u, Abner," said Mrs. Rogers. "Thet nevah.
hurt nobody yit. It's stayin' so much in them damp woods. You're
gittin' peaky ez a sick kitten, an' saller ez a punkin; you'll be down
with fevers an' agers nex'. You need dosin' on boneset an'
life-evehlastin', an' I'll brew you a cupful this very night. Drink it
bilin' hot, then soak yer feet in hot watah with a lot o' mustard
pounded up in it; then go to bed an' sweat it out, an' you'll be all
right by mawnin'. Thar's nothin' lak a good sweat to drive fevers an'
agers outen the systum."

Abner thanked his kindly hostess, but could not help laughing secretly
at her diagnosis and prescription. "Truly," thought he, "it's but a
step from sentiment to bathos. 'Fevers an' agers' instead of
disappointed love! Boneset tea and a mustard foot-bath for a broken
heart! I really must pull myself together."

This perfect unconsciousness of the simple household was helpful to the
young man. Furthermore, his work necessitated his living much out of
doors, and this helped him still more; for none but those who have the
unseeing eye and the unappreciative heart for the beauty of woods and
fields, summer sunshine, glinting stream, and joyous bird notes, can
long be wholly without benefit from nature's ministry. Thus Abner had
within reach two mighty remedies for sadness--the balm of nature's
beauty, and the bracing tonic of hard work.

For some time he kept aloof from Oaklands; not only because of Abby,
but because, when in Betsy's presence, certain tones of her voice when
speaking to him, and a wistful look in her eyes, troubled him with a
vague, half-conscious sense that she, young though she was,
comprehended his trouble.

In July, Abby, taking advantage of the proffered companionship of a
family who were returning to Virginia, went for a protracted visit.
After arriving in Norfolk, she decided to make her home with a cousin
there. It was many a day before Abner Dudley saw her again.

CHAPTER IX.

THE GREAT REVIVAL

In the summer of 1801, Cane Ridge became a storm-center of the great
religious agitation which at that time was sweeping over the Western
States.

In the spring of that year, Barton Stone, leaving his Bourbon County
churches for a time, had gone to southern Kentucky to attend a meeting
conducted by McGready, McGee, and other noted revivalists, upon the
edge of a barren tract in Logan County where multitudes encamped, and
where worship was in progress in some p