ner Batterfield appeared before
him.

"'I had to come in town,' said Abner, 'and so I thought I'd step in here
and see about my pay.'

"The librarian looked at him. 'How long were you here?' he asked. 'I've
been told that the library was shut up for two weeks.'

"'I was here for three quarters of a day,' said Abner. 'That's about as
near as I can calculate.'

"The librarian took up a pencil and made a calculation.

"'By the way,' said he, 'you must have done some business. I miss our
copy of Buck's Theological Dictionary; but I find no entry about it.'

"'That was took out as change,' said Abner. 'Five cents for a duodecimo
for a week, and the rest in change. If the woman hasn't brought it back
she owes a week's fine.'

"'Who was the woman?' asked the librarian.

"'I don't know,' said Abner; 'but she has a daughter with plaited hair
and a small sister. While I'm in town I'll try to look 'em up.'

"'In the meantime,' said Mr. Brownsill, 'I'll have to charge you for the
book; and, deducting your pay for three quarters of a day, you now owe
me seventy-five cents. I don't suppose there's any use talking about the
fines I have got down against you?'

"'I don't believe there is,' said Abner.

"The librarian could not help smiling, so dejected was the tone in which
these last words were spoken.

"'By the way,' said he, 'how about your great fight you were talking
about--blackgum ag'in' thunder? How did that turn out?'

"Abner in his turn smiled.

"'Blackgum was split as fine as matches,' said he."

"I can't help feeling sorry for the old fellow," said the Next Neighbor,
when John had concluded his story. "I always have sympathy with great
ambitions."

"And if Joe Pearson had got far enough north," said the Mistress of the
House, "he would have found no eggs, but he might have stumbled over the
North Pole."

"It is a pity the old fellow had to tell his wife," said the Master of
the House. "Women ruin great ambitions by too much common-sense. A great
many of the inventions we now consider necessary would have been utterly
lost to us if some men's brains had not been a little addled. A woman
would have set them straight, and that would have been the end. That is
the reason so few women are inventors; they have too much sense."

"That is a very left-handed compliment," said the Daughter of the House.
"You are always decrying inventions, which is strange. How would you
like to sail a ship without steam?"

"