lained, whiningly.
"'Rill Scattergood ain't got no way with him. Th' committee's been
talkin' about gittin' another teacher for years; but 'Rill's sorter
_sot_ there, she's had the place so long."

"There's more than a month of school yet--before the summer
vacation--isn't there?" queried Janice.

"Oh, yes," sighed Mrs. Day.

"I'd love to go and get acquainted with the girls," the guest said,
brightly. "Wouldn't you go with me some afternoon and introduce me to
the teacher, Marty?"

"_Me_? Ter 'Rill Scattergood? Naw!" declared the amazed Marty. "I
sh'd say not!"

"Why, Marty!" exclaimed his mother. "That ain't perlite."

"Who said 'twas?" returned her hopeful son, shortly. "I ain't tryin'
ter be perlite ter no _girl_. And I ain't goin' ter 'Rill
Scattergood's school--never, no more!"

"Young man," commanded his father, angrily, "you hold that tongue o'
yourn. And you be perlite to your cousin, or I'll dance the dust out
o' your jacket with a hick'ry sprout, big as ye be."

Janice hastened to change the subject and tune the conversation to a
more pleasant key.

"It is so pretty all over this hillside," she said. "Around Greensboro
the country is flat. I think the hills are much more beautiful. And
the lake is just _dear_."

"Ya-as," sighed her aunt. "Artis' folks come here an' paint this lake.
I reckon it's purty; but ye sort er git used ter it after a while."

It was evidently hard for Aunt 'Mira to enthuse over anything. Marty
volunteered:

"We got a waterfall on our place. Folks call it the Shower Bath.
Guess a girl would think 'twas pretty."

"Oh! I'd love to see that," declared Janice, quickly.

"I'll show it to you after dinner," said Marty, of a sudden
surprisingly friendly.

"You'll hoe them 'taters after dinner," cried his father, sharply.
"That's what _you'll_ do."

"Huh!" growled the sullen youth. "Yer said I was to be perlite, an'
when I start in ter be, you spring them old pertaters on a feller.
Huh!"

"Aw, now, Jason," interposed his mother. "Can't Marty show his cousin
over the farm and hoe the 'taters afterward?"

"No, he can't!" denied Master Marty, quickly. "I ain't goin' ter work
double for nobody. Now, that's flat!"

"Oh, we can go to the Shower Bath some other time," suggested Janice,
apprehensive of starting another family squabble. "I don't know as I'd
be able to hoe potatoes; but maybe there are other things I can do in
the garden. I always had a bi