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thinking what a chance he had miss
ed, for Elsie Winton was a fine cook
and could maSe two pounds of butter
where nobody ejse coujfl make more
than one pound -and a pint of butter
milk. But it's about Molly Bowen I
A meant to be telling you her that had
"As I was saying, Molly droVe the
cart, and pretty soon folks began to
notice that she wasn't as punctual as
usual. And as for Ed, whenever the
boarders howled for him to make a
kick abbut the victuals, he wasnt
anywheres in sight. The fact is, he
had got into the habit of 'Strolling
ont into the country about the time
when Mblly and .the cart were due,
and,Molly, being only twenty-four,
had a soft spot in her heart which
wasn't proof against the rules and
regulations of the society.
"I don't know how Elsie Winton
' heard about it, but she went right up
in the air. Elsi was forty-three, and
her hopes had soured from being kept
too long. So there was a terrible
i rumpus up at the institution, and they
talked of expelling Molly, but finally
it simmered down and Elsie drove the
cart herself after that.
"Now you can't fight against hu
man nature, as you may have observ
ed, and pretty soon folks began to
understand what was happening. El
sie Winton started on her rounds at
seven in the morning, as regular as
x clockwork, and she didn't get back
before ten. And-about a week after
she had begun to drive the cart we be
"gan to notice that all the young fel
lows in the vJHage had got the early
Tising habit. Ed Green, in particular,
who never used to wake up until he
smelled the bacon frying, .got up as
regular as the sun and started taking
a country walk before breakfast Jim
Rogers, who had been beauing Win
nie Cons'tance before .she joinedthe
society, got interested in birds, and
said that the early morning was the
" best time to observe them. Jennie
White's beau, Ike Shoemaker, who
had always been a good-for-nbthinf ,
sort of fellow, started composing pos-
etry, and he said he had -to be uq,
to salute the sun.
"However, the folks around here,
whb, as you may have observed, are
snoopy, couldn't help noticing that
they all nsed to take the road past
here that leads up toward the institu
tion. And we guessed that some day
or other Elsie Winton would come
home unexpected and raise Cain. She
is a powerful wopian,w4tlUier tongue,
as sou may have noticed.
"We got so interested that nobody
thought very much about anything
else. Bill Wise,, who farms on the
ridge, told us he used to see the young
fellows gossiping with the girls over
the fence that bad been jjut up. It
wasn't much of a fence, beiag com
posed of arbor vitae, which takes
more than 'six weeks to amount to
anything. And I guess the boys
weren't slow.
"Well, to get on, at last the flare-up
came, and in Just the way we bad
looked for. Elsie Winton came back
one morning at half-past nine, and
there were Ike and Ed and Jim hob
nobbing with Winnie and Jenny and
Molly over the arbor vitae, 'And two
or three more of the young fellows
with the girls, too.
"And Molly, being a woman, saw
that it was best to get her tongue in
first.
" 'We're done with your old society,
Miss WJnton,' she said. Ed and I are
going to be married on the 'flrs.t of the
month.' 1,
" 'And Jim and I on the fifteenth,'
put in Winnie Custance, glaring at
Elsie Winton.
"And Ike and I are going to be en
gaged as soon as he makes some
money out of his poetry,' continued
Jenny White.
"Just then Zeke Smith's cart came
up the lane, and Elsie Winton called
to Zeke, 'Come here,' she said.
"Zeke came lumbering along with, a
grin. i
" 'Repeat to me what you hive jii&t
told me said Elsie to Zeke.
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