could no longer squeeze into. It was trimmed with shaggy fur that had
once been white. Ivy admired it so much that when she was not wearing it
out of doors she was carrying it around in the house in a big roll, as
tenderly as if it had been a great doll.

It was an odd little procession that filed past Uncle Billy's house
every day, on the way to the woods for autumn stores. John Jay came
first, with a rickety wagon he had made out of a soap-box and two solid
wooden wheels. He looked like a little old man, with his long coat and
turned up trowsers. Bud came next in his new suit, but he had lost his
hat, and was obliged to wear a handkerchief tied over his ears. Ivy
brought up the rear, continually tripping on her long cloak, and jolting
her white toboggan cap down over her eyes at almost every step.

Nuts and persimmons and wild fox-grapes filled the little wagon many
times, and made a welcome addition to Mammy's meagre bill of fare.

Late one evening John Jay came running up the path all out of breath.
The yellow candle-light streamed out through the cabin window. He
stopped and looked in, sniffing the air with keen enjoyment, for Mammy
was stewing the rabbit he had caught that morning in a snare.

He could see Bud sitting on the floor, with his feet harnessed up as
horses. He was sawing the reins back and forth and remorselessly
switching his own legs until they flew up and down in fine style. John
Jay watched him with a grin on his face.

Presently Mammy, turning to season the stew, saw the black face pressed
close against the window-pane. With a startled shriek she gave the
pepper-pot such a shake that the lid flew off, and nearly all of the
pepper went into the stew.

"Jus' see what you done!" she scolded, as John Jay walked into the house
an instant later. "Next time you come gawkin' in the window at me in the
dark, I'll peppah _you_ 'stid o' the rabbit!"

John Jay hastened to change the subject. "I sole a bushel of hickory
nuts to Mistah Bemis jus' now," he stammered, "an' he's goin' to take
some mo' next week. I'm savin' up to get you all somethin' mighty nice
for Chrismus." He jingled his pockets suggestively; but Mammy was too
busy skimming the pepper out of the stew to make any reply.

* * * * *

One warm, mellow afternoon when the golden-rod was at its sunniest, and
the iron-weed flaunted its royal purple across the fields in the trail
of the Indian summer, John Jay