Citation
Under the snow

Material Information

Title:
Under the snow
Creator:
Knight ( Printer )
Religious Tract Society (Great Britain) ( Publisher )
Place of Publication:
London
Publisher:
Religious Tract Society
Manufacturer:
Knight
Publication Date:
Language:
English
Physical Description:
80, 15 p. : ill. ; 18 cm.

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Christian life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Voyages and travels -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Snow -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Adventure and adventurers -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Rescues -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Gentry -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Publishers' catalogues -- 1894 ( rbgenr )
Bldn -- 1894
Genre:
Publishers' catalogues ( rbgenr )
novel ( marcgt )
Spatial Coverage:
England -- London
Target Audience:
juvenile ( marctarget )

Notes

General Note:
Frontispiece printed in colors.
General Note:
Publisher's catalogue follows text.
General Note:
Date of publication from inscription.
Statement of Responsibility:
by Katharine Macquoid ; illustrated by T. Macquoid.

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University of Florida
Holding Location:
University of Florida
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This item is presumed to be in the public domain. The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not claim any copyright interest in this item. Users of this work have responsibility for determining copyright status prior to reusing, publishing or reproducing this item for purposes other than what is allowed by fair use or other copyright exemptions. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions may require permission of the copyright holder. The Smathers Libraries would like to learn more about this item and invite individuals or organizations to contact The Department of Special and Area Studies Collections (special@uflib.ufl.edu) with any additional information they can provide.
Resource Identifier:
027003546 ( ALEPH )
ALH9681 ( NOTIS )
225155591 ( OCLC )

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University
of
Florida

The Baldwin Library

RmB



























































































































































































































































































































Bessie Mason's Victories.

Dame Buckle & her Pet Johnnu.

TigerJack.

Alice Benson's Trials.

Charlie Scott.

Where a Penny went to, @ Kitty's
Strange Friend.

The Young Folks of Hazelbrook.

Miss Greys Text.

Basil; or Honesty & Industry.

Ben Holts Good Name.

Lisa Baillies Journal,

Northcliffe Boys.

The Little Orange Sellers.

Georgies Prayer.

Saddie's Service.

Nils Revenge.

Harry Blakes Trouble.

Cousin Jack's Adventures,

Hungering & Thirsting.

The China Cup.

How Tilly found a Friend.

Charity’s Birthday Text.

The Rescue.

Little Nellies Days in India.































































































































































































Dyprens Clbenrea—

fpoiinoe Ll FY

















THE GAMEKEEPER SAW THE SLEEPING BOY,







i i ONO

BY THE AUTHOR OF

“HEROES AND FAMOUS MEN OF OLD.”



THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,

56, PATERNOSTER Row; 65, Str. Paut’s CHURCHYARD;

AND 164, PICCADILLY.



























PonTents,

Sey ee
CHAP. PAGE
I. HOMEWARD BOUND - 7 Ree
1, ON THE RoapD : : 7 II
Il. Lost : . : . . 7
Iv. DEAD OR ALIVE : : . 23
v. THE TERROR BY NIGHT . : » 29
vI. THE First Day THAT WAS DARK . 35
VII. WEARY WoRK : : : » 42
vill. AN EXPEDITION ; : ; 48
IX. SOME HOPE, PERHAPS : : . 54
X. THOMAS ANDREWS SHOWS THE Way 60
XI. SMOKE OUT OF THE SNOW . i 66

XII RESCUE : . 7 . + 73































































































~~



UNDER THE SNOW.

——
CHAPTER I.

Homeward Bound,

eye IM, you ask Mr. Scott to let you
| come out early this afternoon;
| father says it looks like a heavy
gi fall; and mind you come straight
~ home now, ’cos it will be dark
through the fields.”
“All right, mother, never fear,” re-
plied the boy, as he started on his way
to school at Brookbridge, the nearest town, about
two miles or two and a half from the cottage,
“Tll be home right enough; I don’t mind the
snow ;” and, tossing his school-bag in the air with
one hand and catching it with the other, he struck
up a shrill whistle and went merrily along, now
and again breaking out into little snatches of song
or hymn, such as he learnt at school. He had
evidently got his lessons well by heart.
The sky had that dull, heavy, leaden look which





6 Under the Snow.

generally precedes heavy snow, though the village
folk said it was too cold for a fall yet. But signs
of a change were abroad. The sky grew darker
and darker; the dull heavy look of the clouds
increased; there was an cminous stillness in the
air; the birds, such of them as were about, seemed
intent upon hastening homewards. Now and then
there was a low moaning sound in the wind, and
then suddenly a.shaking among the branches and
a rustling of the dead leaves as it passed hastily
through the trees, and was silent again. Sometimes
a flake or two of snow would hang hovering in the
air a second or two, and then fall and be lost on
the frozen ground. But Jim went on singing and
whistling; and if he thought about the snow at
all, it was only to picture to himself what a jolly
game at snowballing he and his schoolfellows would
have.

“T wish it woudd snow and keep on all night,
and then freeze hard for a fortnight,” he said to
himself. “Shouldn’t we have fun?”

“Hullo, Jim!” shouted a cheery voice behind
him. ‘What be’est goin’ to school, then? Thee’d
best look sharp whoam, then, ’s’arternoon. There
"ll be a main deep snow by-and-by I doubt.”

Jim turned and saw the old carter who lived in
the next cottage to them across the field, and who
was now going home with his team, and, laughing,
said, “Won't it be fun P”



Homeward Bound. 7

“Dunne so much about fun, lad, ’cept for you
boys. Well, there, I used to like it one time as
well as most on ’em; but snow makes bad times
for poor folk, I can tell ’ee. I mind my father
bein’ well-nigh lost in t’ snow up there on Beacon
Down, well-nigh fifty years agone, when I was a
little un: and we was pretty handy starved too,
besides. But, there, thank God, we did all get
through; but I never cared so much for snow
arter that, and father, he never rightly got over it.”

Jim looked thoughtful a moment or two, and
then turning an inquiring look on the old man’s
face, said, “ How was it, then?”

“Well, there, we hardly know how it was, and
father neither. But it came on cruel bad, and he
lost his way, and come back again to the one-acre
copse where he started from when the snow began,
and there he began to feel a sort of giddy and
sleepy like; and they say as if he’d a laid down
then, as he wanted to, he’d never have got up
again alive.”

Jim looked all question, and the old man went
on. “ Well, just then the shepherd’s dog—I mind
him: a big grey one, with ne’er a tail; and a main
good dog he was, only a bit savage, except wi’ the
sheep, and he never hurt they not a mossel :—well,
the shepherd’s dog he comes rushing out of the
wood, and takes hold of father by the arm, growlin’
and shakin’ him, and that sort of woke him up:



8 Under the Snow.

and by’m-by the shepherd comes along wi’ his
lanthorn—he’d bin out to get the sheep in,—and
says he, ‘ Mate,’ says he, ‘you must come along a’
we, or else you'll never see your missis no more.’
Well, that sort of startled father, and he says,
‘How soP’ and the shepherd says, ‘There, no
talkin ’—come along ;’ and he claps his arm round
his’n, and says, ‘We must get along, else we shall
be late ;’ and father he was a sort o’ stupid like
with the cold and sleep, but the shepherd got him
home at last. Main good chap that shepherd was.
Tim Watson, I mind, was his name. Many and
many bits of the Bible and such he did teach me
when I was a lad; and when anything was said
about that night in the snow, he wouldn’t allow
he'd done anything. ‘No,’ says he; ‘it was the
Lord’s good providence, neighbour, as sent me and
my dog there that moment, and let Him hev
the praise.’ ”

Jim looked more thoughtful, and for a moment
it struck him whether there might be any danger
for him or for his father, who was at work away
on the downs, if the snow came on. But he
thought, “Nonsense! I know every step of the
way ; and besides, there’s no snow yet, and if there
were :—-Well, there, I can’t think how people get
lost like that; I’m sure I shouldn’t.”’

“Well, good-bye, lad,” said the old man as he
turned his horses into the lane that led to their



Homeward Bound. 9

stable. ‘I’m thinking we shan’t be out much for
a bit a’ter to-night. Mind thee gets whoam all
right.”

“All right, Thomas; good-night !”

Still the snow kept off, and at one time it seemed
as though the forewarnings and forebodings of the
weatherwise folk were going to be falsified. Morn-
ing school was over. The bread and cheese or
bread and bacon which the country boys brought
for their dinner was consumed. They played their
boisterous games as usual in the interval of school.
Then the school-bell sounded two o’clock, and they
all trooped in.

Then it grew darser and yet darker, so that they
could hardly see their slates, and by three o’clock
the master was obliged to light the gas. It was
snowing fast, and had been doing so for some time.
“Country boys had better go home,” said Mr.
Scott; “and mind,” he added, “that you don’t
linger on the way.” So Jim and about a dozen of
his companions set out for their homes.

But outside the school gates temptation befel
them. There before them, already some two inches
thick, lay the pure white snow. To stoop, to scrape
it together so velvety soft, to press it lovingly in
the hand, and then to shy the well-made ball at
the boy nearest you—who could help it? Anyhow,
Jim and his companions did not help it. The fun
grew fast and furious. And still the snow fell



10 Under the Snow.

thicker, and the sky got darker. Then they heard
the school-room door open, and the town boys
rushing out. They knew that if they were found
near the school after being told by the master to
make haste home, they should “catch it.” They
hurried off in haste. It was almost dark, and the
wind rising and howling, drove the snow into drifts,
and whirled it backwards and forwards, upwards
and downwards, so that one could scarcely see or
breathe. Jim began to feel a bit frightened
after all.

























































































11

CHAPTER II.

On the Road,

ut, frightened or not, Jim had to make his
way home, and the prospect was anything
but cheerful. The snow had been falling
now some hours, and lay level across street and
pavement, except where it was drifted by the wind
into fantastic mounds and hollows at the corners.
The market-place was one expanse of white, and
the old cross stood solitary in the centre, its outline
clearly defined against the whiteness, save where
crocket and pinnacle had gathered to themselves
snow-wreaths, which gave it a blurred and fantastic
form. The gas-lights glimmered with a flickermg
light in the violent gusts of wind which howled
and shrieked and bellowed along the open space,
_ and made uncertain shadows of their own lamp-
posts on the clear white surface of the snow. Not
a foot-passenger was to be seen, and not a sound
save the wind broke the silence.
All at once there tose in the air between the
blasts a solitary voice, singing out strong and clear
the chorus of a well-known hymn:

“T am bound for the promised land.”



12 Under the Snow.

Then the sound gradually grew fainter as the
silent footsteps carried the voice farther off, and
all was still again save the howling and shrieking
of the wind.

The voice belonged to Jim; and just as he
turned out of the market-place into the main road,
along which was his way home, the policeman on
duty, in great-coat and cape, covered with snow,
met him.

“ Hullo, lad,’ he said, “ you’re late out such a
night as this! “Tain’t very safe out in the dark.
Jim Mason, ain’t it P”

Jim replied, “ Yes;’’ and said, “Oh, I know the
way well enough, never fear!” ‘ Well, then,
mind you keep the road; and if you lose your
way, you come back into the town.” “ All right,”
replied Jim ; “ good-night.” He was a little afraid
of the policeman to-night, for he had done wrong
in staying so late, and didn’t know but what he
was going to say something about that, So soon
fear takes hold of us when we do wrong.

‘Hope it wild be all right,” said the policeman
to himself. He was a kind-hearted man, as most
policemen are, and had boys of his own at home.
“But it ain’t safe, not to my mind.” But he had
to go on with his beat, and in a few minutes had
dismissed the matter from his mind. By that
time Jim had left the gaslights behind him, and
was in the main road.































































































































































































































































































































































14 Under the . Snow.

If the wind blew and howled and shrieked in the
market-place, how much more did it do so in the
open road! Sometimes he could not go on for it,
and was obliged to stand still with his back to it to
recover himself. Then it would blow so that it
took his breath away, and he staggered from the
path into the road or against the hedge. He was
beginning, too, to feel chill, and he could only see
now and then for the blinding snow, when there
was a slight lull in the storm.

He could not sng now. He did try to whistle,
but the wind whistled so loud that it seemed to
strangle the sound. He got more and more chill,
and began to feel tired. A sob broke from him. “I
wish I was home,” he said ; “ this is terrible bad.”

But he was a plucky little chap, and his courage
came to his rescue now. “ All right,” he said, as
a gust stronger than usual whirled him round;
“on again, my hearties.’ He even tried to sing,
and began, ‘‘I am bound for the promised land ;”
but a stronger gust of snow. and wind together
took him, and threw him down,

He must have been a little stunned by the fall,
from what he said afterwards, and he did not quite
know where he was for the minute. But he got
on his legs again, and managed to get on better
under the shelter of the pine wood, till he came to
the turn across the fields which led to his father’s
cottage.



On the Road. 15

Of course the path could not be seen, but there
was the stile; so he knew he started all right ; and
there, as far as he could see, was the oak copse by
which he had to go; so he went on with better
spirits. Just beyond the copse was his home.

But those who have ever been out in snowy
weather know how easy it is to be deceived by
what appear to be the familiar landmarks. A
slight turn—a turn you do not know that you have
taken, perhaps, a turn unconsciously made when a
gust of wind makes you turn your back, a half
turn only, perhaps,—may send you wandering
miles out of your course; and if even you do
not meet with a serious accident, you may wander
and wander till you find yourself back at the same
place again. Something of this sort happened to
little Jim.

For the wood which he saw was not the oak
copse beyond which his father’s cottage stood.
He had somehow turned round, and was facing
quite another way, being bewildered by the wind
and the driving snow. Still he went on, but
surely he must have missed the path? Every
now and then he stumbled either into a hole, or
over something, and the copse, which he ought
to have reached by this time, seemed still a long
way off. Then he went quite down into a deeper
hole, and had some work to get out again. How-
ever, he scrambled through tke deep snow some-



16 Under the Snow.

how and went on, but began to stumble more, as
if he had no control over his feet; his hands, too,
were so numbed that they had lost all feeling,
and his clothes were stiff with frozen snow. At
last he gained the wood, and a faint hope revived
that he should soon be home. Then he became
dizzy and fell. This was all he could remember.

«Wonder where our Jim is?” said his father,
opening the cottage door and looking out into the
wild stormy night. “Time he was home. I’d
better go and look arter un, I think.”

“He ought to be home by now,” replied his
wife. ‘I told un to be sure and ask the master
to let un come early, ’cos as you said there was
going to be a fall; and now it’s a’most five
o’clock, and that dark too.”

Just then came a blast of wind that almost
drove them in, and filled the cottage room with
snow.

“Tt be main rough,” said the father, anxiously.
“‘Get’s the lantern, missis.’’

His wife obeyed in silence. They neither of
them did or could speak. The image of little Jim
perishing in the snow was all that they could
think of in that moment, and from both their
hearts went up an unexpressed cry—“O God,
save my child!”



17

CHAPTER ITI,
fast.

cgi Mason, Jim’s father, went on his
ay search with a heavy heart. When he found

what sort of night it was, and how the wind
and snow had increased since he came in from
work at half-past four, his spirit sank within him,
and a heavy sigh, almost a sob, escaped him.

“Poor dear,” he said to himself; “poor dear.
I doubt we shall never see him more. But there,
the Lord is good, and nothing is too hard for Him.”
Then he finished with a prayer for his boy—“ Lord,
save him, if it be Thy will.”

He had got more than half the way to Brook-
bridge, but had found no trace of Jim. The con-
tinually falling snow was drifted and blown about
so rapidly, that no footmarks remained more than
afew seconds; and even if he had fallen in the
road, he would have been covered in much less
time than it had taken his father to come from the
cottage, and would have looked merely like a snow-
drift. On the bridge which crossed the brook just
at the entrance to the town, he was hailed by the
policeman.

c



18 Under the Snow.

“What, then, hasn’t the little chap got home?
There, dear, dear, I was half afraid when I saw
him in the market-place; but it’s got terrible worse
since then.”

Thomas Mason shook his head. He couldn’t
have spoken if he had tried.

“Maybe he’s got into some neighbour's,” sug-
gested the policeman.

“TJ doubt not,” said Thomas, with a ‘hombling
voice. ‘‘There’s only John Hawkins’s between
here and the pine wood, and I asked there. I fear
he've amissed his way somewhere.”

“‘Come along to the station, mate, and let’s see
what the inspector's got to say. We won't give it
up for a bad job yet—poor little chap.”

The result of their consultation was that the
policeman was sent with Jim’s father to try the
ground over again and see if they could come upon
any trace of him; but the result of their search
was. only that they themselves were half frozen,
and after falling several times in the snow, and
being in great danger of their lives, they returned,
one to his now desolate home, and the other to the
station.

You may imagine what sort of a night little
Jim’s father and mother spent. They could hear
the howling of the wind, and if they ventured to
look out they could see the whirling drifts of snow.
Once or twice they fancied they heard a cry for



Lost. 19

help, and rushed to the door; but it was only the
storm. Then something fell with a loud crash
against the door. But when they went to see what
it was, it was only a large branch of an old elder
tree which grew in front, and which the snow and
the wind together had broken off and hurled
against the house.

Eight—nine—ten—eleven struck the old clock
on the stairs, and every stroke seemed like a stroke
of doom, and still they sat on, heaping up the fire,
and keeping the kettle boiling, hoping against hope
that still little Jim might come: They put a light
in the upstairs window; and again and again his_
father went out with the lantern, and waved it, if
it might be that the moving light would be seen
by him, and that so he might be led home: but
every time in vain. Nothing was seen but the
drifting snow, growing deeper and deeper on the
road, higher and higher against the hedges, and
nothing was heard but the moaning and howling
of the pitiless wind.

One thing they were convinced of—all search
now was hopeless. He might have got shelter—-
if so, time would show. He might, and this they
thought most likely, be already buried, cold and
stark, under some snow-drift into which he had
fallen, and from which he could not extricate him-
self. The dull dark dawn found them still sitting
there, mourning in silence, in sorrow too deep for



20 Under the Snow.

speech, yet not without some faint ray of hope for
their only child.

With the morning the storm somewhat abated.
The snow ceased falling, and the wind lulled. But
what a scene! It was snow, snow, snow every-
where. The trees were loaded with it, bowed down
by it. The roads were from two to four feet deep
in it, and drifts were pued up in all the hollows,
from four or five to nine and even twelve feet.
High hedges were covered, and the tops of trees
appeared like shrubs on the level surface of the
snow. Familiar paths and roads could no longer
be seen, and the main streets and roads out of the
town were in the hands of a large number of
diggers, who were cutting narrow tracks for pas-
sengers and vehicles, through solid masses of snow
from three to eight feet thick. Water was frozen
indoors where it had never been known to freeze
before. Never had such a snowstorm been re-
membered in Brookbridge for more than forty years.

Of course the search was renewed ; and now that
- the wind had sunk and the snow had ceased fall-
ing, it was hoped that it might be attended with
success. But the hope was in vain. Along the
road, on the downs, through the woods, by the
hedges, in the brook ; where the drifts lay deepest,
where the wind had swept the higher ground bare;
barns, sheds, out-houses, pig-styes even, they
searched, hoping that they might find his body.























































22 Under the Snow.

But in vain; and they could come to no conclusion
but that he was buried in the snow, and that they
must wait till the thaw came to find all that there
might be found of poor little Jim!

Meantime how was it faring with Jim himself?
When he fell it seemed to him that it was not at
all a bad sort of thing to fallin the snow. There
was shelter from the wind, and, oh! what a bless-
ing that was! Then a drowsy feeling came over
him, and a dream of home and warmth and rest.

Once that night the searchers thought they had
come across some track of him. A hat blown from
some belated wanderer’s head had got fixed on the
thorns of a wayside bush, being driven there by
the wind, and they hoped it might be his, so that
they might have some clue to his whereabouts;
but when got down it was not his.

Once the next day they came across some foot-
tracks from the wood that seemed as if they might
have been made by him. But when they looked
at them they found that they must have been
made long since the snow had ceased ; and in fact,
following them up, so that no chance should be
lost, they came upon the boy who had made them,
and found he had only just come through the wood
from the farm the other side. The fact was, that
poor little Jim, having once lost his way, had been
wandering, as long as he could wander at all, in
just the opposite direction,



23

CHAPTER IY.
Head or Alive?

ccorpINe to all human probability there
* could be but one answer to this question.
Sleep from cold, such as Jim had now fallen
into, is, if continued, certain death. Besides, he
was so thoroughly chilled and utterly weary from
exhaustion, that a very short period would be
sufficient to bring about this fatal result. Save
those who have suffered from such exhaustion
themselves, or, have had the reality of it brought
home to them by actual observation, few people
have any idea of how rapidly a snow-storm can
Jal.

Little Jim was therefore in a frightfully dan-
gerous state. One thing was in his favour.
Where he fell there was no great depth of snow on
the ground, and above him, fantastically piled upon
a steep bank, was a snow wreath, which sheltered
him from the piercing wind. His father and
mother did not wholly despair. They knew that
God was able to preserve him. They also knew
that people had been found alive after being under.

o



24 Under the Snow.

the snow for some hours, even days, and they
prayed earnestly that God would spare him.

“Maybe, Susan,” said his father in a choking
voice, brushing away his tears with the back of his
hand, “we shall see our little chap again!”

“Oh, Ihomas, I do hope so! But there, we
must leave that,” she replied. “Itll be as God
pleases, and there’s nothing too hard for Him.”
And there came to her mind the words—‘I will
trust, and not be afraid;” and they comforted her
a bit.

And while they were talking like this, through
that long and dreadful night, the loving Father in
heaven, in whom they trusted, was taking care of
their boy, though they knew not how.

For it so happened that very soon after he fell,
and became insensible, Joscelyn Green, Squire
Colvin’s gamekeeper, came along with his trusty
retriever, He too had been overtaken and well-
nigh lost in the snow, and was now making his way
home as best he could, carefuily picking his path
by the help of his dog, which seemed to know the
way better than he did. All at once the dog began
to bark and whine, and then to search about as if
he had found something. Joscelyn knew the dog
did not do this for nothing, and encouraged him by
saying, “Good dog—find it then,” and followed
him as, with his nose to the ground, he went on
towards the bank,



Dead or Alive? 25

Then the dog began to bark again, and stood
pointing with one foot uplifted, and wagging his
tail as if for joy. The keeper stooped down and
looked, and there, lying on the ground, half covered
with the snow, which was frozen on his clothes into
a cake of ice, he saw the form of the sleeping boy.

Putting his hand on him and clearing away the
loose snow, he shook him gently; but the boy
seemed dead. ‘ Poor little chap,” he said, “I fear
but he’s gone; however, I mustn’t leave him here,”’
and raising him in his arms he put him across his
shoulder. He was weary himself, but he bore his
burden bravely, the dog jumping about in joy;
and then he set off, somewhat staggering, though,
under the boy’s weight and from his own fatigue,
for home. In a short time, without any further
mishap, save a tumble or so in the snow-drifts, he
reached his cottage.

His wife had set up a light in the window, and
now met him at the door. ‘Oh, dear, dear,’’ she
said, “but I’m so glad. I thought I should never
see you again. But what’s this!”

“Well, there, it’s a poor little chap as Hero”? —
that was the dog’s name—“ found in the snow;
and I fear he’s dead; we must get these things off
him and see;” and they began pulling off poor
Jim’s frozen clothes, and then rubbed his cold limbs
and body, to try and get some warmth into them,
and put him into a warm blanket.



26 Under the Snow.

For a time all their efforts seemed vain, but soon
they thought they could feel his heart beating.
Then he moved slightly, and they thought he
breathed.. “Now, then, missis, a drop of that hot
tea.” His wife put a spoonful to the boy’s lips,
and he tried to swallow it. Gradually life came
- back, and he began to speak as if in a dream.
“Where am I? Mother! Oh, I shall never get
home.”

Oh, yes you will, my lad, please God,” said
Joscelyn ; “now try and take a little more of this; ”
and this time he was able to drink more freely.
Then he seemed drowsy again. Still they kept on
gently rubbing his limbs and body, and wrapping
him up again in the blanket, left him to rest a
bit.

“Now, mother,” said Joscelyn; “I don’t mind
having a cup of tea myself, and putting on some
dry things.

“So you shall,” replied his wife; “and I do
hope as the poor thing ’ll get over it. What a
mercy as you found him! Now, then, you have
your tea, and get to bed.

“So I will) Well, it’s given me a warming
bringing him along; but there, I’m as glad as can
be as I found him—at least, as the dog did. Good
fellow, good fellow,” he said, as the dog, hearing
himself talked of, came and put his paws on his
master’s knees. ‘And let him have a good supper,





Dead or Alive? 27

missis, too, for he’s saved the little chap’s life. I
should never have found him by myself; and if I
hadn’t, he might have been dead by this time.”

“I wonder who he is, now?” said his wife,
watching the sleeping boy lying on the little sofa,
not too near the fire, but so that a gentle warmth
might gradually bring back life to his numbed limbs,
“Now you go to bed, Joscelyn, and I'll sit up with
him, poor little dear. And there’s his mother
crying her heart out, I know; the Lord pity her.”
And she thought of a little boy of her own, who if
he had lived would have been about Jim’s age.

“Ab, poor thing, and the father too,” said
Joscelyn ; “and maybe they’re searching for him
now. But there, here he is, and here he must
bide.”

Just then little Jim woke up and began talking
again, still as if only half awake. ‘Oh, take me
home,” he said piteously. “Mother, mother!”

“There, now, be quiet, dear,” said Mrs. Green,
“do’ee now, and have a little of this nice broth
I’ve warmed for ’ee; and you’re with friends, my
dear, and you shall go home soon, but not just yet.
Why, you couldn’t walk a bit, and it ’ud be death
to you if you could; and my husband as brought
you here was pretty nigh dead beat, and is gone to
bed; but you'll come all right, please God, never
fear.” So with these words, and still more by hex
kind tones as she tucked him up in his blanket



28 Under the Snow.

and kissed him, he was comforted, and went to
sleep again, only starting now and then in his
dreams, and saying he wanted to go home, and
it was so late.
But little Jim was not to go home that night,
nor the next day, nor-for many days afterwards,
for something altogether strange and unexpected (
happened the next morning to prevent it.







29

CHAPTER V.

The Terror by fight,

HE gamekeeper’s cottage was situated in a
small coombe between the hills, and was sur-
rounded by a thick growth of young wood,

chiefly ash and oak saplings. At the back of it
the down ruse quite steep ; indeed it looked as if at
some time or other the hollow had been cut out by
hand. The young trees, although they rose high
above the roof of the cottage, were far below the
top of the coombe. It will be necessary to remem-
' ber this in order to understand what we are about
to narrate.

Little Jim gradually got quieter and slept more
soundly. The gamekeeper, judging by the length
and profundity of his snores, was enjoying tho-
roughly his well-deserved rest. His wife, finding
that the boy was sleeping comfortably, drew her
shawl about her, put some more wood on the fire,
and dozed, waking now and then; but finding all
quiet, she also slept. The clock had just struck
two.

How long they had slept nobody knew, for



30 Under the Snow.

everybody was too frightened to look at the clock,
even if they had thought of doing so; but suddenly
they all awoke, with a feeling of terror which they
could not account for. Little Jim moaned, and
renewed in his mind the terrors through which he
had already passed. Mrs. Green started up in
alarm, exclaiming, “Oh, whatever isit?” Ji oscelyn,
at the same moment springing out of bed, exclaimed,
half awake and half asleep, “The good Lord have
mercy on us! What’s that?” —

The dog Hero came whining piteously towards
them, trembling. It was some moments before
either of them seemed capable of further speech
or thought. They appeared paralyzed by terror.
Yet by this time all was perfectly still: not a
whisper of the wind, not the sound of anything
broke the silence, save the ticking of the clock,
and now and then the fall of a cinder from the
fire.

Indeed, the silence seemed almost oppressive, as
if, instead of being simply the absence of noise, it
was something actual and present. “I can’t make
it out,” said Joscelyn, at last. “What was it,
missis ?”’

“Well, there,” she replied, “I can’t rightly tell ;
for the truth is, I was pretty fast. J’d been doze,
doze, and waking up now and then like; and then
the little lad seemed so nice and quiet, I do believe
I was fast.” Fast asleep, she meant, and so her



The Terror by Night. 31

husband and little Jim, now wide awake, under-
stood. Indeed, Jim was almost too wide awake.
He looked flushed and excited. Mrs. Green saw
this, and motioned her husband to the door of the
back room, a sort of kitchen and scullery, behind
their living room.

“Don’t say nothin’ before the lad,” she whis-
pered. “We must keep him quiet, or he'll be
bad, I do know.”

“All right; wife’”—and Joscelyn scratched his
big head, as if trying to find out how to do what
his wife wished. “But look at that there dog.
He knows there’s summat wrong as well as
any Christian. Hero, my boy, what is it,
then P”

The dog came up and licked his hand, but still
only uttered a low whine. Then came a crash as
of branches breaking, and a dull booming sort of
sound all round. The dog looked more terrified
than ever. ‘Oh, what is it?” said Jim, and then
covered himself over with his blanket.

Joscelyn went to the door to look out. When
he opened it, he was met by a wall of snow—just
simply that. He then went upstairs and tried to
open one of the bed-room windows, but the window
opened outside, and his efforts were vain. He
struck a match, and again a wall of snow outside
the window met his bewildered gaze. He went
down to his wife, and beckoning her to the foot of



82 Under the Snow.

the stairs, said, with white and trembling lips,

“We be snowed up. It’s come down off the down.”
Then he went to little Jim, and said, “Don’t be
frightened, lad; it’s a bit of snow fallen among
the trees, I count, from the down out there. Won’t
do we no harm, I do hope.”

Then he went back to his wife. “I wish it was
mornin’,” he said. She saw his fear, and, like a
_ good brave woman, tried to help him.

“Well, there, Jos, we must wait.and see. It
"ll be light by-’m-by—meantime the Lord ’ll take
care of us. It won’t drive the roof in, will
abr”?

“Thats more nor I can say,” replied Joscelyn,
thoughtfully ; and he went away upstairs to where
his little Margery lay in her tiny bed, calmly
sleeping through it all, and thought of their other
little child sleeping im the churchyard, and sobbed
out his anguish thus—‘ O Lord, do ’ee take care
of the little ’un!”

Yes, there was no mistake about it! They were
snowed up! A large accumulation of snow, drifted
into the upper part of the coombe, had by its own
weight been forced lower and lower, till, like a
small avalanche, as indeed it was, it had over-
whelmed the wood and the cottage. The saplings
bent beneath the enormous weight, yet, while
yielding, helped to sustain the weight which bent
them. Had they been old trees they might have



The Terror by Night. 33

been broken instead of bent, and in that case nothing
could have saved the cottage and all who were in
it from destruction; but happily the great mass of
the snow was partly supported by the thickly in-
terlaced branches of these young trees.

But all around the cottage the snow lay in
heaped-up masses, so that no one could get out,
and no one approach it with a considerable
distance. In fact, it was completely hidden, and
any one might have passed without the least idea
that there was a human habitation there at all.
Joscelyn’s conjecture was more and more evidently
correct. They were snowed up, and no mistake!
But as time went ‘on he began to think calmly;
and he argued that as the roof had not been driven
in by the first rush of the snow, it was pretty safe
now.

Then he thought that if the snow had covered
up the house entirely, it would have stopped up
the chimney and put out the fire, or else that they
should all have been smothered with the smoke,
And as he thought of this he was thankful; “for
now,” he said to himself, “we shan’t be smothered
alive; and moreover, by keeping up the fire we
may melt it away a bit.”

Just then the clock struck six. ‘Six o’clock,”
he said; “but there, there won’t be much daylight
for we to-day, I reckon.” He half hoped there
might be, and that when it grew lighter he might

D





34 Under the Snow.

be able to find a way through the snow to seek
help: but seven and eight o’clock struck, and it
was no lighter than it had been any hour through
that long and dreadful night.





CHAPTER VI.

The First Bay that was Hark,

AHE poor boy had not slept much since he
heard that frightful noise and asked what it
was; but he had dozed a bit, and when at

last he fairly woke, he was surprised to find it was
still dark. ‘Wherever can I be?” he said to
himself. He half thought he must have died in
the snow, and that he was in darkness for ever,
and began to cry.

But just then he heard Mrs. Green’s voice.
She had brought him a light and a cup of tea, and
was saying, “ Now, deary, take this and cheer up;
and don’t ’ee be frightened at the dark—it’s only
the snow.”

“What's the snow buried the house, then?”
asked Jim, waking up and opening his eyes very
wide.

“Well, there, then, we think as it must have
done; but don’t ’ee be frightened: it ain’t done
no harm, and it won’t do you any harm to bide
still a bit.”

“T should like mother to know I’m here,”’ said



36 Under the Snow.

Jim, after a pause, half crying. Then he thought
of how he had disobeyed her, and his master too,
by not going home, and felt ashamed and sorry ;
but he said nothing about it.

“So she shall, my dear, as soon as ever we can
get out; but we must be patient. There, the Lord
knows, and He’ll help us, never fear.”

Jim was crying silently by this time.

“Poor little chap,” said Mrs. Green to herself,
wiping her own eyes as she went downstairs;
‘and there’s his poor mother, too. But there, we
must wait and do our best. What a mercy it is”
—‘‘mussy,”’ she said—“that we’ve just got our
stock of groceries in, and that the baker came
yesterday, and that we’ve got plenty of bacon in
the house; though about eggs I’m sure I don’t
know. Them poor hens are buried as well as we,
T expect. Well, there, it might ha’ been worse, so
let’s be thankful.”

It was a mercy, that it was, as Mrs. Green said
to herself. The cottage being out of any regular
road, and approached only by a private footpath
through the wood, from which trespassers were
warned, was quite out of the way of ordinary
trattic.

They had, therefore, always to keep a stock of
provisions in the house, because they either had
to fetch them from the town four miles off, or
haye them when the carrier, who passed within



The First Day that was Dark. 37

half a mile, brought them once a week. Provi-
dentially the carrier’s day was the day before
the snow-storm, and so they were well provi-
sioned.

And it was no less a matter for thankfulness
that the chimney. had not been blocked, and that
it was one of the wide old-fashioned ones, down
which the wind roared and whistled freely, or else
they would all have been suffocated. Up this
chimney, too, they could see there was daylight,
even sunlight, outside, and this cheered them, and
gave them something to talk about.

Little Margery, childishly ignorant of any peril,
only thinking how funny it was that they should
have dinner by candle-light, and evidently enjoy-
ing the novelty, soon became the almost constant
attendant upon Jim, and did much to cheer him
up. She brought him her playthings and her little
picture alphabet. And when she found he could
tell her all the letters and explain the pictures,
she was delighted, and asked him for the same
explanations over and over again, and put to him
the same questions, till sometimes he got tired, and
said he wanted to: go to sleep. Then her mother
would lead her away; but soon she wanted to
know “when Jim would be done sleeping, ’cos she
wanted him to tell her about the elephant.” And
then Jim, who was only pretending to sleep, after
he had rested a bit, would say, “Now, Margery,





38 Under the Snow.

come on, and I’ll tell you all about the elephant,
and the rhinoceros too.”

“?’Oo wouldn’t tell me just now,” she would
say with a pout, “and I don’t think ’oo was
sleepy.”

“Jim was tired, dear; poor boy, he was out
under the cold snow, and if Hero and father
hadn’t found him he’d ha’ died,” said her mother.

“Poor Jim!” she would say; and then she
would creep shyly to his side, and put the book in
his hands, with a shy look of trust and pity, as if
she would let him know that she wished him to
forgive her, and that she was sorry for what she
had said. ,

It was good for Jim that the little one was there,
for it. gave him something to do, and took off his
thoughts from himself, which is always a good
thing, and brought him to feel an interest in

‘ others, which is still better.eSo, although he often
thought of those at home, and how he should like
to go to them, and wondered what they would
think had become of him, he for the most part got
to be able to amuse himself with little Margery.
And then the good dog Hero, who scemed to think
he had a special interest in Jim, and would come
and put his great paws upon him, and lick him,
and then bark, with a sort of dog’s smile on his
face, and his tail wagging, as much as to say, “I
found you in the snow, and you’re all mght now,

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40 Under the Snow.

Jim’s father and mother continued, as may be
supposed, in a state of great anxiety. many other people, too, felt an interest in his fate.
The police did everything they could to find him
or hear something about him; the Rector, good
Mr. Wentworth, not only went to imquire if they
. had heard, but went himself to the place where it
was supposed Jim had missed his way, to see if he
could discover anything about him. But hitherto
all had been in vain. People met in Brookbridge.
market-place, now covered four feet deep in snow,
with narrow passages cut through here and there
for foot passengers, and passed a word about the
weather, and about the poor little boy that was
lost in the snow, and then passed on to their snug
shops, and comfortable firesides, to say how cold it
was out, and to give the fire an extra stir; but
nothing was heard of Jim. The general opinion
was that he had perished in the snow, and that he
would not be found till the thaw set in. Dr.
Bainton, who was the greatest medical authority
in Brookbridge, proved it beyond doubt. It was,
he said, utterly absurd in the face of facts to sup-.
pose anything else. How could he have been
saved? We know that exposure to cold for a
certain time aud at a certain temperature, must
prove fatal. Well, then, how could we come to
any other conclusion? The boy was dead, beyond
doubt.



The First Day that was Dark. Al

It was all quite right, according to Dr. Bainton;
but he didn’t know the two or three things that
we know: how that little Jim wandered out of his
way, and fell into a sheltered nook, and was found
by the good dog Hero, and carried home by
Joscelyn Green, and tended and nursed by good
Mrs. Green, and was now, with the help of Hero
and Margery, managing to be pretty comfortable.
He forgot what Jim’s father and mother did not
forget, and which still gave them hope, that there
was “nothing too hard for the Lord.”













CHAPTER VII.
Weary Work,
C=

T was weary, sad work for Jim’s father and
if mother those two days. They felt sometimes
that they must give up all hope. But the
neighbours were very kind, and did all they could
to cheer them. They told lots of stories of people
who had been lost in the snow, and afterwards
found ; and of a pig that had been buried in snow
for three weeks, and was got out alive, and lived
to be fatted and killed; “and,” said the man who
told the story, “he was as nice a pig as ever I put
a knife into: so why shouldn’t your boy turn up ?”
he added.

The clergyman, Mr. Wentworth, was very good
to them. He went in several times to inquire, and
to suggest where search might be made; and he
spoke very comforting words to them, and prayed
with them. One of the prayers was :

“We humbly beseech Thee, O Father, merci-
fully to look upon our infirmities; and for the
glory of Thy Name turn from us all those evils
that we most righteously have deserved. And grant
that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust





Weary Work. © 48

and confidence in Thy mercy, and evermore serve
Thee in holiness and pureness of living, to Thy
‘honour and glory. Through our only Mediator
and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Many others equally fitting to their need in this
time of trouble he prayed with them as they knelt
together ;.and then they would pray them over
together again after he was gone, and read the
Bible together, and so be comforted. But still
their hearts were very sad, for after all they did
not know how it might be; and they knew that
even at the very moment when they were praying
for him, poor little Jim might be lying stiff and
cold under the snow.

He was under the snow, but by God’s good mercy
not stiff and cold, but alive, and recovering, though
slowly, from the effects of his exposure to the snow
and wind.

On the second day, when little ee was
beginning to get tired of playing with her toys and
looking at the pictures, she said: “Do sumfin’
else, Dim. I’se tired of these.”

“ Well, there, then, I'll say to you what I learn
at school.” So he repeated to her some of the
verses and hymns he had learnt. All at once a
bright thought struck him. “Look here, I'll sing
one of em to you, like we sings ’em at school.”
So he struck up in his high clear voice the one he
sang as he passed through the market-place the



44 Under the Snow.

night he was lost—“I am bound for the promised
land.”

He had not got through the first verse before
they were all listening most attentively to the little
singer. The keeper came in from the back kitchen,
where he was cleaning his guns; his wife came
downstairs from sweeping the bedrooms; and
little Margery, her large blue eyes opened to the
widest extent in wonder and admiration, nestled
close to Jim and put her little hands on his, and
did not move. Even Hero listened asif he did not
know quite what to make of it, and as if singing
was not much in his way, but yet as if he liked it:
though no doubt he would have greatly preferred
the music of the woods and fields, the cry of the
plover or the report of his master’s gun.

“Well, there,” said Mrs. Green, as he finished,
“T do call that beautiful. Ain’t it, Joscelyn ?”

Joscelyn nodded. It scemed as if he could not
speak. His wife looked at him, and wiped her
eyes with the corner of her apron. The thought
of “the promised land” had brought back fo them
the memory of the little boy who was gone there,
and whose loss was still fresh in their hearts. But
he put his hand on little Jim’s head, and said as
he went out, “God bless thee, lad.” After that,
little Jim’s vocal powers were pretty frequently in
use. Sometimes he sang such songs as they sang
at school, such as “ Try, try, try again,” and others ;



Weary Work. 45

sometimes hymns; and as he had a clear, sweet
voice, his singing helped them all to bear up better
in the darkness, not knowing what might happen
" next.

For in fact they were not out of danger. The
trees did indeed help to support the weight of the
snow, but they were gradually giving way, and so
the weight pressed more heavily on the roof; and
once or twice the keeper heard some ominous
cracks, as if the timbers of the roof were bearing
as much as they could. There was also another
danger—there might be more snow to fall, or more
might slip from the top of ghe hill, and Joscelyn
said “if that were to happen, they’d never come
out alive.’ When they got to the end of the second
day’s darkness, and had to be careful of their
candles, lest they should be left in complete dark-
ness, they all began to feel a little down-hearted.
Margery had got fretful, and cried herself to sleep.
Little Jim seemed to be tired of singing. Joscelyn
Green and his wife, knowing the peril they were
all in, and beginning to wonder how long they
might be buried like this, were silent and sad.

Presently Joscelyn said, ‘Well, there, we’d better
go to bed, I reckon.” He looked up at the clock,
and it was only half-past six; but the time seemed
very long. The air of the house, too, although the
chimney was open, was getting very close and
oppressive, and it made them all feel restless and



46 Under the Snow.

weary. ‘Well, there, I s’pose we'd best,’”’ replied
his wife; “but this is weary work. Please Ged,
it don’t last much longer!”

Another cracking sound was heard. ‘“ What’s
that?” said the keeper, starting up. His wife and
Jim were silent from terror. Joscelyn shook his

‘head. “That'll be some more snow come down
from the hill, I be feared,” he said gravely. ‘We'd
best wait a bit afore us go to bed. Best get the
hittle un down too, missus, and make her up a bed
here.”

“Oh, Joscelyn,” she said, “ you don’t think ——”

“There, don’t be frightened, lass,’ he said,
putting his big hand tenderly on her shoulder.
“Please God, we'll win through; but there’s no
knowin’. You see it ain’t as if I could be out and
seein’ the weather. I should know what to be up
to, then.”

Poor man! Accustomed as he was to the free
out-door life of the woods, and familiar with every
sign of the sky and wind, he felt, more than many
would have done, this dreary imprisonment in
darkness; and he also knew more than his wife
did, the peril they were in.

They brought down little Margery’s crib, fortu-
nately without rousing her much; and then they
brought down a mattress and blankets for them-
selves, and Jim lay on the sofa. Weary and sad,
they one by one dropped off to sleep.



Weary Work. 47

A second time they awoke in terror. A crashing
noise, as of branches breaking and of tiles and
bricks falling, aroused them. There was no doubt
now. Fresh snow had fallen from the hill, and
the roof and upstairs walls had been crushed in!





48

CHAPTER VIII.
An Bxpedition,
EANTIME, while search was going on still for

Jim,—of course, as we know, without any
effect,—the question arose at the Hall,
Where was Joscelyn the gamekeeper? He always
came in to report to the Squire once in the week,
at any rate, and generally oftener, besides either
bringing or sending in such game as was required
for the family when there were no shooting parties
going; and as the weather had been so bad, the
Squire thought he would be sure to come and see
if anything needed to be done or consulted about
for the feeding and protection of the game. In
fact, the Squire, who could not get out because
of the snow, was getting fidgetty, and somewhat
out of temper with Joscelyn Green.

So, the second day after the snow-storm, the
very day that the roof was partly knocked in by
the new avalanche of snow in the night, the Squire
rang for the butler, and began to ask him about
Joscelyn, and whether he had been to the Hall, and
soon. The butler replied that he had seen nothing
of him, and that the cook had been asking about

ae



An Expedition. 49

him, for she had only a brace of pheasants and a
couple of hares left, and she wanted some rabbits
and. The Squire told him not to trouble
himself to tell him all the cook said, but asked if
he had heard anything of him ; and finding that he
had not, gave orders that a messenger should be
sent to inquire at the gamekeeper’s cottage.

The messenger was sent, and in time came back.
It was reckoned rather more than a mile from the
Hall to Joscelyn’s cottage, but it took him three
hours to get there and back again. ‘Never had
such a job in my life, Mr. Mullings,” he said to
the portly butler, as he came into the Hall, wet
through up to his thighs, and regularly fagged out
with weariness. ‘‘ Never thought I should ha’ got
back, never! There, it was down into this drift,
and scramblin’ out on it; and tumblin’ here and
tumblin’ there; and twice I got into the brook
through missing my way. There, I tell ’ee it was
a job, and no mistake! I never was so beat in my
life. Look here, Mr. Mullings, I never found him
arter all!”

“Out in the woods then, I suppose? But of
course you heard what his missis had to say, and
left a message with her.”

“Look here, Mr. Mullings,” said the man,
looking very mysterious, and half frightened, “there’s
where it is, as I say. I never found the cottage
at all)”



B



50 Under the Snow.

- The butler began to wonder whether Thomas
had taken leave of hissenses. ‘“ What?” he said.

“True as I’m here, Mr. Mullings. WhereI did
look for to find it there’s nothing but snow and
snow. I be feared em’s snowed up, I be;” and he
looked at the butler seriously, and with a grave
- nod, as much as to say, “and you know what that
_ means.”

“Bless me, you don’t say so! Dear, dear! I
must go and tell the Squire at once. “You stop till
I come back.”

“Snowed up!” exclaimed the Squire, when the
butler told him what Thomas had said. ‘“ Why,
dear me, they’ll be all smothered alive! The roof
crushed mm! Send me my boots and coat, and
order out all the men aout the place. Tell them
to get pickaxes and shovels. Under the snow!
What a remarkable thing!

In a short time, a very respectable force was.
collected, two of the footmen, and even the butler
himself, who volunteered to join; so that they
mustered some seven or eight men, headed by the
Squire, all quite sure that Thomas must have made
some foolish mistake in the way, and quite confident
they should soon find the cottage, or else come upon
some trace of it under the snow.

But they soon found that Thomas’s story was
avery true one. “It was slippin’ down here, and
scramblin’ up there, and goin’ into holes, and

















































































































































































area
Sy Ss SESSA





52 Under the Snow.

getting smothered with snow,” and altogether very
weary and unsatisfactory work indeed. They
began to leave off talking and joking, and walked
on, when they could walk without stumbling, very
quietly and solemnly. The fact was, they had
been walking for nearly an hour and a half, and
’ there was no trace of the cottage yet.

“Come on, men, come on,” said the Squire; “it
can’t be far off. There’s the Beacon Copse, and
yonder’s the Beggar’s Wood. Don’t let’s give ’em
up. Five shillings to every man who keeps on till
we find them.”

A faint cheer answered the Squire’s cheery
words, and they tried to pluck up fresh heart ; but it
was weary work. The poor butler could hardly get
along ; and the footmen, who had been the bravest
of the lot, would have given a good deal to find
themselves in the servants’ hall. But for very
shame they felt obliged to go on.

So they went on, till twelve: o'clock, one
o’clock, two o’clock had passed, and all were getting
hungry and faint. “I am afraid we must give it
up,” said the Squire.

“We’m gettin’ dead beat, sir, that’s sartain,”
said one of the men, touching his hat, and his looks
showed that what he said was true. ‘“ Much as we
shall do to get whoam afore dark.”

‘““Why look here, then,” said one of them to

_the butler, “Where be we? Look here! Thero’s



An Expedition. 53

that old pollard oak up by Three Lanes, as we
passed a bit ago! I’m sure on’t. Jan, look here.
Thee knowst that, doan’t thee?” pointing to the
pollard.

“Dan’l, why that’s the old pollard down by
Three Lanes! Mussy on us, where ha’ we bin,
then P”

“Bin! Why wandering round and round, mate,
and no mistake, and ain’t been anigh keeper's all
day.”

They soon, through the butler, acquainted the
Squire with the fact. It was just simply the truth.
They had walked and walked in a circle till they
had come back to a point from which they had
started more than three hours before. Utterly
wearied and exhausted, almost to the extent of
being ill, they got back to the Hall just as it was
getting dark—but they had not found Joscelyn’s
cottage.





54

CHAPTER IX,
Some Hope, Perhaps.
Fe HE falling in of the roof, although it threatened

x) very serious harm, perhaps destruction, was
not altogether a bad thing. It let in a rush
of fresh air, which they very much needed; and
as the branches of the trees still arched over and
partly supported the weight of the snow, the stair-
case was left almost clear. Joscelyn thought this
might give them a chance of escape, or at any
rate of making their perilous condition known;
and he climbed up over the broken tiles and
timbers, hoping he might be able to get through
the snow and reach some overhanging branch of a
tree, so that he might in that way make signals for
help. But itwould not do. He dared not meddle
with the snow, lest it should come down and puny
them beyond hope of rescue.

So they continued in their snow-prison all that
day; and as they were obliged now to remain '
downstairs, they had to sleep there too, as best
they could. Fortunately, for such amount of
cooking as they needed, they were still able to
have a fire. The chimney was not injured by the



Some Hope, perhaps. 55

fall of snow, though one of its pots was knocked
off. But the atmosphere was very hot and close,
and they were glad to let the fire out as soon as
they had boiled the kettle.

The second avalanche of snow proved also a
great blessing to them in this way. They had
been threatened with a dire calamity, and many
an anxious thought had passed through the minds
of Joscelyn and his wife respecting it. Their
pump was out of doors, and was now of course
buried in the snow, and the water they had
indoors was running short. They had therefore
valued as precious, every drop; but with all their
care they had that night only about a pint left.
“It’s the poor children I’m thinking of, Joscelyn,”
said Mrs. Green that night, after Jim and Margery
were asleep. ‘We might stand it a bit, but, poor

. dears, they couldn’t; and the little chap none so
well, either. What shall we do?”

“There, we can’t do nothing,” replied Joscelyn.
“But there’s One above as knows all.”

Joscelyn was not a man of many words, but his
few words meant as much as some people's many.
And he thought then in his heart, “as He knows,
He will do something to help.” He knew, of
course, that, after all, they might perish, but he
knew that God could help them if He thought fit.

So He did help them; for although they were
dreadfully frightened at this second fall, even



56 Under the Snow.

more than they were at the first, they soon had
reason to be thankful for one thing, that although
it knocked the roof in, no one had been hurt;
and then, because now they need be in no fear
about being short of water, for they had access to
the pure white snow.

It was great fun for little Margery, Jim looking
on smilingly from the heights of his superior
wisdom, to see the great lump of snow put into
the kettle, and then disappear and become a very
little water, so that they had to fill the kettle
with show many times before they had a kettleful
of water.

“Where does it all go to?” she asked; and
neither Jim, nor her mother, nor Joscelyn could
tell her.

“Well, there now,” said Joscelyn, scratching
his head with his big hand, “it do seem queer,
and I be sure I niver thought on it afore. But
there, let’s be thankful we’s got it to melt.”

Search was still made for the missing boy, and
also for the missing gamekeeper; and as, after
all, the situation of the cottage was known, and
might po doubt have been traced at first, if proper
plans had been adopted, it was not likely it would
be long before it, or the place where it had been,
was discovered. But many other things were
discovered as the roads and pathways were tracked
and dug out. Wagons, it was found, had gone



Some Hope, perhaps. 57

over high hedges on the top of the snow, the
wagoners knowing nothing about it. Other carts
and wagons had been left stuck in the drifts, the
horses and men finding their way home as best
they could. A sad discovery was made, too; a
man and boy, father and son, were found on the
downs, dead—frozen, and the ravens and crows
had partly devoured them. Some had had
wonderful escapes. One man said he had only
saved himself that dreadful night by getting into
the brook and wading along it till he came to
where the high road crossed it by a bridge; but
this some did not believe, for they said he could
never have stood the cold. But hitherto nothing
had been heard either of little Jim or the game-
keeper.

One day, however, the day before the second
fall cf snow had come and broken in the roof,
one man came io the Hall and reported that,
searching over the downs, he had come upon a
sort of hollow place, and had seen smoke coming
out of the snow, The gardeners and other men
about laughed at him.

“What, then,” said one of them, “was there a
kitchen fire under the drift?”

“Main big fire, I reckon,” said another, “ for
to make through the snow.”

“Some gipsies, I reckon,’ said the head
gardener, “who have hollowed out a place and





hidden their tents in the side
of some deep rift, for warmth
and shelter.”

Everybody agreed to this,
for the head gardener was some-



Some Hope, perhaps. 59

body, and it was almost as good as being wise
oneself, to agree with him. The butler nodded
approvingly. “No doubt, Mr. Graham, no doubt.
Besides, it stands to reason that if the keeper’s
cottage has been buried in the snow, as seems
most likely to be the case, built as it were in the
hollow, why they’re all dead, poor things, by this
time ; and then who could have made the smoke ?”

This was thought to settle the matter out and
out; but just then a message came from the
Squire, to say he should like to see the man and
question him himself. So the man, a simple-
looking rustic, but not without shrewdness and
sense, went into the Squire’s room (which he
called his study), where he kept not only his
papers and books, but fishing-rods, guns, and such-
like; and where he could rest when he wished to
be alone. The man told him just what happened,
and how and when he saw the smoke.

“Youre sure it was smoke?”

“T be, zur. I saw ’un and smelt ’un, and I
went on, thinking as I might find out what: it
wur; an’ I’d a pole wi’ me, and I shoved that
on before into the snow, lest I shu’d vall into a
hole like; and well as I did, for the pole went
down and pretty nigh I arter it, an’ I’d much ado
to get up again, that I assure ’ee.” But what
else they said, and what came of it, must be left
to the next chapter.



60

CHAPTER X.
Fhomas Andrews shows the Way,

eG ID you see any sign of any house or
Is) cottage ?” asked the Squire, continuing the

conversation.

“Nothing more than the smoke, zur; but the
snow looked uneven like so fur as I could see, and
I couldn’t help thinking as there was wood o’ some
sort underneath—not like as if it was level ground
—and that made me think it was the place.”

“Why, the cottage stands in the wood,” said
the Squire; adding, “Could you tell by anything
in sight whereabouts it was?”

“No, zur, I couldn’t. Fur one thing, it wur
getting dark, and I had to get back whoam, fur
fear of losing I’self.”

The Squire felt inclined to say, “ Why didn’t
you come at once and give information ?” but he
reflected that if. the poor man had done so it might
have been at the peril of his life; and, moreover,
if it really were the keeper’s cottage, the fact that
they had a fire was a proof that they were, in all
probability, alive and safe. So he said instead,





Thomas Andrews shows the Way. 61

“Well, you have done quite right to come. Can
you lead us to the place?”

“T’ll do my best, zur. I think 1 can, fur I stuck
up doo or dree bits of stick like to mark the way,
fur I says to myself, says I, if nobody else won't
go and see, I ’ool.”

The Squire nodded, and rising from his chav,
rang the bell, which was duly answered by the
butler.

“ Mullins,” he said, “take this man and give
him something to eat and drink. I hope he has
found poor Green’s cottage, and I intend to pursue
the search. Also, ask Graham to select three or
four men—those who know the country best—and
let them all have food and drink, and pack up a
good store of provisions, and say I shall be ready
to accompany the party in half an hour.”

There was something in the Squire’s tone which
showed that he not only meant what he said, but
that he would have no delay in having his orders
carried out. The butler, therefore, bowed ob-
sequiously, and followed by the man, whose name
was Thomas Andrews, withdrew from the room.
Then the Squire rang for his valet, and equipped
himself for a long walk in the snow.

When the head gardener and the rest heard
from the butler what the Squire had decided on,
they were rather taken aback, and began to pro-
phesy the failure of the expedition, In fact, some



62 Under the Snow. °

of them would have refused to go if they had
dared; but the gardener, who was canny, saw how
things were going, and said, “ Well, well, there
may be something in it, after all. If the man did
see smoke, it must have come from somewhere.”

“So it must; so it must,” said two or three, with
wise nods and solemn looks; “it’s mysterious,
anyhow.”

“Well, there, supposin’ us should vind ’im, what
a lark it ’ud be!” said one of the lads.

One of the men, old James Bryant, turned to
him, and looking upon him with a lofty scorn, said:

“Don’t you talk o’ larks; taint larks to be
buried in snow. You be simple, you be.” Whereat
the lad shrank back abashed, but said, sotfo voce:

“Bryant was simple once, so I’ve heerd.”

“When was that, lad?” asked one of them.

“Why, when he shot his black cat, and thought
it wur a fox.”

Bryant didn’t much like it, and the lad took care
to keep out of his way that day.

‘He'll be more feelin’ like when he gets older,”
said one of them to old Bryant.

‘Feelin’! They ain't got no feelin’, the main
of um. I do hate to hear boys talk like that, as
if there was nothin’ in this world but fun and
larks.””

“Well, well, we must mek ’lowance for the
fullishness of youth,” replied the other.



Thomas Andrews. shows the Way. 63

Bryant only grunted ; but he was right after all,
though he had a rough way of saying it. Boys
sometimes do and say very unkind things, thinking
them only for fun. But as Dr. Watts’ old poem
puts it:

“It’s only a madman would fling about fire,
And tell you it’s all but in sport.”

But we must not keep the expedition waiting
any longer, for the Squire by this time appeared
on the scene, and was evidently anxious to get on,
as the morning was getting on, and they had only
about five hours of daylight to do their work in.
Some of the men carried wraps and shawls. Two
lanterns with sufficient candles and matches were
provided, in case they should get bewildered in the
dark ; a stock of provisions was taken in case they
should be wanted at the cottage; and a flask of brandy
in case it should be needed. Then they set off.

All seemed of one mind now. If there were
any who thought they were going on a foolish
errand, they did not say so. One or two tried to
make little jokes about smoke coming out of the
snow, but nobody laughed. The fact is that before
they started, the Squire had made a few sensible
remarks about the matter, as it seemed to him, and
had offered each man a sovereign, if the cottage
was found, and its inhabitants rescued. So they
were all eager to go on, and began to feel great
compassion for poor Joscelyn Green and his wife,



Under the Snow.

64

Various were the [iil
mishaps that they
encountered on their

If they did
not use their poles
in suspicious places,
or could not se

way.



e

where the drift be-





they were very
apt to come to grief.

gan,

“ Hullo,

Barne

seemin

8;



t

n

>

thee cas

upright !

What’s
was

come to thee P”

shouted amid laugh-
ter by some in the
rear of the party, as

/

‘

e









Thomas Andrews shows the Way. 65

one of their number went headlong into a drift, and
had to be pulled out by his legs. And a good
many of them, the Squire included, had tumbles,
for the snow had made the down almost a dead
level; and while they could in many places and
for a considerable space see the points of the grass
blades, in a moment they came upon a deep drift
filling up some natural hollow, or some disused
chalk-pit.

At last they reached the spot imdicated by
Thomas; and there, sure enough, they saw the
snow lying as he had said, not level and smooth,
but in mounds and hollows, with a broken uneven
surface; and sure enough, also, behind one of these
mounds of snow, and apparently proceeding from
a deep hollow on the other side of it, they saw a
wreath of smoke curlmg quietly and peacefully
upwards towards the bright and frosty sky.

The Squire held up his hand, and all turned
attentively to him. ‘So far, neighbours,” he said,
“our search has been successful. This is the spot
of which Thomas Andrews told me. It lies as he
described ; and there,” he added, his voice trem- *
bling with emotion, ‘‘is the smoke which seems to
indicate that there is life beneath. Pray God ”—
and here he took off his hat—‘“‘ we may be in time
to rescue them!”

A. low murmur of voices floated into the air,
responding, ‘‘ Amen.”

F



66

CHAPTER XI.

Smoke out of the Snow!

me f
me rumour that Squire Colvin’s gamekeeper’s

LA

olf cottage was buried under the snow had found

its way to Brookbridge, and to the little
hamlet where Jim’s father and mother lived; but
it only served to strengthen their fears. If, they
thought, the drift has been as bad as that, there
can be very little hope fur poor Jim. They did
not say much about it even to one another; but
Mr. Wentworth often came in and asked if they
had any news, and had a little chat with them,
and he always finished by saying, “ Well, you
know, we mustn’t give up hope. It’s in His
hands still; ’’ and they tried to be calm and trust
_in Him; but it was hard work, and grew harder
and harder every day.

One night they had been reading the Bible
together—and they read the story of the Shunam-
mite’s son, who was brought to life again in
answer to the prayer of Elisha. And as they
sat thinking of poor little Jim, as they did all
times of the day and night too, his father said,



Smoke out of the Snow! 67

“Seems to me, mother, as we shall see him
alive yet. I can’t quite give him up.”

“Well, James, I do hope so, poor dear. It do
seem bad to think ” and then she couldn’t say
any more for crying, and her husband had to try
and comfort her as best he could.

Ah! children, boys and girls, you little know all
the tender anxious thoughts, all the tears some-
times, that you cost your parents. And all they
want in return is love and obedience! But we
must leave Jim’s father and mother (hoping, yet
almost afraid to hope), to see what was going on
at Joscelyn’s cottage.

First of all the Squire and the head-gardener,
and one or two of the older and wiser men, went
as near as they could to the place where they saw
the smoke, on the other side of the hill of snow.
They were obliged to go very carefully, and more
than once were in danger of fall'ng into and being
buried by the snow; but at last they reached a
place where they could see right down upon it,
and then they saw not only the smoke, but a part
of the chimney—the broken chimney-pot and a
brick or two. No wonder the chimney smoked, as
it did to the great inconvenience of Joscelyn and
his wife, with that broken chimney-pot on the top
of the chimney! Sometimes they were obliged to
let the fire out altogether.

Then the Squire and the others consulted to-





68 Under the Snow.

gether what they had better do. There were
evidently many feet of snow between them and
the roof of the house. They did not of course
know that the roof was broken in. And, of
course, they knew that there were a great many
more feet of snow, between the roof and the door;
yet for all anybody could see, save the smoke and
the chimney-pot, there might have been nothing
but snow.

“We must get down to the level somehow,”
said the Squire.

“Tl be a difficult business that, ’m thinking,”
replied the head-gardener.

“Beg pardon, zur,’ said Thomas Andrews,
“but it seems to I, we must go on a bit furder
along the down, and come down by one of the
combes where there ain’t so much snow, and so
work our way along; and some of we must stay
up here, so as to be sort of guides like.”

Thomas had known the downs day and night
for many years, and even those who had before
laughed at him about the smoke coming out of
the snow, listened approvingly to what he said,
and from all sides were heard “ that be it,” “ he’m
right,” “that’s what we'm got to do.”

“Then, Thomas,” said the Squire, “you had
better take the lead.”

“Tf you please, zur,’ he replied, touching his
hat respectfully. So they went on.



Smoke out of the Snow! 69

“Seems a rum way of getting down there,” said
the young man who had offended Bryant, pointing
with his finger towards the smoke, “ to be goin’ up
here, I’d ha’ tried straight on.”

“Good job if you had,” said Bryant, who over-
heard him; “there'd ha’ been one fool less to
look arter.”

A loud laugh greeted Bryant’s speech, and so
the old man had the best of it, after all.

On they went, using their long poles to prod
into the snow with, so that they might not fall
into drifts, till at last they succeeded in getting to
the foot of the down, where the snow was not
more than two feet deep; but now they seemed
out of sight altogether of the object of their
search. There was nothing around them but a
vast expanse of snow.

Thomas Andrews, however, knew what he was
about. ‘This way, zur,” he said to the Squire,
very respectfully, but with the firm voice of a
man who knew he was right. “You mind that
bit of a copse up there, zur?”

“No,” replied the Squire, “I can’t say—yet I
think I noticed it.”

“Well, zur, that’s our guide. I’se got that in
my eye, and we’s got to go straight in the direc-
tion for that.” So they went on. Gradually the
snow got deeper.

“We'm better begin to dig here, zur,” continued



70 Under the Snow.

Thomas. “The snow’ll get deeper hereabouts.”
So they set to work to clear a path.

The snow did get deeper. Two feet—three—
four—six. It was hard work, and took a long
time.

“We must have more labourers,” said the
Squire. ‘Andrews, while there is time, go back
to the Hall; bring with you, on my authority”—
giving him a pencilled note to the butler—“ every
hand on the premises, and any others you can
find; bring provisions, lanterns, and all that is
necessary. The butler has my orders in that
paper. We will go on digging here till you
return.”

“Yes, zur; I’ll do my best. “Scuse me, sir, but
yowll mind as they digs in a straight line. Snow's
very deceiving.” Ashe spoke he pointed to the
road they were making.

The Squire looked. They were getting into a
curve. Had they gone on in that direction they
might have dug for the keeper’s cottage till the
thaw came, but would never have found it. He
put them right, and the work went on.

In due time the reinforcements arrived. All
were very respectful to Thomas Andrews now.
Next to the Squire he was the most important
man there, and the Squire constantly asked his
opinion, and acted upon it, as to what they should
do and how they should do it. But Thomas not

































































































































































































































72, Under the Snow.

only gave advice, he worked with a will as well as
the rest; and so did the Squire.

But it was a tough and long job, and no mis-
take. As they got farther on in the direction of
the cottage, the snow got deeper and deeper. The
drift in one place was fully nine feet deep, and as
they got nearer still, they seemed to encounter a
very mountain of snow. It is true it gave them
hope in one way, for most likely the cottage was.
under it; but it was disheartening in another, for
it would take them hours to cut-a road through it,
and already the short winter’s day was drawing to
a close. They resolved to make a tunnel through it.

























73

CHAPTER XII.

Rescue,

>
oy its own weight, that although the task of

tunnelling was harder than they expected,
there was little or no danger from the fall of the
snow from above. Had this happened their lives
might have been sacrificed as well as those in the
cottage, but by the mercy of God it was not so.
The lanterns, too, came into use now, although
they used the candles as sparingly as they could,
for they did not know how much longer they
might have to dig, and it was almost dark in the
tunnel.

It soon became oppressively hot too, so that they
were obliged to go out for air two or three at a
time ; and had they had to go much further, they
must have given up all hope of finishing their task
that night. Indeed, the Squire and Andrews and
the head-gardener had been consulting together
whether they had not better give it up and come
again to-morrow morning. But Thomas Andrews
said he felt sure they would soon come to the
cottage, so they resolved to try a bit longer.



74 Under the Snow.

One of the men driving his spade into the snow,
struck something hard. ‘“ Hullo,” he said, “ what
be this, then ? Here be summat, and no mistake.”
And he began clearing away with vigour. Very
soon the “summat” was revealed. It was the
brick-work of the well.

“Then we baint fur from the house, zur,” said
Andrews.

“But which way does the well le from the
house?” asked the Squire.

“Well, zur, if I could know for sartain which
side of the well I was, I could tell ’e; but ’see, us
might be the house side and might be t’other side ;
but I thinks we be to go to the right. When
we’s cleared away a bit round the well, us might
know.”

So they cleared away a space round and above,
till the upright, the wheel or roller upon which the
rope was wound, and the handle by which the
bucket was let down into the well, could be clearly
seen. ‘‘ Now then I do know,” said Thomas, “ for
the handle points toward the house. That way,
mates. We'll soon find ’em, now.” Sure enough
Thomas was right. A few yards further, and
their shovels struck against the brick walls. They
raised a shout.

Just then the inhabitants of the cottage were
sitting together almost in despair. It was the fifth
day of their imprisonment, and hitherto there had



Rescue. 75

been no sign of deliverance, no hope of release.
They were beginning, too, to feel the effects of an
overcrowded space, and consequently of an impure
atmosphere. Little Margery was restless and fret-
ful; nothing could amuse her. Jim tried to keep
up, but he had not got over the effects of his
exposure to the snow, and often suffered a good
deal of pain; he could not sing now. The dog
whined and looked wretched, and wagged his tale
but seldom, and then languidly. Joscelyn Green
pined for the fresh air and the woods, and some-
times was tempted to be impatient; and his wife
sat with sad eyes and pale face rocking Margery,
and wondering how much longer they should live.
They had only bread left now, and not much of
that.

Suddenly the dog jumped up and began to growl.
Then they heard a knock at the wall.

“What's that? Good Lord!” said Joscelyn,
trembling. He feared that it might be the house
falling. Mrs. Green stopped rocking, and Margery
moaned feebly. Jim stood up, pale with terror.
Then they heard voices.

“Oh, Jos, Jos,” almost screamed Mrs. Green,
“T do believe as they’ve found us! Oh, the Lord’s
mercy be praised!”

“Wait a bit, missis,” replied Joscelyn, his voice
all of a shake; “let’s try.” So saying, he knocked
the wall where he had heard the noise. The knock



76 Under the Snow.

was returned, and another shout was raised, and
words could be indistinctly heard bidding them be
of good cheer, The strong man sank into a chair
and sobbed aloud for joy. In a little while the
door was reached; but when it came to that, no-
body could speak. The Squire tried, but he could
only put out his hand and shake hands with
Joscelyn, who couldn’t speak any more than the
Squire, and the same with them all. The Squire's
party had a store of provisions left, of which
Joscelyn and his wife were glad, and they managed
to clear away the snow from the staircase, so as to
let in fresh air. Then the Squire said: “Neigh- |
bours, the Almighty has been very merciful to us,
and we ought to give Him thanks.”

« Amen; Amen,” said all, and Joscelyn handed
him a Bible, and he read the 116th Psalm. Read
it; and you will not wonder that they all cried
together, as the beautiful words spoke so tenderly
and lovingly of their peril and deliverance.

“Now we must wrap up and get out of this,”
said the Squire, “for I don’t think it’s safe to
remain. A sudden thaw might come on, and
another fall of snow would carry the house down.
We must make our way to the Hall, where we
shall find room ; and if the moon’s up, as I hope it
may be, and it’s a clear night, we may, please
God, get there in safety. But who’s this little
lad?” he asks, turning to Jim.



Rescue. 77

So the story had to be told as we have already
read it, and little Jim and Hero and Joscelyn
became quite the centres of attraction, and many
kind things were said, and words of pity and
sympathy. Then one of the lads came forward—



it was the one who had been “cheeky” to Bryant,
but who wasn’t a bad fellow when he wasn't
foolish—and said to the Squire:

“Please, sir, would you mind me going to tell
Jim’s father and mother, sir; Jim Mason. sir, as



18 Under the Snow.

has been shut up here? They’ve been cruel sorry,
sir, and they’ll be glad to hear he’s safe.”

“Will it be safe for you to go?” asked the
Squire.

“Yes, sir ; it’s plain track now across the downs,
and a light night.” So the Squire gave him leave
to go.

There was joy in James Mason’s dwelling that
night. It was late when the lad got there, and
they were just going to bed, after praying for little
Jim, when the lad’s knock came to the door.

Late as it was, they would have started off then
and there to see Jim; but, after talking it over,
thought it would be better to leave it till the morn-
ing, as he was in such good hands, especially as
Mrs. Mason was very poorly, partly from anxiety,
and they feared the journey would be too much
for her. But their hearts were too full for sleep.
They cried and laughed together almost at the
same time. They couldn’t say enough to thank
the young man; and when Jim’s mother put her
arms round his neck and kissed him for her boy’s
sake, he cried and laughed too. And they did not
forget to thank that gracious Father, to whom they
had trusted in this terrible trial, and who had so
mercifully delivered their boy from death.

But this scene was nothing to that which took
place when on the next day they went to the Hall
and there found little Jim himself, “My boy!



Rescue. 79

My boy!” said his mother, flinging herself on her
knees before him, and clasping him to her arms:
while he, not less overcome, cricd ‘“ Mother!
Mother!” and then burst into tears. His father
took him round the neck and tried to speak to him,
but couldn’t; but little Jim took his hand and
kissed it, so they quite understood one another.
Then Joscelyn and his wife and little Margaret
came in for their share of thanks and blessings;
and the dog, who seemed to enjoy the whole busi-
ness as much as the rest, barked and wagged his
tail and looked as pleased as anybody. So there
was great joy that day; and such a dinner as the
Squire gave them all!

Also the Squire had sent for Mr. Wentworth,
the good clergyman, and he came and made a nice
little speech to them; and as it was the day before
Christmas Day, how could he help speaking to the
rescued children, and to them all, about the blessed
Child who was born on that day, “‘ Jesus Christ the
Saviour!” who loved little children, and who had
thought of and preserved those who had been in
such peril! ae

Little Jim was very ill for a while. The cold
and exposure had done him more harm than they
at first thought; but he got better. Many were
the kind friends who came to him in his illness,
and many the kind words spoken to him by Mr.
Wentworth and others, some of which he never



80 Under the Snow.

forgot, and which, by God’s blessing, helped to
lead him in the right way; so that after all he
had to thank God for the time he had spent
“Under the Snow.”



LONDON: KNIGHT, PRINTER, MIDDLE STREET, ALDERSGATE, E.G





>



| RA LIST

OF BOOKS.
FOR PRESENTA TION.



The Religious Titet Society Publishes Several Thousands of Bodks for all
Readers, at all prices, from One Farthing to One Guinea. This List gives the
Titles of many that are suitable for presentation, but the following Catalogues,
containing full Lists of the Society’s Publications, are also issued, and will
be forwarded, Post Free, on application to The Secretaries, 56, Paternoster
Row, H.C. :—

Genera. CaTALOGvE oF Booxs, ETC.
Ciassiriep List oy GENERAL LITERATURE. | Tracts, HANDBILLS, LEAFLETS.
Cuassirizep List or TRACTS. PUBLICATIONS IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES.
InnustratEp CavaLocvus or Girr Books. | DIAGRAMS AND PICTURES FOR LECTURERS.

CHIEF OFFICE: 56, Paternoster Row, London.

A large variety of Presentation Books at-all prices may be inspected at. the Rerar Depots.
LONDON : 65, St. PAUL’s CHURCHYARD (Opposite the Northern Entrance to the
Cathedral), AND 164, PICCADILLY.

LIVERPOOL : 18, SLATER STREET. MANCHESTER: 100, CORPORATION STREET.
BRIGHTON : 31, WESTERN ROAD.

Books For CircunaTING LIBRARIES.









2]
ILLUSTRATED TABLE-BOOKS.



pouiace AT JOPPA

ng AY
Fron PworoenAr!
[eusTAAre? OW rery YSHAD











JUST PUBLISHED.

WALKS IN PALESTINE.

The letterpress by HENRY A. Harper, author of ‘“ Illustrated
Letters to my Children from the Holy Land,” etc. Illustrated by twenty-
four photogravures from photographs taken by C. V. SHapsBoLt, Esq.
Royal Quarto. 28s. bevelled boards, gilt edges.

N.B.— Of this book there is also an edition de liux6, limited to 100 copies. The
plates are on India paper, the letterpress on hand-made paper, and the volume
is handsomely bound in classic vellum, with gilt top and uncut edges. Price 45s.

This volume forms a superb gift-book and souvenit of the Holy Land. Mr.

Shadbolt’s photographs are of the highest merit, and they have been most beauti-

fully reproduced by Messrs. Annan and Swan. The letterpress is from the pen of

ab Herpes nhs has lived in Palestine, and is familiar with every spot shown inthe
illustrations.

THE LANDS OF SCRIPTURE.
Illustrated by Pen and Pencil. Containing ‘‘ Those Holy Fields”

and ‘‘The Land of the Pharaohs,” by SamugeL Mannina, LL.p.: and
“Pictures from Bible Lands,” by 8. G. Green, p.p. Imperial 8vo. 2ls-
handsomely bound in cloth gilt.

This elegantly bound and profusely illustrated volume forms a very suitable
Preseutation Book to a Minister, Sunday-school Superintendent, or Teacher. It
gives, in a concise and interesting form, a large amount of information about the
places mentioned in Scripture, such as would prove of great service to every Bible
student.

Tue Renicious Tracr Sociery, Lonpon,



THE PEN AND PENCIL SERIES OF

ILLUSTRATED TABLE BOOKS.

Imperial 8v0 pp. (size of page, 11 by 7% inches), beautifully Illustrated,
printed on superior paper, price 88. in handsome cloth, gilt edges ;
or 25s, each in morocco elegant.

Just Published.

IRISH
PICTURES.

Drawn with Pen and Pencil.
By RICHARD LOVETT, M.A.

Author of “Norwegian Pic-
tures,’ ‘‘ Pictures from Hol-
land,” etc. With a map and
over one hundred Illustrations
from Sketches and Photographs,
Imperial 8vo. 8s. handsome
cloth boards, gilt edges, or 25s.
bound in morocco, gilt edges.

“Contains some pleasant
writing on the natural beauties
and antiquities of Ireland.”—
Daily Telegraph.

‘‘The descriptions can be com-
mended for their truth and ful-
ness.” —Manchester Guardian.

“A really splendid volume.”
—Cork Herald.

‘¢ The illustrations are excel-
lent,” —Jrish Ecclesiastical Ga-
zette.

American Pictures. Drawn with Pen and Pencil. By
SamuEL Manning, LL.p. New Edition. Profusely Illustrated. 8s. in hand-
some cloth gilt; or 25s. in morocco elegant.

“The text is clear and vigorous, and the numerous illustrations which bear
it company are a striking complement to its descriptions.” — Guardian.

Italian Pictures. Drawn with Pen and Pencil. By SamuUEL
MANNING, LL.D. New Edition. Revised, with additions by Dr. 8. G. Grexn.
Profusely Illustrated. New Edition. 8s. handsome cloth gilt; or 25s. in
morocco elegant.

French Pictures. Drawn with Pen and Pencil. By Dr.
Samort G. Green. With fine Engravings. 8s. in handsome cloth gilt;
‘or 25s. in morocco elegant. au, .
FS x. Silves a graphic notion of the general aspeet of France and its inhabitants.” —
tandard,

Pictures from the German Fatherland. Drawn with Pen
and Pencil. By Dr. Samue.G. Green. With fine Engravings. 8s. handsome
tloth, or 25s. in morocco, elegant.

‘“We can recommend the work as a capital and cheap present.”—Art Journal

Pictures from Holland. Drawn with Pen and Pencil. By
Ricuarp Lovett, u.A., Author of ‘‘ Norwegian Pictures,” etc. With one
hundred and thirty-two illustrations. Imperial 8vo. 88. handsome cloth,
gilt edges ; or 25s. bound in morocco elegant. 2

“A charming book, prettily illustrated, and prettily written.”’—Saturday Review.
“The artist has succeeded in pourtraying all the more interesting phases of
Dutch life and scenery with fidelity and spirit.”—Aorning Post.







-Tux Revicgious Tracr Socizry, Lonpon.

”



47

ILLUSTRATED TABLE-BOOKS.

The “PEN AND PENCIL SERIES.”—continued.
Imperial 8vo (size of page,.11 by 7} inches).
Price Eight Shillings in handsome cloth, gilt edges 3 or Twenty-five Shillings cach in morocco

English Pictures. Drawn with Pen and Pencil. By SamvEL
Mannine, Lu.p., and 8S. G. Gren, p.p. With Coloured Frontispiece and
numerous Wood Engravings. 8s. handsome cloth, or 25s. in morocco,

“ Next to seeing the beautiful places of the earch comes the delight of reading of them ; and
many # one who is doomed to begin and end his days within a ‘ cribbed, cabined, and confined
circle, can roam, guided by such a book, at the will of fancy, through sunny glades, by babbling

streams, or over the breezy moorlands,”—7Zimtes.

Wiggs 2
gatdg 2
3
gouks 3s
ged° 6
3 PAs 3B
Sah F
Sogâ„¢ 5
pened 5
nage
BSeEe 8 |
ag?es a2
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Sade 28

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Aare we
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HSEBSs 8,
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perek os
wades Bo
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Hag SFE
AZGssso-
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Ha ges ass:
O'oF ae os
a, Suufo
oho sf io
PEREESS§
9 * 2B
Ey

a 3S

Canadian Pictures. Drawn with
Pen and Pencil. By the Marquis or
Lorne. With numerous fine engravings
by Ey Whymper, from Sketches by the
Marquis of ‘Lorne, Sydney Hall, and others.
8s. extra cloth boards gilt; or 24s. bound in
morocco elegant. |

“Most interesting —an extremely pleasant {
book.”—Saturday Review.

Australian Pictures, Drawn with
Penand Pencil. By Howarp WILLovGHBY,
of the “Melbourne Argus.” With a large
Map and Illustrations from Photographs
and Sketches, engraved by E. Whymper
and others. Imperial 8vo, 88., handsome
cloth, gilt edges ; 25s. morocco elegant.

“ These pictures are real, vivid, and life-like.
They are written by a man who belongs to the
scenes and the people. The book, therefore,
will be a fitting memorial to tourists of what
they have seen, and will at the same time be in-
structive to untravelled people.”-A ustralasian.
}

Indian Pictures, Drawn with Pen
and Pencil. By the Rey. Winniam Un-
WIcK, M.A. Profusely Mlustrated. 88., in
handsome cloth gilt ; 25s. morocco. |

“ The Society, in all their excellent series of

Pictures’ (which now has included no iucon- |

siderable part of the world). has not given to





the public a better ited or more interesting

yolume than this.’ —Spertatur. |



Tue Rexicrous Traci Socirry Lonpox.



X R
Soe °
S Fo egy
REeSees
ot eSoscg
Peete Se es
2354872
& Saree
So'4u.
Fe Eo
goaage
AegaQ
BFebES
wesaes
SE ee
"oes
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2ergs
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Pot bik
fees Seg
Sao.
eee ay
SES a
RETR ES
3 5s5
g eg pm
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Rae
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ao oO
& Fage
7 PEW
Soee
2 Bass

Sea Pictures. By Dr. Macautay,
Editor of the Leisure Hour, &c. Contain-
ing the Sea in Poetry, Physical Geography
of the Sea, the Ser in History, and the
Harvest of the Sea. 8s.,in handsome cloth ;
or 25s. in morocco elegant.

Mr, Ruskin says:—‘This beautiful book is
by far the best [ have ever seen on the subject,
and will be a most precious gift-book for me.”

“Those Holy Fields.” Palestine
Illustrated by’ Pen and Pencil. By the
Jate Rev. SAMUEL Mannina. LL.D. With
nuniecrous Engravings. 8s., handsome cloth
gilt ; 25s. morocco.

Pictures from Bible Lands.
Drawn with Pen and Pencil. Edited by
the Rey.S.G. Green, D.D. The Engra-
vings by Edward Whymper and others,
88,, handsome cloth gilt ; 25s, morocco.

New Edition. Just Published.
The Thand of the Pharaohs.

Egypt and Sinai, Dlustrated by Pen and

Pencil. By the late Rev. SamvuEL MAN-
inc, LL.D. With numerous fine En-
gravings 8s. handsome cloth gilt ; or 25s.

in morocco,

Swiss Pictures. Drawn with Pen
and Pencil. By Samuen Mannine, LL.D.
With numerous Ilustrations, 88, hand-
some cloth gilt ; 26s. morocco,



ILLUSTRATED GIFT-BOOKS.



By Dr. Macaunay,
Anecdotes,’ etc.
by Edward Whymper and others.

Illustrated London News,

Her
Life

and

— Reign.

Author of “Sea Pictures,’ “Luther Anecdotes.” ‘Gordon
With Five Portraits of the Queen, and Sixty Engravings

Small Quarto, 10s. 6d., cloth, gilt edges.
“Mhe author’s endeavour has been to recall those qualities in the personal character of
the Queen and the incidents in her life which have most endeared her to her people.”—

© Tt is a beautifully printed an very prettily illustrated volume, and is admir able in tone

and feeling.”— thenwum.

“A very acceptable gift-book.”—Stamford Mercury.

. £2
B38 2
BSE EF
BEF Ee
a a eS
#a 8s

g 2
SM, ge
Bete
& z
8

lustrated b:

By Poet
4to., 6s., cloth boards gilt.
Mr. Edward Whymper
id tone of the por
it to his taste and judgment.”—







oe
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g
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5
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a”
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2m re
=m
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HAL S88s
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28 £3 =
ed bess
fuged BEZS
eah Sete
mek Seas
HOE ZEBN
Odanr Sees
Peek aps
Hane 23-8
fz HeEs
Sy

The Harvest of a Quiet
Eyr; or, Leisure Thoughts for
Busy Lives. By the Rev. J. R.
Vernon, M.A. With numerous En-
gravings. New Edit.on. 6s. 6d.
cloth, gilt edges,

‘““Inever saw anything more gracefully or
more rightly done—more harmoniously

pleas nt in ‘text and illustration.” — Mr.
Ruskin,

Ingleside and Wayside
Mvusinecs. A companion volume to
“The Harvest of a Quiet Eye.”
6s. cloth gilt.

Random Truths in Common
Tunes. Occasional Papers from mv
Study Chair. By the Rev. J. R.
Vernon, M.A., author of ‘‘ The
Harvest of a Quiet Kye.” Illustra-
tio. s, 7s. clotu gilt.

“It seems even ‘better than ‘The Harvest
of a Quiet Eye.” ’"—Mr, Ruskin,

“Should be placed next to Wordsworth on
every student's bookshelf.’'—-Standard.

Tae Rerrsonrs Tract Socrety. Loyposn.








ge
Bd s tac |
ae P
GEE gy ombos
eg a4 So
Bez BRE OSELO
Bed BS 0n885S
SEe GES ERrh SO
Sag s 2g od
e'B daro0ys
pe Pooks EB
[28 2&rng 3m
Qf, “BFR au =o
ae S BASH
ze =o rh
842 p Ore" &
“Se " oH a ory
TBE Woo eee
4° PE oG eis
2° Bresars
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mo fy eeio
#e So we 4G
Beamish
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2 = o oS
#2 SOQF ras
25 PRR QUES iy
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BoE fee oe
ap Ss
Sh Spt Ze
. Ss esanB
5 ans 2a
By Fob ee
gs oesy me
as seo hk’ ap
oe PRSh moe
eg SF Pi raga

The Life of Jesus Christ the
Saviour. By Mrs.S. Warson. With
many fine Engravings. 5s, cloth.

‘(For young peopleto read, or to helpa teacher
in lighting up a narrative of the one perfect life,
and interesting young people in all {ts parts and
details, we have seen no better volume of the
kind than this.”"—JMethodiet Recorder.

Dr. Stoughton’s Reformation Books.

The Spanish Reformers,
their Memoriesand Dwelling Places.
By Dr. Sroventon. Finely Illus-
trated. 8s. handsome cloth gilt,

« 4 most interesting and.instructive volume.’
—Spectatar.

Footprints of Italian Re-
FORMERS. By Dr. Stouauron. Finely
Illustrated. 8s. handsome cloth gilt.

“A very charming and useful gift-book.”—

Congregationalist.

Homes and Haunts of
Lurner. By Dr. Strougaton.
Finely Illustrated. 8s. handsome
cloth, gilt edges. ,







6]

A USEFUL SET FOR PRESENTATION

des

1.

2.

8.

To a Minister or Sunday School Teacher.

MOT WiC





a

M




















IBL





IGHT FROM MONUMENT.
GYPT AND SYRIA
REES OF BIBLE

i)





DISEASES OF
ANIMALS OF



BABYLONIAN LIFE

CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE
B





TEMPLE HILL ATJERUSALE
GALILEE INTIME OF CHRIS

Byu-Paths of Bible Buotoledge.

“The volumes which the Tract Society is issuing under the above title fully
erve success. They have been entrusted to scholars who have a special
acquaintance with the subjects about which they severally treat.”—The Atheneum,

Cleopatra’s Needle. By the Rev. J. Kine, Lecturer for the
Palestine Exploration Fund. With Illustrations. 2s. 6d.

Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments. By A. H.
Sayce, L1.v., Deputy Professor of Comparative Philology, Oxford, etc.
‘With Facsimiles from Photographs. 3s.

. Recent Discoveries on the Temple Hill at Jerusalem.

By the Rev, J. Kine, m.a., Lecturer for the Palestine Exploration Fund.
With Maps, Plans, and Llustrations. Qs. 6d.

. Babylonian Life and History. By E. A. Wauuis Bunge,
u.a., Cambridge, Assistant in the Department of Oriental Antiquities,
British Museum. 3s.

. Galilee in the Time of Christ. By Sean MERRILL, D.D.,
Author of “ East of the Jordan.” Witha Map. 2s, 6d.

. Egypt and Syria. Their Physical Features in Relation
to Bible History. By Sir J. W. Dawson, F.c.8., F.R.8. With many Illustra-
tions. 3s.

. Assyria: Its Princes, Priests, and People. By A. H.

SaYcr, M.A., LL.D. Illustrated. 3s.

The Dwellers on the Nile. Chapters on the Life, Literature,
History, and Customs of Ancient Egypt. By E. A. WaLuis Bunex, u.a., of
the British Museum. Illustrated. 3s,

9. The Diseases of the Bible. By Sir J, Rispon BENNETT,

10
11,

M.D., F.K.8., Ex-President of the Royal College of Physicians. 2s. 6d.
. Trees and Plants of the Bible. By W. H. Grosmr, z.Sc.

Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 3s.cloth.

Animals of the Bible. By H. Cuicnesrer Harv, B.A,
Naturalist to Sir G. Nares’ Arctic Expedition and Professor Hull’s Palestine
Expedition, Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 3s.

Tue Reiieious Tract Soctery. Loxpon,



L 7

HANDSOME GIFT-BOOKS.
Poung Men and dilaitens.

Girl’s Own Indoor Book.
Edited by CHaRries PETERS.
528 pages, 84 X 64, With over one
hundred and fifty illustrations. 8s.
cloth, gilt edges.

Containing practical helps to Girls
in all matters relating to their
material comfort and moral well-
being. By the Author of ‘‘ How to
be Happy though Married,” Dora
de Blaquiere, Dora Hope, Marie
Karger, Lady Macfarren, Lady
Lindsay, Ernst Pauer, Sir John
Stainer, the Hon. Victoria Gros~-
venor, Jobn C. Staples, Canon
Fleming, ‘‘ Medicus,” Ruth Lamb,
Sophia Caulfeild, and many others.



Indoo# Games and Rectea:
tions. A popular Encyclopedia
for Boys. Edited by G. A.
Hurcuison. Including chapters by
J. N. Masxenyne, Lieut.- Col.
CurHzLL, Dr. Gorpon STaBLEs,
zB... Rev. A. N. Manan, MA.,
C. Sransrigip - Hicks, Dr.
Srrapiine, and others. “ Boy’s
Own Bookshelf.” Vol. VIII.
With many Engravings. Quarto.
8s. cloth boards, gilt edges. A
splendid Gift-Book or Prize for
Boys. 528 pages, 84 X 64



The Handy Natural His-
rony. By the Rev. J. G. Woop,
author of “Homes without
Hands,” ete.,ete. 368 pages, 8 X 64
With 224 Engravings. 8s. cloth
boards, gilt edges.

‘ A delightful book, and will make
a very handsome and enviable
high-clase prize or present.”—
School Board Chronicle.

“A handsome volume, in which the
author, a well-known naturalist,
tells his readers in simple, un-
technical languagé the habits and
nature of birds, beasts, and rep-
tiles, Mr. Wood’s style is excel-
lently adapted for attracting the
interest and insuring the attention
of even ordinarily careless rea-
ders. ’— Mail.



faz Reuiaious Tract Bociety. Lonvox.



i 8

THE SUNFLOWERS SERIES

OF STORIES FOR ALL READERS.



This is a Series of Books intended for adults rather than children. Large num-
bers ot young people, as well as readers of older growth, give up much of their
time to fiction. This Series supplies books which not only interest as well-written
Stories that afford studies of character and descriptions of events and scenes likely
to rivet the attention, but which also stimulate the serious thought, and develop
the better nature of those into whose hands they fall.

The Manse of Glen Clunie. By
Ectianron Tuorne, author of “ The Old
Worcester Jug,’ ‘The Two Crowns,”
etc. Illustrated by Cuartes WuyMerr,
Crown 8vo. 3s. Gd. cloth.

Two Enthusiasts. By E.
Evererr Green. Illustrated by
Epwarp Wuyrmprr, Crown 8vo. 5s.
cloth boards.

Barbara’s Brothers. By E.
Everett Green, Author of ‘ Lenore
Annandale’s Story,”’ ‘‘ Joint Guardians,”
ete. Illustrated by R. and E. Tayuor.
Crown 8vo, 5s, cloth boards.

Joint Guardians. By E.
Everetr GREEN. Illustrated. 5s. cloth.

Joyce Graham’s History ; or,
Overcoming Evil with Good. By H. A.
Gownrrne. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 33.6d.

Another King. By JANET EDEN.
Illustrated by E. Wuymper. Crown $vo.
3s. 6d. cloth.

The Head of the House. A Story of Victory over Passion and
Pride. By E. E. Green. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 5s.

Ida Nicolari. By Eeranron Tuorns. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.

The Old Manuscript ; or, Anaise Robineau’s History. A Tale
of the Huguenots of La Vendée. By BLaNcHE M. MocerinGE. Illustrated
by E. Wuymper. Crown 8vo. 5s. cloth.

Young Sir Richard. By H.
Fereperick Cuaruss. Illustrated. Crown
8vo. 5s. cloth, A

Maddalena, the Waldensian
MaiIpEN AND HER Propur. Translated by
Juiz Sutter. Illustrated. Crown 8yvo.
8s. 6d. cloth. |

Turning Points; or, Two Years
in Maud Vernon’s Life, By L. C. Sinxe.
Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth.

Reaping the Whirlwind. A Story
of Three Lives. Illustrated. Crown 8vo.
3s. 6d. cloth,

One Day ataTime. By BLancuE
E.M. Gren. Dlustrated by E. Woymprr.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. cloth,

The Mistress of Lydgate
Priory; or, the Story of a Long Life,
By Evetyn E. Green. Crown 8vo, 5s.

The Two Crowns. By Eezanton
Tuorne. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo.
3s. 6d. cloth, :

Lenore Annandale’s Story. By Evi.tyn E. Green With
Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 5s. cloth,

Carola. By HesBa StrRervton. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.

Sunflowers. A Story of To-day. By G.C.GEpexE. Illustrated.
Crown 8vo. 8s. 6d. cloth.

Tue Rexiaious Tracr Society, Lonvon.







[9
ILLUSTRATED ANNUALS

FOR PRESENTATION. :

Che Rersure Hour.
Annual Volume for 1888.

“ Behold in these what leisure hours demand Amuse-
ment and true knowledge hand in hand.”

Tur VoLUME For 1888 of this Monthly Maga-
zine fur Family and General Reading contains 856
imperial 8vo, pages (11 X 73) of interesting reading,
with numerous IlJustrations by Eminent Artists.
It forms a handsome Book for Presentation,
and an appropriate and instructive volume for
a School or College Prize. Price 7s. in cloth
Doards; 8s. 6d. extra boards, gilt edges; 10s. 6d.
half-bound in calf.



Che Sunday at Home.
Annual Volume for 1888.

AN ILLUSTRATED FAMILY MAGAZINE FOR
SABBATH READING.

Tats VoLumME For 1888 forms avery suitable
Book for Presentation. It contains 828 pages,
Imperial 8vo (11 X 74), with a great variety of
Interesting and Instructive Sabbath 'Reading for
every Member of the Family. It is profusely
illustrated by Coloured and Wood Engravings,
Price 7s. cloth boards; 8s. 6d, extra boards,
gilt edges; 10s. 6d; half-bound in calf.

/~ vel? 4 OWN cuawaniey
The Girl's Own Annual.

The Ninth Volume of “ The Girl’s Own Paper,”
—containing 848 Demy 4to (11 X 8}) pages of
interesting and useful reading. Stories by popu~
jar writers; Music by eminent composers ; Prac-
tical Papers for Young Housekeepers ; Medical
Papers by a well-known practitioner ; Needle-
work, plain and fancy; Helpful Papers for
Christian Girls; Papers on Reasonable and Sea-
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Full Text

































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































University
of
Florida

The Baldwin Library

RmB
























































































































































































































































































































Bessie Mason's Victories.

Dame Buckle & her Pet Johnnu.

TigerJack.

Alice Benson's Trials.

Charlie Scott.

Where a Penny went to, @ Kitty's
Strange Friend.

The Young Folks of Hazelbrook.

Miss Greys Text.

Basil; or Honesty & Industry.

Ben Holts Good Name.

Lisa Baillies Journal,

Northcliffe Boys.

The Little Orange Sellers.

Georgies Prayer.

Saddie's Service.

Nils Revenge.

Harry Blakes Trouble.

Cousin Jack's Adventures,

Hungering & Thirsting.

The China Cup.

How Tilly found a Friend.

Charity’s Birthday Text.

The Rescue.

Little Nellies Days in India.




























































































































































































Dyprens Clbenrea—

fpoiinoe Ll FY











THE GAMEKEEPER SAW THE SLEEPING BOY,




i i ONO

BY THE AUTHOR OF

“HEROES AND FAMOUS MEN OF OLD.”



THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,

56, PATERNOSTER Row; 65, Str. Paut’s CHURCHYARD;

AND 164, PICCADILLY.





















PonTents,

Sey ee
CHAP. PAGE
I. HOMEWARD BOUND - 7 Ree
1, ON THE RoapD : : 7 II
Il. Lost : . : . . 7
Iv. DEAD OR ALIVE : : . 23
v. THE TERROR BY NIGHT . : » 29
vI. THE First Day THAT WAS DARK . 35
VII. WEARY WoRK : : : » 42
vill. AN EXPEDITION ; : ; 48
IX. SOME HOPE, PERHAPS : : . 54
X. THOMAS ANDREWS SHOWS THE Way 60
XI. SMOKE OUT OF THE SNOW . i 66

XII RESCUE : . 7 . + 73




























































































~~
UNDER THE SNOW.

——
CHAPTER I.

Homeward Bound,

eye IM, you ask Mr. Scott to let you
| come out early this afternoon;
| father says it looks like a heavy
gi fall; and mind you come straight
~ home now, ’cos it will be dark
through the fields.”
“All right, mother, never fear,” re-
plied the boy, as he started on his way
to school at Brookbridge, the nearest town, about
two miles or two and a half from the cottage,
“Tll be home right enough; I don’t mind the
snow ;” and, tossing his school-bag in the air with
one hand and catching it with the other, he struck
up a shrill whistle and went merrily along, now
and again breaking out into little snatches of song
or hymn, such as he learnt at school. He had
evidently got his lessons well by heart.
The sky had that dull, heavy, leaden look which


6 Under the Snow.

generally precedes heavy snow, though the village
folk said it was too cold for a fall yet. But signs
of a change were abroad. The sky grew darker
and darker; the dull heavy look of the clouds
increased; there was an cminous stillness in the
air; the birds, such of them as were about, seemed
intent upon hastening homewards. Now and then
there was a low moaning sound in the wind, and
then suddenly a.shaking among the branches and
a rustling of the dead leaves as it passed hastily
through the trees, and was silent again. Sometimes
a flake or two of snow would hang hovering in the
air a second or two, and then fall and be lost on
the frozen ground. But Jim went on singing and
whistling; and if he thought about the snow at
all, it was only to picture to himself what a jolly
game at snowballing he and his schoolfellows would
have.

“T wish it woudd snow and keep on all night,
and then freeze hard for a fortnight,” he said to
himself. “Shouldn’t we have fun?”

“Hullo, Jim!” shouted a cheery voice behind
him. ‘What be’est goin’ to school, then? Thee’d
best look sharp whoam, then, ’s’arternoon. There
"ll be a main deep snow by-and-by I doubt.”

Jim turned and saw the old carter who lived in
the next cottage to them across the field, and who
was now going home with his team, and, laughing,
said, “Won't it be fun P”
Homeward Bound. 7

“Dunne so much about fun, lad, ’cept for you
boys. Well, there, I used to like it one time as
well as most on ’em; but snow makes bad times
for poor folk, I can tell ’ee. I mind my father
bein’ well-nigh lost in t’ snow up there on Beacon
Down, well-nigh fifty years agone, when I was a
little un: and we was pretty handy starved too,
besides. But, there, thank God, we did all get
through; but I never cared so much for snow
arter that, and father, he never rightly got over it.”

Jim looked thoughtful a moment or two, and
then turning an inquiring look on the old man’s
face, said, “ How was it, then?”

“Well, there, we hardly know how it was, and
father neither. But it came on cruel bad, and he
lost his way, and come back again to the one-acre
copse where he started from when the snow began,
and there he began to feel a sort of giddy and
sleepy like; and they say as if he’d a laid down
then, as he wanted to, he’d never have got up
again alive.”

Jim looked all question, and the old man went
on. “ Well, just then the shepherd’s dog—I mind
him: a big grey one, with ne’er a tail; and a main
good dog he was, only a bit savage, except wi’ the
sheep, and he never hurt they not a mossel :—well,
the shepherd’s dog he comes rushing out of the
wood, and takes hold of father by the arm, growlin’
and shakin’ him, and that sort of woke him up:
8 Under the Snow.

and by’m-by the shepherd comes along wi’ his
lanthorn—he’d bin out to get the sheep in,—and
says he, ‘ Mate,’ says he, ‘you must come along a’
we, or else you'll never see your missis no more.’
Well, that sort of startled father, and he says,
‘How soP’ and the shepherd says, ‘There, no
talkin ’—come along ;’ and he claps his arm round
his’n, and says, ‘We must get along, else we shall
be late ;’ and father he was a sort o’ stupid like
with the cold and sleep, but the shepherd got him
home at last. Main good chap that shepherd was.
Tim Watson, I mind, was his name. Many and
many bits of the Bible and such he did teach me
when I was a lad; and when anything was said
about that night in the snow, he wouldn’t allow
he'd done anything. ‘No,’ says he; ‘it was the
Lord’s good providence, neighbour, as sent me and
my dog there that moment, and let Him hev
the praise.’ ”

Jim looked more thoughtful, and for a moment
it struck him whether there might be any danger
for him or for his father, who was at work away
on the downs, if the snow came on. But he
thought, “Nonsense! I know every step of the
way ; and besides, there’s no snow yet, and if there
were :—-Well, there, I can’t think how people get
lost like that; I’m sure I shouldn’t.”’

“Well, good-bye, lad,” said the old man as he
turned his horses into the lane that led to their
Homeward Bound. 9

stable. ‘I’m thinking we shan’t be out much for
a bit a’ter to-night. Mind thee gets whoam all
right.”

“All right, Thomas; good-night !”

Still the snow kept off, and at one time it seemed
as though the forewarnings and forebodings of the
weatherwise folk were going to be falsified. Morn-
ing school was over. The bread and cheese or
bread and bacon which the country boys brought
for their dinner was consumed. They played their
boisterous games as usual in the interval of school.
Then the school-bell sounded two o’clock, and they
all trooped in.

Then it grew darser and yet darker, so that they
could hardly see their slates, and by three o’clock
the master was obliged to light the gas. It was
snowing fast, and had been doing so for some time.
“Country boys had better go home,” said Mr.
Scott; “and mind,” he added, “that you don’t
linger on the way.” So Jim and about a dozen of
his companions set out for their homes.

But outside the school gates temptation befel
them. There before them, already some two inches
thick, lay the pure white snow. To stoop, to scrape
it together so velvety soft, to press it lovingly in
the hand, and then to shy the well-made ball at
the boy nearest you—who could help it? Anyhow,
Jim and his companions did not help it. The fun
grew fast and furious. And still the snow fell
10 Under the Snow.

thicker, and the sky got darker. Then they heard
the school-room door open, and the town boys
rushing out. They knew that if they were found
near the school after being told by the master to
make haste home, they should “catch it.” They
hurried off in haste. It was almost dark, and the
wind rising and howling, drove the snow into drifts,
and whirled it backwards and forwards, upwards
and downwards, so that one could scarcely see or
breathe. Jim began to feel a bit frightened
after all.






















































































11

CHAPTER II.

On the Road,

ut, frightened or not, Jim had to make his
way home, and the prospect was anything
but cheerful. The snow had been falling
now some hours, and lay level across street and
pavement, except where it was drifted by the wind
into fantastic mounds and hollows at the corners.
The market-place was one expanse of white, and
the old cross stood solitary in the centre, its outline
clearly defined against the whiteness, save where
crocket and pinnacle had gathered to themselves
snow-wreaths, which gave it a blurred and fantastic
form. The gas-lights glimmered with a flickermg
light in the violent gusts of wind which howled
and shrieked and bellowed along the open space,
_ and made uncertain shadows of their own lamp-
posts on the clear white surface of the snow. Not
a foot-passenger was to be seen, and not a sound
save the wind broke the silence.
All at once there tose in the air between the
blasts a solitary voice, singing out strong and clear
the chorus of a well-known hymn:

“T am bound for the promised land.”
12 Under the Snow.

Then the sound gradually grew fainter as the
silent footsteps carried the voice farther off, and
all was still again save the howling and shrieking
of the wind.

The voice belonged to Jim; and just as he
turned out of the market-place into the main road,
along which was his way home, the policeman on
duty, in great-coat and cape, covered with snow,
met him.

“ Hullo, lad,’ he said, “ you’re late out such a
night as this! “Tain’t very safe out in the dark.
Jim Mason, ain’t it P”

Jim replied, “ Yes;’’ and said, “Oh, I know the
way well enough, never fear!” ‘ Well, then,
mind you keep the road; and if you lose your
way, you come back into the town.” “ All right,”
replied Jim ; “ good-night.” He was a little afraid
of the policeman to-night, for he had done wrong
in staying so late, and didn’t know but what he
was going to say something about that, So soon
fear takes hold of us when we do wrong.

‘Hope it wild be all right,” said the policeman
to himself. He was a kind-hearted man, as most
policemen are, and had boys of his own at home.
“But it ain’t safe, not to my mind.” But he had
to go on with his beat, and in a few minutes had
dismissed the matter from his mind. By that
time Jim had left the gaslights behind him, and
was in the main road.

























































































































































































































































































































































14 Under the . Snow.

If the wind blew and howled and shrieked in the
market-place, how much more did it do so in the
open road! Sometimes he could not go on for it,
and was obliged to stand still with his back to it to
recover himself. Then it would blow so that it
took his breath away, and he staggered from the
path into the road or against the hedge. He was
beginning, too, to feel chill, and he could only see
now and then for the blinding snow, when there
was a slight lull in the storm.

He could not sng now. He did try to whistle,
but the wind whistled so loud that it seemed to
strangle the sound. He got more and more chill,
and began to feel tired. A sob broke from him. “I
wish I was home,” he said ; “ this is terrible bad.”

But he was a plucky little chap, and his courage
came to his rescue now. “ All right,” he said, as
a gust stronger than usual whirled him round;
“on again, my hearties.’ He even tried to sing,
and began, ‘‘I am bound for the promised land ;”
but a stronger gust of snow. and wind together
took him, and threw him down,

He must have been a little stunned by the fall,
from what he said afterwards, and he did not quite
know where he was for the minute. But he got
on his legs again, and managed to get on better
under the shelter of the pine wood, till he came to
the turn across the fields which led to his father’s
cottage.
On the Road. 15

Of course the path could not be seen, but there
was the stile; so he knew he started all right ; and
there, as far as he could see, was the oak copse by
which he had to go; so he went on with better
spirits. Just beyond the copse was his home.

But those who have ever been out in snowy
weather know how easy it is to be deceived by
what appear to be the familiar landmarks. A
slight turn—a turn you do not know that you have
taken, perhaps, a turn unconsciously made when a
gust of wind makes you turn your back, a half
turn only, perhaps,—may send you wandering
miles out of your course; and if even you do
not meet with a serious accident, you may wander
and wander till you find yourself back at the same
place again. Something of this sort happened to
little Jim.

For the wood which he saw was not the oak
copse beyond which his father’s cottage stood.
He had somehow turned round, and was facing
quite another way, being bewildered by the wind
and the driving snow. Still he went on, but
surely he must have missed the path? Every
now and then he stumbled either into a hole, or
over something, and the copse, which he ought
to have reached by this time, seemed still a long
way off. Then he went quite down into a deeper
hole, and had some work to get out again. How-
ever, he scrambled through tke deep snow some-
16 Under the Snow.

how and went on, but began to stumble more, as
if he had no control over his feet; his hands, too,
were so numbed that they had lost all feeling,
and his clothes were stiff with frozen snow. At
last he gained the wood, and a faint hope revived
that he should soon be home. Then he became
dizzy and fell. This was all he could remember.

«Wonder where our Jim is?” said his father,
opening the cottage door and looking out into the
wild stormy night. “Time he was home. I’d
better go and look arter un, I think.”

“He ought to be home by now,” replied his
wife. ‘I told un to be sure and ask the master
to let un come early, ’cos as you said there was
going to be a fall; and now it’s a’most five
o’clock, and that dark too.”

Just then came a blast of wind that almost
drove them in, and filled the cottage room with
snow.

“Tt be main rough,” said the father, anxiously.
“‘Get’s the lantern, missis.’’

His wife obeyed in silence. They neither of
them did or could speak. The image of little Jim
perishing in the snow was all that they could
think of in that moment, and from both their
hearts went up an unexpressed cry—“O God,
save my child!”
17

CHAPTER ITI,
fast.

cgi Mason, Jim’s father, went on his
ay search with a heavy heart. When he found

what sort of night it was, and how the wind
and snow had increased since he came in from
work at half-past four, his spirit sank within him,
and a heavy sigh, almost a sob, escaped him.

“Poor dear,” he said to himself; “poor dear.
I doubt we shall never see him more. But there,
the Lord is good, and nothing is too hard for Him.”
Then he finished with a prayer for his boy—“ Lord,
save him, if it be Thy will.”

He had got more than half the way to Brook-
bridge, but had found no trace of Jim. The con-
tinually falling snow was drifted and blown about
so rapidly, that no footmarks remained more than
afew seconds; and even if he had fallen in the
road, he would have been covered in much less
time than it had taken his father to come from the
cottage, and would have looked merely like a snow-
drift. On the bridge which crossed the brook just
at the entrance to the town, he was hailed by the
policeman.

c
18 Under the Snow.

“What, then, hasn’t the little chap got home?
There, dear, dear, I was half afraid when I saw
him in the market-place; but it’s got terrible worse
since then.”

Thomas Mason shook his head. He couldn’t
have spoken if he had tried.

“Maybe he’s got into some neighbour's,” sug-
gested the policeman.

“TJ doubt not,” said Thomas, with a ‘hombling
voice. ‘‘There’s only John Hawkins’s between
here and the pine wood, and I asked there. I fear
he've amissed his way somewhere.”

“‘Come along to the station, mate, and let’s see
what the inspector's got to say. We won't give it
up for a bad job yet—poor little chap.”

The result of their consultation was that the
policeman was sent with Jim’s father to try the
ground over again and see if they could come upon
any trace of him; but the result of their search
was. only that they themselves were half frozen,
and after falling several times in the snow, and
being in great danger of their lives, they returned,
one to his now desolate home, and the other to the
station.

You may imagine what sort of a night little
Jim’s father and mother spent. They could hear
the howling of the wind, and if they ventured to
look out they could see the whirling drifts of snow.
Once or twice they fancied they heard a cry for
Lost. 19

help, and rushed to the door; but it was only the
storm. Then something fell with a loud crash
against the door. But when they went to see what
it was, it was only a large branch of an old elder
tree which grew in front, and which the snow and
the wind together had broken off and hurled
against the house.

Eight—nine—ten—eleven struck the old clock
on the stairs, and every stroke seemed like a stroke
of doom, and still they sat on, heaping up the fire,
and keeping the kettle boiling, hoping against hope
that still little Jim might come: They put a light
in the upstairs window; and again and again his_
father went out with the lantern, and waved it, if
it might be that the moving light would be seen
by him, and that so he might be led home: but
every time in vain. Nothing was seen but the
drifting snow, growing deeper and deeper on the
road, higher and higher against the hedges, and
nothing was heard but the moaning and howling
of the pitiless wind.

One thing they were convinced of—all search
now was hopeless. He might have got shelter—-
if so, time would show. He might, and this they
thought most likely, be already buried, cold and
stark, under some snow-drift into which he had
fallen, and from which he could not extricate him-
self. The dull dark dawn found them still sitting
there, mourning in silence, in sorrow too deep for
20 Under the Snow.

speech, yet not without some faint ray of hope for
their only child.

With the morning the storm somewhat abated.
The snow ceased falling, and the wind lulled. But
what a scene! It was snow, snow, snow every-
where. The trees were loaded with it, bowed down
by it. The roads were from two to four feet deep
in it, and drifts were pued up in all the hollows,
from four or five to nine and even twelve feet.
High hedges were covered, and the tops of trees
appeared like shrubs on the level surface of the
snow. Familiar paths and roads could no longer
be seen, and the main streets and roads out of the
town were in the hands of a large number of
diggers, who were cutting narrow tracks for pas-
sengers and vehicles, through solid masses of snow
from three to eight feet thick. Water was frozen
indoors where it had never been known to freeze
before. Never had such a snowstorm been re-
membered in Brookbridge for more than forty years.

Of course the search was renewed ; and now that
- the wind had sunk and the snow had ceased fall-
ing, it was hoped that it might be attended with
success. But the hope was in vain. Along the
road, on the downs, through the woods, by the
hedges, in the brook ; where the drifts lay deepest,
where the wind had swept the higher ground bare;
barns, sheds, out-houses, pig-styes even, they
searched, hoping that they might find his body.

















































22 Under the Snow.

But in vain; and they could come to no conclusion
but that he was buried in the snow, and that they
must wait till the thaw came to find all that there
might be found of poor little Jim!

Meantime how was it faring with Jim himself?
When he fell it seemed to him that it was not at
all a bad sort of thing to fallin the snow. There
was shelter from the wind, and, oh! what a bless-
ing that was! Then a drowsy feeling came over
him, and a dream of home and warmth and rest.

Once that night the searchers thought they had
come across some track of him. A hat blown from
some belated wanderer’s head had got fixed on the
thorns of a wayside bush, being driven there by
the wind, and they hoped it might be his, so that
they might have some clue to his whereabouts;
but when got down it was not his.

Once the next day they came across some foot-
tracks from the wood that seemed as if they might
have been made by him. But when they looked
at them they found that they must have been
made long since the snow had ceased ; and in fact,
following them up, so that no chance should be
lost, they came upon the boy who had made them,
and found he had only just come through the wood
from the farm the other side. The fact was, that
poor little Jim, having once lost his way, had been
wandering, as long as he could wander at all, in
just the opposite direction,
23

CHAPTER IY.
Head or Alive?

ccorpINe to all human probability there
* could be but one answer to this question.
Sleep from cold, such as Jim had now fallen
into, is, if continued, certain death. Besides, he
was so thoroughly chilled and utterly weary from
exhaustion, that a very short period would be
sufficient to bring about this fatal result. Save
those who have suffered from such exhaustion
themselves, or, have had the reality of it brought
home to them by actual observation, few people
have any idea of how rapidly a snow-storm can
Jal.

Little Jim was therefore in a frightfully dan-
gerous state. One thing was in his favour.
Where he fell there was no great depth of snow on
the ground, and above him, fantastically piled upon
a steep bank, was a snow wreath, which sheltered
him from the piercing wind. His father and
mother did not wholly despair. They knew that
God was able to preserve him. They also knew
that people had been found alive after being under.

o
24 Under the Snow.

the snow for some hours, even days, and they
prayed earnestly that God would spare him.

“Maybe, Susan,” said his father in a choking
voice, brushing away his tears with the back of his
hand, “we shall see our little chap again!”

“Oh, Ihomas, I do hope so! But there, we
must leave that,” she replied. “Itll be as God
pleases, and there’s nothing too hard for Him.”
And there came to her mind the words—‘I will
trust, and not be afraid;” and they comforted her
a bit.

And while they were talking like this, through
that long and dreadful night, the loving Father in
heaven, in whom they trusted, was taking care of
their boy, though they knew not how.

For it so happened that very soon after he fell,
and became insensible, Joscelyn Green, Squire
Colvin’s gamekeeper, came along with his trusty
retriever, He too had been overtaken and well-
nigh lost in the snow, and was now making his way
home as best he could, carefuily picking his path
by the help of his dog, which seemed to know the
way better than he did. All at once the dog began
to bark and whine, and then to search about as if
he had found something. Joscelyn knew the dog
did not do this for nothing, and encouraged him by
saying, “Good dog—find it then,” and followed
him as, with his nose to the ground, he went on
towards the bank,
Dead or Alive? 25

Then the dog began to bark again, and stood
pointing with one foot uplifted, and wagging his
tail as if for joy. The keeper stooped down and
looked, and there, lying on the ground, half covered
with the snow, which was frozen on his clothes into
a cake of ice, he saw the form of the sleeping boy.

Putting his hand on him and clearing away the
loose snow, he shook him gently; but the boy
seemed dead. ‘ Poor little chap,” he said, “I fear
but he’s gone; however, I mustn’t leave him here,”’
and raising him in his arms he put him across his
shoulder. He was weary himself, but he bore his
burden bravely, the dog jumping about in joy;
and then he set off, somewhat staggering, though,
under the boy’s weight and from his own fatigue,
for home. In a short time, without any further
mishap, save a tumble or so in the snow-drifts, he
reached his cottage.

His wife had set up a light in the window, and
now met him at the door. ‘Oh, dear, dear,’’ she
said, “but I’m so glad. I thought I should never
see you again. But what’s this!”

“Well, there, it’s a poor little chap as Hero”? —
that was the dog’s name—“ found in the snow;
and I fear he’s dead; we must get these things off
him and see;” and they began pulling off poor
Jim’s frozen clothes, and then rubbed his cold limbs
and body, to try and get some warmth into them,
and put him into a warm blanket.
26 Under the Snow.

For a time all their efforts seemed vain, but soon
they thought they could feel his heart beating.
Then he moved slightly, and they thought he
breathed.. “Now, then, missis, a drop of that hot
tea.” His wife put a spoonful to the boy’s lips,
and he tried to swallow it. Gradually life came
- back, and he began to speak as if in a dream.
“Where am I? Mother! Oh, I shall never get
home.”

Oh, yes you will, my lad, please God,” said
Joscelyn ; “now try and take a little more of this; ”
and this time he was able to drink more freely.
Then he seemed drowsy again. Still they kept on
gently rubbing his limbs and body, and wrapping
him up again in the blanket, left him to rest a
bit.

“Now, mother,” said Joscelyn; “I don’t mind
having a cup of tea myself, and putting on some
dry things.

“So you shall,” replied his wife; “and I do
hope as the poor thing ’ll get over it. What a
mercy as you found him! Now, then, you have
your tea, and get to bed.

“So I will) Well, it’s given me a warming
bringing him along; but there, I’m as glad as can
be as I found him—at least, as the dog did. Good
fellow, good fellow,” he said, as the dog, hearing
himself talked of, came and put his paws on his
master’s knees. ‘And let him have a good supper,


Dead or Alive? 27

missis, too, for he’s saved the little chap’s life. I
should never have found him by myself; and if I
hadn’t, he might have been dead by this time.”

“I wonder who he is, now?” said his wife,
watching the sleeping boy lying on the little sofa,
not too near the fire, but so that a gentle warmth
might gradually bring back life to his numbed limbs,
“Now you go to bed, Joscelyn, and I'll sit up with
him, poor little dear. And there’s his mother
crying her heart out, I know; the Lord pity her.”
And she thought of a little boy of her own, who if
he had lived would have been about Jim’s age.

“Ab, poor thing, and the father too,” said
Joscelyn ; “and maybe they’re searching for him
now. But there, here he is, and here he must
bide.”

Just then little Jim woke up and began talking
again, still as if only half awake. ‘Oh, take me
home,” he said piteously. “Mother, mother!”

“There, now, be quiet, dear,” said Mrs. Green,
“do’ee now, and have a little of this nice broth
I’ve warmed for ’ee; and you’re with friends, my
dear, and you shall go home soon, but not just yet.
Why, you couldn’t walk a bit, and it ’ud be death
to you if you could; and my husband as brought
you here was pretty nigh dead beat, and is gone to
bed; but you'll come all right, please God, never
fear.” So with these words, and still more by hex
kind tones as she tucked him up in his blanket
28 Under the Snow.

and kissed him, he was comforted, and went to
sleep again, only starting now and then in his
dreams, and saying he wanted to go home, and
it was so late.
But little Jim was not to go home that night,
nor the next day, nor-for many days afterwards,
for something altogether strange and unexpected (
happened the next morning to prevent it.




29

CHAPTER V.

The Terror by fight,

HE gamekeeper’s cottage was situated in a
small coombe between the hills, and was sur-
rounded by a thick growth of young wood,

chiefly ash and oak saplings. At the back of it
the down ruse quite steep ; indeed it looked as if at
some time or other the hollow had been cut out by
hand. The young trees, although they rose high
above the roof of the cottage, were far below the
top of the coombe. It will be necessary to remem-
' ber this in order to understand what we are about
to narrate.

Little Jim gradually got quieter and slept more
soundly. The gamekeeper, judging by the length
and profundity of his snores, was enjoying tho-
roughly his well-deserved rest. His wife, finding
that the boy was sleeping comfortably, drew her
shawl about her, put some more wood on the fire,
and dozed, waking now and then; but finding all
quiet, she also slept. The clock had just struck
two.

How long they had slept nobody knew, for
30 Under the Snow.

everybody was too frightened to look at the clock,
even if they had thought of doing so; but suddenly
they all awoke, with a feeling of terror which they
could not account for. Little Jim moaned, and
renewed in his mind the terrors through which he
had already passed. Mrs. Green started up in
alarm, exclaiming, “Oh, whatever isit?” Ji oscelyn,
at the same moment springing out of bed, exclaimed,
half awake and half asleep, “The good Lord have
mercy on us! What’s that?” —

The dog Hero came whining piteously towards
them, trembling. It was some moments before
either of them seemed capable of further speech
or thought. They appeared paralyzed by terror.
Yet by this time all was perfectly still: not a
whisper of the wind, not the sound of anything
broke the silence, save the ticking of the clock,
and now and then the fall of a cinder from the
fire.

Indeed, the silence seemed almost oppressive, as
if, instead of being simply the absence of noise, it
was something actual and present. “I can’t make
it out,” said Joscelyn, at last. “What was it,
missis ?”’

“Well, there,” she replied, “I can’t rightly tell ;
for the truth is, I was pretty fast. J’d been doze,
doze, and waking up now and then like; and then
the little lad seemed so nice and quiet, I do believe
I was fast.” Fast asleep, she meant, and so her
The Terror by Night. 31

husband and little Jim, now wide awake, under-
stood. Indeed, Jim was almost too wide awake.
He looked flushed and excited. Mrs. Green saw
this, and motioned her husband to the door of the
back room, a sort of kitchen and scullery, behind
their living room.

“Don’t say nothin’ before the lad,” she whis-
pered. “We must keep him quiet, or he'll be
bad, I do know.”

“All right; wife’”—and Joscelyn scratched his
big head, as if trying to find out how to do what
his wife wished. “But look at that there dog.
He knows there’s summat wrong as well as
any Christian. Hero, my boy, what is it,
then P”

The dog came up and licked his hand, but still
only uttered a low whine. Then came a crash as
of branches breaking, and a dull booming sort of
sound all round. The dog looked more terrified
than ever. ‘Oh, what is it?” said Jim, and then
covered himself over with his blanket.

Joscelyn went to the door to look out. When
he opened it, he was met by a wall of snow—just
simply that. He then went upstairs and tried to
open one of the bed-room windows, but the window
opened outside, and his efforts were vain. He
struck a match, and again a wall of snow outside
the window met his bewildered gaze. He went
down to his wife, and beckoning her to the foot of
82 Under the Snow.

the stairs, said, with white and trembling lips,

“We be snowed up. It’s come down off the down.”
Then he went to little Jim, and said, “Don’t be
frightened, lad; it’s a bit of snow fallen among
the trees, I count, from the down out there. Won’t
do we no harm, I do hope.”

Then he went back to his wife. “I wish it was
mornin’,” he said. She saw his fear, and, like a
_ good brave woman, tried to help him.

“Well, there, Jos, we must wait.and see. It
"ll be light by-’m-by—meantime the Lord ’ll take
care of us. It won’t drive the roof in, will
abr”?

“Thats more nor I can say,” replied Joscelyn,
thoughtfully ; and he went away upstairs to where
his little Margery lay in her tiny bed, calmly
sleeping through it all, and thought of their other
little child sleeping im the churchyard, and sobbed
out his anguish thus—‘ O Lord, do ’ee take care
of the little ’un!”

Yes, there was no mistake about it! They were
snowed up! A large accumulation of snow, drifted
into the upper part of the coombe, had by its own
weight been forced lower and lower, till, like a
small avalanche, as indeed it was, it had over-
whelmed the wood and the cottage. The saplings
bent beneath the enormous weight, yet, while
yielding, helped to sustain the weight which bent
them. Had they been old trees they might have
The Terror by Night. 33

been broken instead of bent, and in that case nothing
could have saved the cottage and all who were in
it from destruction; but happily the great mass of
the snow was partly supported by the thickly in-
terlaced branches of these young trees.

But all around the cottage the snow lay in
heaped-up masses, so that no one could get out,
and no one approach it with a considerable
distance. In fact, it was completely hidden, and
any one might have passed without the least idea
that there was a human habitation there at all.
Joscelyn’s conjecture was more and more evidently
correct. They were snowed up, and no mistake!
But as time went ‘on he began to think calmly;
and he argued that as the roof had not been driven
in by the first rush of the snow, it was pretty safe
now.

Then he thought that if the snow had covered
up the house entirely, it would have stopped up
the chimney and put out the fire, or else that they
should all have been smothered with the smoke,
And as he thought of this he was thankful; “for
now,” he said to himself, “we shan’t be smothered
alive; and moreover, by keeping up the fire we
may melt it away a bit.”

Just then the clock struck six. ‘Six o’clock,”
he said; “but there, there won’t be much daylight
for we to-day, I reckon.” He half hoped there
might be, and that when it grew lighter he might

D


34 Under the Snow.

be able to find a way through the snow to seek
help: but seven and eight o’clock struck, and it
was no lighter than it had been any hour through
that long and dreadful night.


CHAPTER VI.

The First Bay that was Hark,

AHE poor boy had not slept much since he
heard that frightful noise and asked what it
was; but he had dozed a bit, and when at

last he fairly woke, he was surprised to find it was
still dark. ‘Wherever can I be?” he said to
himself. He half thought he must have died in
the snow, and that he was in darkness for ever,
and began to cry.

But just then he heard Mrs. Green’s voice.
She had brought him a light and a cup of tea, and
was saying, “ Now, deary, take this and cheer up;
and don’t ’ee be frightened at the dark—it’s only
the snow.”

“What's the snow buried the house, then?”
asked Jim, waking up and opening his eyes very
wide.

“Well, there, then, we think as it must have
done; but don’t ’ee be frightened: it ain’t done
no harm, and it won’t do you any harm to bide
still a bit.”

“T should like mother to know I’m here,”’ said
36 Under the Snow.

Jim, after a pause, half crying. Then he thought
of how he had disobeyed her, and his master too,
by not going home, and felt ashamed and sorry ;
but he said nothing about it.

“So she shall, my dear, as soon as ever we can
get out; but we must be patient. There, the Lord
knows, and He’ll help us, never fear.”

Jim was crying silently by this time.

“Poor little chap,” said Mrs. Green to herself,
wiping her own eyes as she went downstairs;
‘and there’s his poor mother, too. But there, we
must wait and do our best. What a mercy it is”
—‘‘mussy,”’ she said—“that we’ve just got our
stock of groceries in, and that the baker came
yesterday, and that we’ve got plenty of bacon in
the house; though about eggs I’m sure I don’t
know. Them poor hens are buried as well as we,
T expect. Well, there, it might ha’ been worse, so
let’s be thankful.”

It was a mercy, that it was, as Mrs. Green said
to herself. The cottage being out of any regular
road, and approached only by a private footpath
through the wood, from which trespassers were
warned, was quite out of the way of ordinary
trattic.

They had, therefore, always to keep a stock of
provisions in the house, because they either had
to fetch them from the town four miles off, or
haye them when the carrier, who passed within
The First Day that was Dark. 37

half a mile, brought them once a week. Provi-
dentially the carrier’s day was the day before
the snow-storm, and so they were well provi-
sioned.

And it was no less a matter for thankfulness
that the chimney. had not been blocked, and that
it was one of the wide old-fashioned ones, down
which the wind roared and whistled freely, or else
they would all have been suffocated. Up this
chimney, too, they could see there was daylight,
even sunlight, outside, and this cheered them, and
gave them something to talk about.

Little Margery, childishly ignorant of any peril,
only thinking how funny it was that they should
have dinner by candle-light, and evidently enjoy-
ing the novelty, soon became the almost constant
attendant upon Jim, and did much to cheer him
up. She brought him her playthings and her little
picture alphabet. And when she found he could
tell her all the letters and explain the pictures,
she was delighted, and asked him for the same
explanations over and over again, and put to him
the same questions, till sometimes he got tired, and
said he wanted to: go to sleep. Then her mother
would lead her away; but soon she wanted to
know “when Jim would be done sleeping, ’cos she
wanted him to tell her about the elephant.” And
then Jim, who was only pretending to sleep, after
he had rested a bit, would say, “Now, Margery,


38 Under the Snow.

come on, and I’ll tell you all about the elephant,
and the rhinoceros too.”

“?’Oo wouldn’t tell me just now,” she would
say with a pout, “and I don’t think ’oo was
sleepy.”

“Jim was tired, dear; poor boy, he was out
under the cold snow, and if Hero and father
hadn’t found him he’d ha’ died,” said her mother.

“Poor Jim!” she would say; and then she
would creep shyly to his side, and put the book in
his hands, with a shy look of trust and pity, as if
she would let him know that she wished him to
forgive her, and that she was sorry for what she
had said. ,

It was good for Jim that the little one was there,
for it. gave him something to do, and took off his
thoughts from himself, which is always a good
thing, and brought him to feel an interest in

‘ others, which is still better.eSo, although he often
thought of those at home, and how he should like
to go to them, and wondered what they would
think had become of him, he for the most part got
to be able to amuse himself with little Margery.
And then the good dog Hero, who scemed to think
he had a special interest in Jim, and would come
and put his great paws upon him, and lick him,
and then bark, with a sort of dog’s smile on his
face, and his tail wagging, as much as to say, “I
found you in the snow, and you’re all mght now,

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40 Under the Snow.

Jim’s father and mother continued, as may be
supposed, in a state of great anxiety. many other people, too, felt an interest in his fate.
The police did everything they could to find him
or hear something about him; the Rector, good
Mr. Wentworth, not only went to imquire if they
. had heard, but went himself to the place where it
was supposed Jim had missed his way, to see if he
could discover anything about him. But hitherto
all had been in vain. People met in Brookbridge.
market-place, now covered four feet deep in snow,
with narrow passages cut through here and there
for foot passengers, and passed a word about the
weather, and about the poor little boy that was
lost in the snow, and then passed on to their snug
shops, and comfortable firesides, to say how cold it
was out, and to give the fire an extra stir; but
nothing was heard of Jim. The general opinion
was that he had perished in the snow, and that he
would not be found till the thaw set in. Dr.
Bainton, who was the greatest medical authority
in Brookbridge, proved it beyond doubt. It was,
he said, utterly absurd in the face of facts to sup-.
pose anything else. How could he have been
saved? We know that exposure to cold for a
certain time aud at a certain temperature, must
prove fatal. Well, then, how could we come to
any other conclusion? The boy was dead, beyond
doubt.
The First Day that was Dark. Al

It was all quite right, according to Dr. Bainton;
but he didn’t know the two or three things that
we know: how that little Jim wandered out of his
way, and fell into a sheltered nook, and was found
by the good dog Hero, and carried home by
Joscelyn Green, and tended and nursed by good
Mrs. Green, and was now, with the help of Hero
and Margery, managing to be pretty comfortable.
He forgot what Jim’s father and mother did not
forget, and which still gave them hope, that there
was “nothing too hard for the Lord.”










CHAPTER VII.
Weary Work,
C=

T was weary, sad work for Jim’s father and
if mother those two days. They felt sometimes
that they must give up all hope. But the
neighbours were very kind, and did all they could
to cheer them. They told lots of stories of people
who had been lost in the snow, and afterwards
found ; and of a pig that had been buried in snow
for three weeks, and was got out alive, and lived
to be fatted and killed; “and,” said the man who
told the story, “he was as nice a pig as ever I put
a knife into: so why shouldn’t your boy turn up ?”
he added.

The clergyman, Mr. Wentworth, was very good
to them. He went in several times to inquire, and
to suggest where search might be made; and he
spoke very comforting words to them, and prayed
with them. One of the prayers was :

“We humbly beseech Thee, O Father, merci-
fully to look upon our infirmities; and for the
glory of Thy Name turn from us all those evils
that we most righteously have deserved. And grant
that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust


Weary Work. © 48

and confidence in Thy mercy, and evermore serve
Thee in holiness and pureness of living, to Thy
‘honour and glory. Through our only Mediator
and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Many others equally fitting to their need in this
time of trouble he prayed with them as they knelt
together ;.and then they would pray them over
together again after he was gone, and read the
Bible together, and so be comforted. But still
their hearts were very sad, for after all they did
not know how it might be; and they knew that
even at the very moment when they were praying
for him, poor little Jim might be lying stiff and
cold under the snow.

He was under the snow, but by God’s good mercy
not stiff and cold, but alive, and recovering, though
slowly, from the effects of his exposure to the snow
and wind.

On the second day, when little ee was
beginning to get tired of playing with her toys and
looking at the pictures, she said: “Do sumfin’
else, Dim. I’se tired of these.”

“ Well, there, then, I'll say to you what I learn
at school.” So he repeated to her some of the
verses and hymns he had learnt. All at once a
bright thought struck him. “Look here, I'll sing
one of em to you, like we sings ’em at school.”
So he struck up in his high clear voice the one he
sang as he passed through the market-place the
44 Under the Snow.

night he was lost—“I am bound for the promised
land.”

He had not got through the first verse before
they were all listening most attentively to the little
singer. The keeper came in from the back kitchen,
where he was cleaning his guns; his wife came
downstairs from sweeping the bedrooms; and
little Margery, her large blue eyes opened to the
widest extent in wonder and admiration, nestled
close to Jim and put her little hands on his, and
did not move. Even Hero listened asif he did not
know quite what to make of it, and as if singing
was not much in his way, but yet as if he liked it:
though no doubt he would have greatly preferred
the music of the woods and fields, the cry of the
plover or the report of his master’s gun.

“Well, there,” said Mrs. Green, as he finished,
“T do call that beautiful. Ain’t it, Joscelyn ?”

Joscelyn nodded. It scemed as if he could not
speak. His wife looked at him, and wiped her
eyes with the corner of her apron. The thought
of “the promised land” had brought back fo them
the memory of the little boy who was gone there,
and whose loss was still fresh in their hearts. But
he put his hand on little Jim’s head, and said as
he went out, “God bless thee, lad.” After that,
little Jim’s vocal powers were pretty frequently in
use. Sometimes he sang such songs as they sang
at school, such as “ Try, try, try again,” and others ;
Weary Work. 45

sometimes hymns; and as he had a clear, sweet
voice, his singing helped them all to bear up better
in the darkness, not knowing what might happen
" next.

For in fact they were not out of danger. The
trees did indeed help to support the weight of the
snow, but they were gradually giving way, and so
the weight pressed more heavily on the roof; and
once or twice the keeper heard some ominous
cracks, as if the timbers of the roof were bearing
as much as they could. There was also another
danger—there might be more snow to fall, or more
might slip from the top of ghe hill, and Joscelyn
said “if that were to happen, they’d never come
out alive.’ When they got to the end of the second
day’s darkness, and had to be careful of their
candles, lest they should be left in complete dark-
ness, they all began to feel a little down-hearted.
Margery had got fretful, and cried herself to sleep.
Little Jim seemed to be tired of singing. Joscelyn
Green and his wife, knowing the peril they were
all in, and beginning to wonder how long they
might be buried like this, were silent and sad.

Presently Joscelyn said, ‘Well, there, we’d better
go to bed, I reckon.” He looked up at the clock,
and it was only half-past six; but the time seemed
very long. The air of the house, too, although the
chimney was open, was getting very close and
oppressive, and it made them all feel restless and
46 Under the Snow.

weary. ‘Well, there, I s’pose we'd best,’”’ replied
his wife; “but this is weary work. Please Ged,
it don’t last much longer!”

Another cracking sound was heard. ‘“ What’s
that?” said the keeper, starting up. His wife and
Jim were silent from terror. Joscelyn shook his

‘head. “That'll be some more snow come down
from the hill, I be feared,” he said gravely. ‘We'd
best wait a bit afore us go to bed. Best get the
hittle un down too, missus, and make her up a bed
here.”

“Oh, Joscelyn,” she said, “ you don’t think ——”

“There, don’t be frightened, lass,’ he said,
putting his big hand tenderly on her shoulder.
“Please God, we'll win through; but there’s no
knowin’. You see it ain’t as if I could be out and
seein’ the weather. I should know what to be up
to, then.”

Poor man! Accustomed as he was to the free
out-door life of the woods, and familiar with every
sign of the sky and wind, he felt, more than many
would have done, this dreary imprisonment in
darkness; and he also knew more than his wife
did, the peril they were in.

They brought down little Margery’s crib, fortu-
nately without rousing her much; and then they
brought down a mattress and blankets for them-
selves, and Jim lay on the sofa. Weary and sad,
they one by one dropped off to sleep.
Weary Work. 47

A second time they awoke in terror. A crashing
noise, as of branches breaking and of tiles and
bricks falling, aroused them. There was no doubt
now. Fresh snow had fallen from the hill, and
the roof and upstairs walls had been crushed in!


48

CHAPTER VIII.
An Bxpedition,
EANTIME, while search was going on still for

Jim,—of course, as we know, without any
effect,—the question arose at the Hall,
Where was Joscelyn the gamekeeper? He always
came in to report to the Squire once in the week,
at any rate, and generally oftener, besides either
bringing or sending in such game as was required
for the family when there were no shooting parties
going; and as the weather had been so bad, the
Squire thought he would be sure to come and see
if anything needed to be done or consulted about
for the feeding and protection of the game. In
fact, the Squire, who could not get out because
of the snow, was getting fidgetty, and somewhat
out of temper with Joscelyn Green.

So, the second day after the snow-storm, the
very day that the roof was partly knocked in by
the new avalanche of snow in the night, the Squire
rang for the butler, and began to ask him about
Joscelyn, and whether he had been to the Hall, and
soon. The butler replied that he had seen nothing
of him, and that the cook had been asking about

ae
An Expedition. 49

him, for she had only a brace of pheasants and a
couple of hares left, and she wanted some rabbits
and. The Squire told him not to trouble
himself to tell him all the cook said, but asked if
he had heard anything of him ; and finding that he
had not, gave orders that a messenger should be
sent to inquire at the gamekeeper’s cottage.

The messenger was sent, and in time came back.
It was reckoned rather more than a mile from the
Hall to Joscelyn’s cottage, but it took him three
hours to get there and back again. ‘Never had
such a job in my life, Mr. Mullings,” he said to
the portly butler, as he came into the Hall, wet
through up to his thighs, and regularly fagged out
with weariness. ‘‘ Never thought I should ha’ got
back, never! There, it was down into this drift,
and scramblin’ out on it; and tumblin’ here and
tumblin’ there; and twice I got into the brook
through missing my way. There, I tell ’ee it was
a job, and no mistake! I never was so beat in my
life. Look here, Mr. Mullings, I never found him
arter all!”

“Out in the woods then, I suppose? But of
course you heard what his missis had to say, and
left a message with her.”

“Look here, Mr. Mullings,” said the man,
looking very mysterious, and half frightened, “there’s
where it is, as I say. I never found the cottage
at all)”



B
50 Under the Snow.

- The butler began to wonder whether Thomas
had taken leave of hissenses. ‘“ What?” he said.

“True as I’m here, Mr. Mullings. WhereI did
look for to find it there’s nothing but snow and
snow. I be feared em’s snowed up, I be;” and he
looked at the butler seriously, and with a grave
- nod, as much as to say, “and you know what that
_ means.”

“Bless me, you don’t say so! Dear, dear! I
must go and tell the Squire at once. “You stop till
I come back.”

“Snowed up!” exclaimed the Squire, when the
butler told him what Thomas had said. ‘“ Why,
dear me, they’ll be all smothered alive! The roof
crushed mm! Send me my boots and coat, and
order out all the men aout the place. Tell them
to get pickaxes and shovels. Under the snow!
What a remarkable thing!

In a short time, a very respectable force was.
collected, two of the footmen, and even the butler
himself, who volunteered to join; so that they
mustered some seven or eight men, headed by the
Squire, all quite sure that Thomas must have made
some foolish mistake in the way, and quite confident
they should soon find the cottage, or else come upon
some trace of it under the snow.

But they soon found that Thomas’s story was
avery true one. “It was slippin’ down here, and
scramblin’ up there, and goin’ into holes, and














































































































































































area
Sy Ss SESSA


52 Under the Snow.

getting smothered with snow,” and altogether very
weary and unsatisfactory work indeed. They
began to leave off talking and joking, and walked
on, when they could walk without stumbling, very
quietly and solemnly. The fact was, they had
been walking for nearly an hour and a half, and
’ there was no trace of the cottage yet.

“Come on, men, come on,” said the Squire; “it
can’t be far off. There’s the Beacon Copse, and
yonder’s the Beggar’s Wood. Don’t let’s give ’em
up. Five shillings to every man who keeps on till
we find them.”

A faint cheer answered the Squire’s cheery
words, and they tried to pluck up fresh heart ; but it
was weary work. The poor butler could hardly get
along ; and the footmen, who had been the bravest
of the lot, would have given a good deal to find
themselves in the servants’ hall. But for very
shame they felt obliged to go on.

So they went on, till twelve: o'clock, one
o’clock, two o’clock had passed, and all were getting
hungry and faint. “I am afraid we must give it
up,” said the Squire.

“We’m gettin’ dead beat, sir, that’s sartain,”
said one of the men, touching his hat, and his looks
showed that what he said was true. ‘“ Much as we
shall do to get whoam afore dark.”

‘““Why look here, then,” said one of them to

_the butler, “Where be we? Look here! Thero’s
An Expedition. 53

that old pollard oak up by Three Lanes, as we
passed a bit ago! I’m sure on’t. Jan, look here.
Thee knowst that, doan’t thee?” pointing to the
pollard.

“Dan’l, why that’s the old pollard down by
Three Lanes! Mussy on us, where ha’ we bin,
then P”

“Bin! Why wandering round and round, mate,
and no mistake, and ain’t been anigh keeper's all
day.”

They soon, through the butler, acquainted the
Squire with the fact. It was just simply the truth.
They had walked and walked in a circle till they
had come back to a point from which they had
started more than three hours before. Utterly
wearied and exhausted, almost to the extent of
being ill, they got back to the Hall just as it was
getting dark—but they had not found Joscelyn’s
cottage.


54

CHAPTER IX,
Some Hope, Perhaps.
Fe HE falling in of the roof, although it threatened

x) very serious harm, perhaps destruction, was
not altogether a bad thing. It let in a rush
of fresh air, which they very much needed; and
as the branches of the trees still arched over and
partly supported the weight of the snow, the stair-
case was left almost clear. Joscelyn thought this
might give them a chance of escape, or at any
rate of making their perilous condition known;
and he climbed up over the broken tiles and
timbers, hoping he might be able to get through
the snow and reach some overhanging branch of a
tree, so that he might in that way make signals for
help. But itwould not do. He dared not meddle
with the snow, lest it should come down and puny
them beyond hope of rescue.

So they continued in their snow-prison all that
day; and as they were obliged now to remain '
downstairs, they had to sleep there too, as best
they could. Fortunately, for such amount of
cooking as they needed, they were still able to
have a fire. The chimney was not injured by the
Some Hope, perhaps. 55

fall of snow, though one of its pots was knocked
off. But the atmosphere was very hot and close,
and they were glad to let the fire out as soon as
they had boiled the kettle.

The second avalanche of snow proved also a
great blessing to them in this way. They had
been threatened with a dire calamity, and many
an anxious thought had passed through the minds
of Joscelyn and his wife respecting it. Their
pump was out of doors, and was now of course
buried in the snow, and the water they had
indoors was running short. They had therefore
valued as precious, every drop; but with all their
care they had that night only about a pint left.
“It’s the poor children I’m thinking of, Joscelyn,”
said Mrs. Green that night, after Jim and Margery
were asleep. ‘We might stand it a bit, but, poor

. dears, they couldn’t; and the little chap none so
well, either. What shall we do?”

“There, we can’t do nothing,” replied Joscelyn.
“But there’s One above as knows all.”

Joscelyn was not a man of many words, but his
few words meant as much as some people's many.
And he thought then in his heart, “as He knows,
He will do something to help.” He knew, of
course, that, after all, they might perish, but he
knew that God could help them if He thought fit.

So He did help them; for although they were
dreadfully frightened at this second fall, even
56 Under the Snow.

more than they were at the first, they soon had
reason to be thankful for one thing, that although
it knocked the roof in, no one had been hurt;
and then, because now they need be in no fear
about being short of water, for they had access to
the pure white snow.

It was great fun for little Margery, Jim looking
on smilingly from the heights of his superior
wisdom, to see the great lump of snow put into
the kettle, and then disappear and become a very
little water, so that they had to fill the kettle
with show many times before they had a kettleful
of water.

“Where does it all go to?” she asked; and
neither Jim, nor her mother, nor Joscelyn could
tell her.

“Well, there now,” said Joscelyn, scratching
his head with his big hand, “it do seem queer,
and I be sure I niver thought on it afore. But
there, let’s be thankful we’s got it to melt.”

Search was still made for the missing boy, and
also for the missing gamekeeper; and as, after
all, the situation of the cottage was known, and
might po doubt have been traced at first, if proper
plans had been adopted, it was not likely it would
be long before it, or the place where it had been,
was discovered. But many other things were
discovered as the roads and pathways were tracked
and dug out. Wagons, it was found, had gone
Some Hope, perhaps. 57

over high hedges on the top of the snow, the
wagoners knowing nothing about it. Other carts
and wagons had been left stuck in the drifts, the
horses and men finding their way home as best
they could. A sad discovery was made, too; a
man and boy, father and son, were found on the
downs, dead—frozen, and the ravens and crows
had partly devoured them. Some had had
wonderful escapes. One man said he had only
saved himself that dreadful night by getting into
the brook and wading along it till he came to
where the high road crossed it by a bridge; but
this some did not believe, for they said he could
never have stood the cold. But hitherto nothing
had been heard either of little Jim or the game-
keeper.

One day, however, the day before the second
fall cf snow had come and broken in the roof,
one man came io the Hall and reported that,
searching over the downs, he had come upon a
sort of hollow place, and had seen smoke coming
out of the snow, The gardeners and other men
about laughed at him.

“What, then,” said one of them, “was there a
kitchen fire under the drift?”

“Main big fire, I reckon,” said another, “ for
to make through the snow.”

“Some gipsies, I reckon,’ said the head
gardener, “who have hollowed out a place and


hidden their tents in the side
of some deep rift, for warmth
and shelter.”

Everybody agreed to this,
for the head gardener was some-
Some Hope, perhaps. 59

body, and it was almost as good as being wise
oneself, to agree with him. The butler nodded
approvingly. “No doubt, Mr. Graham, no doubt.
Besides, it stands to reason that if the keeper’s
cottage has been buried in the snow, as seems
most likely to be the case, built as it were in the
hollow, why they’re all dead, poor things, by this
time ; and then who could have made the smoke ?”

This was thought to settle the matter out and
out; but just then a message came from the
Squire, to say he should like to see the man and
question him himself. So the man, a simple-
looking rustic, but not without shrewdness and
sense, went into the Squire’s room (which he
called his study), where he kept not only his
papers and books, but fishing-rods, guns, and such-
like; and where he could rest when he wished to
be alone. The man told him just what happened,
and how and when he saw the smoke.

“Youre sure it was smoke?”

“T be, zur. I saw ’un and smelt ’un, and I
went on, thinking as I might find out what: it
wur; an’ I’d a pole wi’ me, and I shoved that
on before into the snow, lest I shu’d vall into a
hole like; and well as I did, for the pole went
down and pretty nigh I arter it, an’ I’d much ado
to get up again, that I assure ’ee.” But what
else they said, and what came of it, must be left
to the next chapter.
60

CHAPTER X.
Fhomas Andrews shows the Way,

eG ID you see any sign of any house or
Is) cottage ?” asked the Squire, continuing the

conversation.

“Nothing more than the smoke, zur; but the
snow looked uneven like so fur as I could see, and
I couldn’t help thinking as there was wood o’ some
sort underneath—not like as if it was level ground
—and that made me think it was the place.”

“Why, the cottage stands in the wood,” said
the Squire; adding, “Could you tell by anything
in sight whereabouts it was?”

“No, zur, I couldn’t. Fur one thing, it wur
getting dark, and I had to get back whoam, fur
fear of losing I’self.”

The Squire felt inclined to say, “ Why didn’t
you come at once and give information ?” but he
reflected that if. the poor man had done so it might
have been at the peril of his life; and, moreover,
if it really were the keeper’s cottage, the fact that
they had a fire was a proof that they were, in all
probability, alive and safe. So he said instead,


Thomas Andrews shows the Way. 61

“Well, you have done quite right to come. Can
you lead us to the place?”

“T’ll do my best, zur. I think 1 can, fur I stuck
up doo or dree bits of stick like to mark the way,
fur I says to myself, says I, if nobody else won't
go and see, I ’ool.”

The Squire nodded, and rising from his chav,
rang the bell, which was duly answered by the
butler.

“ Mullins,” he said, “take this man and give
him something to eat and drink. I hope he has
found poor Green’s cottage, and I intend to pursue
the search. Also, ask Graham to select three or
four men—those who know the country best—and
let them all have food and drink, and pack up a
good store of provisions, and say I shall be ready
to accompany the party in half an hour.”

There was something in the Squire’s tone which
showed that he not only meant what he said, but
that he would have no delay in having his orders
carried out. The butler, therefore, bowed ob-
sequiously, and followed by the man, whose name
was Thomas Andrews, withdrew from the room.
Then the Squire rang for his valet, and equipped
himself for a long walk in the snow.

When the head gardener and the rest heard
from the butler what the Squire had decided on,
they were rather taken aback, and began to pro-
phesy the failure of the expedition, In fact, some
62 Under the Snow. °

of them would have refused to go if they had
dared; but the gardener, who was canny, saw how
things were going, and said, “ Well, well, there
may be something in it, after all. If the man did
see smoke, it must have come from somewhere.”

“So it must; so it must,” said two or three, with
wise nods and solemn looks; “it’s mysterious,
anyhow.”

“Well, there, supposin’ us should vind ’im, what
a lark it ’ud be!” said one of the lads.

One of the men, old James Bryant, turned to
him, and looking upon him with a lofty scorn, said:

“Don’t you talk o’ larks; taint larks to be
buried in snow. You be simple, you be.” Whereat
the lad shrank back abashed, but said, sotfo voce:

“Bryant was simple once, so I’ve heerd.”

“When was that, lad?” asked one of them.

“Why, when he shot his black cat, and thought
it wur a fox.”

Bryant didn’t much like it, and the lad took care
to keep out of his way that day.

‘He'll be more feelin’ like when he gets older,”
said one of them to old Bryant.

‘Feelin’! They ain't got no feelin’, the main
of um. I do hate to hear boys talk like that, as
if there was nothin’ in this world but fun and
larks.””

“Well, well, we must mek ’lowance for the
fullishness of youth,” replied the other.
Thomas Andrews. shows the Way. 63

Bryant only grunted ; but he was right after all,
though he had a rough way of saying it. Boys
sometimes do and say very unkind things, thinking
them only for fun. But as Dr. Watts’ old poem
puts it:

“It’s only a madman would fling about fire,
And tell you it’s all but in sport.”

But we must not keep the expedition waiting
any longer, for the Squire by this time appeared
on the scene, and was evidently anxious to get on,
as the morning was getting on, and they had only
about five hours of daylight to do their work in.
Some of the men carried wraps and shawls. Two
lanterns with sufficient candles and matches were
provided, in case they should get bewildered in the
dark ; a stock of provisions was taken in case they
should be wanted at the cottage; and a flask of brandy
in case it should be needed. Then they set off.

All seemed of one mind now. If there were
any who thought they were going on a foolish
errand, they did not say so. One or two tried to
make little jokes about smoke coming out of the
snow, but nobody laughed. The fact is that before
they started, the Squire had made a few sensible
remarks about the matter, as it seemed to him, and
had offered each man a sovereign, if the cottage
was found, and its inhabitants rescued. So they
were all eager to go on, and began to feel great
compassion for poor Joscelyn Green and his wife,
Under the Snow.

64

Various were the [iil
mishaps that they
encountered on their

If they did
not use their poles
in suspicious places,
or could not se

way.



e

where the drift be-





they were very
apt to come to grief.

gan,

“ Hullo,

Barne

seemin

8;



t

n

>

thee cas

upright !

What’s
was

come to thee P”

shouted amid laugh-
ter by some in the
rear of the party, as

/

‘

e






Thomas Andrews shows the Way. 65

one of their number went headlong into a drift, and
had to be pulled out by his legs. And a good
many of them, the Squire included, had tumbles,
for the snow had made the down almost a dead
level; and while they could in many places and
for a considerable space see the points of the grass
blades, in a moment they came upon a deep drift
filling up some natural hollow, or some disused
chalk-pit.

At last they reached the spot imdicated by
Thomas; and there, sure enough, they saw the
snow lying as he had said, not level and smooth,
but in mounds and hollows, with a broken uneven
surface; and sure enough, also, behind one of these
mounds of snow, and apparently proceeding from
a deep hollow on the other side of it, they saw a
wreath of smoke curlmg quietly and peacefully
upwards towards the bright and frosty sky.

The Squire held up his hand, and all turned
attentively to him. ‘So far, neighbours,” he said,
“our search has been successful. This is the spot
of which Thomas Andrews told me. It lies as he
described ; and there,” he added, his voice trem- *
bling with emotion, ‘‘is the smoke which seems to
indicate that there is life beneath. Pray God ”—
and here he took off his hat—‘“‘ we may be in time
to rescue them!”

A. low murmur of voices floated into the air,
responding, ‘‘ Amen.”

F
66

CHAPTER XI.

Smoke out of the Snow!

me f
me rumour that Squire Colvin’s gamekeeper’s

LA

olf cottage was buried under the snow had found

its way to Brookbridge, and to the little
hamlet where Jim’s father and mother lived; but
it only served to strengthen their fears. If, they
thought, the drift has been as bad as that, there
can be very little hope fur poor Jim. They did
not say much about it even to one another; but
Mr. Wentworth often came in and asked if they
had any news, and had a little chat with them,
and he always finished by saying, “ Well, you
know, we mustn’t give up hope. It’s in His
hands still; ’’ and they tried to be calm and trust
_in Him; but it was hard work, and grew harder
and harder every day.

One night they had been reading the Bible
together—and they read the story of the Shunam-
mite’s son, who was brought to life again in
answer to the prayer of Elisha. And as they
sat thinking of poor little Jim, as they did all
times of the day and night too, his father said,
Smoke out of the Snow! 67

“Seems to me, mother, as we shall see him
alive yet. I can’t quite give him up.”

“Well, James, I do hope so, poor dear. It do
seem bad to think ” and then she couldn’t say
any more for crying, and her husband had to try
and comfort her as best he could.

Ah! children, boys and girls, you little know all
the tender anxious thoughts, all the tears some-
times, that you cost your parents. And all they
want in return is love and obedience! But we
must leave Jim’s father and mother (hoping, yet
almost afraid to hope), to see what was going on
at Joscelyn’s cottage.

First of all the Squire and the head-gardener,
and one or two of the older and wiser men, went
as near as they could to the place where they saw
the smoke, on the other side of the hill of snow.
They were obliged to go very carefully, and more
than once were in danger of fall'ng into and being
buried by the snow; but at last they reached a
place where they could see right down upon it,
and then they saw not only the smoke, but a part
of the chimney—the broken chimney-pot and a
brick or two. No wonder the chimney smoked, as
it did to the great inconvenience of Joscelyn and
his wife, with that broken chimney-pot on the top
of the chimney! Sometimes they were obliged to
let the fire out altogether.

Then the Squire and the others consulted to-


68 Under the Snow.

gether what they had better do. There were
evidently many feet of snow between them and
the roof of the house. They did not of course
know that the roof was broken in. And, of
course, they knew that there were a great many
more feet of snow, between the roof and the door;
yet for all anybody could see, save the smoke and
the chimney-pot, there might have been nothing
but snow.

“We must get down to the level somehow,”
said the Squire.

“Tl be a difficult business that, ’m thinking,”
replied the head-gardener.

“Beg pardon, zur,’ said Thomas Andrews,
“but it seems to I, we must go on a bit furder
along the down, and come down by one of the
combes where there ain’t so much snow, and so
work our way along; and some of we must stay
up here, so as to be sort of guides like.”

Thomas had known the downs day and night
for many years, and even those who had before
laughed at him about the smoke coming out of
the snow, listened approvingly to what he said,
and from all sides were heard “ that be it,” “ he’m
right,” “that’s what we'm got to do.”

“Then, Thomas,” said the Squire, “you had
better take the lead.”

“Tf you please, zur,’ he replied, touching his
hat respectfully. So they went on.
Smoke out of the Snow! 69

“Seems a rum way of getting down there,” said
the young man who had offended Bryant, pointing
with his finger towards the smoke, “ to be goin’ up
here, I’d ha’ tried straight on.”

“Good job if you had,” said Bryant, who over-
heard him; “there'd ha’ been one fool less to
look arter.”

A loud laugh greeted Bryant’s speech, and so
the old man had the best of it, after all.

On they went, using their long poles to prod
into the snow with, so that they might not fall
into drifts, till at last they succeeded in getting to
the foot of the down, where the snow was not
more than two feet deep; but now they seemed
out of sight altogether of the object of their
search. There was nothing around them but a
vast expanse of snow.

Thomas Andrews, however, knew what he was
about. ‘This way, zur,” he said to the Squire,
very respectfully, but with the firm voice of a
man who knew he was right. “You mind that
bit of a copse up there, zur?”

“No,” replied the Squire, “I can’t say—yet I
think I noticed it.”

“Well, zur, that’s our guide. I’se got that in
my eye, and we’s got to go straight in the direc-
tion for that.” So they went on. Gradually the
snow got deeper.

“We'm better begin to dig here, zur,” continued
70 Under the Snow.

Thomas. “The snow’ll get deeper hereabouts.”
So they set to work to clear a path.

The snow did get deeper. Two feet—three—
four—six. It was hard work, and took a long
time.

“We must have more labourers,” said the
Squire. ‘Andrews, while there is time, go back
to the Hall; bring with you, on my authority”—
giving him a pencilled note to the butler—“ every
hand on the premises, and any others you can
find; bring provisions, lanterns, and all that is
necessary. The butler has my orders in that
paper. We will go on digging here till you
return.”

“Yes, zur; I’ll do my best. “Scuse me, sir, but
yowll mind as they digs in a straight line. Snow's
very deceiving.” Ashe spoke he pointed to the
road they were making.

The Squire looked. They were getting into a
curve. Had they gone on in that direction they
might have dug for the keeper’s cottage till the
thaw came, but would never have found it. He
put them right, and the work went on.

In due time the reinforcements arrived. All
were very respectful to Thomas Andrews now.
Next to the Squire he was the most important
man there, and the Squire constantly asked his
opinion, and acted upon it, as to what they should
do and how they should do it. But Thomas not



























































































































































































































72, Under the Snow.

only gave advice, he worked with a will as well as
the rest; and so did the Squire.

But it was a tough and long job, and no mis-
take. As they got farther on in the direction of
the cottage, the snow got deeper and deeper. The
drift in one place was fully nine feet deep, and as
they got nearer still, they seemed to encounter a
very mountain of snow. It is true it gave them
hope in one way, for most likely the cottage was.
under it; but it was disheartening in another, for
it would take them hours to cut-a road through it,
and already the short winter’s day was drawing to
a close. They resolved to make a tunnel through it.






















73

CHAPTER XII.

Rescue,

>
oy its own weight, that although the task of

tunnelling was harder than they expected,
there was little or no danger from the fall of the
snow from above. Had this happened their lives
might have been sacrificed as well as those in the
cottage, but by the mercy of God it was not so.
The lanterns, too, came into use now, although
they used the candles as sparingly as they could,
for they did not know how much longer they
might have to dig, and it was almost dark in the
tunnel.

It soon became oppressively hot too, so that they
were obliged to go out for air two or three at a
time ; and had they had to go much further, they
must have given up all hope of finishing their task
that night. Indeed, the Squire and Andrews and
the head-gardener had been consulting together
whether they had not better give it up and come
again to-morrow morning. But Thomas Andrews
said he felt sure they would soon come to the
cottage, so they resolved to try a bit longer.
74 Under the Snow.

One of the men driving his spade into the snow,
struck something hard. ‘“ Hullo,” he said, “ what
be this, then ? Here be summat, and no mistake.”
And he began clearing away with vigour. Very
soon the “summat” was revealed. It was the
brick-work of the well.

“Then we baint fur from the house, zur,” said
Andrews.

“But which way does the well le from the
house?” asked the Squire.

“Well, zur, if I could know for sartain which
side of the well I was, I could tell ’e; but ’see, us
might be the house side and might be t’other side ;
but I thinks we be to go to the right. When
we’s cleared away a bit round the well, us might
know.”

So they cleared away a space round and above,
till the upright, the wheel or roller upon which the
rope was wound, and the handle by which the
bucket was let down into the well, could be clearly
seen. ‘‘ Now then I do know,” said Thomas, “ for
the handle points toward the house. That way,
mates. We'll soon find ’em, now.” Sure enough
Thomas was right. A few yards further, and
their shovels struck against the brick walls. They
raised a shout.

Just then the inhabitants of the cottage were
sitting together almost in despair. It was the fifth
day of their imprisonment, and hitherto there had
Rescue. 75

been no sign of deliverance, no hope of release.
They were beginning, too, to feel the effects of an
overcrowded space, and consequently of an impure
atmosphere. Little Margery was restless and fret-
ful; nothing could amuse her. Jim tried to keep
up, but he had not got over the effects of his
exposure to the snow, and often suffered a good
deal of pain; he could not sing now. The dog
whined and looked wretched, and wagged his tale
but seldom, and then languidly. Joscelyn Green
pined for the fresh air and the woods, and some-
times was tempted to be impatient; and his wife
sat with sad eyes and pale face rocking Margery,
and wondering how much longer they should live.
They had only bread left now, and not much of
that.

Suddenly the dog jumped up and began to growl.
Then they heard a knock at the wall.

“What's that? Good Lord!” said Joscelyn,
trembling. He feared that it might be the house
falling. Mrs. Green stopped rocking, and Margery
moaned feebly. Jim stood up, pale with terror.
Then they heard voices.

“Oh, Jos, Jos,” almost screamed Mrs. Green,
“T do believe as they’ve found us! Oh, the Lord’s
mercy be praised!”

“Wait a bit, missis,” replied Joscelyn, his voice
all of a shake; “let’s try.” So saying, he knocked
the wall where he had heard the noise. The knock
76 Under the Snow.

was returned, and another shout was raised, and
words could be indistinctly heard bidding them be
of good cheer, The strong man sank into a chair
and sobbed aloud for joy. In a little while the
door was reached; but when it came to that, no-
body could speak. The Squire tried, but he could
only put out his hand and shake hands with
Joscelyn, who couldn’t speak any more than the
Squire, and the same with them all. The Squire's
party had a store of provisions left, of which
Joscelyn and his wife were glad, and they managed
to clear away the snow from the staircase, so as to
let in fresh air. Then the Squire said: “Neigh- |
bours, the Almighty has been very merciful to us,
and we ought to give Him thanks.”

« Amen; Amen,” said all, and Joscelyn handed
him a Bible, and he read the 116th Psalm. Read
it; and you will not wonder that they all cried
together, as the beautiful words spoke so tenderly
and lovingly of their peril and deliverance.

“Now we must wrap up and get out of this,”
said the Squire, “for I don’t think it’s safe to
remain. A sudden thaw might come on, and
another fall of snow would carry the house down.
We must make our way to the Hall, where we
shall find room ; and if the moon’s up, as I hope it
may be, and it’s a clear night, we may, please
God, get there in safety. But who’s this little
lad?” he asks, turning to Jim.
Rescue. 77

So the story had to be told as we have already
read it, and little Jim and Hero and Joscelyn
became quite the centres of attraction, and many
kind things were said, and words of pity and
sympathy. Then one of the lads came forward—



it was the one who had been “cheeky” to Bryant,
but who wasn’t a bad fellow when he wasn't
foolish—and said to the Squire:

“Please, sir, would you mind me going to tell
Jim’s father and mother, sir; Jim Mason. sir, as
18 Under the Snow.

has been shut up here? They’ve been cruel sorry,
sir, and they’ll be glad to hear he’s safe.”

“Will it be safe for you to go?” asked the
Squire.

“Yes, sir ; it’s plain track now across the downs,
and a light night.” So the Squire gave him leave
to go.

There was joy in James Mason’s dwelling that
night. It was late when the lad got there, and
they were just going to bed, after praying for little
Jim, when the lad’s knock came to the door.

Late as it was, they would have started off then
and there to see Jim; but, after talking it over,
thought it would be better to leave it till the morn-
ing, as he was in such good hands, especially as
Mrs. Mason was very poorly, partly from anxiety,
and they feared the journey would be too much
for her. But their hearts were too full for sleep.
They cried and laughed together almost at the
same time. They couldn’t say enough to thank
the young man; and when Jim’s mother put her
arms round his neck and kissed him for her boy’s
sake, he cried and laughed too. And they did not
forget to thank that gracious Father, to whom they
had trusted in this terrible trial, and who had so
mercifully delivered their boy from death.

But this scene was nothing to that which took
place when on the next day they went to the Hall
and there found little Jim himself, “My boy!
Rescue. 79

My boy!” said his mother, flinging herself on her
knees before him, and clasping him to her arms:
while he, not less overcome, cricd ‘“ Mother!
Mother!” and then burst into tears. His father
took him round the neck and tried to speak to him,
but couldn’t; but little Jim took his hand and
kissed it, so they quite understood one another.
Then Joscelyn and his wife and little Margaret
came in for their share of thanks and blessings;
and the dog, who seemed to enjoy the whole busi-
ness as much as the rest, barked and wagged his
tail and looked as pleased as anybody. So there
was great joy that day; and such a dinner as the
Squire gave them all!

Also the Squire had sent for Mr. Wentworth,
the good clergyman, and he came and made a nice
little speech to them; and as it was the day before
Christmas Day, how could he help speaking to the
rescued children, and to them all, about the blessed
Child who was born on that day, “‘ Jesus Christ the
Saviour!” who loved little children, and who had
thought of and preserved those who had been in
such peril! ae

Little Jim was very ill for a while. The cold
and exposure had done him more harm than they
at first thought; but he got better. Many were
the kind friends who came to him in his illness,
and many the kind words spoken to him by Mr.
Wentworth and others, some of which he never
80 Under the Snow.

forgot, and which, by God’s blessing, helped to
lead him in the right way; so that after all he
had to thank God for the time he had spent
“Under the Snow.”



LONDON: KNIGHT, PRINTER, MIDDLE STREET, ALDERSGATE, E.G


>



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Indian Pictures, Drawn with Pen
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WIcK, M.A. Profusely Mlustrated. 88., in
handsome cloth gilt ; 25s. morocco. |

“ The Society, in all their excellent series of

Pictures’ (which now has included no iucon- |

siderable part of the world). has not given to





the public a better ited or more interesting

yolume than this.’ —Spertatur. |



Tue Rexicrous Traci Socirry Lonpox.



X R
Soe °
S Fo egy
REeSees
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Peete Se es
2354872
& Saree
So'4u.
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goaage
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7 PEW
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2 Bass

Sea Pictures. By Dr. Macautay,
Editor of the Leisure Hour, &c. Contain-
ing the Sea in Poetry, Physical Geography
of the Sea, the Ser in History, and the
Harvest of the Sea. 8s.,in handsome cloth ;
or 25s. in morocco elegant.

Mr, Ruskin says:—‘This beautiful book is
by far the best [ have ever seen on the subject,
and will be a most precious gift-book for me.”

“Those Holy Fields.” Palestine
Illustrated by’ Pen and Pencil. By the
Jate Rev. SAMUEL Mannina. LL.D. With
nuniecrous Engravings. 8s., handsome cloth
gilt ; 25s. morocco.

Pictures from Bible Lands.
Drawn with Pen and Pencil. Edited by
the Rey.S.G. Green, D.D. The Engra-
vings by Edward Whymper and others,
88,, handsome cloth gilt ; 25s, morocco.

New Edition. Just Published.
The Thand of the Pharaohs.

Egypt and Sinai, Dlustrated by Pen and

Pencil. By the late Rev. SamvuEL MAN-
inc, LL.D. With numerous fine En-
gravings 8s. handsome cloth gilt ; or 25s.

in morocco,

Swiss Pictures. Drawn with Pen
and Pencil. By Samuen Mannine, LL.D.
With numerous Ilustrations, 88, hand-
some cloth gilt ; 26s. morocco,
ILLUSTRATED GIFT-BOOKS.



By Dr. Macaunay,
Anecdotes,’ etc.
by Edward Whymper and others.

Illustrated London News,

Her
Life

and

— Reign.

Author of “Sea Pictures,’ “Luther Anecdotes.” ‘Gordon
With Five Portraits of the Queen, and Sixty Engravings

Small Quarto, 10s. 6d., cloth, gilt edges.
“Mhe author’s endeavour has been to recall those qualities in the personal character of
the Queen and the incidents in her life which have most endeared her to her people.”—

© Tt is a beautifully printed an very prettily illustrated volume, and is admir able in tone

and feeling.”— thenwum.

“A very acceptable gift-book.”—Stamford Mercury.

. £2
B38 2
BSE EF
BEF Ee
a a eS
#a 8s

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SM, ge
Bete
& z
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lustrated b:

By Poet
4to., 6s., cloth boards gilt.
Mr. Edward Whymper
id tone of the por
it to his taste and judgment.”—







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The Harvest of a Quiet
Eyr; or, Leisure Thoughts for
Busy Lives. By the Rev. J. R.
Vernon, M.A. With numerous En-
gravings. New Edit.on. 6s. 6d.
cloth, gilt edges,

‘““Inever saw anything more gracefully or
more rightly done—more harmoniously

pleas nt in ‘text and illustration.” — Mr.
Ruskin,

Ingleside and Wayside
Mvusinecs. A companion volume to
“The Harvest of a Quiet Eye.”
6s. cloth gilt.

Random Truths in Common
Tunes. Occasional Papers from mv
Study Chair. By the Rev. J. R.
Vernon, M.A., author of ‘‘ The
Harvest of a Quiet Kye.” Illustra-
tio. s, 7s. clotu gilt.

“It seems even ‘better than ‘The Harvest
of a Quiet Eye.” ’"—Mr, Ruskin,

“Should be placed next to Wordsworth on
every student's bookshelf.’'—-Standard.

Tae Rerrsonrs Tract Socrety. Loyposn.








ge
Bd s tac |
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GEE gy ombos
eg a4 So
Bez BRE OSELO
Bed BS 0n885S
SEe GES ERrh SO
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The Life of Jesus Christ the
Saviour. By Mrs.S. Warson. With
many fine Engravings. 5s, cloth.

‘(For young peopleto read, or to helpa teacher
in lighting up a narrative of the one perfect life,
and interesting young people in all {ts parts and
details, we have seen no better volume of the
kind than this.”"—JMethodiet Recorder.

Dr. Stoughton’s Reformation Books.

The Spanish Reformers,
their Memoriesand Dwelling Places.
By Dr. Sroventon. Finely Illus-
trated. 8s. handsome cloth gilt,

« 4 most interesting and.instructive volume.’
—Spectatar.

Footprints of Italian Re-
FORMERS. By Dr. Stouauron. Finely
Illustrated. 8s. handsome cloth gilt.

“A very charming and useful gift-book.”—

Congregationalist.

Homes and Haunts of
Lurner. By Dr. Strougaton.
Finely Illustrated. 8s. handsome
cloth, gilt edges. ,




6]

A USEFUL SET FOR PRESENTATION

des

1.

2.

8.

To a Minister or Sunday School Teacher.

MOT WiC





a

M




















IBL





IGHT FROM MONUMENT.
GYPT AND SYRIA
REES OF BIBLE

i)





DISEASES OF
ANIMALS OF



BABYLONIAN LIFE

CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE
B





TEMPLE HILL ATJERUSALE
GALILEE INTIME OF CHRIS

Byu-Paths of Bible Buotoledge.

“The volumes which the Tract Society is issuing under the above title fully
erve success. They have been entrusted to scholars who have a special
acquaintance with the subjects about which they severally treat.”—The Atheneum,

Cleopatra’s Needle. By the Rev. J. Kine, Lecturer for the
Palestine Exploration Fund. With Illustrations. 2s. 6d.

Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments. By A. H.
Sayce, L1.v., Deputy Professor of Comparative Philology, Oxford, etc.
‘With Facsimiles from Photographs. 3s.

. Recent Discoveries on the Temple Hill at Jerusalem.

By the Rev, J. Kine, m.a., Lecturer for the Palestine Exploration Fund.
With Maps, Plans, and Llustrations. Qs. 6d.

. Babylonian Life and History. By E. A. Wauuis Bunge,
u.a., Cambridge, Assistant in the Department of Oriental Antiquities,
British Museum. 3s.

. Galilee in the Time of Christ. By Sean MERRILL, D.D.,
Author of “ East of the Jordan.” Witha Map. 2s, 6d.

. Egypt and Syria. Their Physical Features in Relation
to Bible History. By Sir J. W. Dawson, F.c.8., F.R.8. With many Illustra-
tions. 3s.

. Assyria: Its Princes, Priests, and People. By A. H.

SaYcr, M.A., LL.D. Illustrated. 3s.

The Dwellers on the Nile. Chapters on the Life, Literature,
History, and Customs of Ancient Egypt. By E. A. WaLuis Bunex, u.a., of
the British Museum. Illustrated. 3s,

9. The Diseases of the Bible. By Sir J, Rispon BENNETT,

10
11,

M.D., F.K.8., Ex-President of the Royal College of Physicians. 2s. 6d.
. Trees and Plants of the Bible. By W. H. Grosmr, z.Sc.

Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 3s.cloth.

Animals of the Bible. By H. Cuicnesrer Harv, B.A,
Naturalist to Sir G. Nares’ Arctic Expedition and Professor Hull’s Palestine
Expedition, Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 3s.

Tue Reiieious Tract Soctery. Loxpon,
L 7

HANDSOME GIFT-BOOKS.
Poung Men and dilaitens.

Girl’s Own Indoor Book.
Edited by CHaRries PETERS.
528 pages, 84 X 64, With over one
hundred and fifty illustrations. 8s.
cloth, gilt edges.

Containing practical helps to Girls
in all matters relating to their
material comfort and moral well-
being. By the Author of ‘‘ How to
be Happy though Married,” Dora
de Blaquiere, Dora Hope, Marie
Karger, Lady Macfarren, Lady
Lindsay, Ernst Pauer, Sir John
Stainer, the Hon. Victoria Gros~-
venor, Jobn C. Staples, Canon
Fleming, ‘‘ Medicus,” Ruth Lamb,
Sophia Caulfeild, and many others.



Indoo# Games and Rectea:
tions. A popular Encyclopedia
for Boys. Edited by G. A.
Hurcuison. Including chapters by
J. N. Masxenyne, Lieut.- Col.
CurHzLL, Dr. Gorpon STaBLEs,
zB... Rev. A. N. Manan, MA.,
C. Sransrigip - Hicks, Dr.
Srrapiine, and others. “ Boy’s
Own Bookshelf.” Vol. VIII.
With many Engravings. Quarto.
8s. cloth boards, gilt edges. A
splendid Gift-Book or Prize for
Boys. 528 pages, 84 X 64



The Handy Natural His-
rony. By the Rev. J. G. Woop,
author of “Homes without
Hands,” ete.,ete. 368 pages, 8 X 64
With 224 Engravings. 8s. cloth
boards, gilt edges.

‘ A delightful book, and will make
a very handsome and enviable
high-clase prize or present.”—
School Board Chronicle.

“A handsome volume, in which the
author, a well-known naturalist,
tells his readers in simple, un-
technical languagé the habits and
nature of birds, beasts, and rep-
tiles, Mr. Wood’s style is excel-
lently adapted for attracting the
interest and insuring the attention
of even ordinarily careless rea-
ders. ’— Mail.



faz Reuiaious Tract Bociety. Lonvox.
i 8

THE SUNFLOWERS SERIES

OF STORIES FOR ALL READERS.



This is a Series of Books intended for adults rather than children. Large num-
bers ot young people, as well as readers of older growth, give up much of their
time to fiction. This Series supplies books which not only interest as well-written
Stories that afford studies of character and descriptions of events and scenes likely
to rivet the attention, but which also stimulate the serious thought, and develop
the better nature of those into whose hands they fall.

The Manse of Glen Clunie. By
Ectianron Tuorne, author of “ The Old
Worcester Jug,’ ‘The Two Crowns,”
etc. Illustrated by Cuartes WuyMerr,
Crown 8vo. 3s. Gd. cloth.

Two Enthusiasts. By E.
Evererr Green. Illustrated by
Epwarp Wuyrmprr, Crown 8vo. 5s.
cloth boards.

Barbara’s Brothers. By E.
Everett Green, Author of ‘ Lenore
Annandale’s Story,”’ ‘‘ Joint Guardians,”
ete. Illustrated by R. and E. Tayuor.
Crown 8vo, 5s, cloth boards.

Joint Guardians. By E.
Everetr GREEN. Illustrated. 5s. cloth.

Joyce Graham’s History ; or,
Overcoming Evil with Good. By H. A.
Gownrrne. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 33.6d.

Another King. By JANET EDEN.
Illustrated by E. Wuymper. Crown $vo.
3s. 6d. cloth.

The Head of the House. A Story of Victory over Passion and
Pride. By E. E. Green. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 5s.

Ida Nicolari. By Eeranron Tuorns. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.

The Old Manuscript ; or, Anaise Robineau’s History. A Tale
of the Huguenots of La Vendée. By BLaNcHE M. MocerinGE. Illustrated
by E. Wuymper. Crown 8vo. 5s. cloth.

Young Sir Richard. By H.
Fereperick Cuaruss. Illustrated. Crown
8vo. 5s. cloth, A

Maddalena, the Waldensian
MaiIpEN AND HER Propur. Translated by
Juiz Sutter. Illustrated. Crown 8yvo.
8s. 6d. cloth. |

Turning Points; or, Two Years
in Maud Vernon’s Life, By L. C. Sinxe.
Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth.

Reaping the Whirlwind. A Story
of Three Lives. Illustrated. Crown 8vo.
3s. 6d. cloth,

One Day ataTime. By BLancuE
E.M. Gren. Dlustrated by E. Woymprr.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. cloth,

The Mistress of Lydgate
Priory; or, the Story of a Long Life,
By Evetyn E. Green. Crown 8vo, 5s.

The Two Crowns. By Eezanton
Tuorne. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo.
3s. 6d. cloth, :

Lenore Annandale’s Story. By Evi.tyn E. Green With
Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 5s. cloth,

Carola. By HesBa StrRervton. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.

Sunflowers. A Story of To-day. By G.C.GEpexE. Illustrated.
Crown 8vo. 8s. 6d. cloth.

Tue Rexiaious Tracr Society, Lonvon.




[9
ILLUSTRATED ANNUALS

FOR PRESENTATION. :

Che Rersure Hour.
Annual Volume for 1888.

“ Behold in these what leisure hours demand Amuse-
ment and true knowledge hand in hand.”

Tur VoLUME For 1888 of this Monthly Maga-
zine fur Family and General Reading contains 856
imperial 8vo, pages (11 X 73) of interesting reading,
with numerous IlJustrations by Eminent Artists.
It forms a handsome Book for Presentation,
and an appropriate and instructive volume for
a School or College Prize. Price 7s. in cloth
Doards; 8s. 6d. extra boards, gilt edges; 10s. 6d.
half-bound in calf.



Che Sunday at Home.
Annual Volume for 1888.

AN ILLUSTRATED FAMILY MAGAZINE FOR
SABBATH READING.

Tats VoLumME For 1888 forms avery suitable
Book for Presentation. It contains 828 pages,
Imperial 8vo (11 X 74), with a great variety of
Interesting and Instructive Sabbath 'Reading for
every Member of the Family. It is profusely
illustrated by Coloured and Wood Engravings,
Price 7s. cloth boards; 8s. 6d, extra boards,
gilt edges; 10s. 6d; half-bound in calf.

/~ vel? 4 OWN cuawaniey
The Girl's Own Annual.

The Ninth Volume of “ The Girl’s Own Paper,”
—containing 848 Demy 4to (11 X 8}) pages of
interesting and useful reading. Stories by popu~
jar writers; Music by eminent composers ; Prac-
tical Papers for Young Housekeepers ; Medical
Papers by a well-known practitioner ; Needle-
work, plain and fancy; Helpful Papers for
Christian Girls; Papers on Reasonable and Sea-
sonable Dress, etc., etc. Profusely illustrated.
Price 8s. in handsome cloth; 93. 6d, with gilt
edges; 12s, 6d. half-morecco.






The Boy's Own Annual
FOR 1888.

The Tenth Annual Volume of the “ Boy’s Own
Paper.” Containing 848 large pages (112 x 84)
of Tales of Schoolboy Life, and of Adventure on
Land and Sea; Outdoor and Indoor Games for
every Season; Perilous Adventures at Home and
Abroad; Amusements for Summer and Winter ;
and Instructive Papers written so as to be read by
boys and youths. With many Coloured and Wood
Engravings. Price 8s. handsome cloth; 9s. 6d.
gilt edges; 12s, 6d. halfmorocco.

Tur Reticious Tract Socrery Lonpox.


10 J
NEW EDITIONS OF STORIES

HESBA STRETTON.

The Children of Cloverley. Illustrated.
Little “loss Children. Is. 6d.

ions: oe “London, Ilustrated. 1s. 6d. cloth.
Bede’s Charity. Tlustrated. 28. 6d. cloth.
Carola. Illustrated. 3s. 6d. cloth. .
Cassy. Tlinstrated. Is. 6d. cloth.

fobwele and Cables. Illustrated. 5s. cloth.

The ‘Crew, ion the Dolphin. Illustrated.

Enooh Roden’s Training. Illustrated. 2s.
cloth.

Fern’s Hollow. ITlustrated. 2s. cloth.
Fishers 0 of Derby Haven. Illustrated. 2s.

»
Friends Till Death. llustrated. 64. cloth.
Iilustrated. 1st

Jessica’ a First Prayer.

Pilgrim § Street. A Story of Manchester Life.
s. cloth.

The King’s Servants. Illustrated. 1s. 6d.
Lost Gip. IRlustrated. Is. 6d. cloth.

Max Kromer. AStory of the Siege of Stras- -
bourg. 1s. 6d. cloth.

No Place Like Home.
cloth.

Tlustrated.



Illustrated. 1s.

The Storm of Life. Tlustrated. 1s. 6d.
cloth.

A Thorny Path. Illustrated. 28. cloth. |

Under the Old Roof. Illustrated. 1s. cloth.

A Night and a Day. 9d. cloth.

Left Alone. 6d. cloth.

A Miserable Christmas and a Happy
New Year. 9d. cloth

The Worth ofa Baby. 6d. cloth.
Sam Franklin’s Savings Bank. 6d. cloth.
Michel Lorio’s Cross. Illustrated. 6d. cloth.

By Mrs. O. F. WALTON.



Christie’s Old Organ; or, Home,
Sweet Home. 1s. cloth.

Angel’s Christmas. 16mo. 6d.cloth.

Launeh the Lifeboat. With 44
Coloured Pictures or Vignettes. 4to.

8s. coloured cover.

Little Dot. Coloured Frontispiece.
6d. cloth, ‘

Little Faith: or, The Child of the
Toy-Stall. ‘Is. cloth.

Nobody I Loves Me. Royal 16mo.
5. cloth.

Olive’s Story: or, Life at Ravens-
clitfe. 2s. 6d. cloth, gilt edges.

Was I Right? Fine Engravings.
Imp. l6mo. 3s 6d. cloth, gilt edges

Tur Renoiovs Tract Society, Lonpon. =

!
i

Our Gracious Queen: Pictures and
Stories from “Her Majesty’s Lite.
With many Pictures. New and
Revised Edition. 1s. cloth.

A Fee. Behind the Scenes. Imp.

6mo. 3s. 6d. cloth, gilt edges.

Poppie's Presents. Crown $vo.

Saved at Sea. A Lighthouse Story.
New and cheaper Edition. 1s.
cloth.

Shadows. Scenes in the Life of an
.Old Arm-Chair. Imp. lémo 4s.
cloth, gilt edges.

Taken or Left. Crown 8yo. Is.
clo
{lu

BOYS STORY BOOKS,



Untrue to
Story of Life and Adventure in
Charies the Second’s Time. By

his Trust. A

Henzy Jonnson. Illustrated. 5s,

cloth gilt. .

The Doctor's Experiment.

By the Author of “ Under Fire.”
ith Wlustrations. Imperial 16mo.
5s. cloth, gilt edges.

The Captain’s Story_of
LIFE IN JAMAICA. Witn Dlus-
trations by Joan GILBERT, Im-
perial 16mo. 5s. cloth boards, gilt
edges. “5

Once upon a Time; or, The
Boy's Book of Adventures. With
Tlustrations. 3s. cloth.

Stories of the Old Romans.
5

‘+ os 8. Pues. Illustrated. 3s.
clo Le
Historic Landmarks in the

CHRISTIAN CENTURIES. By
RicHARD HEATH. With NHighty-
four Illustrations. 4to. 10s. hand-

some cloth gilt, ‘
Ghe Bay's

Adventures of a
TC

Football.

Three - Guinea
WATCH. By Ta.pot Barnes Reep. With Illus-
trations, Crown 8vo. 32. 6d. cloth beards.

A Popular Handbook of the

Ernest Hepburn; or, Revenge and For-
giveness, BY H.C. ADAMS, M.4:, Vicar of Old
Shoreham. Illustrated by E. WaymPrr. Crown
8vo. 5s. cloth boards.

Drake and the Dons; or, Stirring Tales
of Armada Times. Edited and Arranged by
Ricnszp Lavetr, M.A. With Portraits, Mapa,
and Yllustrations. Crown 8vo. 38. 6d. cloth
boards, gilt edges.

What to Read at Winter Entertain-
ments. “Part I.— Verse. Part IL — Prose.
Edited and arranged by Rev. Frepentck Lanc-
BRIDGE, M.A, Author of “Sent Back by the
Angels.” “ Poor Folk’s Lives,’ ete. Each 1s. 6d.
cloth boards.

The Latch Key; By T. 8S. Mituneron,
Author of “A Great Mistake.” “Through Fire
and through Water,” etc. Ilustrated. Crown
8yvo. 2s. cloth boards.

More than Conqueror; or, A Boy’s
Temptations. By Hapnrerre HK. Burcu, Author
of “ The Heroines of Haarlem,” etc. Illustrated.
Crown 8vo. 28. cloth.

Marchi Orders; or, Soldier Bobbie.
By Lucy Ta¥Log, Author of “ Led into Light.”
‘* Sundial Court,” etc. Tlustrated. Crown 8yvo.
28. 6d. cloth boards.

Geoffrey Heywood; or, The Right Way.
By Mrs. Cooper, Author of ‘* Nearly in Port,” etc.
Tllustrated. Crown 8vo. 28. 6d. cloth boards.

Sailor Jack. A Tale of the Southern Sea.
By Consrance Coss, Author of ‘ After Twenty
Years,” etc. With Mlustrations, Crewn 8vo.
1s. 6d. cloth boards.

All for Number One; or, Charlie Rus-
sell’s Upsand Downs. A Story for Boys and Girls.
By Henry Jounson, Author of ‘‘True to His
Vow,’ etc. Illustrated by E. Waoyarer. Crown
8vo. 3s. 6d. cloth boards, gilt edges.

Hindered and Help. A Story for Boys.
TUustrated. Crown Svo, 2s, cloth boards.

Ofn Bookshelf.





Game. By Dr. Irving, C. W. Aucock, and other
recognised authorities. With Illustrations.
Crown 8vo. 1s, 6d. cloth.

Cricket. A Popular Handbook of the Game.
By Dr. W. G@ Grace, Rev. J. Pycerort, Lord
Cuar.es Russe, F. GaLe, and others. 2s. cloth

A Great Mistake: A Tale of Adventure.
By t.S. MILLINGTON. With Illustrations. 3s, 6d
cloth,

The Fifth Form at St. Dominic’s. A
School Story. By Tauper Barnes Reep. With
Illustrations. 58, cloth.

Through Fire and Through Water
A Story of Adventure and Peril, By T. S, Miui-
Incton. Illustrated. 3s, 6d. cloth.

Harold, the Boy Karl. A Story of Old .
England. By J. F. Honcerrs, Author of ‘Eric
the Norseman.” 3s, 6d. cloth,

Tern Derrerane Npeanm Saas ery



T awnas
Grace Trevelyan; or, Led into Light.
By Mrs. Coorr, Author of ‘The Sure Harvest,’’
“The First Gift,” etc. Mustrated by E. Wuymrer.
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. cloth boards, gilt edges.

May, “a Succourer of Many.” By Miss
A. G. Guay-Jones. With Illustrations. Crown
8yo. 2s. cloth boards.

Dorothy Tresilis. A Cornish Tale. By
M.M. Pouiaup, Author of *‘ Lilla’s Experiment,”
“Only Me,” ete. Illustrated. Crown $vo. 1s. 6d.
cloth boards. .

Miss Elsie. A Story of Single-hearted
Service. By H. Many Wutson. Illustrated.
Crown 8yo, 2s. 6d. cloth boards.

“Therefore,” or Nessie’s Ideal. A Story
for Girls. By FrLorence E, Burcu, anthor of
“Joseph Adama,” etc. Illustrated. Crown 8vo.
2s. cloth boards.

John Richmond’s Mistake. By Jaxer
Epen, author of “ Hester’s Home.” “ Another
King,” etc. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 2s, 6d.



cloth boards,

In a Jesuit Net. By A.C. Coarr, ,) Higher Up. Ry Newer Hens.
Author of “The chateau de Louard,” etc. Author of “ Three Little Fiddlers,” “ Roy-
Wlustrated by Epwarp WHYMPER. Crown ing Robin,” * Gipay Jun,” etc. ete, Mlus-
8yo. 4s. cloth boards. trated. Crown 8yo. 28, cloth boards.

‘ ’ :
Mrs. Morse’s Girls. A Story of Ho e Reed’s Upper Windows.
‘American Sunday School Life. Tlustrated. By HOWE BENNING. 3s. 6d. cloth gilt.

Crown 8vo. 38. 6d cloth boards, gilt edges. Dolly. A Quiet Story for Quiet People.

e Heroines of Haarlem. Adapt- By M.-F. W. Illustrated. Crown 8vo.
The. from the French of Madame de Witt. 1s. 6d. cloth boards.
By Hangiertr E. Buron, Author of Every Day. A Story for Sunday
“Count Renneberg’s Treason.” etc. With Afternoons, By Evenyn R. Farrar
Muetrations. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. cloth, Illustrated. Crown 68vo. 1s. 6d. cloth
gilt edges. - boards.



Ghe Girls Own Bookshelf.

Aunt Diana. By Rosa Novcnetre Carry, Author of ‘‘ Not Like Other Girls,”
+ Esther Cameron's Story,” etc. [Jlustrated. Imperial 16:0. 2s. 6d. bevelled boards.
Miss Carey is well known as an able and graceful writer of stories for girls. This one
llustrates the working of duty founded upon Christian principle.
Cora; or, Three Years of a Girl’s Life.
Illustrated. Imperial 16mo. 2s. 6d. cloth.
The Girl’s Own Cookery Book. By

Prittis Browne. Feap.8vo. 1s, cloth.

The Queen o’ the May. By Annet
BeaLe. Illustrated. Imperial I6mo, 2s. 6d.
cloth.

The Master’s Service. A Practical
Guide for Girls, Illustrated. Imperial 16mo.
9a, 6d. cloth.

How to Play the Pianoforte. Feap.

8vo. Is. 6d. cloth.

Her Object in Life. By Isanenia Frvie
Mayo. Olustrated. Imperial 16mo, 2s. 6d. cloth.

The Sunbeam of the Factory, and
other Stories. J) }ustrated. Imperial 16mo.
2s. 6d. cloth.

Esther. By Rosa Novcuerry Carry. Ilus-
trated. Imperial l6mo. 3s. 6d. cloth.

The Shepherd’s Fairy. By Darury
Dare, Author of * The Great Auk’s Eggs.” Blus-
trated, 2s. 6d. cloth.

Servants and Service. By Ruru Lams,
Author of * Comfortable Mrs. Crook,” etc. Is. 6d.
eloth boards.



Tur Reriqious Tracr Sociery, Lonpox,
13
THE NEW SERIES OF ;

HALF-CROWN BOOKS

FOR ALL READERS.
Each with 384 Pages, 74x 5, ftllustrated. Cloth, Gilt Edges.

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THeCHRonicLes 2
OLD MANOR House

E-SARGENT.

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Chronicles of an Old Manor House. By the late G. E.
Sarcent, author of “ The Story of a Pocket Bible,” ete. 28. 6d.

A Race for Life, and other Tales. 2s. 6d. cloth, gilt edges.

Strange Tee of Peril and Adventure. Illustrated. 2s. 6d.
cloth gi

Remarkable Adventures from Real Life. Tllustrated,
2s. 6d. cloth gilt ;

The Black Troopers, and other Stories. Illustrated. 2s. 6d.
cloth gilt,

Adventures Ashore and Afloat. Illustrated. 2s. 6d. cloth gilt.

Finding Her Place. By Howr Bznniye, Author of ‘Quiet
pare ‘‘Ursula’s Beginnings,”’ etc. Tllustrated. Crown 8vo, 28. 6d,
cloth gil

The Mountain Path. By Lity Watson. Author of “ Within
Sight of the Snow,” ete. Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d cloth gilt.

Among the Mongols. By Rev. J. Giumour. Illustrated.
2s. 6d. cloth gilt,

Within Sea Walls; or, How the Dutch kept the Faith. By
G. E. SarcEenr. Illustrated. 2s. 6d. cloth gilt.

The Story of a City Arab. With Portrait and Memoir of the
Author, the late G. E, Sancent. 2s. 6d. cloth gilt.



A PRETTY PRESENT.

Morning and Evening. Keble’s Mornivg and Evening Hymns.
Beautifully illustrated from sketches by J. Cuark, J. H. Hipsiery, Davipson
Know tes, Jamxs N, Ler, C.J. Stani.anp, J. R. Ww ELIS, and C, M, Wimperis.
Printed in colour by AL FRED CookE. In a handsome cvloured cover, tied
with ribbon. Square l6mo, 1s.

COLOURED BOOKLETS.

Signals for the Voyage of Life and Heavenly Graces.
With Verses by Mary E. Rovers,

Two attractive little coloured books, each consisting of twenty-four pages, with
acover. The Texts are given in illuminated letters, and the Verses are from the
practised pen of Miss Ropes. The booklets are finisned with gilt edges, rounded
corners, and tied with ribbon. Gd. each.

Tux Retiaroys Tract Society, Lonpon.
14]

2QQKS ROR EAILORED.

The Happiest Half-Hour ; or, Sunday
Talks ith Children. By Frepraick Lano-
BRIDGE, M.A. With many Illustrations, Small
quarto. 3s. 6d. cloth boards, gilt edges.

The Sweet Story of Old. A Sunday
Book for the Little Ones. By Hxzepa StHErTON.
Author of “ Jessica’s First Prayer.” ‘ Bede's
Gharity ete. With Twelve Coloured Pictures by
tis We ADDOX. 4to. 3a.6d.cloth boards, coloured
edges,

Watts’s Divine and Moral Songs.
New Edition. With many fine Coloured Ilustra-
tions by Roperr Barnes, GorDoN Browne, R.
W. Mappox,and J. R. LEE, 2s. 6d. cloth boarda.

My Holiday Picture-Book. Com-
prising : Holiday Time in the Country—Contented
Johnnie—The Children of the Bible—The Busy
Farm : or, a Visit to our Country Friends—Amy‘s
Birthday Present—The Bible Picture Alphabet.
With Coloured Pictures, 28. 6d. cloth.

My Coloured Picture Story -Book.
With Twenty-four full-colonred page Pictures
and Forty Vignettes. Comprising: Our Pretty
Village—Little Antoine and the Bear—Rosa, the
Little Cousin from India—The Blackbird’s Nest.
4a. handsome cloth gilt.

Bible Stories and Pictures. With Twenty-four Coloured page Fictures
and Forty Vignettes. With simple letterpress in large type. 4s. handsomely bound, cloth

gilt.
Harrison Weir’s Pictures of Birds and other Family Pets. With

24 large Coloured Pictures. 5s. handsomely bound, with side in Gold and Colours.

Storyland. By Siney Grey. With Thirty-two Illustrations by Roszrt
BARNES, Engraved and Printed in Colour by EDMUND EVANS, 6s, handsomely bound in

coloured paper boards,

‘Our Pets and Com: i : Pictures and Stories Illustrative of Kindness to
Animals By Mary eons chor of “Fruits of Bible Lands.” ete. Profusely Ilns-
trated by WEIR, Stacey, WHYMPER, M. E, EDWAgD3, I. G. Brirrain, and others. Small 4to.
2s. cloth boards.

Talkative Friends in Field, Farm, and Forest. By Mary EH. Ropzs,
Author of * Tom’s Bennie,” “Till the Sugar Melts,” ete. Profusely Illustrated. A similar

Volume to “ Our Peta and Companions.” Small 4to. 28. cloth boards.

Little Dot and Her Friends. With
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nettes. 4s. cloth boards gilt.

Launch the Lifeboat! By Mrs. 0. F.
Wauton, Author of ‘Christies Old Organ,” etc.
With Coloured Pictures and Vignettes, from
Drawings by H.J.Ruopre, Beautifully printed
in Colours. 4to. 3s. in attractive boards.

Sunday Afternoons at Rose Cottage.
Bible ‘Lalks with Mamma. By Mrs. WATERWORTH,
Author of “ Blessings for the Little Ones,” ctc.
In very Jarge type. With Illustrations, 1s.
cloth gilt.

Listening to Jesus. A Sunday Book for
the Little Ones. By E.M. Warerwortre. With
Tlustrations by W.8.Srackx, Smal) 4to. Is.6d.
cloth boards, gilt edges.

Children’s Daily Bread. A Picture,
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26. 6d. cloth.

Bible Tales for Children, With Forty
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bevelled boards, gilt edges,

Stories of Bible Children. A New Sun-
day Book for very Little Children, By Mrs, E.
M. Warerworts, Jn very large type, With
Alnseratione, Small 4to, Is, 6d. cloth boards, gilt
edges,



RIENDS.

iS
NH
IK
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NY
NH A



Tue Reviaious Tracr Society, Loxpox.


POPULAR

THE
Ghild’s Companion
AND
Juvenile Instructor Annual

FOR 1888.
192 pages. 84 by 6.
Contains a Story
in twelve chapters
by Mrs, 0. F. Wat-
ron, Author of
“ Christie’s Old Or-
gan,” &c., and a
variety of interest-
ing reading for
young folks, with a
Coloured Frontis-
piece and man
llustrations. 1s. 6d.
attractive coloured.
hoards; 2s. neat
cloth ; 2s. 6d, hand-
some cloth full gilt.







HILD'S , jo
Crone,





[15

ANNUALS.

@ur Little Dot's
Annual for 1888.

8k by 63.

192 pages.
The Yearly Volume of

“OUR LITTLE
DOTS.”

Full of Pretty Pic-
turesand Little Stories
in Large Type. Is. 6d.
attractive coloured
boards ; 2s. neat cloth ;
2s 6d. handsome cloth
gilt.

© Just whatchildren
will like.” — Church
Sunday School Magu-
zine.



OUR LITTLE DOTS



The Cottager and Artisan Annual.

THE VOLUME FOR, 1888.

It contains 144 pages of
interesting reading and illus-
rations. A most suitable
book to present to the Work-
men’s Institute, Club, or
Reading Room, and for the
Home Reading of Work-
ing People in Town and
Country. Many Large Pic-
tures, forming quitea family
serap-book. Much of the
letterpress is in large type.
ls. 6d. in pretty coloured
cover; 2s, 6d. cloth boards
gilt.

Size of page 13} by 10.



“Telling picturesand prac-
tical articles. We only wish
that any praise of ours might
increase the circupetion of n
most vaiuable peffodical.”—
Lhe Times,

“A large amount of good
reading for those who have
little time or opportunity.
The type is large and clear,
and the Illustrations nume-
rous and good.”— Scottish
Leader.

“A welcome addition to
the homes of the working
classes.’— Western Morning
News.



Che Gract Magazine
Annual for 1888.

240 pages. 82 by 5.

Contains a com-
plete story in four-
‘teen chapters by
Mrs. C. NUGENT
JACKSON, Author
of “Me and Jim,”
&e., entitled “The
Family Foe,” and
contributions by P.
B. POWER, M.A,,
A. N, MACKRAY,
MLA, M. E. BECK,
R. R. THOM. LUCY
TAYLOR, C. H.
SPURGEON, JAMES
GILMOUR, and
others, With nume-
rous Engravings.
1s. 6d. cloth boards.



Friendly Greetings.

ILLUSTRATED READINGS FOR
THE PEOPLE.

208 pages. 10} by 74.

This Musirated
Magazine is bound
in half-yearly
volumes, Filled
with Pictures and
short anecdotal pa-
pers. Each balf-
yearly volume
complete in itself,
acd profusely
Illustrated. 2s. 6d.
cloth boards.

“Lively, enter-
taining readings.
The ilustrations
are also very
attractive.” — The
Christian,



Tue Rexicious Tract Society, Lonpon.




Ong Penny WEEKLY

Sixrence Monty.
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BOY'S OWN

PAPER.

“Tt anpeals directly to every youth,
whether he loves fiction or field sports, aud
hasa cliarm even for boys of maturer age.”
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New Volume commenced with November
Monthly Part.

Saxpenve Mowruty.
Oxr Prewxy WerERLY.

” SUNDAY
AT HOME.

“The Sunpay ar Hong ia made for
Sunday reading, but there is. never-
theless, nothing vapid, goody-goady or
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story-telling of unquestionable merit,
obviously done by skilled hands, and
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perienced editor.”-- Ifedical Preaa.

New Volume commenced with

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Wchage ne “yenuae Hanh UITICE $5 PATEDAOITEA Sire



JTNES FOR EVERY HOUSEHOLD.

A CBAs Carek tow oe mee
rm

Yeu

§ Derty le ite Calden Reon, ite} mnt

The Defeat of Antiguartus at TRrapeoe,
cet of ee Editor |.
oe S3iperlahta, 4 ve ay vas Cine



Sixrenck Montuny. Ong Penny Weexty

THE

GIRL’S OWN
PAPER.

“Yt bears the reflection on ever,
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New Volume commenced with November
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page
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Loxpon: 56, ParrexostEr Row, AND OF ALL NEWSAGENTS.

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THE

LEISURE
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A Monthly Magazine for Family and
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“The LEmstRE Hour is, if possible,
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passed in the domain of cheap and good
serial publications,”"—The Queen. |

at New Volume commenced with the
January Part.

New Series.





Fart 88 —Sepieeimae, Ab CURTUIOIAY ne We DLO FOR AUGUST. Price Oe

TE - 28:42) MOLARS OUPIEE yh ATERSOSTER ANG, EC




















































































































































































































































































George Wayland.

The Cinnamon Island & its
Captives.

Caleb Gaye's Success:

Dark Days of December.

The Big House &the Little House.

Tim & his Friends.

Ned the Barge-boy.

Ragged Robin.

The Gable House,

The Dangerous Guest.

Fruits of Bible Lands.

Mays Cousin.

Billy the Acorn Gatherer.

The Banished Family.

The Golden. Street.

The First of the African Diamonds.

The Royal Banner.

Brave Archie.

There's a Friend for Little Child
ren, & Trusiy & True.

Michael the Young Miner.

Babs Trials and Tests.