ace, and the wearing out of the
children's clothes. And you have all these too: so I dare say my burden
is the lightest, after all. Now let me see your butter."

It was well worth seeing. There was one tub made when the weather had
been warm, and, for that reason, was pronounced by Christie not quite so
good. Then there was a large one, with over a hundred and twenty pounds
in it--so hard, and yellow, and fragrant! Christie was not a little
proud of it; and Effie praised it to her heart's content. There was no
better butter in all Glengarry, she was sure.

"And a hundred and twenty pounds of it! It's worth twenty-five cents a
pound, at least. Think of that, Christie!--thirty dollars in all! That
is something of your doing, I should think."

"Partly," said Christie. "I only helped." But she was very much
pleased. "If we could only sell it, it would get us shoes, and lots of
things."

"But I'm afraid we mustna sell it," said Effie. "We shall have so
little meat all the winter--and it is so dear, too; and we shall need
the butter. And how many cheeses are there? Five?"

"Five uncut. One is nearly done since the harvest. See, these two are
better than the others. But it is getting so dark you canna see them.
I think the cheese will be a great help. We had none last winter, you
know."

"Yes, indeed!" said Effie, heartily. "We shall have a better winter
than the last was."

"Except that you winna be at home," said Christie, desponding a little
again.

"Well, I would like to be at home, if it were best; but we canna have
all we would like, you know. If you have milk to skim, you will need a
candle, Christie."

"No: I skimmed it before I went away. See, father and the girls have
come home at last. How glad they will be to see you, Effie!"

Yes, everybody was glad to see Effie--though no one said much about it
that night. Indeed, it was rather a silent party that partook of the
frugal supper. Except that the book-man (as the colporteur was called)
exchanged now and then a remark with Mr Redfern, little was said till
supper was over and the Bible laid on the table for worship. The
Redfern family had the custom of reading verse-about, as it is called,
partly because lights were sometimes scarce, and partly because, after
the work of a long summer day, both great and small were too tired to
enjoy protracted reading; and it must be confessed that, at times,
morning and evening devotions were bo