much scared by the hooting of an owl. The great occasions for the boy, though, are the times of the "sugaring off." Sometimes this used to be done in the evening and it was made the excuse for a frolic in the camp. The neighbors were invited, and sometimes even the pretty girls from the village, who filled all the woods with their sweet voices and merry laughter and little affectations of fright.

At these sugar parties, every one was expected to eat as much sugar as possible; and those who are practiced in it can eat a great deal. It is a peculiarity about eating warm maple sugar, that, though you eat so much of it one day as to be sick and loathe the thought of it, you will want it the next day more than ever.

At the "sugaring off" they used to pour the hot sugar upon the snow, where it congealed into a sort of wax, without crystallizing; which, I do suppose, is the most delicious substance that was ever invented; but it takes a great while to eat it. If one should close his teeth firmly on a ball of it, he would be unable to open his mouth until it was dissolved. The sensation, while it is melting, is very pleasant, but one cannot talk.

The boy used to make a big lump of this sugar wax and give it to the dog, who seized it with great avidity and closed his jaws on it, as dogs will do on anything. It was funny, the next moment, to see the expression of surprise on the dog's face, when he found he could not open his jaws. He shook his head; he sat down in despair; he ran round in a circle; he dashed into the woods and back again. He did everything except climb a tree and howl. It would have been such a relief to him if he could have howled, but that was the one thing he could not do.

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (1789-1851) was the first American novelist to gain celebrity for his writings outside of our own country. His strongest stories are those of Indian life and of the sea. The "Leatherstocking Tales" rank among his best, although his Indian characters generally are endowed with too many noble traits for strict fidelity to the truth. "The Pioneers," from which the following extract is taken, is one of this series. The other Leatherstocking Tales are "The Last of the Mohicans," "The Prairie," "The Pathfinder,"

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER.

and "The Deerslayer." "The Spy," a Revolutionary story, was perhaps Cooper's most successful novel, although "The Pilot" and others of his sea-stories gained an almost equal popularity. Cooper's monument at Cooperstown, N. Y., is a tall shaft surmounted by a figure of Leatherstocking.

ELIZ

LIZABETH TEMPLE and Louisa had gained the summit of the mountain, where they left the highway, and pursued their course under the shade of the stately trees that crowned the eminence. The day was becoming warm and the girls plunged more deeply into the forest,

as they found its invigorating coolness agreeably contrasted to the excessive heat they had experienced in their ascent. The conversation, as if by mutual consent, was entirely changed to the little incidents and scenes of their walk; and every tall pine, and every shrub and flower, called forth some simple expression of admiration.

In this manner they proceeded along the margin of the precipice, catching occasional glimpses of the placid Otsego, or pausing to listen to the rattling of wheels and the sounds of hammers that rose from the valley to mingle the signs of men with the scenes of nature, when Elizabeth suddenly started, and exclaimed: "Listen! there are the cries of a child on this mountain. Can some little one be strayed from its parents? It may be a wanderer, starving on the hill." Urged by this consideration, the females pursued the low, mournful sounds that proceeded from the forest, with quick

and impatient steps. More than once the ardent Elizabeth was on the point of announcing that she saw the sufferer, when Louisa caught her by the arm, and, pointing behind them, cried, "Look at the dog!"

The advanced age of Brave had long before deprived him of his activity; and when his companions had stopped to view the scenery or to add to their bouquets, the mastiff would lay his huge frame on the ground, and await their movements with his eyes closed and a listlessness in his air that ill accorded with the character of a protector.

But when, aroused by this cry from Louisa, Miss Temple turned, she saw the dog with his eyes keenly set on some

distant object, his head bent near the ground, and his hair actually rising on his body, either through fright or anger. It was most probably the latter; for he was growling in a low key, and occasionally showing his teeth in a manner that would have terrified his mistress had she not so well known his good qualities.

"Brave!" she said, "be quiet, Brave! what do you see, fellow?" At the sounds of her voice, the rage of the mastiff, instead of being at all diminished, was very sensibly increased. He stalked in front of the ladies, and seated himself at the feet of his mistress, growling louder than before, and occasionally giving vent to his ire by a short, surly barking.

"What does he see?" said Elizabeth; "there must be some animal in sight." Hearing no answer from her companion, Miss Temple turned her head, and beheld Louisa, standing with her face whitened to the color of death, and her finger pointing upward. with a sort of flickering, convulsed motion.

The quick eye of Elizabeth glanced in the direction indicated by that of her friend, where she saw the fierce front and glaring eyes of a female panther, fixed on them in horrid malignity and threatening instant destruction. "Let us fly!" exclaimed Elizabeth, grasping the arm of Louisa, whose form yielded like melting snow.

There was not a single feeling in the temperament of Elizabeth Temple that could prompt her to leave a companion in such an extremity; and she fell on her knees by the side of the inanimate Louisa, tearing from the person of her friend, with an instinctive readiness, such parts of her dress as might obstruct her respiration, and encouraging their only safeguard, the dog, at the same time, by the sounds

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of her voice. "Courage, Brave!" she cried,- her own tones beginning to tremble, -" courage, courage, good Brave!" A quarter-grown cub, that had hitherto been unseen, now appeared dropping from the branches of a sapling, that grew under the shade of a beech which held its dam. This ignorant but vicious creature approached near the dog, imitating the actions and sounds of its parent, but exhibiting a strange mixture of the playful

ness of a kitten with the ferocity
of its race. Standing on its
hind legs, it would rend the
bark of a tree with its fore

paws, and play all the antics of a cat for a moment; and then, by lashing itself with its tail, growling, and scratching the earth, it would attempt the manifestations of anger that rendered its parent so terrific.

All this time Brave stood firm and undaunted, his short tail erect, his body drawn backward on its haunches, and his eyes following the movements of both dam and cub. At