cticed cook.

Mr. Leverett took a good deal of interest hearing about the party.
Warren had enjoyed it mightily. And then they besieged him for an
opinion on the question of dancing. Warren presented his petition that
he might be allowed to join a class of young men that was being formed.
There were only a few vacancies.

"I do not think I have a very decided opinion about it," he returned
slowly. "Times have changed a good deal since I was young, and
amusements have changed with them. A hundred or so years ago life was
very strenuous, and prejudices of people very strong. Yet the young
people skated and had out-of-door games, and indoor plays that we
consider very rough now. And you remember that our ancestors were
opposed to nearly everything their oppressors did. Their own lives were
too serious to indulge in much pleasuring. The pioneers of a nation
rarely do. But we have come to an era of more leisure as to social life.
Whether it will make us as strong as a nation remains to be seen."

"That doesn't answer my question," said Warren respectfully.

"I am going to ask you to wait until you are of age, mostly for your
mother's sake. I think she dreads leaving the old ways. And then Betty
will have no excuse," with a shrewd little smile.

Warren looked disappointed.

"But I danced last night," said Betty. "And we used to dance last winter
at school. Two or three of the girls were good enough to show us the new
steps. And one of the amusing things was a draw cotillion. The girls
drew out a slip of paper that had a young man's name on it, and then she
had to pass it over to him, and he danced with her. And who do you think
I had?" triumphantly.

"I do not know the young men who were there," said her father.

"I hope it was the very nicest and best," exclaimed Doris.

"It just was! Jane's cousin, Morris Winslow. And he was quite the leader
in everything, almost as if it was his party. And he is one of the real
quality, you know. I was almost afraid to dance with him, but he was so
nice and told me what to do every time, so I did not make any serious
blunders. But it is a pleasure to feel that you know just how."

"There will be years for you to learn," said her father. "Meanwhile the
ghost of old Miles Standish may come back."

"What would he do?" asked Doris, big-eyed.

Warren laughed. "What he did in the flesh was this: The Royalists--you
see, they were not all Puritans that came over--were going to keep an