we've got to take off our boots
and talk real soft. And Oh, just look at this table-cloth and this
rug! It feels like velvet! and this stool--do you see?--it's got a
cat's foot on every one of its legs. That's to put you foot on, you
know; and, O say, can't we play puss in the corner sometimes if we're
easy?" "G'anma, I can almost smell the roses," said Ruth, patting the
paper.

So with the help of the children the room was christened, everything
examined and praised, and at last the noisy little troop withdrew.
Then Grandmother Lyman, with a sense of exquisite comfort, sank into
the nice, new arm-chair close to the window.

"Like it pretty well, do you?" queried John, as he took another chair
near her.

"Like it? It seems too good to be real. I've thought sometimes that
perhaps in my mansion--heavenly, you know--I should find everything
soft, and bright, and cozy like; but to have a room like this here on
earth, why, John, I can't tell you how thankful I feel. 'Twas lonesome
up garret there, and yesterday I dragged in the old cradle and the
little wheel to make it seem more social like; but the cradle was
empty and broken, and the wheel brought back the old days when I used
to sit and spin, while your father husked corn; so they didn't cheer
me up much. But I never mistrusted what you was doing down here for
me. John, I believe nothing but the Spirit of God could have coaxed
you into this. Don't you think I'll see you a Christian yet before I
die?" and the anxious mother laid her trembling hand on her son's big
brown one.

"Well, mother, I don't know;" then came a long pause, for the farmer,
almost as silent habitually as the fields he tilled, could find no
words to express his feelings.

"I've been feelin' kind of queer lately, and seems as if everything
has changed wonderfully. 'Twas a shabby trick, my putting you up in
that old room, and it troubled me considerably one night, and then
other things kept coming up, till--well--I believe I'm the worst man
on earth. Speaking of being a Christian, I guess likely I might fly
about as easy. I wish I was an out-and-out one; but I tell you what,
mother, there aint a man in town but that would think I pretended it
all so's to make a dollar out of somebody;" and John drew his hand
across his eyes, as though there were tears starting somewhere which
must be warned to keep away from the windows.

Grandmother didn't care if the tears did come in her eyes, for they
were j