Oscar | Page 2

explained.
CHAPTER VI.
WORK.
A command--Passing it along--Reluctant obedience--A poor excuse--A bad habit--Employment for vacation--Oscar's opposition to the plan--Frank the errand-boy--Thanksgiving week--A busy time--Oscar's experience as store-boy--Learning to sweep--Doing work well--A tempting invitation--Its acceptance--A ride--Driving horses--The errand--The return--Oscar at the store--Sent off "with a flea in his ear"--The matter brought up again--Oscar's excuse unsatisfactory--Ralph's services rewarded--Difference between the two boys.
CHAPTER VII.
THANKSGIVING DAY.
Grandmother's arrival--Surprises--Presents--Oscar at a shooting-match--Bad company--Cruel sport--Home again--Prevarication--A remonstrance--Impudence, and a silent rebuke--The dinner--A stormy afternoon--A disappointment--Evening in the parlor--A call for stories--How the Indians punished bad boys--What Oscar thought of it--An Indian story--The hostile party--The alarm--The stratagem--The onset--The retreat--The victory--Laplot River--Widow Storey's retreat--Misfortunes of her husband--Her enterprise and industry--Fleeing from the British--The subterranean abode--Precautions to prevent discovery--Uncle James--The fellow who was caught in his own trap--Old Zigzag--His oddities--His tragic end--How the town of Barre, Vt., got its name--A well-spent evening.
CHAPTER VIII.
GRANDMOTHER LEE.
One of her habits--Ella's complaint--Alice's reproof--Ella's rude reply to her grandmother--A mild rebuke--A sterner reproof--Shame and repentance--Popping corn--George's selfishness--A fruitless search for the corn-bag--Bad Temper--An ineffectual reproof--George's obstinacy--How he became selfish--Difficulty of breaking up a bad habit--What he lost by his selfishness--Oscar's dog--He is named "Tiger"--His portrait--His roguishness--Oscar's trick upon his grandmother--Unfortunate ending--Tiger's destructiveness--A mystery, and its probable solution--Oscar's falsehood--Tiger's banishment decreed, but not carried out--Grandmother Lee's remonstrance with Oscar--Bridget's onset--Oscar's excuse--Moral principle wanting--Mrs. Lee's departure.
CHAPTER IX.
WINTER SPORTS.
Coasting--Oscar's sled--Borrowing and lending--A merry scene on the Common--Various sleds and characters--A collision--Damage to Ralph and the "Clipper"--Not accidental--The guilty parties called to account--No satisfaction obtained--Ralph's trouble--Oscar's anger--His revenge--A fight--His termination--Skating--Tiger on the ice--His plunge into an air-hole--His alarm and escape--Going home--Unfounded fears awakened--Tiger's shame--A talk about air-holes--What they are for, and how they are made--Skaters should be cautious--A change in Tiger's habits--A great snow-storm--Appearance of the streets--Fun for the boys--A job for Oscar--He is wiser than his father--Nullification of a command--The command repeated--Icy sidewalks--Laziness and its excuses--A wise suggestion--Duty neglected--Oscar called to account--His excuses--Unpleasant consequences of his negligence--The command repeated, with a "snapper" at the end--The dreaded task completed.
CHAPTER X.
APPEARANCES.
A compulsory ride--Merited retribution--A sad plight for a proud boy--Laughter and ridicule--Oscar's neatness and love of dress--The patched jacket--Oscar's objections to it--Benny Wright, the boy of many patches--His character--The jacket question peremptorily settled--A significant shake of the head--A watch wanted--Why boys carry watches--Punctuality--Oscar's tardiness at school--The real cause of it--Thinking too much of outside appearances--Character of more consequence than cloth--An offer--The conditions--A hard question--How to accomplish an object--Oscar's waywardness--Boarding-school discipline--The High School--An anticipated novelty.
CHAPTER XI.
THE MORAL LESSON.
Oscar's shrewdness--His reputation for integrity--A new want--Perplexity--A chance for speculation--A dishonest device--Its success--Secrecy--The fraud discovered--Oscar's defence--Restitution refused--Indignation--The Monday morning lesson in morals--Dishonesty--Rectifying mistakes--The principle unfolded--Restoring lost articles--A case for Oscar to decide--His reluctant decision--Taking advantage of another's ignorance--Duty of restitution--Other forms of dishonesty--Better to be cheated than to cheat--Effect of the lesson upon Oscar.
CHAPTER XII.
SICKNESS.
Wet feet--A command disobeyed--Dabbling in the water--Playing on the ice--An unexpected adventure--Afloat on an ice-cake--A consultation--Danger and alarm--Spectators--A call for help--A critical situation--The rescue--Effects of the adventure--Feverish dreams--Strange feelings--The doctor's visit--Lung fever--The Latin prescription--Oscar's removal--He grows worse--Peevishness--Passing the crisis--Improved behavior--Getting better--General rejoicings--Further improvement--Return of a bad habit--Fretfulness and impatience--A dispute--First attempt to sit up--Its failure--First day in an easy chair--The sweets of convalescence--Danger of a relapse.
CHAPTER XIII.
GETTING WELL.
Hunger--An evil suggestion--First visit down stairs--Midnight supper--Weakness and exhaustion--An ill turn--The doctor's visit--The mystery explained--Contents of a sick boy's stomach--The doctor's abrupt farewell--His recall--Promise of obedience--Punishment for imprudence--Directions--Effects of the relapse--Slow recovery--The menagerie procession--A wet morning--Disobedience--Exposure, and its consequences--Reading--The borrowed book--The curious letter--Puzzles, with illustrations--Guessing riddles--Oscar's treatment of Benjamin--His present feelings towards him--Ella's copy of the letter--Oscar's growing impatience--An arrival--Uncle John--The loggers--Cousins never seen--A journey decided upon--Solution of riddles, conundrums, &c.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE JOURNEY.
Setting out--A long and wearisome ride--Portland--The hotel--Going to bed--The queer little lamp--Lonesomeness--The evening prayer--Morning--Breakfast--The railroad dep?t--Oscar's partiality for stage-coaches and good horses--Eighty miles by steam--Dinner--The stage-coach--An outside seat--The team and the roads--Villages--Mail bags--Forests and rivers--End of the stage ride--Jerry--An Introduction--A ride in a wagon--Bashfulness--An invisible village--The journey's end--Mrs. Preston--More shy cousins--Supper--Evening employments--Attempting to "scrape acquaintance"--Mary tells Oscar his name--More questions--The tables turned--Getting acquainted in bed.
CHAPTER XV.
BROOKDALE.
A dull morning--New acquaintances--Inquiries about Jerry's school-time--A long vacation--Work--Playmates--Rain--A fine sunrise--The distant pond--A call to breakfast--Preliminary operations--Jerry's uncombed head--Oscar's neatness--Jerry sent from the table--Bad manners--Bathing in the pond--An anticipated pleasure interdicted--The river--A walk--The pond--Map of Brookdale--Going to ride--The Cross-Roads--Billy's speed discussed--The variety store--All sorts of things--Oscar's purchase--Returning home--Short evenings--A nap--A queer dream--Oscar's smartness at dreaming--Making fun of a country store--Mary's question--Crying babies--Teasing--Walking backwards--A trip and a fall--A real crying baby--Mary comforted--Jerry cuffed--Mortification.
CHAPTER XVI.
IN THE WOODS.
Forgotten medicine and renewed health--An excursion planned--A gun wanted, but denied--Setting out on a long tramp--Swamps--Upland--Brooks--How Brookdale got its name--Cutting canes--Birch and beech--How to crook the handle of a cane--The philosophy of it explained--The cigars--Fine groves--Stopping to rest--The forest described--Birds and guns--Other game--Jim Oakley's strange animal--Moose--The man who met a bear--A race--Mysterious disappearance of the bear--The probable cause of his visit--The boy who killed two