seized with a cough. "A good man! Good
Lord, ma'am! nobody never found it out but you--durn that cough anyway."
And still troubled by his cough, Mr. Sleighter hurried down the path to
the gate and out on to the road.

Once resolved to break up their home in Eastern Canada, the Gwynnes
lost no time in completing their arrangements for the transportation of
themselves and their household gods and such of their household goods as
Mr. Sleighter advised, to the new western country.

Mr. Sleighter appeared to regard the migration of the Gwynne family to
the western country as an enterprise in which he had made an investment
from which he was bound to secure the greatest possible return. The
principle of exchange which had been the basis of the deal as far as
the farms were concerned was made to apply as far as possible to farm
implements and equipment, household goods and chattels.

"What's the use of your packin' a hull bunch of stuff West an' my
packin' a hull bunch of stuff East. We'll just tote up the stock an'
stuff we have got and make a deal on it. I know all my stuff an' yours
is here. We'll make a trade."

To this Mr. Gwynne gladly agreed. The arrangement would save trouble
and useless expenditure. Hence the car was packed with such goods as Mr.
Sleighter considered especially useful in the new home, and with such
household furniture as the new home lacked and such articles as were
precious from family or personal associations.

"What about the pictures and curtains?" inquired Mr. Gwynne. "We don't
need them."

"Take 'em all," said Mr. Sleighter. "Pictures are like folks. They got
faces an' looks. And curtains--my missis got hers all packed. Curtains
are like clothes--they only fit them that owns them."

"And the piano?"

"Sure thing. Say, a piano in that country is like the village pump--the
hull country gets about it. Take things to eat an' things to wear an'
things to make the shack look pretty an' interestin' and comfortable.
They don't take much room and they take the bareness off. That's what
kills the women folk in the West, the bareness inside and outside.
Nothin' but chairs, table an' stove inside; nothin' but grass an' sand
outside. That's what makes 'em go crazy."

So the car was filled with things to eat and to wear, and things "to
take the bareness off." Somewhere in the car was found a place for
Rosie, the cow, a remarkable milker and "worth her weight in butter," as
Mr. Sleighter said, and