176 FARMING IT 



ing out from the doctor the exact day of her visit, 

 and began to lay plans to make her introduction 

 to her new neighbors memorable. 



So I called a meeting of the neighborhood at 

 my house for a certain evening, and to make it 

 more interesting provided refreshments which 

 included strong coffee, as the affair was weighty 

 and of great importance. The two delightful old 

 ladies arrived, escorted by their servant, who 

 delivered them into my charge with a good deal 

 of formality, during which I bowed over their 

 mitted hands until I felt my backbone creak and 

 then gave them my arm up the steps, while they 

 smiled and turned out their toes gracefully as they 

 minced up the path. 



The two old gentlemen arrived with somewhat 

 rusty but perfectly proper black coats of a variety 

 of basket-cloth popular in the early seventies, 

 double-breasted and with narrow shoulders, and 

 they bowed with fine old-fashioned courtesy to 

 the ladies, and sat upright in the stiff est- backed 

 chairs they could find. Daniel rolled in with a 

 jolly joke which delighted the old ladies, with 

 whom he was a prime favorite. 



After the company had gathered, the nature of 

 the business was disclosed and a great variety 

 of suggestions was offered. Daniel suggested th j 

 purchase of a small, handsome and safe hors^ 

 and phaeton ; the generosity of which proposal 



