death.

"He thanked his God in ardent wise,
Kneeling 'twixt shine and shade;
Then lowered his still half-moistened eyes
O'er the keen axe's blade.

"_Two hairs clung to it!_... thence, he turned
Where the huge log had rolled,
And there in tempered sunlight burned
A quivering curl of gold.

"The small thing looked alive!... it stirred
By breeze and sunbeam kissed,
And fluttered like an Orient bird,
Half-glimpsed through sunrise mist.

"Oh! keen and sheer the axe-edge smote
The perfect curl apart!
Even _now_, through tingling head and throat,
I feel the old terror dart.

"My father kept his treasure long,
'Mid seasons grave or gay,
Till to death's plaintive curfew-song,
Calmly he passed away.

"I, too, the token still so fair,
Have held with tendance true;
And dying, this memorial hair
I'll leave, dear lad, to you!"

PAUL H. HAYNE.

EVAN COGWELL'S ICE FORT.

In the early days of Northern Ohio, when settlers were few and far
between, Evan Cogswell, a Welsh lad of sixteen years, found his way
thither and began his career as a laborer, receiving at first but two
dollars a month in addition to his board and "home-made" clothing. He
possessed an intelligent, energetic mind in a sound and vigorous body,
and had acquired in his native parish the elements of an education in
both Welsh and English.

The story of his life, outlined in a curious old diary containing
the records of sixty-two years, and an entry for more than twenty-two
thousand days, would constitute a history of the region, and some of
its passages would read like high-wrought romance.

His first term of service was with a border farmer on the banks of a
stream called Grand River, in Ashtabula County. It was rather crude
farming, however, consisting mostly of felling trees, cutting wood and
saw-logs, burning brush, and digging out stumps, the axe and pick-axe
finding more use than ordinary farm implements.

Seven miles down the river, and on the opposite bank, lived the
nearest neighbors, among them a blacksmith who in his trade served
the whole country for twenty miles around. One especial part of his
business was the repairing of axes, called in that day "jumping," or
"upsetting."

In midwinter Evan's employer left a couple of axes with the blacksmith
for repairs, the job to be done within a week. At this time the
weather was what is termed "settled," with dee