erfect," as she used to
very humbly acknowledge in the many pioneer meetings that she attended.

"I make mistakes sometimes," she used to say, "and it is because I am a
fallible creatur'."

She was an always busy woman, and the text of her life was "Work," and
her practice was in harmony with her teaching.

"Work, work, my friends and brethren," she once said in the log
school-house meeting. "Work while the day is passin'. We's all children
of the clay. To-day we're here smart as pepper-grass, and to-morrer
we're gone like the cucumbers of the ground. Up, and be doin'--up, and
be doin'!"

One morning Jasper the Tunker appeared in the clearing before her
cabin. She stood in the door as he appeared, shading her eyes with one
hand and holding a birch broom in the other. The sunset was flooding the
swollen creek in the distance, and shimmering in the tops of the ancient
trees. Jasper turned to the door.

"This is a lovely morning," said he. "The heavens are blue above us. I
hope that you are well."

"The top of the morning to you! You are a stranger that I met the other
day, I suppose. I've been hopin' you'd come along and see me. Where do
you hail from, anyway? Come in and tell me all about it."

"I am a German," said Jasper, entering. "I came from Germany to
Pennsylvania, and went from there to Ohio, and now I am here, as you
see."

"How far are you goin'? Or are you just goin' to stop with us here?
Southern Injiany is a goodly country. 'Tis all land around here, for
_millions_ of miles, and free as the air. Perhaps you'll stop with us."

"I am going to Rock Island, on the Mississippi River, across the prairie
of the Illinois."

"Who are you now, may it please you? What's your callin'? Tell me all
about it, now. I want to know."

"I am one of the Brethren, as I said. I preach and teach and cobble. I
came here now to ask you if you had any shoe-making for me to do."

"One of the Tunkers--a Tunker, one o' them. Don't belong to no sect, nor
nothin', but just preaches to everybody as though everybody was alike,
and wanders about everywhere, as if you owned the whole world, like the
air. I've seen several Tunkers in my day. They are becomin' thick in
these woods. Well, I believe such as you mean well--let's be charitable;
we haven't long to live in this troublesome world. I'm fryin' doughnuts;
am just waitin' for the fat to heat. Hope you didn't think that I was
wastin' time, standin' there at the door? I'll giv