y to allow us to kill any of them for food.

The winter, which rapidly came on, though severe, was shorter than in
more northern latitudes, but by that time our house was in a
sufficiently forward condition to resist the cold, and our stoves were
kept well supplied with logs. I must pass over the events of that
period.

Our evenings, and a portion of every day, when the Dominie was at home,
were spent in receiving instruction from him; my sister and Lily being
also his pupils. He at all events, stored their minds with useful
knowledge, although unable to instruct them in those feminine
accomplishments which young ladies in eastern cities consider of so much
importance. A piano they had never seen, but they knew what it was like
from pictures. They, however, had guitars, which Uncle Denis purchased
from some Mexicans, and they became very fair musicians, being able to
accompany their voices on the instruments with taste and skill. My
father taught them drawing, albeit their lessons were few and far
between; but they showed an aptitude for the art, and made good use of
their pencils. They were, notwithstanding this, accomplished in all
household matters, while they diligently plied their needles and made
puddings and cakes of unsurpassed excellence.

I have mentioned this merely to show that young ladies in the wilderness
may, if they have the will, obtain as fair an amount of useful knowledge
and elegant accomplishments as those who are generally supposed to be
their sole possessors. I am, however, describing them as they were in
subsequent years. At present they were but young girls, though
improving daily in mind and person.

Uncle Denis had long wished to carry out his cherished plan of forming a
menagerie by taming the wild animals of the country, which he averred he
could do by proper treatment.

The difficulty, however, was to take them alive when young enough to
benefit by his proposed training.

"I should like to have a fine young grizzly, though I suspect he would
prove rather an obstinate pupil," remarked Uncle Denis in Dio's hearing.

Some time after this Dio came to me and said, "Me tinkee me get b'ar
'fore long for Massa Denis an' gib him pleasant surprise."

On inquiring how he expected to do this, he told me that he had
discovered a nest of honey-bees in a wood a short distance from the
house, and that twice on returning home late in the evening he had seen
a shaggy beast, which he was sur