of old."

Aunt Olive rolled up her sleeves, and began to cut the thin layer of
dough with a knife into long strips, which she twisted.

"I'm goin' to make some twisted doughnuts," she said, "seein' you're a
preacher and a teacher."

"I think that young lad Lincoln has some inborn gift, and that he will
become a leader among men. It is he who is willing to serve that rules,
and they who deny themselves the most receive the most from Heaven and
men. He has sympathetic wisdom. I can see it. There is something
peculiar about him. He is true."

"Oh, don't you talk that way. He's lazy, and he hain't got any
calculation, 'n' he'll never amount to shucks, nor nothin'. He's like
his father, his head in the air. Somethin' don't come of nothin' in this
world; corn don't grow unless you plant it; and when you add nothin' to
nothin' it just makes nothin'.

"Well, preacher, you've told me who you are, and now I'll tell ye who I
am. But first, let me say, I'll have a pair of shoes. I have my own
last. I'll get it for you, and then you can be peggin' away, so as not
to lose any time. It is wicked to waste time. 'Work' is my motto. That's
what time is made for."

Aunt Olive got her last. The fat was hot by this time--"all sizzlin',"
as she said.

"There, preacher, this is the last, and there is the board on which my
husband used to sew shoes, wax and all. Now I will go to fryin' my
doughnuts, and you and I can be workin' away at the same time, and I'll
tell ye who I am. Work away--work away!

"I'm a widder. You married? A widower? Well, that ain't nothin' to me.
Work away--work away!

"I came from old Hingham, near Boston. You've heard of Boston? That was
before I was married. Our family came to Ohio first, then we heard that
there was better land in Injiany, and we moved on down the Ohio River
and came here. There was only one other family in these parts at that
time. That was folks by the name of Eastman. They had a likely smart
boy by the name of Polk--Polk Eastman. He grew up and became lonesome. I
grew up and became lonesome, and so we concluded that we'd make a home
together--here it is--and try to cheer each other. Listenin', be ye?
Yes? Well, my doughnuts are fryin' splendid. Work away--work away!

"A curious time we had of it when we went to get married. There was a
minister named Penney, who preached in a log church up in Kentuck, and
we started one spring mornin', something like this, to get him to marry
us. We h