ent behin'
dis crepe myrtle hedge--so, I say, watch and pray! Pray for insight an'
outsight! An' even so, dey's some wisdoms so fine you can't see 'em tel
you nearin' Home an' livin' on de far side o' life!"

Daddy lived alone in a tiny vine-clad cabin and there were times when he
seemed frail and to need care, and the doctor said he was rheumatic.
This, however, he denied, declining companionship while he insisted that
the sharp pains which occasionally twisted his brow were only growing
pains which he was glad to endure as not having got his growth in his
first childhood, he was "'bleeged to wrastle wid it in de second," and,
"of course," he added, "it comes harder when a man's bones is set."

On days when his pains were bad, he would propel himself around in a
roller-chair, which he called his chariot; and although evidently
suffering, he was never heard to complain. Once, when he seemed almost
helpless, some one asked him how he had got into the chair, and was
quickly silenced by his ready answer, "Gord lifted me in!"

Now, to Daddy clothes were clothes. In dress as in manners, he knew no
obligation of precedent; and as to fashion, the word made him chuckle.

When his pains were unusually severe and it was difficult for him to get
into his own garments, he did not hesitate to clothe himself in one of
the flowing wrappers which his old wife, Judy, long since dead, had
worn.

And thus it happened that while on some days an aged man might have been
seen hobbling about, working among his plants, on others there appeared
to be an old woman propelling herself around in a rolling chair; and
seeing her, his neighbors, with perhaps a chuckle, would remark, "I see
Daddy Do-funny is laid up ag'in!"

Another peculiar habit of the old man was the way in which he took his
bath--a dangerous process, one would think, for a rheumatic, but
harmless, no doubt, to growing pains. Seeing the rain coming, he would
exclaim: "Gord sendeth de rain! He's offerin' me a bath--just or
unjust!" Then donning his "bath-slip," an old wool wrapper of Judy's and
getting into his roller-chair, he would wheel out and sit calmly in the
shower, often closing his eyes and lifting his face as he exclaimed:
"Bless Gord for de sweet drops! Bless Gord for de rain!" and when he had
had bath enough, he would either put up his umbrella or roll his chair
indoors as he felt inclined.

But perhaps we cannot get nearer the soul of the old man than by
recallin