t in some questions about God's language and the kind
of flowers.

"Well, dear," she said, "He spakes Irish t' Irish people and the
charioteer was an Irishman."

"Maybe it was a wuman!" I ventured.

"Aye, but there's no difference up there."

"Th' flowers," she said, "were primroses, butthercups an' daisies an'
th' flowers that be handy t' th' poor, an' from that day to this there's
been flowers a-plenty for all of us everywhere!"

"Now you go to-morra an' gether a basketful an' we'll fix them up in th'
shape of th' Pryamid of Egypt an' maybe ye'll get a prize."

I spent the whole of the following day, from dawn to dark, roaming over
the wild places near Antrim gathering the flowers of the poor. My
mother arranged them in a novel bouquet--a bouquet of wild flowers, the
base of it yellow primroses, the apex of pink shepherd's sundials, and
between the base and the apex one of the greatest variety of wild
flowers ever gotten together in that part of the world.

It created a sensation and took first prize. At the close of the
exhibition Mrs. James Chaine distributed the prizes. When my name was
called I went forward slowly, blushing in my rags, and received a
twenty-four piece set of china! It gave me a fit! I took it home, put it
in her lap and danced. We held open house for a week, so that every man,
woman and child in the community could come in and "handle" it.

Withero said we ought to save up and build a house to keep it in!

She thought that a propitious time to explain the inscription she put on
the card.

"Ah, thin," I said, "shure it's thrue what ye always say."

"What's that, dear?"

"It's nice t' be nice."

CHAPTER IV

SUNDAY IN POGUE'S ENTRY

Jamie and Anna kept the Sabbath. It was a habit with them and the
children got it, one after another, as they came along. When the town
clock struck twelve on Saturday night the week's work was done. The
customers were given fair warning that at the hour of midnight the bench
would be put away until Monday morning. There was nothing theological
about the observance. It was a custom, not a code. Anna looked upon it
as an over-punctilious notion. More than once she was heard to say: "The
Sabbath was made for maan, Jamie, and not maan for th' Sabbath." His
answer had brevity and point. "I don't care a damn what it was made
for, Anna, I'll quit at twelve." And he quit.

Sometimes Anna would take an unfinished job and finish it herself. There
were