what she said was
this: "Libby Anne, I hope you will never be as lonely to see me as I
am right now to see my mother."

Just then a still later consignment of Mr. Braden's supporters drove
past the house gaily singing the same refrain:

"Who's the best man in this town?
Sandy Braden, Sandy Braden."

CHAPTER XII

PEARL VISITS THE PARSONAGE

Mylo--he jest plows--and don't
Never swear-like some folks won't.

_----From "Mylo Jones' Wife."_

THE Reverend Mr. Burrell, whom Mr. Donald recommended to Pearl as a
proper person to consult on the questions that troubled her mind, was
the Methodist minister in Millford. The first year of his pastorate
there he had been alone, Mrs. Burrell having remained "in the East,"
with her own people.

Mrs. Ducker was the president of the Ladies' Aid Society, and given
to serious thinking, so when she read an article in the Fireside
Visitor dealing with the relation of the minister's wife to the
congregation, she was seriously impressed with the fact that the
congregation was suffering every day by not having the minister's
wife on the ground. Mrs. Ducker thereupon decided that she would
bring the matter forward at the very next meeting.

Now, it happened that the "rubberman" came to Millford the very day
before the Ladies' Aid meeting was held, which may seem to be a very
unimportant and irrelevant fact; but it really had a significant
bearing on that meeting of the Ladies' Aid, for little John Thomas
Forrest, dazzled by the offer of three lead-pencils for two rubbers,
sold his mother's only pair, and being a cautious child, and not fond
of disputatious conversation, did not mention the matter to his
mother, but left her to discover her loss herself, which she did the
day of the meeting.

It was a sloppy day in November. Mrs. Forrest had a cold, and she
could not walk away over to Mrs. Ducker's without rubbers. Mrs.
Forrest did not go to the meeting. If Mrs. Forrest had gone she would
have, beyond doubt, raised objections. She always did, and usually
very successful ones.

But when Mrs. Ducker, after the business was over, breathlessly
declared that she thought Mrs. Burrell should come and join her
husband, she found Mrs. Francis and Mrs. Bates quite imbued with the
same idea, for they likewise were subscribers to the Fireside
Visitor. Mrs. Francis also gave prominence to the fact that Mr.
Burrell needed some one to take care of him, for she had seen him