quare speeches if he was here, pore
fellow."

"He's in a better place, Katie, dear," said Mrs. Watson piously.

After a pause, Pearl said: "You see, Ma, a person has to get soaked
full of sunshine and contented feelings to be able to stand things.
You've just got to lay in a stock of them, like a squirrel does the
nuts for the winter, and then when trouble comes you can go back and
think over all the good times you've had, and that'll carry ye over
till the trouble passes by. Every night here there'll be a lovely
sunset, all blue and gold, like the streets of heaven. That ought to
help some, and now the leaves are comin' and new flowers every day
nearly, and the roses'll be here in June, and the cherry blossoms
will be smellin' up the place before that, and at night ye'll hear
the wild ducks whizzin' by up in the air. They'll all keep us
heartened up more'n we need just now, but we better be settin' it
away to use when we need it."

"Look! Who's yon?" Aunt Kate asked, looking down the road.

A quaint-looking, stout old lady was walking toward them.

"That'll be Mrs. Perkins comin' to see us," Mrs. Watson said, in
alarm. "Let me out o' this, Pearlie. It's a lazy trollop she'll think
I am if she ketches me lyin' here."

"Lie where you are, Ma," Pearl said firmly. "It'll do her good to see
some one restin' easy. I know her, Ma, she's Martha's mother, and
they're great workers."

When Mrs. Perkins arrived, Pearl went forward and introduced her to
her mother and Aunt Kate, with due ceremony.

Mrs. Perkins was a short, stout woman, whose plump figure was much
like the old-fashioned churn, so guiltless was it of modern form
improvers. Mrs. Perkins's eyes were gray and restless, her hair was
the colour of dust, and it was combed straight back and rolled at the
back of her neck in a little knob about the size and shape of a
hickory nut. She was dressed in a clean print dress, of that good old
colour called lilac. It had little white daisies on a striped ground
and was of that peculiar shade that people call "clean looking." It
was made in a plain "bask" with buttons down the front, and a plain,
full skirt, over which she wore a white, starched apron, with a row
of insertion and a flounce of crocheted lace.

Pearl brought out chairs.

"Well, now, you do look comfortable,"' said Mrs. Perkins, with just a
shadow of reproach in her voice that did not escape Pearlie. "It must
be nice to have nothin' to do but just laze