112 THE OLD SUGAR MILL. 



considered; properly understood, it might 

 be held to contain, or at least to suggest, 

 one of the profoundest, and at the same 

 time one of the most practical, truths of all 

 devout philosophy ; but the testiness of its 

 tone was little to my credit. He was a 

 good man, and the village doctor, and 

 more than once afterward put me under 

 obligation. One of his best appreciated 

 favors was unintended and indirect. I was 

 driving with him through the hammock, 

 and we passed a bit of swamp. " There 

 are some pretty flowers," he exclaimed ; " I 

 think I must get them." At the word he 

 jumped out of the gig, bade me do the same, 

 hitched his horse, a half -broken stallion, to 

 a sapling, and plunged into the thicket. I 

 strolled elsewhere ; and by and by he came 

 back, a bunch of common blue iris in one 

 hand, and his shoes and stockings in the 

 other. " They are very pretty," he ex- 

 plained (he spoke of the flowers), " and it 

 is early for them." After that I had no 

 doubt of his goodness, and in case of need 

 would certainly have called him rather than 

 his younger rival at the opposite end of the 

 village. 



