not equal. These latter
were brothers, and lived in a snug cottage a few rods away, said cottage
being kept, like everything else on the farm, as "neat as a new pin," by
Joe's wife, a brisk little woman, whose head scarcely reached to her
husband's shoulder.

Another inmate of the farmhouse should have a paragraph all to herself, for
"the grandmother" cannot be described in one brief line. Although she had
long since passed the allotted span of life, yet age had not dimmed the
lustre of her keen grey eyes nor dulled her faculties; and though she could
no longer take an active part in the management of the household, yet from
her corner in the pleasant room a potent spell reached out and overshadowed
the members of the household. No crowned monarch on his throne ever ruled
over such deferential and loyal subjects as those that here yielded to her
benign sway. Not that she required it of them--it was graciously accorded
her as to the patriarchs of old, and she seemed to belong to a holier age.
Her soft white hair fell over her brow, and was drawn back under a large
white frilled cap that surrounded her head like a halo, and the placid
countenance that beamed beneath it inspired a feeling of reverence. She was
called by all the household "the grandmother," and was dearly loved by them
all; but the filial love of her son was far above that usually accorded to
aged mothers, and it was easy to see how it warmed her heart.

Such was the household into which our young travellers were ushered about
five o'clock on a beautiful summer day.

Mr. McDonald had been watching for their appearance for some hours, and his
hearty greetings were repeated by the rest of the family. The farmer's
daughters, Maggie and Lizzie, received Gertrude with the cordiality of an
old friend, and though at first they seemed a little shy with the strangers
from "abroad" this soon wore away, and they found their visitors quite as
amiable as if they had been born on the same soil as themselves.

As soon as they had been refreshed, outwardly and inwardly, they were taken
into the room where "the grandmother" sat in her large, comfortable chair,
and were introduced to her with much solemnity; but they only waited for
the few words of welcome to each, and then passed into the pleasant
sitting-room adjoining.

"You must go in to-morrow and see the grandmother, one at a time," said
Lizzie, as she drew a chair near the rest. "She does not see many
strangers,