"It's a wonder there was any preservation," said Mary, as she slowly climbed the stairs, and helped Chub to clamber beside her. If the stairs were pokerish, so was the garret. To be sure, there were two windows at the back, and there had been two more in front, but the latter had been darkened forever when the front part of the house was built, and the others had not been washed for many a long day, and were glazed with "Why, it's a cavalry saber. It's a good deal crookeder than they make 'em now." "Crooked as a scythe. That came from a trooper in Burgoyne's army." "Did he have any cavalry?" "Can't say. Here's another." But, then, there's the sword. This was a straight-pointed sword, with a threecornered blade and no edge. THE PROCESSION FROM THE GARRET. small panes of greenish, old-fashioned glass. The ceiling was the roof, with the rafters all uncovered, and the rain was now pattering dismally on the shingles. "Cousin Mary," exclaimed Roxy, "can you spin? Aunt Keziah can. That's a spinningwheel." "Why, there are three or four of them," said Mary. "And that must be part of an old loom. Mother says grandmother Merrill, that 's Aunt Keziah's mother, made all the linen and woolen cloth she used till she was forty years old." "Yes," said Roxy, " and she made the beautiful rag-carpet in the dining-room. Piney says it 's a regular B'ustles carpet." "It's a sticker," said Bi. "It's what the British infantry sergeants used to wear. Tip-top for toasting bacon on." "But, Piney, what a gun that is! I never saw such a long barrel. And the end flares out like a young bugle." "That's a bell-muzzled fowling-piece. Our folks used them on the British at Bunker Hill. They 're great for ducks and geese. Put in any amount of shot." "I'd say you could," said Bi. Roxy was whirling one of the great, wooden spinning-wheels, to Susie's intense delight, and Chub was pulling all sorts of queer things out of odd corners. "What 's in those chests?" asked Bi. "Grandmother's clothes," said Roxy, "and my great-grandmother's, and lots of other things. Some of them are pretty nice, too." "O, Piney!" shouted Roxy, "open them all right away, please, and let Susie and me dress our dolls." "All right," said Piney, and in a few minutes more the floor was covered with ancient treasures of millinery and dress-making. Mary Hunter had quite enough of her father's liking for antiquities to take an interest in such matters, and she helped the children dress their dolls in a way that might have made a cat laugh. There were cases of old account-books and papers of all sorts. Bushels of old letters. Old hats and bonnets. One large, hair-covered trunk, was almost full of old tools, and Piney and Bi ransacked them with a will. Hour after hour went past, till Piney suddenly exclaimed: "Now, cousin Mary, let's all dress up and go down-stairs." "What fun!” said Mary. "We'll dress the children, too, and carry the dolls with us." So they did, and a wonderful set of Guys they made of themselves. Perhaps the funniest figure, except the dolls, was Chub, in an old army uniform coat, that almost covered him up. As for Mary,—in a green silk dress of her greatgrandmother's and a coal-scuttle bonnet, and with a yellow sash around her waist, and huge, dirty "elbow-gloves" on,-all she needed was a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles, that Piney fished up for her out of the tool-chest. When they were all ready, the one remaining difficulty was to get down those steep and narrow stairs without falling. and Piney managed it for them, however, in spite of the queer toggery they had on, although Bi had girded himself with the saber, and Piney was armed with the straight sword and the big fowling-piece. Bi Mary carried Roxy's great rag-doll in her arms, and there had never before been such a procession seen in that house, as they made when they went through the kitchen into the dining-room. Nobody was there, and Mary said, half choking with laughter: "It's pretty near dinner-time," said Aunt Keziah. Mary, my grandmother never came to dinner with her bonnet on." "Then I'll go and put mine away," said Mary. "Come on, Bi," said Piney. "If my face is as dusty as yours, we 'd both better try some soap and water." That was what the children needed, too, very "They must all be in the front parlor. Let's much, indeed, and they were all marched out of march right in." "Forward march," said Piney. They were all there, sure enough. Grandfather Hunter and Uncle Liph and Aunt Sarah and Piney's mother and Aunt Keziah, and. besides them, there was a tall, pleasant-looking gentleman, who sprang to his feet as the procession entered, exclaiming : "Bless me!" There was no help for it; everybody had to laugh. Even the strange gentleman laughed, although Roxy said, afterward, she was sure she saw him trying not to. But Mary Hunter forgot she was carrying the rag-baby, for she dropped it on the floor, and said: "Mr. Sadler! when did you come?" the parlor, not forgetting the dolls. Piney and Bi were back in the parlor before the rest, and when Mary Hunter came in, Piney whispered: "Is n't she pretty, Bi? I never saw her look so well before." That was a merry dinner party, in spite of the rain that was still pouring down over everything out-of-doors. Uncle Liph seemed to be in high spirits, and Grandfather Hunter told a story of how the ladies and gentlemen were dressed on his wedding day. The people around the table seemed ready to laugh at anything, but Piney was a little sober over the prospects for the rest of the day. What should he contrive for amusement? He need not have troubled himself about Roxy was nothing serious, and glad to have Mr. Sadler visit at the farm-house. "Bi," said Piney, as soon as he saw how nicely everything was going on without his help, "let us have a game of chess. I've a set of men, and a board." I'm ready. Chess is just the thing for a rainy day." So they played, in a corner of the back parlor, until, about the middle of the afternoon, there was a sound of giggling and of rustling silk on the hall stairs, and Piney said: "Checkmate in two moves, Bi. Let's see what 's up." 66 "All right," said Bi. 'You can beat me, anyhow. I must get me a book and study up my games." Something was about to happen, and Roxy was at the bottom of it. Piney felt sure of that, but he could not have guessed what it was. A little while before, Roxy had suddenly dropped her doll, exclaiming: "Oh, Susie, I haven't practiced my piece since you came." "Your piece? What's that?" "Oh, for the exhibition, next Saturday! Did n't you know I went to school to the academy?" "Why, you don't go with Piney?" "Sometimes I do; but not in the last week. I don't go reg'lar, but I'm to speak my piece reg'lar." That was about it, for Roxy had arranged the matter for herself a few weeks before with the young lady "principal" of the girls' department of the academy. "Well," said Susie, "speak it now, and Chub and I'll hear it." "Yes, but I don't mean here. I'll dress up and go and speak it in the parlor to all the folks." "How will you dress up? Is it that kind of a piece?" "It's 'The Breaking Waves,'" said Roxy, "and it's the best piece in the world. Aunt Keziah wanted me to learn another, but I wanted 'The Breaking Waves."" "I never heard it," said Susie. "Did n't you? Don't they know it in the city? Well, Cousin Mary left that green silk dress on the floor in her room, and she threw the big bonnet sing. That was after Mr. Sadler had had a talk away into the corner." about "business" with Uncle Liph. "Is it anything serious?" Aunt Sarah had asked, when Uncle Liph met her in the hall, and he had said, with a queer smile: "A trifle serious, my dear, but not very bad. I think we must keep Sadler here for a few days. I'll talk with you about the business, by and by." Aunt Sarah smiled, too, as if she were glad there "Are the spectacles there?" "No; they 're scattered out in the hall, I guess. But I don't want them; I only want the dress and the bonnet." Susie was quite ready to help in an affair of that kind, and Chub danced all around them while Roxy was putting on the things. She was almost hidden under so much dress and bonnet, and Susie hands in imitation of Roxy's gestures. said: "Long trails are just the fashion, but you'll green silk on his tiptoes, and poking out his little have the longest trail in all the world.” Very likely she had, for a lady of her size. The older people had once more seated themselves in the front parlor, just as Roxy and Susie and Chub came down the stairs, and Mr. Sadler was spreading out some new music on the piano. It was some he had brought with him, and he was saying: "That's old, but it's pretty. It's 'The Rainy Day'—" here he was interrupted by the voice of Roxy, in the middle of the room behind him: "The breaking waves dashed high, On a stern and rock-bound coast, Then she turned around and tried to go on, but Chub only stepped off the train to come in front of her, and put his fat little face away inside of the scoop-shovel bonnet. And then, all that the rest could hear, was something about "the wild New England shore." Then Roxy herself began to laugh, for it was all too funny for anything, but she was a little vexed about her piece, and she said: "Mamma, I could say it if Chub would keep away." But at that point poor Roxy was interrupted by recited the whole of "The Landing of the Pilgrim peals of laughter all around the room. Roxy looked behind her. Fathers," with only here and there a few changes in the words. And I think that if one of the veritable Pilgrims had tried to recite it, with that dress and bonnet on, he probably would have skipped some of the words, or changed them. (To be continued.) "Chub, you naughty boy, get off from my trail. You make them all laugh. It'll spoil my piece." For there he was, "tetering" on the skirt of the It is a pleasant sensation to sit in the first spring sunshine and feel the steady pull of a good kite upon the string, and watch its graceful movements as it sways from side to side, ever mounting higher and higher, as if impatient to free itself and soar away amid the clouds. The pleasure is, however, greatly enhanced by the knowledge that the object skimming so bird-like and beautifully through the air is a kite of your own manufacture. I propose to tell you how to make some new kinds of kites, and the first and chief of these is the size, I would suggest that the larger the man is, the better he will fly. Now let us suppose you are going to make this fellow four feet high. First, cut two straight sticks three feet nine inches long; these are to serve for the legs and body; cut another straight stick two and one-half feet in length for the spine, and a fourth stick, three feet five inches long, for the arms. For the head select a light piece of split rattan,—any light, tough wood that will bend readily will do,-bend this in a circle eight inches in diameter, fasten it securely to one 大大 MAN KITE. MAN KITE. To make this you will require four sticks, some rattan and some tissue paper. In regard to his FRAME OF MAN KITE. end of the spine by binding it with strong thread, being careful that the spine runs exactly through the center of the circle. Next find the exact center |