izzly bear, I bought a little
peach-tree and planted it in the corner of the yard, as people sometimes
plant trees to remember things. Well, my mother, she had the ague that
day powerful, for it was after melon-time, and she sat on the porch and
shook, and shook, and shook, and watched me plant it, and when I got
done, my mother she cried. I don't know why she cried, Carrie, but she
did. She cried and she cried, and when I went up to her, and put my arms
around her neck and kissed her, she only cried the more, for she was
sort of hysteric-like, you know, and she said she knew she'd never live
to eat any fruit off of that tree."

Carrie stops eating nuts a moment.

"But she will--she will get well, Mr. John Logan--she will get well,
won't she?"

"Ah, indeed, I believe she will get well, but whether she ever gets
right well or not, she certainly will live to eat peaches from that
tree. Carrie, we've talked it all over, and what do you think? Why, now
listen, I will tell you. This tree that I planted, and that my poor sick
mother was afraid she would not live to eat the fruit from--this tree
was a peach tree."

Carrie again takes out a handful of nuts from her pocket, as if she
would like to eat them. She looks at them a second, throws them away,
and hastens to one side.

"I want to go home," cries Stumps. "I don't like peaches, Mr. John
Logan. I don't--I don't--so help me," and the boy jerks at his pants
wildly.

John Logan turns to him kindly. "Why, you never had a peach in your
little hand in your life." Then turning to Carrie: "Yes, Carrie, there
has grown this year, high up in the sun on that tree, side by side,
two--and only two--red, ripe peaches. Why, children, don't run away!
Wait one moment, and I will go a little way with you. As I was about to
say, these two peaches are at last ripe. I own I was the least bit
afraid, even after I saw them there on that bough one Summer morning,
that even then my mother might die before they became fully ripe. But
now they are ripe, and this evening I shall pull them. And to-morrow,
after my day's work is done, my sick mother shall eat one, and you two
shall eat the other."

Carrie puts up her hand and backs away.

"Don't--don't--don't call me Carrie; call me
Carats--Carats--Carats--like the others do!"

"Why, Carrie! What in the world is the matter with you?"

"If a body steals, Mr. John Logan--if a body steals--what had a body
better do?"

"Why, the Preacher sa