about the leaf, for all he did was to turn himself over at first, but I
opened his window an' banged the blinds three or four times an' in the
end he got woke up without really knowin' just what had woke him. We had
breakfast with a candle, an' then Elijah was so tired lookin' out for
the sunrise that he looked in at his watch an' see as it was only
quarter to four then. He was real put out at that at first 'cause he
wrote till half past two last night, an' in the end he went back to bed
an' it certainly was a relief to see the last of him, for I may in
confidence remark as I never see him look quite so stupid afore. After
he was gone back to bed I washed up the breakfast dishes an' then I
went out in the wood shed in the dark an' there I got another surprise,
for I thought I'd look over the rags I was savin' for the next rag rug
an' when I poured 'em out in my lap, what do you think, Mrs. Lathrop,
what _do_ you think poured out along with 'em?--Why, a nest of young
mice an' two old ones!

"Well, Mrs. Lathrop, you can maybe imagine my feelin's at four in the
mornin' with Elijah gone back to bed an' my own lap full of mice, but
whatever I yelled did n't disturb him any an' I just made two jumps for
the lamp in the kitchen, leavin' the mice wherever they hit to rearrange
their family to suit themselves. Well, the second jump must needs land
me right square on top of the cistern lid, an' it up an' went in, takin'
my left leg along with it as far as it would go. Well, Mrs. Lathrop,
talk of girls as can open an' shut, like scissors, in a circus--I was
scissored to that degree that for a little I could n't think which
would be wisest, to try an' get myself together again in the kitchen or
to just give up altogether in the cistern. In the end I hauled the leg
as had gone in out again, an' then I see where all the trouble come
from, for the cistern lid was caught to my garter an' what I'd thought
was a real injury was only it swingin' around an' around my leg. I put
the lid back on the cistern an' felt to sit with my legs crossed for
quite a while, thinkin' pleasant thoughts of the rooster as woke me, an'
by that time it was half past four, an' I could hear all the other
chickens stirrin' so I got up an' began to stir again myself. I opened
the front door an' looked out an' that did n't bring me no good luck
either, for as I looked out a bat flew in an' just as the bat flew in he
managed to hook himself right in my hair. Well,