Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville
"
"That Millville?" asked Uncle John, eagerly.
"Yes, sir."
"And which of those houses belongs to the Wegg farm?"
"Ye can't see the Wegg house from here; the pines hide it," said the
man, urging his horses into a trot as they approached the bridge.
"Pretty good farm?" inquired Uncle John, hopefully.
"Worst in the county," was the disconcerting reply. "Half rocks an' half
trees. Ol' Cap'n Wegg wasn't no farmer. He were a sea-cap'n; so it's no
wonder he got took in when he bought the place."
Uncle John sighed.
"I've just bought it myself," he observed.
"There's a ol' addige," said the man, grinning, "'bout a fool an' his
money. The house is a hunker; but w'at's the use of a house without
a farm?"
"What is a 'hunker,' please?" inquired Louise, curiously.
The liveryman ventured no reply, perhaps because he was guiding his
horses over the rickety bridge.
"Want to stop at the village?" he asked.
"No; drive on to the farm."
The scene was so rude and at the same time so picturesque that it
impressed them all very agreeably. Perhaps they were the more delighted
because they had expected nothing admirable in this all but forsaken
spot. They did not notice the people who stared after them as they
rattled through the village, or they would have seen Uncle John's
"agent" in front of his office, his round eyes fairly bulging from
his head.
It had never occurred to McNutt to be at the Junction to welcome his
patron. He had followed his instructions and set Mr. Merrick's house in
order, and there he considered that his duty ended. He would, of course,
call on the nabob, presently, and render an account of the money he
had received.
Sam Cotting, the store-keeper, gazed after the livery team with a sour
countenance, he resented the fact that five big-boxes of groceries had
been forwarded from the city to the Wegg farm. "What'n thunder's the use
havin' city folks here, ef they don't buy nothin'?" he asked the boys;
and they agreed it was no use at all.
Proceeding at a smart trot the horses came to the Pearson farm, where
they turned into the Jane at the left and straightway subsided to a slow
walk, the wheels bumping and jolting over the stony way.
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There was once a king who was very powerful. He had great influence over the wild beasts and animals. Now the tortoise was looked upon as the wisest of all beasts and men. This king had a son named Ekpenyon, to whom he gave fifty young girls as wives, but the prince did not like any of them. The king was very angry at this, and made a law that if any man had a daughter who was finer than the prince's wives, and who found favour in his son's eyes, the girl herself and her father and mother should be killed.
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