houlder. He was
trembling so much that the bushes shook as if there was a wind.

"Hulda!" he whispered, "he's walking along the brook, right on top of
the water!"

"Is he coming this way?" said Hulda, who had wrapped her head in her
apron.

"Right straight!" cried Hubert. "Give me your hand, Hulda!" And,
without another word, the boy and girl burst out of the bushes and ran
away like rabbits.

When Hulda, breathless, fell down on the grass, Hubert also stopped
and looked behind him. They were near the edge of the brook, and
there, coming right down the middle of the stream, was the light which
had so frightened them.

"Oh-h! Bother!" said Hubert.

"What?" asked poor little Hulda, looking up from the ground.

"Why, it's only a Jack-o'-lantern!" said Hubert. "Let's go home,
Hulda."

As they were hurrying along the path to their home, Hubert seemed very
much provoked, and he said to his sister:

[Illustration]

"Hulda, it was very foolish for you to be frightened at such a thing
as that."

"Me?" said Hulda, opening her eyes very wide, "I guess you were just
as much frightened as I was."

"You might have known that no real person would be wandering about the
castle at night, and a ghost couldn't carry anything, for his fingers
are all smoke."

"You ought to have known that too, I should say, Mr. Hubert," answered
Hulda.

"And then, I don't believe the light was in the castle at all. It was
just bobbing about between us and the castle, and we thought it was
inside. You ought to have thought of that, Hulda."

"Me!" exclaimed little Hulda, her eyes almost as big as two silver
dollars.

It always seems to me a great pity that there should be such boys as
Hubert Flamry.

THE OAK TREE.

[Illustration]

I really don't know which liked the great oak best, Harry or his
grandfather. Harry was a sturdy little fellow, seven years old, and
could play ball, and fly kites, and all such things, when he had
anybody to play with. But his father's house was a long distance from
the village, and so he did not often have playmates, and it is poor
sport to play marbles or ball by one's self. He did sometimes roll his
hoop or fly his kite when alone, but he would soon get tired, and
then, if it was a clear day, he would most likely say:

"Grandpa, don't you want to go to the big oak?"

And Grandpa would answer:

"Of course, child, we will go. I am always glad to give you that
pleasure."

This he said, b