.

at the river, but no house could I make out. There was a black barge, or some other kind of a boat, not far off, high and dry on the ground, with an iron funnel sticking out of it for a chimney and smoking very curiously. But nothing else in the way of a habitation was visible to me.

"That's not it?" said I. "That ship-looking thing?"

"That's it, Master Davy," returned Ham.

If it had been Aladdin's palace, I suppose I could not have been more charmed with the romantic idea of living in it. There was a delightful door cut in the side, and it was roofed in, and there were little windows in it. But the wonderful charm of it was, that it was a real boat which had no doubt been upon the waters hundreds of times, and which had never been intended to be lived in, on dry land. If it had ever been meant to be lived in, I might have thought it small, or inconvenient, or lonely. But never having been designed for any such use, it became a perfect abode.

It was beautifully clean inside, and as tidy as possible. There was a table, and a Dutch clock, and a chest of drawers. On the chest of drawers there was a tea tray with a painting on it of a lady with a parasol, taking a walk with a child who was trundling a hoop. The tray was kept from tumbling

down by a Bible; and the tray, if it had tumbled down, would have smashed a quantity of cups and saucers that were grouped around the book. On the walls there were some colored pictures, framed and glazed, of Scripture subjects. There were some lockers and boxes and conveniences of that sort, which served for seats and eked out the chairs.

All this I saw in the first glance after I crossed the threshold, and then Peggotty opened a little door and showed me my bedroom. It was the completest and most desirable bedroom ever seen. It was in the stern of the vessel, -with a little window, where the rudder used to go through, a little lookingglass, just the right height for me, nailed against the wall, and framed with oyster shells; a little bed, which there was just room enough to get into, and a nosegay of seaweed in a blue mug on the table. The walls were whitewashed as white as milk, and the patchwork counterpane made my eyes ache with its brightness.

One thing I particularly noticed in this delightful house was the smell of fish. It was so searching that when I took out my pocket handkerchief, I found it smelt exactly as if it had wrapped up a lobster. On my imparting this discovery in confidence to Peggotty, she informed me that her brother dealt in lobsters, crabs, and crawfish. I afterward

found that a heap of these creatures was usually to be found in a little wooden outhouse where the pots and kettles were kept.

We were welcomed by a very civil woman in a white apron, whom I had seen courtesying at the door when I was on Ham's back, about a quarter of a mile off. Likewise by a most beautiful little girl, with a necklace of blue beads on, who ran away and hid herself. By and by a large man with a very good-natured face came home. As he called Peggotty "Lass" and gave her a hearty kiss on the cheek, I had no doubt that he was her brother. And so he turned out being presently introduced to me as Mr. Peggotty, the master of the house.

"Glad to see you, sir," said Mr. Peggotty. "You'll find us rough, sir, but you'll find us ready."

I thanked him, and replied that I was sure I should be happy in such a delightful place.

"How is your mother, sir?" said Mr. Peggotty. "Did you leave her pretty jolly?”

I

gave Mr. Peggotty to understand that she was as jolly as I could wish.

“Well, sir,” said Mr. Peggotty, "if you can make out here, for a fortnight, along with her," nodding at his sister, "and Ham and little Emily, we shall be proud of your company."

After tea when the door was shut and all was

made snug,

the nights being cold and misty now, - it seemed to me the most delicious retreat that the imagination of man could conceive. To hear the wind getting up out of the sea, to know that the fog was creeping over the desolate flat outside, and to look at the fire and think that there was no house near but this one, and this one a boat, was like enchantment. -CHARLES DICKENS.

From "David Copperfield."

MY INDIAN BOYHOOD

This

WHAT boy would not be an Indian for a while when he thinks of the freest life in the world? life was mine. Every day there was a real hunt. There was a real game. Occasionally there was a medicine dance away off in the woods where no one could disturb us, in which the boys impersonated their elders. They painted and imitated their fathers and grandfathers to the minutest detail, and accurately, too, because they had seen the real thing all their lives.

We were not only good mimics, but we were close students of nature. We studied the habits of animals just as you study your books. We watched the men of our people and represented them in our play.

No people have a better use of their five senses than the children of the wilderness. We could smell as well as hear and see. We could feel and taste as well as we could see and hear. Nowhere has the memory been more fully developed than in the wild life, and I can still see wherein I owe much to my early training.

Of course I myself do not remember when I first saw the day, but my brothers have often recalled the event with much mirth. For it was a custom of the Sioux Indians that when a boy was born, his brothers must plunge into the water, or roll in the snow naked if it was winter time. The idea was that a warrior had come to camp, and the other children must display some act of hardihood. I was the youngest of five children, and I was regarded as little more than a plaything by the rest of the children.

My beautiful mother lay on her deathbed. She held me tightly to her bosom while she whispered to my grandmother: "I give you this boy for your own." The woman to whom these words were spoken was remarkably active for her age, and was possessed of as much goodness as intelligence.

The babe was done up as usual in a movable cradle. In this upright cradle I lived, played, and slept the greater part of the time during the first