--"But I'll come over after he goes an' tell you how the paper's comin'
out," Susan added, as she turned from the fence; and as she was always
true to her promises she did come over to Mrs. Lathrop's kitchen after
dinner, wearing a clean apron and a new expression--an expression of
mixed doubt and displeasure.

Mrs. Lathrop hurried to give her a chair and make her welcome, and then
took a chair herself and sat at attention.

Susan began at once.

"Well," she said, "it's a good thing as the Fishers are thinkin' some of
sendin' John Bunyan to college, for he's surely a sight too smart for
this town."

Mrs. Lathrop opened her eyes in wide surprise, as it was certainly not
about John Bunyan that she had expected to hear tales.

"Elijah says as John Bunyan made them all feel pretty cheap down at the
printin' press this mornin'," Miss Clegg went on: "seems the whole
community was squeezin' into the back of Mr. Kimball's store to see what
under the sun could be done to get the first paper out of the press,
when all of a sudden John Bunyan spoke up an' asked why they did n't
turn the handle backward an' empty the whole muss out that way. Well,
every one see the sense of what he said right off, an' so they began,
an' as soon as they began to turn the crank backward the paper began to
come out backward, tore, of course, but as nice as pie.

"Well, Elijah says he most thought his uncle was goin' to take his job
as editor away and give it to John Bunyan right off, he was so pleased.
But Mr. Kimball ain't the sort of uncle as Elijah so far supposes
himself to of got, an' he only give John Bunyan fifty cents' worth of
soda water tickets, an' they're to work to-night (if Lucy'll let Hiram),
an' have the paper ready for church to-morrow. The Jilkins an' Sperrits
was a little disapp'inted 'cause they was n't comin' in to church,
countin' on stayin' home an' readin' the paper all day instead, but
Elijah's goin' to put in a late column of late news an' give 'em their
money's worth that way. Mr. Kimball had arranged to have one whole
column of Ks to draw attention to his dried apples, an' he's goin' to
give it up for the occasion an' let Elijah write a Extra about the cause
of the delay, for that's really all the late news there is. Then, too,
Elijah's goin' to have a joke about the paper's comin' in among us like
a man goes into politics, kind of slidin' an' turnin' this way an'
that, an' I must say I begin to find some of Elija