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HOME AND FLOWERS 



"Just over the hill/'' answered Bob. 

 '^Some o' these days I'll coax Miss Betty 

 to let you go over to my house. You'll 

 like my mother, . I know. She's one o' 

 the jolly kind. An' she'll like you, I'm 

 sure. I've heard her say a good many 

 times she wished she had a little girl. 

 You see, we're all boys." 



"Oh, that'll be so nice!" cried Mary. 

 ^^But ma^^be Aunt Bett}^ won't let me go. 

 I'd be afraid to ask her, yet awhile." 



"I'll fix that," said Bob, who evidently 

 felt quite sure of his influence with Miss 

 Betty. "By'ni'b}^, when blackberries get 

 ripe, we can go berryin' over on the ledge 

 lot. That's lots o' fun." 



"Mary ! Ma-ry I" It was Miss Betty's 

 voice calling sharply from the wood-shed 

 door. "Be you^a-goin' to set out there 

 ajl day? I thought you wanted to do 

 suthin'. Them chickens hain't had a 

 mouthful to eat this mornin', an' I guess 

 they'd go without all day afore you 

 thought of 'em." 



"I'll have to go," said Mary. "I hope 

 you'll come over real often," she added, 

 as she started for the house. "It'll keep 

 me from being lonesome if I think I've 

 got a friend, I'm sure, and you've prom- 

 ised you'd be one, you know." 



"I shan't go back on my word," said 

 Bob. "I ain't one o' that kind. If Miss 

 Betty don't use you well, you let me know, 

 an' I'll stick up for you. I'd tell her what 

 I thought of her, if she got to bein' too 

 cranky." 



Mary wondered if it would make a great 

 deal of difference with Miss Betty if Bob 

 were to give her a piece of his mind. She 

 didn't believe it would. She went to the 

 house, and Bob started off on a boy's trot 

 across-lots, whistling. 



Chapter IV. 



"I'd like to know where you've be'n, 'n 

 what you've be'n doin' all this time," de- 

 manded Miss Betty, when Mary made her 

 appearance in the house. 



"I was in the orchard," answered Mary. 



"I've been getting acquainted with that 

 Hart boy. I like him ever so much. He's 

 a real nice boy, isn't he?" 



"He's nice enough 's fer's I know," an- 

 swered Miss Betty. "He ain't as sassy 'n' 

 impident as most boys, that's one thing in 

 his favor. But I never took much stock 

 in boys — or girls, neither, f er that matter," 

 she added. "I'd try dretful hard to get 

 along 'thout 'em, 'n' I ruther guess I'd 

 make out to do it." 



"Can't I help you wash the dishes ?"- 

 asked Mary. 



"Wash the dishes!* exclaimed Miss 

 Betty. "D'ye s'pose I leave my dishes set- 

 tin' 'round till this time o' day ? I ain't 

 shif'less enough for that. What d'ye think 

 I was doin' all the time ye was gabbin' 

 with Bob Hart? I was doin' up my 

 mornin's work, an' if ye c'n see any of it 

 left to do, I'd like to have ye p'int it out 

 to me. You'll find out that I don't let 

 work hang on all day, as some folks do. 

 I have to work fer my livin'." 



"I'm willing to work for mine," said 

 Mary. "I'd like to do enough to pay my 

 way. If you'd only tell me what to do — " 



"Hain't I told you the chickens need 

 feedin'? Ef ye want to do somethin' so 

 bad, why don't ye 'tend to to 'em, 'stid o' 

 standin' round, 'n' talkin' ?" « ^ 



Mary fed the chickens, and hurried back 

 to the house, hoping her aunt would give 

 her some other task to perform. 



"Can't I take care of my room?" she 

 asked. "I know how to sweep, and dust, 

 and pick up things. Mother learned me 

 how." 



"Indeed!" exclaimed Miss Betty, with 

 scornful emphasis. "Ef she knew how 

 to do them things as they orter be done, 

 she wa'n't like any o' the rest o' the 

 Grahamses. They was al'ays a lazy, shif- ^ 

 less set." 



"My mother wasn't lazy," said Mary. 

 "She worked hard. She—" 



"Don't you go to talkin' back to*me," 

 said Miss Betty. "I hain't said, in so 

 many words, that she was lazy, but what 

 I did say, an' what I say ag'in, is, that 



