ng been taught to disbelieve in such things, and always to seek for some natural explanation of whatever appeared supernatural

d water, and straw matting was laid on the floors of the rooms down-stairs. The broken windows were all repaired by Mark, who found several boxes of glass and a bladder of putty among the building material they had brought from Bangor, an

at thus remained boxed up, or wrapped in burlaps, was one which none of them could remember having seen before. It was large and square, and different in shape from anything that had stood in their house in Nort

ter-tight, and at breakfast-time the following morning Mrs. E

?" "Certainly," replied his mother; "you may, if you w

oon find out what's inside those burlaps," exclaimed the boy,

of boards that almost formed a box around the package, and

rs. Beneath the burlaps was a thick layer of straw; then came heavy wrapping-paper, and, under this, lay

l its beauty of structure and finish, a little gem of a cabinet organ. T

a very merry Christmas, from Uncle 'Ch

ar old 'Uncle Christmas!' And I thought he had

great pleasure, not only to Ruth and the Elmer family, but to their neighbor

these was the mysterious disappearance, on that same night, of a loaf of bread and a cold roast duck from the kitchen. The other was the appearance, two days

oper treatment and care, he could be cured. "He is a cross between a pointer and a hound," continued Mr. Elmer, "and looks like a valuable dog. The wounds from which he is suffering are those caused by a charge of small shot, that must have been fired into him quite recently. I will do what I can for hi

d; for while he moaned and whined during the operation, he lay perfectly still, and did not offer the slightest resistance. After his wounds had been dressed, he w

self to our kitchen door?" were questions that puzzled Mark cons

ouse had been cleared of everything except the ornamental shrubs properly belonging there. The fence had been freed from its crushing weight of vines, and its broken panels repaired, so that it now only needed a coat of paint to make it loo

hter-load of shingles, window-blinds, fence-pickets, and assorted lumbe

ell-earned rest. During the morning they all crossed the river to the village, leaving "G

and who introduced them to his family. Mrs. Bevil expressed great pleasure at meeting Mrs. Elmer, and apologized for not having

o regular services were held in the church, and that it w

ay-school, to be held in the church every Sunday, a

y sent out-one to open the church and ring the bell, and the other to

age. Here were two children, a girl and a boy, both younger than Ruth; and Mr. and Mrs. Carter readi

e. The church was as dilapidated as most of the buildings in the village, and many of its windows were broken. In that climate, where snow is unknown and frost

ld be very pleasant for them all to meet in that house every Sunday, for the purpose of studying the Bible and mutually helping one anoth

tendent of the Sunday-school, Mr. Carter secon

Sunday. As most of the colored people could not read, it seemed important that they should be taught

n, reminded the school that the next day was the first of a new year, and said that, as he had already told Mr. E

cowed and whimpering. His eyes were fixed upon the point of woods nearest the house, and he exhibited signs of great fea

till he said nothing, and the opening of

he river, and told him of the wharves that had lined both banks, the great cotton-presses, and the many vessels that used to fill it from bank to bank as they lay awaiting their loads of cotton. In those days a line of steam-ships plied regularly between Wakulla and New Orleans, and a steam-tug was kept constantly busy towing vessels between the town and the mouth of the river. Then a fine plank-r

d stood, the bridge abutments, a handful of tumble-down houses, and here and there in the dense woods traces of c

that he would do all that lay in his power to revive the old-ti

is a bridge over the river and a mill. It ought to b

him down the river to the railroad station at St. Mark's, in his canoe, and on his return he and Jan were to go into the woods after as many cedar fence-posts as they could cut. The colored men were to prepare the large cleared field i

where he had left her the day before, and he thought she looked as though she had bee

ind a chance to use it going down the river, and that Mark could bring it back. Mark was glad of this, for

s sunning themselves. As they were the first of these great reptiles that either Mr. Elmer or Mark had ever seen, they watched them with curiosity not unmixed wit

r he had gone Mark got the mail, of which quite a quantity had collected h

y the solitude and almost unbroken silence about him, and

recovered his presence of mind, and the first cry being followed by screams for help and a crashing of the bushes on a small woode