awled Charlie in reply, "I haven't my shoes up here, only my
slippers and rubbers."

"Well, wear them then and keep out of the mud. I don't want you sick
to-night. Be sure to come in the back way so that Uncle Josh won't see
you. He'll think we're always behindhand."

If Uncle Josh had thought so he would have been near the truth. Mrs.
Upton was one of those unfortunate persons who seem to be always hard at
work and always in the drag. She had the undesirable faculty of taking
hold of things wrong end first.

As water does not rise higher than its level, so children are not apt to
have better habits than their parents. Charlie and Maria and the rest of
the family lived in a state of constant confusion.

At noon Mr. Upton came to dinner. It was not unusual for him to be
forced to wait, and he had learned to be resigned; so he sat down
patiently to talk with the visitors. Soon three children came in from
school, all eager to eat and return. What with their clamorous demands,
and the necessity for preparing extra vegetables and side-dishes, and
anxiety to please all around, and to prevent her bread from growing
sour, Mrs. Upton was nearly distracted. Yet Maria tried to help, and
Aunt Jane invariably looked upon matters with the kindly eye of charity.
Things were not so bad as they might have been, and dinner was ready at
last.

After the meal was over the two visitors found a corner in which to
hold a conference.

"Wife," said Uncle Josh, "Charlie's too bright a young fellow to be left
to grow up in this way. Suppose we take him home with us for a while?"

"There's nothing I would like better," responded Aunt Jane, whose
motherly heart was yet sore with grief for her own little Charlie, who
had been laid in the church-yard years before.

When Mrs. Upton again emerged from the depths of the kitchen they
repeated the proposal to her, and gained her assent at once.

Charlie was next to be informed, but that was not an easy matter. The
boy could nowhere be found.

"Perhaps he's gone to school," suggested Aunt Jane.

"No, I told him that since he had to be absent this morning he might as
well be absent all day. He's somewhere about."

A prolonged search ended in the barn, where Charlie at last was found,
trying to whittle a ruler out of a piece of kindling-wood. He wished to
draw maps and had mislaid or lost most of the articles necessary for the
work.

"Charlie!" exclaimed his mother, "Uncle Josh and Aunt Jane