[Sidenote: THEY SET A PIGEON NET] "Well, I guess that's all right." "Now, boys," said Davy, "peg down one end of the net. That's it. Spread it out. It lies like a tablecloth on a table. Fold it up, so that the pole will be on top. Now fasten the springs into the ground. Set them and rest the pole on them. Fasten the strings to each spring, so that when we pull, the springs will fly up, and throw the pole forward over the pigeons. That's right. Now let's try it." We went back toward the bushes and pulled the strings. The springs threw the pole forward, and the net was spread out on the ground. "How soon can we begin, Davy?" asked John. "Not for three or four days. We'll fold the net up and set it; and you must come up here every evening and bait the ground by throwing down some grain. When the birds get used to the net, we can come up and catch them." John reported to us daily that the birds were getting tamer, and were not afraid of the net. On Saturday we went up and hid in the bushes. John held the strings of course. We could see the pigeons picking up the grain, and when a number were together, Davy said "Now, John!" John pulled the strings, and the pole was thrown forward so that the net fell over the pigeons. We rushed up and stood on the edge of the net. As the pigeons poked their heads up through the meshes, we wrung their necks. We set the net three times and caught a couple of dozen of pigeons. Then we went to the house, and John told of the pigeons he had caught. "Didn't the other boys have anything to do with it?" "Oh, yes, they helped, but I pulled the strings." [Sidenote: BISHOP HANCOCK'S DRESSING-GOWN] "I've noticed that it isn't always the man that pulls the strings who does the real solid work," said Mr. Hancock. We did not have many quarrels or lawsuits in his time. If any dispute arose, he interfered, heard both sides, and settled the case. His decision ended the matter, for the defeated person knew that every one in town would stand by Bishop Hancock's law. I was playing in the yard with John one afternoon, when Mr. Hancock came to the window. He had on a gorgeous flowered silk dressing-gown, and instead of his big white wig, wore on his head a cap or turban of the same gorgeous silk. I hardly knew him, and stared at him. "What's the matter, Benny? Oh, it's the dressing-gown and cap. You probably took me for some strange East India bird--a peacock, perhaps. It's nothing but some finery my son Thomas sent me to put on in the house. After wearing black all my life, it is very pleasant to move through the rooms looking like a rainbow." "You did kind of startle me, sir. I suppose Joseph's coat must have looked a good deal like that." "Ha, ha, Benny, I guess you're right. And it aroused envy. Mrs. Hancock said yesterday that this would make a fine gown. I must be careful to whom I show myself in this attire.