, "Now, Miss Mason, let me read your poetry
for you, as they do it in the city."

Huldy hesitated, holding the slip of paper between her fingers, "Oh!
that ain't fair," said Strout. "I've set you a good example, now you
mustn't squeal. Come, walk right up to the trough."

"I'm no pig," protested Huldy.

As Strout leaned over to take the paper he said in an undertone, "No,
you are a little dear;" whereat Huldy's face flushed a bright crimson.

Strout cleared his voice and then read:

"Come wreathe your face with smiles, my dear,
A husband you'll find within the year."

This was greeted with laughter, clapping of hands, and cries of "Who is
it, Huldy?"

The Professor looked at Huldy inquiringly, but she averted her eyes. He
leaned over and said in an undertone, "May I keep this?"

Huldy looked up and said in a tone that was heard by every one at the
table, "I don't care; if you like it better than that one about the
bumblebee you can have it."

The Professor then turned to Quincy and said, "Perhaps Mr. Sawyer will
oblige the company by passing his poetry along, as they do it in the
city."

Quincy answered quickly, "Why, certainly," and handed the slip to his
left-hand neighbor, who chanced to be Miss Seraphina Cotton, who was the
teacher in the public school located at Mason's Corner.

She prided herself on her elocutionary ability, and read the following
with great expression:

"Though wealth and fame fall to my lot,
I'd much prefer a little cot,
In which, apart from care and strife,
I'd love my children and my wife."

Strout laughed outright.

"By the way, Mr. Sawyer," said he, "have you seen any little cot round
here that you'd swap your Beacon Street house for?"

"I've got my eye on some real estate in this town," said Quincy, "and if
you own it perhaps we can make a trade."

'Zekiel Pettengill passed his slip to Lindy Putnam; it ran thus:

"'An honest man's the noblest work of God,'
No nobler lives than he who tills the sod."

This was greeted with shouts and cries of "Good for 'Zeke!" while one of
Cobb's twins, who possessed a thin, high voice, cried out, "He's all
wool and a yard wide."

This provoked more shouts and hand-clapping, and 'Zekiel blushed like a
peony.

Lindy Putnam handed her slip to Quincy; he took in its meaning at a
glance and looked at her inquiringly.

Strout saw the glance and cried out, "Oh, come, now; don't leave out
nothin'; r