tight grip and pull hard to lift her out; this hurt her arm slightly, but I did not want to take any chance of letting her slip and get jammed more tightly, and farther in. She was very cross at me for pulling her so hard. Her mother was very thankful to me and when she had time to explain it to the child she would be thankful too. I went on ' and never saw either of them afterwards. I was very glad I happened along at the time, for the child could not live there very long. I was ‘ not in any danger myself, except of slipping in head first. The case only needed prompt action and a little acrobatic skill.

"The Alpha” and My First Sea Voyage

Before there were roads the settlers travelled much by canoes made out of great pine logs.

My brother and a cousin who kept a store at North Lake, built a vessel; they named it “The Alpha” from the first letter in the Greek alphabet. It indicated not only their first but their ambition and ex- pectation to build others. It was a small craft of thirty-one tons. They built it near my uncle’s barn; which was near a creek that ran into the lake. They planned to launch it into the lake, and float it to the sea through a channel that connected the lake with the sea. The first part of the plan was a glorious success, but the last part miscar- ried. The launching into the lake was a great event. When it went afloat, temporary sails were set and, with flags flying, it was sailed to

the harbour.

There was a large number of guests and friends on board and great, rejoicing and cheering. My joy was overflowing. It was the first vessel that ever sailed on that lake. The spectators along the shores viewed it with admiration and wonder. When we got to the channel, we found to our disappointment, that there was not sufficient depth of water in it to float the vessel. This channel was about hallC a mile long, winding around the great sand flats. After shoveling and pulling for some days the attempt was abandoned. The vessel was then pulled to where the land between the lake and the sea was narrowest and it was lifted out of the lake and drawn on skids to the sea; this was a hard and tedious task. There was a crowd of men and

boys there for days. It was a glorious time for me; I had an excuse 1

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