ody else, but she harps too much. I'd laid half
of that away for next time, if I was Mary Anna. There comes mother to
speak to her, an' old Mr. Gilbreath's sister; now she'll be heartened
right up. Mother'll say just the right thing."

The leave-takings were as affecting as the meetings of these old friends
had been. There were enough young persons at the reunion, but it is the
old who really value such opportunities; as for the young, it is the
habit of every day to meet their comrades,--the time of separation
has not come. To see the joy with which these elder kinsfolk and
acquaintances had looked in one another's faces, and the lingering touch
of their friendly hands; to see these affectionate meetings and then the
reluctant partings, gave one a new idea of the isolation in which it was
possible to live in that after all thinly settled region. They did not
expect to see one another again very soon; the steady, hard work on
the farms, the difficulty of getting from place to place, especially in
winter when boats were laid up, gave double value to any occasion which
could bring a large number of families together. Even funerals in this
country of the pointed firs were not without their social advantages
and satisfactions. I heard the words "next summer" repeated many times,
though summer was still ours and all the leaves were green.

The boats began to put out from shore, and the wagons to drive away.
Mrs. Blackett took me into the old house when we came back from the
grove: it was her father's birthplace and early home, and she had spent
much of her own childhood there with her grandmother. She spoke of those
days as if they had but lately passed; in fact, I could imagine that
the house looked almost exactly the same to her. I could see the brown
rafters of the unfinished roof as I looked up the steep staircase,
though the best room was as handsome with its good wainscoting and touch
of ornament on the cornice as any old room of its day in a town.

Some of the guests who came from a distance were still sitting in the
best room when we went in to take leave of the master and mistress of
the house. We all said eagerly what a pleasant day it had been, and
how swiftly the time had passed. Perhaps it is the great national
anniversaries which our country has lately kept, and the soldiers'
meetings that take place everywhere, which have made reunions of every
sort the fashion. This one, at least, had been very interesting.