began by a tall thin kinder man. Elinory, child, did you ever hear
one of them young men's life-commencement speeches made?" This time
Mother Mayberry peered over the top of her glasses seriously and her
needle paused suspended over the fast narrowing hole in the sock.

"Yes, but I don't think I ever listened very carefully," admitted
Miss Wingate with a smile.

"Well, I felt that if the Lord had gave it to me to stand up there
and say a word of start-off to all them boys setting solemn and
listening, it wouldn't have been about no combination of things done
by men dead and gone, that didn't seem to prove nothing in
particular on nobody. I woulder read 'em a line of scripture and
then talked honest dealing by one another, the measuring out of work
according to the pay and always a little over, the putting of a
shoulder under another man's pressing burden, the respect of women
folks, the respect of theyselves and the looking to the Lord to see
'em through it all. That speech made me so mad I'most forgot it was
time for Tom's valediction. Honey-bird, I wisht you coulder seen him
and heard him."

"I wish I could," answered Miss Wingate with a flush.

"Dearie me, but he was handsome and he spoke words of sense that the
other gray-haired man seemed to have forgot! And they was a farewell
sadness in it too, what got some of them boys' faces to working, and
I felt a big tear roll down and splash right on the lace collar.
Then he sat down and they was a to-do of hollering and clapping, but
I just sat there too happy to take in the rest of what was did.
Sometimes they is a kinder pride swell in a mother's heart that