PEPACTON: A SUMMER VOYAGE. 37 



mistress down the road to get black birch. He came 

 out in the road, with wide eyes, to view me as I 

 passed, when I drew rein, and demanded the points 

 of the compass, as above. Then I shook my sooty 

 pail at him and asked for milk. Yes, I could have 

 some milk, but I would have to wait till his sister 

 came back ; after he had recovered a little, he con- 

 cluded he could get it. He came for my pail, and 

 then his boyish curiosity appeared. My story inter- 

 ested him immensely. He had seen twelve summers, 

 but he had only been four miles from home up 

 and down the river : he had been down to the East 

 Branch, and he had been up to Trout Brook. He 

 took a pecuniary interest in me. What did my pole 

 cost ? What my rubber coat, and what my revolver ? 

 The latter he must take in his hand ; he had never 

 seen such a thing to shoot with before in his life, etc. 

 He thought I might make the trip cheaper and easier 

 by stage and by the cars. He went to school : there 

 were six scholars in summer, one or two more in 

 winter. The population is not crowded in the town 

 of Hancock, certainly, and never will be. The peo- 

 ple live close to the bone, as Thoreau would say, or 

 rather close to the stump. Many years ago the young 

 men there resolved upon having a ball. They con- 

 cluded not to go to a hotel, on account of the ex- 

 pense, and so chose a private house. There was a 

 man in the neighborhood who could play the fife ; he 

 iffered to furnish the music for seventy-five cents. 

 But this was deemed too much, so one of the party 



