"I don't know what advice you refer to, Rachel."

"No, I don't expect you do. You didn't pay no attention to it.
That's the reason."

"But if you'll repeat it, perhaps we can profit by it yet," said
Mrs. Crump, with imperturbable good humor.

"I told you you ought to be layin' up something ag'in a rainy day.
But that's always the way. Folks think when times is good it's
always a goin' to be so, but I knew better."

"I don't see how we could have been more economical," said Mrs.
Crump, mildly.

"There's a hundred ways. Poor folks like us ought not to expect to
have meat so often. It's frightful to think what the butcher's bill
must have been the last six months."

Inconsistent Rachel! Only the day before she had made herself very
uncomfortable because there was no meat for dinner, and said she
couldn't live without it. Mrs. Crump might have reminded her of
this, but the good woman was too kind to make the retort. She
contented herself with saying that they must try to do better in
future.

"That's always the way," muttered Rachel. "Shut the stable door when
the horse is stolen. Folks never learn from experience till it's too
late to be of any use. I don't see what the world was made for, for