d remember his "book-learnin'" and give a
high-sounding name to his complaint, his gratification was enhanced.

"Hm-m; mebbe 't is, Jason," retorted his wife; "but I'm a-thinkin' that
when a man of your heft and years goes kitin' 'round a ten-acre lot at
the tail of a fly-away colt, he'll have all that kind of heart disease he
wants, an' still live ter die of somethin' else!" And Mehitable
cheerfully banged the oven door after making sure that her biscuits were
not getting too brown.

As it happened, however, there was really no chance for Jason's heart
disease to develop, for that night he scratched his finger, which brought
about the much more imminent danger of blood-poisoning--"toxemia," Jason
said it was. For a time the whole household was upset, and Mehitable was
kept trotting from morning till night with sponges, cloths, cotton, and
bowls of curious-smelling liquids, while Jason discoursed on antiseptics,
germs, bacteria, microbes, and bacilli.

The finger was nearly well when he suddenly discovered that, after all,
the trouble might have been lock-jaw instead of blood-poisoning. He at
once began studying the subject so that he might be prepared should the
thing occur again. He was glad, later, that he had done so, for the
Fourth of July and a toy pistol brought all his recently acquired
knowledge into instant requisition.

"If it does come, it's 'most likely ter be fatal," he said excitedly to
his wife, who was calmly bathing a slight graze on his hand. "An' ye
want ter watch me," he added, catching up a book with his uninjured hand
and turning to a much-thumbed page for reference. "Now, listen. Thar's
diff'rent kinds of it. They're all 'te-ta-nus,' but ye got to watch out
ter find out which kind 't is. If I shut my jaws up tight, it's
'lock-jaw.' If I bend backwards, it's 'o-pis-tho-to-nos.' If I bend
forwards, it's 'em-pros-tho-to-nos'; an' if I bend ter one side, it's
'pleu-ro-tho-to-nos,'" he explained, pronouncing the long words after a
fashion of his own. "Now, remember," he finished. "Like enough I shan't
know enough ter tell which kind 't is myself, nor which way I am
a-leanin'."

"No, of course not, dear," agreed Mehitable cheerfully; "an' I'll
remember," she promised, as she trotted away with her salves and bowls
and bandages.

For some days Jason "tried" his jaw at regular intervals, coming to the
conclusion at last that fate once more was kind, and that "te-ta-nus" was
to pass him