That was what set him a-dreaming. In his dream he had no
gun, so he picked up the first thing he could lay his hands on, and let
drive at the dog. Smash! there was a great racket, and a jingling of
glass. Paul was awake in an instant, and found that he had jumped out of
bed, and was standing in the middle of the floor, and that he had
knocked over the spinning-wheel, and a lot of old trumpery, and had
thrown one of his grandfather's old boots through the window.

"What in the world are you up to, Paul?" his mother asked, calling from
the room below, in alarm.

"Killing the dog a second time, mother," Paul replied, laughing and
jumping into bed again.

CHAPTER III.

MERRY TIMES.

When the long northeast storms set in, and the misty clouds hung over
the valley, and went hurrying away to the west, brushing the tops of the
trees; when the rain, hour after hour, and day after day, fell aslant
upon the roof of the little old house; when the wind swept around the
eaves, and dashed in wild gusts against the windows, and moaned and
wailed in the forests,--then it was that Paul sometimes felt his spirits
droop, for the circumstances of life were all against him. He was poor.
His dear, kind mother was sick. She had worked day and night to keep
that terrible wolf from the door, which is always prowling around the
houses of poor people. But the wolf had come, and was looking in at the
windows. There was a debt due Mr. Funk for rice, sugar, biscuit, tea,
and other things which Doctor Arnica said his mother must have. There
was the doctor's bill. The flour-barrel was getting low, and the
meal-bag was almost empty. Paul saw the wolf every night as he lay in
his bed, and he wished he could kill it.

When his mother was taken sick, he left school and became her nurse. It
was hard for him to lay down his books, for he loved them, but it was
pleasant to wait upon her. The neighbors were kind. Azalia Adams often
came tripping in with something nice,--a tumbler of jelly, or a plate of
toast, which her mother had prepared; and she had such cheerful words,
and spoke so pleasantly, and moved round the room so softly, putting
everything in order, that the room was lighter, even on the darkest
days, for her presence.

When, after weeks of confinement to her bed, Paul's mother was strong
enough to sit in her easy-chair, Paul went out to fight the wolf. He
worked for Mr. Middlekauf, in his cornfield. He helped Mr. Chrome paint
wago