This short and disappointing soliloquy was, after all, an expression of deep emotion. To the Western farmer the very word "seeding" is a poem. And these few words, coming from Lyman Gilman, meant more and expressed more than many a large and ambitious springtime song. But the glory of all the slumbrous landscape, the stately beauty of the sky with its masses of fleecy vapor, were swept away by the sound of a girl's voice humming, "Come to the Saviour," while she bustled about the kitchen near by. The windows were open. Ah! what suggestion to these dwellers in a rigorous climate was in the first unsealing of the windows! How sweet it was to the pale and weary women after their long imprisonment! As Lyman sat down on his maple log to hear better, a plump face appeared at the window, and a clear, girl-voice said:-- "Smell anything, Lime?" He snuffed the air. "Cookies, by the great horn spoons!" he yelled, leaping up. "Bring me some, an' see me eat; it'll do ye good." "Come an' get 'm," laughed the face at the window. "Oh, it's nicer out here, Merry Etty. What's the rush? Bring me out some, an' set down on this log." With a nod Marietta disappeared, and soon came out with a plate of cookies in one hand and a cup of milk in the other. "Poor little man, he's all tired out, ain't he?" Lime, taking the cue, collapsed in a heap, and said feebly, "Bread, bread!" "Won't milk an' cookies do as well?" He brushed off the log and motioned her to sit down beside him, but she hesitated a little and colored a little. "Oh, Lime, s'pose somebody should see us?" "Let 'em. What in thunder do we care? Sit down an' gimme a holt o' them cakes. I'm just about done up. I couldn't 'a' stood it another minute." She sat down beside him with a laugh and a pretty blush. She was in her apron, and the sleeves of her dress were rolled to her elbows, displaying the strong, round arms. Wholesome and sweet she looked and smelled, the scent of the cooking round her. Lyman munched a couple of the cookies and gulped a pint of milk before he spoke. "Whadda we care who sees us sittin' side b' side? Ain't we goin' t' be married soon?" "Oh, them cookies in the oven!" she shrieked, leaping up and running to the house. She looked back as she reached the kitchen door, however, and smiled with a flushed face. Lime slapped his knee and roared with laughter at his bold stroke. "Ho! ho!" he laughed. "Didn't I do it slick? Ain't nothin' green in _my_ eye, I guess." In an intense and pleasurable abstraction he finished the cookies and the milk. Then he yelled:-- "Hey! Merry--Merry Etty!" "Whadda ye want?" sang the girl from the window, her face still rosy with confusion. "Come out here and git these things." The girl shook her head, with a laugh. "Come out an' git 'm, 'r, by jingo, I'll throw 'em at ye! Come on, now!"