kes the peppermint."

"And it comes cheaper," said Mister.

"Mebbe you've been leavin' Tillie work too much in the hot sun out in
the fields with you?" the doctor shot a keen glance at the father; for
Jake Getz was known to all Canaan Township as a man that got more work
out of his wife and children than any other farmer in the district.

"After school, some," Mr. Getz replied. "But not fur long at a time,
fur it gets late a'ready till she gets home. Anyhow, it's healthy fur
her workin' in the fields. I guess," he speculated, "it was her settin'
up in bed readin' last night done it. I don't know right how long it
went that she was readin' before I seen the light, but it was near
morning a'ready, and she'd burned near a whole candle out."

"And mebbe you punished her?" the doctor inquired, holding his hand to
Tillie's temples.

"Well," nodded Mr. Getz, "I guess she won't be doin' somepin like that
soon again. I think, still, I mebbe used the strap too hard, her bein'
a girl that way. But a body's got to learn 'em when they're young, you
know. And here it was a NOVEL-book! She borrowed the loan of it off of
Elviny Dinkleberger! I chucked it in the fire! I don't uphold to
novel-readin'!"

"Well, now," argued the doctor, settling back in his chair, crossing
his legs, and thrusting his thumbs into the arm-holes of his vest,
"some chance times I read in such a 'Home Companion' paper, and here
this winter I read a piece in nine chapters. I make no doubt that was a
novel. Leastways, I guess you'd call it a novel. And that piece," he
said impressively, "wouldn't hurt nobody! It learns you. That piece,"
he insisted, "was got up by a moral person."

"Then I guess it wasn't no novel, Doc," Mr. Getz firmly maintained.
"Anybody knows novels ain't moral. Anyhow, I ain't havin' none in my
house. If I see any, they get burnt up."

"It's a pity you burnt it up, Jake. I like to come by somepin like
that, still, to pass the time when there ain't much doin'. How did
Elviny Dinkleberger come by such a novel?"

"I don't know. If I see her pop, I 'll tell him he better put a stop to
such behaviors."

Tillie stirred restlessly on her pillow.

"What was the subjeck of that there novel, Tillie?" the doctor asked.

"Its subjeck was 'Iwanhoe,'" Mr. Getz answered. "Yes, I chucked it
right in the stove."

"'Iwanhoe'!" exclaimed the doctor. "Why, Elviny must of borrowed the
loan of that off of Teacher--I seen Teacher have it."

Tilli