unt Jane was tired out, and Jenny wanted to sew
on her wedding outfit.

Everything had gone along very comfortably. Her white frock had a scant
ruffle put on the bottom to lengthen it down, and new sleeves put in.
Uncle Jason was really proud that she had to "speak a piece."

Everybody stopped to talk and discuss the exercises. The singing was
pronounced first-rate. The History talk stirred up some revolutionary
reminiscences among the old folks. Someone praised Helen's share in the
entertainment.

"Well, I didn't just see the sense of it," declared Aunt Jane. "After
all that great thing, savin' of the ships, as one may say, why didn't he
ask for something worth while? Just a day to go off and see some
woman----"

"She was his wife."

"And, I dare say, he had chances enough to see her. You can't tell what
they are driving at in these new-fangled stories. Now there's 'Pity the
sorrows of a poor old man, whose trembling limbs have borne him to your
door,' and 'Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise, The Queen of the world,
and the child of the skies' that children used to speak when I went to
school, and you could sense them."

Mrs. Mulford repeated them as if she was reeling off so much prose, and
paused out of breath. She was getting rather stout now.

"I thought it rather _the_atrical," said Mrs. Keen. "I didn't understand
it a bit. The Searings are going to send Louise to the High School. They
have it all fixed, and she's going to board with her sister through the
week. Marty Pendleton's going, too. Dear me! There wa'n't any High
School in my day, and I guess girls were just as smart."

Helen was with the girls in a merry crowd. Some were going away to aunts
and grandmothers, and the envied one, Ella Graham, was going to the
seaside, as the doctor had recommended that to her ailing mother. So
they walked on, chatting, until paths began to diverge. Two roads ran
through the Center, north and south, east and west. There were South
Hope and North Hope, settlements that had branched out from the Center.
North Hope had grown into quite a thriving town with a railroad station
and several social advantages. The High School for the towns around was
situated here.

"Now," began Aunt Jane, as they neared the gate and said good-by to a
few who were going farther on, "now Helen, you just run in and take off
your frock and that white petticoat. They'll do for Sunday. There's peas
to shell and potatoes to clean, and I have t