ALONG FOUR-FOOTED TRAILS 



up the hill to the house Joe promised me he 

 would not molest the muskrats in the homes 

 we had watched with so much pleasure during 

 their progress of construction. In time I grew 

 to think about as Joe did upon the subject, but 

 I loved the wild animals too well to ever join 

 in capturing them again. We received from 

 fifteen to eighteen cents apiece for our twenty- 

 eight skins according to their size and condition, 

 making four dollars and sixty-five cents for our 

 day's work. 



With this money I purchased, with my 

 mother's aid, my first books. During the re- 

 mainder of the winter, when Joe was not trap- 

 ping muskrats or other small game, we spent 

 the time sitting on a bench behind the stove 

 reading the books together. 



