X. HIGHDAYS AND HOLIDAYS 110
XI. MUSTERS AND ELECTIONS 121
XII. PETS 133
XIII. GUNS AND GUNNING 148
XIV. FORAGING 161
XV. MY BOY 171
XVI. OTHER BOYS 183
XVII. FANTASIES AND SUPERSTITIONS 197
XVIII. THE NATURE OF BOYS 205
XIX. THE TOWN ITSELF 215
XX. TRAITS AND CHARACTERS 228
XXI. LAST DAYS 237

ILLUSTRATIONS.

"ONE DAY HE CAME UP TO MY BOY WHERE HE SAT FISHING" _Frontispiece._
THE "FIRST LOCK" _Facing p._ 2
"THE PASSENGER IS A ONE-LEGGED MAN" " 8
"RUN, RUN! THE CONSTABLE WILL CATCH YOU!" " 18
"HE TOLD THEM THAT HE HAD GOT THEM NOW" " 44
"THAT HONOR WAS RESERVED FOR MEN OF THE KIND I HAVE
MENTIONED" " 50
"A CITIZEN'S CHARACTER FOR CLEVERNESS OR MEANNESS
WAS FIXED BY HIS WALKING ROUND OR OVER THE RINGS" " 82
KITE TIME " 92
"THE BOYS BEGAN TO CELEBRATE IT WITH GUNS AND PISTOLS" " 110
THE "BUTLER GUARDS" " 122
"ALL AT ONCE THERE THE INDIANS WERE" " 150
FORAGING " 168
"THE BEACON OF DEATH " " 180
"HE ALWAYS RAN BY THE PLACE AS FAST AS HE COULD" " 198
"THE ARTIST SEEMED SATISFIED HIMSELF" " 220
"MY BOY REMEMBERS COMING FROM CINCINNATI IN THE STAGE" " 224

A BOY'S TOWN.

I.

EARLIEST EXPERIENCES.

I CALL it a Boy's Town because I wish it to appear to the reader as a
town appears to a boy from his third to his eleventh year, when he
seldom, if ever, catches a glimpse of life much higher than the middle
of a man, and has the most distorted and mistaken views of most things.
He may then indeed look up to the sky, and see heaven