44 LOIS.

could boil a fish, make a fire, and boil potatoes as well as any
one. She had her own little duties, finding play-time all the
better for them.

One morning she went down to the shore where old Silas
sat mending a net. Silas and she were very fond of each
other; he was an old man, and had been a fisherman almost
all his life; many were the wonderful tales he told Lois, and
many queer toys he made her. But the one she liked the best
was a doll carved out of wood by Silas’s skilful hands; it was
not a beauty, though Silas had used some of the paint with
which he painted his boat to give it red cheeks, very black
hair and eyes, and very white skin; but Lois thought it a
marvel of lovéliness, and called it Silence, partly because the
name was something like Silas, and partly because it seemed
appropriate for a doll who could say neither “Papa” nor
“Mamma” as some dolls can say.

Lois and Silence found Silas busy at work; he was a
wrinkled; tanned old man, with a gray stubbly beard and
shagey eyebrows. Lois went up behind him and put her .
little hand on his.

“ Ah, my little maid!” said he. “Here you are with your
baby. What are you busy about to-day ?” ,

“T have finished my work,” said Lois, “and so I came to
find you, Silas. What are you going to do?”

“JT am going out in the boat as soon as I have finished
mending this net. Don’t you want to go with me?”