ssie. We cannot afford to hire an agent, supposing
that one was to be had for the hiring, which is by no means likely.
We've been eating the melons for days; they are just in their prime,
and I know that Joe counted on making quite a little sum on his
cantaloupe crop, but if we wait now, hoping for his return, the melons
will be ruined; they will be a total loss."

"You needn't offer any more arguments, Leslie. I'm glad you thought
of it; it's a pity that I never think of any such thing myself
until the procession has gone by. Now let me see, have I got your
morning thoughts in order? First, Charity. Toward Joe. Second,
Resignation--all capitals--Toward Joe. Third, Labor. For ourselves.
Is that right?"

"Yes; if you like to put it that way."

"You shall have it any way you please, Leslie dear, and I will help
you."

"After breakfast, then, we will harness up the team and drive the
wagon into the melon patch, then--we will fill it."

"Yes, and what then?"

It was like taking a plunge into cold water. I am sure that I was not
intended for a huckster, but I managed to respond with some show of
courage:

"Why, then I will drive over to the store and sell what I can, and
then I will go about among the neighbors with the rest."

"Will you?" Jessie breathed a sigh of relief. "That will be
enterprising, anyway. I should dreadfully hate to drive about peddling
melons myself, but there's such a difference in people about things of
that sort."

Jessie is so exasperatingly prosaic, at times, that she makes me feel
either like crying, or like shaking her. On this occasion I was
fortunately hindered from doing either by Ralph, who suddenly
appeared, demanding to be "dwessed." After breakfast we harnessed
the horses--we could either of us do that as well, and quicker than
Joe--then we drove into the enclosure where the olive-tinted little
spheres lay thick on the ground and proceeded to fill the wagon-box.
The patch was small, but the melons grew in great profusion, and it
did not take long. Within a couple of hours I was traveling along the
highway, perched upon the high spring seat of the wagon-box, with
Guard beside me. Guard was, according to my idea, very good company,
and it was, moreover, desirable that he should learn to ride in a
wagon and to conduct himself properly while doing so. It was a very
warm morning and as the sweet, cloying odor of my wagon load of
produce assailed my nostrils, I could not but think of