the door to see if I could read it there. I went and began to
read: "Our Father." But then they all said: "The lad knows that by
heart." Mother then stuck a hymn-book in my hand, and I set off
with "By the Waters of Babylon."

"Yes; it is perfectly marvellous!" was the testimony of the
townsfolk.

Then said father: "Now if any one had a needle, you might throw it
on the floor and you would see that it would be found at once."

The magistrate's step-daughter had a needle in her bosom, but when
she threw it on the floor, it fell into a crack, and we couldn't
find it at all--it was so small.

It was only after the townsfolk had gone that Pekka came in.

He blinked a bit at first at the unusual lamplight, but then
calmly proceeded to take off his jacket and rag boots.

"What's that twinkling in the roof there enough to put your eyes
out?" he asked at last, when he had hung his stockings up on the
rafters.

"Come now, guess what it is," said father, and he winked at mother
and us.

"I can't guess," said Pekka, and he came nearer to the lamp.

"Perhaps it's the church chandelier, eh?" said father jokingly.