from the box that came up from the Santa Claus at the Seattle" Bon Marche." My little boy was always so afraid Santa Claus would not find us at the out-ofway places where we were forced to live. But never once did he forget us. He had a wonderful game board, a tiny desk and chair,—which ever afterwards we carried on our trips by wagon from place to place, toys and books too many to relate, and a real Foxy Grandpa to enjoy it with us, for Grandpa Illman came over and spent the day with us. After our splendid dinner we made him tell us stories of earlier Christmas's back in "Merrie England."

A story," John Dough and the Cherub," had been running in the "Seattle Times." It had not told in the story whether the "Cherub " was a girl or a boy. A prize was offered for the best answer to the solution by a child. My boy got the second prize, and used the money he won to buy books. His answer was, “The Cherub was a girl because if it had been a boy he would have eaten the ginger-bread man at once whether it agreed with him or not."

Thus the days went on. New Year's, 1907, was no different from the rest, and we hardly knew the old year was gone and a new one had come in. I think it was the only New Year in my life when I had not heard the clanging of bells to usher the old out and the new in. The silence of a mountain is impressive. I think I thought more of what had been and what was

in store for us than ever before, and I hoped that it would be a "Happy Year" for my dear little boy.

You would not think a human being could live without church music, entertainment of any kind, as I did there, but when one has an interesting little child one needs nothing else.

New Year's week it snowed heavily, and Uncle Andrew had to shovel a path to the mountain brook and break the icy cover before he could fill the pail with our drinking water, and good Grandfather Illman shoveled a path from their house to ours so he could bring me the Toronto paper, as usual, when it came.

CHAPTER IX.

RETURN TO LAKE STEVENS AND THE ILLMAN RANCH.

New Year's week, relatives of Mrs. Chase and some friends from Everett, Washington, visited us, and such good times as we had. The Everett friends, Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Stone, were our good friends all the time we lived in Washington State. After their departure our life again resumed the even tenor of its sway. A quiet life, but never for one moment monotonous. My little boy progressed splendidly in his studies while we were at the Chase ranch. His writing improved and he also learned rapidly in arithmetic and geography. Reading and history never troubled him.

In the clear atmosphere of a mountain climate the stars are wonderfully bright and scintillating, and they always had a great interest for Boyd. The dogstar, Sirius, was, I remember, especially bright about Christmas time from our bed-room window, and many a night we spent some time looking out and talking of the stars. I sent to the Book Supply Company in Chicago, and got a child's astronomy and he was interested in every word of it, talked of the stars, and looked at them every night after I had read the book