'Well, anyhow, Phrony knowed they was in th' damp,' he says.

"Turn over."

[Illustration]

"That's Uncle Mel Burgstresser. Don't he look like Charles Dickens, th'
great Scotch poet, though? I think he does, exactly. He's ma's uncle, but
he's sich a nice man that even pa likes him. They can't nobody help likin'
him, he's so nice; but ever'body laughs at him, he says sich blunderin'
things sometimes. Onct when Aunt Alviny (that's his wife) was a-makin'
oyster soup, Uncle Mel he come and looked over her shoulder and says, 'Put
lots o' water in it, mother, 'cause I'm hungry,' he says.

"Turn over."

[Illustration]

"That's my cousin, Willie Sparks, same age as me--but not when that
pitchure was took. He wasn't only 9 then. Don't he look awful meek? But
mebbe you think he ain't got a temper! One time when his pa come home from
work after dark and Willie ain't got his chores done, he scolded him, and
when Willie brung in th' coal fer th' kitchen stove he was cryin' and he
jist hauls off, he's s' mad, and kicks th' stove an awful welt, and says,
'Yuh will burn coal, will yuh!' he says.

"Turn over."

[Illustration]