At the Sign of the Jack O'Lantern

ll

issued from his room were not those commonly associated with mourning. Dick, fully accustomed to various n

come in unexpectedly while it's working, the whole thing will be tipped over and the house set on fire. Uncle Israel won't have any lock or bolt on

ia on a table at the head of his bed, with a candle and matches, so that if he feels badly in the night, the proper remedy is instantly at hand. He prepares some of his medicines himself,

speaking for the first

urned Dick. "I've lost my book of vital

thy, with a forced smile,

, Uncle Israel stays all Summ

um height, whose long auburn hair hung over his coat-collar and at times partially obscured his soulful grey eyes. It resembled

in the doorway, peering sharply over her gold-bowed spectacles. It was she who paid the driver,

d palm in a nerveless, clammy fashion. "Pray," he said, in a high, squeaky voice,

ication with Uncle Ebeneezer," exp

eezer?" demand

dead. He's been dead a long time. This is

erfully. "I like your looks a whole lot, an' I'd just as so

, after an ancient fashion, and twisted at the back into a tight little knob, from which the ends of a wire hairpin prot

reless. One had always the delusion that par

g his long, bony fingers through his hair. "I cannot tell you how heavily this blow falls upon me. Dear Uncle Ebeneezer was a distinguished patron of the arts. Our country needs mo

ly upstairs, as one who

-" bega

said Dick. "He's got his rhyming di

should have thought his name was Har

in as me till I hired the carriage at the junction an' he clim' in. He said he might as well come along as we

bonnet. "I'll just put these things in my room, my dear," she said to Dorot

n, as the old lady vanished

. "I don't know who she's married to no

n the hall, and Dick patted her hand soothingly. "Don't yo

rlan, with a certain acidity in hi

lan slammed the library door, and

bed. "See you later." He went out, whistling, with his

u?" asked the lady guest, eyeing Dorothy c

lly. "My husband, Harlan Carr, is Uncle Ebene

ght it of Ebeneezer. I'm Belinda Dodd, relict of Benja

r three children, Uncle Israel Skiles, and you t

ed the visitor, in

Dorothy. "Isn'

's third wife with her two daughters, an' Rebecca's sister's second husband with his new wife an' their little boy, an' Uncle Jason an' his stepson, the one that has fits, an' Cousin Sally Simmons an' her daughter, an' the four little Riley children an' their Aunt Lucretia, an' Step-cousin Betsey Skiles with her two nieces, though I misdoubt their comin' this year. The yo

I'd be. Our minister used to say that there was no discipline for the soul like livin' with folks, year in an' year out hand-runnin', an' Betsey is naturally that kind. Ebeneezer always lived p

d Dorothy, her white lips scarcely

r folks around you. I've heard of such, comin' from the city. Why, I knew a woman that lived in the city, an' she said she didn't kno

assion of anger. "I don't want anybody

ifference in my spendin' the Summer here, especially when I'm fresh from another bereavement, but if yo

the words. "If you can keep any more peopl

in' of unsound mind at the last has willed the house to strangers who refuse to open their doors to the blood relations of poor dead Rebecca. That's all I can do an' I can't promise that it'll work. Ebeneezer

got smallpox here, or diphtheria, or a lunatic asylum, or anything you like. Tell them

knowed her to go miles in the dead of Winter to set up with a stranger that had some disease she wa'n't familiar with. Dogs would bring others an' only scare a few. Just you leave it all to me. There ain't never no use in borrerin' trouble an' givin' up your peace of mind as secur

y, feeling that the whole burden of the world h

t she allers said was to be mine when she got through with it. Ebeneezer giv

nd,'" retorted Dorothy, conscious t

mine. I don't doubt it'll turn up sometime. An' now, my dear, I'll just begin on them letters. Cousin Si Mart

d Dorothy, "I s

into the kitchen, where for an hour or more she exchanged mortuary gossip with Mrs

iss St. Clair on his right and Mrs. Dodd on his left. Next to Miss St. Clair was the poet, whose deep sorrow did not interfere with his appetite. The twins were next to

ch in reality was not the case. His plate was flanked by a goodly array of medicine bottles, and cups and b

ell aware that she was touching her neighbour's sores

d Mr. Chester, airily spearing another biscuit wit

e Israel, warningly. "There ain't noth

system," resumed Dick, "

ad in the house at all. He et these little straw mattresses, same as you've got, so constant

Israel, who declined to be contaminated by passing

ick, "I'll throw you one. Sufferi

ntly it became evident that Uncle Israel had uncorked a fresh bott

oonful of a thick, brown mixture. "This here cured a Congressman in less 'n half a bott

ar and smacked his lips over it enjoyably. "It seems to be a searchin' medicine," he commented, after an interval o

rtant discovery. He had a long, hooked nose, and was painfully near-sighted, but refused to wear glasses. Just now he sniffed inq

ly, putting his handkerchief to his

tain

lie, his mentor gone, began to eat happily with his fingers. Th

s in composing an ode to the memory of our sainted relative, under whose ho

e table, and by stealthily sticking a pin into Uncle Israel's ankle, produced a violent disturbance, during which the pain-kille

m all the pleasure of hearing it. Art is for the many, not

erent touches to the masterpiece, and to meditate

ters that very night, though morning would have done just as well. When he had gone downhill on his errand of mercy, whistling cheerily

-casings, taking unto herself much dust in the process. She spent half an hour in the stuffy closet, investigating the shelves and recesses, then she got down on her rheuma

o herself, "you've gone a long way toward findin' wh

house by devoted relatives, and rapidly unframed them. In one of them she found a sealed envelope, which s

our worth, as nearly as sordid coin can hope to do. It is all in cash, for greater convenience in handling. I trust you will not spend it all in one store, and that you will, out of your ab

Ebeneeze

"Ebeneezer was a hard man, but he always kep'

turned her attention to the furniture. It was almost one o'clock when Mrs. Dodd

to herself, "but how could he unless his mind w

d mysterious guidance from an unknown source. There was money in the bureau, sure enough, but it was only t

into troubled slumber, "an' to-morrer I'll have it changed. I