ore. If money was looser I 'd certainly never spare it
gettin' them two braces mended, but money bein' tight and me alone in
the house 'n' the most of my callers them as it 's all one to me whether
I see 'em in the parlor or in the cistern, I ain't botherin'. I was
never one to worry an' scurry unnecessarily, Mrs. Lathrop, an' you know
that as well as I do, 'n' to-day I had my mind all done up in my
curtains anyway, 'n' I was more'n' a little put out over bein'
interrupted, even by a man as come in through the woodshed door, that I
never bolt 'cause it 's a understood thing as woodshed doors is not to
be come in at. The turn he give me when I hear him clutterin' aroun' in
the woodshed!--I thought he was rats, an' then a cat, an' then a rat an'
a cat come together, an' then all of a sudden I see him an' remembered
the cistern cover."

"But who--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.

Susan looked surprised.

"Why, I thought you said you seen him," she said; "you certainly give me
that impression, Mrs. Lathrop. I 'd have took any vow anywhere as I
asked you if you seen him 'n' you said you did. It's funny if you did
n't for he drove hisself in 'n' hitched hisself too, 'n' me up in the
garret when he done it, foldin' off my curtains to iron. My, to think
how I did hate the idea o' ironin' them curtains! Mother always ironed
the curtains. She said I was young n' she did n't mind anyhow. I ain't
washed 'em since. I 've been in the habit o' sayin' I was afraid it'd
bring mother over me too much to take 'em down without her. That 's a
thing as this community can easy understand, f'r they leave all their
hard work layin' around for any reason a tall, and although I can't in
reason deny as in most ways they 're as different from me as anything
can be from me, still when it comes to ironin' curtains the stove is as
hot on the just as on the unjust 'n' you can't mention nothin' hotter."

"Did you--" said Mrs. Lathrop, sympathetically.

"Well, I sh'd say I did. What I set out to do I always do whether it's
curtains or Mr. Kimball. Mr. Kimball has got a great idea as to his
sharpness, but I guess if our sharp ends was under a microscope, he 'd
be the needle an' me the bee-sting most every day. It was too bad you
was n't to that lecture, Mrs. Lathrop,--I did learn a great deal. Not
just about the sting, but some very handy things. It seems if you go
among 'em quietly, they 'll let you take the honey out any time 'n' you
can buy the queens by mai