nner time came she gathered them all around her and went to the
wagon. In it she had a basket of bread and butter.

"I can't afford anything more," she told Cynthia Ann, "but they must
have something to stay their little stomachs. And I can get some water
at a farmhouse."

Miss Cordelia had had her eye on a certain farmhouse all the morning.
She did not know anything about the people who lived there, but she
liked the looks of the place. It was a big, white, green-shuttered
house, throned in wide-spreading orchards, with a green sweep of
velvety lawn in front.

To this Miss Cordelia took her way, surrounded by her small
passengers, and they all trooped into the great farmhouse yard just as
a big man stepped out of a nearby barn. As he approached, Miss
Cordelia thought she had never seen anybody so much like an incarnate
smile before. Smiles of all kinds seemed literally to riot over his
ruddy face and in and out of his eyes and around the corners of his
mouth.

"Well, well, well!" he said, when he came near enough to be heard. "Is
this a runaway school, ma'am?"

"I'm the runaway schoolma'am," responded Miss Cordelia with a twinkle.
"And these are a lot of factory children I've brought out for a
Saturday treat. I thought I might get some water from your well, and
maybe you will lend us a tin dipper or two?"

"Water? Tut, tut!" said the big man, with three distinct smiles on his
face. "Milk's the thing, ma'am--milk. I'll tell my housekeeper to
bring some out. And all of you come over to the lawn and make
yourselves at home. Bless you, ma'am, I'm fond of children. My name is
Smiles, ma'am--Abraham Smiles."

"It suits you," said Miss Cordelia emphatically, before she thought,
and then blushed rosy-red over her bluntness.

Mr. Smiles laughed. "Yes, I guess I always have an everlasting grin
on. Had to live up to my name, you see, in spite of my naturally
cantankerous disposition; But come this way, ma'am, I can see the
hunger sticking out of those youngsters' eyes. We'll have a sort of
impromptu picnic here and now, I'll tell my housekeeper to send out
some jam too."

While the children devoured their lunch Miss Cordelia found herself
telling Mr. Smiles all about old Nap and her little project.

"I'm going to bring out a load every fine Saturday all summer," she
said. "It's all I can do. They enjoy it so, the little creatures. It's
terrible to think how cramped their lives are. They just exist in
soot. Some of t