to any man she cares to use 'em on. But
what about the collation, Bettie? Everybody is going to help you with
the cooking and fixings, and let's have a never-forget supper this
onct."

"That we are," answered Mrs. Pratt emphatically. "Mr. Hoover says no
hand-around, stand-around for him; he wants a regular laid table with a
knife and fork set-down to it. He says we are a-going to feed our
friends liberal, if it takes three acres of timothy hay to do it, and
he's about right. We'll begin thinking about that and deciding what the
first of the week. But I must be a-going to see that the dinner horn
blows in time. I want to get my sparagrasses extra tender, for 'Liza
have notified me that she is going to stop by to-day with the covered
dish, and I want to fill it tasty for her. Come visiting soon, Miss
Elinory, for I've got something to show you that are too foolish to
speak about to Mis' Mayberry." And the widow gave a delicious little
giggle as she lifted the sleeping baby from Mother Mayberry's lap and
started down the steps.

"Dearie me, Bettie," answered Mother with a laugh, "don't you know that
poking up a woman's curiosity is mighty apt to start a yaller jacket to
buzzing? I'll be by your house sometime before sundown myself."

"Some women's ship of life is a steamboat that stops to take on
passengers at every landing. Bettie's are one of them kind, and she'll
tie up with 'em all in glory when the time comes," remarked Mother
Mayberry as she watched the sturdy widow swing away down the Road with
the baby asleep over her shoulder.

Just at this moment, Cindy found occasion to summon Mother Mayberry to
the chicken yard on account of a dispute that had arisen between old
Dominick and one of the ungallant roosters that had resulted in an
injury to one of the small fry, which lay pitifully cheeping on the
back steps. Dominick, with every feather awry, was holding command of
the bowl of corn-meal while her family feasted, and the Plymouth
rooster stood at a respectful distance with a weather eye on both the
determined mother and Cindy's broom. Retribution in the form of Mother
Mayberry descended upon him swiftly and certainly, and he lost no time
in seeking seclusion under the barn.

And by the time order and peace were restored to the barn-yard, Mother
came in to dinner and spent an hour in interested hen-lore with the
singer lady, who was really fond of hearing about the feathered
families when she saw how her int