He picked it up and held it a minute, until he finished what he was saying to mother, and then he looked at it.

Then he looked long and hard.

Then he straightened up and looked again.
"God bless my soul!" he cried.
You see when he was so astonished he didn't know what he was saying, he called on God, just as father says every one does.

I took a side look at mother.

Her face was a little extra flushed, but she was still smiling; so I knew she wasn't angry with me, though of course she wouldn't have shown the thing herself.