and how near they came to starving, when they were shut up in a severe snow-storm, and the water-pipes burst, and the milk was frozen. If the cow-shed could open out of the wood-shed, such trouble might be prevented. 

Tony Larkin was to come over and milk the cow every morning, and Agamemnon and Solomon John agreed to learn how to milk, in case Tony should be "snowed up," or have the whooping-cough in the course of the winter. The little boys thought they knew how already. 

But if they were to have three or four pailfuls of milk every day, it was important to know where to keep it. 

"One way will be," said Mrs. Peterkin, "to use a great deal every day. We will make butter." 

"That will be admirable," thought Mr. Peterkin. 

"And custards," suggested Solomon John. 

"And syllabub," said Elizabeth Eliza. 

"And cocoa-nut cakes," exclaimed the little boys. 

"We don't need the milk for cocoa-nut cakes," said Mrs. Peterkin. 

The little boys thought they might have a cocoa-nut tree instead of a cow. You could have the milk from the cocoa-nuts, and it would be pleasant climbing the tree, and you would not have to feed it. 

"Yes," said Mr. Peterkin, "we shall have to feed the cow." 

"Where shall we pasture her?" asked Agamemnon. 

"Up on the hills, up on the hills," exclaimed the little boys, "where there are a great many bars to take down, and huckleberry-bushes!" 

Mr. Peterkin had been thinking of their own little lot behind the house. 

"But I don't know," he said, "but the cow might eat off all the grass in one day, and there would not be any left for tomorrow, unless the grass grew fast enough every night." 

Agamemnon said it would depend upon the season. In a rainy season the grass would come up very fast, in a drought it might not grow at all. 

"I suppose," said Mrs. Peterkin, "that is the worst of having a cow,--there might be a 

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