The Adventures of Bobby Orde

t was to be anticipated, and then remembered; the score was to be rejoiced over or regretted; and the great question of how to do better was to be consider

on of the difficulty; and as regularly he discovered by the actua

listened to his i

hearing distance. "You got to practise until your forefinger works all by itself-enti

onded, as Bobby climbed labor

tered more or less like a shotgun charge. Mr. Kincaid's score more than doubled his. Mr. Kincaid alway

't matter whether you defeat me or not; now does it? But it

ed, but with undaunted spirit. Again his busy brain attacked the

f the forefinger is helped by as inclusive a grasp of the stock as possible; holding the breath is an aid to steadiness-these, and a dozen other first principles, Bobby acquired, one after another, by

ow large and rosy. Under the big hickory tree in the Fuller's yard were already to be found occasional nuts. The leaves were turning gorgeous; and enough were falling to make it necessary that the householder

s for fresh fruit; but he liked best of all the sweet little red "Delawares" that grew back of Auntie Kate's kitchen garden. These he picked, warmed by the sun. The satiny "Concords" from the trellis, however, were better dipped in cool water, which, with some labour, he caused to gush sparkling from an old-fashioned wooden pump. Auntie Kate's apple trees, too, were of selected varieties. Early in the season were the soft yellow sweetings; then the strea

s. Every one burned leaves in those days, blissfully unconscious of future city ordinances. A thin sweet haze of smoke hung constantly in the air mellowing the blue of the sky, softening the outlines of the hills, aromatic as an incensed cathedral. In the evenings the fires winked bravely on both sides the streets. Figures with rakes were silhouetted against

e boys had patiently to await the pleasure of the wind. Walnuts and butternuts, on the contrary, were to be knocked down with well-aimed clubs; hazelnuts to be st

accomplished, it was by no means easy to get a shot. The squirrel leaped from one tree to another as fast as his enemies below could run. Finally he climbed to the top of a tall beech whose trunk he immediately put between himself and the hunters. It became necessary first to see him, second to get a shot at him, third to hit him, and last to bring him down. Bobby, shooting the heavy barrelled Flobert at unaccustomed ranges, and at an elusive mark, discovered the appetite of atmo