Il6 THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
know what kind of a character I am myself, I 
cannot justly call in question any judgment 
which others may form of me, and so must 
leave events to shape themselves, hoping that 
at last I may come out something less terrible 
than a monster of meanness. But now let us 
see to getting the girls into the boat, lest they 
think us boors as well as stingy; and may a 
kind Providence speed our voyage !” 
The morning was a bright and balmy one, 
and when all were safely seated in the boat— 
a neat four-oared one belonging to Milton— 
Davidson, who was one of the skilled oarsmen 
of his college, took one pair of oars and Milton 
the other, and they were soon speeding their 
way across the water. With some gentle slopes 
which skirted the distance beyond the lake and 
peat-bog, and the thick clumps of spruce and 
larch decked in the richest green, the landscape 
was not without special attractions. To these 
points of scenic beauty Milton called the atten¬ 
tion of his friends, that they might not go away 
with the impression that his home-surroundings 
were wholly destitute of the picturesque. 
“You will see,” said he, addressing his visit¬ 
ors, “ that our little lakelet and the quiet ham- 
