e articles would be sent for, she left
her and went to interview the Colonel, anticipating a different
reception from what she had received from Mrs. Amy.

"Better not handle him to-day; he had some awful twinges this morning,"
Peter said, after she had "picked him clean," as he expressed it, "and
scarcely left him a shoe to his foot or a coat to his back."

Ruby knew she could not come again, and in spite of Peter's advice,
resolved to beard the lion at once. She found him, with his lame foot on
a cushion, and a not very encouraging look on his face. He had liked
Ruby ever since she first came to be examined as to her qualifications
for a teacher, and he had found her rooted and grounded in the
fundamentals, and he had taken sides stoutly for her when the question
of normal graduates came up and Eloise had won the day. Ruby Ann's head
was level, he always said, and when she was ushered into his room, he
greeted her with as much of a smile as he could command, with his foot
aching as it did. But the smile faded when she told him her errand, and
said she was sure he would be glad to contribute either in money or
clothing to so good a cause as the public library. The Colonel had not
been consulted with regard to the library, except to be asked if he
didn't think it would be a fine thing for the school and neighborhood
generally. He was not very often consulted about anything now. Plans
were made without him, and he was only asked to contribute, which he
generally did.

Now, however, his back was up, Peter said to Ruby Ann, warning her of
what she was to expect. He didn't believe in turning attics and cellars
and barns inside out and scattering microbes by the millions. How did
any one know what germs were lurking in old clothes? He knew a man who
died of smallpox, and twenty-five years after his death a coat, which
had hung in his closet, was given away, taking the disease with it to
three or four people. No, he didn't believe in a Rummage. It was just a
fad, got up by those who were always seeking for something new, and he
wouldn't give a thing, not even an old stock such as he used to wear,
and of which Ruby Ann knew he must have several.

"Who under heavens would buy an old stock, and why?" he asked, and Ruby
Ann replied, "Just because it is an old stock and belonged to you."

The "belonged to you" mollified him a little, as it flattered his
vanity, but the idea struck him as ridiculous, and he would not give in,