no POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



this girl, who had been transferred from a floorless wigwam into 

 a civilized kitchen, was at first careless about keeping the floor 

 as clean as it should be, had, by the promise of some desired gift 

 in addition to her wages, so fired her zeal that it seemed as though 

 every hour that could be saved from her other necessary duties was 

 spent in scrubbing that kitchen floor. Mary was never difficult 

 to find, as was often the case with other Indian girls; if missed 

 from other duties, she was always found scrubbing her kitchen. 



In some way or other — how we do not profess to know — Jack 

 discovered this, which had become to us a source of amusement, 

 and here he succeeded in annoying her, where in many other ways 

 which he had tried he had only been humiliated and disgraced. He 

 would, when the floor had just been scrubbed, march in and walk 

 over it with his feet made as dirty as tramping in the worst places 

 outside could make them. At other times he would plunge into 

 the lake, and instead of, as usual, thoroughly shaking himself dry 

 on the rocks, would wait until he had marched in upon Mary's 

 spotless floor. At other times, when Jack noticed that Mary was 

 about to begin scrubbing her floor he would deliberately stretch 

 himself out in a prominent place on it, and doggedly resist, yet 

 without any growling or biting, any attempt on her part to get 

 him to move. In vain would she coax or scold or threaten. Once 

 or twice, by some clever stratagem, such as pretending to feed the 

 other dogs outside or getting them excited and furiously barking, 

 as though a bear or some other animal were being attacked, did 

 she succeed in getting him out. But soon he found her out, and 

 then he paid not the slightest attention to any of these things. 

 Once when she had him outside she securely fastened the door to 

 keep him out until her scrubbing would be done; Furiously did 

 Jack rattle at the latch, but the door was otherwise so secured 

 that he could not open it. Getting discouraged in his efforts to 

 open the door in the usual way, he went to the woodpile and seizing 

 a large billet in his mouth he came and so pounded the door with 

 it that Mary, seeing that there was great danger of the panel being- 

 broken in, was obliged to open the door and let in the dog. Jack 

 proudly marched in to the kitchen with the stick of wood in his 

 mouth. This he carried to the wood box, and, when he had placed 

 it there, he coolly stretched himself out on the floor where he would 

 be the biggest nuisance. 



Seeing Jack under such circumstances on her kitchen floor, 

 poor ]\[ary could stand it no longer, and so she came marching in 

 to my study, and in vigorous picturesque language in her native 

 Cree described Jack's various tricks and schemes to annoy her and 

 thus hinder her in her work. She ended up by the declaration 



