Oscar | Page 3

bears--Oscar's courage--Prospect Rock--A fine view--The rabbit--The woodchuck's hole--Crossing a swamp--Mosquitoes--The pond--The hermit's hut--Some account of "Old Staples"--Buried treasures--Making a fire--Baking potatoes and toasting cheese--Drinking pond water--Dinner--Hunting for the hermit's money--What they meant to do with it--A bath proposed--Smoothing over the matter--Going Into water--Drying their hair--Going home--Lost In the woods--Arrival home--One kind of punishment for wrong-doing.
CHAPTER XVII.
CLINTON.
The missing cap--Splitting wood--Jerry and Emily--A quarrel begun--The cap found--A drink of buttermilk--Oscar's opinion of it--Jerry's love for it--Another delay--Feeding the fowls--A mysterious letter--The Shanghae rooster's complaint--Curiosity excited--The suspected author--Clinton's education--Keeping dark about the letter--Who Clinton was--Where he lived--Killing caterpillars--How caterpillars breed--The young turkeys--The brood of chickens--The hen-coop--Clinton's management of the poultry--His profits--Success the result of effort, not of luck--The "rooster's letter" not alluded to--The piggery--The barn--"The horse's prayer"--A new-comer--Her name--A discovery--Relationship of Clinton to Whistler--Mrs. Davenport--Oscar conceals his dislike of Whistler--The shop--Specimens of Clinton's work--Going home.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE LETTER.
A forgotten duty called to mind--Letter writing--A mysterious allusion--The private room--No backing out--Making a beginning--Getting stuck--Idling away time--Prying into letters--A commotion among the swallows--Teaching the young ones how to fly--A good lesson lost--Mary and her book--Her talk about the pictures--A pretty picture--A wasted hour--Making another attempt--His success--Effects of being in earnest--A copy of Oscar's letter--Emily's inquisitiveness--A rebuke--The message she wanted to send--The meadow lot--Mulching for trees--Going to the old wood lot--Cutting birch twigs-Forgetting to be lazy--The load--A ride to the Cross-Roads--Mailing the letter--Paying the postage in advance.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE RECALL.
Hankerings after a gun--A plan--Jim Oakley's gun--A dispute--An open rupture--The broken gun--Going home mad--A call from Clinton--The toiler--Summons home--Disappointment--Bad feeling between Oscar and Jerry--How they slept--Remarks about their appearance at the breakfast table--Borrowing trouble--Another visit proposed--Jerry's explosion of anger--His imprudence--Confinement down cellar--An unhappy day--"Making up" at night--A duty neglected--Inquiries about the gun--Starting for home--A pleasant drive--The stage-coach--The cars--Luncheon--Half an hour in Portland--The Boston train--A spark in the eye--Pain and inflammation--Boston--Ralph's surprise--Welcome home--The eye-stone--The intruder removed.
CHAPTER XX.
DOWNWARD PROGRESS.
Oscar's dread of going to school--Unsuccessful pleas--Oscar at school--His indifference to his studies--A "talent for missing"--A reproof--Kicking a cap--Whistler's generosity--Benny Wright--Oscar's bad conduct--Regarded as incorrigible--The tobacco spittle--Oscar's denial--Betrayed by his breath--A successful search--The teacher's rebuke--The new copy--Its effect--A note for Oscar's father--What it led to--Concealment of real feelings--Bridget's complaint--The puddle on the kitchen floor--Oscar's story--Conflicting reports--A new flare-up--The truth of the matter--Bridget's departure--Examination day--The medals--The certificate for the High School--A refusal--Bitter fruits of misconduct.
CHAPTER XXI.
NED MIXER.
Vacation--Associates--Edward Mixer--His character--Loitering around railroad dep?ts--An excursion into the country--The railroad bridge--Fruit--A fine garden--Getting over the fence--Looking for birds' nests--Disappearance of Edward and Alfred--A chase--Escape of the boys--Hailing each other--Edward's account of the adventure--A grand speculation--Pluck--Secrecy--Curiosity not gratified--Arrival of Oscar's uncle--The officer's interview with Mr. Preston--The real character and history of Ned--Timely warning--Oscar's astonishment--What he knew concerning Ned--A hint about forming new acquaintances--Oscar's removal from city temptations decided on--A caution and precaution--Departure--Ned's arrest and sentence--The "grand speculation" never divulged.

Illustrations.
WINTER SCENE ON BOSTON COMMON . . . . . . FRONTISPIECE
VIGNETTE . . . . . . . . . TITLE-PAGE
PLAYING SCHOOLMASTER.
THE ASSAULT.
BRIGHT AND HER FAMILY.
THANKSGIVING MARKET SCENE.
TIGER'S COUNTENANCE.
THE OVERTURN.
AFLOAT ON THE ICE.
A QUEER NAME.
THE DOUBLE FACE.
THE CAT-ERECT.
MAP OF BROOKDALE.
THE DINNER IN THE WOODS.
MARY AND THE PICTURE-BOOK.
THE STAGE-COACH.
HUNTING FOR BIRDS' NESTS.

OSCAR.
CHAPTER I.
A KITCHEN SCENE.
Bridget, the Irish servant girl, had finished the house-work for the day, and sat down to do a little mending with her needle. The fire in the range, which for hours had sent forth such scorching blasts, was now burning dim; for it was early in October, and the weather was mild and pleasant. The floor was swept, and the various articles belonging in the room were arranged in their proper places, for the night. The mistress of the kitchen,--for Bridget claimed this as her rank, if not her title,--was humming a queer medley of tunes known only to herself, as her clumsy fingers were trying to coax the needle to perform some dextrous feat that it did not seem inclined to do in her hands. What she was thinking about, is none of our business; but whatever it was, her revery was suddenly disturbed, and the good nature that beamed from her face dispelled, by the noisy clattering of more than one pair of little boots on the stairs. In a moment, the door opened with a jerk and a push, and in bounded three boys, with as little display of manners or propriety as so many savages might exhibit. The oldest directed his steps to the closet, singing, as he peered round among the eatables:
"Eggs, cheese, butter, bread,-- Stick, stock, stone-dead."
"Biddy," he continued, "I 'm hungry--give me something to eat, quick."
Bridget paid no attention to this demand, but only twitched her needle with a little more energy.
"I say, Biddy," continued the boy, "what did you have for supper? Come, give me some, I 'm half starved."
"And why did n't ye come when the supper was ready, if ye wanted any?" said Bridget. "If ye