Down, down floated the ice raft. Pao-e 250.
 
 THE 
 
 . C E ]{ AFT 
 
 By 
 
 CLARA F. GUERNSEY, 
 
 UF A MEUE PIECE OF MISCHIEF; OB, AMIEIi'S 
 TBOCBLES," ''THE NEW BOY. ' 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 ALFRED MART1EN, 
 
 li'14 C!I1>T.\TT .-TREET. 
 1871
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year l^To. liy 
 
 ALFKKh MARTIEN. 
 In i!io Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 aifrrt jHailirn, JJriutcr sriO 5trrrotDptr.
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE 
 A HARD LESSON 5 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 A NEW HOME 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME 31 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED 57 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY 93 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS 117 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 A DISCOVERY.... ..140 
 
 622680
 
 IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. PAGE 
 
 GOING TO SCHOOL 157 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 175 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES 216 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 A CONFESSION ... 258
 
 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A HARD LESSON. 
 
 jfjjELL, I can't make head or tail of 
 it ! So, there, now !" and Dick 
 Monroe's Csesar went down on the 
 table with a bang that loosened the only 
 remaining cover of that much abused 
 volume. 
 
 " But, Dick, I am sure you can trans- 
 late that passage if you only try, after 
 what I have told you, and with the notes, 
 i* 5
 
 D THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 too," said his sister, whose patience Dick 
 had kept on the full strain the whole 
 morning. 
 
 "I didn't understand a word of what 
 you said," snapped Master Dick, and 
 he spoke the truth, for he had resolutely 
 refused his attention during the whole 
 explanation in one of those extraordinary 
 spasms of perversity, to which boys and 
 girls of his sort are subject. 
 
 "0, Dick!" cried Diana, "why, Anne 
 made it as plain as as plain loaf-cake." 
 
 "0! of course you understand it," 
 sneered Dick. " What a fortunate being 
 I am to have two such learned sisters. 
 Of course we all know you can read 
 Csesar without the lexicon." 
 
 "No I can't," said the literal Diana. 
 "I have to look for ever so many words; 
 but that sentence is easy; I've got it 
 all out, and I'll show you if you like."
 
 A HARD LESSON. 7 
 
 " You show me, indeed !" retorted Dick, 
 scornfully. "A likely story, \ou've got 
 it out right and I hav'nt." 
 
 It was a very likely story, for Diana 
 was eager to learn and attentive, and 
 Dick was careless and perverse; and, 
 as a natural consequence, he was often 
 in the wrong when his sister was right. 
 But, though such was the case at least 
 three times a week, Dick was firmly 
 convinced that he was immensely Diana's 
 superior, by virtue of his two years' 
 seniority. 
 
 " But I'm sure I am right," persisted 
 Diana ; " and, if I'm not, maybe you can 
 say where I'm wrong." 
 
 " It's not your business to teach me," 
 said Dick, growing crosser and Grosser. 
 
 " Do let Diana look it over with you, 
 dear," said patient, long-suffering Anne, 
 exercising much more forbearance than
 
 8 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Dick deserved. " I must go now, for 
 I promised aunt to write some letters -for 
 her in time for the afternoon mail. I am 
 sure a little thought will show you, and I 
 have translated it for you once." 
 
 " I don't believe you had it right," mut- 
 tered Dick, obstinately, to himself; but he 
 condescended, ungraciously enough, to let 
 Diana reopen the Caesar, and begin to 
 translate the passage over which he had 
 worried and fretted for the last half-hour, 
 rather enjoying the time himself, but 
 teasing Anne till she was just ready to 
 cry. 
 
 " When he had gone forward or 
 inarched," began Diana. 
 
 " I'd like to know how you make 
 ' when ' ?" said Dick, scornfully. 
 
 " Why, ' cum,' of course." 
 
 "Just as if I didn't know it meant 
 'with.'"
 
 A HARD LESSON. 9 
 
 " It means l when/ too," asserted Diana, 
 "only sometimes they write it with a 
 Why, Dick, you know it does." 
 
 " I don't care, I don't believe it," 
 persisted Dick ; though he had seen the 
 moment after speaking that Diana was 
 right. 
 
 "Look in the lexicon then, for your- 
 self." 
 
 Dick took the lexicon and began to 
 pore over it, as if in intense study. 
 " Why look here, Di," he said suddenly, 
 as if making a discovery; "it means by 
 the time he had gone forward, when he 
 had- " 
 
 " That's just what I said." 
 
 " 1 didn't understand yo"u," said Dick, 
 who would have missed his lesson ten 
 times over, rather than confess that he 
 was indebted to his sister for an idea. 
 " You said it meant, ' with ' "
 
 10 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "0, Dick! what a story!" said Diana, 
 laughing ; " but never mind. Go on." 
 
 " Go on yourself," answered Dick 
 shortly, staring out of the window at the 
 old red cow in the field opposite, and 
 then lazily glancing at his book. 
 
 "It was told to him that Arioustus 
 with all his forces " 
 
 " There ! I said you called ' cum ' < with'," 
 cried Dick triumphantly. 
 
 " But it does mean ' with ' there," said 
 Diana. 
 
 " If it means ' with' there, then it does 
 in the other place, too," persisted Dick, 
 changing his base with rapidity. 
 
 " Didn't you just look it up yourself in 
 the lexicon ?" said Diana. 
 
 " Yes, and didn't it mean ( when ' ?" 
 answered Dick. " So there now !" 
 
 " I declare Dick you are too bad," cried 
 Diana, indignantly. " I should think you
 
 A HARD LESSON. 11 
 
 would feel ashamed to waste your time so 
 uselessly." This was an uncommonly 
 severe speech for Diana, who was not apt 
 to take offence or to give it. 
 
 " Well, you puzzle me so, saying some- 
 times one thing, and then another, I can't 
 tell what you mean at all. I wish I could 
 go to school to a man that knew Latin 
 thvrqwghty" said Dick, beginning his speech 
 with a whine, and ending it in self-conse- 
 quence. 
 
 " I'm sure I wish you could for Anne's 
 sake," answered Diana, regaining her good 
 humor in some measure; "but if you 
 went on at school is you do at home you'd 
 catch it, I know. Why John Graham told 
 me that Mr. Lyon in the academy 
 wouldn't stand anything." 
 
 " I should be with my equals there at 
 any rate," said Dick loftily. 
 
 " I dare say," said Diana provoked.
 
 12 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "John told me there was a boy there who 
 translated ' cum omnibus copiis,' ' with all 
 his forces in an omnibus.' " 
 
 " You needn't help me 'any more, Miss 
 Di," said Dick, who, like most "teases," 
 could not bear a word himself, and was 
 seriously angry. " I'll do my own lesson, 
 thank you." 
 
 " 0, come, now !" coaxed Diana ; " don't 
 be put out I didn't mean any harm." 
 
 "I don't choose to be insulted," replied 
 Dick, with what was meant for majesty, 
 but had the air of sulks. 
 
 " Nonsense ! Come, let's read it over 
 together. It's real interesting here." 
 
 " Interesting !" sneered Dick. " I'm 
 sure I don't see the interest." 
 
 " 0, Dick ! Why, he is telling his own 
 story ; and, when you think it is Julius 
 Caesar's own self that is speaking, I love 
 to read it only for that."
 
 A HARD LESSON. 13 
 
 "Absurd affectation! Really, Diana, 
 your airs are intolerable !" 
 
 " Well, I do take an interest in it, 
 Dick," said Diana, humbly, and feeling 
 herself rather a silly person for so doing. 
 " I do so love stories about real, live 
 people." 
 
 " I read Latin for the mental discipline, 
 and not for stories," answered Dick, with 
 an air of superiority. " Osborne Briggs 
 says any one can be a glib reader." 
 
 " It's more than he is, then," said 
 Diana, " or you either," she thought, but 
 she wisely kept the thought to herself. 
 
 " He is a thorough scholar," said Dick, 
 growing more and more majestic. "He 
 began his education in an English school." 
 
 " He's no great credit to it, any way," 
 replied Diana. " He's at the bottom of 
 his class in the academy. John told me 
 so."
 
 14 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "John is jealous of him." 
 
 " What for, I wonder," laughed Diana. 
 "But come, Dick, don't let's contradict 
 each other. Do go over this with me 
 before Anne comes. She's so tired." 
 
 But Dick would not consent to accept 
 his sister's help ; and, after a vain attempt 
 to conciliate him, Diana put away her 
 books and went to her practice. 
 
 On his sister's return, Dick scolded 
 and fretted and blundered through the 
 chapter, which had formed his morning's 
 lesson, teasing poor Anne almost into a 
 fit of crying, and taking a certain foolish 
 pleasure in seeing her discomfort, and 
 hearing the nervous quiver in her voice. 
 
 "Dear Dick," said Anne, when the 
 lesson was finally ended, " why do you 
 like to tease me so?" 
 
 " If I don't know Latin by instinct, 
 I can't help it," said Dick, sulkily.
 
 A HARD LESSON. 15 
 
 "But that is not the matter/' .said 
 Anne, gently. "You don't try to Iparn, 
 I am afraid." 
 
 "If I don't understand, you, I can't 
 help that, either. You haven't the right 
 method of teaching," replied the boy, with 
 an injured air. 
 
 " Are you sure you have the right way 
 of learning?" 
 
 " dear ! Anne, don't lecture," snapped 
 Dick. "Of course I'm the worst boy in 
 the world ; of course everything's all my 
 fault. I'm sick and tired of it all. I do 
 wish Will would send me to school. I'm 
 sick of home and everything in it," and 
 Dick flung out of the room, banging the 
 door behind him. 
 
 Anne laid her head on the desk and 
 cried bitterly. She was not angry, this 
 soft, long-suffering Anne, but she was hurt 
 and wounded to the very heart.
 
 16 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "0 dear! what shall I do !" she sobbed. 
 " It igets worse and worse, and nothing I 
 can say to him will be of any use." 
 
 Anne was quite right. Dick had come 
 to that pass where things said to him had 
 no effect whatever, and when he stood in 
 great need of having something done to 
 him.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A NEW HOME. 
 
 'HE parents of Anne, Dick and Diana 
 Monroe died some years before my 
 story opened, leaving Dick and Diana 
 to Anne's care and the guardianship of 
 their elder brother, Major William Monroe 
 of the United States Army. 
 
 Major Monroe and Anne were twin 
 brother and sister, very much alike in 
 appearance, and very unlike in character. 
 Anne was patient, forbearing, sweet- 
 tempered, almost to a fault, and the Major 
 was said by those who knew him to be a 
 man who would stand no nonsense. 
 2* 17
 
 18 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Nevertheless his men liked him with 
 all their hearts, and were ready to follow 
 him to the death. 
 
 On the Western frontier, and among 
 soldiers, that phrase has a. real meaning. 
 All unprotected women, children, and 
 dogs appealed to him for help, and never 
 in vain. 
 
 As for Anne her heart was bound up 
 with her brother, and Diana and Dick 
 believed that never since the days of 
 Bayard and Sir Philip Sydney had there 
 been such a hero as their Will. 
 
 The home of an officer in the United 
 States cavalry service is said to be " all 
 out West, and nowhere in particular," but 
 the Major still called Darton, where he 
 had been born, his home. There his 
 sister Anne kept house in the homestead, 
 with her younger brother and sister. 
 
 Darton was a college town, a quiet,
 
 A NEW HOME. 19 
 
 pleasant, sleepy comfortable old place in 
 Central New York. The college buildings 
 were three four-story factory-like erections 
 of red brick, and one Grecian temple of 
 the white pine order; but they were just 
 as dear to the eyes of the alumni when 
 they came back, as if they had been of 
 the most modest of architecture. There 
 were many gentlemen scattered from 
 Maine to California who would have 
 regretted to see the old houses replaced by 
 the most elegant modern Gothic structures. 
 There were arches and spires and pinna- 
 cles in the grand elms and oaks and 
 maples that shaded the grounds, and if 
 new colleges had been built some of the 
 trees must have been removed to make 
 room. 
 
 In Darton Mr. Monroe had been Pro- 
 fessor of Ancient Languages. He had 
 originally intended that his elder son
 
 20 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 should some time hold a place in his 
 beloved college, and had begun his edu- 
 cation with that end in view. But Wil- 
 liam went to West Point, and it remained 
 to educate Anne. He had taught her 
 exactly as he would have taught his 
 son, and she was a very good, classical 
 scholar. 
 
 Dick, when a child, had been very 
 sickly and delicate, too much so to go 
 to school. He had learned when he 
 could, and what lie could; and, as he 
 grew older, Anne still shrank from send- 
 ing him "among other boys," of whom 
 slie was somewhat afraid. 
 
 Major Monroe was at home only at 
 long intervals, and for a few weeks at 
 a time, and his visits were holidays to 
 the whole family. 
 
 He did not remember that his little 
 brother was growing to be a big boy.
 
 A NEW HOME. 21 
 
 He bad the greatest confidence in his 
 sister's judgment, and was very proud of 
 her acquirements. 
 
 Anne was so far from the popular 
 idea of " a learned lady/' that Diana 
 said " the one aim of her life was to 
 conceal the fact that she knew how to 
 read." Nevertheless she was spoken of 
 scornfully as "a blue," in consequence 
 of which many people were afraid of 
 her, though a more innocent feminine 
 creature than Anne Monroe did not 
 exist. 
 
 She had her own little society of those 
 whose tastes were similar to her own, 
 and for the most part she led a very 
 calm, happy life. 
 
 Six months, however, before our story 
 opens, the greater part of the Monroe 
 property had gone in the wreck of a 
 bank, where it had been placed just for
 
 22 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 a few days, while the family lawyer 
 was waiting to find a good investment. 
 
 There was left to them their large, 
 handsome old house in Darton, about 
 a hundred dollars a year, and Major 
 Monroe's pay. The Major, fortunately, 
 was at home on a flying visit when 
 the crash came. 
 
 He and Anne together decided that 
 they would not sell, but rent the house, 
 and would find, for the present, some 
 cheaper home. 
 
 In this state of affairs, however, their 
 aunt, Mrs. Bland, wrote and asked them 
 nil to come to her. She had a large 
 house about a mile from Men an go, a 
 handsome income, and she would take 
 care of her brother's children. The offer 
 of a home the Major accepted, but he 
 would not let " his family " be dependent 
 upon their aunt.
 
 A NEW HOME. 23 
 
 He insisted on paying their board at 
 a rate which obliged him to wear his 
 old clothes till they showed service, and 
 to give up smoking, which was a good 
 thing, and to deny himself many little 
 luxuries to which he had been accus- 
 tomed. Anne cried when her brother 
 wore his old uniform instead of ordering 
 a new one, and shed tears into his empty 
 cigar box, which she put away as a 
 precious relic, and thought her Will the 
 most self-sacrificing of men and majors. 
 She would hardly heave been consoled 
 had she known that Mrs. Bland regularly 
 put away to the Major's credit the sum 
 paid her for board, and that she, Diana 
 and Dick were really having their cake, 
 and eating it, too. It had been a cold, 
 rainy day in March when the Monroes 
 left the train at Menango. Anne looked 
 about for her aunt, while the Major
 
 24 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 collected the trunks. Mrs. Bland was 
 no where to be seen, but a very tall 
 and old colored man oame forward and 
 asked respectfully if this lady was Miss 
 Monroe saying that he had been sent 
 with the carriage to meet the party. 
 
 The carriage was large, rather ancient 
 and shabby, and drawn by a pair of white 
 horses, who were too old and too fat to go 
 more than four miles an hour. 
 
 "Can you drive a little faster?" said 
 Major Monroe to Simeon. 
 
 "Laws, Massa!" replied Simeon, "these 
 horses don't ever go very fast ; you see they 
 and me's growed old together. They's 
 fourteen years old them horses is," said 
 Simeon, with great satisfaction in his tone. 
 
 " I wonder if he's fourteen," whispered 
 Diana to Dick, who exploded into a laugh, 
 which Simeon caught. 
 
 " No, Missy, I's sixty-four. I was all
 
 A NEW HOME. 25 
 
 through the last war, and was at New 
 Orleans when they took the British, long 
 with Captain Bland," said Simeon with 
 pride. 
 
 Simeon liked to tell the story, and the 
 Major liked to hear, which he had plenty 
 of time to do as they jogged along. They 
 passed through the streets of Menango, 
 which were rather narrow and muddy ; 
 they crossed the long covered bridge over 
 the river and turned eastward along its 
 bank, until about a mile from the bridge, 
 they came to Mrs. Eland's house. It was 
 a large, old-fashioned dwelling of red 
 brick, mellowed in its redness by time 
 and weather, with faded green blinds, and 
 a heavy porch over the door. In the open 
 doorway stood Mrs. Bland, having come 
 so far from the fire by a great exertion to 
 meet her nephews and nieces. She was a 
 pretty, plump old lady with soft curls of
 
 26 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 grey hair inside her cap, and a soft grey 
 dress and shawl. The major was shocked 
 to find himself inwardly likening his aunt 
 to a little, fat merino lamb, which he had 
 seen at a county fair. 
 
 "You are welcome, dears," said .Mrs. 
 Bland in a soft tone, which brought 
 the little lamb still more clearly to the 
 Major's mind. " I haven't seen 3-011 since 
 you were a year old, Will. Dear me ! 
 How you have grown." 
 
 This remark set off Diana and Dick 
 into fits of half suppressed laughter, so 
 that when brought forward to their aunt 
 they were giggling disgracefully. 
 
 "Dear little things," said Mrs. Bland, 
 kissing them affectionately. "This is 
 Puchard, and this is Diana. Why, Diana, 
 my dear, you don't look at all like me, 
 and yet you were named after me. It's 
 very odd !" added Mrs. Bland, mildly.
 
 A NEW HOME. 27 
 
 "I thought your name was Sophy," 
 Diana managed to say with tolerable com- 
 posure, while Dick grew suddenly sober in 
 obedience to his brother's glance. " That's 
 my second name, dear; Diana Sophonisba 
 my mother called me. It was too long to 
 use, so they called me Sophy." 
 
 No one ever could have addressed Mrs. 
 Bland as Diana. There was such utter 
 incongruity between the name and the 
 person, but Sophy exactly suited. 
 
 "And now go up-stairs, my dears, and 
 take off your things," said Mrs. Bland, 
 leading them into the wide hall. " I 
 told Patty to be sure and have . good 
 fires in all your rooms. Do you like a 
 good fire, Anne, love ?" asked Mrs. Bland. 
 
 " Very much, Aunt Sophy," said Anne, 
 who, while her parents were living, had 
 made two or three visits to her aunt's 
 house.
 
 28 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "You are a great deal more like me 
 than your sister," said Mrs. Bland, de- 
 taining her, and patting her hand softly. 
 "A great deal more, because you are 
 fair and have light hair, and Diana's is 
 dark and yet she was named after me, 
 you know it's very odd !" 
 
 " Diana is like her mother," said Anne. 
 
 "Ah, yes and she was no relation 
 to me. Perhaps that accounts for it," 
 said Mrs. Bland, in a musing tone. 
 "Shouldn't you think so, Will?" 
 
 " I should think it very likely," said 
 the Major, gravely, whereupon Dick and 
 Diana, who had paused on the landing- 
 place, turned and fled swiftly up-stairs, 
 and a sound came from above, as of 
 two young people trying to choke them- 
 selves. 
 
 The Major and Anne followed them, 
 and were met at the top of the stairs
 
 A NEW HOME. 29 
 
 by a verv respectable-looking old colored 
 woman, who showed the girls to their 
 room, while a younger man her son 
 and Simeon's attended the Major and 
 Dick. 
 
 Primus was hardly out of the room 
 before Dick's laugh exploded. 
 
 " Well, young man," said the Major, 
 laughing himself, "what is that for?" 
 
 " She she said you'd grown." 
 
 " Well ! so I have. Most people do 
 between one and thirty-one." 
 
 " And she seemed to think Di must 
 look like her because she was named 
 for her. Whatever could have made 
 any one call her Diana! but Sophonisba 
 just suits her." 
 
 " See here, Dick," said the Major ; 
 " aunt is as good and kind as she can 
 be, and you must never laugh at her 
 little ways; or, if you are amused some 
 
 3*
 
 30 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 times, keep it to yourself. If you ever 
 laugh in the house, see that you never 
 do out." 
 
 " Of course not." 
 
 "She has lived very much by herself, 
 and in that way people usually get habits 
 that seem singular to others. But, re- 
 member, I shall be very much displeased 
 if you ever make what she says or does 
 a subject of ridicule." 
 
 "Of course I won't, Will," said Dick, 
 rather annoyed. " See what a nice big 
 fire in the fireplace, and what a queer old 
 room. Look at these funny curly-tailed 
 monsters on the mantlepiece. Dragons 
 with butterflies painted all over them." 
 
 " Never mind exploring your quarters 
 now," said the Mnjor. "Aunt will be 
 waiting tea for us, and you will barely 
 have time to get the cinders out of your 
 hair."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 
 
 dj FTER Will had gone and Anne had 
 Ml fairly become settled in her new 
 
 ^vf \y 
 
 J home, it must be confessed that life 
 to her became rather tiresome. Mrs. 
 Eland's house, though perfectly comfor- 
 table, and in some respects luxurious, was 
 a dull place. The whole place had a grey, 
 faded look, not at all that of poverty; but 
 carpets, and curtains, and paper had grown 
 dim and dark together, and Mrs. Bland 
 had never thought of renewing them. 
 The two great parlors were shut up, and 
 were only opened to be dusted and swept. 
 
 31
 
 32 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Mrs. Bland lived in a smaller back room, 
 from which her bedroom opened, and kept 
 the two at a temperature of about seventy- 
 five degrees, from the first chill day in 
 September till warm weather was fairly 
 established in June. Mrs. Bland never 
 did anything but make a little tetting 
 occasionally, when she felt particularly 
 industrious. She left the house to Patty 
 and Primus, and the outdoors and the 
 stable to Simeon, while she sat and looked 
 at the fire in winter, and the wall in 
 summer ; that is, at such times as she was 
 awake, for she slept almost as much as a 
 dormouse. 
 
 Her conversation, if such it could be 
 called, was of the mildest quality, per- 
 fectly inoffensive but not enlivening. She 
 would get hold of some small subject in 
 the morning, and would keep it up at 
 intervals all day long, coming out with
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 33 
 
 it from time to time hours after her 
 listener thought it finally dismissed. On 
 Monday morning she fell to thinking, 
 whether the lace on Anne's cap, which 
 she had worn when a baby, was Brussels 
 or English thread. Anne not being able 
 to settle the point to her satisfaction, she 
 talked about it at intervals until Tuesday 
 night. There is no telling how much 
 longer she might have discussed the 
 maker, if Diana had not rummaged among 
 her sister's laces and produced a baby's 
 cap, which she confidently affirmed must 
 have been Anne's, and which was trimmed 
 with Valenciennes. 
 
 Now and then when the weather was 
 fine, Mrs. Bland would drive for a mile or 
 two, always at the same jog rate, and 
 always by the same road. The carriage, 
 however, was at Anne's service whenever 
 she chose to use it, and when the weather
 
 34 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 grow finer she used to take many long 
 ricles with the children, Simeon or Primus 
 being always ready for such an excursion. 
 These expeditions were Anne's only amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 Mrs. Bland seldom received visits, and 
 still more seldom made them. Once in a 
 while she went out to tea, and occasionally 
 had a tea party herself. Anne missed 
 her old friends sadly. She could not sew 
 always. She bad fewer books to read 
 than ever before, though she found herself 
 caring less for her books, as there was 
 no one who shared her own tastes with 
 whom she could exchange a word. 
 
 She went to church, and the clergyman 
 and his wife called upon her, and she 
 returned the call. Mr. and Mrs. Leslie 
 were pleasant people, and at the parsonage 
 Anne felt more at home than any where 
 else in Menango. Her unhappy reputation
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 35 
 
 as " a learned lady " had followed her, and 
 though she never made the least display 
 of her acquirements, the ladies of her 
 aunt's circle rather looked down upon her, 
 and firmly believed her incapable of 
 making a pudding. Dick and Diana were 
 never dull. They had the river to sail 
 in ; the wood lot on the hill to play in ; a 
 big garret full of old trunks and boxes for 
 rainy days; a dog to rim races with, and 
 Simeon to tell them stories when their 
 lessons were done. 
 
 They had a playmate, too, in John 
 Graham, who was boarding at the par- 
 sonage, and going to school. John's full 
 name was Washington, but he was never 
 called by it. He was a bright, good 
 natured, curly headed Western boy, of 
 Dick's own age, and he and Diana were 
 very good friends. Mrs. Bland never 
 cared what the children did, or how much
 
 36 THE TCE RAFT. 
 
 noise they made. She told Patty always 
 to keep cake on the pantry where the 
 children could help themselves, and 
 having given this order she troubled her- 
 self no more about them, except that she 
 now and then sent to town for great 
 parcels of candy, and gave them each a 
 handsome present on their birthdays. As 
 might be expected Aunt Sophy was 
 approved of by Dick and Diana. 
 
 For the first three months matters went 
 on with the children's lessons much as 
 they had at home in Darton. Diana was 
 sometimes lazy, and Dick sometimes 
 inattentive and careless, but on the whole 
 they had taken pains and made progress. 
 After a time, however, matters began to 
 go badly with Dick. He entertained 
 enlarged ideas of his own consequence, 
 and began to think that he was not 
 appreciated as he should be by Anne and
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 37 
 
 Diana. lie took less pains with his work ; 
 made a show of caring nothing for what 
 he was doing; talked much about "hum- 
 bugs," without suspecting he was in a fair 
 way to become one himself, and took more 
 pains not to understand his lessons than 
 would have sufficed to learn them twice 
 over. He treated Anne with disrespect ; 
 he affected to despise Diana's companion- 
 ship, and made himself disagreeable as 
 only a perverse boy can do. He put on 
 airs of superiority towards John, at which 
 that young gentleman only laughed, and 
 he made friends with Osborne Briggs whom. 
 Diana detested. 
 
 Mr. Briggs lived at a farm house about 
 a quarter of a mile from Mrs. Bland. 
 He was an Englishman, who having 
 been in the country only two years, had 
 not recovered from his surprise at own- 
 ing his own land. The Brings' family
 
 00 THE ICE EAFT. 
 
 believed themselves to be people of 
 great consequence ; but were always in 
 an agony for fear some one would look 
 down upon them. 
 
 Mr. Briggs was very angry because 
 Mrs. Bland had never called upon his 
 wife. The old carriage and the two 
 white horses never passed him that he 
 did not regard them with a scornful and 
 defiant air, and make some indignant 
 remarks about " aristocrats," " stuck up 
 gentility," and the like, which were all 
 thrown away upon innocent Aunt Sophy. 
 Osborne was a tall, awkward, white-faced 
 boy of sixteen. 
 
 He did not go to school, for his parents 
 thought the district school beneath him, 
 and he himself .said he had tried the 
 academy, but it was not quite up to his 
 mark. He managed to acquire a great 
 influence over Dick, and the two boys
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 39 
 
 did each other no good. Osborne told 
 Dick wonderful stories about his school 
 in England, and the way in which big 
 boys were allowed to abuse little ones. 
 Dick supposing himself to be a big boy, 
 thought all this very fine, and cared less 
 for his old pursuits and his books, and 
 his little sister. Osborne told him he 
 would never be a man if he was always 
 around with a little girl like Diana, and a 
 " milk sop " like John ; out of whose 
 way he himself was very c;ireful to keep, 
 for private reasons of his own. lie 
 sneered at Dick's love and respect for his 
 brother, and Dick began to be rather 
 ashamed of his old devotion to Will. 
 He spoke scornfully of Anne's teaching, 
 and declared it impossible that a woman 
 could know Latin, and said he should 
 like to see himself learning anything 
 from an old maid.
 
 40 THE ICE HAFT. 
 
 Dick, at first, was provoked at this 
 talk, but he was ashamed of his better 
 feelings; and, at length, came to believe 
 it, and to look down upon his sister, 
 and to wrong her in every way his 
 perversity could suggest. 
 
 He left off saying his prayers at night, 
 for he wasn't going to be like a good 
 little boy in a Sunday-school book. He 
 ran away from and avoided the pleasant 
 Sunday afternoon talk and reading with 
 his sisters, in which he had formerly 
 taken pleasure ; and, what was perhaps 
 worst of all, he read, on the sly, what 
 were really bad books, books in which 
 the heroes were all highwaymen and 
 pirates, and worse, where things degrad- 
 ing, wicked and shameless were made 
 to appear manly and fine. Some of 
 these works came from Osbome, some 
 were bought secretly with Dick's own
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 41 
 
 money. He revolted from them at first, 
 but gradually, as he persisted, he came 
 to feel the fascination which such books 
 sometimes seem to possess. After Jack 
 Shepherd, Miss Edge-worth and Sir Wal- 
 ter Scott seemed very tame and common- 
 place, and Qsborne said that Robinson 
 Crusoe and fairy stones were only fit 
 for girls. Osborne could not spell, but 
 Dick was persuaded that his judgment 
 was correct, and, if he ever read his 
 old favorites, he took care that his new 
 friend should not know. All this time 
 Dick was by no means happy or com- 
 fortable. He knew he was doing wrong ; 
 his conscience reproved him. Anne's 
 influence was still over him, though he 
 did his best to shake it off. He was 
 disgusted and angry with himself very 
 often, but then he was persuaded that 
 this state of mind was the fault of some 
 
 4*
 
 42 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 one else. He was provoked at Diana 
 because she was fast going before him 
 in their lessons; he was vexed at Anne 
 because his own perversity troubled her ; 
 he was angry at John for liking to read 
 and play with Diana, and he was an- 
 noyed with his aunt's ways, and learned 
 to despise her in spite of her unceasing 
 good nature. In short, he was out of 
 patience with everything and everybody, 
 except the one to blame, and that was 
 himself. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs at the 
 time when we first saw Dick fretting 
 over his book in the large front room 
 up-stairs, which was used as a school- 
 room. 
 
 The next morning brought a letter from' 
 the Major, and Anne had scarcely glanced 
 at it when her eye brightened, and she 
 cried out, joyfully,
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 43 
 
 "0, Diana! Will is coming. He has 
 leave of absence for six months. He'll 
 be here next week." 
 
 Diana jumped up from the breakfast- 
 table, where she had been seated, and 
 executed a kind of fancy dance about 
 the room, crying, " good ! goody ! 0, how 
 delightful!" 
 
 Dick's first impulse had been to hurrah, 
 but he had risen that morning in an 
 uncommonly bad humor. He knew that 
 it would vex his sisters if he pretended 
 not to care, so he put on a show of 
 perfect indifference, and went on with his 
 break fast. 
 
 te My dear child !" said Mrs. Bland, 
 sweetly, to Diana, " how can you take 
 such violent exercise? I'm afraid you 
 might some time injure your spine, or 
 break a blood vessel or something." 
 
 "0, no I sha'n't, Aunt Sophy!" said
 
 44 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Diana, reseating herself; "but Will don't 
 come home every day." 
 
 "My love," said Mrs. Bland, "that 
 would be impossible, because he has been 
 so long in New Mexico, and it is too far 
 away." 
 
 Diana laughed a little, but Dick sneered. 
 
 "But what does he say? Read it, 
 Anne." 
 
 " It's very short. He only says he has 
 not been as well as usual, and he has 
 asked for leave and it has been granted. 
 I am so glad. He lias never been at home 
 so long." 
 
 "Dick, don't you understand?" cried 
 Diana, astonished at his coldness. " Will 
 is coming home !" 
 
 " Yes, I hear," said Dick ungraciously. 
 " What's the use of making such a fuss ?" 
 
 " Why Dick Monroe!" said Diana, open- 
 ing her grey eyes very wide.
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 45 
 
 Anne sighed. The pleasure was dashed, 
 as Dick intended it should be. 
 
 " What day will he be here, Anne, 
 love ?" asked Mrs. Bland. 
 
 " Thursday day after to-morrow. He 
 stopped over a day in St. Louis to rest and 
 see some friends." 
 
 "Now," said Mrs. Bland, falling into 
 meditation, " I wonder what he would like 
 for dinner." 
 
 " 0, Will is not at all particular." 
 
 " But there must be something he likes." 
 
 " You are very kind, aunt. I think he 
 likes roast lamb as well as anything." 
 
 " And peas does he like peas ?" 
 
 " I think so." 
 
 " Tell Patty to be sure and have some 
 then. Anne what was it your father was 
 so fond of?" 
 
 " I don't remember, aunt. Father was 
 rather indifferent about what he ate."
 
 46 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "No, but there were some vegetables 
 he liked so much, some sort of roots." 
 
 " Some sort of roots ?" said Anne, 
 puzzled. 
 
 " Yes, dear. Really I wonder you 
 should not know, but I suppose you never 
 had much to do with housekeeping, you 
 were so fond of your book." 
 
 Anne blushed painfully, and Diana ex- 
 claimed., "0, Aunt Sophy, Anne always 
 kept house beautifully." 
 
 But Mrs. Bland did not heed. She had 
 gone back to her first subject. 
 
 " I am sure it was some kind of roots." 
 
 "Rutabaga?" suggested Diana. 
 
 " No, dear, not that ; but 1 know he 
 thought a great deal of them, for when 
 husband and I were there, when you and 
 Will were babies, dear, your father was so 
 quiet and silent at dinner, and didn't seem 
 to mind what was said, and husband said
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 47 
 
 it must be because he hadn't been able to 
 find some Greek roots." 
 
 Diana choked herself with her coffee, 
 and rushed out of the room. Dick looked 
 very contemptuous and disagreeable. 
 Anne checked her own amusement and 
 attempted to explain the mistake ; but it 
 was sometime before Mrs. Bland could be 
 made to understand that the roots in 
 question were not vegetables. 
 
 The Major came home on Thursday 
 in time for dinner, and assured his aunt, 
 greatly to her satisfaction, that he liked 
 lamb and green peas above all things. 
 When he had time to observe Anne, 
 he could not but think she looked tired 
 and worn ; and, seeing very clearly that 
 Dick was not altered for the better, 
 he put the two things together, and 
 quietly resolved to find out for himself 
 how matters stood. Anne made no com-
 
 48 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 plaint of him; nor, when asked how 
 the children learned their lessons, did 
 she say anything more than that Dick 
 did not seem to be as much interested 
 as usual, but that Diana was doing 
 well, both with her books and her 
 music. 
 
 The day of Will's return was a holi- 
 day, but on Friday morning Anne called 
 the children to the schoolroom, as usual. 
 Dick was more than commonly perverse 
 that day. He felt ashamed to look 
 his brother in the face, and, instead of 
 wishing to be with him from morning 
 till night, as had always been his custom 
 during Will's visits, he shrunk out of 
 his sight, and had nothing to say but 
 "yes" and "no" when the Major spoke 
 to him. The first thing that he had 
 done, after hearing that Will was com- 
 ing home, was to hide away, more se-
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 49 
 
 curdy than before, the books which he 
 hud read of late, and which he knew 
 very well Will would never allow him 
 to keep. Will was " so strict and puri- 
 tanical," thought the silly boy; and 
 Osborne said he presumed the Major did 
 things on the sly himself, and was a 
 very different man in garrison from 
 what he*- wished to make Dick believe 
 him to be at home. Osborne knew 
 what officers were; he had "seen the 
 world," and, of all things, he hated a 
 humbug, who pretended to be better 
 than other men, and so did his father. 
 Mr. Briggs made no pretensions to be bet- 
 ter than his neighbors, arid could not have 
 done so with the least success. 
 
 Dick chose his arithmetic this morn- 
 ing to fight over. If he had only 
 fought his own wrong desires, ill-temper, 
 and Osborne's bad influence as obstinately
 
 50 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 as he fought against understanding deci- 
 mal fractions what a fine fellow he would 
 have been. It was the more disgraceful 
 as he had been over the arithmetic once, 
 and the lesson was a review. 
 
 "Dear Dick," said Anne, at last, after 
 she had gone over the explanation three 
 times, " I am sure you must understand 
 this if you will only think." 
 
 " I don't understand one word of it," 
 replied Dick, who had resolutely closed 
 his ears to her. " Not a word. If I 
 was to work at that sum till I was 
 grey I couldn't do it." 
 
 " But you have been over this once." 
 
 " I don't care ! I've forgotten all about 
 it; I never do remember what you tell 
 me." 
 
 " I am sure I don't see how I can make 
 it any plainer," said Anne, "but I will 
 try if you will listen." She began once
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 51 
 
 more, but stopped as she saw Dick's look 
 of inattention. 
 
 " You do not mind what I say," she 
 said. 
 
 " Well, I can't help it." 
 
 " Surely you can attend five minutes. 
 How are you ever to learn anything if you 
 go on in this way ?" asked poor Anne. 
 
 " I don't care if I ever learn it or not. 
 It's a humbug, and I don't see any use m 
 arithmetic." 
 
 " 0, Dick ! for shame," cried Diana. 
 " No use in arithmetic. What nonsense." 
 
 " You hold your tongue, Miss," retorted 
 Dick. " I'm not going to be talked to by 
 a chit of girl like you, if I do have to be 
 lectured by an old maid like Anne from 
 morning till night." 
 
 Dick would have given much to recall 
 his words, as he .looked up and saw the 
 Major standing in the doorway. Will
 
 52 THE ICE HAFT. 
 
 made but one step, as it seemed, and took 
 him by the shoulder with a hand that 
 was both firm and hard. 
 
 " Ask your sister's pardon directly," he 
 said in such a voice as Dick had never 
 heard him use before. He hesitated a 
 moment, but the command was empha- 
 sized with a sudden shake, and Dick said, 
 " I beg your pardon, Anne," very meekly. 
 
 " Now, take your book and slate and 
 do that sum in ten minutes, or you and I 
 will have an account to settle." Dick 
 obeyed without a word. The sum was 
 done before the ten minutes had expired. 
 
 " So, you knew how to do it all the 
 while?" said Major Monroe. 
 
 Dick was silent. He was ashamed to 
 say " yes," and he dared not say " no." 
 
 Diana sat meanwhile and looked on 
 with a scared face. Anne was crying 
 silently.
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 53 
 
 "How many lies have you told during 
 the past half-hour ?" questioned the Major 
 sternly. 
 
 " I don't know what you mean," said 
 Dick in a low voice, for now that he had 
 waked up the commanding officer in his 
 good-natured brother, he was startled at 
 the change. 
 
 " I was sitting in my room opposite, 
 and I could not help hearing you ; I did 
 not speak at first, for I thought you were 
 honestly dull and stupid." Dick winced. 
 " But when I heard your insolence to 
 Anne, I knew it was perversity. You 
 said over and over again, that you could 
 not do your sum when you could, I call 
 that lying very mean lying. In the 
 army we deal with that thing very 
 shortly, and I don't feel disposed to take 
 any longer method at home. Go to my 
 room, and stay there till I conic to you."
 
 54 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Dick obeyed without a word. 
 
 " Anne, my darling, don't cry !" said 
 the Major, kissing her. " No wonder 
 you look tired and worn, if this is the 
 sort of thing you have been going through 
 lately. It shu'ii't happen again, if I can 
 help it." 
 
 " He never was so naughty before," 
 said Anne. "I am afraid I must be a 
 very bad manager, or have failed in 
 my duty some way of late, for he has 
 changed so in the last few months. I 
 am so sorry, and yet I have tried, 
 Will." 
 
 " Nonsense ! I don't believe in the 
 theory that the scholar has nothing to 
 do with his own condition, and that, all 
 a boy's part is to sit still and be in- 
 fluenced and interested. You are too 
 good to him, and he wants a sound 
 thrashing."
 
 THE MAJOR AT HOME. 55 
 
 "0, Will!" 
 
 " You leave him to me, my love ; I 
 won't hurt him. Diana, dear, run down 
 to your music. Anne is going to ride 
 with me, and wants to put on her habit, 
 so never mind the rest of the lessons." 
 
 Diana went down, but she sat at 
 the piano and cried ; and it was with 
 a sorrowful heart that Anne dressed for 
 her ride. 
 
 The Major wasted no words on Dick. 
 He carried the school books into his 
 own room, and put them down before 
 his brother. 
 
 "You will have your lessons done, 
 and ready to recite to me when I come 
 back," he said. " Do you understand ?" 
 
 "Yes, sir," said Dick. 
 
 The lessons were done in time, and 
 were recited without any difficulty, but 
 Dick did not come down-stairs till tea-
 
 56 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 time., and, during the evening, he was 
 much more respectful and pleasant in 
 his manners than he had been for some 
 weeks.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 
 
 HEN Dick had time to think over 
 that morning's work he felt very 
 much ashamed of himself, and the 
 sensation was very wholesome. The 
 Major's sudden sharpness and decision 
 had startled him out of the ill-humor 
 and laziness into which he had fallen; 
 and, when he looked back over his life 
 for the past few months, he could not 
 but suspect that, instead of being the 
 fine, manly, independent fellow he had 
 supposed, he had, in reality, been be- 
 having much like a cross baby. For 
 
 57
 
 58 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 the rest of that Aveek he recited his 
 lessons to his brother, and very excellent 
 recitations he made. The Major was 
 ready to help him as far as possible, 
 as long as he saw that Dick really 
 tried ; but he would not tolerate lazi- 
 ness or inattention for a moment. Un- 
 der this drill, Dick did himself credit; 
 and, as he took more pains with his 
 lessons, he became more interested in 
 his books. But he could not make up 
 all at once the time he had worse than 
 than wasted. He was mortified to find 
 that Diana was the better scholar. Her 
 translations were undeniably the best. 
 Her knowledge of the grammar was 
 more thorough than his own, and she 
 could answer any question that came 
 up in their reading much more readily 
 than himself. 
 
 "How did you know all that, Di ?"
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 59 
 
 asked Dick one morning when their 
 lessons were over. Some questions had 
 come up about Charlemagne, and to Dick's 
 surprise, Diana had a long story to tell, to 
 which Will had listened with much 
 interest, frankly owning that his little 
 sister was better posted than himself. 
 
 " Why don't you remember ?" said 
 Diana. "Anne told us ever so much 
 about him, and then she said there was a 
 paper about in one of the old reviews, 
 and I found it and read it. Wasn't it odd 
 about his learning to read after he was 
 almost an old man ? I should think you'd 
 remember how he talked about it." 
 
 Dick did remember, but he had reso- 
 lutely refused his attention, and made a 
 show of despising " Charlemagne and all 
 his peerage," as quite beneath his con- 
 sideration. 
 
 "John Graham's got a book that's all
 
 60 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 full of translations from the Italian poets 
 about him Charlemagne I mean, not 
 John. They are as good as the Arabian 
 Nights ; all about how Astolfo went to the 
 moon on a flying dragon." 
 
 " My dear child," said Mrs. Bland, 
 waking up from her semi-nap in which 
 she had been in the beginning of the talk, 
 " My dear child ! that sounds very im- 
 probable." 
 
 "Of course they are only stories, aunt; 
 but I like to read them. Don't you ?" 
 
 " But, my love, if things are not true, 
 then they must be false, and I am sure it 
 is wicked to tell lies." 
 
 " 0, Aunt Sophy ! they are not lies, 
 they are only make believe. It is just as 
 when Dick and John and I go up in the 
 woods and play Robinson Crusoe, and 
 pretend that we are Crusoe, and Man- 
 Friday, and savages, and parrots and cats.
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 61 
 
 We know we are not, but we just make 
 believe for fun." 
 
 " You had better ask Major Monroe 
 about it, my love," said Mrs. Bland. 
 
 " 0, Will makes the best Robinson of 
 any of us, aunt; and he makes a splendid 
 parrot. He can say ' poor Robinson 
 Crusoe !' just like a parrot exactly, and if 
 you heard him mew, you'd think he was a 
 real cat." 
 
 ''I hardly think I should, my dear," 
 said Mrs. Bland, mildly, "because you 
 know a cat k is so much smaller, and all 
 furry." 
 
 Fortunately for the children Patty came 
 in here to ask her mistress what she 
 wished for dinner. Diana went to her 
 practice, and Dick going up stairs made a 
 secret resolution that if ever Anne was 
 his teacher again, he would listen to what 
 he had scornfully called her " lectures."
 
 62 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " Dick," called the Major from the oppo- 
 site side of the room, u please run down 
 and ask Aunt Sophy if she would mind 
 my giving you a few lessons in firing at a 
 mark. Tell her we will go up on the hill, 
 almost out of hearing, and quite out of 
 danger." 
 
 Highly delighted, Dick ran down stairs 
 and into his aunt's room where Patty wa? 
 endeavoring to make up her mistress's 
 mind about dinner. " Really, Patty, I'm 
 sure I don't know," said Mrs. Bland at 
 last. "You had better 'ask Major 
 Monroe." 
 
 Will had been in the house only a week, 
 and his aunt was fast growing into a habit 
 of referring to him every question that 
 came up for decision. She had the utmost 
 confidence in him, and she was saved the 
 very little trouble which she had hitherto 
 taken in thinking for herself.
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 63 
 
 "Dear me, Missis," said Patty, "the 
 Major won't want to say. Suppose we 
 have veal." 
 
 "Very well," said Mrs. Bland, "but 
 you had better ask the Major." 
 
 "And the dressmaker's sent her little 
 girl up to ask whether you want the 
 skirt of your black silk dress plaited or 
 gathered," continued Patty. 
 
 " Really I don't know," said Mrs. Bland 
 in her mildest, sleepiest tone. " You had 
 better ask Major Monroe." 
 
 Dick, waiting on tip-toe for a chance to 
 speak to his aunt, could not help laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 " Laws, Missis !" said Patty almost out 
 of patience, " what does the Major know 
 about ladies' dresses ? Why don't you ask 
 Miss Anne ?" 
 
 " Very well, ask Miss Anne," mur- 
 mured Mrs. Bland.
 
 64 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " I saw that lady from Now York bad 
 her's plaited." persisted Patty. " It looked 
 elegant. She's visiting at Mr. Leslie's." 
 
 "Then, ask Mr. Leslie," murmured 
 Mrs. Bland, more than half asleep. 
 
 Patty gave up her attempts in despair, 
 and decided for plaits on her own responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 " Aunt Sophy," said Dick, eagerly, stop- 
 ping her on the very edge of a sound nap, 
 " "Will wants to know if he may teach me 
 to fire at a mark. He says we'll go up on 
 the hill most out of hearing, and quite 
 out of danger." 
 
 " Surely, my dear, whatever he likes ; 
 only, Dick, please ask him to be very 
 careful not to shoot himself." 
 
 Dick darted away with this message, 
 which amused the Major not a little, and 
 they went down stairs, Dick carrying the 
 pistol case.
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 65 
 
 " Where are you going ?" asked Diana, 
 running out into the hall. 
 
 " Will's going to teach me to shoot," 
 said Dick, proudly. 
 
 "0, Will! Let me go too," besought 
 Diana. " I want to know how as well as 
 Dick." 
 
 " You learn to shoot," said Dick, scorn- 
 fully. " As if girls wanted to know such 
 things, or could learn if they did want to." 
 
 " You are not very civil, Dick," said 
 his brother. "Let -me tell you, you are 
 mistaken. When we were expecting every 
 day that little Fort Elvers would be 
 besieged by the Indians, we taught all 
 the ladies in the garrison to shoot as a 
 matter of necessity, and some of them 
 were very good shots too. Come, if you 
 want to, Diana, only you must stand 
 where I tell you and not frisk about." 
 
 Diana promised, flew up stairs /or her
 
 66 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 bonnet, and presently rejoined her bro- 
 thers. 
 
 "You'll scream when the shots go 
 off," said Dick. " Girls always do." 
 
 " I don't," said Diana. " You know 
 I never do, Dick, unless at something 
 really awful like spiders." 
 
 Will could not help joining in Dick's 
 laugh. 
 
 "To do you justice, Diana," he said, 
 " I do not think you are given to scream- 
 ing. I remember when we were run 
 away with, in Darton, you sat as still 
 as a mouse, and never said a word." 
 
 " Because I knew if I screamed I 
 should frighten the horses more ; but 
 I am afraid of spiders. Will, I mean 
 I'm not afraid, you know, for I'm sure 
 they can't hurt me, but I just can't 
 bear the sight of them. I know it's 
 silly, and I tried to get over it, and
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 67 
 
 stood and looked at one spinning its 
 web ever so long once, till I really felt 
 faint. I did, indeed, Will." 
 
 "I dare say, Di. Those nervous fears 
 are very curious sometimes. If it will 
 be any comfort to you, I know an officer 
 in our regiment who was all through 
 the Mexican war, and has distinguished 
 himself more than once by his courage, 
 and yet he confessed to ine that he 
 was afraid of a spider, and I have seen 
 him turn very pale when he found one 
 crawling over him." 
 
 "A cavalry officer, and afraid of a 
 spider!" laughed Dick. "I remember 
 Professor Martin couldn't sit in the room 
 with a cat or he thought so." 
 
 " Afraid of a cat !" said Diana. " How 
 silly !" 
 
 " Why more silly than to be afraid 
 of a spider?" asked Will.
 
 68 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " 0, because a cat is nice, and clean, 
 and soft, and furry ; and a spider is all 
 squirmy and soft, and kicks his legs 
 about so horribly. See there, Dick," 
 added Diana, looking back as they went 
 through the orchard ; " isn't that John 
 coming in at the side gate ?" 
 
 "Yes," said Dick. "He said he was 
 coming up when Will came, because he 
 wanted to hear about his father." 
 
 John's father was in the army too, 
 and was at the frontier post, where 
 the Major had been stationed. 
 
 "I have a letter and a little parcel 
 for him," said the Major. " Diana, 
 they are in the top of that little black 
 trunk. Will you please run back and 
 get them, as I dare say the boy will 
 want to see them as soon as possible. 
 You and he can come up to us after- 
 wards."
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 69 
 
 Diana turned back to meet John, who 
 suspended his whistle as soon as he 
 saw her. 
 
 " There's a parcel and a letter for you 
 in the house," said Diana. " I am to 
 get them for you, and then Will wants 
 us to come up on the hill. He's going 
 to teach Dick to shoot." 
 
 John was delighted with the invita- 
 tion, and with his father's letter, which 
 he read as he walked along. Diana 
 noticed, with secret satisfaction, that he 
 read the letter before he opened the 
 little parcel. John read bits of it to 
 Diana as they walked along. 
 
 "0, Diana!" he cried out, "only think 
 I've got a little sister. Look at the dear, 
 little curl of black hair from her little 
 head. dear, don't I want to see her ! I 
 feel as if I could fly." 
 
 "What do they call her?" said Diana.
 
 70 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " Nothing yet, only ' baby ;' father says 
 I may have the naming of her. I tell you 
 what, Diana, I'll call her after you, Diana 
 Monroe Graham. It sounds real pretty." 
 
 " 0, John !" said Diana, blushing with 
 delight. " Will you really ?" 
 
 " Indeed I will. You're the nicest girl 
 I ever knew; you aint a bit silly, and 
 I know father and mother will be pleased 
 because they think so much of your 
 brother." 
 
 Diana was greatly affected by the com- 
 pliment, and she determined that she 
 would immediately consult Anne, and 
 set about making something pretty for 
 her namesake. 
 
 " And father's shot a grizzly, and he's 
 sent me the claws; they're in the parcel I 
 suppose. My ! Don't I wish I could." 
 
 " Maybe you will sometime. You know 
 how to shoot ; don't you, John ?"
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 71 
 
 "A little," said John, modestly. "I 
 shot a bear once ; but it was by accident, 
 and he was only a brown bear." 
 
 "Shot a bear!" said Diana, breathlessly. 
 
 " Yes, it was two years ago, when I was 
 in Northern California with father. We 
 were in camp, and nobody thought there 
 were any such creatures near, and I had 
 father's revolver, and I went into the 
 bushes, and first I knew, I found myself 
 right face to face with this fellow; I tell 
 you I was scared some if not more. He 
 came right up to me, and I fired almost 
 without knowing what I did, and happened 
 to hit just the right place and killed him." 
 
 "What did your father say?" asked 
 Diana, admiringly. 
 
 " He didn't say very much ; only he 
 took uncommon good care not to let me 
 run about by myself too far from the camp 
 after that, but that's nothing to a grizzly.
 
 72 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Let me show you his claws," and John 
 opened the parcel and displayed the 
 terrible talons which Captain Graham had 
 caused to be strung Indian fashion into a 
 necklace. 
 
 " Think of having those things catch 
 hold of you," said Diana, with a shudder. 
 
 " You must manage to catch hold first," 
 said John. "See! here's your brother 
 and Dick, and some one else. If it isn't 
 Osborne Briggs ! What does make Dick 
 like that fellow ?" 
 
 "I don't know, I don't like him. Do 
 you ?" 
 
 " No, not much." 
 
 " He always teases me and says I'm a 
 girl," said Diana, injured. 
 
 " Well, who wants you to be anything 
 else, I should like to know ?" 
 
 " But he says it in such a hateful way." 
 
 "You just let me catch him teasing
 
 THE TURNING POINT EEACHED. 73 
 
 you," said John, chivalrously; "I'll give 
 him what he can't buy at the store. I'd 
 like to see any boy teasing my little 
 sister," said the boy, ready to defy the 
 world in. the cause of the two months' old 
 baby in New Mexico. 
 
 " I wish Dick felt that way," thought 
 Diana to herself, as she remembered how 
 Dick had let Osborne torment her, and 
 laughed at her annoyance and vexation. 
 She dismissed the thought from her mind 
 as soon as she could, but ever since that 
 day there had been a little sore place in 
 Diana's heart, and she could not imagine 
 why John's speech made her feel like 
 crying. She did not speak again till 
 they joined the Major, who had heard 
 much about the boy from his fond father, 
 and was glad to meet him. 
 
 " So you have got the claws," said the 
 Major.
 
 74 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " Yes, sir. Were you with father when 
 he shot the bear ?" 
 
 " Yes, didn't he tell you ? "We came on 
 the creature unexpectedly when we were 
 out together, and had separated from our 
 party. She came directly after us. I had 
 emptied one barrel, fired the other, and 
 only wounded the bear a little, and made 
 her rush forward faster than ever. Under 
 the circumstances I thought it no disgrace 
 to run away ; but she had fairly touched 
 me when your father came close up to us, 
 fired and killed her." 
 
 "0, Will! you never told us that," 
 and Diana clung to her brother and began 
 to cry. 
 
 "Hush! you silly girl," said Will. 
 " The bear is dead and I am here." 
 
 Dick drew a long breath. 
 
 "I wish I could go somewhere and 
 shoot bears/' he said wistfully.
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 75 
 
 "John killed a bear once," said Diana, 
 eagerly. 
 
 " Why, John ! did you really," cried 
 Dick, while Osborne looked incredulous 
 and sneered. 
 
 " It was only a brown one, and it was 
 more by accident than anything else," said 
 John, coloring. " Never mind it now." 
 
 " Then you know how to shoot ?" 
 
 " A little. Father taught me." 
 
 Dick's respect for John went up several 
 degrees. 
 
 " A likely story he ever shot a bear," 
 whispered Osborne. " Are you fool enough 
 to believe it?" 
 
 "Hush!" said Dick, shortly, turning 
 away from Osborne rather rudely, and 
 going to his brother. 
 
 " Now, Diana, stand still where you are," 
 said Will. " Now, Dick, hold your hand 
 steady, and fire when I give the word."
 
 76 THE ICE EAFT. 
 
 But Dick's hand trembled a little from 
 excitement, or bis aim was false. Tbe 
 ball went wide of the mark, and off to 
 parts unknown. Diana knew that Osborne 
 expected her to scream at the explosion, 
 so she held her lips tight together, and did 
 not even say " oh !" 
 
 " Now, Diana, will you try ?" snid 
 the Major, smiling; "or does it make 
 too much noise?" 
 
 Had Diana been alone with her 
 brothers, she might very likely have 
 said, " No, thank you ;" for, truth to 
 tell, she felt very nervous. But she 
 was resolved that Osborne should have 
 no reason to laugh at her for a coward. 
 She managed to keep her eyes from 
 shutting, and, to her own great delight, 
 hit the extreme verge of the target, 
 which was a very large and conspicuous 
 one.
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 77 
 
 " Will your friend like to try,. Dick ?" 
 asked the Major, politely, turning to 
 Osborne. But Osborne declined gruffly. 
 He felt himself very much out of his 
 element in the Major's company. Dick, 
 for the first time, wished that Osborne 
 were anywhere else, and could not help 
 feeling rather ashamed of his friend, 
 though he hardly knew why. In the 
 first place he was perfectly certain 
 that Will was not favorably impressed, 
 and he was quite right. Will would 
 not have cared at all that Osborne's 
 clothes were not fine or fashionable, 
 but they looked as if they had not 
 been brushed for weeks, and Will no- 
 ticed that he wore a large gilt chain 
 over soiled linen, and an imitation gold 
 ring on a hand which looked as if it 
 would have been much better for soap 
 and water. Then Osborne's manner 
 7*
 
 78 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 toward himself had been such a com- 
 pound of awkwardness and boldness 
 that the Major was anything but at- 
 tracted. John followed Diana, and hit 
 the target twice, almost in the very 
 middle, and once exactly. Diana was 
 overcoming her first nervousness, and 
 was listening eagerly to her brother's 
 instructions, when the Major noticed that 
 Osborne had taken up one of the pistols, 
 and was playing with it. 
 
 " Please not to meddle with that," 
 said the Major, politely. "It is loaded, 
 and loaded firearms are never safe play- 
 things." 
 
 "Oil aint afraid," said Osborne, con- 
 fidently. 
 
 " That is not the question," stud the 
 Major, with some decision. " Be so 
 good as to put that down." 
 
 Osborne obeyed with a sullen face,
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 79 
 
 but the moment the Major's back was 
 turned, as he showed Dick how to 
 take aim, Osborne picked up the other 
 pistol, and began to handle it. Dick 
 fired, bat a second shot followed in 
 quick succession, and then, indeed, Diana 
 screamed wildly. 
 
 " 0, Anne ! Anne !" she shrieked. 
 " She's killed !" and she darted down 
 the hill to where, a few feet below 
 them, Anne was lying motionless. 
 
 "Are you hurt, Anne? Where?" 
 said the Major, trembling with anxiety, 
 as he knelt by her side. 
 
 "I don't think I'm hurt at all, dear," 
 said Anne, recovering her consciousness, 
 which she had partly lost. " I stumbled 
 and fell, and something whistled over my 
 head with such a strange noise." Anne 
 wore a broad Canadian hat. Will took it 
 off to give her air and put it into Dick's
 
 SO THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 hand ; Dick looked at it and turned very 
 white. 
 
 " 0, Will !" he said in an awe struck 
 whisper. " Just see, the ball went through 
 the brim here at the back. If she had 
 not stumbled then she would have been 
 killed. 0, Will! Did I do it?" 
 
 Will drew a long breath, and it was a 
 moment before he could speak, his hand 
 trembled a little as he took the hat and 
 saw where the ball had cut its way. 
 
 " Thank God you are safe, sister," he 
 said. " No, Dick, it could not have been 
 your ball of course, for you fired the other 
 way. Who touched the other pistol ?" 
 
 No one answered, but Diana and John 
 both looked round for Osborne. The 
 moment Osborne saw what he had done 
 he had turned to run away, but seeing 
 that Anne was alive he had hidden for a 
 moment behind a tree, and looked down
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 81 
 
 upon the group below. Observing that 
 she was not hurt, he came forward with 
 an awkward laugh. 
 
 " Well, there's no harm done after all," 
 he said, attempting to assume an air of 
 confidence, and failing signally under the 
 Major's eye. 
 
 " It was you then," said that gentlemen, 
 very coldly. 
 
 " Well, I didn't mean any harm, I did 
 not see Anne was coming up the hill." 
 
 "Do you mean Miss Monroe?" said 
 Will, sharply. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Osborne, in spite of 
 himself. 
 
 " Be so good as to say so then. Did I 
 not desire you to leave the pistol alone ?" 
 
 " I just took it up for a minute," began 
 Osborne. 
 
 "You have no excuse for taking it up 
 at all. It was only because she happened
 
 82 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 to slip at that instant that she was not 
 killed." 
 
 " I am sure Osborne meant no harm," 
 said Anne, gently. " It was only an 
 accident." 
 
 " It was no accident, he meddled with 
 what did not belong to him. Excuse me 
 if ,1 say I prefer you should not join us 
 again. I cannot have a boy who cannot 
 do as he is told in the neighborhood of 
 firearms. Good morning," and the Major 
 bowed and turned away. 
 
 " I ain't going to be insulted by no stuck 
 up officer," began Osborne, but the officer 
 taking no sort of notice of him, a farther 
 evidence of his "stuck up" qualities, 
 Osborne felt that his fine speeches would 
 be wasted, and walked away in great 
 indignation. He left no one in the com- 
 pany who was more disgusted with him 
 than his former admirer Dick.
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 83 
 
 " I was coming to tell you that it was 
 almost dinner-time," said Anne to her 
 brother, as she sat to rest for a few min- 
 utes, while John went back to the place 
 where they had been shooting and put up 
 the pistols. " Don't look so startled, 
 Dick.'' 
 
 To her surprise Dick burst into a violent 
 fit of crying, and ran away toward the 
 house. 
 
 " Poor boy !" said his brother, looking 
 after him, with rather a tremble in his 
 own voice. " He thought it was his fault 
 at first. I hope this Master Osborne is 
 not a very intimate friend of his." 
 
 " I don't think he is," said Anne, who 
 had no idea how much Dick and Osborne 
 had been together. "I have only seen 
 the boy once or twice before, and was not 
 much pleased with him." 
 
 Diana knew very well how much Dick
 
 84 TEE ICE RAFT. 
 
 and Osborne had been together, but she 
 did not care to speak about it. 
 
 " Don't say anything about this to Aunt 
 Sophy," said Anne; "she would be so 
 frightened." 
 
 " Perhaps it is best not. I want Dick 
 to learn to shoot, and there is no sort of 
 danger with the other children who mind 
 what they are told." 
 
 In the meantime Dick had reached his 
 own room, and shut himself in. He could 
 not help thinking how, but for that sudden 
 slip, they would now have been bringing 
 home Anne's dead body. As he looked 
 back over the last few months he felt 
 humiliated and ashamed. His feelings 
 were bitter enough now, but what would 
 they have been had Anne indeed been 
 killed. 
 
 " What a fool I have been !" he said 
 to himself impatiently, as he sprang up
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 85 
 
 from the chair into which he had thrown 
 himself, and walked hastily up and down 
 the room. "How Osborne did act this 
 morning. I wonder if he's always been 
 such a fellow and I've only just found it 
 out ? I wonder what made me read those 
 nasty, hateful books? I wish I could 
 forget them. I keep thinking about them 
 just when I don't want to. I'll burn up 
 mine, and give his back to him as soon as 
 I can. I wouldn't have Will catch me 
 with them for the world. What should I 
 do if he should find them ? I'm a great 
 mind to tell him the whole story ; but 
 he'd be so angry if he knew how I 
 laughed at Aunt Sophy, and mimicked 
 her at Osborne's. dear! whatever did 
 possess me ?" 
 
 Dick's sorrow was hardly that which 
 worketh unto the best repentance. He 
 was more vexed that he had made a fool
 
 86 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 of himself, than sorry because he had 
 grieved his sister. He was more afraid of 
 being found out than he was ashamed of 
 the sin. He could not see that "what 
 possessed him" had been himself, and his 
 own selfishness, and blamed Osborne for 
 the whole. He had met Osborne after 
 turning into the wrong path, and had 
 chosen his company willingly. 
 
 " I'll never behave as I have done 
 again," resolved Dick, and the resolu- 
 tion was good as far as it went. But 
 Dick did not build on the one firm 
 foundation. He did not ask God's help. 
 
 " May I come in, Dick," said the 
 Major, knocking at the door, and Dick 
 opened it rather reluctantly. 
 
 " I've been silly, I know," he said. 
 
 " What, for crying about this matter ?" 
 said Will, sitting down and drawing 
 his brother toward himself. " I don't
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 87 
 
 think so. It was a terrible thing. I 
 believe we were all more frightened 
 than Anne herself. I don't know how 
 to be thankful enough. But, Dick, is 
 this Master Briggs a great friend of 
 yours ?" 
 
 " Not such a very great friend," said 
 Dick, reluctantly. " I've played with 
 him a good deal. He's the only boy 
 around here." 
 
 " I wouldn't have much to do with 
 him," said Will. " He seems anything 
 but a desirable companion." 
 
 " I won't have any more to do with 
 him, Will," said Dick, readily. " I knew 
 you didn't like him, but he never seemed 
 as he did this morning; but, Will, don't 
 you never want me to play with poor 
 boys ?" 
 
 " Do you think I am such a snob as 
 that? I don't care about a boy's being
 
 88 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 poor, or not wearing fine clothes, but 
 I don't like impudence and disobedience, 
 and Osborne seems to me to possess both ; 
 and, perhaps, it is hard judgment on 
 my part, but he doesn't look to me 
 like a boy to be trusted." 
 
 Dick hung his head. He knew very 
 well that Will had perfect confidence 
 in him, and he felt that he did not de- 
 serve it. He thought, remorsefully, of 
 the books hidden away, and of his 
 mimicry of his aunt. The impulse was 
 upon him to tell the whole story, and 
 take the consequences whatever they 
 were, but he resisted his own better 
 nature. 
 
 " I'll never do anything I know he 
 won't like again, if I know it," he 
 thought. 
 
 " I don't want to lecture yon, my 
 man," said Will, kindly ; " but do be
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 89 
 
 sure and keep out of low company. 
 There is nothing that ruins a young 
 man more effectually. You have others 
 to think of beside yourself. If the news 
 should come sometime that I had been 
 shot, or died of a fever, you would be 
 left to take care of the girls." 
 
 "0, brother! don't talk so!" said 
 Dick, hiding his face on the Major's 
 shoulder. 
 
 " You know the far West isn't always 
 the safest place in the world, and I 
 only want to make you see that you 
 must make a man of yourself, not only 
 for your own sake, but for others," said 
 Will, kissing him. "You must do it 
 yourself, Dick. Your sister and I can 
 only show you the road; it is you who 
 must walk in it after the one Guide, 
 dear." 
 
 "Yes, brother, I know. I'll try to
 
 90 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 be a good boy indeed I will !" said 
 Dick, greatly affected ; " and I'll never 
 be cross to Anne again." 
 
 "That's right; but I must not keep 
 you any longer, for it is almost dinner- 
 time, and John will wonder where you 
 .have gone. He is a fine little fellow." 
 
 "Yes; he's a real nice boy," said 
 Dick, heartily ; for John had more than 
 regained his place in Dick's estimation. 
 
 " My dears," said Mrs. Bland, when 
 the desert was placed on the table, 
 "I am going to have a pony to ride." 
 
 " You ride a pony, Aunt Sophy !" said 
 Diana, with wide open eyes. 
 
 " 0, no, darling ; I never rode on horse- 
 back not when I was a young lady, 
 and now it wouldn't do at all. I mean 
 it for you and Dick." 
 
 Diana skipped up from her seat and 
 kissed her aunt affectionately. "0! you
 
 THE TURNING POINT REACHED. 91 
 
 darling Aunt Sophy !" she said. " How 
 nice you are !" but Dick hung his head, 
 and colored to his hair. 
 
 "I don't deserve it, Aunt Sophy," he 
 said. 
 
 " My dear, I am sure you are a very 
 good boy. There was a boy here once, 
 when my husband was alive/' pursued 
 Mrs. Bland, " who whittled the stair- 
 rail. Now I've never seen you whittle 
 anything but a stick. I'm sure you 
 are a good boy, and your brother is 
 quite willing you should have the pony, 
 and a side-saddle for Diana. Simeon will 
 bring it this afternoon." 
 
 "You are so good, Aunt Sophy," said 
 Anne, greatly pleased. "Did Will know 
 about it?" 
 
 "It was only this morning that aunt 
 told me," said the Major. " I am sure 
 I am as much pleased as Diana, for
 
 92 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 I should like to have Dick know how 
 to ride." 
 
 The pony, a beautiful grey one, came 
 that afternoon, and a fine time the 
 children had with him; but in Dick's 
 secret heart there was an uncomfortable 
 sense of shame and annoyance with 
 himself, when he remembered how he 
 had ridiculed Aunt Sophy to Osborne 
 Briggs.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 
 
 'HAT evening, when Anne was sitting 
 with her aunt after tea, Diana con- 
 fided to her the story of John's 
 little sister her own namesake and 
 asked advice about the intended present. 
 "I wish it could be something real 
 pretty," said Diana; "because* she's 
 named for me, and because her father 
 kept the bear from killing Will." 
 
 "From killing Will?" said Anne, 
 startled. " What do you mean ?" 
 
 The Major told her the story in as 
 few words as possible. 
 
 93
 
 94 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " Dear me !" said Mrs. Bland. " Will, 
 my dear, why do you do such very 
 unsafe things as to go off after bears 
 and Indians, and round in such wild 
 places. I am sure you will be hurt 
 some day. Does the War Department 
 want the officers to kill grizzly bears, 
 or why do they do such things ?" 
 
 " There have been no orders in particu- 
 lar about it from the department," said the 
 Major smiling. " And we find time rather 
 heavy on our hands now and then, and we 
 go hunting for sport." 
 
 " I never could imagine what pleasure 
 there ctmld be in going about with a gun," 
 pursued Mrs. Bland ; " and then bears are 
 such fierce, great creatures. I am sure, 
 Will, if this one had not been killed, it 
 might have bitten you very badly." 
 
 " I dare say it might, Aunt Sophy." 
 
 "Mr. Bland was bitten by a squirrel
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 95 
 
 once," continued Mrs. Bland, "it wasn't 
 a wild squirrel, it was a tame one ; but he 
 had to wear a bit of linen round his 
 finger for more than a week. So you see 
 how dangerous it is to be bitten by any 
 animal, and a bear would be worse than a 
 squirrel, you know." 
 
 "0! Aunt Sophy," said Diana, "I 
 should think it would. If you had seen 
 the claws John had you'd think so." 
 
 u But they don't bite with their claws, 
 my dear. Lobsters will, I believe, but I 
 think not bears." 
 
 " No, but they claw hold of you. ! I 
 can't bear to think about it. Do tell me 
 Anne what I shall make for the baby." 
 
 " I am afraid Di that you are hardly 
 needlewoman enough to make her a frock 
 or any such thing. Baby clothes want the 
 very nicest sewing." 
 
 " What baby ?" said Mrs. Bland.
 
 96 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " The little New Mexican baby, aunt, 
 John's sister." 
 
 " But John is not a Mexican," said Mrs. 
 Bland in a puzzle. 
 
 " No, but his father and mother, Will's 
 friends, Captain and Mrs. Graham you 
 know, they are in New Mexico," said 
 Diana, a little put out. 
 
 " Are they," said Mrs. Bland, completely 
 bewildered. " How did they get there ?" 
 
 " They went there at the same time I 
 did," said the Major. 
 
 " Because they liked their own country 
 better than this ? But if they are Mexi- 
 cans how does it happen that John is not. 
 I thought all Mexicans were dark and 
 spoke Spanish ; but perhaps New Mexicans 
 are different from old Mexicans; or 
 perhaps they grow darker after they get 
 old," went on Mrs. Bland, mystifying her- 
 self more and more.
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 97 
 
 The Major with great seriousness went 
 to work to explain the case as far as lie 
 could, and meantime Anne and Diana 
 considered the subject of the present. 
 
 "You can crochet very neatly," said 
 Anne, "you might begin a baby's blanket 
 in shell stitch, and that could go by mail 
 in an envelope." 
 
 " So it could," said Diana, " and it 
 would be pretty, too. I wish I could buy 
 her something pretty that she could always 
 keep to remember me by, because of the 
 bear." 
 
 te But Diana, it was not the baby who 
 killed the bear?" said Mrs. Bland. 
 
 " It was her father, Aunt Sophy." 
 
 " Why don't you send her a coral neck- 
 lace, love ? I had one when I was a baby 
 and got some of the beads into my mouth 
 and swallowed them, but they did not 
 hurt me."
 
 98 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " I haven't any money, Aunt Sophy." 
 
 " I can give you some, dear." 
 
 "0, thank you, aunty," said Diana; 
 "but I want this to be my very own 
 present, and if you gave me the money it 
 wouldn't be, bat I'm just as much obliged," 
 and Diana went across the room to kiss 
 her aunt. 
 
 "I think the blanket would be the 
 prettiest," she said, coming back to Anne. 
 " Let me run up and get your shawl, and 
 look at it." 
 
 " Very well," said Anne, and Diana ran 
 away and presently reappeared with a 
 soft, large shawl of fleecy white zephyr, 
 very pretty to look at, and very becoming 
 to Anne's tall, slender figure, when thrown 
 over her shoulders. 
 
 "My love," said Mrs. Bland. "That's 
 a beautiful shawl. Where did you get it ? 
 I should like to have one like it."
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 99 
 
 "I made it, Aunt Sophy ; I shall be very 
 glad to make you one like it if you wish." 
 
 Mrs. Bland stroked the shawl as it lay 
 on her lap, with her soft, white hand. 
 
 " My dear," she said, suddenly to Anne, 
 " I think you must be very clever." 
 
 "Have you only just found that out, 
 Aunt Sophy ?" said Will, smiling. 
 
 " 0, but really now I do. It was only 
 yesterday that you put my cap-drawer so 
 nicely in order, and you made this all 
 yourself. I dare say you can make a 
 pudding after all." 
 
 "Why," cried Diana, "Anne always 
 did all the nice cooking at home, and 
 made preserves and cake herself. Didn't 
 you, Anne?" 
 
 " I think I did, Diana." 
 
 " Dear me," said Mrs. Bland, admiringly, 
 "and yet you can read those big, old 
 books in your room, and teach the children
 
 100 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 and all. How very nice ! Do you know," 
 she went on, as though announcing a 
 discovery, " I think it is a very good 
 thing for people to know how to do every- 
 thing, for then they can do anything." 
 
 " We are wandering a long way from 
 Diana's matter," said Anne. "If you like 
 that, Diana, I will get the worsted for 
 you. It will not cost much. Will you 
 have the border pink or blue ?" 
 
 Diana decided for pink. 
 
 "I will get, the material for you then 
 to-morrow," said Anne, " and for aunt's 
 shawl, if she would like to have one. I 
 should like to do it very much." 
 
 " Thank you, Anne love, if it would not 
 be too much trouble." 
 
 Here Dick, who had been down to the 
 post-office with Simeon, came in with a 
 letter for Anne. 
 
 It was an invitation from an old
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 101 
 
 friend of Annie's in Darton, asking her 
 to keep an old promise, and come 
 and be bridesmaid. The Major was 
 asked to accompany his sister, as both 
 bride and bridegroom were old friends 
 and playmates. 
 
 Will decided at once that they must 
 go. 
 
 "But what shall we do with Dick 
 and Diana ?" said Anne, who longed 
 to go, and yet had doubts about the ex- 
 pense of the journey and of a new gown. 
 
 " Why need you do anything with 
 them, Anne, love?" said Mrs. Bland. 
 " They can stay here, can't they ?" 
 
 "Dear Aunt Sophy," said Anne, smil- 
 ing, "I am afraid they would half- 
 tear the house down, if left to them- 
 selves." 
 
 " I don't think they could, because 
 it is so well built, and then they 
 
 9*
 
 102 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 wouldn't want to tear it down. Would 
 you, Dick?" 
 
 " Of course not, Aunt Sophy. I never 
 tore a house down in my life." 
 
 " There ! I told you so, Anne. I am 
 sure Dick and Diana are uncommonly 
 good children. When your uncle's niece 
 was here with her two children oh! 
 a great many years ago whenever they 
 wanted cake they used to cry for it; 
 and, really, it was very tiresome; but 
 Dick and Diana just go to the pantry 
 and get it for themselves." 
 
 " There, now, Anne !" said the Major, 
 "since the children are such models of 
 virtue as to help themselves to cake 
 whenever they want it, I am sure you 
 can trust them to annt's care." 
 
 " And Patty says they never put their 
 fingers into the preserves," said Mrs. 
 Bland.
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 103 
 
 Dick and Diana looked at each other 
 and laughed out. 
 
 "O, you must go, Anne!" said Diana. 
 "You see now we'll be as good as mice 
 and as steady as old time." 
 
 " Yes, and we'll do some lessons every 
 day," said Dick, in a sudden gush of 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 " Only won't you begin the blanket 
 first, please, Anne ?" asked Diana. 
 
 " I don't know " said Anne, hesita- 
 tingly. 
 
 "But I do," said the Major. "I 
 should never forgive myself if I did not 
 see Mary and John married." 
 
 "And you know, dear, they never 
 can be married again; and, if you 
 don't see them this time, you never 
 will," urged Mrs. Bland, with great 
 truth. 
 
 "And I want to go, and I sha'n't go
 
 104 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 without you," said Will ; " so if you 
 stay at home you will be selfishly de- 
 priving me of a pleasure." 
 
 " Very well, then ; I suppose I shall 
 have to go," said Anne ; " and we must 
 be ready to start by the first of next 
 week. Yes, Di, I will begin your 
 work for you before I leave." 
 
 When Dick and Diana were left 
 to themselves, for leaving them " in 
 their aunt's care" was merely a polite 
 fiction, they fully intended to be ex- 
 ceedingly steady and sober. 
 
 Dick had never returned those books 
 to Osborne, and now learned that Os- 
 borne had gone away from home for 
 a visit. He did not like to leave the 
 parcel at his house, for he was not 
 quite sure whether Mr. and Mrs. Briggs 
 would approve of such books, and he 
 did not wish to betray his former
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 105 
 
 friend. As to the project which he 
 had formed, of burning his own share, 
 it was not so easy to find a chance to 
 destroy several numbers of a very low 
 paper, and two or three bulky pam- 
 phlets, without attracting some one's 
 notice. Confident that they were safe 
 in their hiding place, therefore, he let 
 them alone. He had adhered to his 
 resolution of never reading them again, 
 but he was vexed to find that he 
 could not forget the thought and images 
 with which he had filled his imagina- 
 tion, and that he had not touched 
 pitch and come off undefiled. 
 
 For the first two days of their brother 
 and sister's absence Dick and Diana con- 
 scientiously learned their usual lessons, 
 Anne had given them no regular tasks; 
 had advised them to do a little work every 
 day, but had smilingly refused to accept
 
 106 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 any promises as to the quantity or regu- 
 larity of the work to be done. The next 
 morning John Graham came up on a pony 
 that he had borrowed, with the proposal 
 that Dick and Diana should take their own 
 pony, go off into the woods, and have a 
 picnic. Aunt Sophy being consulted as a 
 matter of form, said " yes " as a matter of 
 course ; only she told them not to go too 
 far, and hoped that they would be careful 
 to take enough to eat along with them, 
 arid come home before dark. Patty took 
 care that they obeyed the first piece of 
 advice, and they supposed themselves to 
 have acted according to the second, when 
 they made their appearance just as the last 
 glow of sunset was fading out of the sky. 
 Diana's frock was torn in five places, and 
 she was burned as brown as a berry. 
 Patty held up her hands, and scolded the 
 boys for leading Missy into mischief; but
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 107 
 
 Mrs. Bland only remarked that there were 
 plenty more gingham frocks to be bought, 
 and that of course if Diana went with her 
 brother, she wanted to go where he did, 
 and bade Patty "get the dear children a 
 nice supper." 
 
 The next day was rainy and dark, an 
 excellent day to study; but the express 
 man brought a parcel of story books 
 which Mrs. Bland had ordered when she 
 first heard the children were coming, and 
 which had but just now made their 
 appearance. Mrs. Bland had named no 
 books in particular, only stated that there 
 had better be plenty of fairy tales, as she 
 believed all children liked them. The 
 bookseller fortunately knew a good book 
 from a bad or silly one, and had made a 
 charming selection. 
 
 To settle down to arithmetic and history 
 with " The Young Marooners," " Philip in
 
 108 THE ICE EAFT. 
 
 Palestine," and "Little Meg's Children" in 
 the house, would have been too much to 
 expect of any child, out of a book. At 
 all events if any one had expected it of 
 Dick and Diana they would have been 
 disappointed. They read from morning 
 till night, and only stopped when they 
 went to bed. Nor would they have stopped 
 then, only that Patty was inexorable and 
 took away the candle. 
 
 The next morning they did three sums, 
 and one chapter of Caesar, actually, before 
 they touched a story book. Then Dick 
 remembered that they must write to Will 
 and Anne, and in the midst of the letter 
 they heard that three little kittens had 
 been found in the barn. Of course they 
 went to see the kittens which, as Dick 
 said, was a mere necessary civility to 
 their friend, the old cat. Equally, as a 
 matter of course, they stayed with them
 
 Finding the kittens. Page 108.
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 109 
 
 an hour, so that there was barely time to 
 finish the letter for Simeon to take to the 
 office. Then came dinner, and in the 
 afternoon Diana wanted to work at the 
 baby's blanket, and Dick read " It Isn't 
 Right" aloud to her. To read anything 
 whatever was, in Aunt Sophy's eye, a 
 meritorious action, and when she found 
 them thus employed, she remarked that 
 she thought Anne had brought them up 
 uncommonly well, they were both so fond 
 of their books. 
 
 The next day they were asked to spend 
 the day at Mr. Leslie's, and the next day 
 was Sunday. They did manage to learn 
 their Sunday-school lessons before church, 
 and Monday was the Sunday-school picnic, 
 so that Diana said it really seemed as if 
 " the fates were against their ever study- 
 ing." 
 
 When at the end of ten days their 
 
 10
 
 110 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 brother and sister came home, and Anne 
 inquired after their lessons, they reported 
 three chapters of Csesar, four pages of 
 English History, five sums for the two, a 
 pile of story-books read through, and 
 Diana's work three-quarters done, neat as 
 possible and without a missed stitch, " and 
 that at least was something," said Dick 
 with satisfaction, and then hung clown his 
 head as Will smiled. " To be sure it's 
 nothing for me," he said. 
 
 "0, but it is!" said Diana. "For he 
 read aloud to me a good deal when I was 
 working, or I should have been reading 
 myself. 0, Will, you must read ' Dick 
 and his Friend Fidus,' it's splendid." 
 
 " But really I meant to do more," said 
 Dick. " I don't see why we didn't, but 
 something was always coming to pass." 
 
 " Yes, it really seemed as if it was the 
 fates," said Diana, earnestly.
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. Ill 
 
 " The kittens and the pony you mean, 
 don't you?" said the Major laughing. 
 "You have done quite as much as I 
 expected." 
 
 " Have we really ?" said Diana, in great 
 surprise. " Why, Anne, was that why 
 you wouldn't let us promise ?" 
 
 " Perhaps so," said Anne, smiling. 
 
 " Dear me, I didn't think we were such 
 a pair of geese, did you, Dick ?" 
 
 " Nay, you are nothing but goslings," 
 said Will. 
 
 " Then I've a right to peep" said Diana, 
 pulling a concealed parcel out of her 
 brother's pocket. " I knew you'd bring 
 us some sugar plums out of dear, old 
 Aunty Smith's shop in Darton. 0, dear ! 
 They taste just as they used to, Will ! I 
 wish everybody in the world had all the 
 candy they wanted." 
 
 " What a lot that would be for some
 
 112 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 folks," said Dick, who for some time past 
 had not been quite sure whether burnt 
 almonds were not beneath his dignity. 
 " Did you use to like candy, Will ?" 
 
 " I like it now," said the Major, helping 
 himself. " Don't you ?" 
 
 11 Dick said once he thought sugar plums 
 were only fit for little children," said 
 Diana, "but I guess he wants some now." 
 
 " Dear me," said Will, " I hope I sha'n't 
 lose your respect, Dick, but the fact is I 
 like them myself." 
 
 "Never mind, Dick," said Anne, 
 " every one has an old fit when about your 
 age ; I was a great deal older myself at 
 fifteen than I am now." 
 
 "Burnt almonds always make me think 
 of Cousin Hamilton," said Dick. 
 
 " Why ?" asked the Major. 
 
 " 0, because she was so disagreeable." 
 
 "I don't see it yet, for you seem to
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 113 
 
 think the almonds rather nice than other- 
 wise." 
 
 " Because," said Diana, " we never 
 could have anything nice or pretty that 
 she didn't say something to spoil it. If 
 we had cake or candy, or anything like 
 that, she'd always remind us that there 
 were a great many little boys and girls 
 who could not get bread, and I'm sure I 
 would have given them all some if I could. 
 She'd always act and make me feel just 
 as if I'd taken the things all away from 
 some one else, and once when Dr. Mills 
 took Flora and me to Aunty Smith's and 
 bought ice cream and cake for us, she 
 happened to be there, and she told us 
 about ' the starving millions in Europe,' 
 till we couldn't enjoy it a bit. Just as if 
 I could have sent a saucer of ice cream to 
 Europe." 
 
 " And when Diana gave her half-dollar 
 10*
 
 114 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 to Mrs. Mills for her missionary box," said 
 Dick, " Cousin Hamilton said it was not 
 good in her because she gave it for the 
 sake of being praised, and Di never 
 thought of such a thing." 
 
 " And after all, when Anne wanted her 
 to help in buying a pair of blankets for 
 poor old Mrs. McFarlane, she would not 
 give anything, because she said she didn't 
 approve of indiscriminate charity, only of 
 systematic benevolence." " Anne said she 
 felt as if she had a thousand pounds 
 weight lifted off her when she was gone," 
 said Dick. 
 
 " I never said so to you," said Anne, 
 smiling. 
 
 " No, but you did to yourself; besides we 
 knew you couldn't bear her." 
 
 " She certainly was rather trying," said 
 Anne. " Diana, if you eat any more candy 
 you will be sick."
 
 LIFE IN THE FAMILY. 115 
 
 "I've done now till next time," said 
 Diana, jumping off her brother's knee. 
 
 " Dick, we haven't seen the little cats 
 to-day. Come out to the barn." 
 
 " Look here, Di," said Dick, while they 
 were playing with the kittens, " what 
 do you suppose is the reason we did not 
 do any better with our lessons? It's all 
 nonsense to say we couldn't, you know, 
 and I really meant to." 
 
 " Well, I suppose we were careless. 0, 
 you itty pecious kitty cat ! Did it det its 
 little eyes open ?" 
 
 "But we should have done them if 
 Anne had been here," persisted Dick. 
 
 " Yes, because then we should Jiave to 
 do them." 
 
 "But we might have made ourselves 
 
 "0, dear! I suppose we might. I 
 wonder what is the reason we've always
 
 116 TITE ICE RAFT. 
 
 qflb** 
 
 got to have to" said Diana, in questionable 
 English. " But I tell you what, Dick, if 
 Will and Anne had said when they went 
 away, that they knew we shouldn't do 
 anything, we should have been real pro- 
 voked. I do believe, Dick, we've got to do 
 more than mean to do things, we've got 
 to do them." 
 
 Dick said nothing, but he began to 
 suspect that he was not quite as well 
 able to govern himself as he had sup-
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 f " 
 
 J|ISSIS," said Patty, one morning, 
 ~|! 
 I after her lieutenant, Delia, had been 
 J sweeping and dusting the two large 
 parlors, "Missis, please just come and 
 look at these carpets." 
 
 It was more trouble to say "no" than 
 it was to say "yes," so Mrs. Bland 
 rose from her easy-chair and walked 
 slowly into the drawing-room, through 
 what was called the back parlor. The 
 two rooms were large and handsome, 
 and opened into each other by huge 
 sliding doors of solid mahogany. A 
 
 117
 
 118 TOE ICE RAFT. 
 
 heavy cornice ran round the ceiling, 
 and nearly came down to meet the 
 high mantel pieces of black marble, cheer- 
 ful representations of Egyptian tombs, 
 which the taste of the builder had 
 thought an appropriate form for a family 
 hearth. The walls were covered with 
 a flowery paper in a running pattern, 
 but it was faded and dim with age. 
 The carpets had, in their day, been 
 handsome brussels, but they had been 
 purchased forty years before. They had 
 come through a good deal of wear during 
 Mr. Eland's life time, for he had been 
 a social, bustling person, fond of com- 
 pany, and through the summer the house 
 had been full of visitors. Since his death 
 the rooms had been almost entirely shut 
 up; and, in spite of Patty's care, the 
 moths had made several attacks upon the 
 old brussels.
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 119 
 
 "Well, Patty," said Mrs. Bland, "what 
 about the carpet?" 
 
 " Why, just look at it, Misis," said 
 Patty, opening the blinds, and tli rowing 
 a flood of sunshine upon it. " It ain't fit 
 to be seen." 
 
 "Then don't look at it, Patty," said 
 Mrs. Bland, mildly, sitting down on the 
 old sofa, and drawing her shawl round 
 her, for the air had that creeping chill, 
 common in disused rooms. 
 
 "Other folks 'ill see it if I don't, 
 Missis," said Patty. " I felt real 'shamed 
 for the credit of the family, the other 
 da}% when them gentlemen came to call 
 on the Major, and Primus brought them 
 in here to have 'em see such an old 
 faded thing." 
 
 "Well, Patty, I don't suppose you can 
 make the carpet new again. When things 
 once grow old they stay so."
 
 120 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "But, Missis, there's plenty of carpets 
 in the world besides these." 
 
 " Are there ? Where ?" said Mrs. Bland, 
 looking about her as if she expected to see 
 the said carpet piled up somewhere about 
 the parlor. 
 
 " Laws, Missis ! in stores of course." 
 
 "But they don't belong to us, Patty," 
 said Mrs. Bland, who was uncommonly 
 slow and sleepy that morning. 
 
 " Dear me, Missis, can't you take some 
 money and buy new ones," said Patty, 
 coming to the root of .the matter. 
 
 "New ones!" murmured Mrs. Bland, 
 dropping her head and looking very much 
 like some soft, sleepy bird, just ready to 
 put its head under its wing. " New 
 carpets, Patty!" 
 
 " Yes, Missis, and have these rooms new 
 papered, and put in order, and kept open ; 
 'stead of being shut up all the time like a
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 121 
 
 vault," continued Patty boldly, suddenly 
 exposing her whole design, the details of 
 which she and Simeon had been planning 
 for some time. 
 
 Mrs. Bland was quite overwhelmed with 
 so many new ideas at once. " Really I 
 don't know," she said, rising; "you had 
 better ask Major Monroe." 
 
 " Why, Missis, the Major won't have 
 anything to say about your house. He 
 never takes nothing on himself, nor Miss 
 Anne neither; but young folks like them," 
 for in Patty's eyes Anne and the Major 
 were young things. " Why it stands to 
 reason they wants a little diversion, and 
 to see people now and then, and folks 
 wants to know 'em and see 'em ; cause a 
 real lady and gentleman like them is 
 worth knowing, and how's they ever going 
 to see folks with no place but the dining 
 room and your room, and here's these two
 
 122 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 great handsome parlors just kept shut up 
 to 'coramodate the moths and black 
 beetles." 
 
 " But how should I get the carpets ?" 
 murmured Mrs. Bland. "I dare say Miss 
 Anne could do that though," she added in 
 a more lively tone. 
 
 " Course she could, Missis ; Miss Anne's 
 got good judgment." 
 
 " Very well then, ask her to be so good 
 as to get the carpets the next time she 
 goes to town. She needn't go down on 
 purpose, but when she goes for herself." 
 
 " And the paper, Missis ?" 
 
 " Ask Major Monroe." 
 
 " Shall I tell him you want him to get 
 it, and 'range for the men to come and put 
 it on ?" asked Patty. 
 
 " Yes, if it won't be too much trouble ; 
 but I don't think he minds trouble much. 
 When he was at the West he used to go
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 123 
 
 hunting bears, and I don't think it will be 
 as hard to find the paper and the paper 
 men ; and Patty tell Primus to make 
 some good fires in the grates here now. It- 
 feels so cool and damp," and Mrs. Bland 
 went back to her own room quite ex- 
 hausted with so much talking. 
 
 Patty carried her message up to the 
 schoolroom where Anne and Will received 
 it with considerable surprise, and went 
 down to talk over the details with their 
 aunt. 
 
 " Patty," said Diana, seizing upon the 
 old woman, "is aunt going to have the 
 parlors open and use them ?" 
 
 " I 'spect so, Miss Di," said Patty, who 
 was greatly delighted with the success of 
 her attack. 
 
 " How nice that will be," said Dick. 
 
 " Yes, Master Dick, I think it will bo 
 rather a 'provement,' and Patty went
 
 124 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 down to report progress to Simeon and 
 Primus. 
 
 "Aunt," said Anne, "I didn't quite 
 understand what Patty said about getting 
 new carpets and paper." 
 
 " Why, you see, my dears," answered 
 Mrs. Bland, rousing herself from her 
 trance, "Patty thinks the parlors might 
 as well be open and used, as kept shut up, 
 especially now that you and Will are here, 
 and people come to see you." 
 
 " Dear Aunt Sophy," said the Major, 
 "I am sure I don't want to put you the 
 least out of your way on my account." 
 
 "But it doesn't," said Mrs. Bland, who 
 began to feel that there had been a good 
 deal of sense in Patty's remarks. "If you 
 would not mind taking the trouble, Will ; 
 for really I am sure I never could do it 
 myself, and, of course, you like to have 
 your friends come to see you. Mr. Bland
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 125 
 
 always did, and if they come, you must 
 take them somewhere, and the parlor is 
 the proper place, and when Mrs. Leslie 
 and other ladies come to see Anne they 
 can sit in there, and leave me to my nap. 
 I think it will be very convenient, and 
 the carpets are worn ; I suppose it is time ; 
 they were put down when I first came 
 home, forty years ago." 
 
 " But, aunt, it will cost a good deal to 
 get carpets for those two large rooms," 
 said Anne. 
 
 "Very well, my dear, then you had 
 better take a good deal of money." 
 
 " I am afraid, Aunt Sophy, you don't 
 think how much it will all cost by the 
 time it is done," said the Major, who saw 
 how much the arrangement would add to 
 his sisters' comfort, and yet hardly liked 
 that his aunt should meet expense on 
 their account.
 
 126 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " My dear, I have plenty of money ; I 
 am quite sure I have. I haven't spent all 
 my income, and I'll tell you how I know," 
 said Mrs. Bland, settling herself in her 
 chair. " Two summers ago or was it 
 three really I don't know, which was it, 
 Anne ?" 
 
 " What happened, aunt ?" 
 
 " I am sure I can't tell whether it was 
 two or three. It was when the brindled 
 cat was a kitten I know," said Mrs. Bland, 
 in a puzzle. " But whether it was in 
 '47 or '48 I really cannot say ; Patty would 
 be able to tell, because she disliked her 
 so much." 
 
 " Disliked who, Aunt Sophy ?" 
 
 "Your cousin Hamilton, when she 
 visited here." 
 
 "That was three years ago in '47, 
 aunt," said Anne ; " because she came 
 here from Darton."
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 127 
 
 "Yes, so it was. Thank you, Anne, 
 love. Well, she made me so uncom- 
 fortable, you can't think, because she 
 was always saying that I was being 
 eaten up by drones; and, at first, I 
 thought she meant the bees that got 
 into the preserve closet once ; but, finally, 
 she said she meant Simeon, and Patty, 
 and Primus, and Delia; and she said 
 they were using up all that I had in 
 the world, and that I should die in the 
 poorhouse. 1 didn't mind much at first, 
 because it seemed so improbable; but, 
 someway, she kept saying it over till 
 I had to think of it, and it made me 
 very uncomfortable at last, for I did 
 not see, if I spent all my money, what 
 was to become of Simeon, and Patty, 
 and the horses, and the old cat. So 
 I went one day and asked Mr. Parsons, 
 who manages all rny business, if it was
 
 128 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 really true that I was using up every- 
 thing, and he said it wasn't, and made 
 it all out for me in figures how much 
 I'd spent, and how much I had. I don't 
 remember how much it was exactly, 
 but I know there were more figures on 
 the keeping side than there was on the 
 spending one." 
 
 " Cousin Hamilton has the knack of 
 worrying," observed Will. 
 
 "And then she kept telling me that 
 I didn't want so many people about the 
 house, and that a poor family might 
 be kept on what I spent on Simeon 
 and Patty, and that I ought to send 
 them away, and do with one girl and 
 a boy ; but I didn't know any poor family 
 to keep, and I did know Simeon and 
 Patty, and Primus was their son, 'and 
 he was born in this house. Simeon 
 was Mr. Eland's old servant, and Patty
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 129 
 
 was here when I came ; and, as for 
 Delia, why Patty wanted some one to 
 help her, and she was a poor, forlorn 
 little thing, only ten years old when she 
 first came, and she's never very strong. 
 It always does seem as if God meant 
 you should take care of people, you know ; 
 and I always give Mr. Leslie money 
 when he asks for it, for any poor person. 
 Really, Anne, you can't think how un- 
 comfortable your cousin Hamilton made 
 me while she stayed. I really was glad 
 when she married that gentleman and 
 went to Java Java is a good ways off, 
 isn't it, Will?" asked Aunt Sophy, hope- 
 fully. 
 
 "Yes, dear aunt," said Will, who was 
 leaning over the back of his aunt's chair; 
 " I am not sorry to say it is. Any 
 one must have a cast iron disposition 
 to tease you. But about these carpets?"
 
 130 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 ! you and Anne can just go and 
 get them when you go down to town." 
 
 " Hadn't you better choose them your- 
 self, Aunt Soph}'," said Anne; "I might 
 not suit your taste." 
 
 " Ask your brother, my dear." 
 
 "And the paper must suit with the 
 carpet. Really, aunt, I wish you would 
 come with us," said the Major. 
 
 " You can ask your sister, you know. 
 Just please yourself. You will save me a 
 great deal of trouble if you only will do 
 just as you like," and that was all that 
 could be got out of Mrs. Bland in the way 
 of direction. 
 
 " If this is to be done at all, the paper- 
 ing I mean," said Will, " it should be done 
 directly, before the fall rains come on." 
 
 " Very well, do it to-day if you like," 
 said Mrs. Bland, composing herself for a 
 nap.
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 131 
 
 For the next month there was an 
 upturning in the house which was delight- 
 ful to the children. As usual, one repair 
 made another necessary. Painters came 
 with the paperers, and a varnisher after 
 them. Mrs. Bland never paid the least 
 attention to the matter herself, except to 
 say as she was questioned, " ask Major 
 Monroe/' or "ask Miss Anne." 
 
 When the work was done Major Monroe 
 sent for their own parlor furniture which 
 was stored in Darton, and when it was 
 arranged in the parlors where there was 
 plenty of room for it, without crowding 
 out the heavy old chairs and tables, the 
 whole effect of the rooms was very pretty, 
 and Simeon and Patty averred that this 
 was something like living. Mrs. Bland, 
 now that the work was done, was much 
 pleased. She forsook her own little back 
 room, where she had lived so long, and
 
 132 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 only retired thither when she wished to 
 take a nap, which, to be sure, was pretty 
 often. She even went to the length of 
 giving a dinner party, and Anne who had 
 lived almost like a nun in a convent ever 
 since she carne to Menango, found herself 
 to her surprise much sought after and 
 called upon by the young ladies of the 
 town, and invited out to evening gather- 
 ings and to tea parties. Menango was 
 much given to morning calls, and some- 
 what to Anne's annoyance she found her 
 day sadly broken by these visits, and the 
 children's lessons interrupted. 
 
 One morning towards the middle of 
 September the Major came into the school- 
 room just as the lessons were finished, and 
 asked the children how they would like to 
 go to school. 
 
 " To school !" exclaimed Diana, opening 
 her eyes wide, " away from home ?"
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 133 
 
 " No, not farther than Mcnango," said 
 Anne. 
 
 " Why, Will, do you really mean it ?" 
 said Dick, half pleased and half doubtful. 
 
 " Yes, Dick, I think we do," said Will, 
 sitting down and drawing his brother 
 towards him. 
 
 " But don't we learn as much of Anne 
 as we should in school ?" said Diana, perch- 
 ing herself on her brother's knee. 
 
 "A great deal more I have no doubt," 
 said Will; "but Dick is growing a great 
 boy, and both Anne and I think it would 
 be better for you to be more with other 
 children." 
 
 " But it will cost more, Will," said Dick. 
 
 " I know ; but not so very much, and to 
 tell you a secret, Anne has found a little 
 gold fairy who has coined some silver six- 
 pences for her out of old bits of paper." 
 
 " What do you mean ?" said Dick, 
 
 12
 
 134 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 but Anne only smiled, and would say 
 nothing; and the Major was equally 
 mysterious. 
 
 " But when are we to go ?" asked 
 Diana. 
 
 " Monday morning." 
 
 "And this is Friday. How long have 
 you known about it?" said Dick, feeling 
 rather injured at having been kept in 
 the dark. 
 
 " We only made up our ininds last 
 night, or you should have had longer 
 notice. From all I can hear, Mr. Lyon, 
 at the academy, is a very good teacher, 
 and I liked him when I saw him." 
 
 Dick looked rather doubtful. He had 
 an idea that there would be a great 
 difference between Mr. Lyon's method and 
 Anne's. 
 
 "Dear me!" said Diana, "I shall be 
 afraid of him; but, of course, I must
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 135 
 
 go if Dick does. John likes it there 
 very well." 
 
 "So he tells me; so now run away, 
 and make the most of your play time 
 while you have it." 
 
 Will and Anne went down-stairs. 
 Anne carrying Mrs. Bland's shawl, which 
 she had just finished. Mrs. Bland was 
 greatly delighted with it, and once more 
 asserted her belief that Anne must be 
 very clever. 
 
 Just then, however, came a carriage 
 full of callers, and Anne went into the 
 parlor to receive them, leaving Will 
 and her aunt to follow at their leisure. 
 
 "I am so glad you lost that money, 
 my dear, in the bank," said Mrs. Bland, 
 looking up into Will's face; "because, 
 you know, if you had not, Anne and 
 the children never would have come 
 here, nor you to stay so long, and it
 
 136 THE ICE HAFT. 
 
 is such a comfort to have you; and 
 Anne has made me a shawl, and all." 
 
 "Dear Aunt Sophy," said Will, sitting 
 down on a stool at her i'ect like a great 
 boy, "I can't tell you how much I 
 thank you for all your goodness to us." 
 
 " I don't see any goodness about it. 
 I wish you would stay here all the 
 time, and not go back to that dangerous 
 western country. Every once in a while 
 there is an Indian war, and then you 
 might have to fight a battle, and that's 
 unsafe ; I am sure it is. Why can't 
 you stay here all the time?" 
 
 " Because I must go where I am sent 
 being in the army and because I 
 must have my pay, you know, Aunt 
 Sophy." 
 
 "But that is not so very much, and 
 why can't you just as well take it of 
 me as the Government ?"
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 137 
 
 " Dear aunty, you are just as kind 
 as you can be, but I couldn't live on 
 you in that way; and I don't feel that 
 I'm old enough to resign yet." 
 
 "But you know all that I have be- 
 longs to me," said Mrs. Bland. " Mr. 
 Bland would leave it to me, and when 
 people talked to him about it, he said 
 I had more sense than people generally 
 gave rne credit for. And you and Anne 
 are the nearest relations I have, except 
 Cousin Hamilton, and she's not very 
 near, now she is in Java. Dear Will, 
 I wish you would let me do something 
 for you. You have been so good about 
 overseeing the painting, and the paper 
 and all." 
 
 " You are doing for me all the while, 
 Aunt Sophy," said Will. " It is the 
 greatest comfort in the world to think of 
 Anne and the children being with you." 
 
 12*
 
 138 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " Anne is so nice and the children are 
 such good little things/' said Mrs. Bland; 
 " but now I suppose we had better go into 
 the parlor. How fortunate it was that 
 Patty thought of having the parlors 
 opened. She is very clever, Patty is, very 
 indeed." 
 
 " Dick," said Will to his brother when 
 they were sitting together upon the porch 
 that evening, "your Aunt Sophy is one of 
 the dearest women in the world." 
 
 "That she is, Will. She lets one do 
 just what they like." 
 
 " That's a very good reason in your eyes 
 I dare say," said the Major, smiling; "but 
 do you take care never to like to do any- 
 thing that can make her uncomfortable. 
 We owe her a great deal. Think how 
 differently we should have been situated 
 but for her, and of her unfailing kindness 
 ever since we came," and then Will
 
 CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS. 139 
 
 repeated part of that morning's talk with 
 his aunt. 
 
 " I'm sure I wish you could stay, Will," 
 said Dick, sighing ; " but of course we 
 could not live on her in that fashion ; but 
 how good she is. 0!" thought Dick to 
 himself, " what a fool and worse than 
 a fool I was to talk about her as I did at 
 Mr. Briggs'. I wish Osborne would never 
 come home," and then Dick looked up and 
 saw Osborne coming up the walk.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A DISCOVERY. 
 
 SAY, Dick Monroe." called out Osborne 
 in his coarsest, loudest voice, " I wish 
 you'd just give me back them books 
 of mine." 
 
 Poor Dick ! he held down his head and 
 muttered something about finding them 
 some other time, and not knowing where 
 they were. 
 
 " Why, Dick, if you have borrowed books 
 of Master Briggs, you must surely know 
 where they are," said his brother. 
 
 " I'll be bound he knows where they are 
 fast enough," said Osborne, with a disa- 
 140
 
 A DISCOVERY. 141 
 
 greeable laugh. " Any way I want 'em, 
 so I wish you'd hunt 'em up, and the 
 papers, too." 
 
 Dick vainly made signs for Osborne to 
 be silent, as he rose reluctantly. 
 
 " I'll bring them up to your house this 
 evening, Osborne," he said, " I meant to 
 send them home before." 
 
 " No, I'll take them now ; I'd rather ; I'm 
 going to have some fellows at our house 
 to-night. I ain't ashamed to have any one 
 know what books I read." 
 
 '''I hope you have no cause, Master 
 Osborne," said the Major, politely. "Go 
 and get the books, Dick, and another time 
 do not wait to have borrowed books sent 
 for before you return them." 
 
 Dick departed reluctantly, but then he 
 remembered that he could wrap them in 
 a newspaper so that his brother would not 
 see them.
 
 142 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 He ran up to his own room and reraoved 
 the chimney-board, which covered the fire- 
 place in summer. Hardly had he done so 
 when he heard his brother's step in the 
 hall, and the next instant Will came into 
 the room. The Major had not the least 
 intention of playing the spy, he had come 
 for his knife which he had left in Dick's 
 room that morning. 
 
 " Why, Dick, that is a very odd place to 
 keep books in," he said, still quite unsuspi- 
 cious, and then seeing Dick's look of 
 confusion and his sudden movement to 
 replace the chimney-board, he added more 
 gravely, " I am rather curious to see what 
 sort of reading Master Briggs is fond of." 
 
 "0, don't Will," cried Dick. "Please 
 don't," he said beseechingly, as Will picked 
 up one of the books, whose coarse, gray 
 paper, and hideous wood cuts, suited well 
 with the matter of the letter press.
 
 The discovery. p age 142.
 
 A DISCOVERY. 143 
 
 " Surely, what you read cannot hurt 
 me," said the Major, as Dick tried to take 
 the book out of his hand. He turned over 
 the pages while Dick stood by in an agony, 
 and then flung the book down as if it had 
 burned him. " Is it possible that you 
 have read this horrible stuff?" he asked. 
 
 "0, Will ! I've never read a word of it 
 since you came home not a word," said 
 Dick, distressed. 
 
 " And these detestable papers with 
 your name on them, and these low novels ! 
 It is a shame that such things should be 
 printed in a civilized country, and not one 
 of them is fit to come into a respectable 
 house. And you must have known you 
 were doing wrong to read them, or you 
 never would have hidden them away from 
 me. 0, Dick ! I thought I could trust 
 you, and I certainly hoped you could me !" 
 
 "I didn't mean to deceive you, Will,
 
 144 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 indeed I didn't," said Dick, almost in tears, 
 " but after you came home I never read a 
 word of them, and I felt sorry and ashamed 
 that I'd ever seen them, and I couldn't 
 bear to have you know it. I know they 
 are hateful things and I wish I'd never 
 seen them ; Osborne gave them to me in 
 the first place, and I wish I'd never seen 
 him either." 
 
 " Don't try to lay the blame on any one 
 else," said the Major, sharply ; " you knew 
 better than to take such books. Dick, if 
 you will tell me honestly you did not 
 know they were wicked perhaps you did 
 not." 
 
 " I did, I did, Will," said Dick ; " I ran 
 away to read them, and read after I went 
 to bed, and once when Aunt Sophy found 
 me with that thing of Dumas', I said it 
 was Masterman Ready; not that she'd 
 have known about the other."
 
 A DISCOVERY. 145 
 
 " So much the more shame for you to 
 deceive her. Go and take those things," 
 said the Major, looking at the books with 
 infinite disgust. " Go and take those 
 things down to Osborne and then come 
 back to me." 
 
 Dick obeyed, put the books and papers 
 together and went down to Osborne. 
 
 "I suppose that dandified brother of 
 yours has been given you a blowing up," 
 said Osborne, sneeringly. 
 
 " If he did I deserved it," said Dick, 
 boldly. " We had no business to read 
 such things, and I've been ashamed ever 
 since I had time to think about it. Do 
 burn them up and don't read them any 
 more." 
 
 " Pshaw ! as if there was any harm in 
 a little fun. You've lived with your sis- 
 ters and that old fool of an aunt of yours, 
 till you're just a great girl-baby yourself." 
 
 13
 
 146 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " Osborne Briggs," said Dick, in a 
 passion, " if you talk so about my aunt I'll 
 knock you down." 
 
 "0, dear! I'd like to see you do it! 
 How long since you felt so ?" said Osborne, 
 rather drawing back nevertheless. " I 
 wonder who- made any more fun of the old 
 lady than you did, at our house?" 
 
 " If I did I was a fool, and worse," said 
 Dick, vehemently, " and you led me into 
 it; more shame for me! and if I ever 
 catch you repeating any of that stuff 
 you'll see what you'll get." 
 
 This was a most unwise speech on 
 Dick's part, as it once showed "Osborne the 
 hold which he possessed over his former 
 admirer. 
 
 <: 0! no, of course I won't repeat it," he 
 answered tauntingly, "you may bet some- 
 thing on that. Suppose I just go into the 
 house now, and tell them all about it,"
 
 A DISCOVERT. 147 
 
 and then as he heard Anne's voice in the 
 hall, he turned away with a threatening 
 gesture, and left Dick to his own reflec- 
 tions, which were by no means agreeable 
 as he slowly ascended the stairs and re- 
 turned to Will. 
 
 "Have you ever shown any of these 
 precious volumes to Diana?" asked the 
 Major, as he entered the room. 
 
 "0, no, Will, of course I hadn't," said 
 Dick, " and she wouldn't have had any- 
 thing to do with them if I had. We 
 found a book, I forget the title of it, 
 up in the garret once, and she read a little 
 of it and threw it out of the window, 
 because she knew it was a hateful bad 
 book, and she wouldn't read such stuff." 
 
 " I am glad Diana has so much sense. 
 I wish you had." 
 
 " But, Will," said Dick, " isn't it different 
 for a boy ?"
 
 148 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "That is the idea with some but it's 
 not mine. It seems to me a young man 
 needs the safeguard of a pure heart and 
 imagination, even more than a woman, for 
 lie is more exposed to temptation. Did 
 you ever hear that all the exhortations to 
 purity of life in the Bible were addressed 
 to women alone. Does St. Paul say, 
 * Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever 
 things are lovely, let the women think on 
 these things. It's different for men ' ? Is 
 St. Peter speaking to women alone, when 
 he tells his converts 'to be holy in all 
 manner of conversation ' ?" 
 
 "No," said Dick, "but I didn't think 
 about that." 
 
 " There was the trouble I suspect, Dick ; 
 I would have given anything I have in the 
 world, rather than have found those vile 
 books in your possession, hidden away in 
 that fashion, too."
 
 A DISCOVERY. 149 
 
 " But Will," said Dick, rather timidly, 
 "don't you I mean do you, ever read 
 anything you wouldn't want everybody to 
 know ?" 
 
 " I wonder if I have ever given you any 
 reason to think me a liar and a hypocrite," 
 gaid the Major hotly, and he turned away 
 and began walking up and down the room. 
 
 " 0, Will, no, of course not. Please 
 don't be so angry with me," said Dick, 
 greatly distressed. " Only Osborne said 
 all gentlemen did, and that officers were 
 very different in garrison from what they 
 were out." 
 
 "Osborne is undoubtedly a judge of the 
 manners and customs of gentlemen, and 
 on Ids word you could believe that I was 
 a humbug and a Pharisee. I don't think 
 I should have been so ready to believe lies 
 about you." Will stopped his walk up 
 and down the room, turned away his face,
 
 150 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 and stood looking out of the window trying 
 to regain his composure, for he was both 
 hurt and provoked. 
 
 " I didn't believe it, Will, I didn't," said 
 Dick, " not a minute after you came home. 
 I don't see what possessed me to run after 
 Osborne, and to act as I did this summer. 
 I've been dreadfully ashamed of myself 
 ever since I really thought about it, and I 
 wish, as much as you do, I'd never seen 
 the hateful things, and I've tried to do 
 right, and get my lessons, and be good to 
 Anne and Di ever since that morning. 
 Indeed I have, "Will." 
 
 " I think you have, Dick," said the 
 Major, softening ; " but what troubles me 
 most in the matter is, that you should be 
 willing to be led by that fellow." 
 
 " I'm sure I don't see what possessed 
 me," repeated Dick. 
 
 " I can tell you, if you really want to
 
 A DISCOVERY. 151 
 
 know; I greatly suspect it was self-will 
 and conceit, and an idea that you were 
 doing something fine and manly, because 
 you were doing something you knew Anne 
 would not like. Didn't you think your- 
 self too grand to obey any one ?" 
 
 Dick looked down, he was ashamed to 
 say yes, and he was too conscious to say 
 no. 
 
 u I was perverse," he acknowledged 
 at last. 
 
 " I am afraid so, but I give you due 
 credit for trying to do better. I have 
 noticed it, and been glad to see it; but 
 look here, Dick," said the Major, ear- 
 nestly, " don't let any foolish talk, or 
 mischief-maker come between you and 
 me. I give you my word of honor 
 that I have never read what I knew to 
 be base and vile, or have I frequented 
 bad or low company. I haven't always
 
 152 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 resisted sin as I ought, I know, and my 
 temper has led me into trouble more 
 than once ; but if I have been able, under 
 God's grace, to resist, where some that 
 I know have given way, it is owing 
 more to Anne's influence than to any- 
 thing else. It was her example and 
 life that led me, in the first place, to 
 call myself Christ's disciple, and you 
 can have no better guide or adviser 
 than your sister." 
 
 Will spoke with a good deal of emotion, 
 and Dick was much moved, for his 
 brother was generally slow to speak of 
 his own personal feelings, and was more 
 given to acting than to talking of his 
 religion. 
 
 "0, Will! I am sorry," said Dick, 
 now fairly crying; "and I didn't mean 
 to deceive you exactly, only I was so 
 ashamed to have you know what I'd
 
 A DISCOVERY. 153 
 
 been doing; but I'll never read another 
 book without asking you or Anne, if 
 you say so, and I don't care what you 
 do to me ; I deserve it all." 
 
 " I'm not going to do anything to 
 you," said Will, kindly, taking Dick's 
 hand in his own, "only to tell you 
 never to have anything farther to do 
 with that boy. Will you remember?" 
 
 "Yes, indeed. I'm sure I don't want 
 anything to do with him." 
 
 " See that you don't. If he says any- 
 thing about it, tell him in so many 
 words I told you not to play with 
 him." 
 
 " And you'll forgive me, Will ?" 
 
 "Yes, my boy only give me your 
 word to let Osborne, and his books, and 
 his talk alone in future." 
 
 "I will, indeed," said Dick, fully 
 meaning what he said. " I hope I'll
 
 154 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 never be such a fool again ; I'm sure I 
 sha'n't." 
 
 "You can't be sure," said the Major; 
 " and that is not the safest way either. 
 There is only One who can keep you 
 in the straight path, and he has given 
 you a sure guide, if you'll only look to 
 Him." 
 
 " I know, Will, and that was some 
 more of Osborne's nonsense I listened 
 to. He said only girls and milk sops 
 said their prayers, or cared anything for 
 religion." 
 
 " Don't you think Washington, and 
 Oliver Cromwell, and William of Orange 
 were rather men than otherwise ?" 
 
 "I think I needn't have looked that 
 far to see what stuff it was," said 
 Dick, proudly. "I think I might have 
 remembered how you brought off Ser- 
 geant May, after the Camanches had
 
 A DISCOVERY. 155 
 
 got him, charging right into the middle 
 of them all alone." 
 
 " Never mind that, Dick," said the 
 Major, coloring, very much indeed like a 
 girl ; " and now I shall never say another 
 word about this matter, only to ask you 
 to remember when you are in school with 
 all sorts of boys, that you must not be led 
 into wrong doing for fear of a laugh. As 
 to Osborne Briggs I trust your word, and 
 now we had better go down stairs." 
 
 " I think I'll go to bed," said Dick ; " I 
 don't feel like talking." 
 
 " Very well, I'll make your excuses. 
 Good-night, dear." 
 
 " I've got off a sight better than I 
 deserved," said Dick to himself \ when he 
 was left alone. " Never say another word 
 about the matter ! I'll be bound he won't; 
 that's one good thing about Will. He just 
 comes clown on you and done with it. He
 
 156 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 don't keep tagging at a fellow all the 
 while. I most wish I had told him how I 
 talked about aunty; but after what she 
 said this morning he'd have been so 
 provoked and sorry, and she'll never know 
 it. It's all over now. ' 
 
 But it was unhappily not all over. 
 Dick said his prayers with much more 
 than his usual sense of their meaning, and 
 was soon sound asleep.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GOING TO SCHOOL. 
 
 FTER the children had left her for 
 their first day in school, that Monday 
 morning, Anne went up into the 
 deserted school-room and cried. She felt 
 it was right they should go, the plan had 
 been her own to begin with, but still she 
 felt lonely, and as if the little brother and 
 sister, who had been her care so long, were 
 going out from her into the world, and 
 would never be what they had been before. 
 The children went down to the academy 
 in the carriage with Will, chatting all the 
 way until they came in sight of the 
 14 157
 
 158 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 academy building, when they became 
 suddenly silent. Diana squeezed Dick's 
 hand in a state of excitement ; not quite 
 fear, but something a little like it, and yet 
 not altogether unpleasant. 
 
 The academy was a large square brick 
 building with faded green blinds. At 
 some remote period it had been painted 
 white, but the paint had peeled off in 
 spots and streaks, giving it an agreeable 
 speckled and mottled appearance. It stood 
 in a large square enclosure containing 
 several noble elms, and a few half-grown 
 maples. School had begun, so that there 
 was no one to be seen about the place, 
 except one little girl in a pink sunbonnet, 
 who was evidently late, and was in no 
 hurry to enter. 
 
 " 0, dear !" said Diana, to herself, " I 
 wonder if I shall like it;" while Dick 
 thought that there was a famous play-
 
 GOING TO SCHOOL. 159 
 
 ground, and wondered if John had ever 
 climbed the tallest of those big oak trees. 
 
 There was a bell at the door, and Will's 
 summons was answered by a tall, precise, 
 prim-looking young man, whom you would 
 have known for a school-master, if you 
 had met him in the Arabian Desert. 
 
 In answer to Will's polite inquiry for 
 Mr. Lyon, he made a bow of rather a 
 wooden description, and ushered them into 
 a little room where was a strip of carpet, 
 two venerable globes, and a large book- 
 case containing a variety of books well- 
 selected and apparently much used. 
 
 Dick and Diana were reading over the 
 titles when Mr. Lyon entered with the 
 book he had been using in his hand. His 
 entrance was so sudden, swift, and still, 
 that the children opened their eyes and 
 wondered whether he always went about 
 like that.
 
 160 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Mr. Lyon was rather a small gentleman 
 with a hook nose, a firm set mouth, a pair 
 of bright, dark-blue, deep set eyes, under 
 black brows and lashes, a wide, rather 
 low forehead, which he had a habit of 
 wrinkling up in an odd fashion, and a 
 thick crop of iron-grey hair standing 
 straight up on the top of his head. 
 
 " Good-morning, sir," he said to Will in 
 a sharp, quick, yet very courteous tone 
 and manner. " I suppose these two are 
 your young people. Good-morning, sir. 
 Good-morning, ma'am," and he made two 
 little, swift bows to Dick and Diana, who 
 were so altogether taken by surprise that 
 they could only stand and look, first at 
 Mr. Lyon and then at each other. 
 
 "Yes," said the Major; "I am afraid 
 you will find them rather ignorant about 
 the way things are managed in school, for 
 they have always studied at home, but as
 
 GOING TO SCHOOL. 161 
 
 far as they have gone in their books, they 
 have been pretty well drilled by my 
 sinter." 
 
 " Doubtless, doubtless ; I have had the 
 pleasure of meeting Miss Monroe, a very 
 superior young woman, very superior. 
 What would you wish the young people to 
 study ?" 
 
 " We leave that to you, Mr. Lyon. 
 You can tell when you have examined 
 them what classes they are fit for." 
 
 "Yes, sir, certainly," and all on a 
 sudden, almost without time to say good- 
 by to Will, and hear his whispered word 
 of encouragement, Dick and Diana found 
 themselves following Mr. Lyon up the 
 much worn staircase into the large school- 
 room, and standing beside him on a plat- 
 form raised by two steps from the floor. 
 The principal set a chair for Diana saying, 
 "be seated ma'am," and then turned to 
 14*
 
 1G2 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 the class which was on a long settee hefore 
 him, and which he had been hearing when 
 interrupted. It was a class in higher 
 arithmetic, and Dick began to have mis- 
 givings as to what sort of figure he should 
 make in school, when he heard the 
 rapidity with which questions were asked 
 and answered. Meanwhile Diana, con- 
 scious that they were the mark for all eyes, 
 held down her head, and wished Mr. Lyon 
 would send her to her seat. She would 
 have liked to have got hold of Dick's hand 
 had she not been sure that it would annoy 
 him, and then she felt encouraged as she 
 caught a glance and smile from John, and 
 another from Alice Vale, who was in her 
 Sunday-school class. In a few minutes 
 the boys and girls were dismissed, and 
 returned to their seats in a very still and 
 orderly manner. 
 
 "And what have you been studying,
 
 GOING TO SCHOOL. 163 
 
 ma'am ?" said Mr. Lyon, turning to Diana, 
 and half taking away her breath by the 
 swiftness; with which he spoke. Mr. 
 Lyon addressed all his girl pupils as 
 "ma'am," from the youngest little trot 
 in the primary room, to the tallest young 
 lady in the graduating class. 
 
 " Arithmetic once through, grammar, 
 history and Latin, sir," Diana managed 
 to say in a hurried half-whisper. 
 
 " Take time take time, ma'am," said 
 Mr. Lyon. kindly, for he was always 
 willing to give time, though he never 
 took it himself; "and you?" he added, 
 turning to Dick. 
 
 " The same as Diana, sir." 
 
 " Very well. What Latin ?" 
 
 "The reader, sir, and Caesar; and 
 we have been part way through the 
 exercise book." 
 
 " Ah ! indeed. Could you read Horace?"
 
 164 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 *-^^e *^4^*- 
 
 "I don't know, sir; I never tried," said 
 Dick, who felt it was rather a silly speech 
 as soon as the words were out of his 
 mouth, although he had not had the 
 least intention of a joke. 
 
 "I think I shall let you try. We 
 Lave no one in Csesar at present, and 
 your sister can go with the class that 
 is just beginning Virgil." 
 
 Diana looked rather dismayed. She 
 had taken it as a matter of course 
 that she and Dick were to be together. 
 
 Mr. Lyon seemed to guess her thoughts, 
 for he said, kindly, 
 
 " There are only large boys in Horace, 
 and my Virgil class is too large already 
 to admit you both. You will be to- 
 gether in your other studies. Do you 
 know any one here, ma'am ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir. We know John Graham 
 and Alice Vale."
 
 GOING TO SCHOOL. 165 
 
 " Miss Vale has a vacant seat beside 
 her; and Graham, please to come here 
 a moment." 
 
 John came, and looked with a smile 
 at his two friends, as they stood shyly 
 side by side. 
 
 " Do you care about keeping your 
 present seat?" asked Mr. Lyon of John. 
 
 " No, sir, not much. I'd rather sit 
 somewhere with Dick." 
 
 " Very well. Smith can sit back where 
 you are, and you and Monroe can take 
 the two seats, of which he has one." 
 Dick straightened himself, and held up 
 his head. It gave him a pleasantly old 
 sensation to be called " Monroe." " I 
 will show you your seat, ma'am," con- 
 tinued Mr. Lyon; and, with great po- 
 liteness, he led Diana down the aisle, 
 and placed her next to Alice, who 
 received her with a smile and a kiss.
 
 166 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "He's nice, if he is queer," thought 
 Diana. "It was kind in him to put 
 us next to people we know." 
 
 Ordinarily, Mr. Lyon would not have 
 taken so much trouble, but he under- 
 stood the shyness which the two home- 
 bred children must feel among so many- 
 strangers. The change of John's seat 
 was soon made, and the business of the 
 schoolroom went on. 
 
 " Did you ever keep up with a thrash- 
 ing machine ?" asked the boy directly 
 behind Dick, as Mr. Lyon sped back to 
 the platform. 
 
 " No sir," said Dick, bewildered. 
 
 " Then you've got to now, that's all." 
 
 The oracular youth spake no more, but 
 Dick pondered over his words that morning 
 in the interval between his grammar lesson 
 and the third one, to which he gave more 
 study than he had ever given to any lesson.
 
 GOING TO SCHOOL. 167 
 
 The Horace class was the last in the 
 morning session, and before it came he 
 and Diana went up to the recitation room 
 on the next floor to recite to Mr. Mclntyre, 
 the assistant. John and Alice went with 
 them. 
 
 " Is Mr. Mclntyre a school teacher ?" 
 asked Diana of John as they went up 
 stairs. 
 
 " He ain't anything else," said John 
 promptly, and when Diana found herself 
 seated in front of Mr. Mclntyre she felt 
 that John was right. 
 
 Mr. Mclntyre was a sort of teaching 
 machine, and if he had only had machines 
 to teach it would have been all right. He 
 took a world of pains to make his pupils 
 understand their lessons ; he never scolded 
 and never praised. He never seemed to 
 care for his scholars as boys and girls, but 
 simply as so many live creatures sent to
 
 168 TUE ICE BAFT. 
 
 him to have so many dollars worth of 
 facts put, into them in the course of the 
 term. As a matter of course the said 
 boys and girls either cared no more for 
 him than if he had been a wooden man, or 
 regarded him with actual dislike. When 
 Mr. Lyon left the school-house he was 
 usually surrounded with as many of hLs 
 pupils as could keep up with him, an I 
 Miss Spencer, of the primary department, 
 walked encircled by a cloud of infants; 
 but no one ever walked home with Mr. 
 Mclntyre. The young man himself sup- 
 posed this to be a proof of his superiority. 
 
 " Have }'ou the lesson, Miss Monroe ?" 
 he asked of Diana, in a tone so cold that 
 she fancied she had offended him and 
 could not think how. 
 
 " Yes, sir," she answered. 
 
 "And you?" he asked of Dick. 
 
 " I think I can do the sums, sir," replied
 
 GOING TO SCHOOL. 169 
 
 Dick, for the book was the same which he 
 had used at home, and they were a few 
 pages back of the last lesson he had recited 
 to Anne. 
 
 Now Mr. Mclntyre had a great con- 
 tempt for all home teaching, and he fully 
 expected to find Dick and Diana a pair of 
 dunces. I do not know how it was that 
 Dick knew what Mr. Mclntyre expected, 
 and felt a combative desire to disappoint 
 him. The first question was worked out 
 by Alice Vale, who stood at the head of 
 the class ; the next by John ; but the next 
 was passed down till it came to Dick who 
 rose to go to the board, feeling quite confi- 
 dent that he could do the sum. 
 
 " If you are not sure you can do this," 
 said Mr. Mclntyre in the same cold tone, 
 "you had better not go up. It only 
 wastes time." 
 
 " I am sure," said Dick, rather bluntly. 
 
 15
 
 170 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Diana watched her brother breathlessly, 
 and could have clapped her hands as the 
 answer came right. 
 
 John and Alice looked at each other, 
 and then smiled encouragement to Diana. 
 Mr. Melntyre bade Dick explain the 
 operation, which he was perfectly able to 
 do, and then sent him back to his seat 
 with the same coldness, which Dick, 
 unused to such a manner, took as personal 
 to himself. 
 
 " Miss Monroe," said Mr. Melntyre, 
 " can you do the next ?" 
 
 Diana rose, blushing and trembling, and 
 went up to the board, but Mr. Melntyre 
 had not an encouraging tone or look for 
 the nervous little girl making her first 
 essay before strangers. He had no inten- 
 tion of being unkind, but he was obtuse 
 and unsympathetic. 
 
 He gave her the question, and the figures
 
 GOING TO SCHOOL. 171 
 
 were correct, but she perplexed herself a 
 little on the explanation, and though she 
 made but one mistake, which she corrected, 
 she returned to her seat feeling as if she 
 had disgraced herself, and wondering how 
 she could have displeased the teacher. 
 
 "Whatever did I do?" said Diana, 
 almost in tears, to Alice as they went 
 down stairs. 
 
 " Nothing, why ?" 
 
 " Because Mr. Mclntyre spoke to me 
 so." 
 
 " Pooh !" said John, " never mind, that's 
 only his way, he's always just so, he 
 always acts just as if he expected you to 
 miss, and so we're always bent on disap- 
 pointing him, and learn for that reason." 
 
 " He don't mean anything," said Alice. 
 "He is just so to every one. You did 
 real well," and Diana went back to her 
 seat rather consoled.
 
 172 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Then came the Latin ; Diana trembled 
 as she took her seat at the bottom of the 
 long row of boys and girls. She was the 
 smallest and youngest in the class, and 
 very small and young she felt as the rapid 
 questions and answers went on, and the 
 parsing rattled so swiftly from the tongues 
 accustomed to Mr. Lyon's quick ways. 
 
 " Have you read the lesson, Miss 
 Monroe?" said Mr. Lyon to her, "or 
 haven't you had time ?" 
 
 " Only five lines, sir," said Diana, in 
 almost a whisper. 
 
 " Very well, read and translate. Don't 
 hurry, ma'am, there is time enough," said 
 Mr Lyon kindly, thinking to himself, 
 "Poor little thing! How frightened she 
 is." 
 
 Diana began her translation in a trem- 
 bling voice, but gathered self-possession as 
 she went on, and was encouraged when she
 
 GOING TO SCHOOL. 173 
 
 stopped, by a " very well, ma'am ; very 
 correctly rendered," and then came the 
 parsing which she dreaded ; but she some- 
 way found herself lifted on and along, and 
 going fast without feeling hurried. 
 
 "Very well, ma'am; very good indeed. 
 I see you hav^ been well taught," said 
 Mr. Lyon, in his quick voice, as Diana 
 stopped, rather astonished to find how 
 much more she knew than she had 
 supposed. 
 
 Diana w r ent back to her seat devoted to 
 the principal. From that hour Mr. Lyon 
 had no more faithful follower than herself. 
 
 The class in Horace consisted of a 
 dozen boys, most of them almost young 
 men, some of them quite grown ; but 
 Dick was surprised to find that the 
 lesson was much easier than he had 
 expected. He did not quite understand 
 how it was, or suspect how much he 
 
 15*
 
 174 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 was helped, but he saw that Mr. Lyon 
 waited for him as he did not for his 
 companions, and resolved that he would 
 lose no time in acquiring, as far as 
 possible, that readiness and quickness 
 which seemed to him so surprising. On 
 the whole, the children went home well 
 pleased with their first day in school.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 
 
 r T WAS not many days before Dick 
 j and Diana found > themselves quite 
 at home in the academy ; they ceased 
 to feel embarrassed in class, and found 
 less difficulty in keeping themselves in 
 readiness for the swift question and 
 answer, which, on review days especially, 
 went flying down the class like a tele- 
 graphic message. They did not grow 
 to like Mr. Mclntyre any more than 
 at first, but Dick had never taken more 
 pains in his life to prepare his lessons, 
 for he was convinced that his teacher 
 
 175
 
 176 THE ICE Pv AFT. 
 
 Avould have been pleased had he turned 
 out a failure. I cannot say whether 
 such was really the case, but Mr. Me- 
 In tyre's unfortunate manner gave some 
 warrant for such an idea. Diana, after 
 a while, ceased to be embarrassed by 
 his cold looks and tones ; but her gfammar 
 and arithmetic, which she recited to Mr. 
 Mclntyre, and which with Anne had 
 been her favorite studies, rather declined. 
 On the contrary, Latin and history, under 
 Mr. Lyon, went up several degrees. 
 
 The book on which the class was at 
 that time engaged was that respectable old 
 volume, " Pinnock's Goldsmith's Greece," 
 but it was a mere pin to hold Mr. 
 Lyon's lectures and illustrations, and 
 he did not hesitate to pull the text- 
 book to pieces, and treat its conclusions 
 with scorn, if he thought proper. Mr. 
 Lyon's aim was not merely to pass over
 
 SUMMARi' JUSTICE. 177 
 
 so many pages in a given time, but to 
 make his pupils see and feel that the 
 part was real, and its inhabitants living 
 people. So the text-book really had 
 very little to do with the recitations. 
 The story was illustrated by extracts 
 from larger works; by descriptions of 
 character, manners and customs, so full 
 of life, and so vivid, that John said he 
 was sure Mr. Lyon must have lived in 
 Athens, and fought the Spartans. 
 
 Just then the class had come to the story 
 of the siege of Syracuse, and the whole 
 school was divided into two parties, some 
 sympathising with the Greeks and some 
 with the Sicilians ; some of them calling 
 the Athenian commander "an old fool" in 
 their indignation, and others pitying him 
 for his misfortunes. The boys made 
 models of the city, and the fortifications, in 
 a sand heap in the play-ground, and each
 
 178 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 party demonstrated to his or her satisfac- 
 tion, that Syracuse could or could not have 
 been taken. At the end of the pitiful 
 story all the girls were in tears, the Syra- 
 cusan party among the boys a little tri- 
 umphant, and the Athenians "only wish- 
 ing they'd been there " to fight the Sicili- 
 ans and their Spartan allies, and all 
 detesting Alcibiades, whom Mr. Lyon 
 seemed to regard as a personal enemy, so 
 severe were his denunciations and so hot 
 his indignation against one whom John, 
 in rather an Irish manner, described as " a 
 second Benedict Arnold." 
 
 Dick and Diana, who had always lived 
 with people who read books and talked 
 about them, and had early acquired a 
 taste for reading, had the advantage of 
 possessing more general information than 
 their classmates, and could frequently 
 answer questions and explain references
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 179 
 
 which the others did not understand. 
 Diana being the youngest in her class and 
 small of her age, was looked upon with 
 some admiration, and received credit for 
 more than she deserved. 
 
 Being in most of the same classes as the 
 older girls she naturally fell into their 
 company, and " little Di Monroe " was a 
 great favorite, not only with the young 
 ladies but with the boys. Withal Diana 
 was more of a child than many girls of 
 her own age, and rather scandalized Dick 
 by the zeal with which she entered into 
 children's pursuits, being quite as ready to 
 build baby houses with little Nelly Adams, 
 as she was to join Martha Dale, the tallest 
 and most dignified girl in school, in a 
 search through every available book to 
 settle some vexed question arising from 
 Virgil or their history. Dick was un- 
 speakably mortified one morning when his
 
 180 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 sister scattered some half-dozen paper dolls 
 and their dresses out of the ^Eneid. The 
 class smiled, and so did Mr. Lyon, but 
 Diana smiled with them and did not feel 
 at all disturbed. She was not at all 
 ashamed of her dollies, and saw no reason 
 why she should not play with them if she 
 liked. 
 
 "I do wish, Di, you wouldn't be so 
 silly," said Dick to her as soon as he could 
 find her at recess. 
 
 "Why?" asked Diana. 
 
 "Playing with paper dolls just like a 
 little girl." 
 
 " Well, I am a little girl," said Diana. 
 
 " Nonsense ! you know what I mean. 
 All the boys are laughing at you!" 
 
 " Are they ?" said Diana a little troubled. 
 
 "0, Diana," said Harvey Grey, aged 
 eighteen, and the tallest boy in school; 
 " I say, Mr. Lyon wants us to find out all
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 181 
 
 we can about Ephesus, and Diana there, 
 your namesake." 
 
 " She wasn't," said Diana, laughing ; " I 
 was named for my aunt. I don't like 
 Diana, the goddess, a bit. I think she 
 was real hateful and cross; but what 
 about Ephesus ?" 
 
 " I wish you'd coach us a little. You'll 
 be sure to know more about it than any 
 one else, or tell us some book we can find 
 it in. There's hardly anything in Lem- 
 priere." 
 
 "Yes, do come, Diana," said Ida Hart, 
 a large, sleepy, blonde young woman of 
 sixteen. " Dear ! I wish I knew as much 
 as you do." 
 
 "O my !" cried Dinna, "I don't know 
 anything but what Anne's told me, and we 
 read about Ephesus last Sunday, in a big 
 life of St. Paul that used to be father's. 
 I'll tell you all I can recollect, but I dare 
 
 16
 
 182 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 say Dick knows more than I do about it," 
 added Diana, who felt rather than saw 
 that Dick was a little put out. 
 
 " I'm going to play ball," said Dick 
 shortly, turning away, as Diana wns carried 
 off in the other direction to the library, 
 where the best girls and boys of the class 
 were "hunting" the given subject. 
 
 " Diana gets real conceited," thought 
 Dick to himself, as he walked away. He 
 could not help feeling rather vexed to find 
 that his little sister was more popular 
 than himself. There might indeed have 
 been some danger of Diana's growing con- 
 ceited, but that she compared herself not 
 with her companions, but with Anne and 
 Will. She was pleased to find herself 
 liked and petted, and responded to it all 
 with frank cordiality. Dick's little pet 
 wore off before recess was over, and the 
 praise which Mr. Lyon bestowed on him
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 183 
 
 in class, healed the little pain in his 
 temper which Harvey had occasioned. 
 Friday morning, when the whole school 
 was exercised on geography and spelling, 
 he answered two questions which Diana 
 missed, and was in a very good humor. 
 But unfortunately the afternoon renewed 
 his vexation. Friday afternoon was a sort 
 of festival in the schuol, as the period of 
 what were called literary exercises ; that is 
 to say, the girls read such selections as they 
 had chosen, the boys spoke "pieces" and 
 dialogues, and then the principal read 
 aloud those compositions which he thought 
 most worthy the honor, always putting 
 the best last. The compositions were read 
 only every other Friday, as on the alter- 
 nate ones the paper supported by the 
 school was read aloud by the editor. 
 Both Dick and Diana had hud articles in 
 the " Galaxy/' as the paper was called, but
 
 184 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 ~*r-f<yr^ l*>*-^ 
 
 neither had yet attained to the distinction 
 of composition day; for there were about 
 a hundred papers a week, and Mr. Lyon 
 never chose more than a dozen to read. 
 
 Diana had thought this honor as much 
 out of her reach as the stars, but Dick's 
 ambition was roused, and he took a world 
 of pains with his compositions. Unhappily 
 the more pains he took the more he ran 
 into fine writing, which Mr. Lyon detested, 
 and his papers were returned to him with 
 the adjectives ruthlessly crossed out and 
 the figures of speech cancelled. This 
 week he had written an ambitious essay 
 on " Passing Away." Mr. Lyon, who read 
 about fifty-two themes a year on the same 
 subject, marked Dick's with numerous cor- 
 rections and returned it. Diana, who had 
 been greatly interested in the Syracusan 
 siege, and, like the rest of her class, had 
 made notes of Mr. Lyon's lectures, wrote a
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 185 
 
 story about a child who had strayed 
 beyond the city walls, and into the camp 
 of the enemy. The little story was simply 
 told and childish enough, but still there 
 was a certain freshness and life about it 
 that pleased Mr. Lyon. No one could 
 have been more astonished than Diana 
 when she heard the first sentence of her 
 own composition, and when " Diana 
 Monroe" was read at the end, she threw a 
 quick glance across to Dick, expecting a 
 look in return. But Dick was gazing out 
 of the window, and seemed not to have 
 heard or cared. It was Martha Dale, 
 Harvey, John and Alice who congratu- 
 lated her after school, but Dick did not 
 say a word till they were driving home 
 with Simeon. Then he did have the grace 
 to feel ashamed, and to tell Diana that he 
 thought her story was very good, and that 
 lie was glad Mr. Lyon read it, but he did 
 
 16*
 
 186 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 not quite recover from his little vexation 
 by Monday morning, for Mr. Lyon's pencil 
 had made very black and frequent marks 
 on " Passing Away," and it was not possi- 
 ble but that the author should be provoked. 
 Then John's composition had been read 
 too, though Mr. Lyon prefaced it "with the 
 remark, that he read it not so much for 
 the style as because it was short, and 
 because he wished that the author and the 
 whole school would act according to the 
 concluding sentiment. John had no talent 
 for composition whatever, and after beat- 
 ing his brain in vain for a subject, he had 
 gone to Mr. Leslie, who had suggested 
 " Things to be Done," upon which John 
 had written as follows : 
 
 " I am going to write about things to be 
 done. There are a great many things to 
 be done, some people have one thing to do 
 and some another. Some men have pig.s
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 187 
 
 to drive, it is very hard to drive pigs, pigs 
 always want to go the other way. They 
 go into peoples gates that they dont belong 
 to. Some scholars act very much like 
 pigs. 
 
 " Some people have bridges to build, and 
 sometimes rivers carry them off. Some 
 people have books to write, others have to 
 take care of babies. Some people work on 
 a farm, and some people are in the army. 
 Some things are very hard to do. If a 
 person has got a hard thing to do, the best 
 way is to find out the best way to do it, 
 and then go at it and stick to it. This is 
 all I have got to say about things to do." 
 
 John joined in the little laugh which 
 this essay raised in the school-room, and 
 thou.uht no more about it, his head being 
 just then more full of a game of base-ball, 
 which was to be played on Saturday, than 
 of his studies.
 
 188 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Now, whether it was this game or 
 whether it was something in the air, it is 
 certain that the school on Monday morning 
 was more "out of gear" than it had been 
 for a long time. Many pupils were late, 
 especially the older boys who belonged to 
 the ball-club, and the lessons undeniably 
 dragged. Mr. Mclntyre up stairs grew 
 colder and more impassive; and Mr. 
 Lyon down stairs grew quicker and 
 quicker, and Harvey Grey shook his head 
 and warned his classmates that " the 
 principal was getting up steam, and they'd 
 better look out." Mr. Lyon and Mr. 
 Mclntyre were quite able to fight their 
 own battles, but Miss Allen, who heard 
 some of the junior classes, was not. She 
 was a pretty, delicate young lady of nine- 
 teen, who had been a pupil only two 
 years before. She was most anxious to 
 do the best that could be done., and her
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 189 
 
 very anxiety stood in her way, for she 
 allowed her pupils to worry her and make 
 her nervous. 
 
 Some of her scholars found a malicious 
 pleasure in distressing the sensitive girl. 
 The principal always took her part in an 
 energetic manner if he saw cause, but he 
 could not be present at her classes, and if 
 she were annoyed Miss Allen never com- 
 plained. Dick admired the junior teacher 
 greatly, and though he was in none of her 
 classes, he took great pains to be polite 
 and respectful to her. He could not help 
 seeing her trials with some of her pupils, 
 and they reminded him very uncomforta- 
 bly of his treatment of Anne, during that 
 fit of perversity which he now remembered 
 with shame. 
 
 " Dear me !" he said to himself, " I 
 wonder if I did look as silly and mean as 
 these children do?"
 
 190 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 This Monday morning it seemed as if 
 the "imp of the perverse" had possessed 
 Miss Allen's geography classes. They did 
 not set her at open defiance, for the disci- 
 pline of the school was too well under- 
 stood, but they came as near to it as they 
 dared. They missed questions which they 
 knew perfectly well; they exchanged 
 significant and contemptuous glances; 
 they made noises with their feet; they 
 dropped their books. It was but a few 
 unruly spirits that engaged in this revolt, 
 but the indignant glances of the better 
 minded members of the class only made 
 them more provoking. 
 
 Finally Matthew Wells, an over-grown 
 backward boy of fifteen, one of the 
 greatest dunces in the school, on being told 
 to go to the map, said, insolently enough, 
 he " didn't want to." 
 
 " That's not the question," said Miss
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 191 
 
 Allen, trying hard to control herself; "go 
 to the map directly." 
 
 " laint a cjoin to," said the boy roughly. 
 
 Even those who had been doing their 
 best to torment their teacher looked at 
 each other in some alarm at this speech. 
 Such words had never been heard from 
 one of Mr. Lyon's scholars before. Mat- 
 thew, however, was new to the way of the 
 academy. He had been the tyrant of a 
 country school, and did not understand his 
 present situation. 
 
 Poor Miss Allen ! She had watched 
 the night before with a sick child, and 
 the want of sleep had increased her 
 usual nervousness. She was silent a 
 moment, in a vain effort to preserve her 
 composure, and then burst into a fit 
 of sobbing, the very .worst thing she 
 could have done under the circumstances. 
 Little Nelly Adams, the youngest
 
 192 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 child, up-stairs, had watched the morn- 
 ing's work with ever increasing indig- 
 nation, which now boiled over. She 
 loved Miss Allen dearly, and reckless 
 of anything but her distress, she sprang 
 to the door of the class-room, and called 
 out in her high, childish lisp, 
 
 " Misther Lyon ! Misther Lyon ! pleath 
 come here and thee how the naughty 
 boyth is abuthing my Mith Allen!" 
 
 A laugh ran through the schoolroom, 
 but Mr. Lyon darted -from the plat- 
 form, and into the recitation room. A 
 sudden silence fell upon the class, but 
 poor Miss Allen could not so soon control 
 the hysterical sobs which shook her from 
 head to foot. 
 
 " What's the matter, rna'am ?" asked 
 the principal. 
 
 " I am very silly," said Miss Allen, 
 in quivering accents.
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 193 
 
 "What is it, Miss Nelly?" asked Mr. 
 Lyon, of the little girl, who answered 
 Matthew's threatening gesture with a 
 glance of defiance. 
 
 " Pleathe, thir," lisped Nelly, " he thaid 
 ' I won't/ when he wath thent to the 
 map, and he and thorae of them hath 
 been behaving thsharneful all the morn- 
 ing, and I think ith mean." 
 
 "Did Wells say <I won't' to you, 
 ma'am?" asked Mr. Lyon, with bright- 
 ening eyes. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Miss Allen. 
 
 "Ask Miss Allen's pardon instantly," 
 said Mr. Lyon, in tones that rang like 
 steel on steel. 
 
 "I'm not goin' to for you," retorted 
 Matthews, rather alarmed, but endeavor- 
 ing to face the matter out. 
 
 Mr. Lyon flew at him, literally seem- 
 ing to fly, and shook him much as a
 
 194 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 terrier shakes a rat. Matthews was 
 quite as tall and large as the principal, but 
 the sudden swiftness of the attack crushed 
 his powers of resistance. 
 
 " Will you ask Miss Allen's pardon 
 now ?" said the principal, with his hand 
 on Matthew's shoulder. 
 
 " Yes 'ir," said the boy, in a breathless 
 whisper, and not quite sure whether he 
 stood on his head or his feet. 
 
 " Do it then." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Miss Allen," said 
 Matthews. 
 
 "Very well," said Mr. Lyon, retain- 
 ing his hold of the offender. "Is there 
 any one else who won't go to the map ?" 
 
 But the class was mute as so many 
 mice. 
 
 " You had better go home and rest, 
 ma'am," said Mr. Lyon to Miss Allen, 
 who, in the tenderness of her heart,
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 195 
 
 would have interceded for Matthew. 
 " You are tired out. Miss Dale shall 
 hear your classes, and you need not 
 come this afternoon. Good-morning, 
 ma'am," and he opened the door and 
 bowed the weeping teacher out. " Miss 
 Nelly, please ask Miss Dale to come 
 here. You have done perfectly right, 
 and I thank you, ma'am. Miss Dale," 
 he continued, as Martha entered, "will 
 you oblige me by hearing Miss Allen's 
 classes to day. If you meet with the 
 least trouble, please to tell me directly. 
 Wells, do you come down into the library 
 with me." 
 
 What came to pass in the library no 
 one knew, but Matthew presently reap- 
 peared with a very red face, and pointed 
 out all the places on the map to Martha 
 with great meekness. 
 
 Now I am aware that according to
 
 196 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 late discoveries all the finer feelings of 
 Matthew's mind ought -to have been 
 crushed, and that, going to ruin in. after 
 life, he should have dated the beginning 
 of his downward course from the time 
 when physical force instead of moral 
 suasion was employed in his case. But 
 the fact is, that the sense of having 
 found his master, had a great effect in 
 developing finer feelings in Matthew's 
 mind than any one had supposed him 
 to possess, and certainly much better 
 manners. So, far from cherishing a 
 secret and bitter dislike for the tyrant, 
 who had mastered him by brute force, 
 Matthews conceived a respect for his 
 teacher, such as he had never felt for 
 any one, and which did him a world 
 of good. 
 
 " We haven't had such a row on 
 the premises," said Harvey, in recess
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 197 
 
 "not since Osborne Briggs was here. 
 But wasn't it a spirited thing in little 
 Nelly ? What a little brick she is !" 
 
 " Somebody must look out, to see that 
 Wells don't pay her off in some way 
 for telling," said John. 
 
 "He won't if I'm round," said Dick; 
 " but what about Osborne Briggs ?" 
 
 " ! never mind that old story now," 
 said John. 
 
 " Why, you see," said Harvey, " Os- 
 borne used to bully the little boys; 
 and, one day, he was teasing Sammy 
 Brent 
 
 "What! That little lame fellow? 
 How mean !" 
 
 "Wasn't it? and John told him to 
 quit, and he wouldn't; and then John 
 put Sam behind him, and told Osborne 
 he shouldn't touch him, and Osborne 
 struck John, so then they got into a 
 
 17*
 
 198 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 regular fight, and some of the girls -were 
 scared, and called Mr. Lyon ; bat before 
 he came John had given Osborne a 
 most an awful thrashing, because he 
 got very mad. Didn't you, John ?" 
 
 " I don't remember much about it," 
 said John, coloring. " I know I got a 
 black eye." 
 
 " And when Mr. Lyon came he stopped 
 it mighty quick, because he's down on 
 fighting; and, if it had been for any 
 other reason, they'd have both caught 
 it, but when he heard the story, he 
 said John had done just right, and 
 made Osborne beg little Sam's pardon, 
 and Osborne said the big boys always 
 did such things in English schools, and 
 Mr. Lyon said he should suppose from 
 what he seen that prize fighter's manners 
 and customs must prevail, at least, in 
 some institutions, but that this was an
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 199 
 
 academy for gentlemen, and he begged 
 him to remember it in future. That 
 for the present he had got as much as 
 he deserved, but that if he ever knew 
 of his abusing the little ones again he'd 
 have to answer to him. You see, Mr. 
 Lyon had spoken to him about it once 
 before, and borne with him more than 
 he would with one of us, because he 
 was such an untaught sort of a cub. 
 After that he was mighty careful what 
 he did in school, but do you believe, 
 he lay in wait for little Sam one night, 
 and ran away with his crutches, so the 
 poor child couldn't stir a step." 
 
 " How mean ! How shameful !" cried 
 one and another. 
 
 " Wasn't it ! And you know he lives at 
 that little house way down -the river, 
 such a lonely road, hardly any one passes 
 there. And the poor little fellow sat
 
 200 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 crying there two hours in the rain before 
 any one found him and took him home to 
 his mother; and she a poor widow too. 
 Well, Sam was sick for two weeks after 
 it, but the next morning after it hap- 
 pened Mrs. Brent came down in a 
 great passion, as well she might be, and 
 told Mr. Lyon the whole story. Mr. Lyon 
 called him up and dismissed him from the 
 school, for he said he wouldn't have such 
 a boy among his other pupils, so Osborne 
 left suddenly and no one cried about it. 
 He'd had shame enough, and he'd done 
 other things before." 
 
 " So," thought Dick to himself, " no 
 wonder he keeps out of John's way. 
 O, what an uncommon fool I have 
 been !" 
 
 " I told Matthew he'd catch it, if he 
 didn't mind himself," said John. " He 
 thought all that was smart. If I
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 201 
 
 wouldn't be ashamed to tease a poor little 
 thing like Bell Allen !" 
 
 " He told a long story the other day," 
 said Dick, " about how he used to act 
 with the teacher when he went to the 
 district school." 
 
 "Yes," said John, "and I told him 
 he talked very much like the man in the 
 
 " ' Father and Tom and I, 
 And two or three neighbors more, 
 Whipped an old woman stone blind, 
 That couldn't see much before.' " 
 
 " I thought if he tried on that game with 
 Mr. Lyon he'd see sights," said Dick. 
 " But does he often tly out like that ?" 
 
 " No, very seldom ; but when he does 
 fly out, it's best riot to stand in the 
 way." 
 
 " There goes the. bell. I say, Dick, have
 
 202 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 you got your Horace. I'm not a bit sure 
 about mine," said Harvey. 
 
 " No more am I ; I didn't look up the 
 allusions as he told us," said Dick, in 
 some alarm, as he remembered how he 
 had gone fishing Saturday afternoon, and 
 had " forgotten " in the evening. The 
 older boys had been at the ball play 
 and of course had not given the usual 
 time to their lessons, having merely 
 translated the ode, and trusted to luck for 
 the prosody, parsing, and those " allusions " 
 about which they we're sure to be ques- 
 tioned. Dick was besieged for informa- 
 tion as they hurried into school, but he 
 had not much to give. 
 
 "Do tell me who the Centaurs were," 
 said John Burke. "I know, but I've 
 forgotten." 
 
 " Folks with horses' heads," said Dick, 
 making a slight mistake in his hurry.
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 203 
 
 "And the JtipithaB? Dear me, I wish 
 they were all in Guinea ! Who were they, 
 Dick?" 
 
 "Mercy knows; I don't now, if ever I 
 did." 
 
 "And, whatever were the 'things con- 
 cealed under different leaves/ and what 
 did they do it for?" asked Isaac Le Blanc. 
 
 " I don't know, I'm sure ; I wish to 
 goodness they'd staid concealed," said 
 Dick, as he entered the schoolroom, and 
 cast a longing glance at the classical 
 dictionary, which it was now too late to 
 consult. 
 
 Nobody knew who Catilus was, and the 
 first four lines were rather blundered, but 
 Mr. Lyon remembered the ball play and 
 kept his patience, and only passed the 
 lesson on when Ellery Vane translated 
 " poverty " into " a pauper," and rendered 
 " hard service " by " a heavy militia man."
 
 204 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 The question who were the Centaurs 
 came to John Burke, and he answered 
 with promptness, " people with horses' 
 heads." 
 
 l( Really," said Mr. Lyon, " you have 
 made a discovery." 
 
 Dick held his book before his face to 
 hide his laugh, and then was struck with 
 dismay as he remembered that he had 
 indeed answered John's question with 
 those words. 
 
 " It was I told him so, Mr. Lyon," he / 
 said ; " I know it's wrong end first, now, 
 but I was in such a hurry when he asked 
 me." 
 
 " Very well, it's not Burke's miss then," 
 said Mr. Lyon, pleased with Dick's honesty 
 in the matter; "go on, Grey." 
 
 But Harvey for once made a terrible 
 mess of his translation, and though Dick 
 who followed him did rather better, he
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 205 
 
 knew none of the allusions. The memory 
 of the class seemed to have undergone 
 paralysis, for not a soul could tell anything 
 about the different names of Bacchus, and 
 the "things concealed under different 
 leaves" remained concealed as far as the 
 class was concerned. As for the scan- 
 ning it \vas nowhere ; in short, nobody 
 knew anything. Hoping that they would, 
 do better on the review, and longing for a 
 good recitation, Mr. Lyon turned back a 
 few pages, and questioned them on a 
 lesson they had been over, but all in vain. 
 That unfortunate Monday morning, some 
 bird of the air seemed to have carried 
 away every seed of knowledge ever sown 
 in the Horace class. Mr. Lyon bent his 
 brows, but he found no fault in words 
 until the question came up, "what was an 
 augur?" Not a boy in the class but had 
 been told or knew, but for some reason not 
 
 13
 
 206 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 a boy in the class could think ; or, if he 
 thought, could say. 
 
 "Bother!" thought Dick. "I know as 
 well as I know my own name, but I can't 
 get hold of it." 
 
 " Surely you must know," said Mr. 
 Lyon. " John Burke, what was an augur ?" 
 
 " It's a thing you make big holes with, 
 sir," said John, confidently. 
 
 Mr. Lyon shut up his book sharply. 
 " This is disgraceful !" he said. " It is 
 perfectly disgraceful !" and then he rose to 
 his feet, and with a voice like a cymbal, 
 called aloud, " Miss Monroe ! Miss Diana 
 Monroe !" Diana started up, wondering 
 what she had done, while the whole school 
 suspended work and waited to see what 
 would come next. 
 
 " Have the goodness to come here, Mi?s 
 Monroe," and Mr. Lyon led her up on the 
 platform with great politeness, and to her
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 207 
 
 amazement seated her in the big chair by 
 his side. 
 
 It is impossible to say how very small 
 Diana looked in this situation. Her feet 
 hardly touched the floor, and she held 
 down her head till her long black curls 
 falling forward almost hid her blushing 
 face. She knew that every one was look- 
 ing at her, and she wondered what in the 
 world Mr. Lyon meant by sitting her up 
 on the platform in Mr. McTn tyre's chair. 
 
 " Will you have the goodness, ma'am," 
 said Mr. Lyon, " to tell these young gen- 
 tlemen what an augur was ?" 
 
 Diana wished with all her heart that 
 she could have said, " I don't know, sir," 
 and wondered how Dick could have for- 
 gotten what he knew perfectly well, and 
 what Mr. Lyon had told them in the 
 history class. In a very low voice she 
 answered the question, and in a few words
 
 208 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 as possible ; but as it happened Mr. Lyon's 
 talk was fresh in her mind. She had been 
 reading "Probus" only the day before, 
 and such ideas as came to her out of 
 stories she was not apt to forget, and she 
 could not but answer all Mr. Lyon's 
 questions. The class looked on, half 
 wondering, half admiring, and half in a 
 state of suppressed giggle, to see so small a 
 child acting as professor to a class of big 
 boys. 
 
 " Thank you, ma'am," said Mr. Lyon, as 
 Diana answered, and turning back to the 
 lesson, he added, " Perhaps you can ex- 
 plain this allusion. What does this con- 
 cealed under various leaves refer to," and 
 he translated the whole passage for her 
 benefit. Now Diana did understand the 
 reference, but as may be supposed she 
 owed her knowledge to no study of the 
 subject, but simply to having read in an
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 209 
 
 old "Token" a story called "The Golden 
 Basket Bearer." 
 
 " Please, Mr. Lyon," said Diana, implor- 
 ingly, " I only read it in a story." 
 
 " Well, let us know what you read in 
 the story, ma'am," said Mr. Lyon, who felt 
 that his rash experiment might easily 
 have been a failure, and was grateful to 
 Diana for carrying it through. 
 
 Thus exhorted, Diana managed to say 
 that the mysterious things in question were 
 the sacred symbols of the god, which 
 were carried in the procession in baskets 
 covered with ivy and vine leaves. 
 
 " Thank you, ma'am ; thank you," said 
 Mr. Lyon, and he at length released 
 Diana, who went back to her seat with a 
 crimson face, and put her head down on 
 her desk, not knowing whether to laugh 
 or cry. 
 
 " There," said Mr. Lyon, emphatically, 
 
 18*
 
 210 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 to the class ; " I wish you had all im- 
 proved your time as well as Miss Monroe 
 at her age, too." 
 
 " Please, sir," said John, very mildly, 
 " Miss Monroe 's never been to school." 
 
 Mr. Lyon looked sharply at John, 
 who kept a very sober face, though he 
 had a certain twinkle in his eye. 
 
 Both teacher and class broke into a 
 laugh. 
 
 "Go back to your seats," said Mr. 
 Lyon. " We will take this lesson over 
 to-morrow ; and, boys, I hope there is 
 no ball play this afternoon?" 
 
 " No, sir," said Harvey ; " and, if 
 there is, we'll tend to the lesson first;" 
 and the recitation, which had begun 
 so ominously, ended in renewed good- 
 humor. 
 
 The boys were a set of good fellows, 
 and bore no ill-will or jealousy to Diana
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 211 
 
 on account of this scene. But, when 
 school was dismissed, "Miss Monroe" 
 was discovered in tears. 
 
 '' 0, great Artemis ! what is the mat- 
 ter?" said Harvey. 
 
 " I'm so sorry !" sobbed " the infant 
 phenomenon," as she was sometimes 
 called. " I wouldn't have known it 
 if I could help it. I felt so ashamed." 
 
 "Pooh!" said John. "It is we who 
 ought to be ashamed. Don't you cry, 
 Di. I'm sure nobody feels a bit put 
 out at you. We ain't so small as that." 
 
 "No, indeed," said John Burke. "I 
 wish I'd come to you before the class 
 but, oh ! you did look so small on the 
 platform, with your little feet just touch- 
 ing the floor, and your curls all over 
 your eyes." 
 
 "I only knew it because I'd read it 
 in a story," said Diana, wiping away
 
 212 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 her tears, a little consoled; c 'but I'll 
 never read anything again, if it ends 
 in my being poked up in Mr. Mcln tyre's 
 big chair to talk to the big boys." 
 
 " "Well, you are better natured than 
 your namesake, any way," said Harvey ; 
 t( and, as for your being in Mr. Mclntyre's 
 place, I'd a sight rather recite to you 
 than to him. What a jolly little pro- 
 fessor you'd make !" 
 
 " But what a mess we made of it," 
 said John. " I say, Burke, how's the 
 heavy militia man ?" 
 
 " That's not so bad as a boy in Darton 
 College," said Diana. " He translated 
 i Eegina e speculis,' ' the queen through 
 her spectacles.' " 
 
 " Well, I knew what an augur was 
 perfectly well," said Harvey, " only I 
 seemed to forget everything I'd ever 
 heard of this morning. I don't believe
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 213 
 
 I could have said my ABC; but how 
 did it happen you couldn't answer the 
 questions better ?" said Harvey to Dick, 
 who came up just then. 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know," said Dick, 
 rather crossly. " Diana, the carriage is 
 waiting." 
 
 Diana knew in a moment that Dick 
 was vexed with her, and her heart sank. 
 She put on her bonnet and cloak in 
 silence, and went out to the carriage. 
 Dick never spoke a word to her till they 
 had crossed the covered bridge, then 
 he said, 
 
 " I suppose you feel very grand about 
 what happened this morning." 
 
 " Grand ! 0, Dick, I felt so ashamed ! 
 But how was it you couldn't tell when 
 Mr. Lyou asked you?" 
 
 " I am sure I don't know," said Dick, 
 crossly. "One can't always think of
 
 214 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 everything, but I tell you what, Diana, 
 I think it was putting yourself forward in 
 a very unbecoming way for a girl, and 
 I don't believe Anne would have liked it 
 at all." 
 
 " But, Dick, I didn't put myself for- 
 ward," said Diana, beseechingly. " How 
 could I help coming when Mr. Lyon 
 called me, and I couldn't say I didn't 
 know when I did." 
 
 " Mr. Lyon makes a perfect fool of 
 you," said Dick, not answering her 
 question. " Osborne said he had his 
 favorites, and it's a good thing for you 
 you are one of them." 
 
 "0, Dick! I'm not. Please don't 
 be cross," implored Diana. "You know 
 I couldn't help coming, and as to what 
 Osborne said about Mr. Lyon I shouldn't 
 think you'd want to quote him after what 
 Harvey told you this morning."
 
 SUMMARY JUSTICE. 215 
 
 " There ain't no use believing a word 
 that Osborne Briggs says," said Simeon. 
 " He's a regular liar, and the less you 
 have to do with him the better, Master 
 Dick. 'Pears to me like you was in kind 
 of a temper. Don't you go scoldin' 
 your little sister, dar. You're too big a 
 boy for that." 
 
 " 0, Dick's not scolding, Uncle Simeon," 
 said Diana. " He's only a little worried ; 
 I think everything went wrong in school 
 this morning." 
 
 So Dick said no more ana tried to 
 control his ill-humor or rather its ex- 
 pression, but for some time he was 
 secretly vexed at Diana, whenever 
 he remembered that morning scene, and 
 the "things concealed under various 
 leaves."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 
 
 I T WAS drawing near Christmas time. 
 That year the holiday fell on Mon- 
 day, and school closed for a two 
 weeks' vacation the Friday before. 
 
 The children had been promised a 
 Christmas party by Aunt Sophy, and as 
 Dick wished to invite all the boys in the 
 academy, and Diana all the girls, the 
 list was a long one. Anne would have 
 shortened it a little, but Aunt Sophy had 
 begged that the dear children might have 
 their own way entirely, and expressed 
 her fears that any one left out might feel 
 216
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 217 
 
 hurt. " Besides," said Mrs. Bland, " it is 
 just as easy to make plenty of things 
 while you are about it, as it is to make a 
 little." So the list was not shortened by 
 a single name, and Dick and Diana were 
 happy. 
 
 " Seeing that you have asked the whole 
 institution," said Will, " why don't you 
 ask the teachers too ?" 
 
 " 0, that would be fun !" cried Diana. 
 "I dare say Miss Allen and Miss 
 Spencer would come, and very likely Mr. 
 Lyon, and I'm almost sure Mr. Mclntyre 
 will refuse, so I can be civil to him, you 
 know, all the same. Well, Will, I dorit 
 like Mr. Mclntyre, and I just can't help 
 it, and what's more I don't believe you 
 liked him either that evening he was 
 here." 
 
 " I dare say he is a very excellent 
 young man, Di," said the Major, smiling.
 
 218 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "But don't you think it's a great pity 
 that excellent people should be so disagree- 
 able sometimes ? You feel as if you 
 ought to like them and you can't, and the 
 more you can't, the more you don't like 
 them. I'm not going to be in any of Mr. 
 Mclntyre's classes next term I'm real 
 glad." 
 
 " I can't say I very much wonder, my 
 little sister," said Will, suppressing a 
 yawn, as he remembered the evening he 
 had spent trying to entertain Mr. Mc- 
 Intyre. That young gentleman never for 
 one moment laid aside the school-master; 
 any talk or reading that was not what he 
 called "directly instructive," that is, did 
 not consist of the hardest, dryest facts, 
 presented in the stoniest manner, he 
 thought unworthy of rational beings. His 
 own conversation consisted either of simple 
 statements of such " fax " as he was pleased
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 219 
 
 emphatically to call them, or in asking 
 such questions as " What is the easiest 
 mode of adding a column of figures ?" 
 " What is the inclination of the earth upon 
 its axis ?" " Why is it colder in winter 
 than in summer, if the earth is nearer the 
 sun ?" 
 
 This last problem he put forth to the 
 Major at Mrs. Eland's tea-table. Will had 
 replied gravely that " it was generally 
 supposed that the sun was colder in winter, 
 and didn't give out so much heat." 
 
 Mr. Mclntyre had informed him that he 
 was mistaken in that supposition, and had 
 elaborately explained the matter to him, 
 thereby throwing Dick and Diana into fits 
 of suppressed laughter. Will had listened 
 attentively to the explanation, and Mr. 
 Mclntyre used in after times to tell this 
 story as proof of the superficial education 
 given to army officers.
 
 220 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Mr. Mclntyre being asked did decline 
 to come, but Miss Spencer and Miss Allen 
 gave a smiling assent, and Mr. Lyon made 
 Diana a bow and said, " Thank you, 
 ma'am." 
 
 " But you will come, Mr. Lyon, won't 
 you?" said Diana eagerly, detaining him 
 as he was about to take flight from the 
 academy steps. " We shan't have half so 
 much fun without you." 
 
 "Yes, ma'am; certainly, ma'am; very 
 much obliged," said Mr. Lyon, who was 
 fond of Diana, and the next instant, as it 
 seemed, he was half way down the street. 
 
 That Friday morning, however, Diana 
 did not go to school. The weather which 
 had been bright, clear, and cold, had 
 turned grey, damp, and sloppy; and the 
 snow which had lain two feet on a level 
 for a month, was running fast away under 
 an untimely thaw. There was a ra\v,
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 221 
 
 chilly wind, and, as Diana had a little 
 cold, Anne thought it best for her sister 
 to stay at home. Diana acquiesced the 
 more readily in her decision, as nothing 
 in particular would be done on breaking- 
 up day, and she had a new magazine 
 to read. 
 
 Dick left her lying most comfortably 
 on the parlor sofa, with her book, and 
 the great brindle cat, old Tom, who 
 was very fond of her, and liked nothing 
 better than to lie in her lap. 
 
 As there was no one but himself, Dick 
 preferred to ride to school on Pick the 
 pony, and carried his dinner with him. 
 
 Mr. Lyon expressed his concern at 
 hearing that Diana was not well, and 
 accepted the excuse for her absence. School 
 was dismissed earlier than usual on the 
 List day, and with laugh and shout 
 and song, mutual good wishes for the 
 
 19*
 
 222 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 season, and multitudinous chatter, the 
 academy broke up for the vacation; 
 not a pupil but heartily wished Mr. 
 Lyon a merry Christmas as he sped up 
 the wet, sloppy street, surrounded by 
 a group of the older pupils, and carrying 
 in his' arms little Bessie Baker, the 
 youngest in Miss Spencer's "primary," 
 and the baby of the school, whom he 
 set down, dry and warm, on her father's 
 steps, with a bow, and " a good afternoon, 
 ma'am. I wish you a merry Christmas." 
 
 But Bessie threw her arms around 
 his neck and kissed him. 
 
 " Wish you wlwle lot, Mr. Lyon," she 
 said, emphatically. 
 
 In the meantime Dick was cantering 
 homeward on Pick, feeling well pleased, 
 as he had a right to do, on finding that 
 his sister and himself were among those 
 "perfect for the quarter," and in a-hurry
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 223 
 
 to tell the good news to Diana, and Will, 
 and Anne, and to Aunt Sophy who, as 
 he knew, would be delighted, though 
 she would not have the least idea what 
 the honor really implied. Dick had grown 
 very fond of his Aunt Sophy, and thought 
 with great shame on those unhappy 
 days, when he had mimicked her at Mr. 
 Briggs. He had almost forgotten Osborne's 
 threat, and Oshorne himself, in the 
 interest of his school life. The boys 
 had not met since Osborne had come after 
 his books, and, if they had passed one 
 another, nothing but an unfriendly nod 
 had been exchanged between them. As 
 Dick drew near home, however, he met 
 Osborne face to face in the road. He 
 bowed slightly, and turned Pick to one 
 side to allow him to pass. 
 
 " Look here, Dick Monroe !" said Osborne, 
 stopping him, " I want to know if you
 
 224 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 think you're going to ride over me 
 with your confounded airs, because you've 
 got a pony, and I'm on foot ? I wont stand 
 it from you nor no one else. Do you 
 mean to cut me? I just want to know if 
 you do ? Because if you don't, it's all 
 right, and if you .do I'll just walk 
 straight back to your place, and tell them 
 all about some talk of yours, before you 
 set up to be such a good boy. I wonder 
 you ain't afraid of dying, you're so awful 
 nice and pious." 
 
 Now Dick's goodness, such as it was, 
 was by no means of an alarming kind 
 or 'degree. He made no reply at first, 
 and jerked the bridle out of Osborne's 
 hand. 
 
 " 0, very well !" said Osborne ; " I'm 
 going your way then. I do hate a 
 hypocrite, and I'll just see you get what 
 you deserve. You cut me indeed !"
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 225 
 
 For a moment Dick thought of letting 
 Osborne do his worst, and telling him 
 in so many words that the Major had 
 forbidden their intercourse. 
 
 " But then he will go and tell," thought 
 poor Dick, "and just now, when it's 
 Christmas, and I've done so well in school 
 and all !" 
 
 Pride, not fear of punishment, conquered 
 Dick's better impulse. 
 
 " I don't mean to cut you, Osborne/' he 
 said, impatiently, " but I do wish you 
 would stop bringing up that old story ; 
 it's all over now, and a fellow don't always 
 want to be reminded how he made a fool 
 of himself." 
 
 "Nor want his folks reminded either," 
 said Osborne. " Very well ! I wont tell, 
 not unless you provoke me. How do 
 you get on in school ? ' 
 
 " Pretty well," said Dick. 

 
 226 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 -^^j=.-<- 
 
 "Well, it's a miserable school," said 
 Osborne. "Old Lyon don't know enough 
 to teach ABC, and they're the hate- 
 fullest set there I ever saw ! / wasn't 
 going to school with a lot of girls any 
 way, so father took me out." 
 
 Dick laughed, though he felt vexed 
 and uncomfortable. 
 
 " Took you out !" he said ; " are you sure 
 about that? How's Widow Brent and 
 little Sam ?" 
 
 Osborne colored furiously. 
 
 " So ! John Graham's told you that lie, 
 has he? If I don't thrash him when 
 I see him !" 
 
 " Do by all means, if you can," said 
 Dick. " But it was a real mean trick in 
 you." 
 
 " Pooh ! I only did it for fun. Who 
 cares for a little beggar like that? He 
 wasn't a pin the worse."
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 227 
 
 " lie was, too. He was sick ever se 
 long. It was a regular mean shame !" 
 
 " dear ! Tommy good boy ! How long 
 since you felt so ? But come, Dick, don't 
 let's quarrel," said Osborne, following 
 Dick into the stable yard. " See how high 
 the river is getting ! Come down to the 
 water a few minutes with me." 
 
 Unhappily for himself Dick knew 
 that the Major and Anne were not at 
 home, having gone some miles down 
 the valley to make a call on some acquain- 
 tances of their aunt's. 
 
 "Will's gone to Judge Bradley's," 
 thought Dick, "and I wont ask him 
 into the house, that I wont, and I can't 
 tell him to go home, or go off and leave 
 him. One hates to be a bear." 
 
 Dick was placed in rather a difficult 
 situation, but he should have remembered 
 his word of honor given to his brother;
 
 228 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 told Osborne in so many words that 
 lie bad promised to play with him no 
 more, and gone into the house. 
 
 But after putting Pick into the stable, 
 for Primus had gone to the village, and 
 Simeon was with Anne and Will, he 
 followed Osborne reluctantly to the waters 
 edge. 
 
 In the meantime Diana, who had 
 heard the pony come in, wondered more 
 and more why Dick did not make his 
 appearance. She had read all she cared, 
 to read, and played with Tom till she 
 was tired. She wanted to hear their 
 report for the quarter; to know what had 
 gone on in school. She had received a 
 letter from John's mother telling her of 
 the safe arrival of the baby's blanket, and 
 how the baby had worn it at her christen- 
 ing, when she had received the name of 
 Diana Monroe. Diana had been greatly
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 229 
 
 pleased with her letter ; she had read it to 
 Aunt Sophy, who had been mildly inter- 
 ested ; she had gone into the kitchen and 
 read it to Patty and Simeon, who- had 
 been greatly delighted; and she had told 
 the story to Tom, who pawed lazy satisfac- 
 tion, but whether at that or the fire is 
 uncertain. 
 
 Now she longed for Will and Anne to 
 come home, and, as it grew darker, she 
 could not understand why Dick did not 
 come in. 
 
 Mrs. Bland was having a nap in her 
 own room. Patty was busy in the 
 kitchen with preparations for the party, 
 and Diana wanted some one to talk to. 
 She went to the back window and looked 
 out, but could see nothing of Dick. 
 
 " I'll just run out and look for him," 
 said Diana to herself, for her cold was 
 better, and she thought there was no 
 
 20
 
 230 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 harm in going out for a few minutes. 
 She wrapped herself warmly, and put on 
 her hood, and taking Tom in her arms, 
 by way of a muff, went off towards the 
 stable. Tom, big cat as he was, had a 
 passion for being carried. He could clear 
 a board fence, six feet high, at a spring 
 if he chose, but he would sit mewing 
 piteously at the foot of the stairs for some 
 one to carry him up. He ranged over 
 the roofs from the highest to the lowest; 
 but would beg with a most helpless 
 expression to be put up on a chair. Diana 
 had indulged him to a great extent, and 
 he made her the slave of his whims, 
 greatly to his own satisfaction. He would 
 stand at the top of the barn ladder, which 
 he had ascended at two jumps, and call 
 to Diana to bring him down and she did 
 it, though Will laughed at her for climb- 
 ing a ladder to help down a cat. Wher-
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 231 
 
 ever Diana was, there Tom was sure 
 to be, and as she went out she took him 
 in her arms from mere habit, and he put 
 his head on her shoulder, purring compla- 
 cently at his own excellent success in 
 governing his mistress. 
 
 She went to the stable, but could see 
 nothing of Dick. She heard voices from 
 the bank below, and looking out of 
 the barn window, she saw Dick and 
 Osborne Briggs by the river side. They 
 were amusing themselves by throwing 
 sticks and stones at the pieces of floating 
 ice that now and then came down the 
 stream. 
 
 If the missile settled upon the cukes 
 without sinking them, it made a mark 
 by which they could be distinguished 
 on their course down the current, and 
 their speed compared. Dick, who had 
 at first cared for nothing but to get rid
 
 232 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 *^-*zftz*~t-~. . 
 
 of his companion, hud become engaged 
 in the sport, and the excitement of the 
 race between his bit of ice and Osborne's. 
 
 " Dear me ! What a nuisance ! There is 
 Osborne Briggs iigain ! I know what he's 
 after," thought Diana, shrewdly to herself. 
 " He -wants Dick to ask him to our party, 
 but he wont, not if I know it ; I'll go down, 
 and perhaps he will go off. I know Dick 
 promised Will he'd have nothing more 
 to do with him." 
 
 Still carrying Inzy old Tom in her arms 
 Diana pushed her way down to the river 
 side by the path which Simeon had 
 shovelled, and which was slippery with 
 half-frozen snow and water. 
 
 " Dick," said Diann, rather timidly, after 
 a cool, but polite notice of Osborne, "it's 
 most tea time." 
 
 " I'll come in a minute, Di," said Dick, 
 " only I want to see which piece beats,
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 233 
 
 mine or Osborne's. That's mine way 
 ahead, -with the stick on it." 
 
 Diana stood a moment or two, chilly 
 and impatient, and expecting every 
 minute to see Simeon drive the horses into 
 the barn yard, or to hear Will's voice 
 call them. 
 
 " And he'll he provoked at Dick," 
 thought Diana, " and I can't bear to have a 
 fuss. dear ! I wish that boy was in 
 Egypt." Osborne knew very well that 
 Diana wanted him to go home. Indeed 
 she was never very well able to hide what 
 she felt, and her knit forehead, her anxious 
 face, and the impatient tap of her little 
 foot, all said " I wish you'd go," as plainly 
 as if she had spoken the words. 
 
 For this very reason Osborne was 
 determined not to go, and began to think 
 how he could tease Diana. 
 
 " IIo !" said he, " what a great, ugly,
 
 234 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 lazy cat! I dare say it never caught a 
 mouse in its life." 
 
 "He did," said Diana, indignantly; "lie 
 caught a big rat only yesterday, and 
 another in the barn this morning, and 
 brought it in to show to Patty. Didn't 
 you, Tom?" 
 
 Torn, who would always answer when 
 spoken to, made a comfortable little noise 
 between a mew and a purr. 
 
 " Look there, Dick !" said Osborne, 
 "there's another big piece coming along, 
 close in shore too. If we can put some- 
 thing on that we can see it ever so far." 
 
 " Please come in now, wont you, Dick?" 
 asked Diana, earnestly, " I've got something 
 I want to show you." 
 
 "0 yes! Go with its little sister! 
 Do !" said Osborne, in a whining baby tone. 
 "You've got to do just as she tells you, 
 haven't you ? I heard how old Lyon stuck
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 235 
 
 her up befoie the whole school when your 
 class didn't know their lesson. What did 
 old Lyon give you for it, sissy ? Say ?" 
 
 "I don't know any such person," said 
 Diana, with flashing eyes, and all the dig- 
 nity she could assume. "Dick, I think 
 you've forgotten what Will said." 
 
 If it had not been for this unlucky 
 reference of Osborne's, I think Dick would 
 have gone into the house, but the speech 
 renewed his little jealousy of his sister, 
 which he had almost forgotten, and he felt 
 that he could not let Osborne supposa 
 Diana governed him. 
 
 " Forgotten what Will said !" repeated 
 Osborne. "Fore I'd be ordered about by 
 my own brother, and bossed round as you 
 are, if he is in the army and thinks him- 
 self a big man !" 
 
 "He doesn't either!" said Diana, much 
 excited. " I should think you'd be ashamed.
 
 236 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Please to let my cat alone," she added, 
 drawing herself up, for Odborne had begun 
 pulling Tom's ears and tail, and taking 
 liberties with him, to which Tom responded 
 by an angry switching of the abused mem- 
 ber, and, as Osborne repeated the insult, he 
 turned like lightning, and striking fiercely 
 with his big powerful paw, left a deep 
 bleeding print of all his talons in Osborne's 
 hand. 
 
 "Nasty, treacherous brute!" said Os- 
 borne, shaking the wounded hand. 
 
 <; It served you right," said Diana. 
 " You needn't have teased him. Dick, 
 do come, please." 
 
 " Run in, Di, I'll come in a few minutes. 
 I just want to see that big piece of ice go 
 down," said Dick. "It's coming close in 
 shore," and, seeing that there was nothing 
 near which he could put on it for a mark, 
 he ran up the low bank for a bit of bark.
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 237 
 
 The ice cake drew nearer and nearer. 
 It was a thick and solid piece, larger 
 than any they had yet seen; Diana and 
 Osborne stood watching it. It was passing 
 about a foot from the shore. Dick was 
 still above them searching for a stick. 
 
 " Here's something better than anything 
 you'll find," said Osborne; and snatching 
 Tom from Diana's arms, he threw him into 
 the middle of the ice cake. 
 
 " My cat ! My cat !" screamed Diana. 
 " Pussy ! Pussy !" 
 
 Tom could have jumped on shore very 
 easily, but afraid of the water he only 
 held up one paw, and mewed piteously. 
 
 " 0, he'll be drowned !" sobbed Diana, 
 and, without a thought of anything but 
 her favorite's danger, or waiting for Dick 
 to come down the bank, she sprang on the 
 ice cake herself, all but falling into the 
 water as it tipped with her weight. In
 
 238 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 that instant Tom had run to the other 
 side of the raft, and Diana went after him, 
 slowly and cautiously on the wet slippery 
 ice. 
 
 "Diana! Diana!" called Dick and 
 Osborne at once, a come back. You'll fall 
 in !" 
 
 Diana had reached the cat, and holding 
 him in her arms turned to come back. 
 She stopped with a cry of dismay. The 
 narrow channel, over which she had 
 sprung, was now six feet wide, and the 
 stream was sweeping the ice cake swiftly 
 and steadily into the middle current. 
 
 " 0, Dick ! Dick !" cried Diana, extend- 
 ing one hand, and holding Tom tight 
 with the other, "do get us off!" 
 
 Poor Tom, who felt the danger, uttered 
 a piteous squall, and rubbed his nose 
 imploringly on his little mistress. 
 i Neither of the boys could swim, and
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 239 
 
 there was no boat. Dick remembered with 
 a sickening heart that Will was gone, and 
 that there was no one at home but Patty 
 and Miss Bland. 
 
 " She'll be drowned !" said Osborne, 
 turning pale. 
 
 " If she is, it's 3 our doing," said Dick, 
 fiercely. 
 
 " I'm sure I didn't mean to " began 
 Osborne. 
 
 " Didn't mean to," retorted Dick 
 bitterly, while every moment carried his 
 sister further from shore,, " and it's only a 
 mile to the dam. Hold on tight, Di," he 
 shouted, and turning away from Osborne, 
 he rushed up the bank, nnd into the house. 
 
 Osborne went home to tell his father, 
 intending carefully to conceal his own 
 share in the matter. He was more 
 alarmed for the possible consequences to 
 himself, than troubled for Diana's fate,
 
 240 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 though he would have been glad enough 
 to hear that she was safe on shore. 
 
 " She needn't have provoked me so," 
 he thought, trying to excuse himself; " and 
 whoever would have thought of her jump- 
 ing on that ice and risking her life for an 
 old cat." 
 
 Dick burst into Mrs. Bland's room, where 
 Patty was saying something about the 
 supper for the party. 
 
 " ! Aunt Sophy !" he cried, " Diana is 
 floating down the river on a piece of ice ! 
 0, where is Will?" 
 
 Dick had not expected as much help 
 from his aunt as from Patty. But Patty 
 began to wring her hands and ask questions. 
 Mrs. Bland started to her feet, in one 
 second a transformed woman. 
 
 " Hush, Patty !" she said. " Where is 
 the nearest boat ?" 
 
 In all his distress Dick was amazed at
 
 ririlTSTMAS TIMES. 241 
 
 ~>~aM9*- 
 
 his aunt's tones. They were so firm, clear, 
 and decided. 
 
 " None nearer than the village, aunt." 
 
 " Take the pony, ride as fast as you can. 
 Get to the village before the ice does, if 
 possible. Was it solid ?" 
 
 "Yes, aunt. It was shore ice, half a 
 foot thick." 
 
 " Make some one get out a boat ; tell 
 them I will give anything to the man who 
 saves her. Do not lose a moment." 
 
 Dick sped to the stable, wondering why 
 lie had not thought of this plan, the only 
 one. lie did not stop to saddle Pick, but 
 flung himself on the pony's back, and set 
 out on a headlong race to the village. 
 The pony was fleet and strong, but glan- 
 cing at the river Dick could see the ice 
 raft before him, and in its midst a little 
 crouching figure in a scarlet shawl. 
 
 As long as he lived Dick never forgot
 
 242 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 that ride. The bitterness of remorse was 
 in his heart, and the iron entered into his 
 soul. Why had he broken his word to 
 his brother? Why had he not gone in 
 when Diana called him? Suppose the 
 raft parted before he could reach the town. 
 Suppose no boat was to be had, or the 
 ice went over the dam before one could 
 be found. Frightful misgivings clustered 
 thick and fast. There seemed a hundred 
 chances to one against Diana's life. 
 
 With all his anxiety and anguish, he 
 noticed things along the road as he never 
 had before, the outline of the hills, the 
 bare trees against the sky, the brimming, 
 whirling river. He &aw in the current 
 the sticks he and Osborne had thrown. 
 How fast they went, though he passed 
 them. He passed, too, that scarlet spot on 
 the grey, angry water. It did not move as 
 he shouted wildly, and a new fear possessed
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 243 
 
 him. What if Diana were already dead of 
 cold and fright, and he could never tell 
 her how he had loved her all the time? 
 What if when he came back it should be 
 with his little sister dead, the river water 
 dripping from her long curls? What an 
 unselfish, loyal, brave little creature she 
 had been always, only he had never seen 
 it till now, when it was too late. How 
 like her it was to go after the old cat! 
 Dick thought remorsefully even of Tom. 
 " I'll never pull his tail again as long as I 
 live !" said poor Dick, with a choking sob. 
 
 Diana w r ould be drowned, he knew she 
 would, and it would be his fault. Could 
 he be the same boy who not more than an 
 hour before had been riding home over 
 this road, careless, light of heart, pleased 
 with himself and with life? 
 
 Dick did not pray in words for he could 
 find none, but he prayed in spirit as he
 
 244 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 s^-jo*^^*^.-*. 
 
 never had before, while Pick dashed 
 forward on his mad gallop. 
 
 It was not more than four minutes till 
 he reached the covered bridge, but it 
 seemed to him four hours. He dashed 
 beneath the arch, but reined up, half across, 
 as he saw Mr. Lyon standing and looking 
 out of one of the square windows, which 
 made a picture-frame for the grey winter 
 landscape. 
 
 " 0, Mr. Lyon !" he cried, as the princi- 
 pal turned toward him; "Diana's on that 
 piece of ice coming down the river toward 
 the dam! Don't you see her? help 
 me to save her ! Where's a boat ?" 
 
 After all was over, Dick said that he 
 had never seen anything like the swift- 
 ness with which Mr. Lyon sped across the 
 bridge, and seized a horse and cutter from 
 an astonished gentleman, just preparing to 
 use it himself.
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 245 
 
 "Jump in !" he said to Dick, who flung 
 Peck's rein to the tall man and obeyed. 
 
 The horse was a spirited one, and fast 
 they flew up the road to a shanty where 
 lived an Irishman owning a boat. 
 
 The ice float was drawing nearer 
 the dam now. Dick could see plainly 
 that it had grown smaller. The water- 
 washed across it. It whirled and wavered 
 perilously, as the current grew swifter and 
 swifter. Dick called aloud in an agony, 
 but though Diana answered, the sound 
 was lost in the roar of the river over the 
 d-iin. Across the water, however, came a 
 shrill and piteous mew, which showed 
 that the old cat was still in the land of 
 the living. 
 
 Mr. Lyon looked around for the boat. 
 It was lying on the shore tied to a stake. 
 " Where are the oars ?" asked Mr. Lyon, 
 sharply.
 
 246 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " Shure they're under Pat's bed and the 
 place is locked," said a woman, one of the 
 crowd which was fast gathering. " What 
 would you wan't 'em for?" 
 
 Mr. Lyon looked around, caught up an 
 axe which lay near on a pile of drift wood, 
 burst open the door at one blow, whirled 
 out the oars from under the bed, scattering 
 from this retreat four hens and a little 
 black pig, and reappeared on the shore. 
 
 " I want a man," he said, in his ringing 
 tones, " to go out with me and get one of 
 my scholars, this boy's sister, off that ice 
 before she drowns." 
 
 How bitterly Dick regretted that he did 
 not know how to manage a boat. There 
 were as yet but two men in the crowd 
 assembling about him, for most of those 
 in the neighborhood worked in the great 
 tannery, and the mills below the dam, 
 where the rumor had not yet reached.
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 247 
 
 Both the men present hung back, for there 
 was imminent danger that the boat would 
 be swept over the fall. 
 
 "Take me, sir!" cried Matthew Wells, 
 springing forward ; " I can manage a boat 
 first rate ! I can indeed, sir !" 
 
 Mr. Lyon looked at him one moment. 
 " Come !" he said. 
 
 The next instant the boat was out in 
 the current, heading for the middle stream, 
 down which Diana was now drifting with 
 fearful rapidity. She sat crouched in the 
 middle of the frail raft, her head lowered, 
 seemingly heedless of the efforts making 
 for her rescue. 
 
 Now came running up a crowd of work- 
 men from the mills, eager to know the 
 state of the case. A dozen women told 
 the story, and pointed out the child. 
 
 " Was ever such a set of tarnation 
 fools!" cried one giant in a red shirt.
 
 248 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " Couldn't none of you have the sense to 
 call us? Who's that in the boat ?" 
 
 " The school teacher and a boy." 
 
 " A boy /" retorted the man, with an 
 unspeakable emphasis. " Pretty fellows 
 you are," he said, to the two men who had 
 hung back. " It's boy's work to fight that 
 current now, ain't it ?" 
 
 "An indade you may sny that same," 
 said another. " Dennis McEvoy, what do 
 ye mane to be stnndin' here settin' still 
 at your aze, prarrein' about like a paycock, 
 like a baste as ye ar', an let the innocent 
 be drowned for want of a man !" 
 
 " Shure my life's worth as much as 
 another's." 
 
 " Faix, an it aint then." 
 
 " Hold your tongues !" said the tall man 
 in the red shirt commandingly. " Some- 
 body get out Piper's boat with me and go 
 after them, or they'll be swept over the
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 249 
 
 dam yet. That little professor's got more 
 grit than muscle I guess," and he sprang 
 down the bank followed by two of his 
 companions. 
 
 " Is it your sister, dear ?" asked a sym- 
 pathizing woman of Dick, who stood with 
 straining eyes watching the progress of the 
 boat as it fought against the stream. 
 
 " Yes. Don't talk to me !" said Dick. 
 " 0, God ! my God ! take my life, but spare 
 hers !" he said to himself. He did riot 
 heed that John stood beside him, holding 
 his hand hard and fast. In the midst of 
 all his sickening anxiety and suspense, 
 John was half envying Matthew Wells, 
 and wishing he could "just have had his 
 chance." 
 
 There was a jingle of bells, a sleigh 
 stopped in the midst of the crowd. 
 " What's the matter here ?" asked the 
 Major's voice.
 
 250 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 No one answered ; a whisper ran through 
 the assembly that the lady and gentleman 
 in the sleigh were the child's brother and 
 sister. The silence with which their 
 questions were met, the looks of sympathy 
 turned on them, told the Major and Anne 
 that they were someway concerned in the 
 matter. Anne turned very white. 
 
 " There's a little girl on a bit of ice out 
 in the river, sir," said a man. " There's 
 two boats out after her as you can see if 
 you stand up, but it's a hard fight." 
 
 g< The Lord have mercy !" cried Simeon. 
 "It's our Miss Diana." 
 
 Anne gave a half stifled cry, and spring- 
 ing from her seat, hurried to the very 
 edge of the bank, the crowd making way 
 for her and for Will. Neither of them 
 saw Dick, who was lower down. 
 
 In the meantime Mr. Lyon, rowing with 
 swift telling strokes, had reached the
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 251 
 
 middle current, toward which Matthew 
 steadily steered, undismayed by the near- 
 ing roar of the fall. In spite of all they 
 could do, however, the river swept them 
 onward. 
 
 Down, down directly in their path came 
 the ice raft, now crumbling fast, threaten- 
 ing every moment to part, and let fall its 
 burden into the dark, swirling water. On 
 it came directly in the way of the boat 
 Mr. Lyon dropped his oars and leaned 
 forward. He caught Diana's dress in both 
 hands, the next instant the cake of ice 
 tipped, parted, and plunged her into the 
 water. But Mr. Lyon held her fast, and 
 the next moment she was in the boat, 
 half insensible, but still clinging fast to the 
 old cat. 
 
 Cheer upon cheer broke from the spec- 
 tators on shore, and they were answered 
 from the water as the three men in Piper's
 
 252 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 boat, dashing downward with the stream, 
 liung a rope to Mr. Lyon, and rowed slowly 
 to shore, fighting the current every inch 
 of the way. 
 
 " You are quite safe, ma'am, quite safe," 
 said Mr. Lyon, wrapping up Diana tenderly 
 in his own coat, and wringing the water 
 from her dress and hair. 
 
 " My pussy !" were Diana's first words; 
 
 " Here, all right," said Matthew, putting 
 Tom into her arms, where he lay shiver- 
 ing with cold and wet. 
 
 " I arn so glad it was you, sir," murmured 
 Diana. " I thought I should be drowned, 
 and never come to school any more. 
 And Matthew, too; I'm so tired, T can't 
 say all I mean !" said Diana, looking up 
 into the boy's face. " But it was so good 
 of you." 
 
 " No it want,'" said Matthew, gruffly. 
 " Here we are."
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 253 
 
 ^^jfl&^ - 
 
 They reached the shore, and then and 
 there, before all the people, Anne Monroe 
 threw her arms round Mr. Lyon's neck 
 and kissed him. 
 
 " Good for yon, Professor," said the big 
 man in the red shirt. 
 
 " Bat," as John remarked afterwards, 
 " the principal didn't act as if he thought 
 it was bad to take." 
 
 " Major Monroo," said Mr. Lynn, cutting 
 short Will's thanks, "I couldn't have 
 done it but for this boy. This is Master 
 Matthew Wells, I am proud of him. He 
 is a credit to the school. Shake hands, 
 Wells." 
 
 Poor Matthew ! He had never been 
 thought a credit to any one before. He 
 colored scarlet with mingled shyness and 
 pleasure. 
 
 " I wa'nt goin' to let little Di Monroe 
 drown, not if I could help it," he said,
 
 254 TOE ICE RAFT. 
 
 kicking up the gravel with one foot, and 
 then he ran away as if he had been dis- 
 gracing himself. 
 
 John ran after him and caught him by 
 the hand. 
 
 "O, Mat," he said, "look here ! I want 
 you to take my claws ; do take my claws !" 
 and seeing that he was not understood he 
 added, "my grizzly's claws that father 
 sent me. I say, you're a regular fine 
 fellow." 
 
 Matthew obstinately refused the offered 
 claws, but from that hour he took a turn 
 for the better in school and out. 
 
 Diana was borne up the bank in a sort 
 of triumphal procession, and into the 
 nearest house, where the bustling mistress 
 soon provided her with a change of her 
 own daughter's clothes, and the hottest 
 possible drink. 
 
 Diana seemed confused and bewildered
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 255 
 
 with the fright and suffering. It was not 
 till Mr. Leslie, who had heen summoned, 
 proposed that they should go to the par- 
 sonage, as nearer than Mrs. Eland's, that 
 she seemed to wake up. Then she begged 
 so earnestly to go home to Aunt Sophy 
 that Will could not cross her. 
 
 In the mean time the " Pat " to whom 
 the boat belonged had come home. He 
 made light of the smashing of his door, 
 and expressed himself delighted that the 
 boat had been used, especially as the 
 Major gave him enough to pay for a dozen 
 doors. 
 
 " There !" he said to a more thrifty 
 neighbor, il look at it now ! ye've always 
 driving at me about laving the axe out 
 doors, and where would the young lady 
 be now if I hadn't?" 
 
 " Dick," whispered Diana, too low for 
 any one but himself to hear as he bent
 
 256 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 over her kissing her again and again, 
 "Dick I'll never tell." 
 
 " See here, Dick," said Will that instant, 
 as he lifted Diana to carry her out to the 
 sleigh ; " I wish you'd ride up and ask Dr. 
 Porter to come and see Di. I presume 
 she is well enough now, but still Anne 
 would rather he saw her." 
 
 "The cat? Yes, rny darling, here he 
 is ; but it was hardly worth while to risk 
 your life for him." 
 
 "I didn't think anything about that," 
 said Diana, with equal truth and simplicity. 
 
 The Major and Anne, from their sister's 
 confused account, were under the im- 
 pression that she and Tom had gone down 
 to the river alone, and that jumping on 
 the cake of ice had been Tom's own act; 
 for of Osborne, Diana had not said a word. 
 
 "I want to tell you about it, Will," 
 beo;an Dick.
 
 CHRISTMAS TIMES. 257 
 
 " Never mind now, my boy. We have 
 her safe, thank God ; and the first thing is 
 to get her home. You can tell us all 
 about it afterwards. To think what we 
 owe Mr. Lyon and your school mate ! I 
 want to see those three men that went out 
 in the other boat. My friends," said Will, 
 as he met them at the door, " I wish there 
 was anything I could do or say to show 
 how much we all thank you." 
 
 "Bless you, Major! that wa'nt nothing 
 to make a fuss about," said the big man. 
 " We've all been raftsmen, and a little 
 water more or less don't count in these 
 parts; but if that little professor aint 
 some, I wouldn't say so ! My boy 's 
 always wanted to go to the 'caclemy and 
 I've thought it all nonsense, but I'll send 
 him when the next term opens, you bet!" 
 
 And sure enough the boy went.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A CONFESSION. 
 
 'HE old horses had never gone home as 
 swiftly as they did that evening. 
 Mrs. Bland came out to meet the 
 party, pale and anxious, but perfectly 
 calm and collected. To Anne's surprise 
 she wasted no time in questions. 
 
 " Thank God !" she said, " the dear 
 child is safe. Anne, love, you'd better take 
 her right up-stairs and put her to bed ; 
 I've had a good fire made in your room, 
 and the bed warmed. Diana, darling, how 
 do you feel ?" 
 
 " 0, Aunt Sophy ! Aunt Sophy !" half 
 258
 
 A CONFESSION. 259 
 
 sobbed Diana, " I thought I should never 
 see you again. The old cat is all safe, 
 Patty. Please give him some warm milk." 
 
 Patty embraced Diana and the cat 
 alternately. Tom, who had somewhat 
 recovered his spirits, purred effusively 
 on finding himself at home, and went 
 up-stairs with the procession attending 
 Diana, twisting herself round every one's 
 feet, and nearly tripping the Major 
 as he carried his little sister. 
 
 " It showed great presence of mind 
 in Dick to ride down to the village as 
 he did," said Will to Anne. 
 
 " Laws, Major Monroe !" said Patty, 
 " 'twasn't Master Dick thought of riding 
 down to the village ; it was missis. She 
 sent him off flying, and told him to 
 get the boat and all." 
 
 Will and Anne looked at each other 
 in surprise.
 
 260 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 "You see, I couldn't think of any- 
 thing else to do, Will," said Mrs. Bland. 
 "If you had been at home, you know, 
 I should have asked you." 
 
 " It was the only thing to do, Aunt 
 Sophy ; but I should have thought you 
 would have been so startled." 
 
 "I was, dear; but, you see, if I had 
 cried, or fainted, or anything, there would 
 have been no one to tell Dick what to 
 do ; and he was so frightened, poor boy ! 
 no wonder! Do you really think I did 
 what was right ?" 
 
 " Indeed I do, dear !" said Will, taking 
 his aunt into his arms and kissing her, 
 as he consigned Diana to Anne's care. 
 
 "I'm so glad you do, dear," said Mrs. 
 Bland in her soft tones. " Because my 
 husband always said I had more sense 
 than people thought, and it pleases me 
 to have you agree with him, you know."
 
 A CONFESSION. 261 
 
 "I tell you what, Miss Anne," said 
 Patty, in an aside, as Will went down- 
 stairs, " folks generally don't know what 
 missis' got in her. If she could live 
 all the time in a house on fire or an 
 earthquake, she'd be an uncommon smart 
 woman." 
 
 Dr. Porter lived quite at the other 
 end of the town; and, when Dick had 
 left his message, and turned Pick's head 
 toward home, it was dark. Dick's mind 
 was in a tumult with sensations of 
 mingled terror and thankfulness. Only 
 one idea came clearly before him, and 
 that was the firm resolution to tell Will 
 the whole story, and let him do what- 
 ever he thought fit. 
 
 Half way toward home he again met 
 Osborne Briggs. 
 
 " So your sister's safe after all !" he 
 cried out; " and there's no harm done."
 
 262 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " No harm !" said Dick, bitterly. " Look 
 here, Osborne, I tell you straight out 
 I've had enough of this. My brother 
 told me to have no more to do with 
 you, and I gave him my word. I didn't 
 keep it, more shame for me, but I'm going 
 to after this." 
 
 " Dick Monroe, if you go and tell of 
 me in this matter, you'll be sorry the 
 last day you live. We may just as 
 well keep it a secret. I. didn't mean 
 any harm, you know I didn't; and, I 
 dare say, Diana won't tell if you ask 
 her not. But, if you let any one know 
 how it was, I'll go and tell your aunt 
 every word you said about her, and 
 then she won't leave you any of her 
 money. She's an old woman now, and 
 I should think you'd want to keep on 
 the blind side of her." 
 
 The idea of calculating on his aunt's
 
 A CONFESSION. 263 
 
 death had never entered Dick's mind. 
 He was utterly disgusted. If anything 
 had been wanting to confirm his resolu- 
 tion, Osborne's speech would have done it. 
 
 He drew himself up with something 
 of his brother's manner. 
 
 " I shall save you the trouble," he 
 said, trying hard to be cool, and look- 
 ing Osborne straight in the face. " I 
 shall tell my aunt and my brother the 
 whole. I shall not blame you for this 
 afternoon's work as much as I do my- 
 self; for, being in your company, I have 
 been driven and led by you long enough. 
 Let me pass, if you please." 
 
 He drew the bridle from Osborne's 
 hand, struck the pony with the riding 
 whip, and went forward at a sharp pace. 
 
 "I'll do it now," said Dick, "if I 
 die for it." lie thought of the conclusion 
 of John's essav, and smiled to himself.
 
 264 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 " If a person's got a hard thing to do, 
 the best way is to go at it and stick 
 to it." 
 
 " I will," said Dick, resolutely. 
 
 He rode into the barn yard, threw 
 the rein to Primus, and walked into 
 the house as if he were charging a 
 battery. 
 
 "Tears to me," said Primus to his 
 father, " Master Dick's made up his 
 mind dreadful hard to something.' 
 
 Simeon shook his head in an oracular 
 manner, and looked very wise and mys- 
 terious. 
 
 a Do you know anything about it ?" 
 asked Primus. 
 
 Simeon shook his head more solemnly 
 than before, and looked wiser than ever, 
 giving the idea that there was a pro- 
 found mystery, and he could unfold 
 it if he chose, but he spoke no word.
 
 A CONFESSION. 265 
 
 " I don't believe he knows any more 
 about it than I do," said Primus to him- 
 self. He was quite right, but Simeon 
 would never saj " I don't know " to 
 his son. It was his way of keeping 
 up^his authority and dignity. 
 
 In the meantime Dick went into the 
 house, and walked straight into his 
 aunt's room, where she was sitting with 
 the Major. 
 
 " Will," he said, without a word of 
 preface, " it was all my fault that Diana 
 was almost drowned." 
 
 " Your fault !" said .Will, surprised. 
 "I thought she went on the ice after 
 the cat." 
 
 " She did ; but it was Osborne Briggs 
 pulled the cat from her, and threw 
 him on." 
 
 " Were you with Osborne?" asked Will, 
 changing his tone. 
 
 23
 
 266 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Yes, sir; I was down at the river- 
 side with him, and Diana came to call 
 me in." 
 
 " Indeed !" said the Major, with gather- 
 ing wrath. " I thought I had your word 
 about that matter." 
 
 " You did, but he met me and came 
 home with me this afternoon, and I was 
 afraid to let him know what you told 
 me." 
 
 "Afraid of what? Dick, don't make 
 me quite ashamed of you." 
 
 "I expect you will be before I get 
 through," said J)ick, in the same quiet, 
 resolute tone; "but I'm going to tell 
 you all about it now, whatever happens." 
 
 There was something in Dick's voice 
 and manner which made Will respect 
 him in spite of his vexation. He said, 
 more calmly, " Go on." 
 
 "I was afraid of him," recommenced
 
 A CONFESSION. 267 
 
 Dick, "because he said if I didn't go 
 with him, he'd come up here and tell 
 you all how mean I had been to make 
 fun of Aunt Sophy, and mimic her, and 
 talk about her as if she hadn't common 
 sense." 
 
 "My dear!" said Mrs. Bland. "But 
 I'm sure you didn't mean any harm." 
 
 Dick went on, pale and determined. 
 
 " I talked very badly, and I took off her 
 w.'iys and her talk to make Os borne laugh. 
 I did it ever so many times. I thought 
 that was smart," added Dick, bitterly, 
 " and I was afraid and ashamed to have 
 you know it, so I broke my word, and 
 told a lie. I wouldn't come in when 
 Diana called me, because Osborne laughed 
 at me, and made me jealous of her, know- 
 ing about the procession of Bacchus when 
 I didn't. So that's all. I don't know 
 what I .deserve. You may give me what
 
 268 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 you like, Will. I sha'n't say a word 
 to excuse myself only Di hadn't better 
 know, because she'll be worried." 
 
 " I can't believe it of you," said Will. 
 "I can't think my father's son would 
 be so mean, after all aunt's kindness." 
 
 "0! but I am sure Dick meant no 
 harm," said Mrs. Bland, patting Dick's 
 hand affectionately. 
 
 "0, Aunt Sophy!" said Dick, with 
 a little quiver in his voice for the first 
 time ; " if you wouldn't be so kind ! If 
 you'd just box my ears, I'd thank you." 
 
 " My love, I couldn't," said Mrs. Bland. 
 " I couldn't box the kitten when she got 
 upon the table and licked the butter, and 
 I am sure that is worse than anything you 
 have done." 
 
 11 But you don't know how bad I've 
 been, Aunt Sophy. I said you were a 
 perfect fool."
 
 A CONFESSION. 269 
 
 " Well, my dear," said Mrs. Bland, 
 placidly, " most people think so." 
 
 " 0, aunt !" 
 
 " And dear Di is quite safe, and I am 
 sure, Dick, you were not by when that 
 naughty boy threw poor pussy on the 
 ice." 
 
 "No, not close by. I had run up on 
 the bank for a stick. If I'd been down 
 there I should have prevented it. But I 
 don't know," said Dick, who had a most 
 intense contempt for his own conduct, 
 " maybe I'd have let the poor thing 
 drown for fear of his telling you. I was 
 such a miserable coward." 
 
 " But you're sorry now ; I'm sure you 
 are," said Mrs. Bland, pitying him. 
 
 " Sorry ! You might say so ; you'll 
 never trust me again, Aunt Sophy, I'm not 
 worth it; I wonder I haven't stolen the 
 spoons. I really do," said poor Dick. " I
 
 270 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 suppose I should if Osborne had told 
 me." 
 
 "0, no, my dear, I'm sure you would 
 not." 
 
 " Can you ever forgive me, aunt ?" 
 
 "Of course, my dear," said Mrs. Bland, 
 kissing him, " and Will does, too, I am 
 sure," and she looked imploringly at the 
 Major, who said not a word. 
 
 He was very much provoked. He could 
 not help feeling some contempt for his 
 brother, and made little allowance for the 
 boy's temptations and difficulties. Dick's 
 falseness to his word had very nearly been 
 the cause of Diana's death, and he did not 
 know how to excuse him. "Upon my 
 word," he said, " I never knew a boy in 
 my life that I thought deserved a flogging 
 more than you do." 
 
 " I know that as well as you," said Dick ; 
 " if you are ready, I am."
 
 A CONFESSION. 271 
 
 Mrs. Bland burst into tears and held 
 Dick's hand tight. "I can't have it, I 
 cannot, Will," she sobbed. " Indeed, in- 
 deed, I can't. It would kill me to have 
 such a thing in the house." 
 
 " We can go to the barn," said Dick, 
 smiling. 
 
 " Indeed, indeed !" repeated Mrs. Bland, 
 " dear Dick did not mean any harm, I am 
 sure he didn't." 
 
 "Aunt Sophy," said "Will, "nine-tenths 
 of the mischief in the world is done by- 
 people who don't mean any harm. I do 
 not know what else to do; I have talked 
 to Dick before about letting this boy alone, 
 once after he just missed shooting Anne, 
 and once beside, he knows when. Then 
 he promised me he never would have any- 
 thing more to do with him. He has dis- 
 obeyed me, and broken his word of honor. 
 Nothing that I have said seems to have
 
 272 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 affected him in the least. I don't see but 
 what I must do something; I should not 
 feel justified in passing it over." 
 
 Mrs. Bland rose and threw herself into 
 Will's arms. " But, indeed, you must not 
 punish Dick," she said, kissing him. " It's 
 almost Christmas time, and dear Diana is 
 safe and the pussy too, and really how 
 could he tell Osborne to go home? I 
 couldn't have done it myself. Please, 
 Will." 
 
 . Very well, Aunt Sophy, since you wish 
 it," said the Major, who had never struck 
 his brother in his life, and was perhaps 
 not very sorry to avoid the threatened 
 punishment. "Go to bed, Dick, I don't 
 wish to say anything more about it at 
 present. I certainly never expected to 
 think of you as I cannot help doing now," 
 and the Major turned short round and left 
 the room.
 
 A CONFESSION. 273 
 
 Dick went up stairs miserably unhappy, 
 but his trouble had not the sting in it 
 which it would have had before his con- 
 fession. The bitterest part of his sorrow 
 was the feeling that he had lost entirely 
 his brother's respect and confidence. Anne 
 heard the story when she came down 
 toward nine o'clorX. She did not blame 
 Dick as severely '/3 did his brother, and 
 thought that Will had not made sufficient 
 allowance for the boy's perplexities and 
 temptations, so far as the late meeting 
 with Osborne was concerned, or appreciated 
 the effort his confession had cost him. 
 
 Mrs. Bland left them talking together, 
 and stole softly up stairs with some sand- 
 wiches and a glass of whipped cream. 
 She found them herself, without asking 
 Patty, for Patty having some way learned 
 the story was inclined to be very hard 
 upon Dick. Mrs. Bland had not been up
 
 274 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 stairs for six months before this eventful 
 day. She listened for a moment outside 
 Dick's door, and heard a sob. 
 
 " The poor, dear child !" said Aunt 
 Sophy to herself, as she turned the handle 
 and entered softly. 
 
 " My love," she said, sitting down by 
 the bed and kissing poor Dick's averted 
 face, " I've brought you some supper." 
 
 "I can't eat anything, Aunt Sophy, 
 thank you," said Dick, with a choking 
 voice. 
 
 " Dear Diana is fast asleep, with pussy 
 in the bed beside her, and Dr. Porter 
 thinks she will take no harm." 
 
 " It's no thanks to me that she's not in 
 the bottom of the river." 
 
 " My love, I think you blame yourself 
 too much, indeed I do! How long ago 
 did all this happen ?" 
 
 "Before Will came home; and I did
 
 A CONFESSION. 275 
 
 other things, Aunt Sophy. I read books 
 I had no business to touch, and hid them 
 away ; and Will found it out and forgave 
 me, and I gave him my word then I'd 
 never have anything more to do with 
 Osborne, and I've broken it, and that's 
 what makes him so angry with me." 
 
 " But how could you help it, dear, when 
 he followed you home ?" said Mrs. Bland, 
 coaxing him. 
 
 " Don't excuse me, Aunt Sophy, don't. 
 I could have got rid of him easily enough 
 if I'd been a mind to, but he said he'd 
 come up and tell you all how I talked, 
 and I felt so awful ashamed to have any 
 one know." 
 
 "But, Dick, I should not have cared 
 much if he had. Boys will amuse them- 
 selves, I know." 
 
 " Pretty amusement !" said Dick, bitterly, 
 "and I've been ashamed to look you in
 
 276 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 the face whenever I've thought of it, and 
 yet I do love you, Aunt Sophy, indeed I 
 do." 
 
 Mrs. Bland tried to feed him whipped 
 cream with the spoon, like a baby, but 
 Dick was too miserable to eat. His aunt 
 began to cry, for she thought a boy who 
 couldn't eat whipped cream must be in a 
 dreadful state of mind indeed. 
 
 " Don't, aunt," said Dick, " don't mind 
 anything about me. I've made every one 
 miserable enough, without your crying," 
 and Dick tried to speak in a very steady 
 voice and broke down entirely. " It 
 wasn't because I was afraid of catching 
 what I deserved," he said, " I don't want 
 you to think I was such a coward, but I 
 couldn't bear Will should know how mean 
 I had been. And this afternoon when I 
 was coming home, the most I cared about 
 being perfect for the quarter, was because
 
 A CONFESSION". 277 
 
 I thought he'd be so pleased, and now he 
 won't mind anything about it, and he's 
 going away so soon. 0! what shall I do! 
 What shall I do !" 
 
 Mrs. Bland heard the Major's step on 
 the stair, and she opened the door and 
 called to him. He came rather reluctantly. 
 " See here, Will," said Mrs. Bland, softly, 
 putting her hand on his shoulder, "you 
 must be kind to Dick, I am sure you will. 
 He is so unhappy, and all his trouble is 
 that you are displeased with him." 
 
 " I don't mean to be unkind, Aunt 
 Sophy," said Will, who was almost as 
 unhappy as Dick. " I am displeased 
 and disappointed with him, and I can 
 not help it, I shall not know how to trust 
 him again ; I am as sorry as he can be to 
 say so, but it is the truth. All I want 
 is to do my duty in the matter." 
 
 " But I don't want you to do your duty," 
 
 24
 
 278 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 urged Mrs. Bland; "I want you to kiss and 
 be friends. Indeed, Will, you can't manage 
 your brother just as if you were his 
 father," added Mrs Bland, sensibly enough. 
 
 " He can if he likes, Aunt Sophy," said 
 Dick. 
 
 "And I know Anne thinks just as I 
 do," pursued Mrs Bland, " and she knows, 
 I am sure. Only see how clever she is, 
 with her Latin and crochet work and all. 
 And it's most Christmas time, and dear 
 Diana will be distressed if Dick and you 
 are not good friends, and so shall I ; and 
 there, Mr. Lyon says he has been perfect 
 for the quarter." 
 
 " Will won't care to hear anything about 
 that now," said Dick, hiding his face in 
 the pillow. 
 
 " How do you know that ?" said the 
 Major, with some emotion. 
 
 "And he is so sorry, and I'm sure it
 
 A CONFESSION. 279 
 
 says in the Bible that people ought to be 
 forgiven when they are sorry, really. And 
 Monday is Christmas. Come, Will, now 
 do kiss and be friends," concluded Mrs 
 Bland, as though talking to two little 
 children. 
 
 "Well, Dick," said the Major, setting 
 down on the bed, and bending over his 
 brother, " let's make it all up, and never 
 quarrel any more, like good little boys. 
 Shall we ? Come, let's do as Aunt Sophy 
 says, kiss and be friends." 
 
 " 0, Will !" said Dick, brokenly. 
 
 Mrs. Bland slipped out of the room and 
 left the brothers together. She found 
 Anne down stairs, anxious, troubled, half- 
 crying. 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know what to do, 
 aunt," said poor Anne, who was miserable 
 at not being able to agree with Will 
 entirely, " but it does seem to me as if
 
 280 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 Will did not make allowance enough 
 for Dick." 
 
 " It's all right now," said Mrs. Bland, 
 settling herself in her easy chair ; " I called 
 Will into Dick's room, and they have made 
 it all up." 
 
 " 0, thank you, Aunt Sophy. How 
 glad I am !" 
 
 " I thought you would be, dear. Do 
 you know it seems to me such a for- 
 tunate thing that your brother isn't 
 at all like the young man in the story 
 book you read to me." 
 
 " Why ?" 
 
 "Because that young man had 'an 
 inflexible will,' you know, and was 
 always ordering the ladies of his family 
 about, and never would do what he 
 was asked. Of course, he was a very 
 good young man, and all that, but I 
 think he would have been a very un-
 
 A CONFESSION. 281 
 
 comfortable person to live with. Will 
 is a great deal nicer; for he is very apt 
 to do what one asks him, and I do like 
 people who do as they are asked when 
 it's nothing wrong, you know, of course." 
 
 The next day Diana kept her bed; 
 but she was a sturdy little body, and 
 the fright and the wetting seemed to 
 have left nothing behind them but a 
 little hoarseness. Sunday she came 
 down to dinner, and by Monday all 
 thoughts of postponing the party were 
 given up. 
 
 Major Monroe and Anne sent Mr. 
 Lyon their father's Elzevir Virgil for 
 a Christmas gift, and Mrs. Bland, hear- 
 ing Matthew's share in the adventure, 
 insisted on giving him a watch. For 
 the next two weeks Matthew was per- 
 petually wanting to know and tell the 
 time of day.
 
 282 THE ICE RAFT. 
 
 The party went off in the most de- 
 lightful manner. Mr. Lyon made him- 
 self most agreeable, and whisked about, 
 John said, like a streak of tame light- 
 ning. 
 
 The supper was admirable, and the 
 guests and the hosts pleased with each 
 other, and with themselves. 
 
 " Will," said Dick to his brother, as 
 they stood together by the parlor fire, 
 after the last good-night had been said, 
 " how different all this would have been 
 if that cake of ice had parted five minutes 
 sooner !" 
 
 "I can't bear to think of that," said 
 the Major. " It seems like a miracle 
 that the child was saved. I don't know 
 how to be thankful enough." 
 
 "Nor I. Di says she felt sure almost 
 all the time that God would save her, 
 but I didn't when I was on my way
 
 A CONFESSION. 283 
 
 down the river. I made up my mind 
 then I'd tell you the whole story." 
 
 "You were very brave and straight- 
 forward about that," said the Major, 
 putting his arm over his brother's shoul- 
 der. " I don't think I did you justice." 
 
 " Yes you did ; but, Will, I do think 
 any way I hope this will be a lesson 
 to me as long as I live. If Di had been 
 drowned, it would just have been the 
 consequence of that one silly fit of per- 
 versity."
 
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