the heaps of golden coin are."

"I think you'll get into places where you can't get out; 'open sesame'
will never lift you out of a marsh hole," said William Pitt Gaylord,
our eldest brother.

"Mollie, you can find somebody to have a talking match with, for there
are lots of chipmunks over in the grove," remarked Hugh.

"I've seen snakes in that very woods, too, and if you'd holler, Lib,
at that end of the pond, as you do at this end of the tea-table, you
wouldn't catch any fish," said William. This caused an uproarious
laugh on the part of the boys.

We listened quietly to their sarcastic remarks, knowing they were
prompted by an unreasonable desire to monopolize the delights of the
woods to themselves.

William Pitt remarked that "Girls had no business to meddle with boys'
sports, and they'd come to grief if they did; you'd see!"

Next morning the August haze lay soft on the landscape, but in a
short time it went off, and Father, learning that we girls were going
to spend a part of the day in the woods, quietly told the boys that
they must escort us to the pleasantest place, and not wander very far
off. They pouted considerably, and had a talk at the corner of the
barn; they then came back, smiling, and apparently good-natured.

[Illustration: {WALKING THROUGH THE FIELDS.}]

Our brothers did not intend to be unkind, but they had the common
failing of humanity--selfishness. But Lib matched them in a dozen ways
with her good-humored retaliations; and many a tilt she had with
William Pitt since we had arrived at the farm. In the city she was
abreast of him in all his studies; and I noticed that Lib could get
out her Latin, and write a composition much faster than he, and often
he had been obliged to come to her for aid. It nettled Lib not to be
able to hunt and fish. We two younger ones modeled after her; she was
the leader, and when she said we would go with the boys, we went.

"Hello Fred," said Hugh, as a neighboring boy, a city boarder, came
through the gate, attired in base-ball cap and knickerbockers, "we
can't go to Duck Inlet to-day. Father says the girls must have a good
time, too, and that we must devote one day to them, at least."

"All right," said Fred, "can I go with you? I'll go and get my
butterfly net, and we can go over to Fern Hollow mill, the
winter-greens and berries are as thick there! Gracious! you can get a
quart pail full in no time. The mill-wheel is a beautiful sight," said
Fred, t