had not spoken the truth. Lois was the life of the house.
Madge was a handsome and quiet girl; could follow but rarely led in the
conversation. Charity talked, but was hardly enlivening to the spirits
of the company. Mrs. Armadale was in ordinary a silent woman; could
talk indeed, and well, and much; however, these occasions were mostly
when she had one auditor, and was in thorough sympathy with that one.
Amidst these different elements of the household life Lois played the
part of the flux in a furnace; she was the happy accommodating medium
through which all the others came into best play and found their full
relations to one another. Lois's brightness and spirit were never
dulled; her sympathies were never wearied; her intelligence was never
at fault. And her work was never neglected. Nobody had ever to remind
Lois that it was time for her to attend to this or that thing which it
was her charge to do. Instead of which, she was very often ready to
help somebody else not quite so "forehanded." The garden took on fast
its dressed and ordered look; the strawberries were uncovered; and the
raspberries tied up, and the currant bushes trimmed; and pea-sticks and
bean-poles bristled here and there promisingly. And then the green
growths for which Lois had worked began to reward her labour. Radishes
were on the tea-table, and lettuce made the dinner "another thing;" and
rows of springing beets and carrots looked like plenty in the future.
Potatoes were up, and rare-ripes were planted, and cabbages; and corn
began to appear. One thing after another, till Lois got the garden all
planted; and then she was just as busy keeping it clean. For weeds, we
all know, do thrive as unaccountably in the natural as in the spiritual
world. It cost Lois hard work to keep them under; but she did it.
Nothing would have tempted her to bear the reproach of them among her
vegetables and fruits. And so the latter had a good chance, and throve.
There was not much time or much space for flowers; yet Lois had a few.
Red poppies found growing room between the currant bushes; here and
there at a corner a dahlia got leave to stand and rear its stately
head. Rose-bushes were set wherever a rose-bush could be; and there
were some balsams, and pinks, and balm, and larkspur, and marigolds.
Not many; however, they served to refresh Lois's soul when she went to
pick vegetables for dinner, and they furnished nosegays for the table
in the hall, or in the sitting-