He would not buy rashly. He looked over the jars of striped sticks,
peppermint drops, chocolate mice, and mixed varieties. Then he sat
down on a nail keg to await the distribution of the mail. He watched
the people standing by for the opening of the delivery window. It was
a rare thing for his family to get a letter, but then they seldom sent
one.

Once in a while a newspaper came from Uncle Obadiah, but only one
letter in two years. Perhaps if he knew what hard luck they were
having he would write oftener. The boy had heard his mother say only
the week before that she wanted to write to Brother Obie, but was no
hand at letters, especially when there was no good news to write.

A thought now came to young Obadiah. He would write to his Uncle
to-morrow, and his brain began fairly to hum with what he would say.
When his time came he invested one cent in a clean white stick of
candy and the remaining two in a postage stamp. "I'll pay two cents
back to pa as soon as I get the answer," he said confidently to his
questioning conscience.

His walk home abounded in exasperations. Never had game appeared so
plentiful. Three separate flocks of prairie chickens flew directly
over his head, a rabbit scurried across his path, and in the stubble
of the ruined grainfields rose and fell little clouds of quail.

"They just know it ain't loaded!" grumbled Obadiah, trudging with his
empty gun.

That night, after Sis had gone to sleep, and his mother had lain down
beside her, cheerfully remarking that bed was cheaper than fire, and
that she was glad there was a good wood lot on the Elbridge place,
Obadiah, behind the sheltering canvas partition that separated the
kitchen from the bedrooms, wrote the following letter:

DEAR UNCLE:--Last year our crops were burned up by the
drought and this year they were swept away by a cyclone and
all the stock was killed, and father will not get his pay
for carpenter work until December. If there was no hole in
the dollar you gave me when I was a baby I would take it and
buy something for Thanksgiving. I wish you would send me a
dollar without a hole in it as soon as you can and I will
send you the one with a hole in it. I would send it now but
I have not got stamps enough. I hope you are well. We are
all well, only ma is homesick. Your sincere nephew,

OBADIAH WADDLE.

P. S.--Please send your answer right to me, because I want
to s