A SWING IN THE BARN. 21 



urged to take her turn : but she would ribt 

 be persuaded. 



When, " barring all pother, 'twixt one and 

 the t'other," we had all been kings and 

 queens of the swing in our turn, and had 

 had enough of it, we turned our attention to 

 " Egg in the Hat," " Turn the Trencher," 

 " Blindman's Buff," and other juvenile 

 games. 



Our parson was a grave and severe divine 

 a local celebrity as a preacher and worker 

 and we feared he would have lectured us 

 on our lightmindedness and frivolity, for he 

 had begun by patting a bright little girl, and 

 assuring her that " folly is bound up in the 

 heart of a child," and the youngsters all 

 feared lest he should seek to improve the 

 occasion in a more serious way ; but he 

 proved to be what they irreverently called 

 " a jolly old cock." He acknowledged that 

 he had not spent a merrier or pleasanter day 

 for many a year, than this time of enforced 

 relaxation from thoughtful study and hard 

 work on a rainy day in an old farmhouse. 



That was the way we passed a wet day 

 long ago. Of the children of that time 

 some, alas ! are dead ; some are fathers and 

 mothers, and are scattered hither and thither 

 over the wide world. Now, let me tell you 



