e corner of it,
which John William said would do to seal it up with; but Gregory wiped
it carefully off on the leg of his trousers.

"Now, den," said Aunt Matilda; "sot yerse'f right down dar on de floor.
Git off dat ar smooth board, you Dick, an' let Greg'ry put his paper
dar. I hain't got no pen, but hyar's a pencil Miss Kate lef' one day. But
it ain't got no pint. Ef some of you boys has got a knife, ye kin put a
pint to it."

Uncle Braddock dived into the recesses of his dressing-gown, and
produced a great jack-knife, with a crooked iron blade and a hickory
handle.

"Look a-dar!" cried John William Webster. "Uncle Braddock's a-gwine ter
chop de pencil up fur kindlin'-wood."

"None o' yer laughin' at dis knife," said Uncle Braddock, with a frown.
"I done made dis hyar knife mese'f."

A better knife, however, was produced by Dick Ford, and the pencil was
sharpened. Then Gregory Montague stretched himself out on the floor,
resting on his elbows, with the paper before him and the pencil in his
hand.

"Is you ready?" said Aunt Matilda.

"All right," said Gregory. "Yer can go 'long."

Aunt Matilda put her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands, and
looked into the fire. Gregory and every one else waited quite a while
for her to begin.

"Ye had better put de number ob de year fus," suggested Uncle Braddock.

"Well, ye kin put dat," said Aunt Matilda, "while I'm a-workin' out de
letter in my mind."

There now arose a discussion as to what was the "number of the year."
Aunt Judy knew that the "war" was somewhere along in "sixty," and
thought it must certainly be seventy or eighty by this time; while Uncle
Braddock, who was accustomed to look back a long way, was sure it was
"nigh on to a hun'red."

Dick Ford, however, although he was not a writer, could read, and had
quite a fancy for spelling out a newspaper, and he asserted that the
year was eighteen hundred and seventy, and so it was put down "180070,"
much to the disgust of Uncle Braddock, who did not believe it was so
much.

"Yer ought to say ef it's before Christ or after Christ," said Aunt
Judy. "Old Mah'sr Truly Mathers 'splained dat to me, 'bout years."

"Well, then," said Gregory, ready with his pencil, "which is it?"

Dick Ford happened to know a little on the subject, and so he told
Gregory how he should put down "B. C." for "before Christ," and "A. C."
for "after Christ," and that "A. C." was right for this year.

This was set down i