at
he was doing any harm. As the date of the picnic approached he found,
to his intense amusement, that there was still another faction in
Glenoro church. This one was not at all formidable, however, for it
was neither religious nor national, but merely culinary and
geographical, namely, a strong rivalry in the production of pies and
cakes between the matrons north of Glenoro and those beyond the
southern hill. It broke out violently twice a year, at the first of
July picnic and at the New Year's tea-meeting. When the date of these
functions drew near, it was the custom for the North to muster their
forces at the house of Andrew Johnstone, while the South flocked to
their standard at Donald Fraser's and each made stupendous efforts to
out-bake the other. But very rarely was there an advantage on either
side. If one party got ahead of the other by so much as a cookie at
one festivity, the defeated were sure to produce some unheard-of
ammunition at the next. One New Year's Eve the South came charging up
with thirty different varieties of pie, causing rout and dismay in the
ranks of the enemy. But on the next Dominion Day the North responded
gallantly with an eleven-story iced cake looking like a triumphal
monument to celebrate their victory, and the balance of power was
restored.

This summer, with the inspiring presence of the new minister, efforts
were redoubled and for several days before the picnic the houses of the
Johnstones and the Frasers were turned into bake-shops, and pies and
cookies and tarts and story cakes were produced in such quantities and
with such elaboration that the producers themselves were rather alarmed.

The great day arrived at last and Nature did her part nobly. It was
one of those intensely clear, sunny days which only our Lady of the
Sunshine can produce, a day when the thermometer announces that it is
very hot, but when Nature denies the slander and the blood dances to
the time set by the bracing air.

The blood was dancing in Mr. Watson's veins, at any rate. He was up
early and had all his plans laid before noon. He collected his pupils
at the school house early in the afternoon and gave them copious
instructions. As soon as a sufficient crowd had collected at the
picnic grounds, they were to walk in procession with him down to the
grove, and just at their entry into the woods to burst into song and
march in twos up to the platform, waving their banners and singing of
the gl