beauty?" shouted Mark, wild with delight. "Oh! father, how did he
know just exactly what I wanted most?" and the excited boy rushed
down into the cabin to beg his mother and Ruth to come on deck and
see his Christmas present.

The canoe was followed by two paddles painted a bright vermilion,
and as they were placed in her, and she was laid to one side of
the deck, she was indeed as pretty a little craft as can be
imagined, and one that would delight any boy's heart.

"I knew we were going to live near a river, my dear," said Mr.
Elmer, in answer to his wife's anxious expression as she looked at
the canoe, "and as Mark is a good swimmer and very careful in
boats, I thought a canoe would afford him great pleasure, and
probably prove very useful to all of us. So when Uncle Christopher
asked me what I thought the boy would like most for a Christmas
present, I told him a canoe."

"Well, I hope it will prove safe," sighed Mrs. Elmer; "but I wish
it were flat-bottomed, and built of thick boards instead of that
thin bark."

"Oh, mother!" said Mark, "you might as well wish it were a canal-
boat at once."

"Yes, I believe canal-boats are generally considered safer than
canoes," answered his mother with a smile. "By-the-way, Mark"--and
she turned to her husband--"one of the letters you brought was
from Uncle Christopher, and he says he thinks he forgot to tell us
that there is a house on his place, which he hopes we will find in