spent themselves you will grow dull and sober, and all on a level, and
be free from the troubles of a transition state. Now, you're neither a
new country nor an old one. You ought to see something of the older
civilizations to understand what peace of mind is. Unless some
importation of explosive material from the westward stirs them up, one
century is made the pattern for the next. But it is perfectly
wonderful what this climate does for people who come to it,--a south
of Ireland fellow, for instance, who has let himself be rained on and
then waited for the sun to dry him again, and has grubbed a little in
a bit of ground, just enough to hint to it that it had better be
making a crop of potatoes for him. I always expect to see the gorse
and daisies growing on the old people's heads to match the cabins. But
they come over here and forget their idleness, and in a week or two
the east winds are making them work, and thrashing them if they are
slow, worse than any slave-driver who ever cracked his whip-lash. I
wonder how you stand it; I do, indeed! I can't take an afternoon nap
or have my coffee in bed of a morning without thinking I must put into
port at the next church to be preached at."

Dr. Leslie laughed a little and shook his head gently. "It's very well
for you to talk, Ferris," he said, "since you have done more work than
any man I know. And I find this neighborhood entirely placid; one bit
of news will last us a fortnight. I dare say Marilla will let
everybody know that you have come to town, and have explained why she
was ten minutes late, even to the minister."

"How about the little girl herself?" asked the guest presently; "she
seems well combined, and likely, as they used to say when I was a
boy."

Dr. Leslie resumed the subject willingly: "So far as I can see, she
has the good qualities of all her ancestors without the bad ones. Her
mother's mother was an old fashioned country woman of the best stock.
Of course she resented what she believed to be her daughter's wrongs,
and refused to have anything to do with her son-in-law's family, and
kept the child as carefully as possible from any knowledge of them.
Little Nan was not strong at first, but I insisted that she should be
allowed to run free out of doors. It seems to me that up to seven or
eight years of age children are simply bundles of inheritances, and I
can see the traits of one ancestor after another; but a little later
than the usual time she b