was that little plain rockin'-chair with the oak-split
bottom; there it sets in the corner. Mother used to sit in that chair
when she washed and dressed us children and rocked the baby to sleep.
She liked it because it was low and hadn't any arms for the baby's head
to get bumped on. I can look at it and see Mother holdin' the baby in
her arms and rockin' and singin':

'Hush, my babe, lie still and slumber,'

and I'd rather have that common little chair than all the old mahogany
that belonged to my great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers. There
ain't an unpleasant association connected with that chair, and
furthermore, I don't have to polish it.

"Yes, this dress is rather gay, Maria, but don't you think it matches
the golden oak furniture? I always like to have things in keepin' with
each other, and as long as I had to live in the midst o' old mahogany,
it seemed natural and proper to wear brown and black and gray. But now I
feel like mixin' in a little blue and red and yellow with the brown and
black and gray, and when your feelin's and your clothes and your
furniture correspond, it certainly does make a comfortable condition for
you.

"I'll be gettin' married next? Well, maybe I will, Maria Marvin, maybe I
will. Gettin' rid o' that old mahogany seems to 'a' taken about fifty
years off my shoulders, and if I should happen to find a man that'd
match up with my new furniture and suit me as well as that golden oak
dresser does, I may get married, after all.

"Do you have to go? Well, come again, Maria, and if you happen to meet
any o' the neighbors, tell 'em to drop in and take a look at my golden
oak furniture."

MILLSTONES AND STUMBLING-BLOCKS

"I do believe that's Margaret Williams!" exclaimed Mrs. Martin,
thrusting aside the curtain and peering through the tangle of
morning-glory vines that shaded her parlor window. She turned away and
began arranging the chairs and straightening the table cover with the
nervous haste of a fastidious housekeeper unprepared for company.

But there was no need for haste. The expected caller paused at the gate
and seemed to be making a critical survey of the house and premises. Her
air was that of a person examining a piece of property with a view to
purchasing it. She walked slowly along the garden path, gazing up at the
sloping roof and the dormer windows, and on the first step of the porch
she paused and looked around at the tidy front yard, with its clumps of