ry--starring the provinces, you know--and I practised on the
natives."

By this time Aunt Anniky was well under the influence of the gas, and in
an incredibly short space of time her five teeth were out. As she came
to herself I am sorry to say she was rather silly, and quite mortified
me by winking at Dr. Babb in the most confidential manner, and
repeating, over and over again: "Honey, yer ain't harf as smart as yer
thinks yer is!"

After a few weeks of sore gums, Aunt Anniky appeared, radiant with her
new teeth. The effect was certainly funny. In the first place, blackness
itself was not so black as Aunt Anniky. She looked as if she had been
dipped in ink and polished off with lamp-black. Her very eyes showed but
the faintest rim of white. But those teeth were white enough to make up
for everything. She had selected them herself, and the little ridiculous
milk-white things were more fitted for the mouth of a Titania than for
the great cavern in which Aunt Anniky's tongue moved and had its being.
The gums above them were black, and when she spread her wide mouth in a
laugh, it always reminded me of a piano-lid opening suddenly and showing
all the black and white ivories at a glance. Aunt Anniky laughed a good
deal, too, after getting her teeth in, and declared she had never been
so happy in her life. It was observed, to her credit, that she put on no
airs of pride, but was as sociable as ever, and made nothing of taking
out her teeth and handing them around for inspection among her curious
and admiring visitors. On that principle of human nature which glories
in calling attention to the weakest part, she delighted in tough meats,
stale bread, green fruits, and all other eatables that test the biting
quality of the teeth. But finally destruction came upon them in a way
that no one could have foreseen. Uncle Ned was an old colored man who
lived alone in a cabin not very far from Aunt Anniky's, but very
different from her in point of cleanliness and order. In fact, Uncle
Ned's wealth, apart from a little corn crop, consisted in a lot of fine
young pigs, that ran in and out of the house at all times, and were
treated by their owner as tenderly as if they had been his children.
One fine day the old man fell sick of a fever, and he sent in haste for
Aunt Anniky to come and nurse him. He agreed to give her a pig in case
she brought him through; should she fail to do so, she was to receive no
pay. Well, Uncle Ned got well, an