306 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



controversy in favor of both parlies, a highly satisfac- 

 tory decision." 



"There," exclaimed Sarah, whose interest in this 

 point had once more withdrawn her from the shadow 

 of her kitchen door, " didn't I tell you so, Dan ? The 

 cricket's chirp is a sign uv ill luck — the deatli uv a near 

 relation. I knowed I 'uz right I" And she returned in 

 triumph to her seat. 



" Hoi' on, Sary Ann!" said Dan, "dat's no fa'r ! 

 Didn't dat aufer 'low dat de cricket brot good luck, too. 

 Doctor ?" 



"• Yes, he certainly does ; and here's more on your 



side of the question, Dan. Milton, in his ' 11 Penser- 



oso,' chose for his contemplative pleasures a spot 



where crickets resorted, and he speaks of that insect's 



note as the one token of merriment in the place : 



' Where glowing embers tlirough the room 

 Teach light to couuterfeit a gloom, 

 Far from all resort of mirth, 

 Save the cricket on the hearth.' 



" Is that the origin of the popular phrase ' Cricket on 

 tlie hearth V " asked Abby. 



"Really I do not know; Init it is the source from 

 which it is generally (pioted. In the same strain, and 

 more decidedly, the poet Cowper writes, in his ' xVd- 

 dress to a Cricket,' chirping on his kitchen hearth : 



" ' Wheresoe'er be thine abode 

 Always harbinger of good.' 



" The best-known allusion is found in recent litera- 

 ture. Most rea<lfrs of Charles Dickens will remember 



