FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 95 



ated in the same way for the past year. 

 And it also has a familiar sound when they 

 add that they do not know how long this 

 condition of affairs may continue. 



I looked into the hole, which they have 

 lined with an iron pipe about six inches in 

 diameter, and a very black hole it is, and 

 far on the road toward Calcutta. We all 

 supposed that we should strike rock within 

 a few feet from the surface, and find a suit 

 able supply of water shortly after. Hut 

 fortune did not favour us, and now I am 

 tied, as it were, to the interior of the earth 

 by a mysterious channel. It is a precious 

 possession. Nobody else in the neighbour 

 hood owns such a hole, and though I some 

 times hear of depredations in the village or 

 on the surrounding farms, fruit taken or po 

 tatoes dug, or, as, alas ! in a recent case, 

 even a horse stolen, I am not afraid of any 

 one pulling this up and carrying it off. It 

 is one thing which I shall be able to keep, 

 and I shall make the most of it. 



And now I am going to let out a little 

 secret, which will betray my own ignorance. 

 When I had written that word &quot;parapher 

 nalia&quot; a little way back, it being a rather 

 formidable word, I did as I often do in such 

 cases, I referred to a small dictionary to 



