evening and bait the ground by throwing down
some grain. When the birds get used to the net, we can come up and catch
them."

John reported to us daily that the birds were getting tamer, and were
not afraid of the net.

On Saturday we went up and hid in the bushes. John held the strings of
course. We could see the pigeons picking up the grain, and when a number
were together, Davy said "Now, John!"

John pulled the strings, and the pole was thrown forward so that the net
fell over the pigeons. We rushed up and stood on the edge of the net. As
the pigeons poked their heads up through the meshes, we wrung their
necks.

We set the net three times and caught a couple of dozen of pigeons. Then
we went to the house, and John told of the pigeons he had caught.

"Didn't the other boys have anything to do with it?"

"Oh, yes, they helped, but I pulled the strings."

[Sidenote: BISHOP HANCOCK'S DRESSING-GOWN]

"I've noticed that it isn't always the man that pulls the strings who
does the real solid work," said Mr. Hancock.

We did not have many quarrels or lawsuits in his time. If any dispute
arose, he interfered, heard both sides, and settled the case. His
decision ended the matter, for the defeated person knew that every one
in town would stand by Bishop Hancock's law.

I was playing in the yard with John one afternoon, when Mr. Hancock came
to the window. He had on a gorgeous flowered silk dressing-gown, and
instead of his big white wig, wore on his head a cap or turban of the
same gorgeous silk. I hardly knew him, and stared at him.

"What's the matter, Benny? Oh, it's the dressing-gown and cap. You
probably took me for some strange East India bird--a peacock, perhaps.
It's nothing but some finery my son Thomas sent me to put on in the
house. After wearing black all my life, it is very pleasant to move
through the rooms looking like a rainbow."

"You did kind of startle me, sir. I suppose Joseph's coat must have
looked a good deal like that."

"Ha, ha, Benny, I guess you're right. And it aroused envy. Mrs. Hancock
said yesterday that this would make a fine gown. I must be careful to
whom I show myself in this attire.

"I hear that there is a quarrel between Sam Locke and Jesse Robinson
over the boundary line between their farms up on the old Salem road.

"I want you to go up there, John, and tell them that I wish both of them
to meet me at the boundary line to-morrow afternoon at five o'clock. You
might go