nd in a few minutes
turned to see if Mrs. Kew were not ready to come away, when, to our
surprise, we saw that she was talking to the giantess with great
interest, and we went nearer.

"I thought your face looked natural the minute I set foot inside the
door," said Mrs. Kew; "but you've altered some since I saw you, and I
couldn't place you till I heard you speak. Why, you used to be spare. I
am amazed, Marilly! Where are your folks?"

"I don't wonder you are surprised," said the giantess. "I was a good
ways from this when you knew me, wasn't I? But father, he ran through
with every cent he had before he died, and 'he' took to drink, and it
killed him after a while; and then I begun to grow worse and worse, till
I couldn't do nothing to earn a dollar, and everybody was a-coming to
see me, till at last I used to ask 'em ten cents apiece, and I scratched
along somehow till this man came round and heard of me; and he offered
me my keep and good pay to go along with him. He had another giantess
before me, but she had begun to fall away considerable, so he paid her
off and let her go. This other giantess was an awful expense to him, she
was such an eater; now, I don't have no great of an appetite"--this was
said plaintively--"and he's raised my pay since I've been with him
because we did so well."...

"Have you been living in Kentucky long?" asked Mrs. Kew. "I saw it on
the picture outside."

"No," said the giantess; "that was a picture the man bought cheap from
another show that broke up last year. It says six hundred and fifty
pounds, but I don't weigh more than four hundred. I haven't been weighed
for some time past. Between you and me, I don't weigh as much as that,
but you mustn't mention it, for it would spoil my reputation and might
hinder my getting another engagement."

Then they shook hands in a way that meant a great deal, and when Kate
and I said good-afternoon, the giantess looked at us gratefully, and
said: "I'm very much obliged to you for coming in, young ladies."

"Walk in! Walk in!" the man was shouting as we came away. "Walk in and
see the wonder of the world, ladies and gentlemen--the largest woman
ever seen in America--the great Kentucky giantess!"

NEW YORK TO NEWPORT.

_A Trip of Trials_.

BY LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON.

The Jane Moseley was a disappointment--most Janes are. If they had
called her Samuel, no doubt she would have behaved better; but they
called her Jane, and the natural conse