that she's havin' a good rest now.

"Araminta's goin' on nineteen, and she's a sensible girl, if I do say
it as shouldn't. She's never spoke to a man except to say 'yes' and
'no.' I've taught her to steer clear of 'em, and even when she was
only seven years old, she'd run if she saw one coming. She knows they
're pizen and I don't believe I'll ever have any cause to worry about
Minty.

"I've got the minister boarding with me," pursued Miss Hitty,
undaunted, and cheerfully taking a fresh start. "Ministers don't
count, and I must say that, for a man, Mr. Thorpe is very little
trouble. He wipes his feet sometimes for as much as five minutes when
he's coming in, and mostly, when it's pleasant weather, he's out. When
he's in, he usually stays in his room, except at meals. He don't eat
much more 'n a canary, and likes what he eats, and don't need hardly
any pickin' up after, though a week ago last Saturday he left a collar
layin' on the bureau instead of putting it into his bag.

"I left it right where 't was, and Sunday morning he put it where it
belonged. He's never been married and he's learned to pick up after
himself. I wouldn't have had him, on Araminta's account, only that
there wasn't no other place for him to stay, and it was put to me by
the elders as being my Christian duty. I wouldn't have took him,
otherwise, and we've never had an unmarried minister before.

"Besides, Mr. Thorpe ain't pleasing the congregation, and I don't know
that he'll stay long. He's been here six months and three Sundays
over, and I've been to every single service, church and Sunday-school
and prayer-meeting, and he ain't never said one word about hell. It's