d been brought up to work.
Lyddy and 'Phemie were at once relieved of many hard jobs--and none too
quickly, for the girls were growing thin under the burden they had assumed.

That very week their advertisements brought them a gentleman and his wife
with a little crippled daughter. It was getting warm enough now so that
people were not afraid to come to board in a house that had no heating
arrangements but open fireplaces.

As the numbers of the boarders increased, however, Lyddy did not find
that the profit increased proportionately. She was now handling fifty-one
dollars and a half each week; but the demands for vegetables and fresh
eggs made a big item; and as yet there had been no returns from the
garden, although everything was growing splendidly.

The chickens had hatched--seventy-two of them. Mr. Bray had taken up the
study of the poultry papers and catalogs, and he declared himself well
enough to take entire charge of the fluffy little fellows as soon as they
came from the shell. He really did appear to be getting on a little; but
the girls watched him closely and could scarcely believe that he made any
material gain in health.

With Harris Colesworth's help one Saturday, he had knocked together a
couple of home-made brooders and movable runs, and soon the flock, divided
in half, were chirping gladly in the spring sunshine on the side lawn.

They fed them scientifically, and with care. Mr. Bray was at the pens
every two hours all day--or oftener. At night, two jugs of hot water went
into the brooders, and the little biddies never seemed to miss having a
real mother.

Luckily Lyddy had chosen a hardy strain of fowl and during the first
fortnight they lost only two of the fluffy little fellows. Lyddy saw the
beginning of a profitable chicken business ahead of her; but, of course,
it was only an expense as yet.

She could not see her way clear to buying the kitchen range that was so
much needed; and the days were growing warmer. May promised to be the
forerunner of an exceedingly hot summer.

At Hillcrest there was, however, almost always a breeze. Seldom did the
huge piles of rocks at the back of the farm shut the house off from the
cooling winds. The people who came to enjoy the simple comforts of the
farmhouse were loud in their praises of the spot.

"If we can get along till July--or even the last of June," quoth Lyddy
to her sister, "I feel sure that we will get the house well filled, the
garden will