was quick to anger, quick to laughter, and
jolly from the depths of her soul. How well I
remember her laugh; it had in it the same
sudden recognition that flashed into her eyes,
was a burst of humor, short and intelligent.
Her rapid footsteps shook her own floors, and
she routed lassitude and indifference wher-
ever she came. She could not be negative or
perfunctory about anything. Her enthusiasm,
and her violent likes and dislikes, asserted
themselves in all the every-day occupations
of life. Wash-day was interesting, never
dreary, at the Harlings'. Preserving-time was
a prolonged festival, and house-cleaning was
like a revolution. When Mrs. Harling made
garden that spring, we could feel the stir of
her undertaking through the willow hedge
that separated our place from hers.

Three of the Harling children were near me
in age. Charley, the only son, -- they had
lost an older boy, -- was sixteen; Julia, who
was known as the musical one, was fourteen
when I was; and Sally, the tomboy with short
hair, was a year younger. She was nearly as
strong as I, and uncannily clever at all boys'
sports. Sally was a wild thing, with sun-
burned yellow hair, bobbed about her ears,

[[169]]

p168 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p169w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p170

v?