itch and I
was born; and a ribbon with Linkern's picture on it; and breast pins
with hair in 'em; and sticks of cinnamon. And by and by she went to her
closet and got some peach leather, which Mitch had never seen before.
And he thought it the best stuff he ever et. You make it by rolling
peaches into a thin leather and dryin' it, and puttin' sugar and things
in it. It's waxy like gum and chews awful well.

[Illustration: Grandma Showing her Treasures]

Then she got down her scrap book and read little things that Ben
Franklin said, about temperance and work, and study, and savin' money.
She asked Mitch if he had read the Bible through, and Mitch said yes,
for he had. "You haven't," she said to me--"if you'll read it through,
I'll give you five dollars." So I promised. "Now," she said, "you can do
it by fall if you're industrious. Work and play--play hard and work
hard, for the night cometh when no man can work." I never saw Mitch
happier than he was this afternoon. The time slipped by, and finally
grandma said to me to bring in the cows, she was goin' to milk. We began
to wonder how we'd get back to town. But we went for the cows just the
same and watched grandma milk, and helped her with the buckets, and
watched her feed her cats. Then we said we must go, at least after
supper. "How can you go?" said grandma, "you can't walk to-night. It's
too far. Willie Wallace is going in town early with a load of corn, and
you can ride." That suited us. So we had supper, fried mush and eggs and
milk. Then we had prayers; and grandma put us in the west room up-stairs
where there was a picture of Alfaratta, the Indian maid. And I think we
would be sleepin' yet if she hadn't come in to wake us.

We rode in with Willie Wallace and got to the school yard before eight
o'clock. Mitch and I agreed that this was the longest school day we ever
spent.

CHAPTER VIII

School interfered a good deal with huntin' treasure, but things happened
now and then to let us out. The professor looked exactly like Tom
Sawyer's teacher, except ours wore a beard. He seemed awful old and kind
of knotty and twisty. I think he must have been near sixty, and he had
been a preacher, and lost his pulpit and so turned to teachin'. We could
see he was pretty rusty about a lot of things. You can't fool boys much,
and you couldn't fool Mitch and me.

[Illustration: Professor Taylor]

The professor's name was Professor Taylor. He had a low forehead with