year?"

"I got these out of my cellar."

"Get out! how you do talk!"

"You may believe me or not, as you like; but I can assure you I did."

"Wal, do tell. I guess I never thought of diggin' in the cellar; I will
go to hum and try."

My friend met him a few days afterwards, when the Yankee said--"I
calculate, Mister, you told me a tarnation lie, the other day, about
them 'ere varms. I went and dug up every bit of my cellar, and, I do
declare, I never got a single varm."

My friend laughed very heartily at this "Yankee diggin," but at the
same time kindly informed his neighbour of the method he pursued, to
provide worms for winter-fishing.

Before the winter fairly sets in, we generally have ten days or a
fortnight of the Indian summer; indeed, it is the sure harbinger of
winter. The air is mild and temperate; a haze, resembling smoke,
pervades the atmosphere, that at times obscures the sun, which, when
visible, is of a blood-red colour. Various causes have been assigned
for this appearance, but none very satisfactory.

Towards the end of November this year, the ice was strong enough to
bear the weight of a man, and the ground was soon whitened with snow,
but not in sufficient depth to make good sleighing. Just a week before