E-text prepared by the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustration. See 19968-h.htm or 19968-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/9/6/19968/19968-h/19968-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/9/6/19968/19968-h.zip) A BUSY YEAR AT THE OLD SQUIRE'S by C. A. STEPHENS Published by The Old Squire's Bookstore Norway, Maine Copyright, 1922 By C. A. Stephens All rights reserved Electrotyped and Printed by The Colonial Press Clinton, Mass., U. S. A. DEDICATED WITH CORDIAL BEST WISHES TO THE THOUSANDS OF READERS WHO HAVE REQUESTED THIS Memorial Edition OF THE C. A. STEPHENS BOOKS Contents CHAPTER I. Master Pierson Comes Back II. Cutting Ice at 14 Degrees Below Zero III. A Bear's "Pipe" in Winter IV. White Monkey Week V. When Old Zack Went to School VI. The Sad Abuse of Old Mehitable VII. Bear-Tone VIII. When We Hunted the Striped Catamount IX. The Lost Oxen X. Bethesda XI. When We Walked the Town Lines XII. The Rose-Quartz Spring XIII. Fox Pills XIV. The Unpardonable Sin XV. The Cantaloupe Coaxer XVI. The Strange Disappearance of Grandpa Edwards XVII. Our Fourth of July at the Den XVIII. Jim Doane's Bank Book XIX. Grandmother Ruth's Last Load of Hay XX. When Uncle Hannibal Spoke at the Chapel XXI. That Mysterious Daguerreotype Saloon XXII. "Rainbow in the Morning" XIII. When I Went After the Eyestone XXIV. Borrowed for a Bee Hunt XXV. When the Lion Roared XXVI. Uncle Solon Chase Comes Along XVII. On the Dark of the Moon XXVIII. Halstead's Gobbler XXIX. Mitchella Jars XXX. When Bears Were Denning Up XXXI. Czar Brench XXII. When Old Peg Led the Flock XXXIII. Witches' Brooms XXXIV. The Little Image Peddlers XXXV. A January Thaw XXXVI. Uncle Billy Murch's Hair-Raiser XXXVII. Addison's Pocketful of Auger Chips A Busy Year at the Old Squire's CHAPTER I MASTER PIERSON COMES BACK Master Joel Pierson arrived the following Sunday afternoon, as he had promised in his letter of Thanksgiving Day eve, and took up his abode with us at the old Squire's for the winter term of school.