"No, no, mother, don't light the lamps--let's sit in the dark awhile,
and then grandmother's stories will seem twice as romantic. You don't
want a light, do you, grandmother?"

"No," said the grandmother, "I can talk just as well in the dark. But
I don't know as I can tell you any very interesting stories. I can't
think of anything now but what you have already heard. That's just the
way when I want to tell a story. If I was all alone, I should think of
lots of things to tell you."

"Can't you tell us something about the Indians?--I like to hear about
them," said Oscar.

"You would like to know how they served naughty boys, would n't you?"
inquired his grandmother; and if the room had not been quite so dark,
Oscar would have seen something like a roguish twinkle in her sober
gray eye, as she spoke.

"O yes, grandmother," interrupted Ella, "that will suit him, I know.
At any rate, it ought to interest him--so please to tell us what they
did to their bad boys, and perhaps we shall learn how to serve Oscar."

"And while you are about it, grandmother," said Oscar, "tell us what
they did to naughty girls, too."

"I don't know how they punished girls," said the old lady; "but I have
heard it said that when they wished to punish a boy very severely, they
made him lie down on the ground, upon his back. They then put their
knees on his arms, and held his head back, while they took into their