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66 wouldn’t have made it without assistance. There we were all chums, but, with the regalia, so changed.

After that about all we did was to buy candy hearts at the post-office that had reading printed on them: “I love you,” or “Will you be true?” Sometimes the printing would be too strong for a Good Templar lodge, but if it was we could always sell the one heart for what the whole sack cost. I was later discharged from this high body for sleeping on a billiard table in Portland, to the disgrace of our whole family, and especially, my father.

Easter Sunday to the country boy is about the biggest thing on the boards. Easter itself is a tame day compared with what those of the weeks previous have been. In the far West—and I suppose it’s the same all over the country—boys hide their eggs and the lid is temporarily off—that is, you can steal another boy’s eggs during the period previous to Easter without its being a crime punishable by parents or law. In fact, you can steal anybody’s eggs during the fortnight previous to Easter Sunday, and lucky are those homes where there are enough eggs for breakfast