heavily on the nearest bench. And neither teacher nor scholars

could discover whether he was agreeably surprised or disappointed

in the letter,--whether he had expected, if he ever encountered

it, to find it writhing in coils on the floor of a cage, or

whether it simply bore no resemblance to the ideal already

established in his mind.

Mrs. Wiley had once tried to make something of Mercy, the oldest

daughter of the family, but at the end of six weeks she announced

that a girl who couldn't tell whether the clock was going

"forrards or backwards," and who rubbed a pocket handkerchief as

long as she did a sheet, would be no help in her household.

The Crambrys had daily walked the five or six miles from their

home to the Edgewood bridge during the progress of the drive, not

only for the social and intellectual advantages to be gained from

the company present, but for the more solid compensation of a

good meal. They all adored Rose, partly because she gave them

food, and partly because she was sparkling and pretty and wore

pink dresses that caught their dull eyes.

The afternoon proved a lively one. In the first place, one of

the younger men slipped into the water between two logs, part of

a lot chained together waiting to be let out of the boom. The

weight of the mass higher up and the force of the current wedged

him in rather tightly, and when he had been "pried" out he

declared that he felt like an apple after it had been squeezed in

the cider-mill, so he drove home, and Rufus Waterman took his

place.

Two hours' hard work followed this incident, and at the end of

that time the "bung" that reached from the shore to Waterman's

Ledge (the rock where Pretty Quick met his fate) was broken up,

and the logs that composed it were started down river. There

remained now only the great side-jam at Gray Rock. This had been

allowed to grow, gathering logs as they drifted past, thus making

higher water and a stronger current on the other side of the

rock, and allowing an easier passage for the logs at that point.

All was excitement now, for, this particular piece of work

accomplished, the boom above the falls would be "turned out," and

the river would once more be clear and clean at the Edgewood

bridge.

Small boys, perching on the rocks with their heels hanging, hands

and mouths full of red Astrakhan apples, cheered their favorites

to the echo, while the drivers shouted to one another and watched

the signs and signals of the boss, who could communicate with

them only in that way, so great was the roar of the water.

The jam refused to yield to ordinary measures. It was a

difficult problem, for the rocky river-bed held many a snare and

pitfall. There was a certain ledge under the water, so artfully

placed that every log striking under its projecting edges would

wedge itself firmly there, attracting others by its evil example.