254 A COMPOSITE FAMILY 



rise that you 'd jest have ter come to -day," he said, 

 by way of greeting, speaking more rapidly than I 

 had ever heard him. "Is that quick -movin', fidgety 

 young lady along that always shifts about and 

 grabs posies up first and is drefful sorry a'ter- 

 wards?" he added anxiously. "No, I ain't sick. 

 Do I look worriet ? Well, I be, and if you can 

 spare time to set down in the shade a bit in 

 patience, I '11 unfold it ter you. It 's more 'n 

 thirty years ago since I took counsel o' any one, 

 an' then it was of a woman, an' so long as I had 

 her light to go by, things never went altogether 

 wrong; but when she left me I groped along the 

 best I could, and by keepin' her lights in sight and 

 stayin' alone or mostly in the wood path, I allowed 

 I could n't get far astray, and I was happy 

 though sometimes I e'ena'most followed Job's do- 

 ings in the Scripters. But late days som'at 's 

 come that 's upset everythin', and the lights has 

 bobbed about uncertain as the Jack o' Lanterns 

 over the swamp yonder. So I thought, seeing as 

 you read birds' feelin's and the natur' of posies, 

 and talk to yer mare like a sister, maybe you 

 might understand me, for I 'm only a bit of a weed 

 agoin' to seed by the wayside." 



As Time o' Year said "when she left me," he 



