alone that bright November
afternoon in the brush where the Indian pony had dropped him. All the
games they had tried on the previous day were repeated anew by the
youngsters, and many freshly invented were enjoyed, including a romp in
the snow, with the sled that one of the miners had fashioned for the
Christmas-tree.

That evening a larger contingent of the men who hungered for the
atmosphere of home came early to the little house and joined in the
games. Laughter made them all one human family, and songs were sung
that took them back to farms and clearings and villages, far away in
the Eastern States, where sweethearts, mothers, wives, and sisters
ofttimes waited and waited for news of a wanderer, lured far away by
the glint of silver and gold. The notes of birds, the chatter of
brooks, the tinkle of cow-bells came again, with the dreams of a
barefoot boy.

Something of calm and a newer hope and fresher resolution was
vouchsafed to them all when the wholesome young preacher held a homely
service, in response to their earnest request.

"Life is a mining for gold," said he, "and every human breast is a
mother-lode of the precious metal--if only some one can find the
out-croppings, locate a claim, and come upon the ledge. There are
toils, privations, and sufferings, which the search for gold brings
forever in its train. There are pains and miseries and woe in the
search for the gold in men, but, boys, it's a glorious life! There is
something so honest, so splendid, in taking the metal from the earth!
No one is injured, every one is helped. And when the gold in a man is
found, think what a gift it is to the world and to God! I am a miner
myself, but I make no gold. It is there, in the hill, or in the man,
where God has put it away, and all that you and I can do is to work,
though our hands be blistered and our hearts be sore, until we come
upon the treasure at the last. We hasten here, and we scramble there,
wheresoever the glint seems brightest, the field most promising; but
the gold I seek is everywhere, and, boys, there is gold on gold in
Borealis!

"In the depth of the tunnel or the shaft you need a candle, throwing
out its welcome rays, to show you how to work the best and where to
dig, as you follow the lead. In the search for gold the way is very
often dark, so we'll sing a hymn that I think you will like, and then
we'll conclude with a prayer.

"Children--girls--we will all start it off together