

ALONG FOUR-FOOTED TRAILS 



than three quarters of an hour. During this 

 interesting object-lesson Ella learned through 

 her teacher that if our minds are rightly trained 

 we can be benefited and learn new and valuable 

 lessons even through our seeming enemies. 



For several years Ella's father and his neigh- 

 bors were kept poor by the partial destruction 

 of their crops by the grasshoppers, but this year 

 both drouth and hot winds were added, laying 

 waste all vegetation for miles around. The 

 farmers were left destitute and were obliged to 

 call upon relatives and friends in the East for 

 both food and clothing. 



Ella's father secured work in a distant county 

 where the farmers were less unfortunate, leav- 

 ing Ella and her mother alone on their farm. 

 They were expecting a letter from him by that 

 day's stage. Ella, with her sunbonnet drawn 

 over her face to shield it from the burning sun, 

 sat by the roadside and listened for the rattling 

 noise of the welcome old stage-coach. As it 

 drew near she rose to meet the driver and take 

 the mail-sack ; for their house served as the 

 mail distributing point for the widely scattered 

 neighbors. 



[262] 



