Then they all laughed, and Fly timidly offered the sick man her flowers.

"What, that pretty posy for me? Bless you, baby, they'll do me a sight
more good than camfire!"

"There," said Maria, joyfully, "now pa is pleased; I know by the sound
of his voice. Poor pa! only think, little girl, a stick of timber fell
on him, and lamed him for life!"

"Yes," said Bennie, "the lower part of him is as limber as a rag."

"She don't sense a word you say," remarked Mrs. Brooks, shaking up a
pillow, "See what we can get out of her. What's your name, dear?"

"Katie Clifford."

"Where do you live?"

"I _have_ been borned in Nindiana."

Fly spoke with some pride. She considered her birth an honor to the
state.

"But where did you come from, Katie? That's what we mean."

"I camed from heaven," said the child, with one of her wise looks.

"Beats all, don't she?" cried Mr. Brooks, admiringly. "Looks like an
angel, I declare for't. Did you just drop down out of the sky?"