much.' But she always said that, whether or
not I cared for myself, she cared for me, and that she wanted I should
look as smart as anybody's boy, so that father would be proud on me when
he come home; concludin' with 'He must sartainly come now afore long.'

"Many a time I've waked up of a winter night and found her woollen
petticoat spread onto my bed, and she ashiverin' by the dyin' fire. One
mornin' she surprised me uncommon by holdin' of a cap afore my eyes. 'A
new one made of the old one,' says she, 'but you 'd never dream on 't,
would you, Johnny?'

"I hung it on the chair-post, and then I stood off, fairly dazzled, so
gret was my admiration on 't. It was my old cap, be sure; but then it
was all brushed up and pressed into shape, and lined anew with one o'
the sleeves of my mother's silk weddin'-gown.. It wa' n't to be wore no
longer every day, so she said, but must be put on the upper shelf o' the
cupboard with her ring and her Sunday shawl, and kep' nice agin the time
father should come home. I suffered, on givin' on 't up, the most
tormentin' pangs, and had to bob my head agin the andirons considerable
longer than common afore I come round. I was bent on wearin' on't in the
sight of Rose Rollins,--that's you,--and forcin' on her to see the silk
linin' some ways, and I planned out warious stratagems to that end. But
mother said, 'No, Johnny, keep it nice just a leetle bit, till poor
father comes.' And arter that she pacified me by takin' on 't down from
time to time and allowin' of me to wear it as much as two or three
minutes sometimes. The linin' was pea-green; and I've often thought
since it was a leetle too fine for the tother part, which was
seal-skin, and wore tolerable bare,--I havin' wore it, not off and on,
but steady on, from the time I left off my bunnet that was made of the
end of my cradle-quilt; but I didn't calculate it was too fine then, and
I made a pint o' standin' on a chair afore the lookin'-glass, or else
afore the winder towards your 'us, all the whilst I was a-wearin' on 't.
It worried me a good deal, them times, to decide which I 'd rather
do,--look at myself, or hev you look at me!

"I used to tease mother to put the white shawl round her shoulders.
'Just for a minute,' I would say; but she always answered, 'One of these
days, Johnny; it 's all wrapt up with camp-phire, and I don't want to be
gettin' on 't down!' I understood well enough that it was to be got out
when the great day c