184 UP AND DOWN THE BROOKS. 



Some boys must have a faculty for getting more 

 money than others out of that Frenchman, or else 

 the frogs they catch are bigger than those caught 

 by others, for this boy, on my mentioning one fel- 

 low who had received a dollar, said, " That 's for 

 a dozen." 



The dead frog in the pool was estimated by this 

 young financier to be worth about ten cents, if 

 the creature had been in good condition. 



This youngster and his companions tramped on 

 up the stream, and left me to sit down on the 

 bank in blissful solitude. But it was only for a 

 moment. A boy and two dogs came along the 

 side of the bank. The boy was bent on giving 

 ' the dogs a bath, and he did so, seizing them by 

 the neck and back and throwing them in. They 

 were good sized-fellows, half Newfoundland, but 

 not yet full grown, and they did hate their bath, 

 but they had to endure it. Their master regaled 

 me with a tale of the way in which he had tried 

 to make them swim in salt water, and how they 

 swam in it to some schooner, thinking it was 

 land, and then the poor, disappointed brutes had 

 to turn around and swim back. The boy was 

 afraid they would drown, and indeed they were 

 quite exhausted on reaching land. 



This boy was quite a communicative, pleasant 

 little fellow. He was full of ideas about bugs, 

 and anxious to know more, and volunteered the 

 information that frogs have to come to the top 



