Chapter 9

THE YOUNG TRAPPER OF THE OSWEGATCHIE.

A plan of life.--Determination to procure an education.--A substitute at the plow.--His father acquiesces in his determination to become a trapper.--Life in the wild woods along the Oswegatchie.--The six "dead falls."--First success.--A fallacious calculation.--The goal attained.--Seventy-five dollars in hard cash!--Four terms of academic life.--The youthful rivals.--Lessons in elocution.--A fight with hair-brushes and chairs!--"The walking ghost of a kitchen fire."--Renewed friendship.--Teaching to obtain means for an education 87