at matter,
we'll all have to eat off'n oil-cloth Sundays, the same as weekdays,
until I see a more Christian sperit in the house."

She gave the Sunday damask across her lap a pat which showed she was in
earnest; and the rebuked sisters glanced at one another, as if to say:

"Suppose the minister should walk in some Sabbath afternoon and find
oil-cloth on the table, and ask the reason why?"

They one and all determined to take Aunt Nancy's advice and "sew a
button on their lips."

Fortunately, too, the February thaws had already set in, and the
remainder of the winter passed without any severe strain on the
"buttonholes." And at length the welcome spring began to peep forth,
calling to the old folks, "Come out, and grow young with the young
year!"

With the bursting forth of the new springtide the winter's talk seemed
to drop as a withered and dead oak-leaf falls from its winter-bound
branches; and Abe stood once more alive to the blessings of renewed
approval.

Angy went out of doors with Miss Abigail, and puttered around among the
flowers as if they were her own, thanking God for Abe's increasing
popularity in the same breath that she gave thanks for the new buds of
the spring.

The anniversary of the Roses' entrance into the Home drew nearer, and
Blossy suggested that the best way to celebrate the event would be by
means of a "pink tea."

Neither Angy nor Abe, nor in fact half the sisters, had any clear
conception of what a tinted function might be; but they one and all
seized upon Blossy's idea as if it were a veritable inspiration, and for
the time jealousies were forgotten, misunderstandings erased.

Such preparations as were made for that tea! The deaf-and-dumb gardener
was sent with a detachment of small boys to fetch from the wayside and
meadows armfuls of wild roses for the decorations. Miss Abigail made
pink icing for the cake. Ruby Lee hung bleeding-hearts over the
dining-room door. Aunt Nancy resurrected from the bottom of her trunk a
white lace cap with a rakish-looking pink bow for an adornment, and
fastened it to her scant gray hairs in honor of the occasion. Blossy
turned her pink china pig, his lid left up-stairs, into a sugar-bowl.

Pink, pink, pink, everywhere; even in Angy's proud cheeks! Pink, and
pink, and pink! Abe used to grow dizzy, afterward, trying to recall the
various pink articles which graced that tea.

But most delightful surprise of all was his anniversary gift, which was