PEPACTON 



exhausted, and at the right moment down came the 

 club with great force upon the small of her back. 

 " If a fly had alighted upon her," said Mr. Knapp, 

 "I think she would have paid just as much atten- 

 tion to it as she did to me." 



Early in the afternoon I encountered another 

 boy, Henry Ingersoll, who was so surprised by my 

 sudden and unwonted appearance that he did not 

 know east from west. "Which way is west?" I 

 inquired, to see if my own head was straight on 

 the subject. 



"That way," he said, indicating east within a 

 few degrees. 



"You are wrong," I replied. "Where does the 

 sun rise?" 



"There," he said, pointing almost in the direc- 

 tion he had pointed before. 



"But does not the sun rise in the east here as 

 well as elsewhere ? " I rejoined. 



" Well, they call that west, anyhow." 



But Henry's needle was subjected to a disturbing 

 influence just then. His house was near the river, 

 and he was its sole guardian and keeper for the 

 time; his father had gone up to the next neighbor's 

 (it was Sunday), and his sister had gone with the 

 schoolmistress 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 

 32 



