, an' now he's talkin' about buildin' in the
spring. I knowed he had money, but he never mentioned buildin' before,
an' I always thought it was bekase he 'sposed likely we'd have to move
on, some time. 'Pears now as if we can settle, an' live like other
folks, after all these years. I knowed ye didn't want me to talk, but
I had to tell you! When you ast us to the weddin', and others began
comin' round, says I to Josiah, 'Won't she be glad to know that my
skirts is clear, an' I did as well as I could?' An' he says, 'That she
will! An' more am I,' says he. 'I mighty proud of you,' says he.
Proud! Think of that! Miss Stanton, I'd jest wade fire and blood for
you!"

"Oh my dear!" said mother. "What a dreadful thing to say!"

"Gimme the chanct, an' watch if I don't," said Mrs. Freshett. "Now,
Josiah is proud I stuck it out! Now, I can have a house! Now, my
children can have all the show we can raise to give 'em! I'm done
cringin' an' dodgin'! I've always done my best; henceforth I mean to
hold up my head an' say so. I sure can't be held for what was done
'fore I was on earth, or since neither. You've given me my show, I'm
goin' to take it, but if you want to know what's in my heart about you,
gimme any kind of a chanct to prove, an' see if I don't pony right up
to it!"

Mother laughed until the tears rolled, she couldn't help it. She took
Mrs. Freshett in her arms and hugged her tight, and kissed her mighty
near like she does Sarah Hood. Mrs. Freshett threw her arms around
mother, and looked over her shoulder, and said to me, "Sis, when you
grow up, always take a chanct on welcomin' the stranger, like your maw
does, an' heaven's bound to be your home! My, but your maw is a woman
to be proud of!" she said, hugging mother and patting her on the back.

"All of us are proud of her!" I boasted.

"I doubt if you are proud enough!" cried Mrs. Freshett. "I have my
doubts! I don't see how people livin' with her, an' seein' her every
day, are in a shape to know jest what she can do for a person in the
place I was in. I have my doubts!"

That night when I went home from school mother was worrying over the
blue goose. When we went to feed, she told Leon that she was afraid it
was weak, and not getting enough to eat when it fed with the others.
She said after the work was finished, to take it out alone, and give it
all it would eat; so when the horses were tended, the cows milked,
everything watered, and th