,' says Mrs. Jed-wort. 'Be patient, and wait a
while, and it'll all turn out right, I'm sure.'

"'Yes, you always say, "Be patient, and wait!"' says Maria, brushing
back her hair. 'But, for my part, I'm tired of waiting, and my patience
has given out long ago. We can't always live in this way, and we may as
well make a change now as ever. But I can't bear the thought of going
and leaving you.'

"Here the two younger girls came in; and, seeing that crying was the
order of the day, they began to cry; and when they heard Maria talk
of going, they declared they would go; and even little Willie, the
four-year-old, began to howl.

"'There, there! Maria! Lottie! Susie! said Mrs. Jedwort, in her calm
way; 'Willie, hush up! I don't know what we are to do; but I feel that
something is going to happen that will show us the right way, and we are
to wait. Now go and wash the dishes, and set the cheese.'

"That was just after breakfast, the second day of the moving; and sure
enough, something like what she prophesied did happen before another
sun.

"The old frame held together pretty well till along toward night, when
the steeple showed signs of seceding. 'There she goes! She's falling
now!' sung out the boys, who had been hanging around all day in hopes of
seeing the thing tumble.

"The house was then within a few rods of where Jedwort wanted it; but
Bob stopped right there, and said it wasn't safe to haul it another
inch. 'That steeple's bound to come down, if we do,' says he.

"'Not by a dumbed sight, it a'n't,' says Jedwort, 'Them cracks a'n't
nothin'; the j'ints is all firm yit.' He wanted Bob to go up and
examine; but Bob shook his head--the concern looked too shaky. Then he
told me to go up; but I said I hadn't lived quite long enough, and had
a little rather be smoking my pipe on _terra firma_. Then the boys began
to hoot. 'Dumbed if ye a'n't all a set of cowards,' says he. 'I'll go up
myself.'

"We waited outside while he climbed up inside. The boys jumped on the
ground to jar the steeple, and make it fall. One of them blew a horn--as
he said, to bring down the old Jericho--and another thought he'd help
things along by starting up the horse, and giving the building a little
wrench. But Bob put a stop to that; and finally out came a head from the
belfry window; It was Jedwort, who shouted down to us: 'There ain't a
j'int or brace gi'n out. Start the hoss, and I'll ride. Pass me up that
'ere horn, and--'

"Just the