the reason.'

"I bought a bill o' goods, an' noticed that ham an' butter were up
two cents a pound, an' flour four cents a sack, an' other things in
proportion. I didn't say a word, but I see that Sam proposed to
tax the community for the education o' that Lizzie girl. Folks
began to complain, but the tax on each wasn't heavy, an' a good
many people owed Sam an' wasn't in shape to quit him. Then Sam had
the best store in the village, an' everybody was kind o' proud of
it. So we stood this assessment o' Sam's, an' by a general tax
paid for the education o' Lizzie. She made friends, an' sailed
around in automobiles, an' spent a part o' the Christmas holidays
with the daughter o' Mr. Beverly Gottrich on Fifth Avenue, an'
young Beverly Gottrich brought her home in his big red runabout.
Oh, that was a great day in Pointview!--that red-runabout day of
our history when the pitcher was broken at the fountain and they
that looked out of the windows trembled.

"Dan Pettigrew was home from Harvard for the holidays, an' he an'
Lizzie met at a church party. They held their heads very high, an'
seemed to despise each other an' everybody else. Word went around
that it was all off between 'em. It seems that they had riz--not
risen, but riz--far above each other.

"Now it often happens that when the young ascend the tower o' their
aspirations an' look down upon the earth its average inhabitant
seems no larger to them than a red ant. Sometimes there's nobody
in sight--that is, no real body--nothin' but clouds an' rainbows
an' kings an' queens an' their families. Now Lizzie an' Dan were
both up in their towers an' lookin' down, an' that was probably the