The Price of a Pair of Shoes



For fifty years the meadow lot had been mowed and the side hill ploughed
at the nod of Jeremiah's head; and for the same fifty years the plums
had been preserved and the mince-meat chopped at the nod of his wife's--
and now the whole farm from the meadowlot to the mince-meat was to pass
into the hands of William, the only son, and William's wife, Sarah
Ellen.

"It'll be so much nicer, mother,--no care for you!" Sarah Ellen had
declared.

"And so much easier for you, father, too," William had added. "It's time
you rested. As for money--of course you'll have plenty in the savings-
bank for clothes and such things. You won't need much, anyhow," he
finished, "for you'll get your living off the farm just as you always
have."

So the matter was settled, and the papers were made out. There was no
one to be considered, after all, but themselves, for William was the
only living son, and there had been no daughters.

For a time it was delightful. Jeremiah and Hester Whipple were like
children let out of school. They told themselves that they were people
of leisure now, and they forced themselves to lie abed half an hour
later than usual each day. They spent long hours in the attic looking