"Come, dear." So off they hurried, the platform's length, the
farmers and their wives looking after them with the greatest interest.
"My, but ain't Mrs. Henderson glad to get a girl, though!"
"Yes, she sets by her a'ready."
"Sakes alive! I thought she was a poor child," exclaimed one woman, who was
dreadfully disappointed to lose the anticipated object of charity.
"So she is," cried another--"as poor as Job's turkey, but Mr. King has
dressed her up, you know, an' he's goin' to edicate her, too."
"Well, she'll pay for it, I reckon. My! she looks smart, even the back of
her!"
And before very long, Rachel had been inducted into her room, a pretty
little one under the eaves, neat as a pin in blue-and-white chintz
covering, around which she had given a swift glance of approval. And now
she was down in the parsonage kitchen, in a calico gown and checked apron;
her own new brown ribbons having been taken off from her braids, rolled up
carefully, and laid in the top drawer, the common, every-day ones taking
their places.
Peletiah and Ezekiel were each in a corner of the kitchen, with their pale
blue eyes riveted on her.
"Well, dear," Mrs. Henderson greeted her kindly, "you have changed your
gown very quickly."
A tall, square-shouldered woman stalked in from the little entry.
"Oh, Jerusha," exclaimed Mrs. Henderson pleasantly, "this is the little
girl that Mrs.
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