“Yes, little lass, I will teach ’ee with good will; for I do think it a merit to save up the scraps and turn them to good account, though they do tell me that now-a-days quilts are made by masonry, and sell cheaper than we could make ’em by hand. ’Ee sees, dearie, I use to make ’em to sell; but now I can’t get anybody to give me enough to pay for my work on ’em. So now I knit socks and mittens.” “They make them by machinery, too,” said the child. “Yes, and I shouldn’t wonder and they didn’t come to hatch chickens by masonry some of these days! Well a day! No masonry stockings can eekill my knitted stockings, and that the storekeeper knows, and allus takes ’em from me and pays me well in tea and sugar, and whatever I may want. As to the quilt-piecing, lass, I’ll teach ’ee with good will. ’Ee’s a plenty of leisure, I’ll warrant, and ’ee’s well spend it that way in saving the scraps and turning ’em to account as in another,” concluded the canny old dame, as she folded her prize quilt, replaced it, and closed the drawer. “Oh, I think it is such pretty and curious work, and it is so—economical!” said the little child-woman. “I shall be so glad to learn!” “She likes to learn everything she sees going on,” added David, who, with his hands in his pockets, stood a smiling spectator of the scene. “That’s right. Larn all ’ee can, little lass. Now come wi’ me, and I’ll show ’ee the young ducks that were hatched yesterday.” “Oh!” cried the child, jumping up in glee. “I never saw young ducks in all my life! What a nice place this is!” “What! Don’t they show ’ee the young things up by, at the house?” inquired the dame. “No, ma’am; they never thought of it, I reckon; no more did I,” answered the child, as she followed her conductress out into the poultry-yard. She saw the young ducklings that were just out; then she saw the little chickens that were a week old, and seemed to know as much about life as she herself did. Then she was taken through the garden, and she saw the strawberry bed and the one cherry tree, with its bright red fruit hiding in its green leaves, and the crooked apple tree that bore the green sweetings which would soon be ripe, and the currant bushes along the walk, with the small beds of peas and cabbage and corn between them, and then the bee hive and the two white pigs, and Winny, the little black and white cow, in her shed. Then they went in. “Oh! what a nice place this is! The nicest place I ever saw!” said the child. “’Ee must come often to see it, if ’ee likes it so well,” said the dame, who felt flattered by the child’s sincere admiration; “’ee must come often, but now it is getting late i’ the afternoon, and I must send ’ee home to ’ee friends, lest harm come to ’ee through this visit.” David, who had kept close to the pair all the day, now left them to get the boat ready.