am walked way
back to town for a flaxseed to put in it to get the gnat out, an'
crossin' the bridge he sneezed an' the flaxseed just disappeared
completely, an' Lucy would n't let him go back again, so all she could
do was to keep a-rubbin' till finally she rubbed it out. Mr. Dill
climbed up a tree to show as he could still climb up a tree an' a branch
broke an' tore him so bad he had to walk home with the minister,--I
guess every one's glad the Fourth's over."

"How's--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.

"Elijah? Oh, he went to town for the day. He says it's him for town when
there 's anythin' goin' on in the country. He come back lookin' like
he'd really enjoyed himself, but I was afraid he was goin' to have a
fever at first he talked so queer in his sleep that night an' began all
his sentences with 'Here's to--' an' then stopped in a most curious way.
I was very much relieved when I see him come downstairs the next
mornin', only his appetite ain't what it was yet."

"May--" suggested Mrs. Lathrop.

"Oh, I don't think so. There ain't any one for him to be in love with
anyhow unless it's 'Liza Em'ly. He's really too smart for any girl in
this community an' he ain't got a single picture among his things nor a
letter as I don't know who wrote it. I thought at first as he used to
call 'Annie' in his sleep the nights after we have dumplin's, but it
ain't 'Annie' he says; it's 'Aunty,' an' heaven knows a aunt never broke
no man's heart yet."

Susan rose to go home.

"I'm glad the Fourth's over, anyway," she said as she took up her
parasol and mitts. "I think it's always a great strain on the country,
but even if no one never likes it nor enjoys it, I suppose we must keep
on havin' it with us year after year, for Elijah says as, as a nation,
we're so proud o' bein' ahead o' everythin' an' everybody, that we'll
die afore we'll go on one step further. He says what's one day o' terror
a year beside the idea as we're free to do as we please. Gran'ma Mullins
says all she can say is as she thanks God for every Fourth o' July as
leaves Hiram whole, for he's the only apple she's got for her eye an'
she'd go stark ravin' mad if anythin' was to tear him apart in the dream
of his youth."

"Did--" asked Mrs. Lathrop, solicitously.

"Well, I can't stop to see if I did or did n't now," said Miss Clegg;
"to-night's my last evenin' with Elijah an' I told him to be sure an' be
home early. We'll try an' part pleasantly even though I should be mi