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You know when a poet praises a woman she isimmortal .
At first Jane had
believed with a touching faith in that epic ofMethuselah. They ate the ham and
beets and then went out to the garden for thecurrants. Your father and I have
always been great friends.
But half-way along the field she suddenly
stopped.
Aw, we didnt mean to hurt your feelings . Jane did not understand all
dad said but she put it all away in hermind to grow up to.
Not only ofthe Bible
but of all the poetry he read to her that summer. Had dadheld her hand a shade
too long when he said good-bye?
I knew it theminute I saw you walking up the
lane. We went to live at the Harbour Head and we werehappy . Didnt I tell you
the Bible was full of commonsense? She was glad ofan excuse to explore the
side-road where Little Aunt Em lived. The weeds are growing overTroy but we
remember Helen.
The fields allabout were touched with her light. Do you think
they quitedeserved such a humiliation? Anything lesslike St Barnabass could
hardly be imagined but Jane liked it.
He taught her to saw andhammer in nails
and swim.
Your pas folks werent any more infavour of the match than your
mas.
And she never throws spit balls though shethinks it was great fun. We are
going to have chicken for dinner to-morrow. She had never thought that there
was anything like that inthe Bible.
But she kept writing to your ma and sending
her presents andcoaxing her to go for visits. Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon
and thou,moon, in the vale of Ajalon. Punch Jimmy John is teaching me how to
run across a stubble-fieldon bare feet so it wont hurt. Can you guess who the
darklady was, Jane?
In a way Jane thought the sing-songs the bestpart of
Sunday.
But Jane was beginning to fence herselfagainst Aunt Irene by a sturdy
little philosophy of her own. He and she laughed and chaffed a greatdeal. All
talked about hundreds of years after they aredead because great poets loved
them. Jane had neverfelt acquainted with the sky before. The Snowbeams were
awful mad theymissed it. Of course, mother couldnt stand up to Aunt Irene .
Id
have senther off with a flea in her ear . Its such funlooking at things through
the wrong end.
Jane waited for something more but it did not come.
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