"Dunno, mother; b'lieve I'll jest step over and ask. Come along Goto, I guess they'd like some help with them thar big boxes." They were kind-hearted, neighborly folk--those early settlers of Pleasant Plains, always ready to lend a helping hand wherever it was needed. "It's the new lawyer feller's traps," announced Mr. Lightcap, as he and his son rejoined the waiting, expectant wife and children; "he's took the house and we'll have 'em for neighbors." There was another rush to the door, half an hour later, when the Keiths were seen passing on their way to inspect their future abode. "The prettiest gal I ever see," remarked Gotobed, gazing admiringly after Mildred's graceful, girlish figure. "They look like eastern folks," said his mother. "Won't they wish they'd staid where they was when they find out how hard 'tis to get help here?" "Real stuck up folks; dressed to kill," sneered Rhoda Jane. "Look at the white pantalets on them young uns! and the girl's got a veil on her bunnit." "Well, what's the harm?" asked her brother. "If you had as pretty a skin, I guess you'd be for takin' care of it too." "Humph! beauty that's only skin deep won't last," and with a toss of the head Miss Lightcap walked into the house in her most dignified style. For the next ten days the doings at the corner house and the comings and goings of the Keiths were a source of entertainment and intense interest to their neighbors--the Lightcaps and others; a fact not to be wondered at when we consider the monotony of life in the town at that time;--no railroad, no telegraph, no newspaper, except those brought by the weekly mail; no magazines, no public library, and very few books in private houses. Really the daily small occurrences in their own little world were pretty nearly all the Pleasant Plainers could find to talk or think about. And the Keiths, as recent arrivals from an older settled part of the country, and above many of them in the social scale, were considered worthy of more than ordinary attention. Their dress, their manners, the furnishing of their house and their style of living were subjects of eager discussion. The general opinion among the Lightcaps and their set seemed to be that they were too fine for the place; such remarks as the following being frequently heard, "Why would you believe it, they've got a real store carpet on that front room, and a sofy and cheers covered with horse-hair cloth and white curtains to the winders and picturs hanging up on to the walls." "And the little girls wears white pantalets caliker ones such as our youngsters wears isn't good enough for them." There were in the town, however, a number of families of educated, refined people who rejoiced in this addition to their society and only waited for the new comers to get settled in their new home before calling.