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COUSIN LUCY 
 
 AMONG THE 
 
 MOUNTAINS. 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE EOLLO BOOKS. 
 
 A NEW EDITION, 
 REVISED BY THE AUTHOR 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 CLARK, AUSTIN & SMITH, 
 
 8 PARK ROW AND 3 ANN-STREET, 
 
 1854. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, 
 
 By B. B. MUSSEY, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This volume, with its companion, 
 Cousin Lucy upon the Sea-Shore, 
 is intended as a continuation of Lucy's 
 history, four volumes of which have been 
 already published. They present to the 
 juvenile reader an account of the gradual 
 progress made by our little heroine in 
 the acquisition of knowledge, and in the 
 formation of character, though in very 
 different scenes from those in which the 
 incidents of the preceding volumes have 
 been laid. 
 
 g 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PagB 
 Fording, £ 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The General's, ii 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Inspection, 3c 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 A Walk, 51 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Robert's Clearing, 64 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Philosophy, 82 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Slab 96 
 
8 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Pago. 
 
 Shopping, 109 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 An Escape, 122 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Effect 133 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Gap among the Mountains, 146 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Pump-Making, 153 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Return, 167 
 
LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 FORDING. 
 
 One summer afternoon, in the fall of the year, 
 just after sunset, there was a chaise coming down 
 a long hill in the woods. The hill was steep, and 
 there was a rocky precipice on one side of the 
 road. There were lofty mountains all around. 
 
 In the chaise there were three persons — a gen- 
 tleman, a lady, and a little girl. The girl was 
 Rollo's cousin Lucy. The gentleman and lady 
 were her father and mother. They were taking 
 a journey. 
 
 The country was very wild and mountainous, 
 and the road desolate and solitary. If it had been 
 morning, Lucy would have been pleased with the 
 cliffs and precipices, and the towering summits of 
 the mountains. But now, as the sun had gone 
 
10 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 down, it seemed lonely. In fact, Lucy was a 
 little afraid. 
 
 " How much farther have we got to go ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " I don't know," said her father; "it must be 
 several miles." 
 
 " Hark ! father," said Lucy, again ; " I hear a 
 roaring." 
 
 " Yes," said her father ; " it is down in the 
 valley below us." 
 
 Lucy said nothing in reply to this ; but, if her 
 father could have seen her face, he would have 
 perceived that she looked anxious and pale. She 
 aid not know what that roaring could be. 
 
 " I presume there is a stream there," said her 
 father, — " perhaps a small river." 
 
 " O," said Lucy, " a river roaring. I didn't 
 know but that it might be — some — some wild 
 beasts." 
 
 Lucy was a little ashamed of her fears, and so 
 she spoke hesitatingly. 
 
 Her mother smiled faintly, and then immedi- 
 ately looked serious again. In fact, her mother 
 was a little afraid herself. She did not like cross- 
 ing rivers so late, in strange and wild places. 
 She was afraid that the bridge might break down. 
 
 Lucy's father, however, said that he presumed 
 
FORDING. 11 
 
 that the bridge was perfectly safe, for he thought 
 they would have a good bridge on a road so much 
 travelled as that appeared to be. 
 
 He was, however, in error in all his calculations 
 on the subject ; for, as it happened, there was no 
 bridge at all. He learned this before he came to 
 the river ; for, when they had reached the bottom 
 of the hill, they met a man on horseback, and so 
 they stopped to inquire of him about their road. 
 They asked him if there was a good bridge over 
 that stream ; and he said that there was no bridge 
 at all, but that there was a very good place to 
 ford. 
 
 " O, I am afraid to ford," said Lucy's mother. 
 
 " So am I," said Lucy. 
 
 " Is the water deep ? " said her father to the 
 man. 
 
 " No, sir," replied the man, " not if you keep in 
 the right place, — just in the edge of the rips." 
 So saying, the man rode on. 
 
 Lucy's father then moved his horse slowly on 
 down the road, which gradually descended into a 
 ravine, where Lucy could hear the water roaring. 
 Lucy said that she was afraid to have the horse 
 wade through the river. 
 
 " So am 1," said her mother. 
 
12 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " I don't quite like the adventure myself," said 
 her father, " but there is no other alternative." 
 
 " Can't we go back ? " said her mother. 
 
 " Not very well. It is several miles back to 
 any place where we could spend the night* and 
 then we should have to come and ford this stream 
 to-morrow morning ; so that we shouldn't gain 
 much." 
 
 " Only it would be light," said Lucy. 
 
 " And perhaps we might find some other way, ,; 
 said her mother. 
 
 " We'll go down to the bank of the stream, and 
 see, at any rate," said her father. And he ac- 
 cordingly rode on. The rocks and precipices 
 were so high on each side of the road, and the 
 river itself so crooked, winding around among 
 them, that they could not see far before them. 
 At length, however, they came in sight of the 
 surface of the water, gleaming through the trees 
 before them ; and in a few minutes more, they 
 came down to the bank of a very broad stream. 
 
 "O dear me!" said Lucy; "I am sure I am 
 afraid to wade across such a big river as this." 
 
 Her father said nothing, but be stopped the 
 horse upon the sand of the shore, and began to 
 look up and down over the water. 
 
FORDING. 13 
 
 " It looks very shallow," said he. 
 
 " What is shallow, sir ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Wliy, not deep," replied her father. 
 
 " What did the man mean by the rips ?" asked 
 Lucy's mother. 
 
 " He meant the ripples in the water there, all 
 across the stream, just below us." So saying, 
 Lucy's father pointed, and showed Lucy and her 
 mother where the water was rough, being full of 
 little waves, which tumbled along, making a sort 
 of rippling noise. These ripples extended quite 
 across the stream just below where they were. 
 But above them, the surface of the water was 
 calm and smooth, like glass. This calm surface 
 also, like the ripples below, extended across from 
 shore to shore. 
 
 The sun had been set for some time, but still 
 there was a great deal of light in the western part 
 of the sky. This light shone upon the water, and 
 enabled them to see, pretty distinctly, the line 
 of the rips, where the man had said that they 
 must go. 
 
 " I wouldn't go through the waves, father," said 
 Lucy ; " I would go where the water is smooth." 
 
 " No," said her father ; " we'll follow the direc- 
 tions." 
 
 As he said this, he began to drive the horse into 
 2 
 
14 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 the water. The bottom was covered with fine 
 pebble-stones, so that it was by no means as 
 smooth as the road which they had been travelling 
 in: still they got along very well. The water 
 gradually grew deeper and deeper, until it came 
 up to the step of the chaise. They were then 
 in about the middle of the river. 
 
 " O father," said Lucy, " what a wide river ! " 
 
 " Yes," said her father, " it is pretty wide, and 
 I believe I'll stop the horse a minute or two, and 
 let you look about." 
 
 So he pulled the reins a little, and said, whoa, 
 and the horse stopped ; while Lucy and her 
 mother looked up and down the river. Lucy 
 could see better than her mother, for she was 
 seated in the middle of the chaise, upon a low 
 seat. It was a little farther forward than the seat 
 which her parents were sitting upon, so that she 
 could see up and down the river very well. The 
 reflection of the clouds in the water was very 
 beautiful, and there were trees upon the banks, 
 hano;ing over into the stream. The river came 
 round between two high hills, a short . distance 
 above where they were, and there were crags, 
 and precipices, and high mountains, all around. 
 
 "1 see one house," said Lucy's mother. 
 
 " Where is it, mother ? " said Lucv 
 
FORDING. 17 
 
 Her mother pointed towards the house. It 
 seemed to be pretty far off on one side of the 
 valley, far above where they were. They could 
 not see its situation very distinctly, because it was 
 so nearly dark ; but it appeared to be on an 
 elevated table of land, with high mountains be- 
 yond it. 
 
 " There are three houses there," said Lucy. 
 " I can see three." 
 
 " No," replied her father; " those are the barns, 
 I presume ; however, we must drive on." 
 
 He accordingly drove on. Lucy watched the 
 house as long as she could. It was not very large, 
 and was painted white, and there was an enormous 
 elm hanging over it, like an umbrella. The barns, 
 which Lucy thought, at first, were other houses, 
 were very large ; but they were partly hidden by 
 trees, so that she could not see them very distinctly. 
 And presently, when the horse drew near the 
 shore, the tops of some large pine-trees, which 
 grew upon the bank, came in the way, and they 
 lost sight of the house altogether. When the 
 horse reached the opposite bank of the river, he 
 walked up the ascent, and then came to a smooth 
 and pleasant road, through a level mowing field, 
 with groves of trees upon one side along the bank 
 of the river. The level field did not extend very 
 2* 
 
18 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 far ; and when they came to the end of it, they 
 began to ascend a hill. A short distance before 
 them, they saw a man coming with a cart and 
 oxen. 
 
 " I believe I'll stop," said Lucy's father, " and 
 ask him how far it is to the next tavern." 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy ; " 1 would." 
 
 And just before they met the man, her mother 
 said, in a lower tone, " Ask him, too, whether 
 we shall have to ford another stream." 
 
 Just at that minute, they saw that the man was 
 driving: his team out of the road, in order to make 
 room for them to pass ; for the road here was 
 quite narrow. When they got opposite to him, 
 he stood among the bushes, with one arm resting 
 upon the yoke of his oxen, waiting for them to 
 pass. He nodded to them, with a frank and pleas- 
 ant expression of countenance. 
 
 "Will you tell me, sir," said Lucy's father, 
 " how far it is to the next tavern ? " t 
 
 "Why, it's — not far from five miles — equal 
 to ten." 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 " O, it's right up and down hill all the way." 
 
 " It will take us two or three hours to get there, 
 then," said Lucy's father to her mother. Then 
 he turned to the man again, and said, < — 
 
FORDING. 19 
 
 " Shall we have any other stream to ford be- 
 fore we get there ? " 
 
 " No," said the man, " no other stream ; but 
 you'll have to cross this same one again about four 
 miles from here." 
 
 " Ah ! " said her father. — " Is it a pretty good 
 place to cross ? " 
 
 " Yes, very good," said the teamster. 
 
 " Better than it is down here, where we just 
 came across ? " said Lucy's mother. 
 
 " No," said the man, " not better than that ; 
 we don't call it any thing crossing there, when the 
 water is as low as it is now." 
 
 Lucy's mother said no more, and her father 
 was just about driving on, when he reined up 
 his horse again a moment to say, — 
 
 " Then there's no place nearer than five miles, 
 where we can put up to-night." 
 
 " Why, yes," replied the man, " there's the 
 General's. I presume you could get accommo- 
 dated up here at the General's." 
 
 " How far is it to the General's ? " 
 
 " O, about a mile and a half," replied the 
 man. 
 
 " Does he make a practice of entertaining 
 travellers ? " said Lucy's father. 
 
 " Why, no," replied the man, " he does not 
 
20 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 exactly make a practice of it ; but, then, he's very 
 glad to see them when they come." 
 
 " And he makes a regular charge for it, does 
 he?" 
 
 " O yes," said the man ; " you needn't be con- 
 cerned about that ; he's very reasonable in his 
 charges." 
 
 " Well, sir, I'm very much obliged to you," 
 said Lucy's father ; and he immediately began to 
 whip up his horse, as if he was in a hurry to go 
 along. At the same time, he turned his face 
 away from the man towards Lucy, and seemed to 
 be trying to keep from laughing. . Something ap- 
 peared to amuse him very much ; so much, in fact, 
 that it seemed to be quite difficult for him to keep 
 sober until he got by the man. 
 
 " What are you laughing at, father ? " said 
 Lucy. 
 
 Her father did not answer, but only laughed 
 the more. 
 
 "Father," repeated Lucy, earnestly, "what 
 are you laughing at ? I am sure I don't think we 
 ought to laugh at that man for telling us about 
 our way." 
 
 " No," replied her father ; " I was not laughing 
 at the man, but only at the queer mistake he 
 made." 
 
FORDING. 21 
 
 " What mistake ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, he thought I was afraid that the 
 General would charge too much for entertaining 
 us ; whereas all that I was afraid of was, that he 
 would not charge any thing at all." 
 
 " What do you mean by charge, father ? " said 
 Lucy. 
 
 " Making us pay," replied her father. 
 
 " Well, what do you want him to make us pay 
 for ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " O, we shall all feel a great deal more at 
 home at his house, if he is going to receive pay 
 for entertaining us. I shouldn't like to go into a 
 farmer's house, and have him get us some supper, 
 and give us beds to sleep in, and then get us 
 some breakfast in the morning, and then not pay 
 him any thing for all that trouble. But the man 
 thought that I was afraid we should have to pay 
 him too much." 
 
 Lucy did not understand exactly what her fa- 
 ther meant by speaking of a farmer's house ; for 
 the house where they were going was a general's 
 house, she thought, and not a fanner's. However, 
 she said no more about it. Her father said that 
 he had forgotten to ask what the General's name 
 was, and her mother said that she thought the 
 General's house must be the one they saw up 
 
22 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 among the hills, when they were corning across 
 the stream. 
 
 " Very likely," said her father, in reply ; and 
 there the conversation ceased. They were all 
 tired, and so they rode on for nearly half an hour 
 in silence. 
 
 The road was generally up hill, though it was 
 level sometimes for a short distance ; and some- 
 times it even went down a little way, and then 
 up again. It curved about also, winding along 
 around rocks and precipices, and sometimes up 
 narrow ravines. At one place there was a great 
 tree growing out from the brink of a precipice by 
 the side of the road, far above them ; and the 
 tree hung over so far, that Lucy was afraid that 
 it would fall down upon their heads. But her 
 father said that he thought there was no danger. 
 They could hear the river roaring through the 
 valley far below them on one side of the road, 
 and now and then they got a glimpse of the wa- 
 ter, which was bright by the reflection of the sky. 
 
 At length they came to ground which seemed 
 to be more smooth. There began to be a fence 
 of rails on one side of the road. Presently the 
 fence stopped, and a wall began. The wall was 
 made of rough stones piled up in a row. Pretty 
 soon there was a wall on the other side of the road 
 
FORDING. 23 
 
 too ; and beyond the wall on one side was an 
 orchard, the trees growing among large rocks, 
 which were scattered about the ground. On the 
 other side were broad, level fields, which looked 
 pretty smooth, though Lucy could not see them 
 very well. Her father said that he thought that 
 must be the General's mowing. 
 
 As they drove along, they could see that they 
 were passing different fields, having corn and 
 grain growing in them. These fields appeared to 
 be quite large, and the walls seemed to grow bet- 
 ter and more substantial the farther they ad- 
 vanced. Lucy's father said he had no idea that 
 there could have been such a place for a farm 
 among those mountains. Lucy, however, said 
 that she did not see any farm, nothing but some 
 fields. 
 
 They soon began to draw near the house. 
 They did not see the buildings until they came 
 very near them ; for there were forests and lofty 
 mountains behind them, which looked dark, and so 
 the barns, and sheds, and granaries were concealed. 
 The house, too, did not show itself until they 
 got almost to it. Lucy saw it first by means of a 
 light from one of the windows. She did not see 
 the light very plainly at first, because it shone 
 through some trees which were in the way ; but 
 
24 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 presently, when they came into full view of it, 
 they saw that it was a very bright light. 
 
 " They've got a good fire," said Lucy's moth- 
 er, " and I'm glad of it, for I feel cold." 
 
 " So do I," said Lucy. " I'm glad they've got 
 a good fire." 
 
 Just at this time, her father turned his horse up 
 into a large yard, which extended along by the 
 side of the house. There were various out-Luild 
 ings all around the yard, and the great elm-tree 
 hung over it like a canopy. The elm-tree was 
 very large, and it stood pretty near the house, so 
 that one half of the branches overhung the house, 
 and the other half the yard. Lucy's father drove 
 up pretty near to the door. 
 
25 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GENERAL'S. 
 
 Just as the chaise stopped in the yard, Lucy 
 saw a boy coming in from the barn towards the 
 house, with a basket in his hand. He ran along 
 towards the chaise, and Lucy's father asked him 
 if the General was at home. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said the boy ; " won't you walk in ? 
 I'll hold the horse while you get out." 
 
 " No," said Lucy's father ; " we won't get out 
 fet. But will you be good enough to ask him 
 if he will come to the door a moment." 
 
 The boy said he would, and he went into the 
 house. Lucy expected to see a man dressed in 
 uniform, with a gun in his hand, or at least a 
 sword ; and also with a feather in his cap, and 
 an epaulet on each shoulder. Instead of this, 
 however, much to her surprise, the boy came 
 out a moment after he had gone in, conducting 
 a plain-looking man, who appeared just like a 
 farmer. 
 
 3 
 
26 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " Is that the General ? " said Lucy, whispering 
 to her mother. 
 
 " Hush ! " said her mother. 
 
 The General had a plain, farmer-like look ; his 
 countenance, however, was intelligent and ex- 
 pressive. He seemed very glad to see the trav- 
 ellers. He invited them to come in immediately, 
 — even before he heard their story, — and when 
 Lucy's father had told him what their circum- 
 stances were, he said, — 
 
 "Yes, yes, — I can accommodate you just as 
 well as not. I am very glad to see you." 
 
 Then he told the boy to hold the horse's head, 
 while he took Lucy out, and put her down upon 
 a great flat stone before the door. Then her 
 father and mother got out, and the General took 
 ofFthe trunk, which was strapped on behind, and 
 set it down also upon the stone. He also took 
 out the other baggage, and then told the boy to 
 lead the horse off to the barn, and said that he 
 would send out Joseph to help him take care of 
 him. Then they all went into the house. 
 
 Just as they were going in at the door, Lucy 
 said, in a very low voice, to her mother, who was 
 leading her by the hand, — 
 
 " Mother, I thought that a general was a kind 
 of a soldier " 
 
the general's. 27 
 
 " Hush ! hush ! Lucy," said her mother. 
 
 Lucy, therefore, said no more, but went in. 
 She found herself in a Jarge room, with a very 
 large fireplace in one side of it. There were 
 a great many strange things, — that is, things 
 strange to Lucy, — all about the room. There 
 was a long wooden seat, with a very high back 
 to it, by the wall, upon one side of the fire. 
 There was a round-faced, happy-looking girl, 
 sitting on this seat, about as big as Joanna. She 
 was knitting. There was, also, a young man sit- 
 ting by a window ; this was Joseph ; and he got 
 up and went out when the party came in, in 
 order to go to the barn, and help take care of 
 the horse. , The General and his wife put some 
 chairs before the fire, for Lucy and her father 
 and mother to sit down and warm themselves. 
 Lucy sat down with the rest, but she was so 
 much amazed at the strange things before her, — 
 the great hearth, made of monstrous flat stones, 
 the black iron andirons, with the tops turning over 
 in a curl, and the bright, blazing fire, — that she 
 did not think much about warming herself. 
 
 Then Lucy began to look about the room. 
 The light shone brightly upon the floor, and un- 
 der the tables. Under one table there was a 
 large black dog stretched out straight, with his 
 
28 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 chin upon his fore paws, and watching Lucy 
 with the eye that was turned towards her. And 
 every time he heard a noise, he would raise his 
 head, and prick up his ears, and, after listening a 
 minute, lay it down again. In a minute or two, 
 Lucy saw him lift up his head very suddenly, 
 and look quite wild. Lucy heard, herself, at the 
 same moment, a low and distant sound of whis- 
 tling, which seemed to be out in the yard. The 
 dog started up, and ran towards the door, and 
 stood there a moment, whining for somebody to 
 open it. An instant afterwards, a little girl, whom 
 Lucy had not seen before, came quick, and opened 
 the door, and let him out. Then she went back, 
 and took her seat again upon a cricket in the 
 corner. She seemed to be about as old as Lucy; 
 and Lucy thought. to herself, that she wished she 
 was acquainted with her, and then she would go 
 and play with her. "And at any rate," said 
 she to herself, " I wish I knew what her name 
 was." 
 
 Her name, in fact, was Ellen. Lucy learned 
 her name pretty soon ; for the General's wife, 
 who was Ellen's mother, called her, in a few 
 minutes, to go and show Lucy and her mother 
 the way to the bedroom. 
 
 " Shall I light a candle, mother ? " said Ellen. 
 
29 
 
 " Yes," said her mother. 
 
 Lucy then observed that Ellen went to a sort 
 of open cupboard, by the side of the room, where 
 there were a great many dishes and tins in rows, 
 all nice and bright ; and she took down an iron 
 candlestick, with a short candle in it, and came 
 and lighted it by the fire. Then she conducted 
 Lucy's mother, and Lucy herself, out through a 
 door in the back side of the room. The door 
 led into a small passage-way ; and, from this 
 passage-way, Ellen opened a door which led into 
 a very pleasant little bedroom. There was a 
 bed in the back side of the room, and a little 
 trundle-bed under it, which Lucy supposed was 
 for her. The middle of the floor was covered 
 with a small carpet. The rest of the floor was 
 painted. There were two windows, with white 
 curtains hanging before them, and between the 
 windows a table, covered with a white cloth. 
 Over the table was a looking-glass ; and there 
 was a large pincushion hanging under the glass 
 There was also a lightstand in a corner of the 
 room, with a Bible upon it. 
 
 Lucy's father came in immediately afterwards, 
 bringing in some of the baggage ; and, while he 
 was putting it down, Lucy went and lifted up 
 the curtain of the window to look out. 
 3* 
 
30 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " O, what a strange-looking place ! " said Lucy 
 " I never saw such a strange-looking place. Come 
 and see, mother." 
 
 Her mother went to the window to see. Di- 
 rectly before them, under the window, there was 
 a little green yard, with a stone wall running 
 along the back side of it. Beyond the wall, 
 there were trees and bushes ; and the land 
 seemed to descend into a little valley, where 
 Lucy thought she could hear a brook tumbling 
 over stones. Beyond the brook there was a vast 
 forest, rising higher and higher up the declivities 
 of the mountains. The mountains were so high, 
 that Lucy had to move away more of the curtain 
 before she could see the summits. They were 
 steep and gray. Lucy could see them very 
 distinctly ; for the moon had come up, and was 
 shining upon them. In a place lower down, 
 there was a great, rocky precipice, which pro- 
 jected cut from among the trees. Lucy said to 
 herself, that she was glad Royal did not see it ; 
 for, if he did, she knew that he would want to 
 be climbing up to the top of it, and she should 
 be afraid that he would fall. 
 
 When Lucy went back into the great room 
 again with her mother, she found that there was 
 a round table set out in the middle of the floor, 
 
THE GENERAL S. 31 
 
 and spread for supper. The girl, who was sitting 
 upon the great seat, beckoned to Lucy to come 
 and sit with her; and Lucy went. She put 
 down her knitting, and took Lucy up in her lap. 
 At first, Lucy was a little afraid ; but the girl 
 looked so good-humoredly and pleasantly upon' 
 her, that she soon began to feel at her ease. 
 
 " What is your name ? " said Lucy, looking 
 up into her face. 
 
 " Comfort," said the girl. 
 
 " Comfort ? " repeated Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied the girl. 
 
 " I never heard of such a name as Comfort," 
 said Lucy. 
 
 " What is your name ? " said Comfort. 
 
 Lucy told her what her name was, and then 
 Comfort asked her various other questions about 
 their journey ; and, at last, Lucy and Comfort 
 became quite well acquainted. In the mean 
 time, Ellen was very busy helping her mother 
 get the supper. There was a round, flat cake 
 set up before the fire, in an iron thing called a 
 spider, to bake, and a pie put down in a corner 
 to warm. At length, Lucy looked up to Com- 
 fort again, and said, — 
 
 "Why don't you help them get supper?" 
 
32 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 "O, I don't do the housework," said Com 
 fort ; « I spin." 
 
 " Spin ? " repeated Lucy ; " how do you spin ? " 
 
 "With my spinning-wheel," said Comfort. 
 " There it stands, in the corner." 
 
 Lucy looked in the direction where Comfort 
 pointed, and she saw a very curious-looking ma- 
 chine, with one great wheel, something like one 
 of the wheels of her father's chaise, only it was 
 up in the air, on the top of the machine. The 
 machine had three legs, too, to stand upon. 
 
 Lucy looked at it, wondering, when Comfort 
 asked her if she had never seen a spinning-wheel. 
 
 " No," said Lucy. 
 
 " And then you never saw any body spin ? " 
 
 " No," said Lucy. 
 
 " You shall see me, then, to-morrow. I shall 
 spin all day to-morrow. " 
 
 " I wish you would show me a little to-night," 
 said Lucy. 
 
 "Well," said Comfort, "I will." 
 
 So Comfort put Lucy down, and led her to 
 the wheel ; and then she took up a long, slender 
 roll of wool, from a pile of such rolls, which was 
 lying across the forward part of the wheel, and 
 began to spin. The wheel made a loud, buzzing 
 noise, which seemed to Lucy to be very extra- 
 
33 
 
 ordinary indeed. Lucy stood before the wheel, 
 with her hands behind her, looking on, with great 
 interest, at the spinning, and wondering what 
 made it buzz. 
 
 Presently, Comfort stopped, and led Lucy back 
 to her seat, saying, "To-morrow you shall see 
 me spin more." 
 
 " But I am going away to-morrow," said Lu- 
 cy, " with my father and mother." 
 
 Just then, Lucy saw that the supper was ready, 
 and they were putting the chairs around the table. 
 Not long after supper, Lucy's mother took her 
 into the bedroom, to put her to bed. While they 
 were in the bedroom together, Lucy said that she 
 wished her mother would stay there several days. 
 
 " No," said her mother ; " we must go on to- 
 morrow. But perhaps we shall stop again when 
 we come back." 
 
 "When are we corning back? " said Lucy. 
 
 " In about a week," replied her mother. 
 
 "Well, mother," said Lucy, "why can't you 
 and I stay here, and let father go on alone, and 
 call for us when he comes back ? " 
 
 " I should like that," said her mother. " I will 
 ask him." 
 
 "Well," said Lucy, with an expression of great 
 satisfaction. " Then I can see Comfort spin." 
 
34 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.. 
 
 So, after Lucy's mother had put her to bed, 
 and was going out of the room, Lucy called out 
 to her, just as she was shutting the door, — 
 
 " You'll be sure and ask father." 
 
 " Yes," said her mother. 
 
 " And come back and tell me what he says." 
 
 " Perhaps so," said her mother. " Good night." 
 
 After her mother had gone, Lucy began talk- 
 ing to herself, as follows : — 
 
 " I hope we shall stay here ; then I can see 
 Comfort's lamb. Comfort says she's got a lamb. 
 I wish I had a lamb, — or a little spinning-wheel 
 — if a little one would only buzz. This is the 
 way it went : Buzz — buzz — uz — z-z — ." 
 
 And in a few minutes, Lucy buzzed herself to 
 sleep. 
 
35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE INSPECTION. 
 
 Lucy's plan, of having her mother and herself 
 remain at the General's while her father went on 
 to finish his journey by himself, was adopted, to 
 her great joy. 
 
 Lucy stood under the elm-tree, and saw him 
 drive away, with great satisfaction, the next morn- 
 ing, soon after breakfast. 
 
 As soon as her father's chaise was out of sight, 
 at a curve in the road, where some large trees 
 intercepted the view, Lucy turned round to go 
 into the house. Ellen was standing in the door. 
 Her brother, the boy who had held the horse the 
 evening before, was standing pretty near, and, as 
 he turned to go on towards the barn, he said to 
 Ellen,— 
 
 '•' Ellen, is not this inspection day ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Ellen, after hesitating a moment, 
 " I believe it is." 
 
 " Excellent ! " said the boy. " We shall haFe 
 
3b LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 some cakes. I am going to eat mine on my 
 clearing." 
 
 " Inspection ? " said Lucy to herself; " I won- 
 der what they mean by inspection." 
 
 But Lucy did not like to ask, though she 
 wanted to know very much. She did not feel 
 enough acquainted even with Ellen, to ask. She 
 thought she would go in and ask her mother. 
 
 She found her mother in the little bedroom, 
 arranging it. She had put a table before the 
 window, in a place where it would be pleasant 
 to sit. She had opened her trunk, and had ta- 
 ken out some paper and writing materials, so as 
 to be ready to write a letter. When Lucy came 
 in, she said, — 
 
 " Mother, there is going to be an inspection." 
 
 " Is there ? " said her mother. 
 
 Lucy waited a moment; but her mother did 
 not seem to be particularly interested in what she 
 had said, and asked her no questions about it, but 
 went on arranging some books upon the table, 
 just as if there was not going to be any inspec- 
 tion at all. At length, Lucy said, — 
 
 "What is an inspection, mother?" 
 
 " An inspection ? " said her mother, looking up, 
 " why, it is a kind of a review." 
 
THE INSPECTION. 37 
 
 "A review, mother? I don't know what a 
 review is, any better than an inspection." 
 
 " Why, it is — a 1 don't know how to 
 
 explain it to you; — it is a sort of a training, 
 where several companies of soldiers come togeth- 
 er, and the general looks at them, and examines 
 their guns, and sees them exercise." 
 
 " What is it for, mother ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, to see if every thing is in good order. 
 But is there really going to be an inspection 
 about here, Lucy?" 
 
 "Yes, mother, I am sure there is," replied 
 Lucy, speaking very emphatically, and looking 
 very positive, — " I am sure there is, for Robert 
 said there was." 
 
 "Is that boy's name Robert?" asked her 
 mother. 
 
 "Yes," said Lucy; "and he said there was 
 going to be an inspection. Do you think you 
 shall let me go and see it, mother ? " 
 
 " Why, that depends," said her mother, " upon 
 when and where it is to be. I can't tell you till 
 you find out something more about it." 
 
 "Well," said Lucy, "I'll go and ask Comfort: 
 [ am not afraid to ask Comfort." 
 
 So Lucy went out in pursuit of Comfort. 
 
 Lucy found Comfort at her spinning-wheel. 
 4 
 
38 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 The wheel was in one corner of the kitchen, by 
 a window. It was a great way from the fire, for 
 the room was very large. Lucy was so much 
 interested, for a time, in seeing Comfort spin, 
 that she forgot about the inspection. Comfort 
 talked with her, and explained something about 
 the spinning-wheel, but did not stop her work 
 First she would whirl the wheel around one way 
 very fast for a few minutes, and then she would 
 stop, and then begin to whirl it the other way. 
 Sometimes she would draw out a long thread of 
 the yarn, and then the yarn would all run up on 
 the spindle. 
 
 " Why don't you turn your wheel always the 
 same way ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Because," said Comfort, " I have to turn it 
 one way to twist the thread, and then the other 
 to run it on the spindle." 
 
 Lucy did not understand the explanation very 
 well, and so she thought she would look on and 
 see how Comfort did it. But she did it so 
 fast that Lucy could not see. So, after she had 
 stood silently for some time, hearing the wheel 
 buzz, she asked Comfort if there was going to be 
 an inspection that day. 
 
 " Yes," said Comfort. 
 
 " When is it going to be ? " asked Lucy. 
 
THE INSPECTION. 39 
 
 " Right after dinner," said Comfort. 
 
 •" How far is it," said Lucy, " from here ? " 
 
 "O, not far," said Comfort; "you shall e;o ; 
 I'll show you." 
 
 So Lucy ran back to her mother, and told her 
 that the inspection was going to be right after din- 
 ner, and that it was not far, and that Comfort 
 would go and show it to her. 
 
 " Well," said her mother, " you may go when- 
 ever Comfort goes ; but it is very strange that 
 they are going to have an inspection up here. I 
 am sure I don't see where the troops are to come 
 from." 
 
 " Well," said Lucy, " I know there is going to 
 be one, because Comfort said so." 
 
 Lucy was right. There was going to be an 
 inspection, but it was very different from the kind 
 that she had imagined. For that day, at dinner, 
 Lucy's mother asked the farmer about the inspec- 
 tion, and where it was to be, and he said, " O, we 
 generally begin at the barn, and so go all around." 
 
 " Why, what kind of an inspection is it ? " said 
 Lucy's mother. 
 
 " Why, it is not a military inspection," said the 
 farmer, laughing. " Did you think it was a mili- 
 tary inspection, Lucy ? " he added, turning to 
 Lucy. 
 
40 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " Sir ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " It is not a military inspection ; it is only an 
 inspection of my farm." 
 
 " An't there any soldiers ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " J\o," said the farmer, " no soldiers. We in- 
 spect the bam, and the sheds, and shop, and then 
 we come into the house and inspect the rooms, 
 and closets, and the cellar, to see if every thing is 
 in order. We cannot show you any soldiers." 
 
 " My mother said there were going to be some 
 soldiers," said Lucy. 
 
 " No," said Lucy's mother. " I said that I 
 supposed they meant an inspection of soldiers. 
 There may be an inspection of any thing." 
 
 Lucy was quite disappointed, when she found 
 that it was not to be an inspection of soldiers. 
 
 However, she concluded to go and see it, what- 
 ever it was ; and accordingly, after dinner, she put 
 on her bonnet, and went out to the door with El- 
 len, and waited there for the rest to come. 
 
 In a few minutes, she saw Robert coming from 
 a building between one of the barns and the shed, 
 with a sort of a box in his hand. The box was 
 somewhat similar to a knife-box m form ; and, as 
 in a knife-box, there was a handle in the middle, 
 coming up from the bottom of the box, which 
 Robert took hold of, and brought it by. 
 
THE INSPECTION. 41 
 
 " What is that, Robert ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " This is the tool-box," said Robert. 
 
 "What is it for ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Why, I always carry about a tool-box at the 
 inspection," said Robert. " Because, sometimes 
 father finds something broken, that he can mend 
 at once upon the spot." 
 
 By this time he came up to where Lucy was 
 standing, and he put down the box upon the great 
 stone step, so that she could look into it. The 
 box was not very deep, and it was divided off, 
 inside, into several compartments. There was 
 one long compartment upon one side, which ex- 
 tended from one end of the box to the other. In 
 this were several tools. ' There were a hammer 
 and a gimlet ; and, besides, there ' were several 
 other tools, which Lucy did not know the 
 names of. 
 
 Besides this long compartment, there were 
 several small, square divisions, which had nails 
 and screws in them, of different sizes. Lucy said 
 she never saw so many different kinds of nails. 
 While she was looking at them, Robert began to 
 hear the rattling of wheels in the road, and he 
 exclaimed aloud, — 
 
 " O, here comes Eben." 
 
 Lucy looked to see. A wagon, with a man 
 4# 
 
42 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 and a small boy in it, stopped opposite to the 
 house. The boy appeared to be very young — 
 younger than Lucy. His face was round, and 
 his cheeks were red and full. He looked very 
 sober ami anxious, for he was afraid that he could 
 not get out of the wagon, very well. The man 
 took hold of his arm, and helped him climb down, 
 Eben looked towards the ground with an anxious 
 expression of countenance, as if he thought it 
 was a great way down. 
 
 As soon, however, as his little feet touched the 
 road, his countenance changed very suddenly, 
 and he began to leap and scamper off towards 
 the house, with great glee. 
 
 " Well, Eben," said^llen, " and how do they 
 do at uncle's ? " 
 
 "Pretty well," said Eben. "I'm going there 
 again some day, and am going to stay there a 
 whole while." 
 
 Lucy smiled, and Robert laughed aloud, at 
 such an unauthorized combination of terms as 
 Eben's whole while. Eben, however, after look 
 ing at them in wonder a moment, said, — 
 
 " You needn't laugh ; I certainly am." 
 
 Just then the General came out, and the whole 
 party proceeded to the barn. The General 
 looked carefully all around, to see if every thing 
 
THE INSPECTION. 43 
 
 was in its place, and in order. From the barn 
 they went into a sort of room in a shed adjoining 
 it, where there were harnesses and chains, and a 
 number of tools of various kinds. The General 
 looked about, and examined them all. There 
 were a parcel of ropes lying in a corner, and the 
 General asked where they came from. Robert 
 said that he found them up in the garret, and had 
 untied all the knots ; he was going to have them 
 for his sleds the next winter. 
 
 The General said that they ought to be hung 
 up ; and he took the hammer and some nails out 
 of Robert's tool-box, and drove up a row of nails, 
 just under a beam about as high as Robert's head. 
 Then all the children took up the pieces of ropes, 
 and hung them up, one piece on each nail. 
 
 " There," said the General, " now you can see 
 what you've got. They are out of the way there, 
 and when you want one, you can come and get 
 any length you like." 
 
 Every thing else in the harness room was 
 found in good order, and so they went into the 
 shed. There was a wood-pile there, and some 
 of the wood lay near the foot of the pile upon 
 the ground ; for this shed had no floor. One of 
 the logs had a wedge sticking into it. The log 
 
44 LITCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 was cracked open a little, but not very far, and 
 the wedge was driven fast into it. 
 
 " How came this left so ? " said the Genera!. 
 
 " Why, father," said Robert, " I began to split 
 this log, but I couldn't." 
 
 While he was saying this, the General rolled 
 the log over; and he found two other wedges, 
 lying on the ground, under it, halC covered in the 
 chips. 
 
 " One wedge in the log, and two in the chips, 
 make three signs of a bad woodman," said the 
 General. 
 
 " Why, you see, father," said Robert, " that 
 the ring of the beetle kept coming off, and so 
 I couldn't split it." 
 
 The General then took an axe, which was 
 standing in its place pretty near where they were, 
 and with a few heavy blows he split the log, and 
 liberated the wedge which had been held in the 
 cleft. Then he told Robert to put the three 
 wedges upon their shelf, and to carry the beetle, 
 with the loose ring, into the shop, and to put it 
 with the tools that were to be mended. 
 
 " When is he going to mend it ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " The first rainy day," said Ellen ; " he always 
 sends off all the broken things to the shop, and 
 then he mends them some rainy day." 
 
THE INSPECTION. 45 
 
 Before Robert got back from the shop, the in- 
 spection party had gone up a back stairway 
 which led into a kind of garret, over the kitchen 
 part. of the house. Here there were a great many 
 boxes and trunks, all, however, in good order, 
 There was a large shelf at one end, with a great 
 many herbs in bundles. Then they all went 
 through a narrow door into another garret over the 
 main body of the house ; and thence they came 
 down the front stairs. They found that the door at 
 the foot of the stairs would not shut very well ; 
 and the General, after looking at it a moment, said 
 that the latch was out of order. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Ellen, " and I wish you would 
 mend it, for it troubles me every time I want to 
 come up stairs." 
 
 " Have you got a file among your tools, 
 Robert ? " said the General. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Robert ; for Robert had come 
 back, before this time, from the shop, and was fol- 
 lowing them with his box of tools. 
 
 The General took out the file, and also the 
 hammer. First he filed the iron of the latch a 
 little ; then he hammered it a little, and thus very 
 soon put it in good order. 
 
 Ellen said that she was very glad. 
 
46 LUCT AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 They then went into all the rooms of the house, 
 except the little bedroom where Lucy's mother 
 was. They opened all the closet doors too, and 
 looked into them, to see if every thing was in 
 order. When they came into the little room 
 where Ellen slept, there was a little chest in it, 
 where she kept her clothes ; and she opened the 
 lid, and asked them all to look in and see if her 
 things were not in order. 
 
 After they had thus examined the whole house, 
 they went out at the front door, and thence across 
 the yard into the garden. They walked up and 
 down all the alleys, looking at the beds and 
 borders, to see if all was in proper condition. 
 
 It was pretty late in the season, and there 
 were not many weeds growing. Ellen and 
 Robert both had some beds in one corner, where 
 they raised corn, and peas, and beans, for seed. 
 
 The General told them it was nearly time for 
 them to gather their beans. 
 
 When they came out of the garden, Robert 
 asked his father to look at the hinge of the gate, 
 which, he said, was coming off. 
 
 There was a narrow piece of board nailed upon 
 the post, and the hinges of the gate were nailed 
 to that. By some means or other, however, this 
 
THE INSPECTION. 47 
 
 board had got split where the upper binge 
 was fastened to it, and so the hinge was loose. 
 Robert pointed it out to his father. 
 
 " Ah, yes," said he ; " I am glad you showed 
 me this ; very soon the hinge would have come off, 
 and then the lower hin^e would have sjot broken. 
 Now we shall save them." 
 
 The General then looked at the board, and 
 said it was split, and there must be a new one 
 made. So he took out some tools from Robert's 
 box, and took off the hinges very carefully. Then 
 he set the gate up by the fence on one side. Then 
 he took off the split board, and gave it to Eben. 
 
 " Can you carry that, Eben, into the shop ? " 
 Eben was a very small boy, but he was very 
 glad to help when he could. He took the board, 
 which was not very heavy, but was about as 
 much as he could well carry, and began lugging 
 it along. 
 
 " Now, Robert," said the General, " some 
 time this afternoon, I want you to saw out a 
 piece of board just the size of that, and get it 
 all ready to put on. When it is done, carry it 
 out to the gate, and stand it up there. Also put 
 a tool-box there, and an axe, so that every thing 
 will be ready, and then remind me at supper-time 
 to go and put it on. I can put it on in a moment, 
 
48 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 if you get every thing ready. — And now the in- 
 spection is over." 
 
 So saying, the General went away, and Ellen 
 said, — 
 
 " Well, Robert, you put your tools away, while 
 I go and get the cakes." 
 
 " The caUes ? " said Lucy ; " what cakes ? " 
 
 " Why, mother always gives each of us a cake, 
 inspection day, so that we may not forget to re- 
 mind father of it." 
 
 Lucy followed Ellen into the house. She 
 supposed that she would go and ask her mother 
 for the cakes, and Lucy wished that she was 
 going to have one too. But Ellen did not go 
 after her mother. She went directly to a closet. 
 As she was opening the door of the closet, she 
 said, — 
 
 " Mother always puts our cakes here, on a 
 particular shelf — three of them, all in a row." 
 
 They went into the closet, and there they 
 found the cakes ; only there were four, instead of 
 three. 
 
 " Why, here are four," said Ellen ; " mother 
 has made a mistake." 
 
 " No," said Lucy ; " one must be for me." 
 
 "So it is," said Ellen, "I've no doubt. I'll 
 go and ask mother." 
 
THE INSPECTION. 49 
 
 She accordingly went off to ask her mother, 
 and presently came back saying that the fourth 
 was for Lucy. And she accordingly gave her 
 one. It was a round cake, not very thick, but 
 it looked as if it was sweet. Ellen carried the 
 other two out, to give them to Robert and Eben. 
 
 Lucy went to show hers to her mother. She 
 found her taking a walk under the trees which 
 Lucy had seen from out the bedroom window. 
 Lucy took hold of her mother's hand with one of 
 hers, while she held the cake in the other ; and so 
 she walked along with her, and told her all about 
 the inspection. 
 
 Her mother listened with a good deal of in- 
 terest ; and when she had done, she said that she 
 thought it was an excellent plan to have an in- 
 spection. 
 
 " Yes, mother, and so do I ; and I wish you 
 would have one when we go home." 
 
 " I think I will," said her mother. 
 
 " Once a month, mother," said Lucy ; " it 
 must be once a month. The General has it once 
 a month." 
 
 " Yes," said her mother, " I should think that 
 about right. I can inspect your Treasury." 
 
 " Yes, mother," said Lucy ; " I'll keep it in 
 excellent order. 
 5 
 
50 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 "Only you couldn't mend the broken thing3 
 about the house, very well," continued Lucy. 
 
 " No," said her mother ; " but, then, our in- 
 spection would not be just like a farmer's. We 
 should inspect drawers, and closets, and cup- 
 boards, and such places. I think it will be an 
 excellent plan." 
 
 " And a cake for me and Royal, at the end," 
 said Lucy. 
 
 " Is that an essential part of the plan ? " asked 
 her mother. 
 
 " Essential ? " repeated Lucy ; " what is es- 
 sential ? " 
 
 " Why, necessary ; that is, is it an indispen- 
 sable part of the plan that there should be cakes 
 distributed ? " 
 
 « Why, yes," said Lucy ; " that is to make us 
 remind you of it. You see, you would forget 
 when inspection day was coming, unless we re- 
 minded you ; and so we must have a cake." 
 
 On reflection, Lucy's mother concluded that 
 this was, as Lucy represented, a very important 
 part of the plan ; and she pretty nearly concluded 
 that, when she returned home, she would adopt 
 the inspection system, for her part of the house, 
 cakes and all. 
 
51 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 A WALK. 
 
 That evening, after the inspection, Lucy and 
 her mother went out to take a walk upon a high 
 hill back of the General's house, to see the pros- 
 pect. Comfort told them that they could get to 
 the top of it without going through the grass 
 at all. 
 
 " Why don't you want to go through the grass, 
 mother ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Because there may be some dew upon it, 
 which might wet our feet," said her mother. 
 " But are you sure, Comfort," said she, " that we 
 can get up to the top without getting into the 
 grass ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Comfort, " I'm sure ; and I'll go, 
 if you wish, and show you the way." 
 
 Lucy's mother liked this plan very much ; and 
 so they set off together, about half an hour be- 
 fore sunset. They followed a cart-road down 
 into a little valley, and went across the brook ; 
 
52 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 and then they began to climb up by a narrow 
 and rocky path among the trees. The path was 
 very steep, and it was much farther than they 
 had supposed. In fact, Lucy's mother soon be- 
 gan to be very tired. She was not accustomed 
 to climb up the hills. 
 
 Presently they came to a rocky place under 
 some cliffs, and Lucy's mother said that she be- 
 lieved that she would not go any farther. 
 
 " O mother," said Lucy, " I want to go to the 
 top very much." 
 
 " Very well," said her mother ; " you may go 
 with Comfort, if you wish to, and I will ramble 
 about here. If you don't find me here when 
 you come down, you may conclude that I have 
 gone home." 
 
 So she turned off, and began to walk along 
 under the cliffs, gathering blue-bells and other 
 flowers that grew among the rocks. Comfort 
 and Lucy left her, and went on up the steep 
 path. 
 
 " O, what a steep place ! " said Lucy. 
 
 " This is not very steep," said Comfort. 
 " There are paths up jhe mountains much 
 steeper than this." 
 
 " Then I don't see how you get up," said 
 Lucy. 
 
A WALK. 53 
 
 " O, we climb along," replied Comfort , M we 
 step up from one stone to another." 
 
 The path was very tortuous ; that is, it turned 
 and twisted about a great deal among the rocks 
 and around the points of precipices. It was, in 
 fact, a very wild and desolate-looking place ; and 
 pretty soon Lucy began to be afraid. She did 
 not know exactly what she was afraid of, but she 
 began to wish that she had staid down below with 
 her mother. 
 
 She was not much accustomed to rocks and 
 mountains, and there was something frightful to 
 her in the ragged precipices, the gloomy thickets, 
 and particularly in a dark ravine, which she could 
 look down into in one place. Besides, she 
 thought that perhaps there might be some bears 
 there. 
 
 She did not, however, like to acknowledge to 
 Comfort that she was afraid. So, after they had 
 been walking along a little while, she said, — 
 
 " How much farther is it, Comfort ? " 
 
 " Not a great way. Why, are you tired ? " 
 
 " Why, no," said Lucy, " not exactly ; but I 
 wish my mother had come too." 
 
 " So do I," said Comfort ; " she would like the 
 prospect, I know. We can see away down to 
 the lower falls." 
 
 5* 
 
54 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 K How far is that ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " O, it is several miles, down the valley." 
 
 " Is it as many as seventy miles ? " said Lucy 
 
 " No," said Comfort, " not quite seventy." 
 
 " Is it a hundred miles, then ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, a hundred miles are more than seventy, 
 child." 
 
 While Lucy had been talking thus, she had 
 been lagging behind Comfort, and seemed reluc- 
 tant to advance. They had come to a steep 
 place, where they had to climb up a rocky ascent, 
 which turned, in a spiral manner, around the point 
 of a little precipice. There were bushes and 
 briers on each side, growing out of the crevices of 
 the rocks, and from the little patches of earth. 
 Comfort went up a few steps, and then stopped 
 for Lucy. 
 
 "Come, Lucy; why don't you come?" said 
 she. 
 
 " Why, I think, Comfort," said Lucy, " that 
 we had better not go any farther. I think we had 
 better go back and find my mother." 
 
 " O, your mother is safe enough, child." 
 
 " But I am afraid she'll get lost," said Lucy. 
 
 Comfort laughed at Lucy for being afraid that 
 her mother would get lost. 
 
 " She can't get lost," said she. " She can't go 
 
A WALK. 55 
 
 but a very little way under the cliffs before she 
 comes to the end." 
 
 u The end of what ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, the end of the level place where she 
 can walk," said Comfort. " After you go out 
 there a little way, the rocks go right down, as 
 steep as the sides of a house." 
 
 " Then I'm afraid that she will fall down 
 there," said Lucy. 
 
 Comfort told her there was no danger ; but Lu- 
 cy would not be convinced. The more she ar- 
 gued, the less possibility there seemed to be of 
 making any impression. The truth was, Lucy 
 was not really afraid for her mother, but for her- 
 self. And the reason which she offered for wish- 
 ing to return, was only the ostensible reason, not 
 the real one ; that is, it was a reason that she 
 chose to offer, not the one that she really felt. It 
 is of no use to attempt to reply to reasons that are 
 only ostensible, because they are not the ones 
 that really influence the mind ; and so, even if 
 you show that such reasons are not good ones, 
 the person is not convinced any more than before. 
 If Comfort had known that the real reason why 
 Lucy did not want to go any farther, was, that 
 she was afraid herself, perhaps she would have 
 said something to encourage her, and lead her to 
 
56 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 go on. But while she was only arguing against 
 Lucy's supposed fears for her mother, she was 
 doing no good at all ; for this was not the true 
 reason. Wjen, therefore, we attempt to argue 
 against people's objections to any thing which we 
 propose, it is very necessary first to be sure that 
 the objections which they offer are real objections, 
 not merely ostensible ones. 
 
 Presently Comfort proposed to Lucy that she 
 should go up a little farther, and she would come 
 to a place where they could see the house. 
 
 " How much farther is it ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Only up to the top of this rock," said Com- 
 fort ; "come, I'll help you." 
 
 So saying, Comfort came down to where Lucy 
 was standing, and held out her hand to her. 
 Lucy was still somewhat reluctant to go ; but 
 Comfort told her that they could see the house 
 and the yard, and very likely they could see the 
 people walking about there ; and so Lucy, on the 
 whole, concluded to go. Comfort helped her up 
 from one step to another over the ragged stones, 
 and presently they reached the top. 
 
 Then they went through some bushes a little 
 way, and came out, a moment afterwards, upon a 
 sort of shelf of rock, where* they had a fine 
 view. 
 
A WALK. 57 
 
 It was not a very extensive view, for the other 
 *ocks and trees, rising on each side, intercepted 
 the prospect, excepting in the direction which 
 was down towards the General's house. The 
 house lay almost beneath their feet ; 'and, as 
 Comfort had said, they could see all the build- 
 ings, and the yards, and the garden. Lucy saw a 
 large flock of sheep, too, coming up towards the 
 barn, from a green path behind it. 
 
 " There, Lucy," said Comfort, " is not this a 
 pleasant place ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy, " and there's my mother 
 now, just going into the house." 
 
 " So she is," said Comfort ; " she has got tired 
 of waiting for us, and has gone in. Now, you 
 can go up to the top of the rock with me, for, you 
 see, she is out of danger." 
 
 Lucy looked steadily at her mother, and in a 
 moment she began to call out to her with a loud 
 voice, — 
 
 " Mother, look at us." 
 
 But just as the words were uttered, her mother 
 opened the door, and went in, and Lucy saw the 
 door close after her. Lucy's attention was next 
 arrested by seeing several cows come along a lane 
 behind the house. Comfort said that they were 
 coming from the pasture. Behind the cows were 
 
5S LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Robert and Eben. Lucy could see that Eben 
 had a long switch in his hand, and Robert had 
 an axe over his shoulder. 
 
 . " There are Robert and Eben," said Lucy, " I 
 verily believe." 
 
 " Yes," said Comfort, " they are driving home 
 the cows." 
 
 " So they are," replied Lucy ; " but Robert has 
 got an axe on his shoulder. What has he been 
 doing with his axe, I wonder ? " 
 
 " O, I suppose," replied Comfort, " that he has 
 been at work upon his clearing this afternoon : 
 and so, after he had done his work, he went and 
 got the cows." 
 
 The road in which the cows were coming, led 
 down through a valley, and it looked like a very 
 pleasant road indeed. Lucy asked Comfort 
 where it led to, and she said it led up to the 
 pasture. Then she asked Comfort what she 
 meant by Robert's clearing; and Comfort told 
 her that Robert was clearing a piece of land 
 somewhere up the road, but that she did not 
 know exactly where it was, or what sort of a 
 place it was. 
 
 "I mean to go down and ask Robert where 
 his clearing is," said Lucy. 
 
A WALK. 59 
 
 • c Then you will not go up to the top of the 
 rock with me," said Comfort. 
 
 " No," said Lucy, " not this time. We have 
 come high enough for this time. I must go down 
 and find my mother. Perhaps she will want me." 
 
 "See," said Comfort, "she has just come to 
 the window of her bedroom." 
 
 Lucy looked down in the direction in which 
 Comfort pointed, and she saw her mother just 
 taking a seat at the window. Lucy called to her, 
 and waved her hand at her a great deal, but she 
 could not make her hear. She thought that the 
 reason was, because the cow-bells made such a 
 noise ; but Comfort told her that it was much 
 farther than it appeared to be. 
 
 Lucy stopped to gather a few flowers around 
 the spot where they were standing, and then she 
 and Comfort descended. Lucy was not at all in 
 a hurry to get home, for her fears of the strange 
 and wild scenery around them were much dimin- 
 ished, when she found that they were going to- 
 wards home. She kept constantly stopping to 
 gather flowers, and to pick up curious fragments 
 of the rocks ; and in one place she found some 
 beautiful red berries, which she wanted to gather 
 and carry down to her mother; but Comfort told 
 tier that she believed that they were poisonous. 
 
60 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 They remained some time at the cliffs where 
 her mother had stopped, and Lucy found a curious 
 place under the rocks, which she called a den. 
 It was a rude fissure under the precipice, and it 
 \vas large enough for Lucy to get into. She said 
 that, if she should be caught out on the mountains 
 m a shower, she could get into her den, and it 
 would not rain upon her. 
 
 When they got home again, as they were pass- 
 ing along by the barn, they saw the cows stand- 
 ing in a little green yard, and Robert was just 
 bringing his milking-stool and a tin pail. He was 
 going to milk the cows. Lucy asked Comfort to 
 let her go in and see him milk, and she told her 
 she might go ; only she said that she must be 
 careful not to go too near the cows. 
 
 So Comfort went into the house, and Lucy 
 went through a little gate into the yard. Ellen 
 came in just after her, bringing a little milking- 
 stool, and pail too, just as Robert had done. 
 
 " Are you going to milk, too, Ellen ? " said 
 Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said Ellen ; " I milk every night." 
 
 So Ellen took her seat near one of the cows ; 
 and began milking into her pail very fast. 
 
 " Why, how easy it is to milk ! " said Lucy 
 " I did not know that it was so easy." 
 
A WALK. Gl 
 
 Lucy was mistaken in supposing "that it was 
 very easy. It is a general rule, that whatever we 
 see done skilfully appears to be done with ease ; 
 and as Ellen was a very good little milkmaid, 
 and the milk came down in fine large streams into 
 the pail, Lucy supposed that it must be very 
 easy. 
 
 " I wish you would let me milk a little," said 
 Lucy. 
 
 " I don't think you can milk," replied Ellen. 
 
 " O, yes, I can," said Lucy ; " I do harder things 
 than that." 
 
 " But I don't think your hand is strong enough," 
 said Ellen. 
 
 Lucy held out her hand, and looked at it, and 
 thought it looked pretty strong. 
 
 " And, besides," said Ellen, "have you ever 
 learned to milk?" 
 
 " No," said Lucy, " I never had any oppor- 
 tunity." 
 
 " Then I'm sure you can't milk," said Ellen ; 
 li for nobody can milk till they have learned." 
 
 " But I wish that you would let me try, and 
 see," said Lucy. 
 
 Ellen concluded, on the whole, to let Lucy try ; 
 so she rose from the milking-stool, and let Lucy 
 take her place. 
 
 6 
 
62 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Lucy tried very hard, but the milk would not 
 come. She was very much surprised. 
 
 " Why ! " said she. Then she tried again ; 
 she tugged away with all her strength. " Why ! 
 How do you do it ? " said she. 
 
 Ellen laughed; and the cow, perceiving that 
 some new and inexperienced hand was at work, 
 and not liking to be experimented upon, began to 
 move. Ellen had just time to catch up the pail, 
 when she walked quietly off, two or three steps, 
 and then stood still. 
 
 Lucy was frightened, and jumped up and ran. 
 
 Ellen took up her stool by its handle, and fol- 
 lowed the cow ; and, taking her seat again, went 
 on with her milking. Lucy walked off to Robert, 
 and asked him about his clearing. 
 
 She did not, however, have the opportunity to 
 get the information which she wished ; for just 
 then her mother, who began to think that it was 
 time for her to come down the hill, came to the 
 door to look for her ; and seeing her in the yard 
 amonf the cows, she called to her to come in. 
 When she got to the door, she asked her mother 
 if she was not willing to have her stay there a 
 little longer and see them milk. 
 
 " Is Comfort there ? " asked her mother. 
 
 " No, mother," said Lucy, " but Ellen is." 
 
A WALK. 
 
 63 
 
 "I am afraid you may get hurt," said her 
 mother. " The cows may hook you." 
 
 Lucy assured her mother that there was no 
 danger; but her mother thought it best for her 
 not to go there again ; and so Lucy did not hear 
 any thing about Robert's clearing until the next 
 
64 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ROBERT'S CLEARING. 
 
 In fact, Lucy forgot to ask Robert about his 
 clearing until the next morning, after breakfast, 
 when she was out in the yard, and saw him and 
 Eben preparing to go awa) . 
 
 She asked them where they were going. 
 
 " We are going to my clearing," said Robert ; 
 " and I wish you'd go too, and be our teamster. 
 Then you shall own part of my lamb." 
 
 " Have you got a lamb ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " No," replied Robert, " not yet ; but 1 am 
 going to have one. As soon as I have got 
 my clearing done, father is going to give me a 
 sheep and a lamb ; and you shall own part of the 
 lamb, if you will go and be my teamster." 
 
 " Your teamster ? " repeated Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied Robert ; " I am swamper, and 
 Eben is ox, and we want a teamster." 
 
 "What shall I have to do? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " O, you'll only have to drive Eben, when he 
 is hauling the logs." 
 
Robert's clearing. 65 
 
 " Eben can't haul logs," said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes he can," said Robert ; " he's a very good 
 ox ; only we want a teamster." 
 
 " Well," said Lucy, " I'll go and ask my 
 mother." 
 
 Lucy accordingly went in and asked her mother. 
 Her mother wanted to know how far it was to 
 the clearing; but Lucy could not tell. She then 
 wanted to know how long they were to be gone ; 
 but Lucy could not answer that question either. 
 Finally, her mother said that she might go and 
 ask Comfort if she thought that it would be safe 
 for her to go with the boys, and let her opinion 
 decide the question. 
 
 Comfort said there would be no danger if Lucy 
 was careful to keep out of the way of Robert's 
 axe. So they all set off together. 
 
 They followed the lane where Lucy had seen 
 the cows come down the evening before, for some 
 distance. It led, in a winding direction, up a val- 
 ley, with a brook upon one side of the road. 
 
 " What a pretty brook ! " said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said Robert ; " that is the brook that I 
 am going to float down my logs upon." 
 
 " Your logs ? " repeated Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied Robert, " the logs I get. off my 
 clearing. I cut them down, and Eben hauls them 
 
66 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 to the edge of the brook ; and then, when there 
 comes a freshet, we're going to tumble them in, 
 and let them float down to the house." 
 
 " And then they'll go by," said Lucy, " and 
 down into the river." 
 
 " No," said Robert ; " I shall have a boom to 
 stop them." 
 
 " What is a boom 1 " asked Lucy. 
 
 " A long log of wood across the brook, to stop 
 my logs." 
 
 The brook which Robert said was £oin£ to 
 float down his lumber, was there a small stream, 
 tumbling over rocks along the valley. Presently, 
 however, they came to a place where the valley 
 widened a little, and there was a level piece of 
 ground on one side of it. On the other side, the 
 land descended steep to the very brink of the 
 brook. The low piece of ground was covered 
 pretty thick with tall alder-bushes, twice as high 
 as a man's head ; so that the stems of them, when 
 they were cut down, made pretty large poles. 
 There was one spot, where a considerable number 
 of them had been cut down. In the middle of 
 this spot, there was a pile of branches and tops, 
 heaped up pretty high. There were, also, near 
 the edge of the brook, some piles of the wood 
 whch Robert had got out, and which Eben had 
 
Robert's clearing. 67 
 
 hauled to the bank. Robert went into this place, 
 and began at once to cut down one of the tallest 
 bushes. 
 
 Lucy watched the blows of his axe, until, at 
 last, the tree began to fall. It would have fallen 
 over upon her, had not Robert called upon her to 
 run away. When it was down, Robert cut off 
 the top and all the branches, and these he put on 
 the heap. Then he cut the long pole in two, in 
 the middle. This made two short poles of it. 
 Then Eben came up with a small chain which 
 he had in his hand, and w r hich he had brought 
 with him, and contrived to hook it around one 
 end of one of the poles, and then began to draw 
 it off towards the brook. 
 
 " Is that the kind of log you meant, that Eben 
 could draw ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said Robert. 
 
 " O. I thought you meant a large log." 
 
 « O J CO 
 
 " No," said Robert ; " we call these our logs. 
 We are going to get a great many piles of them 
 by the brook ; and then, when there comes a freshet, 
 we are coming up here, and going to tumble them 
 in, and let them sail away down home." 
 
 Robert cut Lucy a long stick for a goad-stick, 
 and then she drove Eben back and forth several 
 
68 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 times, drawing the logs, as Robert called them. 
 At length, Lucy stopped, and said, — 
 
 " But, Robert, what do you mean by swamper 1 
 You said that you were swamper." 
 
 " Yes," said Robert ; " I'm swamper and chop- 
 per too." 
 
 " 1 don't understand what you mean by swamper 
 and chopper," said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, when they are cutting trees in the woods, 
 for timber, they always have a swamper, and a 
 chopper, and some oxen, and a teamster. The 
 swamper finds out which the good trees are, and 
 he makes a road to them, so that, when they are 
 cut down, they can haul them out. The chopper 
 cuts them down, and cuts off the top. Then the 
 teamster comes with his oxen, and hauls them off 
 to the river." 
 
 " Is that the way ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes ; my father told me," said Robert. 
 
 " Why doesn't one man do it all ? " said Lucy. 
 
 "I don't know exactly," said Robert; "but I 
 wish I had some fire here, to set my heap on fire." 
 
 " Are you going to set that great heap on fire ? " 
 asked Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said Robert, " when I get it big 
 enough." 
 
Robert's clearing. G9 
 
 " I don't believe it will burn," said Lucy ; " it 
 is all green leaves." 
 
 et It will burn," said Robert, " if I could only- 
 get it well on fire. The trouble is, to set it 
 a-£oin£." 
 
 So saying, he and Lucy went up to look at the 
 great heap of branches which he had made in the 
 middle of his clearing. ' Robert said that, if he 
 could find some good dry wood somewhere to begin 
 it with, it would make a noble fire ; and he also 
 said that he meant to have brought some fire that 
 morning, but he forgot it. Finally, he said that, 
 if Lucy and Eben would go and get some fire, he 
 would find some good dry wood, and they would 
 have a burning. 
 
 Lucy was at first afraid to attempt to bring 
 any fire ; but Robert told her that Comfort would 
 give her a lantern, so that it could be brought 
 without any difficulty or danger. Then she was 
 afraid that she should not be able to find her way. 
 But Robert said that Eben knew the way ; and 
 so, at last, after much hesitation, Lucy concluded 
 to go. Accordingly, Robert went over, across the 
 brook, to the side of the hill, which was covered 
 with large trees, to see if he could find some old 
 dry log or stump, which he could cut to pieces, 
 and use to kindle his fire. He found one with- 
 
70 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 out much difficulty. It was the ruins of an old 
 tree, which the wind had blown over about ten 
 years before. It was leaning against the other 
 trees, and was very much decayed. The limbs 
 had nearly all dropped off, and it looked so dry 
 that Robert thought that, if he could get it down, 
 and split it up, it would be excellent for his fire. 
 
 In the mean time, Lucy and Eben walked 
 along slowly towards the house. When they got 
 there, Lucy sat down upon a chopping-block in 
 the yard, while Eben went in to ask his mother for 
 the lantern. While he was gone, Lucy happened 
 to think that, perhaps, her mother would not like 
 to have her go and help make a fire in the woods, 
 and, at any rate, that she had better go and get 
 leave. She reflected that, if she went without 
 leave, she should feel uncertain and doubtful, all 
 the time, whether she was doing right or wrong ; 
 and that would destroy the pleasure of the fire. 
 So she got up, and went into the house to find her 
 mother. 
 
 She found her seated at a window in the kitch- 
 en, with the General's wife and Ellen, all par- 
 ing apples for an apple-pudding which they were 
 going to have for dinner. 
 
 " O mother," said Lucy, " let me pare some 
 apples." 
 
71 
 
 " O, no, Lucy," said Ellen ; " you'll only cut 
 your fingers. It is harder to pare apples, than it 
 is to milk." 
 
 The farmer's wife then said that she had better 
 not attempt to pare any apples, but that she 
 might have some to eat ; and she gave Lucy 
 two. Just then, Eben came in, out of a back 
 room, with the lantern in his hand. This re- 
 minded Lucy of her errand, and so she told her 
 mother what Robert was going to do ; and she 
 asked her if she had any objection to her going to 
 see him. 
 
 " Why, this is a serious question," said her 
 mother. " I am afraid it would not be quite safe." 
 
 " Why, Eben says," replied Lucy, " that they 
 often make fires in the wood, and they never get 
 burnt." 
 
 " But you'd be in more danger than Eben," 
 said her mother. 
 
 " Why, mother ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Because," said her mother, " in the first place, 
 you are not so accustomed to fires in the woods, 
 and wouldn't know so well where the danger 
 would lie. Besides, your clothes are of cotton, 
 and, if they should take fire, they would burn very 
 fast ; but Eben's are woollen." 
 
 Lucy looked at her clothes, and at Eben's. 
 
72 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Eben stood by, listening very attentively to what 
 was said, but he made no reply. 
 
 " I've a great mind to go with you, and take 
 care of you," said Lucy's mother. " I should 
 like to see the fire myself." 
 
 " Well," said Lucy, " that will do. Eben and 
 I will walk on, and you can come after us." 
 
 " Very well," replied her mother ; " run along." 
 
 Accordingly, Lucy and Eben set off together. 
 Eben had the lantern in his hand, and, after they 
 had gone a few steps, Lucy wanted to look in, 
 and see whether it had not gone out. It was not 
 quite out, but it burned very dimly. Lucy said it 
 was almost out. 
 
 " No," said Eben ; " that is the way it always 
 looks." 
 
 " Then it isn't a very good lantern," said 
 Lucy. 
 
 " Yes, it is a good lantern," said Eben. " It 
 makes a good light in our barn in the winter 
 nights." 
 
 " How do you know ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Because," said Eben, " my father carries it 
 out ; and one morning I went out with him, and 
 we found some e££s with it." 
 
 " Where did you find them ? " said Lucy. 
 
73 
 
 " O, on a beam. There were four eggs. My 
 father brought in three, and I brought in three." 
 
 " O Eben," said Lucy, " that is not right. 
 Three and three don't make four.' , 
 
 "Then perhaps it was ten," said Eben. 
 " Yes, I believe it was ten." 
 
 " Why, no, Eben," said Lucy ; " it couldn't be 
 ten." 
 
 " Why not ? " asked Eben. 
 
 "Because," said Lucy, " three and three don't 
 make ten." 
 
 " What do they make ? " said Eben. 
 
 " Why, they make six," replied Lucy. " I'll 
 get a little stick, and make some marks upon the 
 ground, and show you." 
 
 So Lucy got a stick, and began making marks 
 upon a smooth place in the road, corresponding 
 with the number of eggs. On more mature re- 
 flection, Eben recollected that he brought in two 
 eggs, one in each hand, and that his father carried 
 in two in one hand, and one in the other. He 
 had one egg, he said, in the hand which held the 
 lantern. 
 
 " Then there must have been five eggs in all," 
 said Lucy. 
 
 In order to prove this to Eben's satisfaction, 
 she msde two marks for the egsfs which he carried 
 
74 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 in, and then two more for those which his father 
 carried in in one hand, and then, finally, she 
 added another mark, for the one egg which his 
 father earned in in his lantern hand. 
 
 " Now," said Lucy, " if you'll count them all 
 up, you'll see that it makes just five, — exactly " 
 
 So Eben began to count, — 
 
 " One — two — five — six — four." 
 
 " O dear me ! " said Lucy ; " why, that isn't 
 the way to count." 
 
 " That's the way /count," said Eben. 
 
 Lucy looked extremely perplexed, and did not 
 know what to say ; but just at that moment her 
 mother came up. She saw that the lantern 
 which Eben had put down upon the ground, 
 while he was listening to his lesson in arithmetic, 
 was leaning over to one side ; and she was afraid 
 that the light had got put out. So she took it up, 
 and looked into it. 
 
 " No," said Lucy, " it has not gone out, but 
 it burns very dim. What makes it burn so dim, 
 mother? " she asked. 
 
 " O, it burns very well. It looks rather dim, 
 but that is because it is bright daylight. A candle 
 burning in the daylight always looks dim." 
 
 Her mother then asked her what she was 
 making there in the road. Lucy told her tnat 
 
77 
 
 she had been trying to explain to Eben that two 
 and three made five. 
 
 " But," said Lucy, in addition, " I cannot make 
 him understand it. He can't even count." 
 
 " Then, of course," replied her mother, " he 
 cannot understand. You are giving him your 
 instructions in the wrong order." 
 
 " How, mother ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, you are trying to teach him addition 
 before he knows how to count. You perceive 
 that a boy who cannot count up to five and six 
 does not know what numbers the words jive and 
 six stand for; and, of course, he cannot tell 
 whether two and three make five, or six, or what 
 they make." 
 
 " Then I'll teach him to count," said Lucy. 
 
 " Very well," said her mother ; " only let us 
 all go along now, for I want to see the fire." 
 
 " O, yes," said Lucy ; " I forgot all about the 
 fire." 
 
 So they all went along together; only Lucy 
 and Eben walked on a little in advance, and Lucy 
 gave Eben some lessons in counting, while her 
 mother followed more slowly, looking for flowers 
 on each side of the way, as she came along. 
 
 In a short time, they arrived at Robert's clear- 
 7 # 
 
78 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 • 
 
 ing. They found that he had made fine prepara 
 lions for the fire. He had cut down the old dead 
 tree, and chopped it up into short pieces ; and 
 he had pushed these in, under the pile. He also 
 had some strips of birch bark, which he was going 
 to kindle with. 
 
 Lucy came up to the place with the lantern, 
 and set it down at Robert's feet. Her mothei 
 came up, too, with a large bouquet of flowers in 
 one hand. 
 
 "That will make a good fire, Robert," said 
 she ; " only it seems to me that you have got the 
 wood in on the wrong side of the heap.' 
 
 " Why ? " said Robert. 
 
 " Because," replied she, "it ought to be put at 
 the side towards the wind. Then the wind will 
 blow the heat and flame directly through the 
 heap, and set it all on fire. There is not much 
 wind, but there is enough to do some good." 
 
 " We'll try this side first, now I've got it 
 ready," said Robert. 
 
 So he took one of his pieces of birch bark, and, 
 opening the lantern door very carefully, he put it 
 in, and lighted it. Now, birch bark, when it is 
 burning, makes quite a smoke ; and Robert put 
 down this burning piece near the place where he 
 had put his wood, in order fo see which way 
 
79 
 
 the smoke would go. He found that it was drift- 
 ing off slowly away from the heap of bushes. 
 
 " Now, we'll try it on the other side," said he. 
 He tried to take up his piece of bark, but he 
 could not. It had curled itself up in a curious 
 manner, and was all enveloped in flame. So he 
 took another piece, and lighted it, and carried that 
 around to the other side of the heap. He put it 
 in just under the edge of the branches. The 
 smoke curled up among the branches and leaves, 
 and they were all very much pleased to observe, 
 that, instead of sailing off, as it had done on the 
 other side, away from the heap, it passed directly 
 through the centre ; and in a few minutes it rilled 
 the whole heap with smoke, which issued out all 
 over the top of it, as if it was all on fire under- 
 neath. 
 
 " Yes," said Robert, " I'll move my kindling 
 wood round to this side." 
 
 So he brought his logs round one by one. 
 They were pretty large, but, being much decayed, 
 they were not heavy. Robert piled them to- 
 gether in as close and compact a manner as pos- 
 sible ; for he said it was necessary to make a 
 solid (ire. 
 
 " Why don't you set the bushes on fire, just 
 as they are ? " asked Lucy's mother. 
 
80 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " Why, we can't make such brush as this burn 
 well, alone," said Robert. " It will catch fire a 
 little, and then go right out, unless we have a 
 good solid fire underneath it. Then it will all 
 get to blazing together." 
 
 " Let me try," said Lucy, * c with a piece of 
 your birchbark." 
 
 " I'll light it for you," said her mother. 
 
 So they took a large piece of birch bark, which 
 Robert handed them, and lighted it in the lantern. 
 Then they placed it under the heap, at a place 
 where the sprigs and branches of the bushes 
 were thickest. The bark soon began to blaze 
 up well, and immediately the leaves and branches 
 above it began to take fire. 
 
 " There," said Lucy, " it bums." 
 
 "Wait," said her mother; " let us see. how it 
 will work." 
 
 It blazed up finely very soon, making a bright 
 flame, nearly a foot high, and the wind blew the 
 smoke and sparks directly through the top of the 
 heap. Lucy, and, in fact, her mother, expected 
 that it would set the whole heap on fire. 
 
 Robert and Eben looked on in silence. 
 
 In a moment the blaze began to subside. It 
 burned fainter and fainter, and at last, after a few 
 minutes^ it all died away, leaving nothing but a 
 
ROBERT'S CLEARING. 
 
 81 
 
 hole in that part of the heap, with the bright ends 
 of the twigs, which had been burned off all around, 
 pointing in towards the centre. 
 
 By this time, Robert was prepared to put fire 
 to his logs, and he soon got them well on fire. 
 He had pushed them in as far under the heap as 
 he could, and the wind carried the heat and 
 flame through the very heart of it. In a few 
 minutes, large volumes of white smoke came pour- 
 ing up, out of the top of the pile, in the most beau- 
 tiful manner. Flashes of flame soon began to 
 break out in the midst of this smoke, and in a 
 short time they all had to stand back from the 
 heat produced by the high, crackling flames. 
 After some time, they all went up upon a bank 
 near by, under some trees, and sat down upon a 
 small log, to watch the progress of the fire. 
 
82 
 
 CHAPTER VT 
 PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 " What a noble great fire ! " said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied her mother ; " in the night 1 
 think that that fire would make quite a spectacle." 
 
 " Would it burn brighter in the night ? " said 
 Lucy. 
 
 " No, it would not really burn any brighter, but 
 it would look brighter. It would illuminate the 
 whole sky. It is a fine fire now ; but it does not 
 make such a display in the daytime, as it would 
 in the night. Just like the candle in your lantern ; 
 you remember how dim it looked. That was be- 
 cause it was surrounded by daylight." 
 
 " I should think we could see things better by 
 daylight," said Lucy. 
 
 " We can, every thing but fires and lights," 
 replied her mother. " Those we can see better 
 in the night." 
 
 " Why is it so, mother? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, the light of the sun and of the day is 
 so bright that we can't see the light of the fire." 
 
PHILOSOPHY. 83 
 
 " I don't see why we can't see both, mother," 
 said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, you see," said Robert, " it dazzles our 
 eyes, — the light of the sun does, — and we can't 
 see so well." 
 
 " I am sure I can see better in the day than in 
 the night," said Lucy. 
 
 " That's a mistake," said her mother. 
 
 " O mother ! " said Lucy. 
 
 " In one sense you can ; that is, you can see 
 more things, because there is so much more light ; 
 hut your eye is not so sensitive." 
 
 f What do you mean by sensitive 1 " asked 
 Lucy. 
 
 " Why, let me see," said her mother ; " how 
 shall I explain it to you ? " 
 
 Here she hesitated, and appeared to be thinking. 
 Lucy and Robert sat still, and did not interrupt 
 her. As for Eben, he began to be tired of this 
 philosophical discussion, and so he got off from 
 the log, and began to punch a stick down into a 
 hole under the root of a tree. He thought that it 
 was a squirrel's hole, and he wanted to make the 
 squirrel come out. 
 
 iC Suppose," said Lucy's mother, after a mo- 
 ment's pause, " that I had a small box, light all 
 around, excepting at one end, where there was a 
 
84 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 small hole, just big enough to look through. Then 
 suppose that I should have a picture pasted against 
 the back side of the box opposite to the hole." 
 
 " We couldn't see it, mother," said Lucy ; " it 
 would be all dark." 
 
 " Yes, that's true," said her mother. " But now 
 suppose I should make another hole in the side of 
 the box to let in a little light." 
 
 " How could you make it, mother? " said Lucy. 
 
 " O, I don't know, — I could get Royal to bore 
 it for me with his gimlet." 
 
 " That wouldn't be big enough," said Lucy. , 
 
 " Hasn't he got a big one ? " asked her mother. 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy, " he has got one, but it 
 does not make a good hole ; and then it almost 
 always splits the wood. I think it would spoil 
 the box to have him bore a hole in it with the 
 large one." 
 
 " O," said her mother, " it won't hurt the box ; 
 it is nothing but an imaginary box." 
 
 "An imaginary box ? " repeated Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said her mother ; " it is only an ima- 
 ginary box, and it won't hurt it to bore an ima- 
 ginary hole in it." 
 
 Lucy laughed, and her mother went on with 
 the illustration 
 
 " Now, suppose," said she, " we had such a 
 
PHILOSOPHY. 85 
 
 box, with a picture pasted on the back part, in- 
 side, and a small hole opposite to the picture to 
 look through. Suppose that there was also a hole 
 in the side of the box, to let in a little light. Now, 
 suppose that you were to bring your eye up sud- 
 denly to the eye-hole, in the daytime, and also in 
 the night ; in which case do you think that you 
 could see the picture most distinctly ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said Lucy. 
 
 " In the night," said Robert. 
 
 " Why ? " t asked Lucy's mother. 
 
 " Because," said Robert, " I can always see 
 down cellar better in the night than I can in the 
 Jaytime : and that is something like it." 
 
 " But I can see down cellar better in the day- 
 time," said Lucy. 
 
 "That is because our cellar is lighted with 
 windows," said her mother. " But yours, Robert, 
 is dark, I suppose." 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said Robert ; " I never heard of 
 windows in a cellar." 
 
 " They sometimes have windows in a cellar," 
 said Lucy's mother, in reply. " But where there 
 are no windows, and you have to take a light 
 down, it is much more difficult to see in the day- 
 time than in the night. So it would be in such a 
 box. If you were to come up to it suddenly in the 
 8 
 
86 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 daytime, you would find that you could see but 
 very little. But if it were possible for you to come 
 to it in the night, and look in, and yet have daylight 
 shine in through the hole in the side, just as be- 
 fore, you would find that you could see much 
 better." 
 
 " I'm sure I don't see why," said Lucy. 
 
 " The reason is," said her mother, " that a 
 bright light changes the condition of the eye some 
 how or other, — I don't know exactly how, but I 
 know it changes it, — so that it is not so sensitive to 
 light. So, after we have been walking about in 
 the bright day, if we go down cellar with a candle, 
 we can't see very well. Our eyes have been 
 changed in some way by the great light of the 
 day, so that we can't distinguish the objects in 
 the cellar, which are illuminated only by the dim 
 light of the candle." 
 
 " If we stay down some time," said Robert, 
 " then we can see better." 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy's mother, " because then 
 your eyes become changed again, and adapted to 
 the faint light. They become more sensitive, and 
 then, of course, when you come out again into the 
 bright light of day, they are too sensitive, and you 
 are dazzled." 
 
PHILOSOPHY. 87 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said Robert ; " that is exactly 
 the way." 
 
 Lucy's attention was here taken up by watch- 
 ing Eben, who seemed very much interested in 
 looking into the hole which he had been punching. 
 He was trying whether he could see the squirrel 
 there. She jumped off the log, and went to the 
 hole, saying, — 
 
 " Can you see him, Eben ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Eben, " I believe I can see him." 
 
 " Let me look," said Lucy. 
 
 Lucy put her head pretty close to the hole, 
 and looked very intently. 
 
 " Can you see him ? " said her mother. 
 
 " I don't know," said Lucy, " whether I can 
 see him or not." 
 
 " If we had a dark closet here, where we could 
 shut you up a few minutes, then you could see 
 better down in the hole," said her mother. 
 
 " Won't it do for me to shut my eyes ? " said 
 Lucy. 
 
 " I don't know," replied her mother, " whether 
 that will produce the effect, or not. I don't know 
 what it is that causes the eye to change, — whether 
 t is the mere absence of light, or the effort we 
 make to see when looking in the dark. If it 
 were the mere absence of light, then it would 
 
88 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 answer for you to shut your eyes. You can 
 try it." 
 
 The children all tried the plan. They shut 
 their eyes, and held their hands over them, and so 
 kept them as dark as they could for some minutes, 
 and then looked in. They thought that they 
 could see better. Robert said that what Eben 
 saw was only a root, and that he did not believe 
 that there was any squirrel there. 
 
 The children, therefore, presently came back, 
 and took their seats upon the log again ; and Lu- 
 cy asked her mother to go on. 
 
 " I think it likely that what I have explained 
 to you may be the reason why a fire or a light 
 does not appear so bright by day as it does by 
 night. The eye is accustomed to the glare, and 
 adapts itself to a strong light, and so becomes in 
 some measure insensible to a comparatively faint 
 one. 
 
 " That is the reason, I suppose," she continued, 
 " why we can't see the stars in the daytime." 
 
 " Yes, mother," said Lucy ; " I knew there 
 were stars in the daytime. Miss Anne told me." 
 
 " I saw a star one morning," said Robert. 
 
 " After it was light ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied Robert ; " the sun was almor 
 up." 
 
PHILOSOPn. . 89 
 
 " I presume it was the morning star," said Lu 
 cy's mother. 
 
 " What is the morning star ? " said Lucy. 
 
 « Why, you must know," said her mother, 
 " that there is one planet which goes round and 
 round the sun, pretty near to him — a great deal 
 nearer than we are." 
 
 " What is a planet, mother ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, it is a kind of a world," replied her 
 mother. 
 
 " As big as this world ? " 
 
 '* No ; the planet which I was speaking ot is 
 not quite so big as this world, I believe ; but it is 
 very large. It goes round and round the sun ; 
 and, of course, when the sun rises, and goes over 
 the sky, and sets, this planet keeps with him, going 
 round and round him all the time." 
 
 Here Lucy turned her face up to the sky, and 
 began to look for the sun. She put her arm over 
 her eyes, to shade them from the dazzling light. 
 
 " O, you can't see it now, Lucy," said her 
 mother. 
 
 " Why not ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Because," said Robert, " the sun will dazzle 
 your eyes." 
 
 " And besides," said her mother, " the general 
 light makes your eyes less sensitive than they 
 8* 
 
90 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 ought to be to see a star. We never see this 
 planet by day, although it goes with the sun, 
 sometimes a little before him, and sometimes a 
 little after him, but never a great way off." 
 
 " What makes it sometimes before him and 
 sometimes after him ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Why, that's of course," said Robert. 
 
 " No, not exactly of course," said her mother. 
 " It might revolve around the sun in such a way 
 as always to appear to be at the same distance. 
 But, as it happens, it does not. It goes round in 
 such a way that sometimes it appears before the 
 sun, and sometimes behind it, and sometimes it is 
 directly between us and the sun. It passes for- 
 ward between us and the sun until it gets before 
 him ; then it turns and wheels away around on 
 the other side, and goes on until it gets behind the 
 sun. Then it comes round on this side again ; 
 and so it keeps going and coming. 
 
 " But, then," she continued, " we can very sel- 
 dom see it. There are only three cases in which 
 we can see it. One is, that when it is before the 
 sun, we can see it in the morning ; because, then, 
 you see, it rises first, and so we can see it before it 
 becomes quite light." 
 
 " But Robert said it was very light when he 
 saw it," said Lucy. 
 
PHILOSOPHY. 91 
 
 " Yes, it was much lighter than it had been . 
 but it was not as light as it is at noon." 
 
 " No," said Robert ; " I only meant it was 
 broad daylight." 
 
 " It was much lighter than it was in the night, 
 I have no doubt," said Lucy's mother ; " so 
 light, in fact, that you could not see the other 
 stars. But this looks brighter than any other 
 stars." 
 
 " Why ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " One reason is," replied her mother, " because 
 it is nearer to us ; and another reason is, that it is 
 very near the sun, and so is strongly illuminated 
 by his rays." 
 
 " But you said that the sun was not up." 
 
 " No ; but still he was where he could shine 
 on Venus." . 
 
 " Venus ? " repeated Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied her mother ; " that's the name 
 of it. It is very bright. It looks like a little 
 moon when you look at it through a telescope." 
 
 " Does it ? " said Lucy. " How big does it 
 look ? " 
 
 " That depends upon the power of the tele- 
 scope," replied her mother. 
 
 " I mean to get up to-morrow morning, and see 
 it," said Lucy. 
 
92 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " You said there were three ways to see it," 
 said Robert. 
 
 " Yes, mother," said Lucy ; " what are the 
 other two ? " 
 
 " Why, sometimes," replied her mother, " Ve- 
 nus falls behind the sun, and then you can't see it 
 in the morning ; for when the sun rises, Venus is 
 still down behind the horizon ; and then it does 
 not come up until after the sun. Consequently, 
 by the time it gets up, the whole sky is lighted 
 up, and our eyes are much less sensitive, and so 
 we can't see it. 
 
 " But now," continued she, " if we wait till 
 evening, the sun, which sets first, will be in ad- 
 vance of Venus, and leave her a little way up 
 in the sky. To be sure, Venus follows directly 
 on, and sets in a short time ; but then it generally 
 gets dark enough before she sets to make our eyes 
 sensitive enough to see her. When Venus is in 
 that part of her path which makes her set after 
 the sun, so that we can see her in the evening, 
 we call her the evening star. When she is 
 before the sun, so as to be seen in the morning, 
 she is called the morning star. So, you see, 
 Lucy, it will not do any good to get up early in 
 the morning to look for Venus, unless we know 
 whether she is now before or behind the sun. 
 
PHILOSOPHY. 93 
 
 If she should rise later than the sun, we could 
 not see her." 
 
 " Now, there's one more way," said Robert. 
 
 " Yes, mother," said Lucy ; " what is that r " 
 
 " Sometimes it happens," said her mother, 
 11 that, while Venus, after having been behind the 
 sun, is passing round this side of it to go be- 
 fore it, that it goes exactly between us and the 
 sun, and so we can see it pass across his face." 
 
 " How does it look ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " It looks like a little black spot," said her 
 mother — "a little, round, black spot, moving 
 across the face of the sun." 
 
 " What makes it look so black ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, it is only the side which is turned to- 
 wards the sun that is bright, and the part that is 
 turned towards us, when it passes between us and 
 the sun, will, of course, be dark. Besides," she 
 continued, " I suppose that, strictly speaking, we 
 don't really see Venus in that case at all. We 
 are only prevented from seeing a part of the sun. 
 Venus stops all the rays from that part of the sun 
 which is exactly opposite to her, from coming to 
 us ; and it causes the appearance of a small, round, 
 dark spot, moving along over the face of the sun. 
 That is called a transit of Venus. But a transit 
 of Venus happens very seldom." 
 
94 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " I should think it would happen every time 
 Venus comes round," said Robert. 
 
 " So should I," said Lucy. 
 
 " No," said her mother. 
 
 " Because, you see," said Lucy, " that she 
 must go by the sun every time." 
 
 " Yes," said her mother ; " that is true. But 
 then sometimes she goes above the sun, and some- 
 times below it. It is very seldom that she goes 
 across, exactly opposite to him ; and it is only 
 then that there is a transit." 
 
 " I don't understand," said Robert, " how you 
 can see that little black spot on the sun, when it 
 does go across. I should think the light of the 
 rest of the sun would dazzle your eyes." 
 
 " Hark ! what's that ? " said Lucy. 
 
 Lucy listened, as if she heard a sound at a 
 distance. 
 
 " That's the horn," said Eben. 
 
 " Yes," said Robert, " the horn for dinner. 
 We must go home. But first I'll go and put my 
 fire together a little." 
 
 The fire had by this time nearly gone down. 
 It had burned out the whole middle of the pile, 
 leaving a circle of brands, ends of sticks, and 
 tops of bushes, all around. Robert pushed 
 them in to the centre, where they lay upon the 
 
PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 95 
 
 burning embers, and soon began to smoke and 
 blaze again. Then he followed Lucy, and her 
 mother, and Eben, who were walking slowly 
 along. When he came up to them, he told them 
 that he knew where there was another heap of 
 brush to burn, and he wished they could come up 
 in the evening, and set it on fire, when they could 
 see the light in all its brightness. This they 
 agreed to do. Then they all went home to try 
 the apple-pudding. 
 
96 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SLAB. 
 
 About an hour after dinner, Lucy and Eben 
 went into a shed not far from the barn, where 
 there was a wagon ; and Eben proposed that 
 they should get into it, and play have a ride 
 
 " How can we get in ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " O, we can climb in," replied Eben. 
 
 Lucy thought that she could not climb up into 
 such a high wagon ; but Eben said that it was 
 very easy. So he went around to the front part, 
 and clambered in. Lucy then concluded to try, 
 and she found that she succeeded better than she 
 had expected. She sat down upon the seat of 
 the wagon. 
 
 " What a good seat ! " said Lucy. " This is 
 better than a chaise ; for a chaise tips down." 
 
 " Tips down ? " said Eben. 
 
 " Yes," replied Lucy, " when there is no horse, 
 in it." 
 
 " What makes it tip down ? " said Eben. 
 
 u I don't know," said Lucy ; " but it does, and 
 
THE SLAB. 97 
 
 1 can hardly keep in the seat. But your wagon 
 does not tip down at all." 
 
 Just then they heard somebody coming. They 
 looked round, and saw that it was Robert. 
 
 "Come, boys and girls," said Robert, "jump 
 out of the wagon." 
 
 " Why can't you let us ride ? " said Eben. 
 
 " Because," said Robert, " I am going to put 
 the horse in." 
 
 " Are you going away ? " said Eben. 
 
 " No, but Comfort is." 
 
 " Where is she going ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 "I don't, know," replied Robert; and just 
 as he said so, he opened a door which led 
 out of the shed into the barn, and disappeared. 
 In a few minutes he returned, leading out a 
 horse. 
 
 He tied the horse to a ring, which was fastened 
 into a beam about as high as his head, and then 
 went into the harness-room after a harness. 
 
 While he was putting the harness upon the 
 horse, Lucy and Eben continued their ride ; and 
 presently he told them that they might stay, in 
 the wagon, and he would give them a real ride as 
 far as the door. Accordingly, when the horse 
 was harnessed, he backed the wagon out of the 
 shed, while Lucy and Eben sat in it ; and then 
 9 
 
98 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 lie led the horse up to the door, Lucy holding the 
 reins, and making believe drive. 
 
 Robert fastened the horse to a post, and Lucy 
 and Eben, thinking that they would not get out 
 until they were obliged to, sat still. Presently 
 Comfort came to the door in a different dress 
 from the one which she had worn when she was 
 spinning, and with her bonnet on. 
 
 " Comfort," said Lucy, " are you going away 
 in this wagon ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied Comfort. 
 
 " Who is going to drive you ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " I am going to drive myself," replied Com- 
 fort. 
 
 " Where are you going ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " I'm going a-shopping," said Comfort. 
 
 " A-shopping ? " said Lucy ; " I don't see 
 where you can go a-shopping. Only I wish," 
 she added, after pausing a moment, " that my 
 mother would let me go with you." 
 
 " Well," said Comfort, " go and ask her." 
 
 Comfort helped Lucy down out of the wagon, 
 and she ran in to ask her mother. As she went 
 in, Comfort said, — > 
 
 " Tell her that I should like to have you go 
 very much." 
 
 Lucy came back in a moment, leading her 
 
THE SLAB. 99 
 
 mother, who came out to see whether it was 
 really true that Comfort was perfectly willing to 
 have Lucy go. When she found that she was 
 willing, her mother consented. At first Eben 
 wanted to go, too ; but Robert persuaded him to 
 go with him. He was going off into the field 
 with a cart, and he said, if Eben would go with 
 him, he would let him ride in the cart. Eben, on 
 the whole, concluded that he would ride in the 
 cart ; and so he got out of the wagon, and went 
 away ; and in a moment after, Comfort and Lucy 
 went riding out of the yard together. 
 
 Comfort turned the horse in the opposite direc- 
 tion to the one from which Lucy had come with 
 her father and mother when they first came to 
 the General's. Lucy was glad of this, for she 
 wanted to go in a new road. After riding a 
 jhort distance along a smooth and level road, 
 they began to descend a hill which seemed to 
 be carrying them down into a dark and shady 
 valley. 
 
 The high mountains were all around them ; 
 and now and then Lucy had a view of water 
 down the valley far before them. Lucy thought, 
 too, that she could hear the noise of water tum- 
 bling over rocks down in a deep and dark ravine, 
 filled with forests, on the side of the road. 
 
100 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " How far is the place where you are going it- 
 shopping from your father's ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " It is about half a mile," replied Comfort. 
 
 " O, what a short ride ! " said Lucy. " I'm 
 sorry it isn't farther." 
 
 " O, it's farther from here," said Comfort. " It 
 is almost two miles from the General's." 
 
 " But I thought the General's was your fa- 
 ther's," said Lucy. 
 
 " No," replied Comfort ; " my father lives down 
 in the valley, about half a mile from the corner." 
 
 " Then why don't you stay there ? " said Lu- 
 cy. " I should think you would stay at home, 
 and not come and live at the General's." 
 
 " O, I come to the General's to spin," replied 
 Comfort. 
 
 " I don't see why you come to spin for him." 
 
 " Why, he pays me for it," said Comfort. 
 
 " O," said Lucy, " then I suppose you spin to 
 get the money." 
 
 " Yes," replied Comfort ; " that is it." 
 
 " Is your father very poor, then ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " No, he is not poor at all. My father has got 
 a good farm, and is quite forehanded." 
 
 " Forehanded ? " repeated Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied Comfort. 
 
 Lucy did not understand what Comfort meant 
 
THE SLAB. 101 
 
 by forehanded; nor did she see why Comfort 
 should go away from home, to live at the Gener- 
 al's, to get money, unless her father was poor. 
 However, she was prevented from asking her any 
 more questions by something which here happened 
 to attract her attention. 
 
 For just at this time the road descended near 
 to the stream which Lucy had heard in the bot- 
 tom of the ravine ; and there was a large opening 
 through the trees, so that she could see down to 
 the water. It was foaming and tumblinsr like a 
 cataract, along a very rocky bed. The stream 
 was pretty broad, and there were several rocks 
 and rocky islands scattered about its bed. On 
 one of these islands, at a little distance from the 
 shore, they saw a little boy sitting alone ; and he 
 seemed to be crying. 
 
 " Only look at that boy," said Comfort. " I 
 wonder how he came there." 
 
 So saying, Comfort drew up the reins, and 
 stopped the horse, in the middle of the road. 
 The boy looked up and saw them. 
 
 " What's the matter, my boy?" said Comfort, 
 in a loud voice. 
 
 The boy answered something, but the roar of 
 the water was so loud that they could not hear 
 what he said. 
 
 9* 
 
102 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " Let's go down and see what's the matter," 
 said Comfort. 
 
 " Well," said Lucy, " so we will." 
 
 Comfort got out of the wagon, and then she 
 helped Lucy get out. She led the horse to one 
 side of the road, and fastened him. Then she be- 
 gan carefully to descend the bank, helping Lucy 
 down, too. At length they got down to the shore, 
 opposite to where the boy was. He was on the 
 end of a little rocky island, or rather of a large 
 rock, which was out a few steps from the shore. 
 There were scattered rocks about it, and between 
 it and the shore. 
 
 " What's the matter, my boy ? " said Com 
 fort. 
 
 " I can't get off the rocks," said the boy. 
 
 The boy did not take any further notice of 
 Comfort and Lucy, than just to answer Comfort's 
 question, but sat still, and continued to cry, just 
 as before. 
 
 " How did you get on the rocks ? " said 
 Comfort. 
 
 " I don't know," said the boy ; " I have forgot 
 the place." 
 
 " Why, that's very strange," said Comfort, 
 — "such a little boy as this, out on these rocks, 
 and saying he don't know how he came there." 
 
THE SLAB. 103 
 
 " He isn't bigger than Eben," said Lucy. 
 The water was very shallow in the stream, 
 and there were stones between where the boy 
 was, and the shore, almost near enough for step- 
 ping-stones. Comfort looked at them a moment, 
 and then she said, — 
 
 " Can't you step over on these stones ? " 
 " No," said the boy, " not unless they come 
 and help me." 
 
 " Who come and help you ? " 
 " Why, Roger and the other boy." 
 "Who is Roger?" said Comfort, "and where 
 is he ? " 
 
 " I don't know where he is," said the boy. 
 " He does not know any thing," said Comfort 
 to Lucy, in an under tone. In fact, Comfort was 
 almost out of patience with the boy, because he 
 could not give any better account of himself; 
 though she ought not to have been out of pa- 
 tience with him, for he was very small, and then 
 he was very much frightened, both at his situation 
 and on account of the strangers. 
 
 " Do you suppose, Lucy, that I could get over 
 on those stones, and help him off? " 
 " Why, yes," said Lucy, " perhaps so." 
 " I'm afraid' I shall fall into the water," said 
 
104 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Comfort. " Now, if I only had a slab." So say- 
 ing, Comfort began to look around on the shore. 
 
 " A slab ? " said Lucy ; " what is a slab ? " 
 
 Lucy had, in fact, never heard of a slab. Com- 
 fort did not answer her, for she went immediately 
 away, and began to look about for a slab, Lucy 
 remaining near the boy. 
 
 A slab is the outside piece, which is sawed off 
 first, when they saw up a log into boards. Of 
 course, it is round on one side, and flat on the 
 other. Sometimes, too, it is very irregular in 
 shape, on account of the logs not being regular in 
 form. Slabs generally lie in considerable num- 
 bers about mills, because they are not of much 
 value ; and then, when the freshets come, they 
 get washed away, and carried down the stream. 
 Many of them lodge along the banks, where they 
 get stopped by the trees, or wedged in among the 
 rocks ; so that they are often found lying along 
 the shores of such a stream as this was. 
 
 By this time, the boy had stopped crying ; and 
 he took up a slender little pole, which was lying 
 by his side, and laid it across his lap. Lucy 
 looked at him a moment in silence. 
 
 " What is your name, little boy ? " said Lucy 
 
 " George," said the boy. 
 
THE SLAB. 105 
 
 " Well, don't be afraid," said Lucy. " Com- 
 fort has gone to get a slab." 
 
 George did not answer, but he seemed now to 
 be getting quite composed. 
 
 " What is that pole for ? " said Lucy, again. 
 
 " This is my fishing-pole," said the boy. 
 
 " Did you come a-fishing ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied the boy ; " and we caught 
 four." 
 
 Just at this moment, Lucy heard Comfort call- 
 ing out that she had found a slab. Lucy looked 
 in the direction from which the voice came, and 
 she saw Comfort beyond a rocky point, a short 
 distance up the stream. 
 
 " I've found a slab," said Comfort ; " but it is 
 too heavy for me to bring along, and so I'm going 
 to sail it down." 
 
 Lucy could see that Comfort was stooping 
 down, as if she was pushing something off the 
 shore. At the same instant, she heard other 
 voices in the opposite direction. She looked 
 down the stream, and saw two boys coming up 
 along the bank, half hid by the bushes and rocks, 
 with fishing-poles in their hands. They were 
 talking together, and did not see Lucy until they 
 got out of the bushes, and had advanced pretty 
 near to her. At the same time, Comfort came 
 
106 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 down from above, guiding her slab along by a 
 little slender pole. 
 
 " O boys ! " said Comfort, when she saw them, 
 " is this little fellow your brother ? " 
 
 " Yes," said one of the boys, " he is my 
 brother." 
 
 " We couldn't think how he came here," said 
 Comfort. 
 
 " Why, we were fishing," said the boy, " and 
 we wanted to go down and just try a new place ; 
 and we told him we'd come back for him in a 
 few minutes, if we found a good place." 
 
 " O," said Comfort, " I was just getting this 
 slab, to help him off." 
 
 " What did you want the slab for ? " said 
 the boy. 
 
 "So as to get over where he is," said Comfort. 
 
 " O, there's no need of any slab," said the 
 boy. And so, without saying any thing more, 
 he stepped across from one stone to another, as 
 easily as if he had walked along the shore. The 
 other boy followed him, and one of them helped 
 George to the shore, and the other took up a 
 small string of fishes, which was lying in a crevice 
 of the rocks, where Lucy had not seen them. 
 
 " You've caught some fishes, then," said Com- 
 fort. 
 
THE SLAB. 107 
 
 " Yes," said the boy ; " but they don't bite 
 very well." 
 
 " I hope they'll bite better down below," said 
 Comfort ; " and I wouldn't leave that little fellow 
 alone again ; it frightens him." 
 
 " Well, we won't," said Roger. 
 
 So saying, the boys all walked along together 
 down the bank, and soon disappeared 
 
 " I think he ought to be ashamed of himself," 
 said Lucy. " I would have given him a good 
 scolding." 
 
 " That wouldn't have done any good," replied 
 Comfort. 
 
 " Yes it would," said Lucy. " It would have 
 taught him not to do so next time." 
 
 " No," said Comfort ; " that would only have 
 made him more likely to do so again." 
 
 " Let's make a bridge with your slab," said 
 Lucy, " and get out on that rock." 
 
 " No," said Comfort ; " we might get in, and 
 get our feet wet." 
 
 " Why, Comfort ! " said Lucy ; " I don't see that 
 there is any more danger of getting in now, than 
 if the boy was on the rock, and you were going 
 out to get the boy." 
 
 " Yes," said Comfort ; " but that was an object 
 worth running a little risk for. There's no use 
 
10S LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 in running the risk for nothing ; so, instead of 
 making a bridge of the slab, we'll make a ship 
 of it." 
 
 As she said this, she pushed one end of the 
 slab outwards, to make it point out into the stream. 
 It turned slowly, and, when it was pointed in the 
 right direction, she gave it a long push, by which 
 it was sent, by a slow but steady motion, away 
 out into the current. The current immediately 
 turned it down the stream. It went swiftly along 
 the rapids, until presently the end struck against 
 a small rock, which happened to be in its course, 
 projecting a little above the surface of the water. 
 This stopped the force of the motion immediately, 
 and the upper end of the slab began to move 
 slowly round, and to drift sideways down the 
 stream. They watched it a few minutes, and 
 then they climbed up the steep, grassy, and rocky 
 bank, unfastened the horse, got into the wagon, 
 and rode on 
 
109 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SHOPPING. 
 
 At the place where Comfort and Lucy had 
 found George on the island, the stream looked 
 like a brook, only it was very large for a brook. 
 It ran tumbling along among rocks just like a 
 brook. Lucy found, however, after they had 
 rode along a little farther, that it began to change ; 
 and in a short time it appeared to turn into a 
 smooth and beautiful river. This was the sheet 
 of water which Lucy had had an* occasional 
 glimpse of, higher up the valley. But now, at a 
 certain turn of the road, they came suddenly upon 
 a full view of it. 
 
 " O, what a beautiful river ! " said Lucy. 
 
 " That's the mill-pond," said Comfort. 
 
 " The mill-pond ? " repeated Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied Comfort. 
 
 " How did they make such a mill-pond ? " 
 asked Lucy. 
 
 " Why, they built a dam across the stream., 
 10 
 
110 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 down below here, and that stops the water, and 
 makes a pond." 
 
 " That's an excellent plan," said Lucy. " I 
 think it looks a great deal prettier." 
 
 " O, but they didn't do it to make it look pret- 
 tier," said Comfort. 
 
 " What did they do it for ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Why, to make the mills go. They almost 
 always have a pond to make mills go." 
 
 " 1 don't see how a pond can make mills go," 
 said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, the dam makes the water rise very 
 high," said Comfort ; " and then they build a 
 mill on the bank just below the dam, and have 
 a great wheel down in the bottom of the mill, 
 and they let the water out of the pond against the 
 wheel, and that carries it round so as to make the 
 mill go." 
 
 " Do they have a hole in the dam right oppo- 
 site to the wheel ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Yes, they have an opening," replied Comfort, 
 " and a kind of a long box, to lead the water 
 from the opening in the dam to the wheel. That 
 is what they call the flume. I'll show you the 
 flume when we get to the mill." 
 
 " Are we going to the mill ? " asked Lucy. 
 
SHOPPING. Ill 
 
 " Yes, we shall go over the bridge close to the 
 mill. The flume passes under one end of the 
 bridge." 
 
 Comfort and Lucy were now riding along a 
 beautiful road. The mill-pond was on one side, 
 with several islands in the middle, and with many 
 points and promontories extending into the water 
 from the shore, and crowned with trees. On the 
 other side was a great forest, covering the side of 
 a hill, and running higher and higher to the tops 
 of the mountains. On before them Lucy could 
 see a bridge, and a small village on the other 
 side of it. In about ten minutes, they reached 
 the bridge. 
 
 Lucy could see the dam very distinctly. It 
 was built of logs laid up like a wall, and extend- 
 ing entirely across the stream, from one side to 
 the other. A thin sheet of water was gliding 
 smoothly over the top, and falling upon the rocks 
 below. 
 
 " Why don't they build the dam a little higher," 
 said Lucy, " and so stop all the water? " 
 
 "That wouldn't do any good," said Com- 
 fort. 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy ; " then they would have 
 more water to make their mills go." 
 
 " But they've got water enough," said Com- 
 
J 12 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 fort ; "and, besides, if they should make the dam 
 higher, they could not keep the water from run- 
 ning over the top ; because, if they should do it. 
 it would only slop the water in the pond for a 
 little while ; it would rise higher and higher, and 
 so, pretty soon, it would run over the top again, 
 just as it does now." 
 
 The mill was on the farther side of the bridge, 
 and below it, while the dam was above. Lucy 
 asked where the flume was. Comfort pointed 
 out to her a sort of a large box or trough, made 
 of timbers and planks, which proceeded from the 
 end of the darn on the other side, and passed un- 
 der the bridge to the mill. 
 
 When they got opposite to the flume, Comfort 
 stopped the horse a moment to let Lucy look 
 at it. There was a kind of a grating at one end 
 of it, towards the mill, and the water was whirling 
 and boiling, among the sticks and slabs which 
 were lying before the grating. Lucy saw that 
 the water was running down through the grating, 
 in underneath the mill, and she supposed it ran 
 under the water-wheel, and turned it round. 
 
 " What makes them throw all those sticks and 
 slabs into the flume ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " They don't throw them in," said Comfort. 
 " Those things were brought down by the stream, 
 
SHOPPING. 113 
 
 and came floating along into the flume, and the 
 grating stopped them. That is the reason why 
 they have a grating, — in order to stop all such 
 things." 
 
 " Why must they stop them ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Because," replied Comfort, " they would go 
 through, and strike against the water-wheel, 1 sup- 
 pose, and break it." 
 
 After Lucy had looked at the flume long 
 enough, Comfort drove on. The horse ascended 
 a little hill, beyond the brook, and came into a 
 sort of village, though it was very small. It con- 
 sisted of only a very few houses and shops. 
 
 " Where are you going to do your shopping ? " 
 asked Lucy. 
 
 " I'm going to that store," said Comfort. 
 
 So saying, she pointed to a building in a corner, 
 not far from the mill, which was painted green. 
 It had a sign over the door, and some shawls 
 han<nn£ in the window. 
 
 " I shouldn't think there was much to buy in 
 that store," aid Lucy. 
 
 " O, yes," said Comfort ; " it is quite a large 
 store." 
 
 There were several posts before the store. 
 Comfort drove up to one of them, and got out 
 10* 
 
114 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 and fastened the horse. Then she helped Lucy 
 out, and they both together went into the store. 
 
 It was a much larger and pleasanter store than 
 Lucy had expected. There were two pretty 
 large counters. One was at the back side of the 
 store. There were a great many goods, of all 
 kinds, upon the shelves. At the back corner of 
 the store there was a door, which seemed to open 
 out into a pleasant yard. There were one or 
 two chairs near this door. Comfort conducted 
 Lucy along to this corner, and gave her a seat in 
 one of the chairs. 
 
 " Now, Lucy," said she, " I expect it will take 
 me ever so long to do my shopping ; and you may 
 amuse yourself here as well as you can. You 
 can look about the store, or sit here, or go out in 
 the yard." 
 
 " Well," said Lucy, " I shall do very well, I 
 don't doubt." 
 
 Comfort then went away, and presently came 
 back with a piece of gingerbread, which she had 
 bought of the storekeeper, and gave it to Lucy. 
 Lucy was glad, both because she liked ginger- 
 bread, and also because she was a little hungry. 
 After she had begun to eat her gingerbread, she 
 thought she heard a peeping sound out in the 
 
SHOPPING. 115 
 
 yard. Lucy stepped out upon the step to see 
 what it was. She found there, in one corner of 
 the yard, a hen and a whole brood of chickens. 
 
 The hen looked rather fiercely at Lucy when 
 she saw that she was coming near her chickens, 
 and so Lucy kept back a little. She observed, 
 however, that the hen had a little leather strap 
 around one of her legs, and by means of that and 
 a string, she was tied to a stake. There was a 
 small cask lying down upon its side, for her to go 
 into, with her chickens. 
 
 Lucy broke off a small piece of her ginger- 
 bread, and threw it down to the hen. The hen 
 seized it very eagerly, and broke it into crumbs 
 with her bill, and called her chickens to come 
 and eat it. They all gathered around her, and 
 picked up the little crumbs as fast as they could. 
 Lucy thought that they ate it as if they never 
 had had any gingerbread before. 
 
 Lucy looked about the yard. It was a very 
 pleasant yard, descending a little from the street. 
 There was a fence around it painted white ; but 
 as the fence was not very high, and as the land 
 descended somewhat towards it, Lucy could see 
 over it. She could see the^dam, and the bridge, 
 and the mill-pond, extending far away among the 
 islands and banks covered with trees. She could 
 
116 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 also look right down the bank opposite to where 
 she stood upon that part of the stream which was 
 below the mill. 
 
 She watched the water gliding over the top of 
 the dam, and falling down in a shower upon the 
 rocks below, for a few minutes, when she heard a 
 door open behind her. She looked round, and 
 found that there was another door, besides the 
 one which she had come out of, in the same 
 building. There were also some windows. In 
 fact, it seemed as if the back part of the building 
 was a house, and only the front part a store. 
 
 At any rate, the door opened, and a girl, about 
 as big as Lucy, came out with a saucer in her 
 hand, and a spoon in it. Lucy saw at once that 
 she had come out to feed the chickens. Lucy 
 went towards her, to see her ; for before she had 
 gone to the front part of the yard to see the 
 prospect. 
 
 tf Are these your chickens ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said the girl. 
 
 " They're beautiful chickens," said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said the girl, " only they came too 
 late." 
 
 While Lucy was considering what the girl 
 could mean, by saying that her chickens came too 
 late, the girl went on feeding them ; and after she 
 
SHOPPING. 117 
 
 had done, she looked down to the stream which 
 ran off below the mill, and said, — 
 
 " Ah ! they've shut the gate." 
 
 ■? What gate ? " said Lucy, looking ; " I don't 
 see any gate." 
 
 " The water-gate, I mean," said the girl ; 
 — " the gate that lets the water under the mill." 
 
 "How do you know that they've shut it?" 
 said Lucy. 
 
 " Because," replied the girl, " don't you see 
 that the water doesn't run under the mill? 
 When the gate is up, and they are grinding, the 
 water comes tumbling through, under the mill, in 
 a great stream." 
 
 Lucy looked, and saw that there was a channel 
 behind the mill, beginning under it, which passed 
 down a little way, and gradually turned, and at 
 length, at a short distance, came out into the 
 main stream. The bottom was rocky, and now 
 nearly bare, only there was a small stream, which 
 lan among the rocks, flowing out towards the main 
 current. There is generally such a channel below 
 a mill, by which the waste water is discharged, 
 after it has performed its duty of giving impulse, 
 in its descent, to the float-boards of the great 
 wheel. 
 
 At the place where this channel entered the 
 
118 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 main stream, Lucy observed a large, flat surface 
 of rock, of a blue color, which seemed to be quite 
 level and smooth. There was a bird upon it, 
 hopping about. The main current was running 
 very swiftly along that end of it which was to- 
 wards the stream, and there was a little water, too, 
 on each side of it ; so that it was a sort of an 
 island. 
 
 " I wish I could go down on that great blue 
 stone," said Lucy. 
 
 " It is very easy to get there/' said the girl. 
 w I've been on it a hundred times." 
 
 " I mean to go and ask Comfort to let me go 
 down and get on it," said Lucy. 
 
 So Lucy went into the store, but in a moment 
 came out again. The girl asked what Comfort 
 said. 
 
 " She says I must not go now," said Lucy, 
 " but that, when she has done her shopping, she 
 will go with me." 
 
 " Is that the mill-pond up there ? " said Lucy, 
 pointing to the sheet of water above the dam. 
 
 " Yes," said the girl. 
 ►" What a pretty little island ! " said Lucy. 
 
 While Lucy was looking at the island, she 
 happened to observe something upon the water, 
 very far off, ant she did not know what it was. 
 
SHOPPING. 119 
 
 It looked like a little black line arawn upon the 
 water. 
 
 " What is that ? " said Lucy, pointing to it. 
 
 " What ? " said the girl ; " I don't see any 
 thing." 
 
 " That little black thing, very straight, in the 
 water, close by the island, where that great tree is." 
 
 " O, I don't know," said the girl ; " nothing but 
 a slab, or something floating down." 
 
 Lucy looked at it very intently, and said,-— 
 
 " I verily believe it is our slab ! " 
 
 Lucy ran into the store to tell Comfort. Com- 
 fort was standing before the counter, looking at 
 some calico. The counter was covered with 
 calicoes. 
 
 " Comfort," said Lucy. 
 
 " That, you say, is one and ninepence," said 
 Comfort, speaking to the storekeeper. 
 
 " Comfort," said Lucy, putting her hand gently 
 on Comfort's arm. " Here's our slab floating 
 down." 
 
 " And nine yards, at one and ninepence,- 
 comes to how much ? — let me see — " 
 
 " Comfort," said Lucy. 
 
 " Let me see ; nine shillings and nine nme- 
 pences is — wait a minute, Lucy." 
 
 Lucy stood still. The storekeeper drew out 
 
120 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 a little slate from under the counter, and began 
 making figures upon it. Lucy saw that Comfort 
 looked perplexed, and was very busy ; so she 
 left her, and ran out into the yard again, to watch 
 the slab. 
 
 Lucy thought that the slab had not moved at 
 all, while she had been gone. It seemed to be 
 in exactly the place where it was before. In fact, 
 it did not move very fast, because the water in 
 the mill-pond was almost still. It was, however, 
 slowly descending towards the dam. 
 
 « Why don't it come faster ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, the water does not run very fast in the 
 mill-pond," replied the girl ; " we can sail all over 
 it in a boat ; so that the logs and slabs come down 
 slowly." 
 
 " Where will it go to ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " O, it will come down over the dam ; or else 
 it will run into the flume, and get stopped by the 
 grating." 
 
 " I mean to watch it," said Lucy, " and see." 
 
 "Then you had better go and stand on the 
 bridge," replied the girl. " You can see it better 
 on the bridge." 
 
 " I don't think Comfort would let me," said 
 Lucy. 
 
 " You had better go and ask her," said the girl. 
 
SHOPPING. 121 
 
 " No," said Lucy ; " it don't do any good to 
 ask any body any thing when they are a-shopping. 
 They are always talking about ninepence and 
 tenpence." 
 
 The girl laughed, and then went into the house. 
 
 Lucy looked at the slab a short time, and then, 
 as it did not move much, she got tired of watch- 
 ing it ; and so she turned to look at the chickens. 
 She gave them a little more of her gingerbread, 
 and ate the rest. Then she went into the store, 
 and amused herself in walking about, and looking 
 at the things which the storekeeper had to sell. 
 
 In about three quarters of an hour from the 
 time when they came into the store, Comfort was 
 ready to go. She had completed her purchases, 
 and the storekeeper had put them all up in one 
 great parcel, with some strong and coarse brown 
 paper wrapped around it. Comfort put her par 
 eel into the wagon, and then told Lucy that she 
 was ready to go. 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy, " only you must go down 
 with me to the great blue stone." 
 
 " Well," said Comfort, " I will. You've been 
 very patient, and haven't troubled me at all." 
 
 So they walked along together towards the 
 bank of the stream below the mill. 
 11 
 
122 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AN ESCAPE. 
 
 They found some difficulty in getting down 
 the bank, it was so steep and rocky. There were, 
 however, little trees and bushes growing here 
 and there, which they could take hold of; and 
 there was a kind of a path, too, which was of 
 considerable service. The channel by which the 
 water came out from under the mill was almost 
 dry, so that they walked about all over it, step- 
 ing from stone to stone. They went up very 
 near the mill, so that they could see under it. 
 Lucy saw the great wheel, but it was still. She 
 said she wished they would let the water through 
 again, for she wanted to see it go. 
 
 u Why, Lucy ! " said Comfort ; " then the water 
 would come pouring down where we stand. And 
 I don't think that we ought to stay here much 
 longer, for they may hoist the great gate suddenly. 
 So let us go down to your blue stone." 
 
 They accordingly walked along over the rocks, 
 towards the blue stone. In the lower part of the 
 
AN ESCAPE. 123 
 
 bed of the channel, the stones and rocks were 
 wet where they had been covered with water. 
 The higher ones were dry, showing that where 
 the water came through under the mill, they were 
 not covered by it. Comfort told Lucy to step 
 along on the dry rocks, for the wet ones were apt 
 to be slippery. 
 
 At length, they reached the great blue stone. 
 Comfort said that it. was a beautiful place to stop 
 and see the water. The middle part of the rock 
 was dry ; but it was wet all around the sides, and 
 there was a little water still standing on each side, 
 which they had to step over, in getting upon the 
 rock. There were several chips, and sticks, and 
 small pieces of board on the edges of the rock. 
 They had floated on when the water was high, 
 and had been left there. 
 
 Lucy amused herself a few minutes throwing 
 these pieces of wood off into the middle of the 
 current, and seeing them float away down the 
 stream. Comfort took up a long, crooked pole, 
 and pushed off some which were lying in places 
 out of Lucy's reach. After a little while, when 
 Lucy had thrown off all that were upon the front 
 side of the stone, she turned and went to the 
 back side, to find some more. Comfort happened 
 to be standing, at that moment, on the front side 
 
124 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 of the stone, reaching out, and trying to push off a 
 small log which was partly floating, and partly 
 lodged upon a rock. Just as she succeeded in 
 pushing off the log, she heard Lucy exclaim, in a 
 tone of surprise, — 
 
 " Why ! why ! how wide the water is ! " 
 
 Comfort looked round, and dropped her pole 
 instantly, and said, — 
 
 " So it is ; the water is rising. The men have 
 hoisted the gate. We must get off this rock as 
 quick as we can." 
 
 Comfort and Lucy ran all around the rock, 
 trying to find a place to get off; but it was too 
 late. The water, on each side, was before so 
 wide that they could hardly jump over it, and the 
 surface of the rocks beyond, which formed the 
 bed of the stream, sloped off so gradually, that a 
 very little rise in the water made it considerably 
 wider. 
 
 " What shall we do ? " said Comfort ; " what 
 shall we do ? " As she said this, she kept going 
 round and round the rock, trying to find some 
 place where it would do to jump off; but she 
 could not. Lucy was very much frightened, and 
 began to cry. 
 
 " O, Lucy, don't cry," said Comfort. "You 
 needn't be afraid." 
 
AN ESCAPE. 125 
 
 " O dear me ! " said Lucy ; " we shall cer- 
 tainly be drowned." 
 
 " O, no " said Comfort ; " there's no danger of 
 being drowned. We can stay on this rock, safe, 
 till we contrive some way to get off." 
 
 "O, no," said Lucy ; "the water keeps rising 
 more and more, and it will cover us all up." 
 
 " No," said Comfort ; " don't you see that the 
 top of the rock is dry ; and that proves it is not 
 covered when the gate is up, and the water runs 
 through as fast as it will." 
 
 Comfort looked at the water. It was rising 
 very rapidly ; and they could see a torrent of it 
 come pouring down upon them from. under the 
 mill, which threatened to raise it much higher. 
 Still Comfort was not afraid. She was confident 
 that it would not come higher than to cover that 
 part of the rock which was wet before, and so 
 that they were safe upon the dry part. And the 
 result was as she had anticipated. The water 
 continued to rise, but it rose more and more slow- 
 ly ; and when it arrived at the old high water 
 mark, — that is, the line where the rock had been 
 wet before, — it continued standing at that level. 
 , " There," said Comfort, " it won't rise any 
 
 11* 
 
126 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Lucy looked very anxious and unhappy. She 
 did not see how they could get off. 
 
 " We shall have to stay here all the time," 
 said she, in a very sad and desponding tone. 
 
 " No," said Comfort; "there's one way we 
 can do, I'm sure. I can call out to the people in 
 the store, and they'll come and help us off." 
 
 " 1 don't see how they can help us off, if they 
 come," said Lucy. 
 
 " O, yes," replied Comfort ; " they can go and 
 shut the gate, if they can't do any other way." 
 
 " Then that will stop the mill," said Lucy ; 
 " and 1 don't believe they will be willing to stop 
 their mill." 
 
 " Yes they will," said Comfort. " I know 
 Mr. Jameson, that owns the mill. He'll stop it 
 for us, I know." 
 
 " Well, then," said Lucy, " why don't you call 
 them ? " 
 
 " Why, I want to look around, and think a 
 little, first," said Comfort. " If we call them, 
 they'll come and help us, I know ; but then Mr. 
 Jameson will laugh at me well, and I don't want 
 to be laughed at." 
 
 " I had rather be laughed at than be drowned," 
 said Lucy. 
 
AN ESCAPE. 127 
 
 " Yes," said Comfort ; " but we'll see. I want 
 to look around and think a little. I've heard 
 them say that, if your life is in danger, and you 
 have only got two minutes to save it, you must 
 take one of them to think what to do." 
 
 " If we only had a slab," said Comfort, look- 
 ing around. " And there comes one now, I de- 
 clare." 
 
 Comfort pointed towards the dam. Lucy 
 looked, and behold a slab was just appearing 
 over the edge of the dam. It rubbed along, 
 stopped, then rubbed along again, moving very 
 slowly, as there was scarcely water enough to 
 bring it over. At length, when it had advanced 
 so far that the projecting end was heavier than 
 the other, it fell slowly over, and came down with 
 a thump upon the rocks below. Lucy and Com- 
 fort saw all this, for they were standing so low, 
 and the bridge was so high, that they could see 
 the top of the dam under it. As the slab fell 
 down, its face was presented directly towards 
 them ; and Lucy said, — 
 
 " It is our very old slab, I truly believe. I 
 saw it floating down in the mill-pond, a good 
 while ago." 
 
 " I believe it is the very same," said Comfort. 
 
12S LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " Now, if I can only reach it with this pole when 
 it comes by us." 
 
 Comfort took up the pole again, and they both 
 watched the slab, as it came swiftly on towards 
 the bridge. It struck one of the piers of the 
 bridge, and then the upper end began slowly to 
 move round, just as it had done against the stone 
 where Comfort and Lucy first pushed it off. 
 
 " Yes," said Comfort, " it is coming round this 
 way." 
 
 The slab moved slowly, until it got into the 
 current again, and then it was swept along more 
 swiftly than ever. It came on towards the side 
 of the stream where Comfort and Lucy were 
 standing on the rock ; but Comfort was afraid that 
 it was not coming quite near enough. She 
 reached the pole out as far as she could, so as to 
 have it all ready, saying, — 
 
 " Now, Lucy, don't speak a word." 
 
 She just succeeded in resting the end of the 
 pole upon the forward end of the slab. 
 
 " There," said Lucy ; " now pull." 
 
 But Comfort knew better than to pull. It 
 would only have pulled her pole off, and let the 
 slab go down the stream irrecoverably. She 
 therefore only drew in the pole very gently, but 
 
( 
 
AN ESCAPE. 131 
 
 following, at the same time, the natural motion of 
 the slab down the stream. By this means, she 
 succeeded in bringing the slab round into a little 
 sort of bay of still water, below the great blue 
 rock. 
 
 " There/' said Comfort ; " now we'll make a 
 bridge." 
 
 Lucy was exceedingly rejoiced to see the slab 
 safe under their control. She was very ready to 
 help Comfort place it. They found some diffi- 
 culty, however, in doing this, though they suc- 
 ceeded at last. They drew the slab up into the 
 channel on one side of the great stone, where 
 there was a narrow place, and then they pushed 
 the farther end of it up a little way upon the 
 opposite shore. Then they lifted the end which 
 was towards them, and put it upon the rock ; 
 and thus they had a bridge. 
 
 " Now," said Comfort, " we must go over 
 carefully, for it is slippery. However, there is no 
 danger ; for if we get in, it is not very deep, and 
 we shall only get pretty well wet." 
 
 But they did not get in. Comfort walked 
 over first very carefully, leading Lucy by the 
 hand, who came behind her. Lucy jumped and 
 capered about upon the bank, when she found 
 
132 LUC¥ AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 that she was free ; and they both went up the 
 bank as fast as they could go. 
 
 " We got some good by trying to help George 
 off, didn't we ?" said Lucy, when they were get- 
 ting into the wagon. 
 
 "Yes," said Comfort. 
 
 "It's very lucky, I think," said Lucy, " that 
 we went to get the slab for George." 
 
 " No," said Comfort ; " it was unlucky, accord- 
 ing to the old rule." 
 
 " What is the old rule ?" asked Lucy. 
 
 " Why, that it is unlucky to take pay for doing 
 a kindness." 
 
 As they drove down to come upon the bridge, 
 Lucy observed a young man coming along over 
 the bridge, from the other side. Comfort stopped 
 talking, and did not say any thing more until they 
 had passed him. He smiled when he met them, 
 and bowed to Comfort. Comfort nodded to him 
 in return. 
 
 " Who was that, Comfort ?" said Lucy, when 
 they got by. 
 
 " That is Mr. Jameson," said Comfort. " I 
 would not have had him know we got caught 
 down there on the rocks for half a dollar." 
 
133 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 EFFECT. 
 
 That evening Lucy and her mother set out 
 to go with Robert to his clearing, to build a fire 
 for the purpose of seeing how it would look in 
 the dark. When they were up there in the fore- 
 noon, Lucy had asked her mother to go up some 
 evening, as Robert said he had another heap which 
 he could burn. Lucy wanted very much to see 
 a fire in the night, and, in fact, her mother did, 
 too. They asked the General about it at supper- 
 time, and he said that there was no danger then 
 in making fires ; and so, a little after sundown, 
 Lucy and her mother set forth, Robert and Eben 
 coming along close behind them. Lucy carried 
 the lantern, and Robert his axe. 
 
 Lucy had given her mother an account of her 
 adventure with Comfort on the great stone ; and 
 so strong had been the impression which the affair 
 had made upon her mind, that she had several 
 times alluded to it afterwards. And now, as they 
 were walking along, her mother silently admiring 
 12 
 
134 LUCY among the mountains. 
 
 the beauty of the evening, Lucy's thoughts were 
 away down by the mill, - her imagination being 
 busy, reproducing images of the great wheel, the 
 channel below the mill, the wet stones, the slab, 
 and the current of water. 
 
 At last she said, — 
 
 " Mother, what makes it unlucky to thank 
 people for doing a kindness ? " 
 
 " I didn't know that it was," replied her mother. 
 
 " Yes, mother," said Lucy ; " Comfort says 
 it is." 
 
 " It seems to me," replied her mother, " that 
 Comfort is a great authority with you these days." 
 
 " I don't know what you mean," said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, I think you quote Comfort pretty often." 
 
 " Quote her ? " repeated Lucy. " I don't know 
 what you mean: I never heard of quoting any 
 body." 
 
 "What was it she said about its being un- 
 lucky?" 
 
 " Why, she said it was unlucky to take any 
 pay for doing a kindness." 
 
 " People have a great many sayings," replied 
 her mother, "about what is lucky and unlucky; 
 but I haven't much faith in such notions myself." 
 
 " I don't see what they say so for, if it is not 
 true," said Lucy. 
 
EFFECT. 135 
 
 " Perhaps they think it is true. Some people 
 think Friday is an unlucky day, and so they never 
 will begin any new undertaking on Friday, if they 
 can help it." 
 
 " Do you think that it is an unlucky day, 
 mother?" said Lucy. 
 
 " No, I don't think it is more unlucky than 
 any other day in the week. It is not a very good 
 day to begin any new undertaking, such as a 
 journey, because it comes so near the end of the 
 week." 
 
 " Is that the reason why they call it unlucky," 
 said Lucy, " do you suppose ? " 
 
 " Perhaps it originated in that. Such notions 
 have generally something or other for a foun- 
 dation. Though I have heard it said that the 
 reason why Friday has such a bad reputation, 
 is because it was the day of the crucifixion of 
 Christ." 
 
 " Did they crucify him Friday ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied her mother. 
 
 " How do they know ? " asked Lucy. " It 
 does not say so in the Bible. At least, I never 
 read any thing about Friday in the Bible." 
 
 " No," replied her mother ; " the account does 
 not mention that particular day ; but it says that 
 he was crucified the day before the Sabbath, and 
 
136 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 that he rose from the dead the dav after the Sab- 
 bath." 
 
 "Then that would be Saturday," said Lucy. 
 "The day before the Sabbath is Saturday." 
 
 " Yes, the day before our Sabbath is Saturday,' 
 replied her mother; " but the Sabbath in the days 
 of Christ was on Saturday itself; so that the day 
 before was Friday. Jesus was crucified on Fri- 
 day, and he remained in the tomb over Saturday, 
 which was their Sabbath, and rose from the dead 
 on Sunday morning. So they changed the Sab- 
 bath from Saturday to Sunday, in order to have 
 it on the same day that he rose." 
 
 •'' Then that's the reason why they call Friday 
 an unlucky day?" asked Lucy. 
 
 " No," replied her mother; " I did not say that 
 that was certainly the reason ; only 1 have heard 
 it said that that might be the reason. There was 
 a time, a great many years ago, when people paid 
 a great deal more attention to particular days than 
 they do now, and celebrated a great many ; and, 
 perhaps, in those times, they considered Friday, 
 being the day in which such a sad event hap- 
 pened, an unfortunate or unlucky day." 
 
 " Well, mother," said Lucy, after a short pause, 
 " but I don't see, after all, why Comfort said it 
 was unlucky to take pay for doing a kindness." 
 
EFFECT. 137 
 
 " Perhaps it would tend to make a person act 
 afterwards from mercenary motives," said her 
 mother. 
 
 " What does that mean ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, suppose," said her mother, " that every 
 time you performed any act of kindness for me 
 or your father, I should pay you for it. Then, 
 after a while, when you did any such thing for 
 us, perhaps it would be for the sake of the pay." 
 
 " O, no, I shouldn't," said Lucy. 
 
 "Well, suppose, then, that Eben is the person. 
 Suppose that you had a great many sugar-plums, 
 and every time he helped you, or did you any 
 kindness, you should give him some of them. 
 Don't you suppose that in a short time, instead 
 of helping you out of feelings of kindness to you, 
 he would do it for the sake of getting the sugar- 
 plums ? " 
 
 " Why, yes," said Lucy. 
 
 " His motive, that is, the thoughts that would 
 lead him to do any thing for you, would be, not 
 honest kindness of heart, but a hope of pay." 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy. 
 
 " Now, when any person is led by hope of pay 
 to do what he ought to do for other motives, they 
 say he is mercenary." 
 
 " What does mercenary mean ? " said Lucy. 
 1>2* 
 
138 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " Why, that's what it means," said her mother. 
 " I've just explained it to you. It is seeking for 
 pay where we ought not to. Once there was a 
 lady who was sick, and a boy named Jerry, who 
 lived pretty near, came to the door, and asked how 
 she did, and wanted to know if he could do any 
 thing for her. Now, I suppose you would think 
 that that was a very kind, generous boy." 
 
 " Yes, mother, I should think so," said Lucy. 
 
 " He would have been so if his motive had 
 been as good as it appeared to be. But the fact 
 was, his motive was mercenary. He had heard 
 another boy say, that his mother sent him to ask 
 if he could do any thing for the lady, one day 
 when she was sick, and that she thanked him, and 
 gave him a cake. So Jerry thought that, if he 
 went, perhaps he should get a cake too." 
 
 " O," said Lucy, " what a boy ! " 
 
 " The spirit which he was acting under was 
 not a benevolent, but a mercenary one." 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy, " I thought he really wanted 
 to know what he could do for the sick lady." 
 
 " That was the appearance," replied her mother, 
 " but it was a false appearance. In fact, appear- 
 ances, in such cases, are often deceptive. Some- 
 times, for instance, children go and wish people 
 a merry Christmas, or a happy new year, when 
 
EFFECT. 139 
 
 their motive is, not any real kind feeling, but a 
 hope of getting a present." 
 
 Lucy did not say any thing in reply to this. 
 She was silent a moment. She was thinking 
 whether she had not been influenced by mer- 
 cenary motives, sometimes, in wishing people a 
 happy new year. 
 
 " Now, it is very evident," continued her moth- 
 er, " that when a person takes pay for doing any 
 little act of kindness, that it may tend to make 
 them expect pay in future cases. Now, you hap- 
 pened, in this, case, to do George a favor. The 
 consequence was, that, after a time, the benefit of 
 what you did came back to yourselves. This is 
 very apt to be the case with acts of kindness ; 
 and perhaps it is right to tell children so, and 
 let it influence them in some degree ; but still, the 
 real reason, after all, which ought to influence us 
 in doing kindness to others, is simply the good it 
 will do them, and not the hope of having good 
 come out of it, somehow or other, or some time or 
 other, to us." 
 
 "Well, mother," said Lucy, "I'm sure that, 
 when we were getting the slab, to help George off, 
 we didn't think of ever getting helped off by it 
 ourselves." 
 
 " No, I presume not," said her mother. " But 
 
140 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 is it not time for us to get to Robert's clearing? 
 Robert, how much farther is it ? " said she, turn- 
 ing round to speak to Robert. 
 
 Robert said it was not much farther; and Lucy, 
 who turned round, too, to hear his answer, observed 
 that the light of the lantern flashed upon the trees 
 on each side of the road very beautifully. 
 
 " How bright the light shines," said Lucy, 
 " now it is evening ! " 
 
 " Yes," said her mother, " and if the fire is as 
 bright in proportion, we shall have a splendid 
 illumination." 
 
 " O, there's our old fire," said Lucy. 
 
 She pointed to the spot where they had made 
 their fire in the morning. It had burned nearly 
 out. There was, however, one little flame coming 
 up from it. The party all gathered around it 
 to see. 
 
 " It's the old stump," said Robert. 
 
 In fact, Robert had thrown upon the fire, when 
 he went away in the morning, a large, old stump, 
 half decayed, and this had been slowly burning 
 all the afternoon. It was now nearly burnt out ; 
 but a piece of the root was blazing up a little. 
 Robert went up to it, and took hold of the part 
 which was not on fire, and then walked off with 
 the burning brand in his hand. He led the way 
 
EFFECT. 141 
 
 to the other part of his clearing, where he had 
 another heap, and put the brand in under it. He 
 then took the lantern, and went into the woods 
 near by, to find some dry wood to help set the 
 fire to burning. He came back soon, and, in a 
 few minutes, the whole party, standing in a ring 
 around, were illuminated by a bright blaze. A 
 broad column of smoke csnd sparks ascended 
 into the dark sky, and the bright flashes of light 
 gleamed upon the trees around in a very splendid 
 manner. 
 
 " Isn't it a good bright fire? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said her mother ; " I want to walk 
 about a little, to see the effect on the trees from 
 different positions." 
 
 "The effect, mother?" repeated Lucy. 
 
 " Yes ; come with me, and I'll show, you what 
 I mean by effect." 
 
 So Lucy took hold of her mother's hand, and 
 they walked along back to the road. They went 
 up to the top of a little green bank very near the 
 road, and then turned around to look at the fire. 
 It was partly hid by a little group of small trees 
 which intervened ; that is, which came between. 
 The fire seemed to be in the middle of these trees. 
 The leaves and branches were brightly illuminated, 
 and in the midst of them they could see the flame 
 
14.2 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 itself glittering through the little openings in the 
 foliage. There was a great column of sparks, too, 
 ascending above the trees and smoke, illuminated 
 by the fire below. The sparks were produced by 
 Robert and Eben, who remained at the fire, 
 punching it with long poles. 
 
 " You see what a beautiful appearance the fire 
 has here," said Lucy's mother. " Now, we will 
 go to some other place, where it will present a dif- 
 ferent picture, or, as people commonly express it, 
 where it will have a different effect." 
 
 So they descended the bank again into the 
 road, and walked along in it a little way into a 
 very bright place, where the light from the fire 
 shone broadly across the road. When they had 
 got into the middle of this bright place, they 
 stopped, and turned towards the fire. Every thing 
 in the appearance of it was changed. The great 
 glowing flame was full before them. There was 
 a sort of circle of trees, around the border of 
 Robert's clearing, which shone magnificently ; 
 and some rocks across the brook, half under the 
 trees, seemed to be edged with fire. They could 
 see Robert, and Eben too. Robert was behind 
 the fire, with his face towards them. One arm 
 was extended to push his pole into the fire, and 
 the other was held up over his face to shade it 
 
EFFECT. 143 
 
 from the beat. He looked up to Lucy, and smiled ; 
 and Lucy was surprised to observe bow distinctly 
 she could see the expression of his countenance 
 and the movement of his eyes, so bright was the 
 illumination. Eben stood on one side banging 
 the fire with repeated strokes of his long pole, to 
 make the sparks fly. 
 
 * What's that great thing over beyond the 
 brook, mother ? " said Lucy. 
 
 Lucy pointed to something at some distance 
 across the brook, and beyond some large, scattered 
 trees. 
 
 " I don't know," said her mother ; " it looks 
 like a great heap of logs and stumps. Let us go 
 and ask Robert." 
 
 Robert told them that it was his father's great 
 heap of logs and stumps, that he had got out of 
 a swamp. 
 
 " Let's go and set it on fire," said Lucy. 
 
 " Will it do to set it on fire ? " asked her 
 mother, speaking to Robert. 
 
 " It won't burn," said Robert; " it has not been 
 piled up long enough." 
 
 " O, we can make it burn," said Lucy. 
 
 "Well," said Robert, "we can try." 
 
 " Are you sure your father will be willing to 
 have you set it on fire ? " said Lucy's mother 
 
144 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " O, yes, ma'am," said Robert, " I know he 
 will ; he wants it burned." 
 
 Robert pulled out a large brand from the (ire, 
 and gave it to Eben to carry. 
 
 " Give me one, too," said Lucy. 
 
 " And me," said her mother. 
 
 Robert got brands for them all, and they 
 marched along in a fiery procession towards the 
 great heap. They put the brands all together in a 
 hole under the heap, and then went back for 
 more. In this way they soon got quite a little 
 fire burning under the great heap; but still Rob- 
 ert said that he did not believe the heap itself 
 would burn. He said that the logs and stumps 
 were very wet when they were taken out of the 
 swamp, and that they had not had time to dry. 
 The children, however, worked upon it some time, 
 and then left it, and went to the other fire ; and 
 after a while they returned to the great heap 
 again. But they found, as Robert had predicted, 
 it did not appear to burn very well. There was 
 a great smoke coming up out of the middle of it, 
 but they could not decide whether it was going 
 to burn, or whether it was going out. They 
 pushed under some more dry wood, and then 
 waited some time longer. But, at length, Lucy's 
 mother said that it was time to go home, and they 
 
EFFECT. 145 
 
 must give up the great heap, and try it some other 
 time. 
 
 Lucy was unwilling to leave it, and w r anted to 
 go and get some more dry wood ; but it was hard 
 work to get it, for the heap was in the middle ot 
 the swampy part of the ground, from where the 
 materials had been taken, and so they had to 
 bring the dry wood from some little distance, out 
 of the woods on the higher land around them. 
 The ground on which the heap stood was not, 
 however, wet and swampy then. It was dry and 
 hard ; for Robert's father had dug a drain leading 
 right through the middle of it down to the brook. 
 
 They were, accordingly, obliged to leave the 
 great heap, though they resolved to come up m 
 the daytime, when they could get dry wood; 
 and then, as Robert said, they would keep crowd- 
 ing dry logs under till they made it burn. 
 
 \ 
 
146 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE GAP AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 The next morning, when Lucy got up, the first 
 thing she did, was to go to the window and look 
 out. Her mother was sitting at the table, writing 
 a letter. 
 
 " O dear me ! " said Lucy ; " now if the clouds 
 haven't all gone away ! " 
 
 " The clouds ? " repeated her mother ; " what 
 clouds ? " 
 
 " Why, last evening*" replied Lucy, in a de- 
 sponding tone, " there were some clouds, and a 
 circle round the moon, and Robert said that it 
 was going to rain. And now they have all gone 
 away, and it is going to be pleasant." 
 
 " Well," said her mother, " and don't you 
 want it to be pleasant ? " 
 
 " No," said Lucy ; " I want it to rain." 
 
 " Why, Lucy," said her mother, with surprise, 
 " what do you want it to rain for ? " 
 
 " Why, to make a freshet on the brook, to bring 
 
THE GAP AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 147 
 
 down the logs. And besides, I want my garden 
 to be watered." 
 
 " Your garden ! " repeated her mother. " I 
 did not know you had any garden." 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy ; " Ellen gave me one, and 
 my flowers are all dying, because it does not rain 
 on them." 
 
 It was true that Lucy had a little garden. It 
 was a small place in Ellen's garden, where Ellen 
 had planted six hills of corn. She had broken 
 off all the ears of corn which had grown there, to 
 roast, and so the stalks which were left were not 
 good for any thing. Ellen, accordingly, pulled 
 them up, and gave them to the cow : and she told 
 Lucy that she might have the place for her gar- 
 den. So Lucy had hoed it over, and raked it, 
 and put flowers in it, which she and Eben gath- 
 ered from a field. She had been out the after- 
 noon before, to see her garden, and the flowers 
 were wilted. The reason was, that they had 
 no root ; but Lucy thought that it was becauso 
 they had not been watered by rain. 
 
 As the sun rose, it became more and more evi- 
 dent that she was to be disappointed in her 
 wishes for rain. Never was there a finer prospect 
 for a beautiful day. So pleasant was the morning, 
 
148 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 m fact, that, at breakfast, the General proposed 
 that Lucy's mother should go and take a ride, 
 and see the country around them. 
 
 " You and Lucy might take the wagon and 
 Hero," said he, " and have a good ride before 
 dinner." 
 
 " Yes," said Comfort ; " they might go up 
 through the Gap, and so round by Emery's Pond." 
 
 " O, I wouldn't go there," said the General's 
 wife. " It's all rocks and mountains on that road. 
 I think she had better go down to the corner, and 
 out on the Greenville road. There are beautiful 
 farms that way." 
 
 " Well, mother," said Lucy, "let's go." 
 
 " I don't know as I should be able to manage 
 Hero," said her mother. " I'm not much ac- 
 customed to driving." 
 
 " No difficulty about that," said the General. 
 " Hero is a good traveller, but you can manage 
 him as easily as you could a dog, with reins or 
 without reins. Or you may take Robert; he'll 
 drive .you," continued the General, after a mo- 
 ment's pause. " Robert, couldn't you rig up a 
 seat for yourself in the forward part of the 
 wagon ? " 
 
 Robert said he could, without any difficulty; 
 
THE GAP AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 149 
 
 and finally, after some further discussion, the plan 
 was agreed upon. Robert harnessed Hero, and he 
 put a box in the wagon, in front, for himself to 
 sit upon. They concluded to go arouftd through 
 the Gap ; for both Lucy and her mother wanted 
 to see the rocks and the mountains, rather than 
 smooth farms. Just as they were going to set off 
 from the door, the General's wife brought out a 
 tin pail with a cover upon it, and put it into the 
 wagon. 
 
 " What is that ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Something for you to eat," said she, " so that,- 
 if you like your ride, you can stop and have a 
 little luncheon some whe r e, and so not come back 
 until the middle of the afternoon." 
 
 When they drove out of the yard, Robert 
 turned the horse in the direction which led to the 
 fording-place, where Lucy and her father and 
 mother had crossed the stream. 
 
 " Why, this is the way we came ! " said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said her mother. " You won't have 
 to cross the ford, shall you ? " said she to Robert. 
 
 " No, ma'am," said Robert ; "we are going to 
 turn off pretty soon." 
 
 Accordingly, after they had gone on until they 
 had passed by the smooth fields of the General's 
 farm, they came to a road which turned off to- 
 13* 
 
150 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 wards the mountains. As they were turning into 
 this road, Lucy saw a beautiful blue flower, grow- 
 ing under some rocks. 
 
 " O mother ! " said she, " see what a beautiful 
 blue flower 1 " 
 
 " Yes," said her mother ; " I should like to get 
 it. We will stop and get it when we come back. 
 It would wilt and fade away before we get home, 
 if we take it now." 
 
 "But we shall not come back this way," said 
 Robert, at the same time stopping Hero. " So I 
 had better get it now." 
 
 Robert jumped out, and brought the flower, and 
 handed it to Lucy. Then he climbed up into 
 his seat again, and drove on. 
 
 " Which way shall we come home ? " asked ' 
 Lucy. 
 
 " Why, we are going round by Emery's Pond, 
 and we shall come out by the Valley district, and 
 so home by the road that leads by my clearing." 
 
 " Where is the Gap that your father spoke of? " 
 asked Lucy's mother. 
 
 " O, it's on here a few miles among the moun- 
 tains," replied Robert. " This road leads through 
 the Gap. Father says it would not be possible to 
 make a road here if it were not for this Gap." 
 
 The country grew more and more wild, as they 
 advanced. The road was very winding, and it 
 ascended and descended by turns. They were, 
 however, on the whole, gradually rising, as they 
 found by observation, every now and then, that they 
 had a more and more extended view of the great 
 
THE GAP AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 151 
 
 valley behind them, at the top of each succeeding 
 ascent to which they attained. It was only occa- 
 sionally that they had such views, for generally 
 they were entirely shut in by hills, forests, and 
 precipices. Before them they saw nothing but 
 vast piles of mountains, rising higher and higher, 
 and covered with trees nearly to the summits. 
 Lucy did not see how they could possibly get 
 through them or over them. In fact the Gap, 
 through which they were to pass, was not to be 
 seen by the traveller until he had entered it. 
 
 Once, as they were coming down a little hill, 
 where the road took a sudden- turn, they heard 
 the voice of a man echoing amon£ the forests 
 before them. 
 
 " What's that ? " said Lucy. In fact, Lucy 
 was a little afraid ; and it must be confessed 
 that the aspect of the whole scene was rather 
 wild and gloomy. 
 
 " That's somebody driving a team," said 
 Robert. 
 
 11 How shall we get by ? " said Lucy's mother. 
 " It seems to me the road is very narrow." 
 
 " O, we can find a place to get by," said Robert. 
 
 Just then, the turn of the road, as they came 
 down the hill, brought a bridge into view, — a 
 small bridge, but very high, leading across a brook. 
 They had passed several similar bridges before, 
 only this was higher than the others, and looked 
 more uneven. There were large logs laid along 
 the edge, on each side of it, for a balustrade 
 
152 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 "Why, there's a hole in the bridge," said 
 Lucy's mother. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said Robert ; " there are two or 
 three. But it's no matter. Hero will look out 
 for the holes.". 
 
 Hero took them over the bridge very carefully, 
 stepping with much deliberation over each hole, 
 or else, where there was room, going entirely on 
 one side of it. Just as they had crossed the 
 bridge, they saw the two heads of a yoke of oxen 
 and a man driving them, coming into view, from 
 a turn in the road, at the top of a little ascent 
 beyond. A large pair of cart wheels followed 
 the oxen. Under the axletree of the wheels was 
 one end of a great log, held up to the axletree by 
 chains. As the team came on, Lucy could see 
 that the other end of the log rested upon the 
 ground, and was dragged along by the oxen. 
 
 " Why," said Lucy, " what are they going to 
 do with that great log ? " 
 
 Her mother looked up to the team with a 
 countenance of great anxiety, for it seemed to be 
 coming directly down upon them. Her fears 
 were, however, in a moment relieved ; for the man 
 who was driving the oxen, turned them out to 
 one side of the road, so as to make room for the 
 wagon to go by. One of the great wheels went 
 away down by the side of the road, so that Lucy 
 exclaimed, — 
 
 " O dear me ! the log will get tipped over." 
 
 The teamster, however, did not seem at all 
 
THE GAP AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 153 
 
 concerned about his log, for he stood leaning 
 against his oxen, and looking at the persons in the 
 wagon, with an expression of great interest and 
 curiosity upon his countenance. He could not 
 think who it was that was coming. He at 
 length nodded slightly to Robert, just as he 
 was going by. He recollected that he had seen 
 him somewhere. 
 
 After they had passed, Lucy said to Robert, — 
 
 " What is he going to do with that great log? " 
 
 " Why, that's Mr. Emery," said Robert ; "he's 
 getting out some boards to cover his house." 
 
 There were two things very perplexing to Lucy 
 in this answer. One was, that she did not see 
 any thing like boards. She thought Mr. Emery 
 was getting out a monstrous great log, and not 
 boards. And the other was, she did not know 
 what Robert meant by covering his house. 
 
 " Where is Mr. Emery's house," said Lucy. 
 
 " O, it's up this way, pretty near his pond," 
 said Robert. " We shall come to it pretty soon." 
 
 " Then he's going the wrong way," said Lu- 
 cy. " He's lost his way." 
 
 " No," said Robert, laughing ; " he's hauling 
 that los: down to mill, to get it sawed up into 
 boards." 
 
 " O," said Lucy, " yes, that's the way he's 
 going to get his boards." 
 
 " Yes," said Robert, {; that's the way they 
 always get boards." 
 
 " That isn't the way my father gets boards/ 
 said Lucy 
 
154 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " How does he get them, then ? " asked Robert. 
 
 " Why, he buys them." 
 
 " I should think he had better get out the logs 
 himself," said Robert, "if he's got any growing 
 on his land." 
 
 " My father hasn't got any land," said Lucy, 
 " only just his garden." 
 
 " Only his garden ? " said Robert. 
 
 " No," said Lucy, — " and the yards ; nor 
 any oxen." 
 
 " Hasn't your father got any oxen, either ? " 
 asked Robert. 
 
 " No," said Lucy. 
 
 " Well," said Robert, " then I don't know 
 what he will do. My father says it's a great deal 
 cheaper to get out the boards yourself, than it is 
 to buy them ; but, then, you must have oxen." 
 
 By this time, they began to enter the Gap. 
 The mountains and precipices had been growing 
 more lofty, and seemed to draw nearer and nearer 
 to the road, until now they appeared to overhang 
 the valley all around. Sometimes they would 
 pass under a towering cliff of rocks, with trees 
 clinging to the sides, and growing out of the 
 crevices. 
 
 From one such precipice Lucy saw water 
 dripping down from a great height, and falling 
 upon some stones by the side of the road. 
 
 " O mother," said Lucy, " see the water com- 
 ing down." 
 
 " Yes," said Robert ; " that's where the great 
 icicle was last winter." 
 
THE GAP AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 155 
 
 " Was there a great icicle there ? " asked 
 Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied Robert, K a monster. 'Twas 
 as tall as the steeple of the meeting-house." 
 
 " O, what a big icicle ! " said Lucy. " I should 
 like to see it." 
 
 " If you come here next winter," said Robert, 
 " I expect you can see it." 
 
 Strictly speaking, it was not an icicle that 
 Robert had seen hanging down on the face of the 
 rocks, the last winter, though it looked like one. 
 It was caused by the freezing of the water, as it 
 dripped down from a vast height. It looked very 
 much like a monstrous icicle clinging to the rock. 
 
 Here they came suddenly upon another bridge. 
 Lucy was surprised to see so many bridges. 
 
 " How many brooks there are ! " said Lucy. 
 
 " O no," said Robert, " only one brook. All 
 the bridges that we have come to, are over one 
 brook. It is the outlet of Emery's Pond." 
 
 " What is an outlet ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " I don't know," said Robert, " exactly. 
 They always call it the outlet." 
 
 " What is an outlet, mother ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, ponds among the mountains," replied 
 her mother, " generally have little streams run- 
 ning into them, coming down from the little 
 valleys, and from springs. And this water must 
 run out again, so that there is generally a place 
 where the water runs out, and that is called the 
 outlet." 
 
156 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 "And is this brook the outlet to Emery's 
 pond ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," replied Robert ; " and all the bridges 
 which we have come across, are over this same 
 brook." 
 
 " What do they have so many for ? " asked 
 Lucy. 
 
 " Why, they must have a bridge every where, 
 where they want to cross," replied Robert. 
 " The banks are too steep and rocky to ford." 
 
 " But why need they cross so many times ? " 
 asked Lucy's mother. " Why not keep on one 
 side, or on the other, all the way ? " 
 
 " Because," said Robert, " they can't make 
 the road. They keep going back and forth across 
 the brook wherever it's easy to make a road. 
 Besides, it is not much work to make a bridge." 
 
 " How do they make it ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Why, they cut down a couple of large trees, 
 for stringers, — string-pieces, — or else three. I 
 believe they generally have about three." 
 
 " What do you mean by string-pieces 1 " 
 
 " Why, pieces to go across the stream from one 
 bank to the other, to put the planks om" 
 
 " Do they generally have three ? " asked Lu- 
 cy's mother. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," replied Robert, " I believe they 
 do. Then they split up some logs for plank, and 
 so cover it." 
 
 " That makes me think," said Lucy, " of what 
 you said about Mr. Emery's house. You said he 
 
THE GAP AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 157 
 
 was going to get some boards to cover it up. 
 What is he going to cover his house up with 
 boards for ? " 
 
 Robert laughed aloud at this question. 
 
 " You needn't laugh," said Lucy. " You said 
 that he was going to cover his house up." 
 
 " No," replied Robert. " I said cover his 
 house : not cover it tip." 
 
 « Well," said Lucy, " I don't think there's 
 much difference. Besides, I'm pretty sure you 
 said cover it up. Didn't he, mother ? " 
 
 " Let us hear what Robert says he meant," 
 replied her mother. 
 
 "Why, I meant, cover his house," replied 
 Robert ; " that is, nail boards on it, to keep out 
 the wind and rain." 
 
 " Hasn't he got any boards nailed on his 
 house ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said Robert, " he's got one room 
 covered in, and he lives in that. He's trying to 
 finish the rest this fall." 
 
 It was in vain that Lucy attempted to form a 
 distinct conception of the appearance which Mr. 
 Emery's house would make, with one room 
 covered in, as Robert called it, and the rest wait- 
 ing for boards yet to be sawed. She said no 
 more, however, but rode on, feeling great curiosity 
 to see the house, and asking Robert to show it 
 to her, as soon as they should come in sight of it. 
 14 
 
158 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PUMP-MAKING. 
 
 In about a quarter of an hour, they emerged 
 from the Gap, and came out into an open, circular 
 valley, surrounded by lofty mountains. They 
 here crossed the stream again by a log bridge, 
 and rode along afterwards upon ics bank ; the 
 stream being on their left hand, and woods upon 
 the right. 
 
 " Now," said Robert, " we shall soon come to 
 Emery's opening." 
 
 " What do you mean by his opening ? " said 
 Lucy. 
 
 " Why, his farm," answered Robert. 
 
 While Lucy was considering why they should 
 call a farm an opening, she obtained a glimpse of 
 a small sheet of water before them. It was a 
 little pond, shut in among the mountains. They 
 very soon reached it. Lucy saw where the brook 
 came out of the pond. They rode along a little 
 way, by the shore of the pond. On the other 
 side of the road, there was what Lucy called a 
 field of corn and stumps. A little farther on, 
 just in the edge of a group of forest-trees, which 
 remained standing, Lucy saw a small house. 
 
 " There's Mr. Emery's house," said Robert. 
 
 Lucy looked at the house with great attention, 
 
PUMP-MAKING. 159 
 
 as they gradually drew near to it. It was small 
 One end, the nearest end, as they rode towards 
 it, was covered with boards, which looked new. 
 The other end was, as Lucy said, all timbers. 
 
 " Yes," said Robert ; " he hasn't covered bui 
 one room yet. That's what he wants to gel 
 some boards for now, to put on the rest of it." 
 
 Lucy saw several small buildings around the 
 house. They were made of logs and slabs. 
 There was a large haycock behind the house, 
 with a roof over it, supported at the corners by 
 tall poles. In front of the house, there was a 
 man at work upon a great log. The log was 
 lying in a horizontal position, each end being 
 blocked up from the ground ; that is, each end 
 was supported by blocks and logs put underneath. 
 
 "What are they doing with that great log?" 
 said Lucy's mother. 
 
 " I guess they're going to make boards, of it," 
 said Lucy. 
 
 " No," said Robert ; " they're boring it. I 
 expect they are going to make a pump." 
 
 " I did not know that they could make a pump 
 out of a log," said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said Robert ; " don't you see he's bor- 
 ing a hole through it ? " 
 
 ' Lucy now observed that the man who was 
 working at the log, stood at the end of it, and that 
 he had a tool in his hand, that looked like an 
 auger. He held the handle of it, and kept con- 
 tinually turning it round. The iron part entered 
 into a hole in the end of the log, and Lucy saw 
 
160 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 that he was boring a hole into it. She thought, 
 however, that he certainly could not bore in but a 
 very little way. 
 
 There was a little boy sitting upon the other 
 end of the log. Lucy could not imagine what he 
 was doin£. She thought that he was too small a 
 boy to help make a pump ; and yet he seemed 
 to be doing something very busily. As the 
 wagon drew nearer, Lucy observed that he was 
 playing horse. He had mounted upon the farther 
 end of the log, and had tied a string round the 
 end for a bridle, and was playing that the log 
 was his horse. He had a stick in his hand, 
 and was whipping his horse severely, to make 
 him go. 
 
 When the wagon had advanced nearly opposite 
 to the house, Lucy said, — 
 
 " Mother, let us stop a moment, and see the 
 man make his pump." 
 
 " Well," replied her mother, " Robert may 
 stop a moment, if he pleases." 
 
 So Robert stopped his horse opposite to the 
 end of the log, where the man was at work boring 
 the hole. 
 
 " You've got almost through, John, haven't 
 you ? " said he. 
 
 " Yes," said the young man, " I've only got to 
 go about a foot farther." 
 
 Lucy looked at John, surprised that Robert 
 should address him so familiarly ; but she observed 
 that, though he was nearly full grown, and looked 
 like a man, yet he appeared in his countenance 
 
PUMP-MAKTNG. 161 
 
 quite young. She thought it probable that he 
 was one of Mr. Emery's boys, almost grown up. 
 Just at this moment, a woman, very plainly 
 dressed, came out of a back door in the house, 
 with a water-pail in her hand, and walked along a 
 path which led down a descent beyond the house. 
 She looked at the wagon a moment as she went 
 along, but did not stop. Lucy followed the 
 direction of the path with her eye, and she saw 
 that it led down to a little brook not far from the 
 house. There was a log across the brook where 
 the path reached it, and a deep place in the 
 water, just above the log. Lucy saw very plainly 
 that the woman w r as going to get a pail of water. 
 
 Lucy meant to watch her, to see her dip up 
 her water. In fact, she was afraid that she would 
 fall off the log. She was, however, prevented 
 from watching her, by having her attention 
 attracted suddenly to John and his boring ; for, 
 just before the woman reached the brook, John 
 began to draw out his auger. . 
 
 He walked backwards, keeping hold of the 
 handle of the auger with both hands, and drawing 
 it out as he receded. It was a long iron rod, 
 which kept coming out more and more, the far- 
 ther he went back, till Lucy began to think that 
 the end of it would never come. 
 
 " O, what a long borer ! " said Lucy. 
 
 In fact, the borer was as long as the log. It 
 
 would do no good to have a log for a pump 
 
 /onger than the auger to be used in boring it ; for 
 
 in that case the hole could not be bored through. 
 
 14* 
 
162 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 Accordingly, Mr. Emery had cut off his log a 
 little shorter than his auger, in order that it might 
 go through. After John had got the auger out, 
 he did something to the end of it, and then put 
 it in again. 
 
 "When are you going to set your pump?" 
 said Robert. 
 
 "Father is going to bring up the "boxes to- 
 night," said John, " and then we shall set it as 
 soon as we can get it ready." 
 
 " Have you got your well dug ? " 
 
 " Yes," said John ; " there it is." 
 
 So saying, John pointed to a place by the side 
 of the house, where there was a heap of Iresh 
 earth, with a hollow place in the middle, and 
 some short boards laid close together in the hol- 
 low place. 
 
 " We are going to build our barn out beyond 
 there, and so the pump will be handy for the 
 house and the barn too. It is very hard water- 
 ing the cattle m the brook in the winter, it 
 freezes up so much." 
 
 " And, besides," said Lucy's mother, " it is a 
 great way to bring up water to use in the family." 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said John. 
 
 Lucy looked down towards the brook, and saw 
 that the woman was coming back, with her pail 
 rilled with water. Lucy had just time to see her ; 
 for Robert drove on, and the woman was soon hid 
 behind one of the little buildings. Lucy was, how- 
 ever, very glad to see that she had not fallen in. 
 
 " I don't see how he is going to make a pump 
 of that great log," said Lucy. 
 
PUMP-MAKING. 163 
 
 "Why, when he gets it bored," said Robert, 
 " he will finish off one end of it like a pump, and 
 then they'll let the other end down into their well, 
 and board up close all around it, so that people 
 shall not fall in. Then he'll make a handle." 
 
 " I should think it would make rather a rough 
 pump, after all," said Lucy's mother. 
 
 " No, ma'am," said Robert ; " he'll make a very 
 good pump of it. He's a very good workman." 
 
 "I don't see what makes the water come up in 
 a pump," said Lucy. 
 
 " The boxes," replied Robert. 
 
 " What are the boxes ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Why, they're — they're — little things in the 
 pump. Didn't you ever see boxes ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Lucy, " a great many times." 
 Lucy meant common boxes, not pump-boxes. 
 
 " Well," said Robert, " you know the little 
 clapper." 
 
 " No," said Lucy ; " I don't remember any 
 clappers." 
 
 " Why, yes," said Robert, " a little clapper 
 made of leather." 
 
 "No," said Lucy ; " there is not any clapper 
 in any of the boxes I ever saw." 
 
 " Then you never saw any pump-boxes," said 
 Robert. 
 
 " Why," said Lucy, " are they different from 
 any other kind of boxes ? " 
 
 " Yes," exclaimed Robert, emphatically, " al 
 together different. There is a little leather clap- 
 per, that lets the water up, and then keeps it from 
 going down again." 
 
1^4 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 But Lucy could not understand how any thing 
 could be contrived to let the water come up, and 
 then keep it from going down. Robert told her 
 about the upper box and the lower box ; but he 
 did not succeed in making it plain to her. In 
 fact, it requires considerable skill in the art of 
 describing and explaining, to communicate any 
 clear idea of the internal construction and working 
 of a pump. Lucy could not get any idea of it 
 whatever. She asked her mother to explain it to 
 her ; but her mother said that she did not under- 
 stand it very well herself. So Lucy said she did 
 not know what she should do. 
 
 The road led them, for a time, along the shores 
 of the pond, and generally not much above the 
 water. And, as they passed along, they could 
 see the water on one side of them, and sometimes 
 they had forests, and sometimes steep rocks, on 
 the other. At length, they came to a place where 
 Lucy proposed that they should stop and eat 
 their luncheon. It was a place where a brook 
 flowed into the pond. The road crossed the 
 brook by a bridge, just above its juncture with 
 the pond ; so that, when they were on the bridge, 
 they could see the pond below them, between 
 the steep banks of the ravine, through which the 
 brook flowed. One of the banks was an almost 
 perpendicular cliff of rock. The other was not 
 quite so abrupt, and it was covered with trees 
 They could see that down upon the shore of the 
 pond, there was a smooth, sandy beach, extending 
 along the shore on each side of the mouth of the 
 brook. Lucy proposed that they should stop here. 
 
FUMP-MAKING. 1 65 
 
 " Well,' 7 said her mother, "I think it will be a 
 very good plan." 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said Robert ; " there is plenty 
 of good grass about here, too, for Hero." 
 
 Lucy had not noticed the grass ; but now she 
 observed that, on each side of the road, and near 
 the banks of the brook, above the bridge, there 
 was plenty of grass. So they all got out. 
 
 Robert* began to unharness the horse, after 
 driving him a little way out of the road. Lucy 
 stood on the end of the bridge, looking at him. 
 Her mother began to descend the rocks, below 
 the bridge, in order to get down to the bed of the 
 brook, intending to follow it along to the pond. 
 Lucy wanted to go with her mother, and she a!so 
 wanted to see Robert take care of the horse. 
 
 " Mother, wait for me," said Lucy. 
 
 " I'll go along slowly," said her mother. 
 
 "But, mother," said Lucy, "I can't get along, 
 unless you help me." 
 
 " Yes," said her mother, " I think you can. 
 At any rate, if I find any place where I think 
 you can't get along, I will wait for you." 
 
 Robert went on unharnessing his horse. He 
 put the several parts of the harness in the wagon 
 as he took them off, and at last nothing remained 
 but the bridle. 
 
 " Robert," said Lucy, " are you going to fasten 
 him to a tree? " 
 
 " No," said Robert ; " he couldn't eat the 
 grass, if I should." 
 
 " What are you going to do, then ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " I am going to let him go where he likes " 
 
166 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " O Robert," said Lucy, " then he'll run 
 away." 
 
 " No," said Robert. 
 
 Robert then unfastened the throat-lash, and 
 took hold of the bridle, at the top of the horse's 
 head, and drew it over his ears, and off before ; 
 and then the bits dropped easily out of his mouth, 
 and the horse, understanding that he was liberated, 
 drew his head away. He walked off a few steps, 
 and then lay down to roll, while Lucy stood 
 laughing heartily at the awkward figure he made, 
 with all his four heels, as she called them, in the air. 
 
 " J believe he'll run away," said Lucy. 
 
 " No," said Robert ; " he won't run away." 
 
 " And, besides, I don't believe you can catch 
 him, and put his bridle on again." 
 
 " Yes," said Robert ; " I've got some salt in 
 my pocket, on purpose." 
 
 Lucy had heard of catching birds by sprinkling 
 salt on their tails, and she stood bewildered and 
 perplexed, trying to imagine how this method was 
 to be applied to Hero, when she heard her moth- 
 er calling her. So she turned away from Robert, 
 and began to descend the bank, towards her 
 mother, calling out, — 
 
 " Yes, mother ; I'm coming." 
 
 Robert carried the bridle to the wagon, and put 
 it in ; and then he pushed the wagon entirely 
 out of the road, so that, if a team were to come 
 by, it would not run against it. After doing that, 
 he followed Lucy and her mother down the bank 
 of the stream. 
 
167 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE RETURN. 
 
 They found a very pleasant place, indeed, for 
 their luncheon, under some shelving rocks, at the 
 angle between the ravine of the brook and the 
 shore of the pond. They could see the whole 
 surface of the pond, and the woods and mountains 
 beyond. There was only one house in sight, and 
 that was Mr. Emery's. The unfinished end was 
 turned towards them. Lucy took out a mug 
 from the tin pail, and went to the brook to c3i p up 
 some water, to see if it was cool. Her mother 
 told her, before she went, that she had no doubt it 
 was cool. Lucy found it as her mother had said. 
 It was very cool indeed. She dipped up her 
 mug full from a little, deep place among some 
 stones covered with green moss. It looked very 
 cool, and it proved to be so on tasting it. 
 
 Lucy brought a mug of it to her mother. 
 
 " Mother/' said Lucy, li how did you know it 
 was cool ? " 
 
 " Because," said her mother, " brooks become 
 warm when they flow for a long distance across 
 an open country exposed to the rays of the sun. 
 But this brook comes directly down from the 
 mountains, flowing through the woods all the way ; 
 so that I think the water could not have had 
 time to get warm." 
 
168 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 " Where does it come from, at first ? " said 
 Lucy. 
 
 " It comes from a spring," said her mother, " I 
 suppose. Some springs break out of the ground 
 from under a rock." 
 
 " What makes the spring ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Why, the water in the mountains above," re- 
 plied her mother, " presses down in among the 
 rocks, and wherever ihere is a crevice in the rock 
 near the surface of the ground, the water comes 
 out." 
 
 " But what makes there be water in the moun- 
 tains above? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " It comes from rains." 
 
 " Then I should think that, when it had done 
 raining, it would pretty soon stop coming out in 
 the spring." 
 
 " No," said her mother ; " it takes a great while 
 to drain off. The earth, and the moss, and the 
 roots, and the stones, hold the water like a great 
 sponge. It slowly soaks down, and gets into the 
 crevices and fissures, and so runs out in a steady 
 stream, wherever a fissure or any opening of the 
 rock comes out to the surface. Still, if it has not 
 rained for a very long while, the springs begin to 
 grow low, and some of them stop running 
 entirely." 
 
 They staid at this place more than an hour. 
 After they had eaten their luncheon, they rambled 
 about among the rocks, and along the shore, 
 gathering flowers. Lucy amused herself in pick- 
 ing up pebbles and throwing them into the water. 
 
THE RETURN. 169 
 
 Robert pointed to a patch of green leaves which 
 Were floating upon the water at some distance 
 from the shore, and said that that was a field of 
 lily pads. 
 
 " Lily pads," repeated Lucy ; " what are lily 
 pads ? " 
 
 " Why, that is where the pond lilies grow," 
 said Robert. " We come out here sometimes, 
 and get them." 
 
 " I never saw any pond lilies," said Lucy. 
 " Are they pretty ? " 
 
 " O, yes," said Robert, " beautiful. They are 
 white, and just like a star; and when they are 
 open, they are as big as the palm of my hand." 
 
 " I wish I could get one," said Lucy. 
 
 " I would go and get you one," said Robert, 
 " if it was the right season. But it is too late ; 
 they are all gone now." 
 
 " How could you get them," asked Lucy's 
 mother, " if there were any now ? " 
 
 " O, we've got a raft," said Robert, " along the 
 shore here a little way. The boys made a raft, 
 and we come and go out on that." 
 
 " Boys 1 " said Lucy's mother with surprise. 
 " I shouldn't think that there would ever be any 
 boys here." 
 
 " O, yes," said Robert, " there are a great 
 many boys live about here." 
 
 " Why, where? " said Lucy's mother. " Ex- 
 cepting Mr. Emery's house, 1 have not seen any 
 signs of inhabitants at all. It is all desolation." 
 
 There were, however, a great number of farms 
 IS 
 
170 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 lying on the various by-roads around, and Lucy's 
 mother did not know from how wide a circle boys 
 would gather to get lilies from a pond. 
 
 Lucy asked her mother to let her walk along 
 the shore with Robert, and see his raft. 
 
 " How far is it, Robert ? " asked her mother. 
 
 " Only a few stops," replied Robert. " But, 
 then," continued he, " if you would rather not 
 have her go away, I can bring it along here." 
 
 " How ? " said her mother. 
 
 " O, I can push it right along," said Robert. 
 
 " Well," replied Lucy's mother, " that will be 
 the best plan." 
 
 So Robert went off after his raft, around a 
 point of land, which made out a little way into 
 the pond, while Lucy continued rambling about 
 upon the sandy beach, near her mother. 
 
 A few minutes afterwards, as Lucy was stoop- 
 ing down to pick up a singular piece of wood, 
 which had been curiously worn and bleached by 
 the water, she heard her mother calling to her, — 
 
 " Why, Lucy ! look at Robert." 
 
 Lucy looked up, and saw Robert just coming 
 into view, with his raft, around the point of land. 
 
 " Why, he's sailing on the raft," said her moth- 
 er. " I did not know he meant to come in that 
 way. I thought he was going to push it along 
 by the shore." 
 
 Robert said that he was going to push it, it is 
 true ; but he meant, push it by means of a pole, 
 with himself upon it. Lucy and her mother 
 were both a little atraid that he might get in ; but, 
 
THE RETURN. 173 
 
 as he seemed entirely at his ease, and uncon- 
 cerned, they gradually dismissed their fears, and 
 watched his progress as he slowly approached 
 them. Lucy was very much interested in the 
 examination of the raft, as it drew near. It' was 
 made of logs which the boys had cut from the 
 woods, with smaller pieces laid across and pinned 
 on, to keep it all together. On the whole, they 
 concluded that it was a very strong and substan- 
 tial raft. Robert sailed about upon it for some 
 time. 
 
 Lucy wanted him to go out to the lily pads, to 
 see if there might not be, possibly, one left ; but 
 her mother was afraid to have him go out where 
 \t was so deep. Besides, Robert said that he 
 was sure that not a single lily could be found, for 
 it was altogether beyond the season of them. 
 
 While Robert was sailing about upon his raft 
 in the shallow water, Lucy had a long conversa- 
 tion with her mother about springs, brooks, and 
 ponds. Her mother told her that ponds were 
 occasioned by there being a natural hollow place 
 among the mountains, surrounded by high land 
 on all sides, so that the water which ran into it 
 from brooks and springs, could not run out until 
 it rose high enough to run over at the lowest 
 place in the surrounding land ; and that that was 
 the outlet. She also explained to her how it 
 happened that some brooks ran very swiftly, 
 tumbling over rocks, and others flowed deep and 
 smooth, and almost still. At length they con- 
 cluded that it was time to go home. So she took 
 15* 
 
174 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 % 
 
 the pail, and Lucy and her mother went back 
 up the ravine to the road, while Robert sailed 
 back on his raft behind the point of land ; for he 
 said that he must put the raft away where it 
 belonged. 
 
 Robert did not come back to the mouth of the 
 brook again, but he climbed up the bank into the 
 road, at the place where he fastened the raft. 
 Lucy and her mother sat down upon the end of 
 one of the great logs, on the side of the bridge, 
 and waited for Robert to catch the horse, and 
 harness him. The horse was grazing by the side 
 of the road, at a little distance from the bridge; 
 but not on the side where Robert was coming. 
 Robert therefore had to go across the bridge, to 
 catch him. As he was passing by Lucy and 
 her mother, he put his hand into his pocket, and 
 took out something folded up in a piece of brown 
 paper. 
 
 " Is that the salt ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said Robert. 
 
 So Robert opened the paper, and began to call 
 out to the horse, — 
 
 " Hero ! Hero ! Hero ! Hero ! " 
 
 Hero paid no attention to the call, but went 
 on quietly cropping the grass. 
 
 " Hero ! Hero ! Hero ! Hero ! " said Robert, 
 walking alon£ towards him. 
 
 Hero lifted up his head, turned it deliberately 
 towards Robert, looked at him a moment, and 
 then put it down again. He took two more 
 
THE RETURN. 175 
 
 # 
 
 moulhfuls of grass, and then turned around, 
 beginning to walk. towards Robert. 
 
 Robert stopped on the end of the bridge, and 
 waited for him, holding out the paper in his hand. 
 When Hero got near, Robert stooped down, and 
 poured out the salt upon the plank floor of the 
 bridge. To Lucy's surprise, the horse came to 
 the place, and began to lick up the salt with his 
 great tongue. While he was doing it, Robert put 
 the bridle on. Then he stood still, and let the 
 horse finish eating the salt, and then led him 
 away. 
 
 " I shouldn't like to eat so much salt," said 
 Lucy. 
 
 Robert harnessed the horse into the wagon, and 
 then they got in, and drove away. They rode 
 an hour or two by a way which went winding 
 around among forests and mountains, sometimes 
 opening before them, so that they could see wide 
 prospects, and sometimes shut in by rocks, and 
 towering trees, which overhung the road^ and 
 made it sombre and solitary. 
 
 After a time, they began to ascend a pretty 
 sleep and winding road, shut in by the forests and 
 mountains. Sometimes they had by their side, as 
 they travelled slowly along, a noisy brook, some- 
 times a morass, covered with cedars and firs ; and 
 sometimes an impenetrable thicket growing out of 
 steep slopes of land covered with moss, and rocks, 
 and trunks of fallen trees. All this time they 
 weie constantly ascending. Still, althougn they 
 were gradually gaining a high elevation, they had 
 
176 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 no prospect ; for tbeir view was shut in by the 
 forests and mountains all around them. At length, 
 they came to a piece of road which was level. 
 The horse began to trot. It was the first time 
 that he had trotted for nearly half an hour. 
 
 '*' Here is some level road/' said Lucy. " I'm 
 glad of it, for now we can go faster." 
 
 " Yes," said Robert ; " we've got to the height 
 of land." 
 
 " What is that ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Why, the highest place. Pretty soon, we 
 shall be going down again." 
 
 They came to the end of the level road pretty 
 soon, and then began to descend a little ; and 
 presently, at a turn of the road, they came out to 
 a place where they suddenly had a very extensive 
 and magnificent prospect opened before them. 
 
 " O mother," said Lucy, " how far we can see ! " 
 
 " Yes," said her mother. " Stop a minute, 
 Robert, and let us look at this prospect. 
 
 " Why, Robert," said she again, in a moment, 
 " there is your father's house ! " 
 
 She pointed to a house away before them, very 
 far down the valley. 
 
 " Yes," said Robert ; " we can always see it 
 from here, very plainly. And I can see this rock 
 from our yard." 
 
 Robert pointed to a great rocky precipice by 
 the side of the road, and he said that they once 
 came and built a fire upon it, and his mother 
 could see the smoke at their door, very plainly. 
 Lucy was very much surprised to see how low 
 
THE RETURN- 177 
 
 down in the valley the house appeared. They 
 could see the stream beyond it, and Robert 
 pointed out to them the fording-place, where they 
 had crossed on their way, when they first came to 
 the General's. The General's house seemed 
 now to be nearly down upon a level with the 
 water. This was an illusion, occasioned by their 
 high position. They could see the mill-pond, 
 too, and the bridge ; and Lucy showed her mother 
 the green store where she and Comfort went a- 
 shopping. She tried also to see the great sto#e, 
 where they got caught by the water from the mill ; 
 but it was not to be seen. Lucy thought it was 
 hidden by the mill. 
 
 They gazed around upon the prospect for 
 some time, and then Robert began to move on 
 towards home. In fact, it was getting near the 
 evening ; and they saw some clouds in the west, 
 whicK made them think it was possible that there 
 might be a shower cominsr. 
 
 The road was now generally descending ; so 
 Robert made Hero go pretty fast. The clouds 
 behind them, however, increased. At last, one, 
 blacker and larger than the rest, appeared to be 
 coming up, and Lucy's mother said that she 
 believed that there was £om£ to be a shower. 
 But she was mistaken. It rose higher and higher, 
 and for a time appeared threatening; but, after 
 all, it brought nothing with it but a gust of wind. 
 After this had passed, the sky was somewhat 
 clearer, though the sun had set, and the twilight 
 was fast coming on. Lucy suddenly discovered 
 
178 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 n very bright star in the middle of a large opes 
 place among the clouds ; and she exclaimed, — 
 
 " O mother, see that star ! " 
 
 " Yes," said her mother ; " that's Venus, I 
 really believe. Yes, it must be Venus." 
 
 " The evening star ? " said Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," said her mother ; " see how bright it is ; 
 and yet you cannot see any other star in the sky." 
 
 Lucy looked all around, but no other star was 
 to be seen. The sky was somewhat obscured by 
 clouds ; but in the spaces between the clouds 
 there were no stars to be seen. 
 
 " You see, Lucy," said her mother, " that it 
 would not have done any good for you to have 
 got up early to see the morning star ; for Venus 
 is the evening star now ; the sun is before her." 
 
 :( Yes, mother," said Lucy. 
 
 " And so, being before her," continued her 
 mother, " the sun goes down, and leaves Venus a 
 little way up in the sky. Of course, when he 
 rises in the morning, he leaves Venus a little 
 below the horizon, where she is out of sight." 
 
 " How fast Venus goes ! " said Lucy. 
 
 " No," said her mother ; " it is the motion of 
 the clouds which makes it look as if Venus was 
 going fast. But yet she is going down slowly. 
 If you notice how high she is now, and then 
 again when we get home, you will see that she 
 has gone down considerably." 
 
 Lucy said that she meant to watch Venus. 
 But she did not watch her very long, for her at 
 ;ention was attracted by a large light, some dis- 
 
THE RETURN. 179 
 
 tance before them. It was in the direction of the 
 General's house. Lucy and her mother both saw 
 it at the same time. Lucy thought it was a beau- 
 tiful light, but her mother was frightened. She 
 was afraid that it was the General's house on fire. 
 
 " No," said Robert ; " it is not our house. It 
 is this side of our house. It must be some fire in 
 the woods." 
 
 " But who should be building fires in the 
 woods this time of the day ? " asked her mother. 
 
 " I don't know," replied Robert ; " only I know 
 that there often are fires about." 
 
 As they went on, the light grew broader and 
 brighter. Presently they thought they saw the 
 flash of a flame, and then some sparks ascending. 
 
 " What can it be ? " said Robert. " It looks 
 as if it was near my clearing. There ! " he ex- 
 claimed again, after a moment's pause, " I know 
 what it is. It is that great heap which we tried 
 to set on fire." 
 
 " That heap ? " said Lucy 
 
 " Yes," said Robert ; " I've no doubt it's that 
 heap. The fire has been working under it all 
 day, heating it through, and now these gusts of 
 wind have set it a-going." 
 
 Robert was right. Lucy's mother could hardly 
 believe that fire could have remained inactive 
 under such a heap of combustibles, and finally 
 break out, after so long an interval. But it was 
 really so. The wood which they had put under 
 it, had set some of the lower parts of the heap on 
 fire, and they had burned away slowly ; while the 
 
180 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 hot air and gases, rising up through the heap, had 
 been gradually drying it ; and now the wind had 
 fanned the whole up into a flame. The light of 
 the fire grew brighter and brighter as they drew 
 nearer, although they could not get a distinct 
 view of it, on account of trees which intervened. 
 At length, however, when they reached the part 
 of the road which was opposite to it, the whole 
 burst at once upon their view, blazing, crackling, 
 and roaring, in a manner almost terrific. Lucy's 
 mother said it was quite a conflagration. The 
 whole heap was a burning mass from top to bot- 
 tom. The forms of all the crooked logs and 
 stumps were yet preserved, but they were all of 
 the brightest red ; and the flames curled and flashed 
 above in the most furious manner. If Hero had 
 not been an uncommonly docile horse, he would 
 have fled in terror. A vast column of smoke 
 and sparks ascended from the heap, far up into 
 the dark sky. 
 
 They looked at it a few minutes, and then 
 drove home. When they got out of the wagon, 
 and were going into the house, they stopped a 
 moment on the door-step, to look back at Venus 
 and the fire. Venus was just going down, and 
 the bright glow of the fire was very distinctly 
 visible behind a hill. 
 
 THE END,