upward.




CHAPTER III


"I declare to goodness, if that ain't the third tramp I've chased away
from this house to-day! I'll have father get a dog if this keeps up.
They do pester a body pretty nigh to death." Mrs. Wilson slammed the
kitchen door and returned to her dish-washing. "The ide' of givin'
good victuals to them that's able to work--not much I won't--Let 'em
do like I do." And the good lady plied her dish-cloth with such energy
that her daughter hastily removed the clean plates and saucers from
the table to avoid the necessity of drying them again.

"But this man wanted work, didn't he mother?" asked Clara, "And I heard
you tell father at dinner that you wanted someone to fix the cowshed
and clean up the back yard."

"There you go again," angrily snapped the older woman, resting her wet
hands upon her hips and pausing in her labor, the better to emphasize
her words; "Allus a criticisin' and a findin' fault--Since you took
up with that plagy church there aint been nothin' right."

"Forgive me mother, I didn't think," said the daughter, looking into
the wrathful black eyes of her parent.

"Didn't think," whined the woman, "You never think of nothin' but your