"Yes, my dear, and there is another old grandfather's clock in the
attic which you may have; and a high-boy also, for which I have no
particular use."

"Aunt Sarah, we shall not put away this really beautiful old sampler
worked in silk by Uncle John's grandmother when a girl of nine years.
It is beautifully done, and is wonderful, I think. And what is this
small frame containing a yellowed piece of paper cut in intricate
designs, presumably with scissors?"

"Look on the back of the picture and see what is written there, my
dear," said her Aunt.

Mary slowly read: "'This is the only picture I owned before my
marriage. I earned the money to buy it by gathering wheat heads.'"

"It belonged to my grandmother," said Aunt Sarah. "In old times, after
the reapers had left the field, the children were allowed to gather up
the wheat remaining, and, I suppose, grandmother bought this picture
with the money she earned herself, and considered it quite a work of
art in her day. It is over one hundred years old."




CHAPTER XVII.

AN OLD SONG EVENING.