you have done, I shall expect
you to have the parlor warmed and lighted on the first evening of my
return, for I am sure I could not settle down to every day life all at
once." "Well," said Aunt Lucinda, as she seated herself by the lamp, and
took up the knitting-work which was ever at hand, to fill up the "odd
spells" which she called a few minutes of leisure, "I have made up my
mind that in the future I will sometimes enjoy myself a little, and
visit my friends, instead of staying at home till I forget there is any
other place in the world but this farm, with its dingy old red house and
weather beaten barn." "I am very happy to find," replied my uncle, "that
you have finally come to the conclusion that we have but one life to
live, for by the way you have worked and drove ahead for the last
fifteen or twenty years, one would think you had half a dozen ordinary
life-times before you and if you have come to the conclusion that you
have but one, and a good share of that gone already, perhaps there will
be some peace in the house for the time to come." My aunt always
complained that her brother had one very serious fault, he was prodigal
of time, and took too little thought for the future, and on this ground
she replied in rather a snappish voice: "Well, at any rate, if every
one was as slack and careless as you, they would hardly survive for one
life time; and I can tell you one thing Nathan Adams, this old house has
got to be painted, and that right away, for it is a disgrace to be seen.
I didn't think so much about it till since I saw how other folks live.
You needn't begin, as I know you will, to talk about the expense. You
may just as well spend a little money for this as for any thing else;
and if as you say 'we have but one life to live,' we will try and spend
the remainder of it in a respectable looking house." "What color would
you prefer Lucinda," replied my uncle, "I suppose it will have to be of
the most fashionable tint. Ah me, this is what comes of women folks
going to visit, and seeing the world; I wonder," continued he, with a
roguish look at me "if Aunt Lucinda isn't expecting some gentleman from
Elmwood to visit her shortly, whom she would dislike should find her in
this rusty-looking old house. There's no telling what may grow out of
this visit yet." "There's no use in expecting you to talk sensibly,"
replied my aunt, "but the house will have to be painted, and that's all
about it." "Any thing to keep pea