r. Little, you're so funny! But you'll excuse _me_
this morning, as I had such a fright last night. I must go and take up
that wet carpet."

CHAPTER V.

A BRACE OF WITTY WOMEN.

By the courtesy of Harper Brothers I am allowed to give you "Aunt
Anniky's Teeth," by Sherwood Bonner. The illustrations add much, but the
story is good enough without pictures.

AUNT ANNIKY'S TEETH.

BY SHERWOOD BONNER.

Aunt Anniky was an African dame, fifty years old, and of an imposing
presence. As a waffle-maker she possessed a gift beyond the common, but
her unapproachable talent lay in the province of nursing. She seemed
born for the benefit of sick people. She should have been painted with
the apple of healing in her hand. For the rest, she was a funny,
illiterate old darkey, vain, affable, and neat as a pink.

On one occasion my mother had a dangerous illness. Aunt Anniky nursed
her through it, giving herself no rest, night nor day, until her patient
had come "back to de walks an' ways ob life," as she expressed the dear
mother's recovery. My father, overjoyed and grateful, felt that we owed
this result quite as much to Aunt Anniky as to our family doctor, so he
announced his intention of making her a handsome present, and, like King
Herod, left her free to choose what it should be. I shall never forget
how Aunt Anniky looked as she stood there smiling and bowing, and
bobbing the funniest little courtesies all the way down to the ground.

And you would never guess what it was the old woman asked for.

"Well, Mars' Charles," said she (she had been one of our old servants,
and always called my father 'Mars' Charles'), "to tell you de livin'
trufe, my soul an' body is a-yearnin' fur a han'sum chany set o' teef."

"A set of teeth!" said father, surprised enough. "And have you none left
of your own?"

"I has gummed it fur a good many ye'rs," said Aunt Anniky, with a sigh;
"but not wishin' ter be ongrateful ter my obligations, I owns ter havin'
five nateral teef. But dey is po' sogers; dey shirks battle. One ob
dem's got a little somethin' in it as lively as a speared worm, an' I
tell you when anything teches it, hot or cold, it jest makes me _dance_!
An' anudder is in my top jaw, an' ain't got no match fur it in de bottom
one; an' one is broke off nearly to de root; an' de las' two is so
yaller dat I's ashamed ter show 'em in company, an' so I lif's my
turkey-tail ter my mouf every time I laughs or speaks."

Father t