Page:George Weston--The apple-tree girl.djvu/72

 mustache. "Farmers used to sharpen their sheep's noses so they could get a bite between the stones." After this ancient jest Mr. Briggs mutely retired (if one may speak that way) behind his enormous mustache, as though the prospect depressed him and he wished to philosophize upon life.

"There's one comfort," thought Charlotte, looking around: "It can't get any worse than this."

But a mile or two farther, after passing three abandoned farms, one after another, they came to the most desolate of all desolate sights, an abandoned church, with its steeple awry and its roof fallen in.

"Oh!" gasped Charlotte.

"Pretty bad!" agreed Mr. Briggs.

"What's the matter with these farms that the people don't stay here?"

"Too fur from the railway to take their milk. Sixteen miles there and back