o stop the
altercation between the mother and daughters.

"Yes, Gem, of course. But oh! the day you were given to us was a day of
jubilee! While I was lifting you out of that basket, lame leg Joe came
in to make the fire. When he saw me with a babe in my arms he let his
wood fall, and lifted up his arms and opened his eyes in dumb amazement.
And when I told him where I found it, he recovered his speech, and
advised me to send it to the alms-house.

"'Joe,' I said, '_if ever_ you mention alms-houses and babies in the
same breath to me again, you and I will have to part."

"Yet poor old Joe spoke in your interests, grandma," said Gem.

"I know he did, dear, or he thought he did; but my real interest was to
keep my Gem, for she has been the brightness of my life, and not only of
mine, but of Tabby's and Libby's, poor childish old maids, and of
Mopsy's and lame leg Joe's."

"It is because we all love each other so much, and it is such a
happiness to love," said Gem.

"We all loved you, my darling, from the very first. We could not help
it. Ah! you should have seen what a sunbeam you were in our dull house
that day and all days after that. When I took you out of the basket and
set you upon your feet, you tottered all about the room, eagerly
examining all that was new to you; the chip-bottom chairs, the
turkey-wing fans, the peacock's feathers, even poor Joe's crooked leg.
And me and Joe watched you in your little crimson dress, as one watches
some bright-plumed bird, hopping from twig to twig."

"How I wish I could remember that day, grandma."

"You were too young; not more than two years old. But oh! you should
have seen the surprise and delight of Tabby and Libby, when, after they
had made the beds up stairs, they came down to help me to get breakfast.
They were as silly over you as ever you saw children over a new pet
kitten. I thought you would have been pulled to pieces between them,
which was another sign that they ought to have been married twenty years
before."

"Oh, mother!" began Miss Tabby.

"Well, there! I won't say anything more about that. But the way they
talked to you, Gem!"

"'What's your name, little one?' they asked.

"'Gem,' you answered.

"'Who's your mother, baby?'

"'Gamma,' you replied. You had only them two words, my darling--'Gem'
and 'Gamma.'"

"Did you ever afterwards find out who I was, grandma?" inquired the
girl.

"Maybe I did, and maybe I didn't, Gem. Anyway there was no