A Daughter of the Land

, you are a dear, but you are too funny! Even a Fourth of July orator would not hav

dollar she was grippi

e little chap knowing he can wheedle his mother into anything, and exactly how to go about it! I won't spend a penny on myself until she is paid, and then I'll make her a present of something nice, just to let her and Nancy Ellen see that I appreciate b

ar began to empty itself, on the platform Kate was introduced by this girl to several young women and men near her age. A party of four, going to board close the school, with a woman they knew about, invited Kate to go with them and because she was strange and shaken by her experiences she agreed. All of them piled their luggage on a wagon to be delivered, so Kate let hers go also. Then they walked down a long shady street, and entered a dainty and comfortable residence, a place that seemed to Kate to be the home of people of wealth. She was assigned a room with another girl, such a pleasant girl; but a vague unea

Street and after a long, hot walk, found the place. The rooms and board were very poor, but Kate felt that she could endure whatever Nancy Ellen had, so she unpacked, and went to the Normal School to register and learn what she would need. On coming from the building she saw that she would

ng to ask h

at beside Kate on the train. "I

to Kate and said briefl

?" stamme

ce in such a hurry you forgot to settle, and

said Kate. "I was so

d hand and hurried past, her face scorched red with shame, for one of

ach day for six weeks. It was not a good beginning, while the end was what might have been expected. A young man from her neighbourhood spoke to her and the girls seeing, asked him about Kate, learning thereby that her father was worth more money than all of theirs put together. Some of them had accepte

d that they had their teachers already engaged, others made no reply. One bright spot was the receipt of a letter from Nancy Ellen saying she was sending her best dress, to be very careful of it,

the Superintendent of the Normal and told him her trouble. He wrote her a fine letter of recommendation and she sent it to one of the men from whom she had not heard, the director of a school in the village of Walden, seven miles east of Hartley, bein

is greeting and his face were decidedly friendly, for him. As they walked down the street Kate was trying wildly to think of the best thing to say when he asked if she had a school. But he did not ask. Then she saw in the pocket of his light summer coat a packet of letters folded inside a newspaper, and there was

the mail,"

if there are any lett

rry now. Here's a list of things Ma wants,

ently raised the letter enough to see that the address was to her. Instantly she lifted it from the others, slipped it up her dress sleeve, and again took her place beside her father until they reached the store where her mother did her shopping. Then he waited outs

well pleased over something but she had no idea what could have happened; she had expected anything from verbal wrath to the buggy whip, so she was surprised, but so happy over having secured such a good school, at higher wages than Nancy Ellen's, that she spent most of her time thinking of herself and planning as to when she would go to Walden, where she would stay, how she would teach, and Oh, bliss unspeakable, what she would do with so much money; for two month's pay would more than wipe out her indebtedness to Agatha, and by ge

. "I wanted a lawn-mower all last summer, and you wouldn't b

ally wanted it, and she has been a m

ld be rewarded with the privilege o

t he decided she did not intend to be saucy, so he said: "No

e, too. They look so nice in pictures, and how one improves a place! I hardly know this is

," said Mr. Bates, and Kate glan

explanation: "Paint every so often

d Kate. "And on the barn, too. It is ev

e, the best of everything was out and in use; not that it was much, but it made a noticeable difference. Her mother greeted her pleasantly, with a new tone of voice, while Nancy Ellen was transformed. Kate noticed that, immediately. She always had bee

ou ran the whole place and did everything yourself, so I t

offer you the palm. Let the good work go on! I highly approve; but

Institute," sa

But you must!

ase, in spite of all of us, just suppose you let me run mine the same w

to Adam's to return the telescope to-morrow, possibly he could tell her. As she hung her dresses in the closet and returned Nancy Ellen's to their

ch sweeter frame of mind than usual. She must have spent almost all she had saved from her school on new clothes. Kate could not solve the problem, so she decided to watch and wait. She also waited for someone to say something about her plans, b

orted; but when he said nothing, she breathed deeply in relief and went on being joyous. It seemed to her that never had the family been in such a good-natured state since Adam had married Agatha and her three hundred acres with house, furniture, and stock. She went on in ignorance of what had happ

her bed lay a dress that was a reproduction of one that she had worn for three years, but a glorified reproduction. The original dress had been Nancy Ellen's first departure from the brown and gray gingham which her mother always had purchased because it would wear well, and when from constant washing it faded to an exact dirt colour it had the advantage of providing a backgro

e, by any means. Knowing that the dress would be an innovation that would set her mother storming and fill Kate with envy, which would probably culminate in the demand that the goods be returned and exchanged for dirt-brown, when she reached home Nancy Ellen climbed from the wagon and told her father that she was going on to Adam's to have Agatha cut out her dress so that she could begin to sew on it that night. Such commendable industry met his hearty approval, so he told her to go and he would see that Kate did her share of the work. Wise Nancy Ellen came home and sat her down to sew on her gorgeous frock, while the storm she had feared raged in all its fury; but the goods was cut, and could not be returned. Yet, through it, a miracle happened: Nancy Ellen so appreciated herself in pink that the extreme care she used with that dress saved it from half the trips of a dirt-brown one to the wash board and the ironing tabl

with you?" demanded Kate, ripping a

Kate's surprise. So Nancy Ellen opened her drawer and slowly produced and set upon her bureau a cabinet photograph of a remarkably strong-featured, handsome yo

?" she ask

Nancy Ellen, posses

"Honest to God?" she

said Nan

did you find him

the blackberry patc

You wouldn't touch the raspberries. I had to pick them every one myself. But the minute I turn my back, you go pick a man

"and my pink sun-bonnet. I thin

shoes. At last she roused and looked at Nancy Ellen, waiting in smil

as he IN our blackberry patch? Has he really been to see you, and is he courting you in earnest?-But of COURSE he is! There's t

inished a medical course and he came here to rest and look at Hartley for a location, because Lang thinks it would be such a good on

. "And I bet he's got wings, to

were a foregone conclusion that if y

ed, while Kate saw the smile. She picked u

'foregone conclusion' that if I HAD been here, I'd have picked the

ou!" cried Nancy Ellen. "Wait u

need a demonstration to convince me. He looks from the pic

ed crimson. "You hatefu

n in her drawer, while two big tears ran down her c

er face than the one in that picture. I'm jealous because I never left home a day before in all my

to Hartley hunting a house; and I'm not to teach this winter, so I can have all my time to make my clothes a

s she digested these convincing facts. She swung the heavy braid around her head, placed a few pins

nd I am sure you will. I haven't a doubt that Robert Gray is all you think him, and I am as glad for you as I can be. You can keep house in Hartley for two with scarcely any work at all, and you can have all the pretty clothes you want, and time to wear them. Doctors always ge

ceeding. "Thank you," she said. "That is big and fine of you. But I always have

as Kate started to leave the room. Seeing her go: "I wish you would wait a

ey go some place, and I miss them. I'll do better to meet your man after I be

laughing. "He is an inc

always wondered where we'd find men to reach our shoulders

posite bank. There she stopped, for a young man rounded the bushes and set a foot on the same log; then he and Kate looked straight into each other's eyes. Kate saw a clean-shaven, forceful young face, with strong li

u are my new brother

mly, held it, and kept on looking

she asked, trying

would have belie

ked Kate, leaving t

be two in the same

," said Kate, "besides, woe is me, I didn't wear a pink

ed. "You wouldn't have had the slightest

for a millionaire, riding a milk-white steed, and he must be much taller than y

eedy payment, and for the first time tell her good news about her school. She found that she was