hills of the Rocky hIoui1'tains.

One approached the north lands warily, watching every step of the way, for beyond the outer layer of splendid oat fields, began the heavy bog lands;

When the Alberta sun poured don its hot rays upon the prairee, then always it seemed that the north lands were

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especially inviting and desireable. Then they seemed to offer

a cool retreat from the overheated fields. Thither the families of the farmers were accustomed to go a-picknicking, for on at

lea st two sides of the green sloughs and quick sands were willow woods, and long lanes of birch and ash, and here the partridge and the prairie chicken and the pheasant had their hidden coveys. The woods were full of berries, raspberry, goose~ berry, saskatoon, wild cranberry, and chokeberries. The paths were carpetted with wild flowers, and the trees offered a paradise for the birds.

Children on their way home from school, riding over the roads and turnpike that the farmers had built over the marsh lands, would pause wistfullv and longingly to gaze across into the depths of the unexplored and dangerous woods, unconsciousdy drawn by the sense of mystery and romance that seemed to hang ab about the place. But even the stoutest hearted of then heeded the warnings and admonitions of parents and teachers, to keep away from the bog lands, and in fact the place save in the special glens well known to the farmers, had become a sort of bugaboo in the popular imagination. Sometimes when late return-

ing from school, or when the chill of a wet day brought clouds