ek was the laziest, 'n' the Edgewood boys
declared he hedn't got no such record for laziness's Jabe Slocum hed;
an' when they was explainin' of it, one way 'n' 'nother, Elder Banks
come along, 'n' they asked him to be the judge. When he heerd tell how
't was, he said he agreed with the Edgewood folks that Jabe was lazier
'n Aaron. 'Well, I snum, I don't see how you make that out,' says the
Pleasant River boys; 'for Aaron walked down, 'n' Jabe run a piece o' the
way.' 'If Jabe Slocum run,' says the elder, as impressive as if he was
preachin',--'if Jabe Slocum ever run, then 't was because he was _too
doggoned lazy to hold back!_ 'an' that settled it!... (No, I couldn't
eat another mossel, Miss Cummins; I've made out a splendid supper.) ...
You can't git such pie 'n' doughnuts anywhere else in the village, 'n'
what I say I mean.... Do you make your riz doughnuts with emptin's? I
want to know! Si says there's more faculty in cookin' flour food than
there is in meat-victuals, 'n' I guess he's 'bout right."

* * * * *

It was bedtime, and Timothy was in his little room carrying on the most
elaborate and complicated plots for reading the future. It must be known
that Jabe Slocum was as full of signs as a Farmer's Almanac, and he had
given Timothy more than one formula for attaining his secret
desires,--old, well-worn recipes for luck, which had been tried for
generations in Pleasant River, and which were absolutely "certain" in
their results. The favorites were:--

"Star bright, star light,
First star I've seen to-night,
Wish I may, wish I might,
Get the wish I wish to-night;"

and one still more impressive:--

"Four posts upon my bed,
Four corners overhead;
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
Bless the bed I _lay_ upon.
Matthew, John, Luke, and Mark,
Grant my wish and keep it dark."

These rhymes had been chanted with great solemnity, and Timothy sat by
the open window in the sweet darkness of the summer night, wishing that
he and Gay might stay forever in this sheltered spot. "I'll make a sign
of my very own," he thought. "I'll get Gay's ankle-tie, and put it on
the window-sill, with the toe pointing out. Then I'll wish that if we
are going to stay at the White Farm, the angels will turn it around,
'toe in' to the room, for a sign to me; and if we've got to go, I'll
wish they may leave it the other way; and, oh dear, but I'm glad it's so
little and easy to move; and t