vited his company to 'a wash'
at the spring; and, leading them by a wood path beside the house, they
came to a pellucid pool fed by a rivulet, which, after flowing over its
basin, ran off rapidly to lower ground. Here Benny was flung in by his
father, though the water was quite deep enough to drown him; but he
dived, and came out buoyant as a coot.

'Now go fetch the cow, my lad, and help your mother to fix breakfast,
while we walk round the clearing.' But this morning she had an efficient
coadjutor in the person of Andy Callaghan, who dandled the baby while
the cakes were being made, his sharp eye learning a lesson meantime;
and milked the cow while the child was being dressed; and cut slices
of pork, superintending its frizzling while the room was being set to
rights. Three or four attempts to draw the silent woman into conversation
were utterly abortive.

'Troth, an' you're a jewil of a wife,' remarked the Irishman, when
everything seemed done. 'I'll engage I won't have the good luck to get
one wid her tongue in such good ordher.'

Mary Logan laughed. 'It be from having no folk to talk with,' she said.

'An' a sin an' a shame it is for himself to lave you alone,' rejoined
Andy, looking complimentary. 'Now I want to know one thing that has been
botherin' me ever since I came in here. What's them strings of yallow
stuff that are hangin' out of the rafthers, an' are like nothin' I see
in all my days, 'cept shavin's?'

'Sarce,' answered Mrs. Logan, looking up; 'them's sarce.'

'I'm as wise as ever,' said Andy. Whereupon she went to the compartment
which acted as store-closet, and, bringing out a pie which had a wooden
spoon erect in it, proffered him a bit.

'Ah,' quoth Mr. Callaghan with satisfaction, 'that's English talk; I
know what that manes well. So ye calls apples "sarce!" I've heerd tell
that every counthry has a lingo of its own, an' I partly b'lieve it now.
But throth, that way of savin' 'em would be great news intirely for the
childer at home!'

So thought Robert Wynn afterwards, when he found the practice almost
universal among the Canadians, and wondered that a domestic expedient so
simple and serviceable should be confined to American housekeepers.

'Peter planted an orchard the first thing when we settled, and maples be
plenty in the bush,' said Mrs. Logan, with unusual communicativeness.

'Yes, ma'am,' rejoined Andy suavely, and not in the least seeing the
connection between maple trees and app