um and the lucre which all literary men despise but long
for, this volume is respectfully dedicated by

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

THE SCHOOLTEACHER AT BOTTLE FLAT

JIM HOCKSON'S REVENGE

MAKING HIS MARK

CODAGO

THE LAST PIKE AT JAGGER'S BEND

FIRST PRAYER AT HANNEY'S

THE NEW SHERIFF OF BUNKER COUNTY

MAJOR MARTT'S FRIEND

BUFFLE

MATALETTE'S SECTION

A STORY OF TEN MILE GULCH

CAPTAIN SAM'S CHANGE

MISS FEWNE'S LAST CONQUEST

MARKSON'S HOUSE

GRUMP'S PET

WARDELOW'S BOY

TOM CHAFFLIN'S LUCK

OLD TWITCHETT'S TREASURE

BLIZZER'S WIFE

A BOARDING-HOUSE ROMANCE

RETIRING FROM BUSINESS

THE HARDHACK MISTAKE

THE CARMI CHUMS

LITTLE GUZZY

A ROMANCE OF HAPPY REST

TWO POWERFUL ARGUMENTS

MR. PUTCHETT'S LOVE

THE MEANEST MAN AT BLUGSEY'S

DEACON BARKER'S CONVERSION

JOE GATTER'S LIFE INSURANCE

THE TEMPERANCE MEETING AT BACKLEY

JUDE

A LOVE OF A COTTAGE

THE BLEIGHTON RIVALS

BUDGE AND TODDIE AT AUNT ALICE'S

SAILING UP STREAM

FREE SPEECH

ILLUSTRATIONS

FRONTISPIECE

TOLEDO AND THE COMMITTEE'S VISIT

"HE HELD IT UNDER THE LIGHT"

"THEY FOUND HIM SENSELESS," ETC

FINDING THE BABY

THE GOLDEN HARVEST

PASSING THE HAT

EAST PATTEN

THE ROUGH GREETING

THE BABY'S NAME

THE DESERTED COTTAGE

THE PRAIRIE FARM

AN INVITATION TO WAIT

A LOVELY EXPERIENCE--"SPILED"

A STRANGE PROCEDURE

THE PLACARD ON THE DOOR

THE CIRCUIT PREACHER

KISSING SUNRISE

A DISCOVERY

THE LIKENESS

MOTHER AND SON MEET

COUNTRY INQUISITIVENESS

HUSBAND AND WIFE

IN PRISON

RUM VALLEY

NEAR HIS END

THE BONNEYS EMIGRATE

MR. PUTCHETT'S NEW FRIEND

"GOOD-BY, LITTLE ANGEL!"

COOL IN FACE OF DANGER

"THAT'S PET'S MOTHER"

THE RICH MAN'S CHURCH

TALKING OVER INSURANCE

THE MEETING

"GET HIM! GET JOHNNY!"

DOWN THE STREAM

THE WELCOME HOME

THE COTTAGE

"I CAME TO PLEAD FOR THE MAJOR"

PROCESS OF BEING LOCKED UP

BREAKFAST

SOME FOLKS.

THE SCHOOLTEACHER AT BOTTLE FLAT.

It certainly _was_ hard. What was the freedom of a country in which the
voice of the original founders was spent in vain? Had not they, the
"Forty" miners of Bottle Flat, really started the place? Hadn't they
located claims there? Hadn't they contributed three ounces each,
ostensibly to set up in business a brother miner who unfortunately lost
an arm, but really that a saloon might be opened, and the genuineness
and stability of the c