box;
for while she was talking the free-and-easy young gentlemen had been
helping themselves.

"Thank you very much, ma'am, for my cookie. I won't forget to call
to-morrow." And little Briggs shook hands with as innocent a face as if
his jacket pocket was not bulging in a most suspicious manner.

"You'll get your death a cold, Hetty," called Miss Jerusha, and, taking
the hint, Charley promptly ended the visit.

"Sheer off, fellows. We are no end obliged, ma'am, and I'll see that
Briggs isn't put upon by sneaks."

Then the boys ran off, and the old lady retired to her parlor to sink
into her easy-chair, as much excited by this little feat as if she had
led a forlorn hope to storm a battery.

"I'll fill both those big tins to-morrow, and treat every one of the
small boys, if I'm spared," she panted, with a decided nod, as she
settled her cap and composed her neat black skirts, with which the wind
had taken liberties, as she stood on the steps.

"I'm not sure it isn't our duty to make and sell good, wholesome lunches
to those boys. We can afford to do it cheap, and it wouldn't be much
trouble. Just put the long table across the front entry for half an hour
every day, and let them come and get a bun, a cookie, or a buttered
biscuit. It could be done, sister," said Miss Jerusha, longing to
distinguish herself in some way also.

"It _shall_ be done, sister!" And Miss Hetty made up her mind at that
moment to devote some of her time and skill to rescuing those blessed
boys from the unprincipled Peck and his cockroach pies.

It was pleasant, as well as droll, to see how heartily the good souls
threw themselves into the new enterprise, how bravely they kept each
other up when courage showed signs of failing, and how rapidly they
became convinced that it was a duty to provide better food for the
future defenders and rulers of their native land.

"You can't expect the dears to study with clear heads if they are not
fed properly, and half the women in the world never think that what
goes into children's stomachs affects their brains," declared Miss
Hetty, as she rolled out vast sheets of dough next day, emphasizing her
remarks with vigorous flourishes of the rolling-pin.

"Our blessed mother understood how to feed a family. Fourteen stout boys
and girls, all alive and well, and you and I as smart at seventy one and
two, as most folks at forty. Good, plain victuals and plenty of 'em is
the secret of firm health," respond