In one of the views, Reuben spied an island striped with cultivated fields which Mr. French said was called Ox Bow; he pointed out another called Shepard’s island, which, with Ox Bow, added much to the scenery.

The winding river suggested to Mrs. Tracy how much nature loved a curve.  While Uncle Edward, who had visited the chief mountains in this land and in Europe, said that he always came back to this mountain view as the loveliest and the most restful of them all, although it was not the grandest or the most awe inspiring.

So the day passed on Mount Holyoke, giving them at every moment living pictures which no painter could equal.  When the sun went down the moon came up to give her light, and nature reveled in her beauty.

The only painful shadow for Mrs. Tracy was when she felt sad that more of earth’s troubled ones did not or could not come to drink in such peace and rest.

But such days must come to an end.  And what can follow more delightful than a refreshing sleep on such a height.  This they all had and were ready the next morning to return to Northampton.

As Reuben was anxious to count the steps which, on ascending the day before, he had noticed on the side of the inclined plane; he went down that way, while the rest of the party availed themselves of the car.  He, boy-like, did not mind the extra labor and longer time which that choice involved, so long as he found out that there were five hundred and twenty-two steps.

As they descended the mountain from the half-way house Reuben gathered for a souvenir some of the beautiful laurel which, in full-bloom, was then adorning its sides.

A few days later after the promised ride to Old Hadley, three miles distant, which was extended four miles to Amherst to give Reuben a sight of the college where his papa graduated, Mrs. Tracy and her son returned to Salem.  Mr. Tracy was highly entertained with Reuben’s account of what he had seen, and felt more than ever that his money had been well invested.  The rest of the vacation soon passed, the boy’s active mind being profitably engaged in the interim of active, healthful sports.

And it is highly probable that by this time the geography class, with Ned Bolton as spokesman, has discovered that “Reuben Tracy knows more about a mountain than the geography itself!”

* * * * *

GEMS FROM THE EASY CHAIR.

Christmas.  There is nothing in the deepest and best sense human which in the truest and highest sense is not also Christian.  The characteristic feeling about Christmas, as it is revealed in literature and tradition and association, is the striking and beautiful tribute to the practicability of Christianity.

Sermons.  It is doubtless very unjust to the clergy to suppose that they turn the barrel of sermons to save themselves the trouble of writing new ones.  Nothing but the levity of the pews could be guilty of such a suspicion.  The preacher knows that one squeezing does not take all the juice out of an orange; and how much jucier a fruit is a good sermon!  Moreover, the pews are so pachydermatous, so rhinoceros-skinned, that nothing but an incessant pelting upon the same spot makes an impression.