i68 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



cloth, an' thar was another table-cloth." Then, 

 after enumerating all the viands, none of which 

 she had forgotten, she went on to say, impressively, 

 drawling out the words, " An' then. Miss Scott, 

 we had silly-bubs an' silly-bubs." To the poor 

 soul whose diet from year's end to year's end was 

 hog and hominy, spread on a bare deal table, with 

 a " mess of greens " now and again, one can 

 imagine the impression made by the table-cloths 

 and the syllabubs. 



Old Uncle Tommy H was distinguished 



in that he owned one book besides the Bible. It 

 was an old copy of Thomas a Kempis, which he 

 read diligently. To be sure he was much dis- 

 turbed one day when Mrs. Scott picked up the 

 volume, astonished to find him so absorbed. 

 " Please don't lose my place, mum," he plaintively 

 said. Uncle Tommy's visits were long ones, and 

 we were sometimes too busy to devote ourselves 

 to his entertainment, to reply to his innumerable 

 questions. Mr. Devereux went out to meet and 

 head him off early one morning, when we were 

 all particularly busy. Being a bit of a wag, he 

 said, "Excuse us, now. Uncle Tommy; we are 

 having family devotions." At this Uncle Tommy 

 hesitated, and then the interrogatory came, 

 " Wall, Mr. Deboro, who op-pe-rates ? " 



So tame were the wild turkeys that they fed in 

 the woods near by, and once, in my absence, Mrs. 



