may be older, though. One can't always tell."

"He's a stirring lad, anyway, Martha, and we shall have our hands full.
Won't you need some help, dear? How would it do to get a woman in
occasionally to assist with the work, as the baby will take so much of
your time?"

"That will not be necessary, Daniel. By the look of things now we
shall be up earlier each morning, and one hour then is worth two later
in the day."

After the parson had lighted the fire in the cooking-stove, and also
the one in the living-room, he went to the barn to milk. He kept one
Jersey cow which supplied enough milk for the house. This was a fine
animal, and the pride of the neighbourhood, as it had taken the first
prize at the large Exhibition held that very fall in the city.

The rectory was situated upon land known as "The Glebe," about fifty
acres in extent, which had been granted to the Church by the Crown in
Loyalist days. About one-third of this was under cultivation,
producing hay and oats for the horse and cow, as well as all the
vegetables needed for the table. Several acres were given up to
pasturage, while the remainder was wooded. The Royals were, therefore,
most comfortably situated, and quite independent. A small orchard
provided them with apples, the taste of which was well known to every
person in the parish, especially the children, for Parson Dan seldom
started forth without his pockets filled with Russets, Pippins, or
Fameuse. Mrs. Royal had her hens, and no eggs seemed as large and
fresh as the ones she often sent to some sick or aged person, in the
parish.