his head out.

"'Oh,' cried Toby, 'you married me to the--Ogress!'

"'You don't say so!' cried the minister.

"'Yes, I do! What shall I do? She is waiting for my grandchildren, and
the soup-kettle is on!'

"'Wait a minute,' said the minister. 'In a matter of life and death,
it is permitted to light a lamp on a Fast Day. This is a matter of
life and death; so I will light a lamp and look in my Encyclopaedia of
Useful Knowledge.'

"So the minister lit his lamp, and took his Encyclopaedia of Useful
Knowledge from the study shelf.

"He turned over the leaves till he came to Ogre; then he found Ogress,
and read all there was under that head.

"'H'm!' he said; 'h'm, h'm! An Ogress is an inconceivably hideous
creature, yet, like all females, she is inordinately vain, and is
extremely susceptible to any insinuations against her personal
appearance! H'm!' said the minister; 'h'm, h'm! I know what I will
do.'

"Now it was one of the laws in Pokonoket that nobody should have
a looking-glass but the minister. Once a year the ladies of his
congregation were allowed to look at themselves in it; that was all. I
do not know the reason for this law, but it existed.

"The minister took his looking-glass under his arm, and came out of
his house. 'Now, Toby,' said he, 'take me home with you.'

"'But I am afraid she will eat you, sir,' said Toby doubtfully. 'You
are not as thin as I am.'

"'I am not in the least afraid,' replied the minister cheerfully.

"So Toby took heart a little, and hastened home with the minister.

"_Link, link, bobolink_! cried the crazy loon as they went in the
door.

"The minister walked straight up to the Ogress, who was standing
beside the soup-kettle, and held the looking-glass before her.

"When she saw her face in all its hideous ugliness, the shock was so
great, for she had always thought herself very handsome, that she gave
one shriek and fell down quite dead."

* * * * *

Letitia gave a sigh of relief, and uncle Jack yawned. "Well, Letitia,
that's all," said he, "only Toby married the real widow, Mrs.
Clover-leaf, the next day, and she made the soup to perfection, and he
had nothing to do all the rest of his life, but to sit in the doorway
beside the crazy loon, and knit stockings for his grandchildren."

"Thank you, uncle Jack," said Letitia gravely. Then she got her square
of patchwork off the table and sat down and finished sewing it over
and over.