her gown pinned up, dodged in and out of kitchen and sitting-room,
catching herself on every door-handle, while Mother Fairthorn, beaming
with quiet content, stood by the fire, and inspected the great kettles
which were to contain the materials for the midnight supper. Both were
relieved when Betsy Lavender made her appearance, saying,--

"Let down your gownd, Sally, and give _me_ that ladle. What'd be a
mighty heap o' work for you, in that flustered condition, is
child's-play to the likes o' me, that's as steady as a cart-horse,--not
that self-praise, as the sayin' is, is any recommendation,--but my
kickin' and prancin' days is over, and high time, too."

"No, Betsy, I'll not allow it!" cried Sally. "You must enjoy yourself,
too." But she had parted with the ladle, while speaking, and Miss
Lavender, repeating the words "Enjoy yourself, too!" quietly took her
place in the kitchen.

The young men, as they arrived, took their way to the corn-field,
piloted by Joe and Jake Fairthorn. These boys each carried a wallet over
his shoulders, the jug in the front end balancing that behind, and the
only casualty that occurred was when Jake, jumping down from a fence,
allowed his jugs to smite together, breaking one of them to shivers.

"There, that'll come out o' your pig-money," said Joe.

"I don't care," Jake retorted, "if daddy only pays me the rest."

The boys, it must be known, received every year the two smallest pigs of
the old sow's litter, with the understanding that these were to be their
separate property, on condition of their properly feeding and fostering