tly; a wild
scene, from a wild shore, more awful then, in the gathering gloom. The
long rays of light streaming out of the windows of the Ark guided me back
across the fields. Within, all was warmth and cheer and festive
expectation. Grandma Keeler was in such spirits; a wave of mirthful
inspiration would strike her, she would sink into a chair, the tears
would roll down her cheeks, and she would shake with irrepressible
laughter. It was in one of her serious moments that she said to me:--

"Thar', teacher, I actually believe that I ain't made you acquainted with
my two tea-kettles." They stood side by side on the stove, one very tall
and lean, the other very short and plump. "This 'ere," said Grandma,
pointing to the short one; "is Rachel, and this 'ere," pointing to the
tall one, "is Abigail, and Abigail's a graceful creetur' to be sure,"
Grandma reflected admiringly; "but then Rachel has the most powerful
delivery!"

I was thus enabled to understand the allusions I had already heard to
Rachel's being "dry," or Abigail's being as "full as a tick," or _vice
versa_.

The table was neatly spread with a white cloth; there was an empty bowl
and a spoon at each individual's place. In the centre of the table stood
a pitcher of milk and a bowl of sugar. Grandpa Keeler having asked the
blessing after the approved manner of the morning, there was a general
uprising and moving, bowl in hand, towards the cauldron of hulled corn on
the stove. This was lively, and there was a pleasurable excitement about
skimming the swollen kernels of corn out of the boiling, seething liquid
in which they were immersed. Eaten afterwards with milk and sugar and a
little salt, the compound became possessed of a truly "comforting"
nature.

I stood, for the second time, over the kettle with my eye-glasses
securely adjusted, very earnestly and thoughtfully occupied in wielding
the skimmer, when the door of the Ark suddenly opened and a mischievously
smiling young man appeared on the threshold. He was not a Wallencamper, I
saw at a glance. There was about him an unmistakable air of the great
world. He was fashionably dressed and rather good-looking, with a short
upper lip and a decided tinge of red in his hair. He stood staring at me
with such manifest appreciation of the situation in his laughing eyes,
that I felt a barbarous impulse to throw the skimmer of hot corn at him.
It was as though some flimsy product of an advanced civilization had come