severest weather, he would not
let them cross his threshold. He never would speak to or look at a
woman, and would always avoid meeting them, if possible. Poor fellow,
he had a dreadful end. He was missing for several days, and at last
some of the town's-people broke into his house, and found him dead,
with his head badly burned. They supposed he was intoxicated, and
fell, striking his head upon the andiron, which stunned him; and while
he lay helpless, he was so badly burned that he soon died. And that
was the last of poor old Zigzag."

"There was another story Uncle James used to tell, about the naming of
Barre, in Vermont; do you recollect it, mother?" inquired Mrs. Preston.

"Yes, indeed, and I 've heard old Dr. Paddock tell it many a time. He
was there, and saw it all. The people did n't like the name of their
town, which was Wildersburgh, and determined to have a new one, and so
they met together in town-meeting, to talk the matter over. One of the
leading men came from Barre, Massachusetts, and he wanted the town to
take that name. Another prominent citizen came from Holden,
Massachusetts, and he insisted that the town should be called Holden.
The people liked both of these names well enough, and it was finally
determined that the question should be decided by a game of boxing,
between these two men. So the meeting adjourned to a new barn, with a
rough hemlock plank floor, and the contest commenced. After boxing
awhile, one of them threw the other upon the floor, and sprang upon him
at full length; but the one who was underneath dealt his blows so
skilfully, that his opponent soon gave in; and rolling the Holden man
out of the way, he jumped up and shouted, 'There, the name is Barre!'
and Barre it hasten, to this day. The next day, the man who won this
victory had to call on the doctor to extract from his back the hemlock
splinters he had received while struggling on the barn floor."

Thus the evening was beguiled with stories, mingled with a few songs by
Alice and Ella, and a few favorite airs upon the piano-forte. Before
the hour of retiring arrived, even Oscar was quite reconciled to the
loss of the evening's entertainment away from home which he had
promised himself.

CHAPTER VIII.

GRANDMOTHER LEE.

Mrs. Lee, the grandmother of the Preston children, remained with the
family for several weeks, after Thanksgiving. Her visit was, on the
whole, a pleasant one, though there were some s