' yer back ever' time he
sees you idlin'. You'd better mek yer needles fly, fur nary a thing
'cept a switch an' some ashes will you git in yer Chris'mas stockin',
ef all them socks fur Rube an' Tom ain't done by then. Lucy, you an'
Lucindy leave 'lone them strips; you're jes' hend'rin' yer brothah. Git
yer nine patch pieces. Gre't, big gals lak you ortn't idle."

"Some one's comin'!" exclaimed Mr. Rogers, the first to notice the
barking of the dogs outside. "See who 'tis, Henry."

"Heah, Lucy, gether up them twigs," bustled Mrs. Rogers, as she swept
the hearth. "Rache, tek thet harnish out. I declar', Mason, I wish
you'd do sich wuck in the kitchen or stable. Folks'll think I ain't no
sort o' housekeepah."

"How's Mrs. Gilcrest?" asked Mrs. Rogers a moment later, as she shook
hands with Major Gilcrest and nodded to his boys, Martin Luther and
Silas. "Wish she'd come with you, but I reckon she's feared to be out
in the night air."

"Why didn't Betsy come?" Susan asked.

"Oh, Abby had company; Drane and Hart rode out from Lexington to spend
the evening. Abby felt that she couldn't entertain two beaux at once,
so Betsy stayed to help her."

"Don't pull the house down, childurn," Mr. Rogers called cheerily, as
his four youngest and the Gilcrest boys were hurrying off to the
kitchen for a game of romps. "Hold out yer apurns, gals, an' tek some
apples 'long," he added to the twins. "You kin roast 'em on the
h'arth."

"I hear, Mr. Dudley," said Gilcrest presently, "that you use the Bible
as a reading-book in your school."

"Only in one instance," replied Dudley. "Eli and Jacob Hinkson use the
Bible as a reader because their father refuses to get them any other."

"Ah!" exclaimed Gilcrest; "I must remonstrate with Hinkson."

"I'll be obliged if you will. I said all I could to him with no avail."

"It's a wrong use of the Word," said Gilcrest.

"Oh, I don't say that," Dudley replied. "If the text were not such hard
reading for the little fellows, I'd be satisfied to have the Bible the
only reader used in school."

"No, no!" Gilcrest objected with an emphatic shake of his head. "Such a
course would tend to lead the young mind into error."

"On the contrary," returned Dudley, thoughtfully, "might not the seed
of the gospel, thus sown, fall unconsciously into the child's heart and
bear fruit for good when he is older?"

"No! It's dangerous to place the Bible in the hands of the unconverted
young."

"Do I unders