"Well, I don't. So let the eggs where they belong," she said as she
relaxed her clasp and he rose.
"Now look at us," he began, then the funny spectacle of wet clothes
sent each laughing.
"Gee," he said, "won't we get Sam Hill from Mom?"
"What's Sam Hill?" she asked. "And where do you learn such awful slang?
Abody can hardly understand you half the time. Mom says you should stop
it."
"Yea, that reminds me, Manda, what I come for. Mom said you're to come
in and get your dresses tried on. And mebbe you'd like to know that
Aunt Rebecca's here again. She just come and is helpin' to sew and if
she sees our clothes wet--oh, yea!"
"Oh yea," echoed Amanda with the innocent candor of a twelve-year-old.
"Aunt Rebecca--is she here again? Ach, if she wasn't so cranky I'd be
glad still when she comes, but you know how she acts all the time."
"Um-uh. Uncle Amos says still she's prickly like a chestnut burr.
Jiminy crickets, she's worse'n any burr I ever seen!"
"Well," the girl said thoughtfully, "but chestnut burrs are like velvet
inside. Mebbe she'd be nice inside if only abody had the dare to find
out."
"Ach, come on," urged the boy, impatient at the girl's philosophy. "Mom
wants you to fit. Come on, get pins stuck in you and then I'll laugh.
Gee, I'm glad I'm not a girl! Fittin' dresses on a day like this--whew!
"
"Well," she tossed her red head proudly, "I'm glad I'm one!" A sudden
thought came to her--"Come in, Phil, while I fit and then we'll set in
the kitchen and count how often Aunt Rebecca says, My goodness."
"Um-uh," he agreed readily, "come on, Manda. That'll be peachy."
The children laughed in anticipation of a good time as they ran through
the hot sun of the pasture lot, up the narrow path along the cornfield
fence and into the back yard of their home.
The Reist farm with its fine orchards and great fields of grain was
manifestly the home of prosperous, industrious farmers. From its big
gardens were gathered choice vegetables to be sold in the famous
markets of Lancaster, five miles distant. The farmhouse, a big square
brick building of old-fashioned design, was located upon a slight
elevation and commanded from its wide front porch a panoramic view of a
large section of the beautiful Garden Spot of America.