ready to meet the attack. The animal crept slowly nearer to him, just as he was ready to strike it he discovered it was Old Tom. The cat knew him and came up and rubbed against him, in his most plead- ing cat fashion, and followed him home. We felt ashamed of the mean way we tried to get rid of the gentle old cat, and we let it stay about the place until it disappeared and never returned.

Raiding An Apple Orchard

When I was about fourteen years of age I went away six miles from home to learn the boot and shoe-making trade. My employer was not married and had no housekeeper, so I had to do most of the cooking. There was a young Frenchman there, who had finished his apprenticeship and was working as a journeyman. He was a good workman and full of mischief. The boss often left us in charge of the shop. We worked until nine or ten o’clock at night; then we usu- ally took a‘run on the road for fresh air and exercise. The neighbour boys often came in to spend the evening; they gave us the news and

doings of the district for many miles around. We exchanged stories and jokes and had lively times. We planned hikes and mischievous tricks, and many kinds of boyish pranks. One evening in the early fall the boss was away, several boys came in; they proposed we get some apples. There were very few orchards for many miles around; apples were a rare treat. There was one small orchard less than two miles away; one of the boys had been there and found the apples de- licious. He soon got the others to join him in a raid on the orchard. There were at least four dangers on which we had to calculate a. risk: the road to the place was through a thick woods where bears were fre- quently seen, then the people who owned the orchard kept a large watchdog, which was more dangerous to us than the bears. Besides these the orchard was close to the kitchen door, and there were two or three men in the household who if they caught any of us would likely give us a severe beating. To crown the list of dangers, they kept a gun and might shoot at us, at least with fine shot or peas. I did not Want to go, but I was afraid to stay alone in the shop. While the danger of the raid was far greater than staying alone in the shop the fear of it was less, because there was a gang of us. The boy who had

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