Gays are nice kids--clean and honest and
wholesome. You know I would never have taken the girls over there if
there was the slightest possibility of the Gays setting them a bad
example in any way. I have a cousin who is a teacher and she is always
preaching that children pick up the bad traits they see in others
quicker than they do the good ones."

"I'm not so sure of that," smiled Mrs. Willis. "But I am glad you are
so thoughtful, Warren. They are very precious to me--my three
daughters."

"If I had three sisters like them--" Warren's voice faltered.

He began again, hurriedly.

"What the Gays need," he said earnestly, "is human contacts--I think
that's the phrase I want. They need to know normal, happy children
their own age. It isn't the poverty that will hurt them--Rich and I
have been as poor as church mice and are still; but we have battled our
way through school and mixed with fellows and met people. In some ways
Louisa and Alec are ten years beyond their time--they run the farm and
train and punish those four youngsters and figure out expenses like a
couple of old stagers. Give 'em one more year and they'll forget how
to laugh and be hopelessly mixed on the true values."

"I think I know what you are trying to bring about," observed Mrs.
Willis sagely. "You think they'll trust the girls and make friends
with them and, later, an older person will be able to gain their
confidence. An older head will be needed soon, if that farm is the
only source of income. Well, Warren, I believe you are right and it
will work out nicely in the end. I'm glad to have the girls see
something of lives that are different from theirs and I know they will
all three learn a great deal that will be helpful to them. I did plan
to go over and see the Gays but now I'll wait, for a time at least."

"She's a wonder!" said Warren to himself, walking back to the bungalow
a few minutes later. "She can see just what is in a fellow's mind and
sort it out for him. Funny how Rich and I puzzled over what made those
three girls so different from any girls we ever knew--they do just as
many crazy things and Winnie says they have tempers and wills of their
own, but they have something that sets them apart--Rich said it was
ideals and I called it fine standards and, in a measure, I suppose
we're both right. But just two words will explain everything--their
mother!"

It must be confessed that Bony, the pig, claimed a large share o