Oscar | Page 3

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 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 depôts--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