Winter, any way."

"Shan't we be lonesome next winter?" said little Johnnie, who had taken
no part in the talk; until now; "won't mother be afraid? I want my
father back," and, without a word of warning, he burst into tears.

Dead silence for a few minutes. The outburst was so sudden, she knew
they were all weeping. It was Jerry again who spoke first: "Don't let
mother see us crying. Come, Johnnie, let's take Bone, and all go down to
the trap;" then she heard them pass out of the house.

Desolation fell upon that poor mother for the next hour. Like a knife,
Nate's remark had passed through her heart, "Father could have helped!"
Couldn't she help her boys, for whom she was ready to die? Was she only
"mother," who prepared their meals and took care of their clothes? She
wanted a part in the very best of their lives. She thought it all over,
sitting up far into the night. If she could only create an interest in
some study that should bind them all together, and in which she could
lead! Was she too old to begin? Never had the desire to become the very
center of interest to them taken such a hold upon her.

A few weeks after, she said one morning, at the breakfast table, "Boys,
I've been thinking that we might begin geology this summer, and study
it, all of us together. Your father and I meant to do it sometime. I've
found a text-book; by and by, perhaps, Thede can draw us a chart. Jerry
will take hold, I know, and Nate and Johnnie can hunt for specimens.
We'll have an hour or two every night."

The children's interest awoke in a flash, and that very evening the
question discussed was one brought in by Nate: "What is the difference
between limestone and granite?" A simple one, but it opened the way for
her, and their first meeting proved a success. She had to study each day
to be ready and wide awake for her class. They lived in a limestone
region. Different forms of coral abounded, and other fossils were
plenty. An old cupboard in the shed was turned into a cabinet. One day
Nate, who had wandered off two or three miles, brought home a piece of
rock, where curious, long, finger-shaped creatures were imbedded. Great
was the delight of all to find them described as _orthoceratites,_ and
an expedition to the spot was planned for some half-holiday. Question
after question led back to the origin of the earth. She found the
nebular hypothesis, and hardly slept one night trying to comprehend it
clearly enough to put it before o