r comfortable
in the spare room, she went down to the kitchen in search of Anna. But
Anna was in the barn with Tabitha, the cat, whose new-born kittens
filled her with glee. Mrs. Barly stood in the middle of the kitchen,
as idle as her pots, and looked out through the window at the brown and
yellow fields. When she had tied her apron on, she felt dull and
tired; it seemed to her as if she were no longer virtuous, yet had not
received anything in return for what she had given. And because she
felt as if she had been cheated, she, also, lifted up her voice to God.
"Oh, God," she said, "all my life I never did anything like that."

By way of answer, she heard the low hum of the sewing machine, and the
alleluias of the dressmaker, singing as though she were in church.

Farmer Barly was down in the south pasture, with the schoolmaster's
friend, Mr. Tomkins; he wanted to put up a swinging gate between the
south field and the road. But all at once he felt like saying: "I
don't want a gate at all; I want a fence to shut people out." For when
he thought of Anna, in the gay autumn weather, he felt old and moldy.

"A bad year," said Mr. Tomkins; "still, I guess you're not worrying. I
understand you put a silo in your barn. But I suppose you have your
own reasons for doing it. A good year for cows, what with the grass.
I hear you're thinking of buying Crabbe's Jersey bull. A fine animal;
I'd like him myself."

"You're welcome to him," said Mr. Barly.

"Ah," said Mr. Tomkins, "he's beyond me, Mr. Barly, beyond my means.
I'm not a rich man. But I have my health."

"What are riches?" asked Mr. Barly. "They're a source of trouble, Mr.
Tomkins. They teach a young girl to waste her time."

"Well, trouble," said Mr. Tomkins.

"But what's trouble? Between you and me, a bit of trouble is good for
us all. Then we're liable to know better."

Mr. Barly shook his head wearily. "I don't know," he said; "folks are
queer crotchets."

"Why, then," said Mr. Tomkins, "so they are; and so would I be, as
crotchety as you like, if I owned anything beyond the | little I have."

"Small good it would do you," said Mr. Barly. "Life is a heavy cross,
having or not having, what with other people doing as they please."
And taking leave of Mr. Tomkins, he went home, thinking that in a world
where people robbed their neighbors, it were better not to possess
anything.

As he passed the potato patch, he heard Abner singing, without m