OR, WITH BRAINS, SIR. 287 



CHAPTER V. 



WHAT IT DID COST. 



THE following evening we called on our new friend and 

 neighbor. As we walked up the gravelled path, and ap- 

 proached the little cottage where Mistress Comfort lived, 

 quiet strains from a reed organ, skilfully played, greeted 

 our ears. The door was opened for us by Comfort herself, 

 who looked and spoke a comfortable, cordial welcome. If 

 we had been surprised to hear the music in such an out-of- 

 the-way place, we were still more astonished and delighted 

 on entering the brightly lighted parlor. A two-banked 

 organ, pictures, books, comfortable furniture, and a glorious 

 open wood-fire. Could any city parlor furnish more ? And 

 the lady of the house, did she just step from a glass case, 

 or is this all a dream ? 



" You seem surprised." 



" We are, madam. We thought country people were 

 well not like this rural." 



" You must have got your ideas of the country from the 

 opera, pretty but ignorant shepherdesses, gay with ribbons ; 

 or from story-books, the men bowed down by labor, and 

 the women only capable of gossip and bad grammar." 



