THE TROUBLES OF RILLA October passed out and the dreary days of November and December dragged by.

The world shook with the thunder of contending armies; Antwerp fell--Turkey declared war--gallant little Serbia gathered herself together and struck a deadly blow at her oppressor; and in quiet, hill-girdled Glen St.Mary, thousands of miles away, hearts beat with hope and fear over the varying dispatches from day to day.
"A few months ago," said Miss Oliver, "we thought and talked in terms of Glen St.Mary.Now, we think and talk in terms of military tactics and diplomatic intrigue." There was just one great event every day--the coming of the mail.

Even Susan admitted that from the time the mail-courier's buggy rumbled over the little bridge between the station and the village until the papers were brought home and read, she could not work properly.
"I must take up my knitting then and knit hard till the papers come, Mrs.Dr.dear.Knitting is something you can do, even when your heart is going like a trip-hammer and the pit of your stomach feels all gone and your thoughts are catawampus.

Then when I see the headlines, be they good or be they bad, I calm down and am able to go about my business again.

It is an unfortunate thing that the mail comes in just when our dinner rush is on, and I think the Government could arrange things better.