26 DAYS IN THE OPEN 



he should keep the boy-spirit through all the ex- 

 periences of life. The man who has entirely 

 ceased to be a boy is disqualified. 



This particular grandsire filled the bill com- 

 pletely. He never scolded, and never even grew 

 tired of answering questions. When the little lad 

 had reached the sled age, the cunning hands of his 

 grandfather built him one that could easily dis- 

 tance all competitors. When skates had become 

 an obsession, it was the same benefactor who in- 

 vested his hard-earned money in the most wonder- 

 ful pair that the boy had ever seen, and surrepti- 

 tiously taught him to use them before the anxious 

 mother knew anything about it. But the crowning 

 day among all the many that these two spent to- 

 gether was that upon which the older boy taught 

 the younger how to use a gun. The gun was a 

 family heirloom, and tradition said that it had 

 done duty in the Revolutionary War. The old flint 

 lock had been removed and a percussion lock sub- 

 stituted; but the hammer refused to stay cocked. 

 When it was fired, whatever might be the re- 

 sult to the object fired at, no uncertainty could 

 be felt about the consequences to the firer; he 

 was kicked certainly, promptly, and vigorously. 



On an historic morning in the winter, when 

 the grandfather was going into the woods to chop, 

 he took the boy's breath away by saying, "If you 

 want to go with me to-day and take along the old 

 shotgun, you may, possibly, shoot a squirrel." 



