"Your brother Dave comes putty nigh to bein' an angel!" "Wa'al," replied Mrs.Bixbee with a twinkle, "I reckon Dave might hev to be fixed up some afore he come out in that pertic'ler shape, but," she added impressively, "es fur as bein' a _man_ goes, he's 'bout 's good 's they make 'em.

I know folks thinks he's a hard bargainer, an' close-fisted, an' some on 'em that ain't fit to lick up his tracks says more'n that.

He's got his own ways, I'll allow, but down at bottom, an' all through, I know the' ain't no better man livin'.

No, ma'am, the' ain't, an' what he's ben to me, Cynthy Cullom, nobody knows but me--an'-- an'-- mebbe the Lord--though I hev seen the time," she said tentatively, "when it seemed to me 't I knowed more about my affairs 'n He did," and she looked doubtfully at her companion, who had been following her with affirmative and sympathetic nods, and now drew her chair a little closer, and said softly: "Yes, yes, I know.

I ben putty doubtful an' rebellious myself a good many times, but seems now as if He had had me in His mercy all the time." Here Aunt Polly's sense of humor asserted itself.