rsation then drifted naturally to the exploits of
river-drivers in general, and Mr. Wiley narrated the sorts of feats in
log-riding, pick-pole-throwing, and the shooting of rapids that he had
done in his youth. These stories were such as had seldom been heard by
the ear of man; and, as they passed into circulation instantaneously, we
are probably enjoying some of them to this day.

They were still being told when a Crambry child appeared on the bridge,
bearing a note for the old man. Upon reading it he moved off rapidly in
the direction of the store, ejaculating: "Bless my soul! I clean forgot
that saleratus, and mother's settin' at the kitchen table with the bowl
in her lap, waitin' for it! Got so int'rested in your list'nin' I never
thought o' the time."

The connubial discussion that followed this breach of discipline began
on the arrival of the saleratus, and lasted through supper; and Rose
went to bed almost immediately afterward for very dullness and apathy.
Her life stretched out before her in the most aimless and monotonous
fashion. She saw nothing but heartache in the future; and that she
richly deserved it made it none the easier to bear.

Feeling feverish and sleepless, she slipped on her gray Shaker cloak
and stole quietly downstairs for a breath of air. Her grandfather and
grandmother were talking on the piazza, and good humor seemed to have
been restored. "I was over to the tavern tonight," she heard him say,
as she sat down at a little distance. "I was over to the tavern tonight,
an' a feller from Gorham got to talkin' an' braggin' 'bout what a stock
o' goods they kep' in the store over there. 'An',' says I, 'I bate ye
dollars to doughnuts that there hain't a darn thing ye can ask for at
Bill Pike's store at Pleasant River that he can't go down cellar, or up
attic, or out in the barn chamber an' git for ye.' Well, sir, he took me
up, an' I borrered the money of Joe Dennett, who held the stakes, an'
we went right over to Bill Pike's with all the boys follerin' on behind.
An' the Gorham man never let on what he was going to ask for till the
hull crowd of us got inside the store. Then says he, as p'lite as a
basket o' chips, 'Mr. Pike, I'd like to buy a pulpit if you can oblige
me with one.'

"Bill scratched his head an' I held my breath. Then says he, ''Pears to
me I'd ought to hev a pulpit or two, if I can jest remember where I keep
'em. I don't never cal'late to be out o' pulpits, but I'm so plagued fo