toe-nails, that every mother
in the land, beholding, would promptly expire on the spot of amazement,
incredulity and sheer jealousy.

There were babies at Elegant Corners--a frowzy, listless mud-hole of the
woods, near by. They were all possessed by one mother, too. The last
comer had appeared in the fall of the year; and Pattie Batch--when the
great news came down to Swamp's End--had instantly taken the trail for
Elegant Corners.

"Got another, eh?" says she, flatly, to the wretched Mrs. Limp.

"Uh-huh!" Mrs. Limp sighed and rolled her eyes, as though, God save us!
the ultimate misfortune had fallen upon her. "Number eight," she
groaned.

"Don't you _like_ it?" Pattie demanded, hopefully.

Mrs. Limp was so deeply submerged in tears that she failed to commit
herself.

"You _don't_ like it, eh?" Pattie pursued, hope immediately abounding.

Mrs. Limp sniffed.

"Well," said Pattie, her little heart all in a flutter--she was
afflicted, too, with an adorable lisp in excitement--"I th'pothe I
_ought_ t' be _thorry_."

Mrs. Limp seemed dolefully to agree.

Pattie Batch came then straight to the point. "I been thavin' up," said
she. "I been hard at it for more 'n theven monthth."

Mrs. Limp lifted her blue eyelids.

"Yep," said Pattie, briskly; "an' I got thirty-four twenty-three right
here in my thkirt. _Where'th that baby?_"

The baby was fetched and deposited in her arms.

"Boy or girl?" Pattie inquired, with business-like precision.

"Boy," Mrs. Limp sighed, "thank God!"

Pattie Batch was vastly disappointed. She had fancied a girl. It was a
shock, indeed, to her ardour. It was so much of a shocking
disappointment that Pattie Batch might easily have wept. A boy--a _boy_!
Oh, shoot! But still, she reflected, considering the scarcity, a
boy--this boy, in fact, cleaned up--Pattie Batch was all the time
running the mottled infant over with sharply appraising eyes--yes, the
child had possibilities, unquestionably so, which soap and water might
astonishingly improve--and, in fine, this little boy might--

"Mithuth Limp," said Pattie, looking that lady straight in the eye,
"I'll give you twenty-five dollarth for thith here baby. By George, I
will!"

The astonished mother jumped out of her chair and her lassitude at the
same instant.

"Not another thent!" Pattie craftily declared. "Here--take your baby."

Mrs. Limp did not quite _take_ the baby. That would be but a pale
indication of the speed, directnes