Down North and Up Along 
woman closed the house and made good her 
escape to the barn. 
Shut the door on us as they would, however, 
we had always an open sesame in the name of 
Mr. Gibbons, and to some of them we bore 
personal messages from him. It was a beauti- 
ful sight to see the hard faces lighten, and sus- 
picion give way to confidence at the mention 
of his name. They eagerly asked news of him, 
and sent back messages of this one and that 
one to whom good or bad fortune had come 
since his departure. 
Human nature is quite as human here as 
elsewhere we discovered upon approaching a 
house set back on a hillside one day. The open 
kitchen door was promptly closed, as, crestfallen 
but not vanquished, we drew near. Presently, 
however, the parlour door was cautiously set 
part way open, and by the time we were fairly 
arrived the inmate was so industriously sewing 
that she did not observe our approach, — this 
notwithstanding that she had been unable to re- 
frain from looking out a moment before to see 
how near we were. The woman was young, 
and she was working upon a bright red merino 
child's dress, elaborately trimmed with lace. 
216 
