ith a knife so the edges aren't jagged--to be
all consumed within the hour," she answered with spirit, rising to the
slight challenge in his voice and smile. "And there are other most
complicated things I have discovered that--"

But just here she was interrupted by a sally from around the corner of
the Pike house which streamed out across the Road, headed precisely in
their direction. Eliza was in the lead and held little Teether swung
perilously across one slender hip, while she clasped Martin Luther's
chubby fingers in her other hand. And behold, the transformation of the
young stranger was complete beyond belief! His yellow thatch was
crowned by a straw hat, which was circled by a brand new shoestring,
though it gaped across the crown to let out a peeping curl. Young Ez's
garments even had proved a size too large and the faded blue jeans
"britches" were rolled up over his round little knees and hitched up
high under his arms by an improvised pair of calico "galluses" which
were stretched tight over a clean but much patched gingham shirt. His
feet and legs had been stripped in accordance with the time-ordered
custom in Providence that bare feet could greet May Day, and his
little, bare, pink toes curled up with protest against the roughness of
even the dust-softened pike. Susie May, Billy and young Ez beamed with
pride at their share in the rehabiting of the recent acquisition and
waited breathlessly for words of praise from Miss Wingate and the
Doctor.

"Why, who is this?" asked the Doctor quickly with a most gratifying
interest in his big voice, while Miss Wingate came out of the gate on
to the pavement.

"It's the little missionary boy that the Deacon brought Mother
Mayberry. I guess the Lord sent him, for he's too big to come outen a
cabbage," answered Eliza, and as she spoke she settled the hat an inch
farther down over the curls with a motherly gesture. She had failed to
grasp with exactness the situation concerning the advent of Martin
Luther, but was supplying a version of her own that seemed entirely
satisfactory to the youngster's newly acquired friends.

"Spit through teeth," ventured the young stranger, anxious to display
an accomplishment that had been bestowed upon him by Billy while the
"galluses" were in process of construction a few minutes ago. "Thank
ma'am, please," he hastened to add with pathetic loyalty to some
injunction that had been impressed upon his young mind before his
embarkation up