he Mississippi on
the ice blocks, pursued by the bloodhounds. We couldn't keep from
laughing after we came out of the tent because they were acting on such
a small platform that Eliza had to run round and round, and part of the
time the one dog they had pursued her, and part of the time she had to
pursue the dog. I knew Living would remember, too, so I took off my
waterproof and wrapped it round my books for a baby; then I shouted,
'MY GOD! THE RIVER!' just like that--the same as Eliza did in the play;
then I leaped from puddle to puddle, and Living and Emma Jane pursued
me like the bloodhounds. It's just like that stupid Minnie Smellie who
doesn't know a game when she sees one. And Eliza wasn't swearing when
she said 'My God! the river!' It was more like praying."

"Well, you've got no call to be prayin', any more than swearin', in the
middle of the road," said Miranda; "but I'm thankful it's no worse.
You're born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, an' I'm afraid you
allers will be till you learn to bridle your unruly tongue."

"I wish sometimes that I could bridle Minnie's," murmured Rebecca, as
she went to set the table for supper.

"I declare she IS the beatin'est child!" said Miranda, taking off her
spectacles and laying down her mending. "You don't think she's a leetle
mite crazy, do you, Jane?"

"I don't think she's like the rest of us," responded Jane thoughtfully
and with some anxiety in her pleasant face; "but whether it's for the
better or the worse I can't hardly tell till she grows up. She's got
the making of 'most anything in her, Rebecca has; but I feel sometimes
as if we were not fitted to cope with her."

"Stuff an' nonsense!" said Miranda "Speak for yourself. I feel fitted
to cope with any child that ever was born int' the world!"

"I know you do, Mirandy; but that don't MAKE you so," returned Jane
with a smile.

The habit of speaking her mind freely was certainly growing on Jane to
an altogether terrifying extent.

XII

"SEE THE PALE MARTYR"

It was about this time that Rebecca, who had been reading about the
Spartan boy, conceived the idea of some mild form of self-punishment to
be applied on occasions when she was fully convinced in her own mind
that it would be salutary. The immediate cause of the decision was a
somewhat sadder accident than was common, even in a career prolific in
such things.

Clad in her best, Rebecca had gone to take tea with the Cobbs; but
while crossing t