3 52 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[September, 
hay-mow, where there was the same rain music on the 
roof, you will think of those, and say to yourselves, 
“ Then we were really having a good time.”—There is no 
end of ways in which hoys and girls can have a good time, 
if they only know how. Having a good 
time doesn’t very much depend upon 
what else one has. If one’s parents 
are rich, and can afford pony carriages 
for the girls, and fancy boats for the 
boys, those boys and girls do not have 
any better time than those who can 
not have these things ; they have their 
good time in another way—that is all. 
In the pictures on this page, the artist 
has given his ideas of a good time 
among youngsters, and the lower pic¬ 
ture illustrates what we were just say¬ 
ing. The boys and girls who are tak¬ 
ing a drive in the basket wagon, are 
having a real good time, but not a bit 
better than the boys who are having 
their good time in fishing ; indeed, the 
boy who has seated himself on the 
railing of the bridge, showing the re¬ 
sults of his sport, is far from envying 
those who roll along in the carriage. 
He no doubt says to himself, “ Driv¬ 
ing out in that way is all well enough 
when you can't do anything else, but 
for a real good time, let me go a fish¬ 
ing.”—Then the other picture shows 
a good time of another sort. It rains, 
and where else should the children 
go but to the garret ? Where else are 
there such hidden treasures, and such 
dark and mysterious poke-holes, with 
all the old bonnets of past fashions, 
and all the long-forgotten toys? But 
though the roof upon which the rain 
drops patter so pleasantly, is perfect¬ 
ly tight, and the garret dry, to have 
a real good time, the youngsters must 
have an umbrella, and play that they 
would get wet without it; the horse— 
no matter if he does get wet, but the 
doll, she must he kept carefully under 
the umbrella. So the rain rattles on 
the roof, and the dear little ones keep under the umbrella 
as carefully as if there were no roof—and many times 
more pleasantly. When these children get to be men 
and women, they may read in books about “ the pleas¬ 
ures of the imagination,” and then will think—“Ah, the 
greatest pleasure I ever had in imagination, was under 
an umbrella in a garret, playing that it rained hard, when 
the rain was all out-side.”—We have said that 
They wanted me to bring my dog to help in the hunt for 
a child who had lost his way the night before. The 
friends of the child had been looking for him all night 
and all day, and had not found him. I started with Ponto 
in search of him, first finding the 
child’s track, which I showed to Ponto. 
The dog did not at once understand 
what I wanted of him, but I got one of 
the boy’s stockings, and let Ponto 
smell of it, and I then showed him the 
track; this time he understood what I 
wanted. He started off on the run, but 
I called him back, and got some bread 
and meat, and I also filled my canteen 
with water, and tied this with the 
bread and meat to the neck of the dog, 
and started him off once more. We 
followed as long as we could hear 
Ponto bark, and when we had no longer 
this to guide us, we camped for the 
night, and a clear and moon-light night 
it was. We stayed in our camp until 
day-light, when we began to listen and 
look around, and try if we could see 
or hear anything of the dog or child. 
After waiting, and hearing or seeing 
nothing, we started off in different, di¬ 
rections. It was ten o’clock in the fore¬ 
noon, before our most careful searching 
and listening were rewarded. At last, 
as I gained an elevated ridge, I heard 
the dog bark, and you may be sure that 
we started off quickly enough towards 
the sound. As I came nearer I whistled. 
Then Ponto came running toward me, 
and back he would bounce again to 
where he was barking at first. On 
coming up, there was the boy lying 
under a bush, and fast asleep 1 The 
poor little fellow was frightened when 
we awoke him, but he soon got over it, 
and asked for his mamma, and was told 
that we would take him to her. Then 
we asked him how he came to get lost. 
He said that he started out to find,his 
papa, and that he kept on traveling un¬ 
til after dark, when he got so tired that 
he lay down and went to sleep. He stayed in that place 
until morning, and then he got up and tried to get home, 
but not being able to go any farther, he lay down where we 
found him. He said that when the dog came, he was at 
first afraid of him, but he saw the things on him, called 
the dog to him, and took them off. The dog would not 
leave the boy until we came, but ran around and around 
the lost bov and barked. The little fellow was 
time, is to try and make the time pleasant for your com¬ 
panions. No matter whether it is boys with boys, girls 
with girls, or both together, let each one try his or her 
very best, that each and all of the others shall have a 
good time, and those who do this will learn the secret of 
having the very best possible good time themselves. 
Ponto, (lie Trapper’s Irtog’. 
The following dog-story comes from R. J. Hamill, Ver¬ 
mont, who heard it related when traveling in the far west. 
The iln" lvas with the tranner when he told the storv. 
HAVING A GOOD TIME OUT OF DOORS. 
girls can have a good time if they “ only knew how,”— 
and perhaps you are waiting for us to tell you “how.” 
It is a groat and important “ secret,” but we will tell 
you that the only real, original, No. 1 way to have a good 
“ Gentlemen, I have had that dog these six years, and I 
never saw a dog that knew more. Four years ago I 
was trapping in Nebraska. One evening when I came 
home, I found several of the settlers waiting for me, 
miles from home. Had it not been for this good old 
Ponto, we very likely would not have found the boy 
alive. Some dogs, gentlemen, know a great deal 
more than some men, and Ponto is one of them." 
