r!'

"Mrs. Batterfield made no reply to this remark, but in her heart she
said: 'And I am thunder.'

"Early the next morning, long before the ordinary time for opening the
library, Abner was at his post. He took the key from the concealed nail
where Mr. Brownsill was wont to hang it. He opened the door and windows,
as the librarian told him he must do; he swept the floor; he dusted the
books; and then he took the water-pail, and proceeded to the pump hard
by. He filled it, then he sat down and wiped his brow. He had done so
much sitting down and brow-wiping in his life that it had become a
habit with him, even when he was neither hot nor tired.

"This little library was certainly a very pleasant place in which to
earn one's living--ten thousand times more to his taste than the richest
corn-field. Around the walls were book-shelves, some of them nearly
filled with books, most of which, judging from their bindings, were of a
sober if not a sombre turn of mind.

"'Some of these days,' said Abner, 'I am goin' to read those books; I
never did have time to read books.'

"From the ceiling there hung, too high to be conveniently dusted, a few
stuffed birds, and one small alligator. 'Some of these days,' said Abner
to himself, 'I am goin' to get on a step-ladder and look at them birds
and things; I never did properly know what they was.'

"Now footsteps were heard on the sidewalk, and Abner jumped up quickly
and redusted a book upon the table. There entered two little girls, the
elder one with her hair plaited down her back. They looked in surprise
at Abner, who smiled.

"'I guess you want to see Mr. Brownsill,' he said. 'Well, I am in his
place now, and all you got to do is to tell me what book you want.'

"'Please, sir,' said the one with plaits, 'mother wants to know if you
can change a quarter of a dollar.'

"This proposed transaction seemed to Abner to be a little outside of a
librarian's business, but he put his hand in his pocket and said he
would see. When he had extracted all the change that pocket contained he
found that he was the owner of three nickels and five copper cents. He
tried some other pockets, but there was no money in any of them. He was
disappointed; he did not want to begin his intercourse with the
townspeople by failing to do the first favor asked of him. He looked
around the room; he rubbed his nose. In a moment an idea struck him.

"'How much do you want to get out of this quarter?' said he