mprovement_ in their potations seemed hardly to attract
the attention of the individuals interested; but, as each day the
proportion of water increased, the dilution at last forced itself upon
their attention, and every one agreed that the tavern-keeper was
cheating Jabez in the "Rye" business. The result of it all was the
withdrawal of Jabez Glazier's custom from the establishment in
question, and the future purchase of "spiritual" goods by Mr. Jabez
himself in person.

Thus Willard's object was attained, and the cold-water people were no
longer vexed by the inconsistent spectacle of a son of temperance
playing Ganymede to a set of drinking, though by no means drunken,
hay-makers.

Not often, now, did young Willard figure as chief in any mad scrape or
wild boyish adventure. Those times were left behind. Once, indeed, his
uncle Henry, the patron of the great chief "_Kaw-shaw-gan-ce_," swooped
down upon the household, and, in an enormous four-horse sleigh of his
own construction, took him, together with a gay and festive party of
lads and lasses, off to Edwards, a village nine miles away. Here the
rustic party had a "shake-down," and young Willard got fearfully sick in
a dense atmosphere of tobacco smoke. The feast over, he was tightly
packed in the sleigh with the buxom country girls and their muscular
attendants, while Henry Glazier drove across country through a blinding
snow-storm and over measureless drifts. The party was stranded at last
on a rail fence under the snow, and the living freight flung bodily
forth and buried in the deep drifts. They emerged from their snowy
baptism with many a laugh and scream and shout, and tramped the
remainder of the distance home. The horses having made good their
escape, Willard was carried forward on his uncle Henry's back.

CHAPTER VIII.

ADVENTURES--EQUINE AND BOVINE.

Ward Glazier moves to the Davis Place.--"Far in the lane a lonely
house he found."--Who was Davis?--Description of the place.--A
wild spot for a home.--Willard at work.--Adventure with an
ox-team.--The road, the bridge and the stream.--"As an ox
thirsteth for the water."--Dashed from a precipice!--Willard as a
horse-tamer.--"Chestnut Bess," the blooded mare.--The start for
home.--"Bess" on the rampage.--A lightning dash.--The stooping
arch.--Bruised and unconscious.

It will be remembered that when Ward Glazier left the Homestead, he
removed to a neighboring farm kn