"Better? Why no, they are no better. They are boys, that is all." "Well, then!" and the tone of her voice, no less than the words, conveyed the meaning that the matter was settled, and she returned to her digging as if nothing had happened. But she did not forget the incident, and when, shortly after, the tiny baby boy in the cold arms of his mother had been put to rest beneath a mound, and the light had gone out of the father's face and the elasticity out of his step, little Jean pondered and her heart went out strangely to her father in his bitter trouble. She followed him softly about and studied him. One evening, some time after the little son had come and gone, Jean appeared before her father in the library to make an important announcement. "I've been thinking the matter over, father," she said, "and I've made up my mind I will be your boy. You want a boy, and you know yourself you'll never be able to make one of Vivian, with her wee little mouth and her long braids. Now my hair is just right and I can throw a stone exactly over the middle of the barn and kick a ball farther than any boy on the block. I shall kick more hereafter, for don't you think a boy's legs ought to be cultivated?" Judge Thorn smiled and assured her that she was correct in her idea of muscular development. "Are boys as good as girls, father?" "Boys as good as girls? Why, certainly." "Well, you said once that girls were as good as boys, and if boys are as good as girls they're as good as each other, aren't they?" Judge Thorn could not keep back the laugh this time. "I believe that is the logical conclusion," he said. "Then tell me truly, father, if I'm going to be your boy, are you going to be as glad as you were that morning you bothered me when I was digging my well?" Judge Thorn hesitated a moment, but the clear gray eyes were upon him, and he felt the justice of their plea. "Yes, dear, I think so." "And may I do just as you do when I get big--read books and make speeches?" Now Judge Thorn was not an advocate of the advanced sphere of women and was not sure he wanted his daughter to be a lawyer, but after a short reflection, perhaps thinking the request but the passing fancy of a child, he gave his assent. "Thank you, father," she responded gravely. "I think you are a very good man." Then she kissed him and left the room. He sat, still smiling, when her voice close to his side startled him with the announcement: "I think, father, if you do not care, I will not go into pants. I might not feel at home, you know."