Hopkins's Pond. n 



sympathy which is the sweetest of femi- 

 nine characteristics, and promptly sided 

 with the injured ones. Such was the boy's 

 first experience in competing for gains ; 

 but in later life he found that whenever 

 perseverance and work made him suc- 

 cessful over others who were less inter- 

 ested than he they at first refused to 

 believe, and when forced to believe de- 

 cided that he must have employed unfair 

 means. 



The boy was very much grieved at the 

 attitude of his companions, whose esteem 

 and good-fellowship were more to him 

 than the muskrat skins or the powder and 

 shot that they would buy. The problem 

 at one time seemed to end at nothing 

 short of his giving up the profitable trap- 

 ping and letting the other boys do it all ; 

 but finally he hit upon the plan of telling 

 them of his best tricks, and showing them 

 the good trapping places that he had dis- 

 covered at times when they were com- 

 fortably snoozing in bed. That eased the 

 strained relations somewhat, but as the 

 best luck, unfortunately, continued to pur- 



