looking on, with her hands folded upon her waist.
As we ran out the old lady, who had already no-
ticed and reproved our carelessness in regard to the
burning embers, pursued us with loud reproaches
and threats of a whipping. This will seem mys-
terious to my readers, but is easily explained by the
Indian superstition, which holds that such an
offense as we had committed is invariably punished
by the accidental cutting of some one of the family.

My grandmother did not confine herself to
canoe-making. She also collected a good supply
of fuel for the fires, for she would not have much
time to gather wood when the sap began to flow.
Presently the weather moderated and the snow be-
gan to melt. The month of April brought show-
ers which carried most of it off into the Minnesota
river. Now the women began to test the trees--
moving leisurely among them, axe in hand, and
striking a single quick blow, to see if the sap would
appear. The trees, like people, have their indi-
vidual characters; some were ready to yield up their
life-blood, while others were more reluctant. Now
one of the birchen basins was set under each tree,
and a hardwood chip driven deep into the cut
which the axe had made. From the corners of this
chip--at first drop by drop, then more freely--
the sap trickled into the little dishes.

It is usual to make sugar from maples, but sev-