I swan! it makes me laugh now to think of 'em." "Who were they ?" asked Hildegarde, eagerly, for she delighted in the farmer's stories.

"Please tell me about them!" The farmer shook his head, as was his wont when he was about to relapse into reminiscences, and gave old Nancy several thoughtful taps with the whip, which she highly resented.
"Ol' Mis' Meeker," he said, presently, "she was a character, she was! She didn't belong hereabouts, but down South somewhere, but she was cousin to Cephas Tyson, an' when Cephas' wife died, she came to stop with him a spell, an' look out for his children.

Three children there was, little Cephas, an' Myrick, an' 'Melia.

'Melia, she was a peart, lively little gal, with snappin' black eyes, an' consid'ble of a will of her own; an' Mis' Meeker, she was pooty stout, an' she took things easy, jest as they kem, an' let the children--an' 'Melia specially--do pooty much as they'd a mind to.

Wal, one day I happened in to see Cephas about a pair o' steers I was thinkin' o' buyin'.