s. But at dinner when she scolded the boys about the eggs, and
told them I brought the goose eggs for her custard, else there would
have been no pie, father broke loose, and I thought he was going to
whip me sure. He told mother all about the water and the gate, and how
I had to cross, and he said, 'it was a dispensation of Providence that
we didn't have a funeral instead of celebrating Easter,' so I said:

"Well, if you think I came so near drowning myself, when you rejoice
because Christ is risen from the dead, you can be glad I am too, and
that will make it all the better."

The boys laughed, but father said it was no laughing matter. I think
that speech saved me from going on the threshing floor, for he took me
on his lap when I thought I'd have to go, and told me never, never to
do anything like that again, and then he hugged me until I almost
broke. Gracious! He should have seen us going to school some days.
Why, we even walked the top rail when it was the only one above water,
and we could cross the bridge if we wanted to. At least when Laddie or
Miss Amelia was not around, we did.

Leon was so bursting full he scarcely could eat, and Laddie looked
pretty glum when he had to admit he had no eggs; so Laddie had to hand
over the whole two dozen. Leon didn't mind that, but he said if he
must, then all of us should stay in the dining-room until he brought
them, because of course he couldn't walk straight and get them in broad
daylight with us watching, and not show where they were. Father said
that was fair, so Leon went out and before so very long he came back
with the eggs.

I thought until my skull almost cracked, about where he COULD have
gone, and I was almost to the place where the thing seemed serious
enough that I'd ask the Lord to help me find Laddie's eggs, when mother
sent me to the garret for red onion skins. She had an hour to rest,
and she was going to spend it fixing decorations for our eggs. Of
course there were always red and black aniline ones, and yellow and
blue, but none of us ever like them half so well as those mother
coloured, herself.

She took the dark red skins and cut boys, girls, dogs, cats, stars,
flowers, butterflies, fish, and everything imaginable, and wet the
skins a little and laid them on very white eggs that had been soaked in
alum water to cut the grease, and then wrapped light yellow skins over,
and then darker ones, and at last layer after layer of cloth, and wet