comforted myself immediately, however, by finding out that the
grapes were sour. A great tall girl in a pinafore, half a head
taller than I was, reading books that I had never heard of, and
talking about them too, as of far more interest than any mere
personal subjects; that was the last day on which I ever thought
of my dear cousin Phillis as the possible mistress of my heart
and life. But we were all the greater friends for this idea being
utterly put away and buried out of sight.

Late in the evening the minister came home from Hornby. He had
been calling on the different members of his flock; and
unsatisfactory work it had proved to him, it seemed from the
fragments that dropped out of his thoughts into his talk.

'I don't see the men; they are all at their business, their
shops, or their warehouses; they ought to be there. I have no
fault to find with them; only if a pastor's teaching or words of
admonition are good for anything, they are needed by the men as
much as by the women.'

'Cannot you go and see them in their places of business, and
remind them of their Christian privileges and duties, minister?'
asked cousin Holman, who evidently thought that her husband's
words could never be out of place.

'No!' said he, shaking his head. 'I judge them by myself. If
there are clouds in the sky, and I am getting in the hay just
ready for loading, and rain sure to come in the night, I should
look ill upon brother Robinson if he came into the field to speak
about serious things.'