two or three hours it furnished amusement for some little negroes,
who, calling it a crab, fished for it with hook and line! For a
moment Anna stood watching the bonnet as it sailed along down the
stream, thinking it looked better there than on its owner's head, but
wondering why 'Lena had thrown it away. Then again addressing her
cousin, she asked why she had done so?

"It's a homely old thing, and I hate it," answered 'Lena, again
bursting into tears. "I hate everybody, and I wish I was dead, or
back in Massachusetts, I don't care which!"

With her impressions of the "Bay State," where her mother said folks
lived on "cold beans and codfish," Anna thought she should prefer the
first alternative, but she did not say so; and after a little she
tried again to comfort 'Lena, telling her "she liked her, or at least
she was going to like her a heap."

"No, you ain't," returned 'Lena. "You laughed at me and granny both.
I saw you do it, and you think I don't know anything, but I do. I've
been through Olney's geography, and Colburn's arithmetic twice!"

This was more than Anna could say. She had no scholarship of which
to boast; but she had a heart brimful of love, and in reply to
'Lena's accusation of having laughed at her, she replied, "I know I
laughed, for grandma looked so funny I couldn't help it. But I won't
any more. I pity you because your mother is dead, and you never had
any father, ma says."

This made 'Lena cry again, while Anna continued, "Pa'll buy you some
new clothes I reckon, and if he don't, I'll give you some of mine,