don't care half as much for jokes as boys do, when his mother asked
him to go on an errand for her. This was to take a message to Mrs.
Dodson, who lived in a large house on a hill just outside the
village. She was quite wealthy, and Mrs. Henderson used to do some
fine embroidering for her.

Bob, who was always ready to oblige his mother, took the package of
sewing and the note which went with it and started off. On the way
he passed the wagon of a certain old crusty farmer he knew. The
vehicle was in front of a house where the farmer had gone to sell
some butter and eggs. Dangling from the back of the wagon was a
long rope, and it was a great temptation to Bob to take the rope and
tie one of the rear wheels so that It would not revolve. The
farmer, coming out in a hurry, would not notice it, and would wonder
what was the matter when he started to drive off.

"But I guess I'd better not," thought Bob with a sigh. "He'd be sure
to tell dad, and then I'd be in more trouble. I've got a pretty
good reputation since the donation supper, and I don't want to spoil
it."

Bob delivered the embroidery and note to Mrs. Dodson, and was on his
way back home when he saw Susan Skipper, Mrs. Dodson's hired girl,
and Dent Freeman, the hired man of the place, washing the big front
windows of the house--that is, Dent was washing them, perched upon a
step-ladder, for Susan was quite heavy and was afraid to trust
herself very high in the air. However, she was doing her share by
handing up pails of warm water to Dent.

Now Dent and Susan, as Bob well knew, were what the country people