be merry and not mawkish. Last
Sunday the parson asked, 'How must we love God?' So I said, right out,
'Merrily.' He smiled at that, and took a pinch of snuff, and said,
'That's right,'--you know that's what he says to any thing, if it isn't
too awful stupid: but, after he has said so, he explains it, and then
it turns out to be something else; and he went on to explain that we
must love God as a child loves its father, with veneration; and then I
said some children loved their fathers merrily, and then he laughed
ever so much, and opened his snuff-box wrong side up, and all the snuff
fell on the floor, and then we all laughed:--

'Always a little merry,
And always a little glad.'"

Thus singing, she wound up her exhortation and dragged Hedwig out into
the garden, where she gathered up the clothes on the grass-plot, to
bring them into the house, telling her that they were intended as a
portion of her outfit.

Next evening the teacher came to Buchmaier's house, as usual; but Agnes
forgot all her intended raillery when the first mention of Hedwig's
name brought a deep shade to his brow, and he frankly told her all his
troubles. She now explained to him the state of parties in the commune.
The College Chap, having married the old squire's daughter, of course
belonged to his party, and therefore regarded any associate of
Buchmaier's as his sworn foe; and his animosity was still further
increased by the election of Mat to the committee of citizens, against
himself,--which he ascribed to Buchmaier's efforts.

"Alack-a-day!" said Agnes, in conclusion, "I had it all cut-and-dry
about going to the harvest-home together. But never mind: the College
Chap isn't smart enough to get ahead of me, and Thaddie must help us
make plans, too."

Against this the teacher protested, to Agnes' great surprise. He
obtained her promise, however, to invite Hedwig to come there, and even
to feign sickness as a pretext, and to remain in-doors all day.

Late in the evening the teacher wrote into his notebook,--

"How easy is it to preserve the whiteness of our souls while we shut
ourselves out from human intercourse and construct our own fabric of
things and thoughts! But the moment we approach reality every step is
fraught with dangers, and we find ourselves engulfed in all the
quarrels of faction and of party-strife. I longed to taste the peaceful
joys of these villagers; and here I am in the midst of thei