Hiram walked about, looking for somebody whom he knew; but most
of the faces around the market were strange to him. Several
farmers he spoke to about work; but they were not hiring hands,
so, when his hour was up, he went back to the Emporium, more
despondent than before.



CHAPTER V

THE COMMOTION AT MOTHER ATTERSON'S

By chance that evening Hiram got home to his boarding house in
good season. The early boarders--"early birds" Crackit always
termed them--had not yet sat down to the long table in the dingy
dining-room.

Indeed, the supper gong had not been pounded by Sister, and some
of the young men were grouped impatiently in the half-lighted
parlor.

Through the swinging door into the steaming kitchen Hiram saw
a huge black woman waddling about the range, and heard her
husky voice berating Sister for not moving faster. Chloe only
appeared when a catastrophe happened at the boarding-house--and
a catastrophe meant the removal of Mrs. Atterson from her usual
orbit.

"She's gone to the funeral. That Uncle Jeptha of hern is dead,"
whispered Sister in Hiram's ear when she put his soup in front of