a gray tow string,
were the kind in use when she and Gramp began life together; and
although she had accepted corn brooms in due course, for house work, the
cedar broom still held a warm corner in her heart. "A nice new cedar
broom is the best thing in the world to take up all the dust and to
brush out all the nooks and corners," she used to say to Theodora and
Ellen; and when, at stated intervals, it became necessary, in her
opinion, to clean the wood-house and other out-buildings, or the cellar,
she would generally preface the announcement by saying to them at the
breakfast table, "You must get me some broom-stuff, to-day, some of that
green cedar down in the swamp below the pasture. I want enough for two
or three brooms. Sprig off a good lot of it and get the sprigs of a size
to tie on good."

The girls liked the trip, for it gave them an opportunity to gather
checkerberries, pull "young ivies," search for "twin sisters" and see
the woods, birds and squirrels, with a chance of espying an owl in the
swamp, or a hawk's nest in some big tree; or perhaps a rabbit, or a mink
along the brook.

If they could contrive to get word of their trip to Catherine Edwards
and she could find time to accompany them, so much the more pleasant;
for Catherine was better acquainted with the woods and possessed that
practical knowledge of all rural matters which only a bright girl, bred
in the country with a taste for rambling about, ever acquires.

A morning proclamation to gather broom-stuff having been issued at about
this time, the three girls set off an hour or two after dinner for the
east pasture; Mrs. Edwards, who was a very kind, easy-going woman,
nearly always allowed Catherine to accompany our girls. Kate, in fact,
did about as she liked at home, not from indulgence on the part of her
mother so much as from being a leading spirit in the household. She was
very quick at work; and her mother, instead of having to prompt her,
generally found her going ahead, hurrying about to get everything done
early in the day. Then, too, she was quick-witted and knew how to take
care of herself when out from home. Mrs. Edwards always appeared to
treat Kate more as an equal than a daughter. There are children who are
spoiled if allowed to have their own way, and others who can be trusted
to take their own way without the least danger of injury, and whom it is
but an ill-natured exercise of authority to restrict to rules.

The Old Squire was b