m prices. ng. Bring in new. Don’ nall cost. 8. won't)? (every day. ~ dollars a week apiece, i Soars. thing in the morning. Jest’s I tell you. All day long they come and go— Pittypat and Tippytoe, Footprints up and down the hall, Playthings scattered on the floe=d . a dozen times a day, they troop, demanding bread—= _ Only buttered bread will do, Tnches thick with suzar, tool, ver yet have I said: “No, Bomteimes interrupt: their play With an’ internecing spat; - i: e thousand wating thitigs ~ Bvery day recurrent brings! _ Hands to scrub and hair to brush, Search for playthings gone amiss, Many a murmuring to hush, ; Many a little bump to kiss] Life's indeed a fleeting show, ~ Pittypat and Tippytoe! And, when day is at an end, There are little duds to mend} : yawnat Who but you could work such woe, ‘Pittypat and . Hppytoe! oe v But when comes this thonght to mes +%Some there are that childless dg 6 Stealing to their little beds, With a love I cannot speak, Wenderly I stroke their heads, Fondly kisseach velvet hk God help those who do not kfiow:™ : a Pittypat or Tippytos! Hh. .- | ‘On the Hoor, along the hall, - Rudely traced upon the wall, © : Thera are proofs: in every kind Hora . 1 Of the havoe they Have wrotight. And upon my heart youd find Just such iendpmarin it ou sought. ; : By HELEN FORREST ‘GRAVES. : —~WON'TI” de- dh// clared. Matty Mills, =» “Martha, hush!” : Zreproved Mrs. No Mills, holding up a T= yellow forefin © of chiding, ‘Is NSy' that the way to Ci Martha!” SWell, T' can’t. help itl? tty. sputted +tWe are cramped and cornered ahd hardworked enough already, aren't ithout taking boarders. for conven ek? And it is bad enough to pieced carpet and mended cur-{: and broken-edged crockery without other people finding i out. No, I “Martha, hugh” reiterated Mra. Mills, © #We don’t get a chance to earn money Four gentlemen, at three | m mukes twelve ‘And twelve dollars is twelve It's just as I tell jou, Martha, u must give up your room~—"" My Taom isn't fit for a squidgel to eep in.’ ‘And go to Aunt Betsy Billingses to leep while Mr. Belford is here.” tty tossed a pretty head, all a-glit- ith short-cut auburn curls. : ST won't!” she repeated. won't” expect,” composedly went on Mrs. t‘they’ll be here to-morrow mora- Doctor Pounce and Mr. Laselle dollars. <1 won't! will have the parlor, Mr. Cushing will “the big bedroom and Mr. Bel rd will have your room. ‘They'll ; fo _probably arrive before breakfast. I want you to catch half a dozen broilers and shut ’em up in the three-cornered 50. they'll be ‘handy to kill first I'll mix up some iit, and there's the blackberry : jam, - told the city folks like jam with: heir breakfast.” _ “But, mother,” cried Matty, Jim! there" 3 We're expecting Jim every day ~ —and what's is poor Jim to do?” +Jim can make out 'most any way," Mrs. Mills, indifferently; y only brother!” ‘pleaded Matty. | | the only son you've gotl he's been out West a year!” li, risk Jim,” ‘observed Mrs. Mills, aps he. Won't come. , And if he does, he Il manage somehow. I don’t feel as if 1'd oughter lose this ‘chance of naking a little “money.” o ¢Mother—’ ‘Now, Martha, you Bush; an’. do My mind's mado up, ‘don’t calculate to changeit!” Matty Mills went down to ‘a certain ite nook of hers behind the barn, here the little brook gurgled away un- der the branches of a Supesh old butter | to be poor, without ‘exposing our: to all the old ministers in the I wish there wasn’t any con- | : tho mother hadn't put all Her ‘monéy Th the Bank. the. ‘week : - before it And |: :{ most miser: you—" {her'n. ‘|'way, his name's Beresford, not Belford, | as I s'posed i} was—that he used to visit +4 simply won’t : J if and two bright tears on her cheeks. : Proud to ‘make your acq An {| I'm sure: but I didn’t noways Tleast! I'll ; “dreckly, if you'll just lead yo down to thexbarn at the foot of “it hay and oats handy. | Where is the child? 1 do b’levé ‘she's’ | gone to Aunt Betsy Billings y _ #] Just like Martha. “| ealculatori? if distant as her perturbed. ‘mother imag- '{ up stairs, and, lighting the old lantern, | sat down to read. | step on the threshold outside. : 8 '| oh, Jim! Don’t be frightened, it's me— ‘| Matty.’ I'm hiding from mother. We've “had a difference of opinion. i bight wrested bird, on fhe floor of the. for going to seep at Aunt Betsy’s,- A HY on ‘rose, ‘orange-gold and glittering through the branches of the butternut tree, Matty was still sitting there, her elbws resting on her knees, Poor girl] She: fadgied - herself the ble being in the’ world. ¢‘Mr. Belford, eh?” Mrs. Mills had come to the door i ina bewildered way. . you before to-morrow morning. © Rid over a-horseback, did you? Oh, no, it ain't no inconvenience to me-—not th get you a bite o { We don’t keep no’ boy, but yowil find She neve! Matty Mille, however, was Bo P Ted. She had slipped in at the back door J of the barn, patted the red cow who. stood ruminating in her stall, made her- self a cosy little nest in the fragrant hay Suddenly there came a hesitating foot- | The door opened. Matty started: from her book. She leaned over the. big] beam, all fringed with bay, which made the partition of her impromptu divan. Who's there?! she called. “Jim— Mother has taken four horrid, stupid ministers to board . for a week—it's some kind of convention, Jim—and—Oh, do wait a minute!” . She swung herself lightly over the beam and alighted, like a fluttering, On, Jim, if you only knew—"’ “yl bog your pardon,” spoke ‘a quiet, composed voice,in the decp, well-modu- lated tones that bespeak much practice, ‘but I think there must be some mis-: take. Mrs. Mills sént me here to put up my horse. I'm afraid I am one of the ‘four bond ministers.’ Matty caught up ‘the barn lantern and held it on a level with his face. *‘Why,” she exclauned, vs Mr. Beresford 1” “That is my name. And you are Matty Mills,” said a stranger, a sudden light of recognition illuminated his face. «But, if 1t is sn allowable question— ‘how on earth came you here?” 4¢In the most natural way in the world. 1 live here. And youl” «I am here to attend the convention.” | Mr. Beresford 1” + ¢sMiss Mattyi? + $tAre you oe miinfster?® sede ‘I have that honor, Miss Matty.” » Ha “6¢Tf can't be possible!”” : - $Why shouldn’t it be possible?’ + Al- though you, perhaps, were not aware of’ it, 1 wis a theological student wie 1 I ‘met you in Massachusetts. Yes, Miss Matty,” with a mischievous nod of the ‘head, ‘4t’s ‘an incontrovertible fact. I. am one of the four horrid ministers.” _ Matty lowered her lantern. ssMay I ask your errand at the barn$” said she, in an altered voice, ¢Though perbeps my mother sent you to find el? Pap “No. She told me to come here to put up my hotke; he is waiting out- side.” ‘$:Oh, peor fellow, he must be very tired!” said Matty, hurriedly, “hanging the lantern ona hook. : “Open the big door, Lead him into onoor the empty stalls. Not that side. = Bassie is there— the cow—and she isn’t used to horses.” With quick, deft hands, the girl tossed down an armful of hay into the manger and showed Mr. Beresford where to find the painted pail wherewith to bring water from the well, and then leaving the lantern as a uide, she vanished. Mr, Beresford smiled quietly as he made his horse comfortable, and then re- turned to the honse, where Mrs, Mills ‘had prepared an appetizing repast. But when he went to bed at ten o'clock there was no sign of Matty’s return, Mrs. Mills herself hurried over to Aunt Betsy's house in the morning. 1 “Where's Martha?’ said she. her.’ »” x “+