N ANXIOUS FROWN" (_See page 4_) Frontispiece

"EVERY ONE WAS MAKING PATCHWORK" 6

"'DEAR AS IT IS TO ME, IT IS NOT SO DEAR AS THE
KEEPING OF MY WORD'" 11

"THE FAMILIAR SQUARES OF FADED PATCHWORK MET
HIS EYE" 19

"EACH BOY LONGED TO OWN IT" 30

"HOEING AWAY IN HIS GARDEN" 38

"'I STOPPED AND READ IT THROUGH TWICE'" 44

"'AND THAT KID JUST STARTED OFF ON FOOT'" 52

THE QUILT THAT JACK BUILT

HOW HE WON THE BICYCLE

THE QUILT THAT JACK BUILT

"Johnny _make a quilt!_" repeated Rob Marshall, with a shout of
laughter. "I'd as soon expect to see a wild buffalo knitting mittens!"

"But you're not to speak of it outside the family, Rob," his mother
hastened to say, "and you must not tease the little fellow. You older
children have ways of earning pocket-money,--Rhoda with her painting,
and you with your bent iron work, but Johnny hasn't had a cent of
income all fall. You know when your father explained what a hard
winter this would be, and said we must economize in every way
possible, Johnny offered to give up the little amount I allowed him
every week for chores. He has been doing his work ever since without
pay. Now, he is wild to buy Todd Walters' rifle. He can get it for
only three dollars, and I want him to have it if possible. He has
cheerfully gone without so many things this fall. He followed me
around the house all morning, begging me to think of some way in which
he could earn the money, until, in desperation, I suggested that he
piece a quilt for me at a cent a block. To my great surprise, he
consented eagerly. He usually scorns anything that looks like girls'
work."

"And mother will have to do without the new bonnet that she had
counted on getting with the turkey money that always comes in just
before Christmas, in order to pay for it," said Rhoda to her brother.
"I think it's a shame. She needs it too badly to give it up for that
child's whim."

"No, daughter," answered Mrs. Marshall, gently. "In a country
neighbourhood like this it matters little whether I wear my clothes
one year or seven: and it is not a mere whim with Johnny. He wants
that rifle more than he ever wanted anything in his life before. I
think the quilt money would be a good investment. The work will t