se to combat, she never meekly sat down under any
circumstances, great or small.

"Terrible place, indeed; see if _you_ had to provide a home what you'd
have in it. You was never done squarkin' for that stove; some one else
had one like it, an' you was goin' to do strokes w'en you got it. It's
always easy to complain about things w'en you are not the one
responsible!"

Grandma and I decided to go to the kitchen and prescribe for the
stove.

From an idle onlooker's point of view it seemed an excellent domestic
implement in good health; but the beautiful cook averred it would
produce no heat.

"It must be like Bray's," said grandma, "they thought it was no good,
and it was only because of some damper that had to be fixed."

"Yes; and they had a man there to fix it for them; that's the terrible
want about this place, there being no _man_ about it to do anything,"
Dawn said pointedly, looking at Uncle Jake, who was calmly sitting in
his big chair in the corner. He was not disconcerted. A man who could
live for years on a widowed sister without making himself worth his
salt is not of the calibre to be upset by a few hints.

"I've busted up me pants again," cheerfully announced Andrew from the
doorway--misfortunes never come singly. "Dawn, just get a needle and
cotton and stitch 'em together."

"I never knew you when they weren't 'busted up,' and you can get
another pair or hold a towel round you till Carry comes home; she's
got to do the mending, it's her week in the house. I've got enough to
worry me, goodness knows!"

"Dear me!" said grandma, walking away as I once more volunteered to be
a friend in need to Andrew, "w'en people is young, an' a little thing
goes wrong, they think they have the troubles of a empire upon them,
but the real troubles of life teaches 'em different. You are a
good-for-nothink lump anyhow, Andrew. Where have you been on a Sunday
morning tearing round the country?"

Andrew threw no light on the question, and his grandma repeated it.

"Where have you been, I say--answer me at once?"

"Oh, where haven't I been!" returned Andrew a trifle roughly, "I
couldn't be tellin' you where I've been. A feller might as well be in
a bloomin' glass case as carry a pocket-book around an' make a map of
where he's been."

The old lady's eyes flashed.

"None of yer cheek to me, young man! You're getting too big for yer
boots since you left school. If in five minutes you don't tell me
where you've been