to pour it over the bed
of sober-colored mignonette, mixing it with the pungent zinnia odor
and flinging it all over into the clover field across the briar
hedge. The jovial old sun did his very best to light up the situation,
but just as he would succeed in getting a ray down into the Valley a
great puffy cloud would cast a gray shadow of suppression over his
effort and retire him sternly for another half hour.

And on the wings of the intruding, out-of-season wind came a train of
ills. Young Tucker Poteet waked at daylight and howled dismally with a
pain that seemed to be all over and then in spots. When he went to
take down the store shutters Mr. Crabtree smashed one of his large,
generous-spreading thumbs and Mrs. Rucker's breakfast eggs burned to a
cinder state while she tied it up in camphor for him. In the night a
mosquito had taken a bite out of the end of Jennie's small nose and it
was swelled to twice its natural size, and Peter, the wise, barked a
plump shin before he was well out of the trundle bed. One of young
Bob's mules broke away and necessitated a trip half way up to
Providence for his capture, and Mrs. Plunkett had Louisa Helen so
busy at some domestic manoeuvers that she found it impossible to go
with him.

And before noon the whole village was in a fervid state of commotion.
Mrs. Rucker had insisted on moving Mr. Crabtree and all his effects
over into the domicile of his prospective bride, regardless of both
her and his abashed remonstrance.

"Them squeems are all foolishness, Lou Plunkett," she had answered a
faint plea from the widow for a delay until after the ceremony for
this material mingling of the to-be-united lives. "It's all right and
proper for you and Mr. Crabtree to be married at night meeting Sunday,
and his things won't be unmarried in your house only through Saturday
and Sunday. I'm a-going to pack up his Sunday clothes, a pair of clean
socks, a shirt and other things in this basket. Then I'll fix him up a
shake-down in my parlor to spend Saturday night in, and I'll dress him
up nice and fine for the wedding you may be sure. We ain't got but
this day to move him out and clean up the house good to move Rose Mary
and the old folks into early Saturday morning, so just come on and get
to work. You can shut your eyes to his things setting around your
house for just them one day or two, can't you?"

"They ain't nothing in this world I couldn't do to make it just the
littlest mite easi