. Then she smiled an' hid her face on the manly breast o'
Dan.

"'Now Lizzie,' I says, 'get yer mind in workin' order as soon as ye
can. Dan, you go over an' stand by the window. I want you to keep
at least ten paces apart, an' please don't fire 'til ye get the
signal. I'm goin' to give a prize for the simplest weddin' that
ever took place in Pointview,' I says. 'It will be five hundred
dollars in gold for the bride. Don't miss it.'

"'The marriage will occur at noon,' says Lizzie. 'There'll be
nothing but simple morning frocks. The girls can wear calico if
they wish. No jewels, no laces, no elaborate breakfast."

"'An' no presents, but mine, that cost over five dollars each,' I
says.

"An' that's the way it was--like old times. No hard work wasted in
gettin' ready, no vanity fair, no heart-burnin', no bitter envy, no
cussin' about the expense. There was nothing but love an'
happiness an' goodwill at that wedding. It was just as God would
have a wedding, I fancy, if He were the master o' ceremonies, as He
ought to be.

"They are now settled on a thousand acres o' land here in New
England. Dan has eight gangs o' human oxen from Italy at work for
him getting in his fertilizers. He rides a horse all day an' is as
cordy as a Roman gladiator. Do you know what it means? Ten
thousand like him are going into the same work, the greed o' the
middleman will be checked, an' one o' these days the old earth 'll
be lopsided with the fruitfulness of America."

VII

IN WHICH THE HONORABLE SOCRATES POTTER CATCHES UP WITH LIZZIE

Early in June I was invited to the wedding of Miss Betsey Smead and
the Honorable Socrates Potter. Miss Betsey had inherited a large
estate, and lived handsomely in the Smead homestead, built by her
grandfather. She was a woman of taste and refinement, but, in
deference to Socrates, no doubt, the invitations had been printed
in the office of the local newspaper. There could have been no
better example of honest simplicity. The good news sent me in
quest of my friend the lawyer. I found him in Miss Betsey's
library. He was in high spirits and surrounded by treasures of art.

"Yes, I'm in luck," he began. "Miss Betsey is a dear soul. We're
bound to be happy in spite of all this polished brass an' plate an'
mahogany. There's nothin' here that I can put my feet on, except
the rugs or the slippery floor or the fender. Everything has the
appearance o' bein' more valuable tha