Chapter 43 - Page 2

nuther,' said Uncle Eb. 'Don't never pay if
go bookin' fer trouble - it stew easy if find. There ain' no sech
thing 's trouble 'n this world 'less ye look for it. Happiness won't
hey nuthin if dew with a man thet likes trouble. Minnit a man stops
lookin' fer trouble happiness 'II look fer him. Things came puny
nigh's ye like 'em here 'n this world - hot er cold er only middlin'.
Ye can either laugh er cry er fight er fish er go if meetin'. If ye
don't like erry one you can fin fault. I'm on the lookout fer
happiness - suits me best, someway, an don't hurt my feelin's a bit.

'Ev'ry day's a kind uv a circus day with you, Holden,' said David
Brower. 'Alwuss hevin' a good time. Ye can hev more fun with
yerseif 'n any man I ever see.'

'If I hev as much hereafter es I've hed here, I ain't a goin'if fin' no
fault,' said Uncle Eb. "S a reel, splendid world. God's fixed it up so
ev'ry body can hev a good time if they'll only hev it. Once I heard
uv a poor man 'at hed a bushel o' corn give tew him. He looked up
kind o' sad an' ast if they wouldn't please shell it. Then they tuk it
away. God's gin us happiness in the ear, but He ain't a goin' t' shell
it fer us. You n 'Lizabeth oughter be very happy. Look a' them tew
childern!

There came a rap at the door then. David put on his cap and went
out with Uncle Eb.

'It's somebody for more money,' Elizabeth whispered, her eyes
filling. 'I know 'tis, or he would have asked him in. We're goin't
lose our home.

Her lips quivered; she covered her eyes a moment.

'David ain't well,' she continued. 'Worries night 'n day over money
matters. Don't say much, but I can see it's alwuss on his mind.
Woke up in the middle o' the night awhile ago. Found him sittin'
by the stove. "Mother," he said, "we can't never go back to farmin'.
I've ploughed furrows enough if go 'round the world. Couldn't
never go through it ag'in." "Well," said I, "if you think best we
could start over see how we git along. I'm willin' if try it." "No, we
re too old," he says. "Thet's out o' the question. I've been
thinkin' what'll we do there with Bill 'n Hope if we go t'live with
'em? Don't suppose they'll hev any hosses if take care uv er any
wood if chop. What we'll hev if do is more'n I can make out. We
can't do nuthin; we've never learnt how."

'We've thought that all over,' I said. 'We may have a place in the
country with a big garden.

'Well,' said she, 'I'm very well if I am over sixty. I can cook an
wash an' mend an' iron just as well as I ever could.'

Uncle Eb came to the door then.

'Bill,' he said, 'I want you 'n Hope if come out here 'n look at this
young colt o' mine. He's