h things should be
said and done where there was so much to excite and nothing to restrain,
and her Katie's name was as well to be kept out of it all. But she put
no limit as to the preparations that were to be made at home in the way
of cakes and tartlets and little pats of butter, for it was to be a
great occasion for Gershom.

There had been demonstrations of this kind before in Gershom and the
vicinity. Indeed, this was a favourite way of promoting the cause of
temperance, as it has more recently become the favourite way of
promoting other causes in Canada. In some spot chosen for general
convenience a great many people assembled. The greater the number the
greater the good accomplished, it was supposed. The usual plan was for
parties of friends to keep together, and either before or after the
speech-making--which was supposed to be the chief interest of the day--
to seek some suitable spot in field or grove for the enjoyment in common
of the many nice things stored in the baskets with which all were
supplied.

But Gershom folk aimed at something beyond the usual way. In Finlay
Grove, which had been chosen as the place of meeting, tables were to be
set up and covered for--

"Well--we'll say five hundred people," Clifton Holt suggested at one of
the meetings for the settling of preliminaries. "And let us show them
what Gershom can do."

Of course he did not know in the least what he was undertaking for
Gershom in this off-hand way, nor did any one else till it was too late
to change the plan. Not that there was any serious thought of changing
it. The honour of Gershom was at stake, and "to spend and be spent" for
this--to say nothing of "the cause"--seemed to be the general desire.

Davie Fleming did his part well. He drew loads of boards from the
saw-mill, and loads of crockery from the various village stores. He
helped to fix the tables and many seats, and to build the platform for
"the speakers from a distance," vaguely promised as a part of the day's
feast. Indeed, he distinguished himself by his zeal and efficiency, and
was in such request that he was obliged to promise that he would be on
the ground early in the morning of the day to help about whatever might
still have to be done.

He had got quite into the spirit of it by this time. It was great fun,
he said, and he was a little ashamed of the part he had taken in keeping
Katie out of it all. So he proposed that she should go with him tha