when Mrs. Israel's temper was uncertain, and the serenity of the
barn was in comforting contrast to his own fireside!

The open doors swinging out to the peaceful landscape, the solace
of the pipe, not allowed in the "settin'-room"--how beautifully
these simple agents have ministered to the family peace in days
agone! "If I hadn't had my barn and my store BOTH, I couldn't
never have lived in holy matrimony with Maryliza!" once said Mr.
Watson feelingly.

But the deacon, looking on his waving grass fields, his tasseling
corn and his timber lands, bright and honest as were his eyes,
never saw such visions as Rebecca. The child, transplanted from
her home farm at Sunnybrook, from the care of the overworked but
easy-going mother, and the companionship of the scantily fed,
scantily clothed, happy-go-lucky brothers and sisters--she had
indeed fallen on shady days in Riverboro. The blinds were closed
in every room of the house but two, and the same might have been
said of Miss Miranda's mind and heart, though Miss Jane had a few
windows opening to the sun, and Rebecca already had her
unconscious hand on several others. Brickhouse rules were rigid
and many for a little creature so full of life, but Rebecca's gay
spirit could not be pinioned in a strait jacket for long at a
time; it escaped somehow and winged its merry way into the
sunshine and free air; if she were not allowed to sing in the
orchard, like the wild bird she was, she could still sing in the
cage, like the canary.

II