OLD HOMESTEAD 



alone, and probably more so from seeing the demoralized con- 

 dition which I was in. Father soon came home, and, after 

 putting out his team and eating his supper, took me on his knee 

 in front of the big fire-place and questioned me as to what had 

 happened. I told him that I thought he was not going to come 

 back, and that I heard something which scared me. He knew 

 that it was owls that had given me the panic, for he also had 

 heard them. Then he told me what was the punishment inflicted 

 upon soldiers left on guard who deserted their posts. I was 

 not old enough to fully understand and appreciate the joke, but 

 quite old enough to know that I had disgraced myself and that 

 I did not want to go through the same experience again. 



When thirteen or fourteen years old, it became necessary 

 that some one should boil all night, and I undertook the job. 

 Birney Huson, a nephew, a year or two younger than myself, 

 stayed with me. We got along very well through the night and 

 kept up a good fire and ''boiled in" a large amount of sap, 

 syruping down and taking out a nice batch about twelve or one 

 o'clock. 



When daylight came, a boyish curiosity took possession of 

 us to go over to an adjoining bush, run by one George Charnick, 

 to see how he got along. We found that he had also boiled all 

 night and was still hard at work. Having satisfied our curiosity 

 and finished our morning call, we started leisurely for home. 



About the time we reached the top of hemlock hill I smelled 

 burning sugar. It took but an instant for me to realize what 

 had happened — the pan was boiling over and the syrup burn- 

 ing. I started on a run, going down the hill by long jumps, and 

 soon left Birney far in the rear. The farther I went towards 

 the sugar-house, the stronger the odor of burning sugar. As I 

 passed the little brook and the slippery-elm tree, the woods 



