h, judge," cried Miss Peace, with shining eyes. "You are too good. I
didn't expect, I'm sure--well, you _are_ kind!"

"Not at all! not at all!" said the judge, gruffly (and indeed,
twenty-five dollars was not so much to him as it was to "them," who
had made the first contribution).

"You know I owe David Means something, for licking him when he--"

"Oh, don't, Dan'el--judge, I should say," cried Anne Peace, in
confusion. "Don't you be raking up old times. I'm sure I thank you a
thousand times, and so will Delia, when she--"

"No, she won't," said the judge. "Tell the truth, Anne Peace! Delia
will say I might have given fifty and never missed it. There! I won't
distress you, my dear. Good day, and all good luck to you!" and so
ended Miss Peace's first call.

With such a beginning, there was no doubt of the success of the
subscription. Generally, in Cyrus, people waited to see what Judge
Ransom and Lawyer Peters gave to any charity, before making their own
contribution. "Jedge Ransom has put down five dollars, has he? Well
he's wuth so much, and I'm wuth so much. Guess fifty cents will be
about the right figger for me:" this is the course of reasoning in
Cyrus. But with an unknown friend starting off with twenty-five
dollars and Judge Ransom following suit, it became apparent to every
one that David Means must go to Florida, whatever happened. The dollar
and five-dollar subscriptions poured in rapidly, till, one happy day,
Anne Peace stood in her little room and counted the full amount out on
the table, and then sat down (it was not her habit to kneel, and she
would have thought it too familiar, if not actually popish) and
thanked God as she had never found it necessary to thank Him for any
of the good things of her own life.

So David Means went to Florida, and his wife and two children went
with him. This had been no part of the original plan, but at the bare
idea of his going without her, Mrs. Means had raised a shrill cry of
protest. "What? David go down there, and she and the children stay
perishing at home? she guessed not. If Florida was good for David, it
was good for her, too, and she laid up ever sence spring, as she might
say, and with no more outing than a woodchuck in January. Besides, who
was to take care of David, she'd like to know? Mis' Porter's folks,
who had a place there? She'd like to know if she was to be beholden to
Jane Porter's folks for taking care of her lawful husband, and like
enough la