ies, and the plenty
that be here!" And looking down upon the viands spread before him he
added, "The Lord be good to the boy, and make him as happy in his city
home as be they who be wearin' and eatin' his gifts in the woods!"

"Amen!" said the woman softly, and a grateful tear fell on her plate.

"A--hem!" said Wild Bill; and then looking down upon his warm suit, he
lifted his voice, and, bringing it out in a clear, strong tone, said,
"_Amen! hit or miss!_"

At many a table that day more formal grace was said, by priest and
layman alike, and at many a table, by lips of old and young, response
was given to the benediction; but we doubt if over all the earth a
more honest grace was said or more honestly assented to than the Lord
heard from the cabin in the woods.

The feast and the merrymaking now began. The Old Trapper was in his
best mood, and fairly bubbled over with humor. The wit of Wild Bill
was naturally keen, and it flashed at its best as he ate. The children
stuffed and laughed as only children on such an elastic occasion can.
And as for the poor woman, it was impossible for her, in the midst of
such a scene, to be otherwise than happy, and she joined modestly in
the conversation, and laughed heartily at the witty sallies.

But why should we strive to put on paper the wise, the funny, and the
pleasant things that were said, the exclamations, the laughter, the
story, the joke, the verbal thrust and parry of such an occasion?
These, springing from the center of the circumstance, and flashed into
being at the instant, cannot be preserved for after-rehearsal. Like
the effervescence of champagne, they jet and are gone; their force
passes away with the noise that accompanied its out-coming.

Is it not enough to record that the dinner was a success, that the
Trapper's meats were put upon the table in a manner worthy of his
reputation, that the woman's efforts at pastry-making were generously
applauded, and that Wild Bill's tea and coffee were pronounced by the
hostess the best she had ever tasted? Perhaps no meal was ever more
enjoyed, as certainly none was ever more heartily eaten.

The wonder and pride of the table was the pudding,--a creation of
Indian meal, flour, suet, and raisins, re-enforced and assisted by
innumerable spicy elements supposed to be too mysterious to be grasped
by the masculine mind. In the production of this wonderful
centerpiece,--for it had been unanimously voted the place of
honor,--t