Stories of Rainbow and Lucky, volume 5: Up the River, by Jacob Abbott (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1860)

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THE DIFFICULTY.

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STORIES

OF

RAINBOW AND LUCKY.

BY

JACOB ABBOTT.



NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1861.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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STORIES

OF

RAINBOW AND LUCKY.

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ORDER OF THE VOLUMES.

HANDIE.   |   THE THREE PINES.
RAINBOW'S JOURNEY.   |   SELLING LUCKY.
UP THE RIVER.

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STORIES

OF

RAINBOW AND LUCKY.

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UP THE RIVER.

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[table of contents]

CHAPTER  PAGE

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[list of engravings]

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[p. 11]

One day, two boys, named Thomas and Jerry, were engaged in harnessing a horse to a wagon in a stable-yard in the town where Rainbow lived. Thomas was about eighteen years old, and Jerry, who was considerably younger, seemed to be about fourteen. Jerry had just come to work at that place.

"I can finish harnessing this wagon," said Jerry, "if you have any thing to do in the barn, and then I'll take it round to the door."

"No," said Thomas, "I can't trust you."

"Can't trust me!" repeated Jerry; "why not?"

"Because I don't know you," replied Thomas. "You have only been here two days yet."

"And don't you trust any body unless you know them?" asked Jerry.

"No," said Thomas, "not if I can help it. I

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don't feel suspicious of them exactly, but I don't really trust them till I've seen them tried; that is, not if there is any thing important at stake."

"I'm sure there is nothing important at stake now," said Jerry. "It is nothing but the harnessing of a wagon."

"There is a great deal at stake," said Thomas. "This wagon belongs to a man stopping at this tavern. Now suppose I were to leave a greenhorn to harness it, and he should leave a buckle loose, and the man pays his bill, gets into the wagon, and drives away, and then, the first hill that he comes to, the wagon, for want of the buckle, comes down against the horse's heels, and the horse runs, and every thing comes to a smash, then where do you think I should be?"

"Where should you be?" asked Jerry.

"I should be adrift," said Thomas, "and sent packing in a very short time. The man would come back to the tavern and claim damages, and I should be sent off for not harnessing properly."

"It would not be your fault," said Jerry; "it would be mine."

"It is all the same thing," said Thomas. "You are put under my charge, and I'm responsible at present, for all that you do, so that

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you may depend upon it I shall keep a close eye upon you for some little time to come."

"I'm not a greenhorn," said Jerry, speaking in rather a sullen tone, as if somewhat displeased at having such a term as that applied to him.

"No," replied Thomas, "I did not call you a greenhorn. I was only supposing a case. I said, 'If I were to trust to a greenhorn.' I did not say that you were one. In fact, the boys from up the river are generally pretty wide awake, and that is the reason we hired you. Trigget has engaged a black boy to carry the mail up your way."

"A black boy!" repeated Jerry.

"He is not exactly black," said Thomas, "though he's very decidedly colored. His name is Rainbow."

"What did he get a colored boy for?" asked Jerry.

"Why not?" asked Thomas. "Do you think colored boys are all fools?"

"No," said Jerry, "but they are generally so saucy."

"Not all of them," said Thomas; "and as for Rainbow, he is a pretty good fellow. He's a smart fellow too. He'll put the mail through, let the going he what it will, if any body can.

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It's hard work in bad going, but easy work in good going. He'll have to go on horseback, except in the winter; then it's tolerably good sleighing."

"Yes," said Jerry, "it's excellent sleighing when there gets to be two or three feet of snow on the ground to cover up all the stones and stumps in the road."

"It's pretty good business, carrying the mail up the river," said Thomas. "I should like to have got the berth myself."

"Why did you not ask Trigget to give it to you?" asked Jerry.

"I had not any horse," said Thomas. "You see, Trigget could not spare one of his horses, and he wanted somebody to take the contract that could furnish a horse. Rainbow had a horse, and I hadn't, and that made just the difference."

"How did Rainbow get his horse?" asked Jerry.

"He bought him," said Thomas.

"Where did he get the money to pay for him?" asked Jerry.

"He did not pay for him," replied Thomas. "He bought him on credit."

"How did he find any body to trust him?" asked Jerry.

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"Oh, every body trusts him," replied Thomas. "They won't trust me as they do him, and I don't know why. You see, the fact is, Rainbow is a peculiar fellow. When he is acting for any body else, he always looks out for their interest first, and for his own next, and so every body likes to employ him."

While the boys had been holding this conversation, they had continued their work of harnessing the wagon, and now it was ready. Thomas directed Jerry to lead the horse round to the front door.

HARNESSING THE WAGON.

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"And hitch him to the post?" asked Jerry.

"No," replied Thomas, "don't hitch him to any post, but stand there and hold him till the man comes out. When the man has gone, come back into the stable, and I will give you something to do."

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When Jerry returned to the stable, he went in and passed along the range of stalls toward the farther end, where he saw Thomas at work. Lucky, Rainbow's horse, was in one of these stalls. When he heard somebody coming, he turned around and looked to see who it was, and when he saw that it was a white boy, he looked disappointed, and turned his head back again at once, and went on eating his hay.

Lucky usually paid very little attention to any one who came near his stall, when he found that he was not a colored person.

In about an hour after this Rainbow came. Lucky seemed to know his step, for he neighed quite loud when he heard him coming.

"Yes, Lucky," said Rainbow, "you've guessed right. It is Rainbow. But I am not certain that you would laugh quite so loud if you knew what hard work you and I have got to do this winter." So saying, Rainbow entered Lucky's stall, and after patting him on the head

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once or twice, and stroking down his face, he unfastened the halter, and led him out upon the barn floor.

There was a strong rope hanging down from a staple driven into a beam overhead, with a hook at the lower end of it. Rainbow fastened this hook into a ring of Lucky's halter, and then passed the end of the halter around Lucky's neck and buckled it, so as to make all snug.

"The time will come. Lucky," said Rainbow, "when I shall not have to fasten you when you are going to be curried, but at present I think it best not to run any risks with you. I think it very probable that you would like a little run of half a mile or so down the road, and me after you. I have no objection to your taking a run down the road, but when you go, I would a little rather go on your back than run behind you. You understand, I suppose?"

Lucky turned his head toward Rainbow as he said this, and looked at him with a very queer expression, as Rainbow thought, in his eyes. In fact, he winked; but whether there; but whether there was any meaning in his wink or not, may, perhaps, be somewhat doubtful, especially considering the fact that he winked with both eyes.

After Rainbow had curried Lucky, and rubbed him down, until his neck, his sides, his legs, and,

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in fact, every part of him, glistened like silk, he unhooked the rope from the halter, and then taking hold of his mane with his left hand, he mounted upon his back at a single bound.

"Where are you going with Lucky?" said Thomas, who just then came into the stable from a side door.

"I am going to water him," said Rainbow.

"There's plenty of water in a tub in the yard," said Thomas.

"Yes," replied Rainbow, "but I am going to give Lucky a little run. Besides, he never likes to drink out of a tub when there is a brook within a mile."

So saying, Rainbow rode out of the barn, and thence, passing through the yard, he came out into the road, and turned in the direction toward the brook. Lucky was very eager to set of upon the run, but Rainbow restrained him by his voice.

"Gently, Lucky," said Rainbow, "gently. Whoa! whoa--oa! Go slowly, Lucky. When you are coming back, after you have got your drink, you may go as fast as you please."

Lucky, in obedience to these instructions, moderated his speed, and trotted on in a quiet manner along the pleasant road, gently deseending. There was a farm-house and a mow-

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ing-field on one side of the road and an orchard on the other.

At length, after going on about a mile, Lucky came to a place where a brook ran across the road under a bridge. On the lower side of the bridge was a track leading down into the water. This track had been worn by wagons and horses going down. There was a very broad but shallow sheet of water here, extremely clear and transparent. The bottom was formed of a beautiful golden-colored sand. Rainbow drove Lucky down into the water, and then allowed him to stop and drink.

"Now, Lucky," said Rainbow, as Lucky, after drinking a little while, lifted up his head and stood still, apparently considering whether he wanted any more, "you're coming to the time when you will have to begin the serious business of life."

Lucky put his head down to the water, and began to drink a little more.

"Up to this time," continued Rainbow, "you have had little else to do but to trot about and play. Now comes the real work. All this fall and winter you have got to travel twenty-four miles up the river and back, twice a week, with me and a heavy mail-bag on your back through mud and rain, and cold and snow. We shall

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have to take it as it comes, Lucky. There'll be five dollars fine if we fail to get back in season; so we shall have to face it, blow high or blow low."

Here Lucky raised his head again, and, standing at his ease, began to look this way and that a little, over a pretty green meadow that extended for some distance on that side of the road. At the margin of the meadow, where the land began to rise toward a hill, and near a grove of trees that was growing there, a chestnut horse was feeding. Lucky wondered what horse it was.

"You seem to make light of it now, Lucky," continued Rainbow, "but you'll find it serious business before you get through the winter, you may depend. But then, after a hard and uncomfortable day's journey, you'll enjoy your good warm stable, and your hay and oats, all the better for what you will have gone through. I always find it so myself, and so will you."

Here Lucky gave a long and loud neigh. The chestnut horse looked up from his grass, and after gazing earnestly for a moment toward the road, he neighed in reply.

"Lucky," said Rainbow, "you ought not to be calling to that horse, instead of paying attention to what I am saying."

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Lucky thought that ho would like exceedingly if he were only at liberty to gallop across the meadow to the place where the chestnut horse was feeding. He turned his head round to look at Rainbow's knees, with a view of considering whether there was any possible chance of getting him off. He also looked at the fence, to see if there was any place where he could jump over, but before he arrived at any conclusion in respect to these points, Rainbow drew up the halter, turned his head, and conducted him out of the water, and up into the road.

"Now, Lucky," said Rainbow, "you may go back to the stable just as fnst as you please."

So saying, he leaned forward, dropped the halter upon the horse's neck, and uttered a loud cheer, which had the effect of setting Lucky off at the top of his speed. He went on as if he were running a race, and had a whole troop pf competitors behind him, up the long ascent, until he reached the tavern yard, and there Rainbow turned him in, in order to go back to his stable. Lucky showed no desire to go in. He would have liked to have galloped on through the village. But Rainbow patted him on the neck on the left-hand side, and, by the halter, drew his head a little to the right, and so indicated to him that he was to go back to the stable.

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As Rainbow was passing on through the stable door, Jerry, who was just then coming down from the barn chamber with a peck measure full of oats in his hands, told him that Trigget wanted to see him in the bar-room of the tavern.

"When?" asked Rainbow.

"Now," said Jerry. "He said he wished to see you as soon as you came back."

"Then I'll go in directly," said Rainbow, "just as soon as I have put Lucky into this stall."

Rainbow accordingly went into the house as soon as he bad put Lucky up. He found Trigget in what was called the bar-room, though there was really no bar in it. There was a little counter in the corner by the side of the fire, with a desk behind it, at which the tavern-keeper kept his accounts. There was a big book lying open upon the counter, full of names, and an inkstand by the side of it. When Rainbow came in, Trigget was standing at the desk, counting some money.

"Ah! Rainbow," said he, when Rainbow entered, "I am glad you have come. I am going to write out our contract, and I wish first to talk with you, and make it sure that we understand it right. Take a seat there by the fire."

It was quite a cool autumnal day, and there

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was a small fire burning in an open iron stove, which had been built into the fireplace. The fireplace was surmounted with a broad oval funnel which turned at right angles, and entered the chimney just above the mantel-piece.

MAKING THE CONTRACT.

Rainbow took his seat by the fire, and then Trigget resumed.

"In the first place, it is understood that you are to carry the mail up the river as far as No.5 twice a week--up Mondays and down Wednesdays; up Thursdays and down Saturdays, for eight dollars a week."

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"Yes, sir," said Rainbow.

"And that is to pay for both you and your horse."

"Yes, sir," said Rainbow.

"It covers every thing, in fact," continued Trigget. "You are to pay all expenses of any kind. I shall deliver you the mail here every Monday and Thursday morning; and you are to deliver it, and bring back the return mail, without any expense to the company, on any pretext or excuse whatever, other than the eight dollars a week."

"Yes," said Rainbow, "that is the way I understand it."

"The mail is due at No.5 at six o'clock," continued Trigget. "You can't travel more than three miles an hour with Lucky, and go twenty-four miles a day. It is about twenty-four miles to Squire Holden's, I suppose. A horse can go six miles an hour, if he has only ten or twelve miles a day to go, and keep it up without loss of flesh. But you can't depend keeping a horse in good condition, and drive him twenty-four miles a day, if he goes more than three miles an hour. Many horses will go four; but Lucky is young, and if you don't wish to run any risk of hurting him, you had better not drive him more than three--that

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is, you had better let him walk nearly all the way."

"I will," said Rainbow.

"Then it will take you eight hours to go," continued Trigget, "or nine, if you stop one hour by the way. So you must set off at nine o'clock in the morning, in order to get there in time; but you can, in fact, set off as much earlier as you please. You can have the mail-bag whenever you like, after midnight."

"I shall wish to set off pretty early," said Rainbow.

"If you fail at any time of getting in by six o'clock at No. 5," added Trigget, "it is of no great consequence, except in respect to your own character for efficiency in carrying through what you undertake; for there is no fine to pay for failures at that end of the line, because there is no connection to make there. But coming back it is different. There's a fine of five dollars every time you fail in getting here in season."

"What time must I be here?" asked Rainbow.

"At half past five o'clock," said Trigget. "I set off at six for Southerton, and I want the river mail to take with me. I never wait three seconds for it. In order to be sorted, and made

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ready for me, it must be here at half past five, and every time you fail of getting it here in season there will be five dollars to pay, and either you or the company will have to pay it."

"Which of us will it be?" asked Rainbow.

"That depends upon the bargain we make," said Trigget. "I have no doubt that you will do all that any body can do to get through, but you will fail sometimes. In bad traveling, you can start as early as you please after midnight; still, sometimes it will be impossible to get through. There's a risk about it. We take that risk into the account in making the contracts, and we are willing that you should take it or not, just as you please. If you take it, we allow you twenty dollars more as an equivalent."

"What do you mean by an equivalent?" asked Rainbow.

"Why, an equivalent for the risk," said Trigget. "Twenty dollars, you see, just makes four fines. If we give you twenty dollars in consideration of your taking the risk of the fines, then, in case you fail more than four times in the course of the year, you will lose. If you fail less than four times, you will gain. If you fail exactly four times, then you will just hold your own."

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Rainbow was silent. He seemed to be considering the subject.

"You can decide now, or you can take time to consider," said Trigget.

"I think I will decide now," said Rainbow, "and will take the risk for twenty dollars. I don't believe I shall miss more than four times."

"Very well," said Trigget; "then you take the risk, and I will write the contract accordingly."

So Trigget began to write, Rainbow remaining all the time quiet at the fire, thinking of the risk that he was about to assume. Presently Trigget said the paper was ready, and he read as follows:

"'It is hereby agreed between the stage company and Rainbow, that said Rainbow undertakes to carry the mail from this place up the river to the township No.5, twice a week for one year, beginning on the 1st of November. He is to receive the mail at any time he pleases after midnight on Monday and Thursday, and is to do his best diligence to deliver it at Squire Holden's, in No.5, at six o'clock on the same day. He is to receive the mail there at any time he pleases after midnight on Wednesday and Saturday, and is to deliver it at half past

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five at this place on the same days, under a penalty of five dollars, to be paid by him for every failure.

"'He is to receive for this service eight dollars per week, and an additional sum of twenty dollars in consideration of the risk of failures, and of fines to be paid in consequence.'"

After having drawn up this document, and having read it over to Rainbow, Trigget signed it himself in the name of the stage company, and then Rainbow affixed his signature to it.

"Who shall we have to keep it for us?" asked Trigget.

"Mr. James," said Rainbow.

"Very well," replied Trigget; "we'll send it to Mr. James. Or, if you please to take that trouble, you may make another copy, and then I will keep one and you shall keep the other."

Rainbow liked this last plan very much; so he took his place at the desk--Trigget, in the mean time, going out to the stable to see about the horses--and there made a careful copy of the document. Trigget came back about the time that he had finished it, and then both signed the second copy as they had done the first. Trigget then took one, and Rainbow the other. Rainbow carried his copy home to show to his mother, and also to deposit it in her care.

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Rainbow was so much interested in the work which he had undertaken, and so eager to guard against every possibility of failure, that at first he conceived the idea of setting out soon after midnight, in order to make it certain that he would arrive at No. 5 before the time when the mail was due there; but, on more mature reflection, he concluded that it would be foolish to go to any such extremes in his caution, and, besides, he thought it might possibly be injurious to Lucky to do his work at unseasonable hours. Finally, he concluded to allow two hours for accidents, in addition to the nine hours which Trigget had calculated for, and to set off at seven o'clock when it was good weather and good traveling, with a view of allowing more time when the roads were bad. In coming down, as there was then more at stake, inasmuch as at the lower end of the line there was a connection to make, and a fine to pay in ease of failure, he determined to allow two hours and a half for accidents, and so set out at six o'clock.

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Accordingly, at seven o'clock on the morning of November the 1st, Rainbow came out from the stable, leading Lucky all saddled and bridled, and ready for the journey. The post-office was in a small building adjoining the tavern. The mail was made up by the postmaster late in the evening of the day before, and left in the office in a place where Rainbow could get it, for the office was not opened regularly until eight o'clock. There was a communication between the tavern and the post-office, by means of which Rainbow could go in through a door opening from one end of the ball. The key of this door was kept hung up in a certain corner where Rainbow could always find it.

It was quite early in the morning when Rainbow came out with his horse, the sun being but just risen. Rainbow led Lucky round to the front side of the tavern, and fastened him to a post. Then he went in, took down the key from its corner, unlocked the post-office door, and entered the post-office. He found the mail-bag lying upon a table near a window, where the postmaster had promised to place it. He brought out the bag, locked the door, put the key in its place, and then placed the bag across the saddle upon Lucky's back.

"Now, Lucky," said he, "you've got the most

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valuable load on your back that you ever had to carry. You have got the United States mail."

Lucky turned his head and looked at the end of the bag, which was hanging down on that side. When Rainbow put the load upon his back he thought it was a bag of corn, but he observed now that the bag was of leather, and that it was fastened by a chain which passed through a row of staples, and was secured at the end by a padlock. He did not understand this sort of mechanism at all, and after gazing at it intently for a moment, he turned his head forward again, and then put his mouth down toward the ground, to see if he could reach a little tuft of grass that was growing at the foot of the post.

Presently Rainbow unfastened him from the post, and, having put his foot in the stirrup, was just going to mount him, when Trigget appeared at the door of the tavern.

"Well, Rainbow," said he," I see you're off."

"I'm all ready," said Rainbow, "and I shall be off very soon."

"You've got a bad day to begin your work," said Trigget.

"Ah!" said Rainbow, looking up at the sky at the same time. "Now I thought it was going to be a very pleasant day."

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"Yes," said Trigget, "and that's what I call a bad day. It is always best to take trouble the heavy end foremost. Then things will be all the time mending. You are beginning your contract with fair weather and good traveling, and you'll get an altogether false idea of what you have got to do."

"No," said Rainbow, "I'm very glad to have a good day to begin."

"I think it is very unlucky for you myself," said Trigget. "You see, there is just about the same proportion of bad days and of good days in every year; and now, to-night, instead of thinking, when you go to bed, that you have got through one of your bad days, you will have to think that you have used up one of your pleasant ones."

Rainbow laughed; but, without replying, he bade Trigget good-by, and set out on his journey.

After leaving the village, Rainbow turned off from the main road, and went on for several miles along the bank of the river. The stream was here broad and shallow, and flowed white and foaming over a rocky bed. The road followed the bank in a very pleasant manner, a green border of grass lying between it and the river on one side, and the margin of a forest on the other.

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Along this pleasant way Lucky proceeded at a gentle trot, with Rainbow and the mail-bag upon his back, and the morning sun shining cheerfully upon him. Rainbow felt very proud and happy as he sat musing upon his condition and prospects. At the end of his reflection, he clapped his hand upon his thigh, and said to himself,

"Once let me get Lucky paid for, so that I can feel that he is really mine, and I would not give sixpence to be a king."

After going on about five miles, Rainbow arrived at the first post-office, where he was to stop and deliver the mail.

The post-office was in a small building adjoining a sort of store. Rainbow drove Lucky up to a post, and, dismounting, fastened him. He then took the mail-bag off the saddle, and carried it into the office.

"This is Rainbow, I suppose?" said the post-master.

"Yes," said Rainbow, "that is what they commonly call me."

"I understood that some such young man as you was going to bring the mail. You've got along in good season. However, it is the old story of the new broom, I suppose."

So saying, the postmaster took the mail from

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THE FIRST POST-OFFICE.

Rainbow's hands, and went into the office with it. He opened the padlock by means of a key which he kept for the purpose at his office--every postmaster along the road being provided with a key that would fit the lock and having poured out the contents of the bag upon the floor, he proceeded to look over them, in order to take out all the letters and packages which were addressed to his office. While he was doing this, Rainbow remained outside, patting

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Lucky on the neck and sides, and encouraging him by telling him that he had come nearly a quarter part of the way. He also examined the girths, and the buckles of the bridle, to see that every thing was right, and looked under the saddle to see if the skin was swollen, or if there were any other signs of chafing in any part.

"Lucky," said he, at length, after finding that every thing was in a satisfactory condition, "we are getting along very well."

Presently the postmaster brought the mailbag to the door, and laid it down upon the step, calling out, at the same time,

"Here, boy, the mail is ready."

So Rainbow put the bag upon Lucky's back, and then mounted again and rode on.

The road still followed the bank of the river, though the character of the scenery now changed very much. Soon after passing the post-office Rainbow came to a mill, and above the mill there was a dam. This dam produced a large pond of smooth and still water, which extended a long distance up the stream. The banks along this pond were steep, and covered with wood; but Rainbow, as he rode along, could see the water by looking down in that direction between the trees.

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The road was rough, but it was hard; and though a carriage could not have gone over it without a great deal of jolting, it was very easy for Lucky to find smooth places for his feet, by turning a little this way and that in order to avoid the stumps and stones. Rainbow allowed him to choose his own way, and for this purpose he let the bridle lie loose upon his neck. As he rode along in this manner, his mind fell into a musing state, and pretty soon he began talking to himself as follows:

"I get home every Saturday night, and I leave home on Monday morning. That comes exactly right, for that gives me Sunday to stay at home with my mother."

Then, after whistling a short tune, he began again:

"But what shall I do at No. 5 all the time? I have two full days there. I get there Monday night and come away Wednesday morning; then I get there again Thursday night and leave on Saturday morning; so I have all of Tuesday and all of Friday there. I might do something Tuesdays and Fridays, and Lucky too, I think. Lucky, do you think you could do any work Tuesdays and Fridays, in No. 5, besides traveling with the mail other days?"

Lucky made no reply, but went on, apparent-

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ly taking no notice of what was said, and intent only on finding smooth places to walk in.

"I suppose you think you ought to have those days to rest," said Rainbow, "if you are traveling with me and the mail-bag all the other four days of the week. You would like a ramble about the pastures in No. 5 those two days, I have no doubt, and see what sort of places you can find. You'd hunt out all the brooks and springs, and find where the greenest grass grows. Then, besides, I expect you would be looking out for thickets where you could hide when you heard me coming to catch you, you rogue!"

Then, after pausing a moment longer, he added,

"It will never do, Lucky, for me to put you into any pasture at No. 5 at all, I am well convinced of that, for I don't believe their fences are very good up in these new countries; and if you should find some low place where you could jump over, or weak place where you could break through, and so should get away into the woods where I could not find you, then what do you think would become of my mall?

"No, Lucky, you must not expect to be turned out to pasture at all in No. 5--not if I can find any thing like a safe barn to put you in,

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and hay to give you to eat. Now I think it would be better for you, on every account, to work with me a few hours on our spare days, than to be shut up all the time in a dark and lonesome barn.

"But then," continued Rainbow, "what could we find to do? I don't see what there is that I could have to do myself, much less what there can be for you in such a place. If I had a shop and some tools, then I could do some carpenter-work--that is, provided I could find any carpenter-work to do. In the winter I could haul wood. That's the very thing! I'll make a sled for Lucky, and in the winter we'll haul wood, won't we, Lucky?"

While Rainbow had been musing in this manner he had come to the end of the mill-pond, and now the stream became rapid again, flowing over rocks and shoals along a broad and broken bed.

After going on thus for a time, Rainbow found that the road began gradually to diverge from the river, and at length, after proceeding several miles, he came to a place where a branch stream came in from the mountains which lay off to the right, and passing under a long straggling bridge made of logs, it ran on toward a ravine which lay below it in the direction to-

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ward the river. The place where the road crossed the stream was low and level, and the bed of the stream, as well as the ground for some distance on each side of it, was covered with loose rounded stones of all sizes, which now, inasmuch as the stream was very low, lay naked and bare, bleaching in the sun.

The track of the road led on in a meandering way over and among these stones, till it came to the bridge, which stood up high above the general level.

"Lucky," said Rainbow, as soon as his eye surveyed this desolate scene, "what do you think of all this?"

Lucky made no reply, but walked quietly on along the track, picking his way among the loose boulders, toward the bridge.

"Yes," continued Rainbow, "you can go along very easily now, but what are you going to do when the water is up?

"I see, by the looks of this place, that all these rocks are under water when there is a freshet, Lucky," continued Rainbow, "and I see by the bridge how high the water rises. They never build up these bridges any higher than to carry them just out of the reach of the high freshets; so you can always tell, when you look at one of them, how high the highest water comes."

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By this time Lucky had passed across the low and stony track which the road traversed before coming to the bridge, and was now clambering up the rocky ascent which formed the abutment. He then went on over the bridge itself; which was raised four or five feet above the general level of the banks of the river. The road which crossed it was formed of logs, which had been rolled in over the sleepers, and as the convex surfaces had not been hewn off, the footing was of course very uneven. Lucky seemed not to like walking upon it very well.

"You don't like such a bridge as this, Lucky, very well," said Rainbow; "but the time will come, before next June sets in, when you and I will be glad enough to get, to it, and mount up upon it out of the water. The whole of this place here will be eighteen inches or two feet under water in a high freshet, and how do you think you will like that? Eighteen inches or two feet of water, roaring, and foaming, and whirling like a boiling pot! How do you think you will like that? Those will be times when you and I will have to show what stuff we are made of.

"I expect, when those days come," continued Rainbow, "and you find the water up here two feet deep all around, you won't like the idea of

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wading through it, Lucky, over all these rocks. You will want to wait on the other side till the water goes down, and so have me pay five dollars fine. But that won't do, Lucky. You will have to go through it, whether or no, and you may as well make up your mind to that first as last. But possibly it may not be quite two feet deep," he added. "I can tell almost exactly how deep it will be."

So saying, Rainbow, when he had crossed the bridge, turned the horse down out of the road to a little level place on the bank just below the bridge, where he could stand and look under it. He estimated that the under side of the great beams, or sleepers, as they are called, which were laid across on the abutments to support the flooring of the bridge, were not more than two feet above the level of the road.

"They would certainly allow six inches play for the water," said he to himself; "so I don't believe that we shall ever have more than eighteen inches of water in the road, and Lucky and I can go through that easily enough, if we don't get out of the path, and go to stumbling over the rocks."

He immediately determined that, the next time he came that way, he would put up some marks which would enable him to find the road when it was under water.

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Rainbow went on very prosperously after this, stopping every four or five miles at a post-office to have the mail opened. These post-offices were of an exceeding primitive and simple character. One of them was in a log cabin, and the only sign was the word "Post Office" chalked upon a board that was nailed upon a tree that stood near the door.

About the middle of the day he stopped at a place which was called Mix's Corner, from the fact that it was a place where two roads crossed each other, and where a man by the name of Mix had a farm and a saw-mill. Mr. Mix did not exactly keep a tavern, for there was so little traveling on either of the roads that passed his house that it was hardly worth while to put up a sign. But it was understood that he entertained such travelers as came along, provided they could put up with his accommodations. He kept the post-office too, and, as his place was about midway in Rainbow's route, Rainbow concluded to make it his stopping-

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place for what he called his nooning. Trigget, who knew all about the road, advised him to do this.

So he rode up to Mr. Mix's door. There was a small boy playing before the door. He was trying to build houses with the chips which were lying there near the wood-pile, but he could not make them stand up very well. Rainbow asked him if Mr. Mix was at home.

"Don't know," said the boy, without looking up.

"Is your father at home, then?" said Rainbow.

"No," said the boy, "he's down at the mill." He did not look up in saying this, but went on building houses faster than ever.

"If you will go into the house, and ask somebody to come," said Rainbow, "I'll make you a whistle."

"When will you make it?" asked the boy, looking up eagerly.

"I'll make it now--that is, as soon as I get my horse put up," said Rainbow.

The boy immediately rose, and went into the house. The door was open, and so were the windows, but there was nobody in sight. The boy, however, after disappearing for a few minutes in some back room, returned, conducting

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a smart-looking woman, who was wiping her hands upon her apron as she came.

"Ah!" said she, "here is the mail."

"And can I put up my horse here?" asked Rainbow.

"Yes," said the woman. "My husband is down at the mill, but you can take him right round into the barn, and there, you'll find hay and oats, and every thing that you require. Ephraim will go and show you where to find the oats. Jump up, Ephraim, and go and show him where the oats are."

Ephraim, who, in the mean time, had taken his seat again among the chips, rose in obedience to this command, and led the way round the corner of the house toward the barn. There was a large number of hens and chickens feeding at the barn door. They fled precipitately in all directions when they saw Ephraim coming. The rooster, too, thought it prudent to retire; but, as it was inconsistent with his ideas of propriety to run, he walked away after his hens in a very dignified manner, looking round, as he went, at Ephraim, first out of one eye and then out of the other.

Rainbow went into the barn and put Lucky into a stall. He had previously given Mrs. Mix the mail-bag, and she had taken it into a

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little room which opened out from her sitting-room, and was the post-office of Mix's Corner. Ephraim showed Rainbow where to find the oats, and he gave Lucky as many as he thought he ought to have.

Then he came back with Ephraim to the front side of the house again. Mrs. Mix was standing at the door when he came.

"Do you wish for any dinner?" asked Mrs. Mix.

"Only a bowl of bread and milk," said Rainbow.

"I can give you that very soon," said Mrs. Mix.

So Mrs. Mix went in, and Rainbow sat down on the step of the door with Ephraim.

"Ephraim," said he, "I made a mistake when I promised to make you a whistle. I forgot that it was the fall of the year. We can't make whistles very well except in the spring."

"Eh!" said Ephraim, making up at the same time an exceedingly ugly face. "You promised to make me a whistle, you did, and now you won't do it."

"I'll make you a wind-mill instead," said Rainbow.

"No," said Epbraim, "I want a whistle. I can't make any noise with a wind-mill."

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"Then suppose I make you a wind-mill to-day," said Rainbow, "and then, next time I come up, bring you a whistle."

"You have not got any whistle to bring me," said Ephraim.

"I can buy one at the store," said Rainbow.

Rainbow knew very well that they had whistles to sell for a cent apiece in the village.

"Will you do it upon honor?" said Ephraim.

"Yes," said Rainbow, "I really will."

"Then I'll take the wind-mill for to-day," said Ephraim.

So Rainbow, sitting on the step of the door, began to make a small wind-mill from a shingle which he found lying in the yard.

When Rainbow promised to make Ephraim a whistle, his intention was to make one from a willow or poplar stem, such as boys often make in the spring of the year. But such whistles can not be made at any other season than in the spring, for that is the time when the alburnum is formed between the bark and the wood, and it is in consequence of the soft and pulpy condition of this alburnum that the bark will separate from the wood so easily.

And here, perhaps, it may be well to explain, that all the trees which belong to the great division called Exogenus--a division which in-

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cludes nearly all the trees which grow in temperate climates--increase by successive layers of wood, one of which is formed every year. The new layer for each year, which is called the albunum, is formed in the spring. The place where it is formed is just beneath the bark. It is at first a mere pulpy mass, very soft and full of juice. In the willow and poplar, and in some other trees, it is so soft in the small stems that, by striking upon the bark gently all around with some smooth object, such as the handle of a knife, the alburnum is crushed, and the whole mass becomes soft and slippery, and then the bark can be easily slipped off, and so the whistle can be made.

It is only from such stems as form an alburnum very soft and pulpy that the bark can be slipped off in this manner, and it is only in the spring of the year, when the alburnum is forming, that it can be done even with them. As soon as the alburnum becomes a little mature, it forms a layer of wood, and the bark adheres to it quite firmly. So much for the philosophy of whistle-making.

It is true that Rainbow did not understand all this. He only knew that for some reason or other the bark of willow or poplar stems would only come off in the spring and he knew

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that it was useless for him to attempt to make a whistle at any other season.

Ephraim was so much pleased with the appearance of his wind-mill, as it gradually advanced toward completion, that he quite forgot about the whistle. Mrs. Mix came out to say that the bowl of milk was ready, before the wind-mill was done, but Ephraim begged Rainbow not to go in until he had finished it. Rainbow consented to this. The wind-mill was soon finished, and Rainbow fastened it with a pin to the end of a handle which he made for the purpose; so that when he went in to eat his bread and milk, which he did sitting at a table near the window, he could see Ephraim amusing himself with the wind-mill in an extremely satisfactory manner, making it spin by running with it about the yard.

Rainbow was astonished to find what exceedingly rich milk he had in his bowl. There was half a loaf of brown bread upon the table too, and a quarter of an apple pie. Mrs. Mix's milk as always extremely good, but the secret of its peculiar richness on this particular day was this, namely, that when she saw that Rainbow, instead of coming in to eat his milk as soon as it was ready, remained out upon the step to the wind-mill for her boy, she took up

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the bowl, carried it down cellar again, and skimmed off six or eight large spoonfuls of cream from another pan and stirred into it.

After finishing his bowl of milk, and paying Mrs. Mix's charge for the entertainment, which was six cents for the dinner and ten for the hay and oats for Lucky, Rainbow bade Mrs. Mix and Ephraim good-by, promising Ephraim, at the same time, that he would bring him a whistle the next time he came up.

"Remember," said he, "it is the next time I come up. I shall come here again to-morrow, but then I shall be coming down. I can't bring you the whistle until the next time I come up."

So saying, Rainbow rode away. Ephraim stood staring at him completely bewildered. The fact was, he was extremely puzzled to understand what Rainbow meant when he spoke. When Rainbow spoke of "coming up" and "coming down," all the idea that he could attach to these words was that of something coming up out of the ground and coming down out of the air. He thought of the beans coming up in his garden, and of a big bird like a hawk descending from the upper regions of the air to dive at his chickens. He had no idea of the descent of brooks and rivers in their courses, and of the direction of a journey being defined

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by reference to their flow. While he stood wondering whether the black boy would really come up out of the ground some days, and come down out of the air on other days, Rainbow rode away.

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About two o'clock in the afternoon, as Rainbow was journeying slowly along the road by the margin of a brook, he came to a place where a woman who lived in a log house near by was washing in the open air.

"Ah!" said Rainbow to himself, "I forgot that it was washing-day."

There was a trough made of a hollowed log by the side of the road, which was supplied with water by a long spout which came from the same brook that furnished water for the washing. Rainbow drove Lucky up to this trough, ostensibly to give him a drink, but really because he wished to speak to the woman who was washing. He had determined in his own mind to become acquainted, as soon as possible, with every family which lived along his road.

The woman who was washing stopped her work to look at Rainbow when he drove up to the watering-trough. There were two children who were bringing wood for the fire. They

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WASHING-DAY IN THE WOODS.

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were hastening to lay down their bundles, in order to run themselves and see who had come.

"Good afternoon," said Rainbow, addressing the woman.

"Good afternoon," said the woman, at the same time dropping a courtesy. She would probably not have rendered that mark of respect to a colored boy under ordinary circumstances, but the fact that he was a mail-carrier invested him with great dignity in her eyes.

"Is that the mail?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," said Rainbow; "this is the United States mail."

"Are there any letters in it for me?" asked the woman.

"I don't know," said Rainbow; "the mail has not been opened yet. They are going to open it at the post-office, about two miles farther on."

"Yes;" said the woman; "but it is a great deal of trouble for me to send so far. I wish you would open it, and see if there are any letters in it for me. I expect a letter from my brother out West."

"It is locked," said Rainbow, "and I have not got any key. Only the postmasters have keys. But this I can do for you: when I get to the post-office I can see if there is any letter

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for you, and, if there is, I can bring it to you when I come down to-morrow morning."

"If you can do that for me," said the woman, "you will oblige me very much."

"I can do it just as well as not," said Rainbow, "and I will. Only you must tell me your name."

"My name is Mrs. Myers," said the woman; "Mrs. Captain Myers."

Rainbow said that he would remember to bring the letter, if it should prove that there was one. Having made this promise, he bade the woman good-by and went on his way.

As he rode on, he began, as usual, talking to himself and to Lucky.

"I suppose that that woman thinks, Lucky, that I am very kind, but the truth is I am only cunning.

"You see, Lucky, there is no doubt that, before the winter is out, you and I will get into many a hard fix in traveling over this road, and attempting to keep our time, and the more good turns we can do the people now, the more ready they will be to do good turns for us when we are in need. That's the reason, Lucky, why I am so ready to do what I can for them all. At least," he added, after a moment's pause, "that's one reason. I don't think it is quite all the

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reason, for I like to help them when I can. I'd rather do it than not."

Rainbow was very much mistaken in supposing that his disposition to be obliging to the people who lived along the road was to be attributed to cunning and not to kindness. If we really entertain feelings of good-will o those around us, and desire to promote their happiness by every means in our power, and take pleasure in doing it, then we are truly and sincerely kind. The fact that we are aware that, by so doing, we make other people ready to show kindness to us in return, and that we are even influenced in what we do by a desire to secure such requitals, is nothing in any sense derogatory. "Cast thy bread upon the waters: thou shalt find it after many days," is an injunction of the Scriptures, and it implies that it is right for us to be influenced in our efforts to do good by the hope and expectation of receiving at some day or other a beneficial return.

Rainbow arrived at the end of his route--that is, at Squire Holden's house in No. 5, about four o'clock. He found the house a much better one than he had expected to see. There was scarcely any village at the place where Squire Holden lived. There was a mill and a blacksmith's shop, and also a sort of store, but

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the door of the store was shut when Rainbow rode by it, and there seemed to be nobody there.

The house which Squire Holden lived in was of one story, with two rooms on a floor. There was an addition to it, such as is often called an L, the roof of which was boarded, but the sides were open. The whole house looked rather new, and the L part especially so, as if Mr. Holden had begun building it, but had not had time to finish it.

"Ah!" exclaimed Rainbow, in a tone of great satisfaction, when he saw this piece of carpentry to be uncompleted, "this looks like work for me."

Rainbow rode up to the house, fastened his horse to a post of the fence, took the mail-bag on his shoulders, and went in. He found Mrs. Holden at home, but Mr. Holden, she said, was in the woods. There was also a little child that they called Toolie. Mrs. Holden told Rainbow where he might put the mail-bag, and her husband would attend to it when he came home.

It had been previously arranged that Rainbow was to put up at Squire Holden's during the time that he remained at No. 5. Trigget had had the precaution to provide for this before he engaged Rainbow to carry the mail. He knew that some persons objected to having

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a colored boy in their family. He accordingly sent up word to Mrs. Holden that he had a plan of employing a boy to carry the mail, who, though a smart boy, and withal very good-natured, was of a very dark complexion, and, before engaging him, he wished to know whether she would have any objection to him on that account.

To this Mrs. Holden replied by sending back word that she never cared at all what color a cow was so long as she gave plenty of good milk. Trigget knew perfectly well that Mrs. Holden would have no objection to Rainbow on account of his color, but he also knew very well that she would none the less be pleased with his consulting her beforehand on the subject, and that she would be the more likely to treat Rainbow in a kind and considerate manner if he frankly stated the case to her in advance, and obtained her consent to the arrangement previous to sending him.

Mrs. Holden told Rainbow that they had supper at six o'clock, at which time her husband came home from the woods. Rainbow determined that, in the mean time, he would "look about" a little.

"If I had an axe," said he to Mrs. Holden,

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"I could go out and help Mr. Holden fell the trees."

"There is not any other axe," said Mrs. Holden, "besides the one that he has got, except an old dull one that we keep for splitting wood."

Rainbow then turned to Toolie, who had gone off into a corner, and asked her to come to him.

"Come with me," said he, "and I will show you something funny out in the yard."

"No," said Toolie, shaking her head, and shrinking back still closer into the corner.

So Rainbow left her to herself and went out. He found the old axe by the wood-pile, and he amused himself a few minutes splitting wood with it. Presently he heard the sound as of the strokes of an axe in the forest in a certain direction up the valley.

"Ah!" said he to himself, "I suppose that is where Mr. Holden is at work felling trees. I must have an axe, sooner or later, up here, and I may as well get it now as at any time. What is a man in the woods without an axe, or a boy either?"

So he went down to the store to see if they had any axes to sell there. The store door was shut. The blacksmith's shop was near, and Rainbow went into it to inquire where the store-keeper was.

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He had gone away into his field, the blacksmith said, to sow some winter rye, and the store would not be open again till six o'clock.

"Docs he keep axes to sell?" asked Rainbow.

"No," replied the blacksmith, "he has not got any axes, but he has got some pretty good axe handles."

Rainbow thought that he could not fell trees very well with an axe handle; however, he said nothing, but stood a moment looking at the blacksmith while he was at work.

The blacksmith was making horse-shoe nails. He was making them out of long iron rods. He had two of these rods in the fire. He would blow the bellows until the ends of the rods were extremely hot, and then he would take one of them out and would forge out the end of it into the form of a nail upon the anvil. After the nail was finished, he would cut it off by means of a cold chisel which was fixed in the block by the side of the anvil. He would lay the nail across this chisel, and then strike upon it gently with his hammer, and as the iron was still hot and soft, the nail was cut off very easily just above the head, and it dropped down into a box placed below to receive it. This box was already partly full of nails which had been made in the course of the afternoon.

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As soon as the nail from the first rod had been cut off, the blacksmith put the end of the rod into the fire again, and, after giving two or three puffs with the bellows, he took out the second rod, which, as it had remained in the fire all the time while the blacksmith had been making the nail upon the other rod, was now quite hot. So he proceeded to make a nail upon the second rod, and, by the time that the second nail was finished and cut off, the first rod was hot again. Thus he went on, making nails alternately first from one rod and then from the other, and was thus saved the necessity of waiting for his iron to get hot.

The operation of making nails in this manner is quite a curious one, and children passing by a blacksmith's shop in the country often stop to witness it.

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There was a boy at work at a bench near the window in the blacksmith's shop where the blacksmith himself was making nails. He was employed in filing something.

When Rainbow came into the shop he nodded to the blacksmith, and the blacksmith nodded to him, and a conversation was almost immediately opened between them in the following manner:

"You brought up the mail, I see," said the blacksmith.

"Yes, sir," said Rainbow.

"You've got a likely-looking horse," continued the blacksmith. "Who owns that horse?"

"Why, that is rather hard to say," replied Rainbow. "I have bought him, but I have not paid for him, and so I can hardly tell whether I own him not."

"You have bought him?" repeated the blacksmith, in a tone of surprise.

"Yes, sir," said Rainbow.

The blacksmith uttered a sort of inarticulate

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ejaculation, which is sometimes spelled humph, but which, after all, does not sound much like that word when it is distinctly pronounced. The truth was, that the blacksmith did not believe one word of such a boy as Rainbow having bought a horse.

"And you have not paid for him?" said the blacksmith, with a lurking smile upon his face.

"No, sir," said Rainbow.

The blacksmith had now finished making nails, and the next work which he had to do required a much larger piece of iron; so he called the boy who was at work at the bench to come and blow.

"Let me blow," said Rainbow, and, as he spoke, he took his place at the bellows. "I suppose I shall have some shoeing to be done in the course of the fall and winter?" he said.

"Yes," said the blacksmith, "if you are going on bringing the mail up here on horseback, you certainly will. Such a stony road as this wears out shoe iron amazing fast."

When the iron which the blacksmith had put into the fire was hot enough, and he was ready to forge it, Rainbow walked into a corner of the room, and began to look over a heap of old iron which was lying there, without, however, touching any thing.

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"I suppose you would sell any of this old iron?" said Rainbow.

"Yes," said the blacksmith. "I give two cents a pound for it, and I will sell any of it for four cents."

Rainbow pulled out an old axe, and began to examine it carefully.

Now an axe, as the readers of this book may generally know, is made partly of iron and partly of steel. The bulk of it is made of iron, but the part which forms the edge is made of steel. This piece of steel is welded on when the axe is made, and the union is so complete when the work is well done that the line of junction can not be perceived except upon a close examination, and then only where the metal has been made bright by grinding or in some other way, in which case there is a slight difference in the color, the steel being a little whiter, and more brilliant than the iron.

It is somewhat singular that steel should be of a lighter color than iron, when the chief difference between the two is, that the steel contains a minute quantity of carbon, which, it might be supposed, if it produced any effect whatever on the metal, would make it darker instead of lighter in color. But the fact is, that nothing is more accidental, or changes more

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easily, than the color of any substance, in its different conditions and combinations.

Now an axe, of course, wears by use only upon the edge, and in the parts adjacent to the edge, and when it becomes dull, it is these parts only that are ground away in sharpening it again. After a while, when it has been ground a great many times, the taper of the edge is worn away, and it becomes stubbed in form, so that even if the edge is made sharp it will not enter the wood easily.

For, in order that an axe may enter the wood easily, the edge must not only be sharp, but the cheeks of it, so to speak, must be thin. Accordingly, when an axe, from having been repeatedly dulled and ground, becomes too blunt in its form, the only remedy is for a blacksmith to take it off its handle, heat it red hot, and then draw it out, as they call it, by hammering upon the cheeks of it, so as to bring that part of the axe to the proper degree of thinness again. This is called "setting" it.

Now Rainbow, who had had a great deal to do with tools when he bad been at work with Handie Level, knew all about this, but the blacksmith supposed that he knew nothing about it at all. The blacksmith was surprised to see him look so attentively at the axe, and

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wondered what he was thinking of. The truth was, he was looking to see how much steel there as remaining, and whether there was enough to make it worth while to have the axe set. Then he poised it in his hand, to feel how much it would weigh.

"How muck do you think this old axe will weigh?" said he.

"A little over two pounds," said the blacksmith, "I should guess."

"Then it would come to a little more than eight cents," said Rainbow.

"Yes," replied the blacksmith; "but I think that axe is worth rather more than the price of old iron."

"I understood you that you would sell any of this lot for four cents a pound," said Rainbow.

"So I did," replied the blacksmith; "but I did not think of your fishing out that old axe the first thing. However, I'll stand to my bargain. You may have it for ten cents, and it is very cheap at that price. The truth is, I should have set it myself, but it is rather light. The men about here like heavy axes for chopping in the woods; but it will be just about right for you."

"And how much will you ask to set it?" inquired Rainbow.

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"Oh, about a shilling," said the man.

"And when can you do it?" asked Rainbow.

"When can you pay for it," asked the blacksmith, "supposing it was done?" He did not really believe that Rainbow had any money.

"I'll pay now," said Rainbow.

So, taking a wallet out of his pocket, he counted out ten cents for the old axe, and sixteen more--which was the amount that the word shilling denoted in No. 5--making in all twenty-six cents. This he handed to the blacksmith. The blacksmith took the money, and put it into a pocket which was concealed somewhere under his leather apron. His respect for Rainbow was evidently a good deal increased by finding that he was so well prepared to fulfill his pecuniary engagements.

The blacksmith promised to set the axe very soon--as soon, in fact, as he had finished the work in which he was engaged. Rainbow could have it that evening after supper, or he could come for it the next morning. Rainbow said that he would come for it after supper.

Rainbow then returned to Mr. Holden's house. He occupied himself with splitting wood in the yard until Mr. Holden came home, and soon after that they all went in to supper.

While they were at the table Rainbow asked

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Mr. Holden about his work in the woods, and he said that he was clearing a piece of land. Rainbow said that he would go with him the next day to help him.

"Very well," said Mr. Holden, "I should think you might help me not a little. You'll be here all day, and, if you feel disposed to work for me, I'll give you two shillings a day."

"That would be pretty good wages for a boy," said Rainbow.

"True," said Mr. Holden; "but you look like rather a smart boy, and I am willing to try you for a day at two shillings, and see what you can do. You might help me a good deal by clearing up the underbrush, if I only had another axe for you, or a stub-scythe. You could not do any thing in felling trees: that's man's work."

"Not that it requires so much strength to fell a tree," continued the squire, "but it requires skill. You must know how to choose the place to stand, and where to deliver your blows, and there is a great knack in giving your axe the right sort of cant to turn out the chips."

Rainbow said that he would go into the woods in the morning with Mr. Holden, but that he believed he would not make any engagement to work during the day, as he wished to look

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about the neighborhood a little, since it was his first day in that part of the country. He said, too, that he had found an old axe at the black-smith's, which he was going to grind up after supper, and he thought that he could make something of it which would answer for cutting up the bushes.

Rainbow thought it was best policy for him not to make any engagement for work until he had opportunity to let the people in No. 5 see a little what he could do.

After supper, Rainbow went again to the blacksmith's shop, and he found the blacksmith all ready to take his axe in hand. The boy was not there, and so Rainbow blew the bellows. He also, from time to time, gave Mr. Whackhammer--for that was the blacksmith's name--directions in respect to the form which he wished him to give to the axe.

"You seem to know a good deal about tools," said Mr. Whackhammer. "Did you ever work at a trade?"

"Not exactly," said Rainbow, "but I worked with a carpenter at one time for several weeks, and I learned something in that way. I don't pretend to know much. If you are among tools a good deal, you can't help learning something about them."

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SETTING THE AXE.

"Some people can," said the blacksmith. "I have had boys with me a year or more that knew no more at the end than at the beginning. They could hardly tell a rasp from a screw-driver."

When the axe was finished, Rainbow went to the store, which now he found was open, and bought a handle for it. He then carried the axe and the handle into Mr. Holden's house, together with a chisel and a rasp which the blacksmith gave him, and also a sheet of sand-paper which he bought at the store. He spent

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the evening in fitting the handle to his axe, seated on the settle in the kitchen, and conversing all the while with Mr. Holden and his wife. When the handle was fitted to its place, he fastened it in, and then smoothed the surface of it with the sand-paper. Squire Holden was very much surprised at the dexterity which he showed in doing this work.

Mrs. Holden seemed very much entertained by the various stories which Rainbow had to tell, and about the middle of the evening, when the axe-handle was nearly finished, she took a candle, and went down cellar to get some apples. She brought the apples in a bowl, and set them down before the fire to warm them; and at length, when Rainbow was ready to put the axe away, she offered them first to Rainbow and then to her husband. The whole party sat eating apples and telling stories till nine o'clock. There was no light in the room except what was afforded by the fire, but, as the fire was very bright and blazing, it shed a very cheerful glow over the floor, and, indeed, illuminated the whole room in a very brilliant manner.

At nine o'clock Mr. Holden lighted a lantern, and he and Rainbow went out together into the barn to feed the horses and cattle. Lucky was in a verv comfortable stall, and he very

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well contented with his situation. Rainbow gave him some fresh hay and some oats, and promised to come and see him again early in the morning.

That night, after Rainbow had gone to his bed, which was made in a sort of garret over the kitchen, Squire Holden said to his wife that he thought the new mail-carrier was likely to turn out a pretty smart boy.

"Yes," said Mrs. Holden; "he is not only a smart fellow, but he is very good company. I'm more and more confirmed in my opinion, that it is of no consequence what the color of a cow is, provided she is not cross, and gives plenty of good milk."

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Rainbow rose very early the next morning and made a fire in the kitchen, and also filled the tea-kettle with water from a well that stood in the yard, so that when Mrs. Holden came out from the front room, where she slept, she found every thing all ready. Rainbow himself was, however, not there. He had gone out into the barn to see Lucky, and to give him his breakfast.

When he came back he found Mrs. Holden getting breakfast for her family, and Toolie sitting upon a block in the corner singing a song. She stopped singing as soon as Rainbow came in, and looked at him with a timid air, though she seemed much less afraid than she had done the evening before.

"Toolie," said Rainbow, "come with me, and I'll make you a little doll."

Toolie shook her head, and yet she was evidently half inclined to come. She had not the least idea what a doll was; but, whatever it might be, she had a great desire to see it made.

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"I am going out into the yard to get something to make the doll of," said Rainbow. "You can come to the door if you please, and see where I go to get it."

So Rainbow went out. Toolie followed him to the door, keeping, however, at a cautious distance. Rainbow went to a little copse of lilachs which grew near the corner of the house, and, after looking among them some time till he had made a selection, he cut off a sprig which bad two pairs of branches, each pair consisting of two branches growing out opposite to each other in such a manner that, when the sprig was turned upside down, one pair would make the legs of the doll, and the other pair the arms. He cut these limbs off at the proper length, and then cut the stem off at the right length for the neck.

He then went into the house, and asked Mrs. Holden for some rags of cotton cloth. He made a sort of ball with these, and tied it upon the neck of his image for a head. He also made a dress by basting up pieces of a sort of checked calico which Mrs. Holden gave him, so as to fashion it into the form of a gown. He then marked out eyes, nose, and mouth upon the face, and the doll was complete. With the exception of a little stiffness of the limbs, it made a very respectable representation of a baby.

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At any rate, Toolie was greatly delighted with it. She came up nearer and nearer to Rainbow as he went on with the work, and when at last it was finished and put into her hands, her satisfaction was complete.

By this time breakfast was ready. It consisted of coffee, steaks of fresh pork very nicely fried, and a hot cake baked before the fire, with maple sirup to put upon it. The maple sirup was something extra, having been brought out by Mrs. Holden on account of the pleasure it gave her to see Rainbow making Toolie a doll.

This doll, by the way, afterward received a name. The name was given to it by the teacher of a little school which was kept during the summer months in a small school-house in the woods, about a mile and a half from Squire Holden's house, and to which Toolie sometimes went for a day or two at a time. She carried her doll to school with her one day about a week after it was made. The teacher examined it quite curiously, and she asked Toolie what its name was. Toolie said it had no name. The teacher said it ought to have one. It was too pretty a doll, she said, or at least too curious a one, not to have a name. Then Toolie asked the teacher to name it. The teacher said that, as it seemed to be of sylvan origin, she thought

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it would be well to call it Sylvania. Neither Toolie herself nor any of the other children who stood by understood what the teacher meant by a sylvan origin, but they all thought that Sylvania would be a very pretty name for the doll, and so it was at once adopted. They, however, did not perfectly preserve the classical pronunciation. There was a scholar in the school named Annie, and in consequence of the children being thus familiar with that sound, the name Sylvania dropped into that of Sylvannie, and by that name the doll was called as long as it existed.

But to return to Rainbow. After breakfast, Squire Holden, finding that he really had got an excellent axe, offered to help him grind it.

"Very well," said Rainbow; "I should like that very much, if you think I can help you enough in your work this forenoon to make up for the time."

So they went together to the grindstone, which stood in a sort of shed, and ground the axe. Rainbow had watched the tempering of it by the blacksmith, so as to be sure to have it right. This is a very delicate operation, and it requires considerable skill to perform it properly. The philosophy of it is this:

Steel, when in its natural state--that is, when,

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after being heated, it has been cooled gradually--is not very hard. It can be hammered, and cut, and filed very much as iron can be, though it is somewhat harder than iron. But now, if it is heated red hot and plunged suddenly into cold water, it becomes very hard and brittle, nobody knows why. All that is known about it is the fact.

If, instead of being red hot, the steel is only moderately hot, and is then plunged into water, it becomes hardened in a proportional degree.

Now tools of different kinds require different degrees of hardness; that is to say, some will not bear as great a degree of hardness as others. It would be better for all to be as hard as possible if it were not that the hardness is accompanied with brittleness. This, in some cases, as in that of a file, for example, is not of much consequence. Files, too, being intended to cut brass and iron, must be very hard, even if they are made brittle by it. They are accordingly tempered very highly, and, in consequence, become so brittle that they are useless for any other purposes than that for which they are made. Boys sometimes attempt to use a flat file for a screw-driver, or to pry out a nail, or for some other such purpose, and it is in such cases almost sure to break. But, brittle as the

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metal is throughout its whole substance, the edges of the teeth are extremely hard, so that they will gnaw away brass and iron, and even steel itself; when it is in its natural state--that is, before it has been hardened.

Files are made by forging them and cutting the teeth while the metal is soft, and are afterward hardened by being heated very hot and then plunged into cold water.

Chisels, penknives, razors, and other such cutting instruments are made in a similar manner, being fashioned first and hardened afterward; only they are not heated so hot before being plunged into water, as that would make them too hard. The principle is to make each edge just as hard as it can be made without becoming so brittle as to break off in cutting through the substance, whatever it may be, which it is intended to act upon.

The workman regulates the degree of heat required in the steel for the different degrees of temper which he wishes to produce by the color of the surface. The surface of polished steel changes in succession to a straw color, violet, and purple, and a deep blue, as it passes through the different gradations of heat; and it is by watching these colors, and plunging the metal into the water at precisely the right in-

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stant, that the proper temper is given for each particular purpose required.

Any person can observe these colors, and also notice the effect produced by sudden cooling, at different degrees of temperature, by a series of experiments with common sewing needles.*

A convenient way of performing such experiments is by sticking the needle to be operated upon into the end of a cork, so as to prevent its burning the fingers, and then heating it in the flame of a lamp or candle. If it is heated very hot, and then allowed to cool slowly of itself; the temper will be taken out of it, and it can be bent almost like a pin. Then, if it is heated again, and, while hot, is plunged suddenly into cold water, it will be made very hard and brittle.

The changes of color, too, in the surface of steel may be observed in needles heated in this way. Sometimes these colors appear in beautiful rings passing round the needle, the different hues occupying their proper places according as the successive portions of the needle were

* The reader must note the difference in respect to meanmg between the words temper and temperature. Temperature means simply the degree of heat. Temper means the hardness given to steel by sudden cooling.

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heated to different degrees of intensity by the flame.

Rainbow's axe was tempered to just the right degree for preserving the fineness of the edge in the most perfect manner when entering the green wood of forest trees. If it had been tempered a little too high or a little too low, the extreme line of the edge would have given way. In the former case--that is, if it had been made too hard--the edge would have crumbled; if it had not been hard enough, it would have been bent over. The change might have been altogether too slight to have been perceived by the eye, but a microscope would have shown it, and it would have made a great difference in the work of the axe in the course of half a day's labor.

Very few people have such nice ideas as these in respect to the edges of their tools, but no one can work to advantage in the use of any kind of cutting instinnents without possessing and acting upon them.

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Rainbow went into the woods with Squire Holden as soon as his axe was ground, and began to work. Most boys, in such a case as this, would have looked with contempt upon the underbrush, and would have gone to work at once, with a great parade of efficiency and skill, upon the biggest trees that they could find; but Rainbow was too shrewd for this.

"You would like to have me cut up the underbrush?" said Rainbow.

"Yes," replied the squire. "There is not much of it, but it ought to be all cut away, and it hinders me in my work to stop for it."

It is true that there was not much underbrush where Squire Holden was at work. There seldom is much in heavy, full-grown forests. There were some alders along the margin of the brook, and in one place there were a number of small trees springing up. Rainbow at once went to work upon these. He worked at a moderate rate, beginning as he thought he could hold out; but he took every thing to ad-

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vantage, bending the stems of the young trees over with one hand, and cutting them off, by means of the axe, with the other. He took care, also, to cut them off so far above the ground as to make it impossible that the edge of his axe should come in contact with the soil.

In the course of an hour he had cleared away the underbrush over quite a large tract--as far, in fact, as was necessary for the time being.

"Rainbow," said Mr. Holden, "you seem to be getting along finely in clearing up the brush. You have done about enough for the present with that. Suppose you try your hand upon some of the trees?"

Rainbow said he would do so. Now, in felling trees in the forest, it is not customary to cut the trunks entirely through, so as to cause the tree to fall at the time that it is cut. The stems are cut nearly through, and in a manner to make them fall in a certain direction, and all the same way. If the land inclines at all, the trees are out so as to fall in the direction of the descent. When a large extent of ground has been gone over in this way, some of the last of the trees--those at the upper end of the slope, if the land inclines--are out entirely through, and they fall upon those next them, push them over, and those push the next, and thus the

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whole grove, extending sometimes over a wide area of the forest, is swept down together in a prolonged and mighty crash, which sounds, when heard at a distance, like a rolling peal of thunder.

Rainbow followed Mr. Holden in cutting the trees. Whenever Mr. Holden began one, he took the one next to it, and it soon appeared that he could keep up with him perfectly well. They worked on in this way until noon, and then, Mr. Holden taking one large tree, and Rainbow another standing by the side of it, they cut them both off in such a manner as to make them fall at the same instant toward those which had been nearly cut off before, and then the crash commenced. The whole forest seemed to be coming down, as if a great tornado was sweeping over it.

Mr. Holden and Rainbow stood looking on until all had fallen. Mr. Holden saw that the extent of the fall was very much greater than it would have been without Rainbow's help.

"There's considerably more than half an acre," said he--"I think it is all of two thirds of an acre, which is a pretty good morning's work for a man and a boy."

They then took their axes upon their shoulders and went home to dinner.

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Rainbow said that that afternoon he was going to take a walk to see the neighborhood, and he asked, while at dinner, about the people who lived near. Mr. and Mrs. Holden told him about them, and, among other things, they said that there was a young man named Dyker, who was building a house about half a mile up the road, and they believed that he was going to raise a part of the frame that afternoon.

"I can go and help him," said Rainbow.

"He'd like your help, I'm sure," said Mrs. Holden.

"I'll go," said Rainbow.

Accordingly, after dinner, Rainbow, having first put his axe carefully away in the garret where he slept, set off to go to Mr. Dyker's. He walked on for about half a mile, part of the way along the borders of a clearing, which had been cultivated the past year, but was full of blackened stumps. After coming to the end of the clearing, he passed along a wild road, narrow, rough, and crooked, which led through a wood down toward a brook. There was no bridge across the brook, but only a log laid from one side to the other, and a smooth sandy bottom just below the log, for horses to wade through.

Rainbow went over upon the log.

"I wish I had brought my axe with me,"

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said he to himself; "then I would have made a railing to this bridge.

After going on a short distance farther he came to Mr. Dyker's house. It was near the border of a clearing which had been made the year before. The house was very small--the part already built being more like a little shed than a house. It was, in fact, intended to be a shed when the house proper was finished, but, in the mean time, Mr. Dyker and his family lived in it. There was no fireplace in it, for Mr. Dyker thought it not worth while to build one, since none would be wanted when it came to be used as a shed. In the mean time his wife had cooked at a fire built out in the open air. This was somewhat inconvenient, but it had not been seriously so in the summer season, and the family had only lived there since the spring. Now, however, as the winter was approaching, Mr. Dyker was anxious to build at least a portion of his house, so as to have a chimney and the means of making a fire indoors during the cold and stormy season that was coming on.

The timbers which were to form the frame of the new house were lying about upon the ground, and two men were at work upon them. One of these men was Mr. Dyker. They both

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looked up when they saw Rainbow coming, and wondered who it could be.

"Who is this nigger coming, Dan?" asked Mr. Dyker.

Rainbow overheard this question, and he wished that he had not come. He was on the point of turning about and going directly back again, when the other man replied,

"Don't call him a nigger, Joe, till you find out whether he deserves it."

This made Rainbow feel encouraged again.

"There is one fair man out of two," said he to himself, "and that is about as good a proportion as we can expect."

Rainbow also was led to make an effort to repress the rising feeling of indignation which was swelling in his breast at being stigmatized with an opprobrius name in this manner by a total stranger by remembering the advice which his mother had so often given him about overcoming evil with good. So he went boldly on.

Mr. Dyker nodded to him as he came up. Rainbow returned the nod. Mr. Dyker was sitting astride a beam cutting a mortise in it. He resumed his work, saying, at the same time, "We are going to have a raising here."

"Squire Holden told me that you were going to raise this afternoon," said Rainbow, "and

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I thought perhaps I could give you some help."

"Yes," said Mr. Dyker, still going on with his work, "I suppose you might help some."

He spoke this in rather a doubtful tone, as if he had no very exalted idea of Rainbow's capacity to render assistance in any form. Besides, he supposed that Rainbow would expect pay for his work, and he thought it not good policy to appear to estimate it too highly until he had made his bargain.

After a moment's pause he asked Rainbow what wages he should expect.

Rainbow replied that he did not expect any wages. He had nothing to do that afternoon, he said, and was looking at the neighborhood a little.

"Do you live any where hereabout?" asked Mr. Dyker.

"No, sir," said Rainbow; "I came up to bring the mail. I came up yesterday, and am to go down to-morrow. This is my spare day."

"Oh! you brought up the mail, then?" said Mr. Dyker, looking somewhat surprised. He at once stopped his work, and looked up at Rainbow in quite an earnest manner.

"I thought I might give you a lift when you came to raising the plate," said Rainbow; "and

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I suppose, in the mean time, I could make a mortise or a tenon, if you want any help in getting ready."

"Why, are you a carpenter?" asked Mr. Dyker.

"No," replied Rainbow, "I am not a carpenter, but I have done some plain work in framing."

"Let him try his hand," said Dan. "There's a saw and a chisel, and there's a tenon marked out at the end of that beam."

So Rainbow took the saw, and, after blocking up the end of the beam so as to raise it to a convenient height above the ground, he began sawing it at the place marked. The two men watched him for a minute or two to see how he would take hold of the business, as a very good judgment may be formed of how much a young man like Rainbow knows of any work that he undertakes by observing bow he handles his tools in beginning it.

"He'll do," said Dan to Joe.

"I rather think he will," said Joe to Dan.

Rainbow went quietly on with his work. He succeeded perfectly well. He soon, moreover, fell into conversation with the men, and he pleased them very much by his good-humor, and be the numerous stories that he related to

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them in respect to what he bad seen, and the adventures that he had met with in the course of the past two or three years.

At length, about an hour after Rainbow arrived on the ground, the frame was completed, and then the party at once commenced raising it. The frame was not very heavy, and, though three persons were rather a small number for such a work, they succeeded in accomplishing it very successfully. Mrs. Dyker herself came out, and pushed with a long pole when they were lifting the front side of the house, which was the heaviest part of the frame to be raised.

Rainbow showed himself very dexterous in mounting upon the frame, walking about upon the timbers, entering the tenons in the mortises, catching the pins tossed up to him, and pinning the joints together. It was at some times quite fearful to see him standing high in the air upon a narrow timber, and driving in a wooden pin beneath his feet with a heavy broad-axe, leaning over so far forward to reach down to the pin as to make it appear as if he must certainly fall headlong.

During the latter part of the time, while the men were at work thus in raising the frame, Mrs. Dyker was at work getting them a good supper at her fire in the open air. The tea-

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kettle was suspended from a stout pole passing across over the fire, supported at the ends by two forked stakes, in the manner represented in the engraving of Mrs. Myers washing, arranged in a former chapter. She had also a frying-pan, a skillet for boiling eggs, and other cooking utensils. The table where she prepared the cakes and other things which she was going to cook for supper was in the kitchen. After getting the things ready there, she would bring them out to the fire and cook them, keeping a good look-out upon her boiling and her baking with one eye, as it were, while she watched the progress of the frame with the other.

Mrs. Dyker was intending to set the table for the supper in the kitchen, but Mr. Dyker declared it should be in the new house.

"We'll lay down some boards for a floor," said he, "and we'll begin to use the new house this very day."

So Mr. Dyker went to work to lay the floor. Rainbow and Dan passed in the boards to him from a pile which was near, and he laid them down, beginning on the side next the kitchen. He soon had the floor almost entirely covered, so that his wife could walk about over it very easily. She then set the table, covering it with a white cloth, and put the supper things upon it.

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As soon as the frame was up, Rainbow put on his jacket, which he had taken off while he had been at work, and was preparing to take his leave, but Mr. Dyker insisted that he should stay to supper. At first Rainbow declined, thinking it possible that they invited him out of politeness, when, in fact, they might really not like to eat at the same table with a colored person. He particularly thought that this might be the case with Mrs. Dyker, and so he declined; but they insisted on his staying very strenuously. Mrs. Dyker herself came up to him and said,

"Rainbow, you must stay. See," she added, pointing to the table, "I have put a plate for you already." So Rainbow concluded to stay.

Supper was not yet quite ready, and Rainbow rambled off a little way along the banks of a brook which was flowing near, and presently he came back with a large bouquet of rich autumnal wild flowers which he had gathered. He had arranged these flowers in a very symmetrical manner, and when he came back with them to the house, he asked Mrs. Dyker to give him a mug to put them in, and then he placed them upon the centre of the supper-table. He said they were in honor of the lady of the new house.

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I don't suppose that Rainbow would have thought of doing this if he had not seen Handie do it at a picnic in the woods. He learned also from Handie to arrange such flowers in a tasteful manner.

Mrs. Dyker, who was quite a young and pretty woman, was very much pleased with the compliment thus paid her, although it did come from a colored boy.

When supper was ready, Mrs. Dyker put the chairs around the table, and the party took their seats. After they were seated, they all assumed a reverent posture, and held their heads down while Mr. Dyker asked a blessing. He invoked the blessing of God not only on the meal, but also on the house that they were building, and upon all who should ever live in it. He also prayed that God would bless and prosper "the stranger providentially present with them" on that occasion.

Mr. Dyker was perfectly honest and sincere in these invocations, for he was really a good man, although he had been so heartless, or rather so thoughtless, as to call Rainbow at first by an opprobrious name.

After they had been seated at the table a little while, talking and laughing together in a very merry manner, Mr. Dyker said,

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"We have had most excellent luck with our raising, and it is owing very much to you, Rainbow. You are a real good carpenter."

"No, sir," said Rainbow, "I am not a carpenter, and I never shall be one."

"Why not?" asked Mr. Dyker.

"I have not got any head for the calculations," said Rainbow. "I know when I've got an edge upon a tool, and I can hold a chisel square to cut a mortise, but I can't plan."

"You might learn to plan, perhaps," said Mr. Dyker.

"No," said Rainbow, shaking his head; "Mr. Level tried to teach me something about geometry and calculation, but it was too hard for me. I don't think I should like to be a carpenter."

Rainbow was perfectly right in the judgment which he formed of himself. He had a great many excellent qualities, and in his way he was a very smart and capable boy, but he had no talent at all for abstract philosophy in any form.

After some farther conversation on the subject, Mr. Dyker said that if Rainbow would work for him upon his building the days when he was off duty, he would give him seventy-five cents a day.

"That is something of an advance on Squire Holden's offer of two shillings a day for felling

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trees," said Rainbow to himself; "still, I will not make any long engagement any where yet."

So he told Mr. Dyker that he had not yet fully decided what he should do, but he promised to come and work for him on Friday, which was the next day that he would be at liberty, and then he would consider what it was best for him to do.

At length Rainbow bade the family good-by, and went home to Squire Holden's. The next morning he set out on the return down the river. At the post-office nearest to Mrs. Myers's residence he inquired for a letter for that lady. He found there was one, and he carried it down to her. She received it with great satisfaction and pleasure.

When he reached home, too, the first thing he did, after taking care of Lucky, was to go out and buy a penny whistle for little Ephraim.

"I will make sure of that," said he to himself, "while I remember it. If I want to get my credit up high along the road up the river, I must begin by keeping my promises to the boys."

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Rainbow had not made many trips before he and Toolie became great friends. He made her a baby-house in the corner of the shed by means of little blocks and bits of board which he laid down for divisions between the different rooms; and in it was a china-closet, in which fragments of crockery that Toolie picked up about the door represented the plates and dishes. Toolie amused herself a great deal in washing and wiping these rude representatives of china-ware, and in arranging them in order upon the shelves, and she seemed to derive as great pleasure from them as a lady in fashion-able life would have received from the possession of the finest porcelain.

There was one thing in which Rainbow particularly excelled in his intercourse with Toolie, and that was in the art of answering her questions. He understood how to answer a child's questions better than many a learned philosopher could have answered them. The reason for this was very curious, namely, that

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he knew so little in regard to what the children asked him about.

It seems strange that knowing little should help a person to answer well. When a person is very thoroughly conversant with a subject upon which a child asks a question, he is very likely to make his answer too deep and profound, or else too extended and complicated. It is only one little step in advance which a child is capable of taking in respect to most subjects on which it asks questions. If the mother, or the older brother or sister to whom the question is addressed, is contented with assisting them to take this one little step, all goes well. The child is instructed, and is pleased, and his curiosity is satisfied.

Generally, however, in such cases, or at least very often, when we are asked a question by a child, we think, because we can not give a complete elucidation of the subject, that we can not answer it at all; and some persons are so unreasonable as to reprimand the poor child for asking such questions, as if it were not one of the principal and paramount duties of a child, during the early years of life, to obtain all the knowledge he can of the new and strange scene of existence which he finds presenting itself in such varied and wonderful forms around him.

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Rainbow did not understand the philosophy of answering children at all as I have stated it above. He gave short and simple answers to their questions as a matter of necessity, because he did not know how to give deep and complicated ones. But the effect was the same as if he had understood the case ever so perfectly.

One day, when Rainbow was sitting on the step of the door about noon, waiting to be called in to dinner, Toolie was standing by him, leaning against his knees, and talking to him. She looked long and earnestly into his face, and then said,

"Rainbow, what makes your face so black?"

"It always was black," said Rainbow.

"Was it?" asked Toolie.

Then, after a moment's pause, she added,

"Could not you wash the black off your face?"

"No," said Rainbow.

"Why not?" asked Toolie.

"Because it grows there," said Rainbow. "The black is in me; it is not on me."

"Oh!" said Toolie, in a tone of satisfaction, as if she now understood the case perfectly.

"And your hair is very curly," said Toolie.

"Yes," replied Rainbow.

"What makes it so curly?" asked Toolie.

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"It grows so," said Rainbow.

"Does it?" said Toolie.

"Yes," replied Rainbow. "Sometimes persons curl their hair with curling-tongs."

"My mother has got a curling-tongs," said Toolie.

"And does she curl her hair with them?" asked Rainbow.

"Yes," said Toolie, "she does sometimes; and once she curled mine."

"Rainbow," said Toolie again, after a pause, "I go to school sometimes."

"Do you?" asked Rainbow.

"Yes," said Toolie. "There's a school-house, and a school in it, a little way along the road, and I go to it when my father has time to take me. I wish you would take me some time."

"I might take you on before me upon Lucky," said Rainbow. "Then Lucky would have a mail and a female on his back."

"A what?" asked Toolie, puzzled.

"He'd have to carry you, and me, and the mail-bag," said Rainbow; "but I think he could do it, for the mail is always very light when we set out from here. The female would be very light too."

"What do you mean by the female, Rainbow?" asked Toolie.

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"I mean you," said Rainbow.

"But I am not a female," said Toolie; "I am a girl."

"What do you learn at school, Toolie?" asked Rainbew.

"I learn to count," said Toolie. "I can count pretty well now. One, two, three, seven, four, nine. That's as far as I know."

"I can count too," said Rainbow.

"Let me see how well you can count," asked Toolie.

"One couple three several, many more enough, plenty, and ever so many."

"Oh, Rainbow," exclaimed Toolie, "that is not the way to count."

"That is the way I count," said Rainbow.

"I don't think it is the right way," said Toolie.

Presently Toolie put her hand up to her head, and said that it felt very warm.

"That is because the sun is shining upon it," said Rainbow.

"What makes the sun so warm?" asked Toolie.

"Because he shines so bright," said Rainbow. "When it is a little cloudy, and the sun does not shine so bright, then the sunshine is not so warm."

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"It is very bright now," said Toolie.

"Yes," said Rainbow, "very bright, because it is almost noon. When the sun gets highest in the sky, then it is noon, and then it is the warmest."

Just at this time Mrs. Holden came to call Rainbow and Toolie in to dinner.

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It was arranged, some days after this, that Rainbow was to take Toolie to school some morning when he set out on his journey with the mail. The plan was for him to set out a little later than usual, so as not to arrive at the school-house too early. He now usually set out about eight o'clock when the day was pleasant and the roads were good, but on the morning in question he was to postpone his departure for half an hour, so as to arrive at the school-house about nine, which was the time when the school began.

"Now, Lucky," said Rainbow, on the morning in question, when he brought Lucky out of his stall to put on the saddle and bridle, "you are going to have the honor of carrying a young lady to school this morning, and you must be very steady."

Lucky, who was usually in excellent spirits in the morning when Rainbow came to lead him out, began to shake his head and to evince some disposition to begin capering.

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"Lucky," said Rainbow, "no antics this morning. You are going to carry a young lady to school, I tell you, and you must behave with the utmost decorum, or she will be frightened."

Still, Lucky appeared very frisky.

"Lucky," said Rainbow, "I think, on the whole, that it will be best for me to let you have a little run down the road this morning, before we set out upon our journey, you are so full of fun.

"I have no objection to your fun, you understand, Lucky," he continued, "but Toolie would not understand it. Toolie would be afraid."

So saying, and having now finished putting on both the saddle and the bridle, and having buckled all the straps and fastened the girth, Rainbow put one hand, with the bridle in it, upon the pommel of the saddle, and the other upon the crupper, and then bounded upon the horse's back. Lucky immediately set off; and trotted briskly out of the stable and through the yard toward the road.

As he passed by the front door, Rainbow saw Toolie standing there all ready.

"You must wait a few minutes, Toolie," said he. "I am going down the road a little way first by myself and then I shall come for you."

So saying, he rode on.

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"Quiet, Lucky!" said Rainbow," quiet! Wait till you get out of Toolie's sight, and then you shall go."

So Lucky went on, restraining himself as well as he could, until at length he passed out of sight of the house.

"Now, Lucky!" said Rainbow.

As he said these words he dropped the bridle upon Lucky's neck, leaned forward in the saddle, pressed his knees against his sides, and, at the same time, uttered a peculiar cry, intended to let Lucky know that he was at full liberty, and also to cheer him onward. Lucky did not wait for a second signal. He sprang forward, and flew along the road like the wind.

After running on in this manner about a mile, Rainbow drew up the reins again, and called upon Lucky to come to a halt.

He then turned him, and came back to the house on a gentle trot.

"Now, Lucky," said Rainbow, "you have had your run, and I expect that you will be steady, at least until we get to the school-house, and Toolie gets off."

When he arrived at the door, he stopped and dismounted.

"Where have you been, Rainbow?" asked Toolie.

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"Only down the road a little way," replied Rainbow, "just to let Lucky see if his legs are all in order this morning."

"And are they all in order?" asked Toolie, very gravely.

"Yes," said Rainbow, "in excellent order. You'll see how nicely he'll carry you to school."

The mall-bag was lying upon the threshold of the door, all ready. Rainbow took it up and threw it over the saddle. He then brought out a chair, and set it upon the broad flat stone that served for a step before the door, and finally lifted Toolie up and let her stand upon it.

"Stand still, now," said Rainbow, "until I get on."

So Rainbow mounted the horse, and then, bringing him up close to the step, he reached out his arms and took Toolie up before him on the saddle.

"I'm afraid!" said Toolie.

"Yes," said Rainbow, "every body's afraid the first time they ride upon a horse. I expected that you would be afraid. But that's no matter. It does not hurt any body to be afraid, so don't you mind it."

The horse was now beginning to walk slowly away. Mrs. Holden stood at the window looking on.

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"I am afraid I shall fail," said Toolie. "See how high up I am!"

"Yes, but you are not half as high up as you would be if you were on an elephant," said Rainbow.

"Is an elephant very big?" asked Toolie.

"Yes," said Rainbow; "and he has got a kind of a long arm hanging down from the end of his nose, with something like a pair of fingers at the end of it that he can pick things up with."

Talking in this way to amuse Toolie, and to divert her mind from the danger she was in from being up so high, Rainbow drove on. He advanced very slowly, and Toolie soon began to feel entirely at her ease. At length the school-house came in sight, and very soon afterward Lucky arrived safely with his two passengers opposite the door.

The teacher, who had arrived at the schoolhouse but a few moments before, came to the door to see who was coming, and all the children that were there looked on also to see the strange sight of so little a scholar riding to school on horseback.

Rainbow drove up pretty near the door, and then the teacher came out to help take Toolie down. She was quite surprised to see Toolie

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THE SCHOOL-HOUSE.

coming to school in that way, and especially to see a colored boy bringing her.

"My name is Rainbow," said Rainbow, when the teacher had taken Toolie down. "I bring the mail."

Rainbow saw by the expression in the teacher's face, and also in those of the scholars, that they were curious to know who he was, and yet that they did not think it proper to ask, and so he volunteered to give them the information.

"I wish you would bring me a letter in the

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mail, then, the next time you come," said the teacher, with a smile.

"And me," said one of the older girls, timidly.

"And me," "And me," said the others. Very soon there was a general cry of "And me" from all the scholars. Rainbow laughed, and, turning his horse off into the road, again went on his way.

Toolie stood at the school-house door with the other scholars, and watched Rainbow until he was out of sight. The other children, in the mean time, gathered around her, and asked her a great many questions about him, some of which she could answer and others not. At length a little bell was heard to ring within the school-house, which was the signal for the children to come in, in order that the school might begin.

Toolie belonged to the youngest class. There were three or four other scholars of about her age, but, like Toolie herself, they were not very regular in coming to school. When they did come, the teacher called them together three times in the forenoon and three times in the afternoon, to say their letters. She gave them short lessons and frequent ones. For the rest of the time, she did not keep them confined to

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their seats in the school-house, but let them go and play together outside. They amused themselves in gathering flowers in the woods near, though they were forbidden to go out of sight of the building.

There was a sandy place on one side of the school-house, in a warm corner where the sun shone, and here the children used often to play making gardens. They used to dig up the sand with an old iron spoon which one of them brought to school to use as a shovel. They gathered plants and flowers out of the woods, and stuck them in rows in the sand, calling them by different names, according to a fancied resemblance which they bore to plants and trees growing in their fathers' gardens.

Their greatest pleasure was, however, in watering the garden. There was a spring a little way from the school-house, down a path which led by a gentle descent along a green bank, with a grove of trees on the upper side, and a prospect over the valley on the other. The spring was small, but the water in it was beautifully clear. It came out from under a large rock all covered with moss, and mossy banks inclosed it on every side but one, where there was a great flat stone for people to stand upon when they came to get water.

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The children used to go down to this spring with a tin mug, and after taking a good drink all round, they would bring up the mug full of water to water their gardens.

Whenever they heard the little bell ring at the school-house window, the rule was for them to leave whatever they were doing and come directly in to say their letters; then, after having said them, they were allowed to go out again.

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Rainbow experienced the advantage of the circumspection and forecast which he exercised in endeavoring to discover beforehand the difficulties which he was likely to meet in his work, and to provide for them in season, in one particular case, in quite a remarkable manner. It was in relation to the place described in one of the preceding chapters, where there was a bridge across the brook in the midst of a low, flat tract of land apparently subject to overflow.

There is something curious in respect to the operations of overflows and inundations upon brooks and rivers. They arise usually from obstructions of some sort in the channel below the place overflowed, in consequence of which the water can not pass off below as fast as it comes in above. If the water can pass off below as fast as it comes in from above, then, in case of a great rain, or the melting of a large quantity of snow, there would be a rise of the stream and an increase in the rapidity of the

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current, but there would be no considerable accumulation of water.

But when the channel below any point is obstructed, either by being naturally too narrow, or by being partly filled with rocks, or fallen trees, or any other cause, then the water can not flow off; and an accumulation ensues. In such a case, if the banks of the stream are low at the place where the accumulation takes place, the water rises above them and the land is overflowed.

When Rainbow came to the place where the bridge above referred to stood, he stopped his horse on the brink of the green and grassy land which formed the margin of the low place, and took a survey of the scene.

There was a little stream of water flowing through a broad but shallow channel which passed under the bridge. Between this channel and the green bank upon which Lucky stood was a wide expanse of low ground, perfectly dry, but covered with gravel, rounded stones, tangled masses of brushwood, and other indications of its being often overflowed. Through this scene of ruin and desolation the road was seen winding its way to the bridge. The bridge, as has already been said, was raised very high, so as to be up out of the reach of

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the water, the road being made to ascend to it at each end.

The road was very rough across the whole tr