next the kitchen. It was dug out under the
wing of the house, was plastered and ce-
mented, with a stairway and an outside door
by which the men came and went. Under one
of the windows there was a place for them to
wash when they came in from work.

While my grandmother was busy about
supper I settled myself on the wooden bench
behind the stove and got acquainted with the
cat -- he caught not only rats and mice, but
gophers, I was told. The patch of yellow sun-
light on the floor traveled back toward the
stairway, and grandmother and I talked about
my journey, and about the arrival of the new
Bohemian family; she said they were to be
our nearest neighbors. We did not talk about
the farm in Virginia, which had been her home
for so many years. But after the men came
in from the fields, and we were all seated at
the supper-table, then she asked Jake about
the old place and about our friends and neigh-
bors there.

My grandfather said little. When he first
came in he kissed me and spoke kindly to me,
but he was not demonstrative. I felt at once
his deliberateness and personal dignity, and
was a little in awe of him. The thing one im-

[[12]]

p011 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p012w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p013

v?