paddle, p. 85                                  |
+| - The Old Trapper's Rifle, p. 88                                   |
+| - An Old Time Gun, p. 89                                           |
+| - Christmas Holly, p. 93                                           |
+| - "And Finally the Words Passed into the Air," p. 105              |
+| - "Ye Cradle of Ye Olden Time," p. 108                             |
+|                                                                    |
++--------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOLIDAY TALES***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 28098.txt or 28098.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/9/28098
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/28098.zip b/28098.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7914d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/28098.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b5d430
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #28098 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28098)
author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:37:24 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:37:24 -0700
commit	ca8332a92cb52fb9224c20758a052d24da7fdf00 (patch)
tree	fd308130dc663715f1c958a915b158142eb50bd3