At the Foot of the Rainbow

ridge, and scraped the black muck from his boots in a little heap. Then he twisted a stick into the top of his rat sack, preparatory to his walk home. The ice had broken on the

m that as soon as the ice was gone his luck failed him. This evening the bag at his

. "If I stuck them into the water ony way and went on, so w

the most after the thaws begin to come. The rats seem to have a lot of burrows and shift around among thim. One time I'm ahead, and the nixt day they go to you: But it don't mane that you are any bett

er before nicht," he said. "I think the days are growing a

the bridge. "I've got some music in me head, and some action in me feet," he said, "but I guess God forgot to put much sintimint in

th was there. But loafing in town on rainy days, when Dannie sat with a book; hearing the talk at Casey's, at the hotel, and on the streets, had given Jimmy different views of life, and made his lot seem paltry compared with that of men who had greater possessions. On days when Jimmy's luck was bad, or when a fever of thirst burned him, he usually discoursed on some

ail so much that I've got a speakin' acquaintance with meself. Some of these days I'm goin' to tak

y, and packed my trunk? When ye and Mary caught me, ye got mad as fire, and she cried, and I had to sta

I want is the land that my feyther owned before me, and the house that my mither kept. And they'll have to show me the place they call Eden before I'll give up that it beats Rainbow Bottom-Summer, Autumn, or Winter. I dinna give twa hoops fra the palaces men rig up, or the thing they call

hort cut to the matin'-

eetin'-house than Rainbow Bottom. I dinna care for better talkin' than the 'tongues in the trees'; sounder preachin' than the 'sermons in the stones'; finer readin' than the books in the river; no, nor better music than the choir o' the birds, each singin' in its ain way fit to burst its leetle throat about the mate it won,

o see life,"

with the spring? The trouble with ye, Jimmy, is that ye've always followed your heels. If ye'd stayed by the books, as I begged ye, there now would be that in your heid that would teach ye that the old story of the Rainbow is true. There is a pot of gold, of the purest gold ever smelted, at its foot, and we've been born, and own a good living richt there. An' the gold is there; tha

say we do! Behold our hotbed of riches! I often lay

eart are the scan

e cabin where I'm

thim pig-pen, thes

I've always

ate at Jimmy's when Jimmy was at home, so there was no supper to get. He went out to the barn, wading mud ankle deep, fed and bedded his horses, and then went over to Jimmy's b

"Mary was kicking for one a month ago, and I went after it the nigh

eaned over and lifted a strange looking object fro

red pail in amazement. Slowly he turned it over and

ked. "Did I bring that t

!" said

" Slowly he revolved the pail, and then he rolled over in the hay and laughed until he was tired. Then he sat up and wiped his eyes. "Great day! What a lot of

d up the pail of milk and carried it to the house. Dannie came by the wood

lly perky," said Jimmy to hi

am so glad! And I don't be

d Jimmy. "Whin I look the wisest I know the least. Whi

would not catch him knowing anything i

ning!" anno

you say!" c

alk down to the bottom to-day. I niver in all my life was so tired of winter, and the first thing I saw was that we

and then clean the spiles, and see how mony new ones we will need.

ough to kill a horse," cried Jimmy. "Ain'

book that suits me, and sometimes the fi

And that reminds me, Mary, Dannie

l the trees, and the buds swell, and the ice breaks up, and the wild geese go over, I always scent spring; and wh

wance!" cried Jimmy, "y

's no danger,"

, and manes atin'. 'Tite' is Irish, and manes drinkin'. Appetite manes

ou come in strong. There's no danger of anybody spoilin' your dri

ured Dannie, and Mary's face showed

ever saw, and there is more yet. I found the nest of the gray goose, and there are three big eggs in it, all buried in feathers. She must have stripped her breast almost bare to cover them. And I'm the happiest I've been all winter. I hate the long, lonely, shut-in time. I

t rattle of the Kingfisher. Whin he comes home, and house cleans in his tunnel in the embankment, and takes possession of his stump in the river, the nixt day the Black Bass locates i

uth!" said Mary, so quic

n the day time. I hereby make, enact, and enforce a law that neither of us is to fish in the Bass hole w

If you both fish at once, it's got to be a fair catch for the one that lands

f Jonah had had the good fortune of falling in the Wabash, and being swallowed by the Black Bass, he could have ridden from P

, five," cor

peated? Ain't I seen him broadside? I wonder i

maging the top shelf of the cupboard for his box of tackle. He knocked

help skin their day's catch. Mary tried to send him, and he was going in a minute, but the minute stretched and stretched, and both of them were surprised when the door opened and Dannie entered with an armload of spiles, and the rat-skinning

that looked on Dannie's home to see if his light was burning. It was, and clear in its rays stood Dannie, stripping yard

ainbow," he cried, "if he a

turned from trapping, and gathering and cleaning the s

close from this time on, she'll be settin' hins in snowdrift

er in a flock, and a half hour later one stra

lmost sobbed Mary. "Why

e stirred by the smell of the curling smoke and the odor of the boiling sap, fine as the fragrance of flowers. Bright-eyed deer mice peeped at her from under old logs, the chickadees, nuth

t big enough to drive us from the woods, for into

rking loud defiance. At night the three rode home on the sled, with the syrup jugs bes

some syrup into a kettle, and just as it "sugared off" she dipped streams of the amber sweetness into cups of water. All of them ate it like big children, and oh,

nd the smoke house must be gotten ready to cure the hams and pickled meats, so that they would keep during warm weather. The bluebe

y," she crie

up, or get up?" a

Mary. "The l

om the back door to the barn: "

ane goin' over in the nicht. How long

ms would let up 'stid of down! He can't come until he can fi

wind was heavy with the pungent odor of catkin pollen. The spring flowers were two inches high. The peonies and rhubarb were pushing bright yellow and red cones through the earth. The old gander, leading his flock al

illing a crow which stole from the ash hopper the egg with which Mary tested the strength of the lye. In a basket behind the kitchen stove fifteen newly hatched yellow chickens, w

stioned Mary,

ess voice outside. "Tell him the Kin

straight

ried. "To-morrow the