the cows did really walk up there; but this was the way
it happened, Alice: They were not properly fastened into their stalls,
and being very hungry, they went into the barn for something to eat. The
barn floor was covered with hay, and there was a hill of hay which led
right up to the scaffold; so they could get there well enough without
being bewitched."

"Did your mother--my great-grandma--believe in witches?" asked Prudy.
"What did she say to Mr. Palmer?"

"O, no! she had no faith in witches; thy great grandmother was a sensible
woman." She said to him, "Friend Asa, thee'd better have some good strong
bows made for thy cattle, and put on their necks; and then I think
thee'll find they can't get out of their stalls. Thee says they are as
lean as Pharaoh's kine, and I would advise thee to feed them better.
Cattle that are well fed and well cared for will never go bewitched."

"Did Mrs. Knowles know what people said about her?" asked Prudy.

"Yes; she heard the stories, and it made her feel very badly."

"How did she look?"

"A little like thy grandmother Parlin, if I remember, only she was
much larger."

"Did she know anything?"

"O, yes; it was rather an ignorant neighborhood; but she was one of the
most intelligent women in it."

"Did she ever go anywhere?"

"Yes; she came to my mother for sympathy. I remember just how she looked
in her tow and linen dress, with her hair fastened at the back of the
head with a goose-quill."

"There, there!" cried Dotty, "that was what made 'em call her a witch!"

"O, no; a goose-quill was quite a common fashion in those times, and a
great deal prettier, too, than the waterfalls thee sees nowadays. Mrs.
Knowles dressed like other people, and looked like other people, for
aught I know; but I wished she would not come to our house so much."

"Didn't you like her?"

"Yes; I liked her very well, for she carried peppermints in a black bag
on her arm; but I was afraid the stories were true, and she might bewitch
my mother."

"Why, grandma, I shouldn't have thought that of _you_!"

"I was a very small girl then, Prudence; and the children I played with
belonged, for the most part, to ignorant families."

"Grandma was like an apple playing with potatoes," remarked Dotty, one
side to Prudy.

"I used to watch Mrs. Knowles," continued Mrs. Read, "hoping to see her
cry; for they said if she was really a witch, she could shed but three
tears, and those out of her left eye."