Page:A Colonial Wooing.djvu/188

 harsh. No, I do not like attending meeting as well as a ramble in the fields or over the meadows. I can think better there and come back more at peace with myself and the world than when I come from meeting. John knows this, and while he does not quite approve, perhaps, he has never taken me to task for such worldliness. Besides, mother," said Ruth, after a pause, and with a sudden lighting of her face and added lustre to her splendid eyes, "he has never had a chance to say much since." And knowing that her mother knew to what time "since" referred, she abruptly stopped speaking.

"Thee is like thy father's people, Ruth; but when thee is older I trust there will be a sobering of thy views and such a change as thy father experienced. I have tried very hard to keep thee—"

"Straight? Well, mother dear, I have only been a little wavy at times, but kept a pretty direct course. Don't thee know how the water bubbles and boils in the brooks where there's a stone or stick in the way?