terless, mealless, stray about in all sorts of improper
places and weather. The whole town is home to them but they generally
feel happiest at Grandma Wentworth's. She sets them down in her
kitchen to a hot meal and then makes them sew on their buttons under
her watchful eye. Sooner or later, usually later, Fanny comes as
instinctively as her children to Grandma's door to report Green Valley
doings.

This particular spring things promised to be unusually lively. But the
rains, though gentle, had been persistent and Fanny was a full two
weeks behind with her news schedule. But if late, her report was
thorough. She dropped wearily into Grandma's soft cushioned kitchen
rocker, slipped her cold feet without ceremony into the warm stove oven
and began:

"Good land! I never see such a town and such people and such weather!
Jim Tumley's drunk again and as sick as death and Mary's crying over
him as usual and blaming the hotel crowd. She says he's a good man and
don't care for liquor at all and that their liking to hear him sing
ain't no reason for getting him drunk and a poor way of showing their
thanks and appreciation, and that they all know that he can't stand it,
him being weak in the stomach that way, like all the Tumleys. Mary's
just about ready to give up everything and everybody, she's that
discouraged.

"Well--that's one mess and now there's Uncle Tony in another. It seems
Uncle Tony sold Seth Curtis a hand axe for a dollar and ten cents. Of
course Seth paid for it like he always does--right away. But you know
how forgetful Uncle Tony is getting. Well, it seems he clean forgot
about Seth paying and sent in a bill for a dollar. And now Seth's
hanging around, wanting his ten cents back and saying mean, smart
things.

"And that lazy, gossiping crowd of worthless men folks was just killing
themselves laughing and making fun of poor Uncle Tony, sitting right in
his very own chairs and warming their lazy feet at his comfortable
fire. Uncle Tony happened to be out and those loafers just started in
and what they said about that kind old man made my blood boil. They
were all mean enough, with Seth egging them on every now and then about
that dime that he was cheated out of. But Mert Hagley was the worst.
Of course, everybody knows Mert's just dying to hog Uncle Tony's
business along with his shop, as if the stingy thing wasn't rich enough
already. Well, when Mert heard about that ten-cent mistake he said