LIBRARY 
 
 'University of ' California^ 
 
 IRVINE
 
 -' 

 
 THE DOUGLAS NOVELS. 
 
 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE IN A GARDEN. 
 
 THE FORTUNES OF THE FARADAYS. 
 
 FOES OF HER HOUSEHOLD. 
 
 A WOMAN'S INHERITANCE. 
 
 CLAUDIA. 
 
 FLOYD GRANDON'S HONOR. 
 
 FROM HAND TO MOUTH. 
 
 HOME NOOK. 
 
 HOPE MILLS. 
 
 IN TRUST. 
 
 LOST IN A GREAT CITY. 
 
 NELLIE KINNARD'S KINGDOM. 
 
 OUT OF THE WRECK. 
 
 SEVEN DAUGHTERS. 
 
 STEPHEN DANE. 
 
 SYDNIE ADRIANCE. 
 
 THE OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A SHOE. 
 
 WHOM KATHIE MARRIED. ' 
 
 PRICE PER VOL., $1.50. 
 
 LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, 
 BOSTON.
 
 A MODERN 
 
 ADAM AND EVE 
 
 GARDEN 
 
 AMANDA M. DOUGLAS 
 
 BOSTON 1889 
 LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 
 
 IO MILK STREET NEXT " THE OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE*' 
 
 NEW YORK CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM 
 
 718 AND 720 BROADWAY
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. THE FLAVOR OF THE APPLE .... 1 
 
 II. FINDING AN EDEN 20 
 
 III. OUR SHARE OF THE WORLD'S WEALTH . . 38 
 
 IV. TEMPTATION No. 1 58 
 
 V. EVE AT BARGAIN-MAKING 75 
 
 VI. MY TRAMP 94 
 
 VII. JOE'S FALL FROM GRACE 110 
 
 VIII. THE HIGH STUDY OF ECONOMY .... 126 
 
 IX. A PASTORAL IN HENS 147 
 
 X. EVERY-DAY IDYLS 166 
 
 XI. SUMMER AND SENTIMENT 189 
 
 XII. A TOUCH OF ROMANCE 208 
 
 XIII. ATHENS is ROUSED 226 
 
 XIV. WINTER BLOOMS IN EDEN 243 
 
 XV. AND YET ANOTHER 261 
 
 XVI. SOME IMPORTANT QUESTIONS .... 280 
 
 XVII. SWEET, FATAL KNOWLEDGE 299 
 
 XVIII. TEMPTATION No. II 318 
 
 XIX. WE ENTER THE GARDEN 336 
 
 XX. NABOBS IN A SMALL WAY 356 
 
 XXI. COUNTING THE GAINS 375 
 
 XXII. WEDDING BELLS 396 
 
 v
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE FLAVOR OF THE APPLE 
 
 "NEWS," says Eve, holding up a letter, as I 
 came in to my nine-o'clock breakfast. 
 
 I desire it to be understood that I am not a nabob 
 or a night-editor, but simply a telegraph operator 
 at the great Mammoth Beach. , 
 
 "News," I return, not to be outdone. "The 
 season closes on the 20th ; and, as our respective 
 terms of service expire, we take our month's pay 
 and our gripsack, and set out for fresh fields and 
 pastures new." 
 
 "Well, we have expected that," answers Eve 
 resignedly. " But mine is a great surprise from 
 aunt Carry." 
 
 "Has she found a new husband for you?" 
 
 " No ; but she has found one for Kate, and you 
 could not guess " 
 
 " Longworth ! " I answer with decision.
 
 2 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "Ok! how could you?" and Eve laughs. "And 
 the funny thing is, that she writes just as if as 
 if he had never cared for any one else. He is on 
 the way to a fabulous fortune, and they are to be 
 married the last of October. Sit down, and I will 
 spice your breakfast with all the gossip." 
 
 Eve pours the rich brown coffee deftly. There 
 is a plate of toast, a dish of broiled oysters, some 
 tempting oatmeal, and luscious cut peaches. The 
 service is delicate china, the cloth snowy white. 
 Really, a nabob might fare no better. 
 
 " You are not sorry ? I wondered why aunt 
 Carry did not try to secure him in the first place." 
 
 " Sorry ! " There certainly is no regret in the 
 tone, or the sweet young face. For Eve is pretty, 
 tall, slim, and willowy, with a proudly poised head, 
 a small, spirited face, with dark eyes, peachy cheeks, 
 and dimpled strawberry mouth. 
 
 " He wasn't quite rich enough, and she hoped Kate 
 would do as well as the other two. Oh, dear ! does 
 a mother take any comfort in her children ? Aunt 
 Carry has thought of nothing, striven for nothing, 
 but her girls' marriages ever since I can remember. 
 And there is a sigh of relief all through the letter. 
 Mr. Longworth has some share or interest in a mine 
 in Arizona, and uncle is going out with him with 
 a prospect of making a fortune. I only hope it
 
 IN A GARDEN 3 
 
 may be so," interpolates Eve earnestly. " They will 
 remain at Long Branch until the middle of October, 
 then come up to the Fifth Avenue for a fortnight, 
 where Kate will be married in grand style. Aunt 
 and Helen are going to Washington to spend the 
 winter with Clara; and she devoutly hopes Helen 
 will pick up a husband, and her duty to her girls 
 will be done. She, thinks after the holidays she 
 can make arrangements to send for me," Eve 
 concludes, with a touch of hesitation. 
 
 All our lives, at least since mother's death, aunt 
 Carry's house has been home to us. Uncle Lennard 
 has given what he had with open hand and generous 
 love. There has been luxury, there have also been 
 severe pinches. But we both are in a manner 
 homeless Eve especially so. There is a pretty, 
 wistful look in her eyes. And I feel conscience- 
 smitten that at the age of twenty-seven I am not 
 in a position to make a permanent home for one 
 little woman. 
 
 " Of course we must go on together," I say. 
 
 " O Adam ! if we only had a sure home of our 
 own ! Aunt Carry has been very good ; but I would 
 rather stay with you and keep house, and not feel 
 that I was put into the world for the sole purpose 
 of matrimony. If I could do something ; and it 
 seems as if I ought "
 
 4 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " Nonsense ! What do you suppose I am here 
 for ? Many a poor young chap has a wife before he 
 reaches my term of years ; and a sister cannot be 
 more expensive. Indeed, we have lived beautifully 
 this summer. I never enjoyed any thing so much." 
 
 " I am so glad." 
 
 Eve's soft eyes swim in tears. 
 
 " There, Kitty, I must eat and* run. This evening 
 we will talk it all over. Of course, you belong to 
 me, to have and to hold" 
 
 " To feed and to dress, unromantic thought," she 
 responds, with a tremble in her voice. 
 
 I kiss her, and am off. The walk is rather long, 
 but my strides soon cover it. At six I am off duty 
 for good, and we have delightful evenings. 
 
 There are only two of us now. Two children 
 between are dead, as well as our parents. From 
 what I remember of my father, he must have been 
 an odd, speculative, rather dreamy sort of man. 
 We lived in a little country town, where he did 
 high farming ; writing a little, and reading a good 
 deal. My mother, city bred, hated the country, 
 except in summer, when our house was always full 
 of visitors ; and, the next town to us being quite a 
 fashionable resort, we were rather lively. 
 
 I was just fourteen when he died suddenly, of a 
 heart trouble. Every thing was left to mother. It
 
 IN A GARDEN 5 
 
 was a period of great depression in country prop 
 erty ; and she sold at a sacrifice, came to the city, 
 and, after some up-hill work, established herself in 
 a boarding-house. Here the sister next to me died 
 of typhoid-fever ; and my mother, worn out, fol 
 lowed her in less than a month. 
 
 Aunt Carry Lennard was her only sister, a 
 generous, warm-hearted woman, given to what she 
 called getting the good out of life. Uncle Marvin 
 was a broker and speculator ; and they lived in 
 the style of quite rich people. Indeed, J always 
 supposed them wealthy, until I came to know how 
 hollow the pretension was. I was in a business 
 college at this time, studying telegraphy. We both 
 went to live with uncle Lennard. His only son had 
 gone to South America, and was in a most promising 
 position. 
 
 At eighteen I began the world on forty dollars a 
 month, and it looked like a fortune to me. I did not 
 care so much for the money as the opportunity to 
 travel. I went South the ensuing winter; I came up 
 to the North-West in the summer ; I saw some of the 
 famous cities, had a taste of wild, adventurous life, 
 and looked outward from the Pacific coast. Some 
 times a good salary, at others a very meagre one for 
 the work ; often without a dollar, but there were 
 plenty of " boys " in the same plight. It is a reck-
 
 6 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 less, careless sort of existence, with many hardships, 
 and, alas ! many untimely deaths. When I was in 
 desperate straits, I sent to uncle ; for I knew there 
 was a little left of my father's estate. There was 
 much variety, there were many things that whole 
 some young manhood is much better off without. 
 Is original sin our desire to have our bite at the 
 tree of good and evil? alas! oftene'r evil. 
 
 I should like now to blot out those four years. 
 I was not as bad as hundreds of others. I saw 
 wrecks that shocked and dismayed me ; yet I was 
 in the whirl, with not enough courage to pull myself 
 out. Indeed, what stream was I to pull into? 
 
 Crowds of homeless chaps living in boarding- 
 houses or rooms, and restaurant meals; herding 
 together in a manner that should fire Christendom 
 for their salvation. Arduous work, long hours, poor 
 pay in many cases, a band that has become a sort 
 of Pariah, made and kept so by the resistless forces 
 that grind up soul and body into profit. Heathens 
 are sown broadcast in our own land. If some day 
 the seething undercurrent should break out, the 
 world will look on in dismay, where it now smiles 
 in unbelief. 
 
 I was twenty-two when I found myself ill in a 
 hospital in a Western city. Through the winter I 
 had charge of a distant railroad-station, where I was
 
 IN A GARDEN 7 
 
 ticket and express agent, operator, etc. I had to 
 sleep in the station, for a train went through at 
 midnight that always stopped ; two others passed 
 at four : and as, for some distance, there was but one 
 track, great watchfulness was necessary. I could 
 have no good continuous sleep. It was very cold, 
 freight was often heavy ; and what with overwork, 
 some dissipation I must admit, and an accident, my 
 career came near being ended. I was bundled off 
 to a hospital, fortunately ; but for weeks I lay half 
 unconscious with fever. 
 
 Good nursing from kindly stranger-hands brought 
 me back to life. Word had been sent to my uncle ; 
 and, having some business Westward, he hunted me 
 up. Ah ! what delight it was to see a familiar face, 
 to hear a kindly voice ! He wanted very much to 
 take me back with him, but it was not considered 
 quite prudent. 
 
 "Uncle Marvin," I said, during the last visit he 
 was able to make, "I am sorry to bother you, but 
 I suppose I have a little money left?" 
 
 "I'll give you all I can spare," he answered cheerily. 
 " My business out here has been most unfortunate. 
 When I get home, I'll send some more as soon as I 
 can. It has been a hard winter everywhere." 
 
 Something in his tone touched me, the sort of 
 bravado as if he did not want to tell the truth.
 
 8 A MODERN ADAM AND EYE 
 
 "Is my money all gone?" 
 
 " There, my boy, don't worry. There wasn't much 
 of it ; and I made aunt Carry keep the dates and 
 the amounts, and you can look them over when you 
 get home. You have had every penny, but you 
 needn't mind asking me when you're hard up. 
 Only, my boy, do not feel hurt if I say a few 
 words of good common sense. You are throwing 
 yourself away too rapidly. No strength will stand 
 such drains. I'd turn over a new leaf. You're too 
 nice a young chap to waste your strength and energy 
 in dissipation, and wreck yourself before you reach 
 middle life. Surely, you have had enough of it. 
 Get well and come back to us, for Eve's sake, for 
 your dead mother's sake. Try to make a man of 
 yourself, and not drift down with the evil tide, until 
 you are a terror and a disgrace. And now good-by, 
 my lad. Come home to us as soon as you can. 
 You are young enough to begin all over again." 
 
 He wrung my hand with a pressure that went to 
 my very soul. That night I did some sober think 
 ing as I lay on my cot. A sentence I had heard 
 somewhere ran through my mind with curious 
 persistency, " The way thereof is death." I had 
 been in that way I had seen lads younger than I 
 go swift to destruction and death. Was it to be 
 desired ?
 
 IN A GARDEN 9 
 
 Another curious incident occurred the next day, 
 which I think helped to settle my resolves. I had 
 never been any thing of a novel-reader, but I took 
 up a book my companion in the ward had thrown 
 aside. It bore this title, " The Heir of Malreward." 
 
 " You won't like that," he said. " Beastly, dismal, 
 and dull ! Too preachy altogether." 
 
 I opened it somewhere in the middle, the 
 terrible remorse of Victor at having been betrayed 
 into drunkenness at his father's dinner. Then I 
 turned to the first page, and never skipped a line. 
 I go over the book now ; and though the end jars on 
 one's desire for human victory, and the reward of 
 virtue, it is brave, strong, and manly a fight 
 against the evil in the world, in one's own soul. 
 
 Uncle Marvin sent me a check for fifty dollars in 
 the course of the next week. I was young, and 
 had a good constitution, and presently began to 
 recover rapidly. But I did not go home. I had a 
 feeling of pride in trying my own mettle. I found 
 a situation in a country town in Michigan, and 
 through that summer saved my first money, little 
 enough, for the salary was low. But when I returned 
 to New York I had sufficient to repay uncle his last 
 generous loan. I found that I was still nearly a 
 hundred dollars his debtor, and I also realized the 
 pinches that were sometimes quite severe under the
 
 10 A "MODERN ADAM AND EYE 
 
 outside show. I met with an opportunity to go 
 South on a salary of eighty dollars a month, and at 
 once accepted it, and through that winter finished 
 the payment ; though uncle generously handed it to 
 Eve's account, I learned afterward. But the letter 
 of commendation and affection he sent me repaid 
 me a hundred times for the endeavor. 
 
 The next year I took out an endowment policy 
 in a life-insurance company for two thousand dollars. 
 I would have that in case of an emergency. I do 
 not mean that I turned saint. A hearty, healthy 
 young fellow, with a keen sense of fun, is not 
 much given to pulling a long face. But I kept my 
 unwritten pledge over my sad hero of Malreward, 
 that I would be temperate, and avoid the evils that 
 can only bring destruction in the end. 
 
 Do those who blame the hundreds going astray 
 ever pause to think of the many temptations? the 
 long hours, the exhausting work, in railroading 
 especially; the lack of home comforts and nourish 
 ing diet ; meals cold and poor ; deprivation of proper 
 sleep ; illness when one cannot give up, and the 
 utter physical weariness that seems to be overcome 
 only by stimulants ; but, ah, at what a price ! Those 
 in authority above you laugh at drunkenness, as a 
 sort of joke. When doctors cease to prescribe 
 whiskey, brandy, and opium for . countless ills, when
 
 IN A GARDEN 11 
 
 to be sober commends you in the esteem of your 
 employers, a long stride will be gained. 
 
 I became known among the boys by the sobriquet 
 of "Old Judge," yet I have sometimes felt that my 
 courage in fighting this fiery demon has been of 
 some service. I have been chaffed unmercifully, 
 tormented, threatened, and on several occasions have 
 had to fight my way out of a half-drunken crowd 
 by sheer force. 
 
 I began to have a respect for myself as a man 
 must when he treats his body with the sacredness 
 due the work of a higher power. I became much 
 interested in the struggle going on in the great 
 world between justice and injustice. I read up 
 industrial phases and troubles, and so-called political 
 economy, until it all seemed a hopeless tangle. One 
 must have bread. Competition in all branches is 
 close, but doubly so in ours, where a few months 
 perfects one of either sex. There are some fine 
 positions ; but to the one of that kind, hard to attain, 
 there are hundreds that barely provide food and 
 shelter. During the summer season every thing is 
 on the rush. With autumn comes less freighting 
 and travelling: one is dropped off here, another 
 there ; salaries reduced in the spasm of retrench 
 ment that always overtakes corporations. 
 
 When Eve was just past eighteen, I was in New
 
 12 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 York in the employ of the Western Union. My 
 salary was fair; but board, washing, and necessary 
 expenses were seldom less than ten dollars a week. 
 I used to drop into aunt's, and occasionally take 
 the girls to the theatre, or escort them to some party. 
 The eldest, Clara, was married very well, and settled 
 in Washington. Louise was engaged to the son of 
 an oil-prince, and was married that spring. For 
 several years they had owned a cottage at Long 
 Branch : how such a piece of real luck had happened 
 to them, puzzles me even now. They generally in 
 the autumn took a suite of furnished rooms ; some 
 times, in a prosperous season, a whole house. The 
 girls were gay, jolly, and good-looking, always in 
 demand for balls and parties, and having no end of 
 invitations. They dressed handsomely, and aunt 
 used a livery-stable coupS. Uncle was brisk and 
 bright, with a fine, imposing presence, and supposed 
 to be making a great deal of money : certainly they 
 spent it lavishly. But they had a way of keeping 
 the infelicities and economies to themselves. 
 
 Louise was married in great state, and her future 
 home was to be Cleveland. About this time a 
 young man hung around after Eve a good deal, 
 though at first I could not decide whether it was 
 she or Kate who was likely to concentrate his fancy. 
 But through the summer at Long Branch, it ripened
 
 IN A GARDEN 13 
 
 into an engagement. Aunt Carry was in her ele 
 ment : she had a woman's love for weddings. Kate 
 was a year younger, and her turn would be next. 
 
 Eve was blissfully happy. I never understood 
 why I disliked Reed Ammerman : he was gentle 
 manly, well-looking, and held a trusted position in 
 one of the dry-goods palaces. He was gay, and 
 fond of society, lavish in his expenditures, and 
 dressed in exquisite taste. Eve was considered a 
 fortunate girl. 
 
 We had some talks about her new life. 
 
 " I am not going to lead this shifty, showy sort of 
 existence," she said to me one evening. " I would 
 rather be honestly poor than have aunt's anxieties 
 about position. It is living on the edge of a volcano 
 that may yawn and swallow you up any time. You 
 seem rich to-day, and to-morrow there isn't a dollar, 
 and uncle borrowing to meet payments. I shall be 
 glad to come to something different, and I am 
 thankful that Mr. Ammerman has a salary." 
 
 "Do you know what it is?" I inquired. 
 
 " No ; but I shall ask him as soon as we are mar 
 ried, and live strictly within it. I want to go to 
 some pretty suburb, and presently buy a cottage. 
 Aunt is sure it must be as much as three thousand 
 from what he spends; and he is young, just your 
 age."
 
 14 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "It does seem a large sum;" and I sighed envi 
 ously, I am afraid. 
 
 " We must plan to live on two thousand, and can, 
 when we are away from so much extravagance. 
 The thing is, after all, that people care so little for 
 you. You drop out, and they dance and eat without 
 a thought of you. Why should you be spending 
 your money for them ? When I have daughters to 
 marry, I may feel differently;" and a smile lurks 
 about her face. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, the superintendent of one depart 
 ment of this great firm, used to drop into the 
 office on business errands ; and we became quite 
 friendly. One day he had to trust me with a secret 
 message. They feared some crooked work was 
 going on. 
 
 " Mr. Calhoun," I said, and my heart seemed to 
 bound up to my throat, "I would like to ask 
 you a question. Do you know what salary Mr. 
 Ammerman gets ? It may seem impertinent ; but he 
 is engaged to my sister, and I think I have a right 
 to inquire." 
 
 "Ammerman," he repeated thoughtfully. "He 
 is in the lace-department. About fifteen hundred 
 a year, I think." 
 
 "Not more than that?" I asked in surprise. 
 
 " Well, perhaps eighteen hundred, though I doubt
 
 IN A GARDEX 15 
 
 it. Hardly enough for matrimony in such times as 
 these," and he laughed. 
 
 " Has he any thing besides ? " 
 
 A horror seized me. Mr. Ammerman spent more 
 than eighteen hundred a year, I felt confident. 
 
 "Ah! private means, no doubt." 
 
 A curious expression came over Mr. Calhoun's 
 countenance, but he nodded carelessly. 
 
 I had a misgiving that I had signed my poor 
 Eve's death-warrant. It haunted me so that I staid 
 away from her for several days; and, dropping in 
 rather late one evening, I found the two and aunt 
 Carry discussing wedding-gowns and wedding-jour 
 neys. Mr. Ammerman laughed a little gayly at 
 Eve's very moderate ideas, and I saw his extrava 
 gant plans rather annoyed her. 
 
 Alas, my poor, sweet Eve ! The very next week 
 a system of stealing was unearthed at the great store 
 that caused consternation and grief in more than 
 one household. One of aunt Carry's neighbors was 
 bookkeeper of the lace-department, and it was at 
 this house Eve had met Mr. Ammerman. The 
 young man at the first alarm made his escape to 
 Canada. Mr. Rathburn was not so fortunate. His 
 wife, a charming woman, was crushed by the blow, 
 and for days lay dangerously ill. A compromise 
 was effected in his case by his returning to the firm
 
 16 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 all the property he had acquired. Indeed, in the 
 excitement about the Rathburns, Eve quite escaped 
 gossip and commiseration. 
 
 " I did love him," she confessed tremulously to me 
 one evening when we were alone. "At least, I 
 loved my ideal of Reed Ammerman ; but I cannot 
 love any thing so despicable as a deliberate thief. 
 If he had been in some awful trouble, and taken a 
 sum of money to tide him over, I could feel sorry, 
 and have a deep sympathy for him, but to steal 
 month after month with no compunction, to even 
 plan how we should live on money that he would 
 steal in the future! It is horrible, and the very 
 repulsion will lend me courage to overlive it. But 
 there is something wrong in society approval. Every 
 body was glad to receive him ; and, as a poor young 
 man, few would have made him welcome." 
 
 Plucky Eve one day took her diamonds down to 
 the head of the firm, and told her story. The ring 
 was especially handsome : then she had solitaire ear 
 rings and a lace-pin. They went together to a 
 jeweller's, and had them valued. The man would 
 pay nine hundred dollars cash for them. 
 
 Mr. A commended Eve very highly for this 
 
 piece of justice, and begged her to keep the ring ; but 
 she could not be persuaded. The next day he sent her 
 a pair of elegant bracelets with his kindest regards.
 
 IN A GARDEN 17 
 
 The last of April the family went down to Long 
 Branch. I took a position on the Grand Mammoth 
 Beach Railroad, a famous summer resort, and found 
 quite a pleasant home in one of the old country 
 houses with a widow lady. Eve came up, and spent 
 a month with me ; and during this time we drew 
 very near together. I learned to appreciate her 
 worth, and used to wonder how she had retained 
 her simple honesty and sweetness in the rush and 
 whirl of incessant gayety. 
 
 " I am so tired of it all ! " she sighed. " I wish I 
 could do something useful. It looks so dreary to 
 think of the same round year after year. How do 
 people endure it?" 
 
 " But you will marry," I said. " You are not the 
 kind of girl to break your heart over such a fellow 
 as that Ammerman." 
 
 " No, my heart is not broken. But, oh, if I had 
 been his wife when it came out ! I think of poor 
 Mrs. Rathburn, who is dying of consumption, they 
 say ; but I think it is the intense, intolerable shame 
 that stings like a serpent. I wish I could give 
 lessons in painting or music, but aunt Carry will not 
 hear of it." 
 
 " No," I replied. " You are too sweet and pretty 
 to fight your way through the world." 
 
 Eve sighed. " Fighting for a lover would be less
 
 reprehensible, I suppose. It is parties and operas 
 and teas and receptions; and how to disguise 
 your old gowns to make them look like new; 
 and to be pestered by debts and duns. It seems 
 a mad chase after something pleasure with no 
 real satisfaction in it. You dance and talk and 
 flirt, and watch warily for the man with the most 
 money." 
 
 " But why do women do it? Men would like real 
 homes, and not all this sham and confusion," I 
 answered. 
 
 "Would they?" and Eve gives a half-doubtful 
 smile. "They are so much in the rush and whirl, 
 that they are first to complain of the dulness. Uncle 
 Marvin is uneasy when there is no company. Aunt 
 Carry falls asleep in her chair, and Kate always 
 dozes on the lounge. One gets so awfully worn 
 out in society. It does seem as if there ought to 
 be a better life for human beings." 
 
 We had many of these talks, although we were in 
 the greatest whirl of all. Every day brought a 
 crowd, and Sundays a jam. In fact, there were no 
 Sundays. I had to be at my post just the same : 
 indeed, I handled more people on our little railway 
 that day than any other. But my house was a short 
 distance out, and Eve found* much entertainment 
 with quaint Mrs. Williams.
 
 IN A GARDEN 19 
 
 When the season closed, the company sent me 
 South to a resort they were trying to build up there ; 
 so Eve and I said a tender good-by that was to last 
 the next seven months.
 
 20 A MODERN ADAM AND EYE 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 FINDING AN EDEN 
 
 EVE returned to aunt Carry's. Kate was engaged 
 to a young man whose rich mother was very anxious 
 he should marry. He was a wild, dissipated fellow ; 
 but Mrs. Brinkerhoff was extremely sweet to Kate, 
 and the family was very aristocratic. Aunt Carry 
 was really opposed to it, and my sweet Eve was 
 shocked. Then she wrote of a Mr. Longworth, a 
 man of five and thirty, rather loud, engaged in some 
 sort of silver-mining ; and after a little he surprised 
 her by a proposal of marriage, which she peremp 
 torily declined, and thereby vexed aunt Carry. 
 
 " If we could have some simple little home of our 
 own," was the refrain of every letter. 
 
 I had so organized the matter I had taken in 
 hand, that my assistant, a young fellow at forty 
 dollars a month, could perform the duties ; so why 
 should a rich corporation pay eighty ? Besides, the 
 season at Great Mammoth Beach was soon to open, 
 so I came North. Eve was overjoyed. 
 
 "Take me somewhere with you," she cried, "or
 
 IN A GARDEN 21 
 
 Mr. Longworth will have the life worried out of 
 me, for aunt Carry is resolved that I shall marry 
 him." 
 
 Meanwhile Kate's engagement came to a tragic 
 end. Young Brinkerhoff, in a fit of delirium 
 tremens, insanity, the papers kindly said, shot 
 himself. Kate had some handsome diamonds, and 
 did not seem much depressed by the affair. Uncle 
 Marvin had met with several heavy losses, and they 
 were preparing to go to Long Branch. 
 
 " But I can't go with them, for I will not marry 
 Mr. Longworth. Nothing would induce me to begin 
 my life in such a hap-hazard way, never knowing 
 whether you were rich or poor, and always trying to 
 live on the rich side. I would sooner be a nursery- 
 governess," declared Eve. 
 
 I went down to see Mrs. Williams. She did not 
 want to take any one to board, as she wished to do 
 some visiting herself; but she would rent us three 
 rooms, furnished. Eve was overjoyed with the pros 
 pect. By the middle of May we were settled, and 
 happy as bees in clover. We had a nice large living- 
 room down-stairs, and privilege of the parlor, and 
 two comfortable sleeping-rooms up-stairs. There 
 were a pretty flower-garden and grass-plot ; and in 
 the back of the yard, fenced in by themselves, were 
 ten hens, which were an unfailing source of interest.
 
 22 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Our next-door neighbor was very kindly, so it was 
 not lonesome when Mrs. Williams was away. 
 
 Certainly it was a most delightful summer. True, 
 one of the " boys " fell in love with Eve, and quar 
 relled with me because he thought I aided and 
 abetted his refusal. 
 
 " The world is too old for love-matches," said Eve. 
 " We cannot play at Strephon and Phyllis, forever 
 wandering in flowering meads. We must pay house- 
 rent, and provide for butcher and baker, groceries 
 and clothes, fires and lights, car-fares and a hundred 
 and one things that Strephon never dreamed of, and 
 hardly dreams of to-day; so Phyllis must consider 
 the chances of her husband being out of work and 
 ill occasionally." 
 
 " But you are willing to try it with me," I made 
 answer. 
 
 "If misfortunes come, I am quite sure you will 
 not take to drink ; and there will be no children to 
 suffer. I really wonder how very poor people dare 
 to marry, and make their lives harder. Am I 
 growing very mercenary? But I have seen some 
 of it." 
 
 I had seen a great deal of it. Many a wife strug 
 gling along half-starved, some deserted after a j^ear 
 or two, when the young fellow found it too severe 
 a pull ; others who would have been fortunate if a
 
 IN A GARDEN 23 
 
 brutal and indolent husband had left them to do for 
 themselves. Twice in those early years I had been 
 almost tempted, but the hostages to fortune came 
 too high. No doubt, the family system is the struc 
 tural unit of society. It has helped men to possess 
 and conquer the earth. The boarding-houses provide 
 none of the restraints or incentives of home. But 
 the labor system of the present day makes marriages 
 almost an impossibility. No one is educated for 
 home life. Girls of fourteen take their places in 
 shops, stores, and offices. To them the day is 
 rounded by the evening's amusement, and they long 
 for the excitement. Quiet life is too humdrum. 
 The irregularity of employment is a fatal discour 
 agement. The swift fingers of machinery soon piles 
 up a store of goods, then ensues a dull season. The 
 man looks his starving family in the face, and in 
 wardly curses the brief affection that made him 
 dream they would be a delight. Deserted wives 
 are to be met with everywhere ; and many husbands, 
 when they first set out in search of work, have no 
 intention of making the separation final. But labor 
 is simply a commodity, and does not recognize wife 
 or husband, parent or child. The cheapest labor is 
 the continual cry. 
 
 And now a change was impending for us. Hence 
 forward Eve must be my care.
 
 24 A MODEKN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 We talked about it all the evening. She was 
 pleased that aunt Carry had written so cordially, 
 and approved Kate's marriage. There was also an 
 invitation for her to come down to Long Branch. 
 
 Whatever happened, we would keep together. 
 We had managed to save up a little money this sum 
 mer. I was the happy possessor of about three hun 
 dred dollars ; and Eve had that sum left from her 
 portion, and a piano. She did not incline to New 
 York, neither did she wish to go very far away from 
 it. There were so many contractions at this season 
 of the year. 
 
 I heard of a place in Florida, and one in Indiana. 
 
 "Why, we might go to Florida, and have an 
 orange-grove. I believe I have inherited father's 
 taste for the country. In the course of time, you 
 might give up telegraphing." 
 
 I laughed at that. 
 
 Being in New York a few days later, I ran against 
 one of the "boys." 
 
 " See here," said he, " do you remember Warren ? 
 He is out on the E. & P. road, some sort of a little 
 town where he is every thing rolled in one ; but 
 it's not a hard place, and late trains only twice a 
 week. He is in an awful taking to go to Florida, 
 and he doesn't look as if he'd live the winter out, 
 anyway. Maybe you'd like that?"
 
 IN A GARDEN 25 
 
 "And I could put him in a way of going to 
 Florida." 
 
 " Good. You had better run over and see him." 
 
 Athens, the place was called ; near one consider 
 able city, and some nine miles from another, the 
 terminus of the road; and less than an hour's ride 
 from New York. I resolved to go out and see what 
 I thought of it. 
 
 Athens had once been a country of productive 
 farms, until the mania for improvement had swept 
 over it with a devastating hand. Streets had been 
 laid out, some quite pretentious villas built, and 
 rows of cottages. A lazy river flowed peaceably 
 along at one edge, not much vexed with shipping, 
 although several factories embellished it. 'The land 
 seemed a natural succession of terraces. One beau 
 tiful, broad avenue ran along just back of the river. 
 Here years ago the aristocracy had settled them 
 selves, good old Dutch people, who rejoiced in the 
 names of Schuyler, Van Rensselaer, Van Duyne, 
 Egbert, and so on. About a quarter of a mile back 
 was another avenue ; and the next was the county- 
 road, a fine, Telford-paved street. Each one was about 
 thirty feet higher than its neighbor. Above this ran 
 the railroad ; and, as you went on toward the west, 
 the town still displayed the same gradual rise. Some 
 times, indeed, a street or lane was positively steep.
 
 26 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Just below the station, Rutherford Avenue that 
 was, there were some lovely houses and lawns', built 
 at the time of the rage for country homes, and were 
 now for sale. Indeed, the whole place seemed for 
 sa l e? great tracts of weed-grown land that had the 
 shape of city blocks, many of them containing not 
 more than one or two houses. Farther to the west 
 was the town of Milford, of which Athens had once 
 been a part. It was a lovely section of country, 
 though speculators had wasted its substance; but 
 this sunny October day, while it was still abloom 
 with asters of every hue, golden-rod, the furze of the 
 clematis, and the red berries of the bitter-sweet, I 
 quite fell in love with it. 
 
 The station was trim and rather attractive, the 
 high, peaked roof making it two stories. I took my 
 walk about the place, and returned, as I saw the 
 next train winding down through the distant trees. 
 The waiting-room was large, clean, and in the eastern 
 window a great mound of greenery with a few flowers. 
 The office was at the southern end, and below it a 
 little freight and express place and coal-bin. 
 
 Warren came out as the train slowed up. There 
 were two passengers to get off, and a little freight to 
 put on. I should never have recognized in the pale, 
 sunken-eyed fellow the round, rosy country chap of 
 three years before.
 
 IN A GARDEN 27 
 
 "Hillo!" I said. 
 
 "I 'ought to know you but there are such swads 
 of boys" 
 
 " Thurston." 
 
 " Oh ! Ad Thurston, Old Judge ! Well," with 
 a wan smile, " there's no use inquiring about your 
 health. How do you manage to keep in such splen 
 did order ? Out of a job ? Grand Beach closed up, 
 I suppose ? " 
 
 " Yes to both questions." 
 
 " Had a jolly time there, I dare say ? Excuse this 
 horrid barking. I took a cold last March, and have 
 never been over the cough. Say, old chap, do you 
 know of any Southern places? I'd like to swap 
 with some fellow." 
 
 I unfolded Thompson's scheme. 
 
 " The very thing," declared Warren. " Let's 
 trade. Though this place isn't much, and it's a dull 
 little hole ; but the work is easy." 
 
 The salary I found was forty-five dollars a month. 
 You were ticket-agent, freight, express, telegrapher. 
 It was the branch road of a long main line, and took 
 a sort of dStour to accommodate some business 
 towns. Up above at Springdale there was quite a 
 hotel and summer-boarding. The first train was at 
 6.10. From that until ten they ran quite frequently, 
 afterward stopping on signal about once an hour.
 
 28 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 From four until seven quite brisk again. The last 
 train came up at nine, except a theatre-train on 
 Saturday night, and one on Wednesday night 
 through the three summer months. Certainly the 
 duties were not arduous. 
 
 " Do you suppose I could get two or three rooms 
 for housekeeping?" I asked. 
 
 " Oh ! you're married ! " with the peculiar intona 
 tion in which one says, " Well, you have done it ! " 
 
 " No ; but my sister will be with me." 
 
 " There are two decentish rooms up-stairs. The 
 old fellow who was here before me kept house with 
 his wife. I sleep here, and take my meals just down 
 the street." 
 
 " Let's see them," I proposed. 
 
 The roof cut off the corners, and the wide eaves 
 shut out some of the light ; but the window to the 
 north was large. The room was the size of the one 
 down-stairs. Indeed, it looked immense with noth 
 ing in it. There was a small chimney, and some one 
 had used a stove. The other one was much smaller, 
 and the stairs came up in it from the office. Warren's 
 cot-bed was here : a little washing-stand, a chair, and 
 a trunk completed the furniture. But the office 
 really looked cheery. There were plants in the 
 window, a large, old-fashioned desk, a carpet-lounge, 
 some book-shelves, and pictures.
 
 IN A GARDEN 29 
 
 Warren was quite urgent. " I wouldn't find the 
 place so bad ; and at Northwood there was a theatre 
 and considerable amusement, lots of boys ; and New 
 York was soon reached. Florida would be just the 
 thing for him, and he knew I could stand it one 
 winter. No doubt, I would go back to the beach 
 in the summer." 
 
 Of course I knew I could. I returned, and 
 laid the matter before Eve. She had no especial 
 yearning for Florida and orange-groves. The next 
 day we both went to view the delectable little town, 
 and she really liked it. Then she packed up her 
 small belongings, and went to Long Branch for a 
 few days while I was negotiating. Aunt Carry was 
 delighted to have her ; and she staid behind to put 
 the house in order, when they came up to New 
 York, where about four days later she joined them. 
 I went to Athens two days for Warren to post me, 
 and bought his lounge, easy-chair and the cot and 
 square of carpet up-stairs. He left me with warm 
 expressions of gratitude, and went away with the 
 utmost hope ; but before February had ended, he 
 had gone "over to the great majority," poor 
 fellow. 
 
 I took possession with an odd sort of feeling, as 
 if I had settled down into a family-man ; though I 
 knew, pretty girl as Eve was, she would marry
 
 30 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 some time. The first thing was, to get a woman 
 to come and clean up ; and in two days she made 
 .every thing shine. I donated the cot to her, and 
 fumigated the lounge. Then, as the walls had been 
 painted, I gave them another coat of pretty pinkish 
 gray, and went over the woodwork. I had been 
 quite used to furbishing up stations. 
 
 Eve ran away for one day, and came over. She 
 declared herself delighted; but it seemed to me it 
 must be a horrible contrast between this and an 
 elegant hotel. She charged me strictly not to buy 
 any furniture until she came. We had accumulated 
 some dishes and two chairs. 
 
 " And aunt Carry has given me a great trunk full 
 of clothes and things. They have rented their 
 cottage for next summer at a hundred dollars a 
 month ; and, O Adam ! doesn't it seem dreadful ? 
 but aunt Carry actually took up two thousand 
 dollars on a mortgage for Kate's wedding. Uncle 
 Marvin was not very fortunate through the summer," 
 and Eve sighed. 
 
 " I thought the house was aunt Carry's one sacred 
 possession," I remarked. 
 
 " So it is. Uncle Marvin wanted a quiet wedding, 
 but Kate would not consent. He has promised to 
 clear the house again as soon as possible. And, 
 isn't it funny ? none of them seem to remember that
 
 IN A GAKDEN 31 
 
 Mr. Longworth ever wanted to marry me. He isn't 
 a bit embarrassed, and is as proud of Kate as he 
 can be. She is just the wife for him. They are all 
 spending money as if there was no end to it." 
 
 To please Eve, I hired a dress-suit, and went to 
 the wedding, which took place in one of the Fifth- 
 Avenue parlors. Eve, Helen, and another young 
 lady, were maids of honor. There was an elegant 
 reception, and the bride looked superb. At six 
 that evening they started for Chicago, on their way 
 to San Francisco. Aunt Carry was really pleased 
 that I had come. 
 
 Eve did not return until the next day. Aunt 
 and Helen had started for Washington. I knew, by 
 the long, tender embrace Eve gave me, that she felt 
 she had turned the first chapter of her life. I had 
 engaged board for her at Mrs. Corwin's, where I 
 took my meals. The two trunks were deposited at 
 the station. 
 
 Eve was very tired, and went straight to bed as 
 soon as supper was over. The next day she was 
 bright as a lark. She was sure she should like 
 every thing and every body, and housekeeping at 
 the station would be a sort of picnic. 
 
 "And you do not regret that you are not whirling 
 along in a palace -car with Mr. Longworth?" I 
 asked rather banteringly.
 
 32 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "O Ad! I wouldn't be his wife for all the world, 
 though then there wouldn't be the continual 
 struggle to seem rich ! It is all show. Kate was in 
 a whirl of delight, and thought it a great stroke to 
 be at the hotel, because her presents were more 
 numerous. They were elegant, at least many of 
 them ; and a few of the cheaper ones she disdainfully 
 gave to me. Mr. Longworth has passes nearly all 
 the- way through, and she was so elated. Somehow, 
 I- should want my husband to pay for our wedding 
 journey. I just wondered how many other people 
 in that elegant throng were pinching along in the 
 same way, yet making a grand appearance. It is 
 really ' swell,' that is just the word for it. But 
 I hope they are all happy ; and we will take some 
 comfort in our way. I can understand how Ulysses 
 felt when his wanderings were at an end. He had 
 seen much that was wonderful, but he was glad to 
 get to his own home." 
 
 " It certainly was more inviting than ours." 
 
 "You shall not be lugubrious. And now, like 
 Consider Miller's cow, we must 'consider,' though 
 we are not reduced to quite such straits ; " and Eve 
 laughed merrily. 
 
 That heartened me up. But it did seem such a long 
 step from .the luxury of Fifth Avenue to two rooms 
 in a railroad-station, and forty-five dollars a month.
 
 IN A GARDEH 33 
 
 The result of our consideration was, that the large 
 room must be parlor, kitchen, and Eve's sleeping- 
 room. We must have a cooking-stove, a carpet, a 
 bedroom suite, a table, and some chairs. Thirty-six 
 yards of carpet would leave a small bare space at 
 each side, the room being nearly fifteen feet wide. 
 
 " Matting," suggested Eve, " and some pretty rugs. 
 All the floors are matted at aunt Carry's. And we 
 might find some second-hand goods." 
 
 "I wouldn't risk any thing but a stove. That 
 could not give you typhoid very well." 
 
 She laughed. 
 
 We went to New York and purchased sixty yards 
 of beautiful matting in four remnants, which cost, 
 with freight, just eighteen dollars. We stumbled 
 over some pretty brussels carpet in odd lengths, and 
 two elegant pieces of velvet. As we meant house 
 keeping for a permanency, we might as well start 
 with some of the articles our hearts craved. 
 
 We found the stove at Athens, in the stove and 
 plumbing establishment. When we had our matting 
 down, the man came and put it up ; and the whole 
 cost was eight dollars and sixty cents. I must add 
 that it proved an excellent bargain. 
 
 We went down to Northwood. I knew the place 
 quite well, having once for some months held a 
 position in one of its offices. It was a thriving and
 
 34 A MODEKN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 prosperous manufacturing city ; and we found that 
 its stores, or rather its prices, compared favorably 
 with our greater metropolis. We purchased a pretty 
 ash chamber-suite, springs and mattress, and a cot, 
 some chairs and a table. 
 
 When we reached Athens we found some posters 
 of an auction at Clifton had been left. The owner 
 was dead, and all the household furniture was to be 
 sold. 
 
 "Let us go," said Eve. "Though first we must 
 count over our money. I think we have been 
 extravagant." 
 
 We had, owing to Eve's excellent management, 
 accumulated during the summer a little store of 
 about eighty dollars. We had spent sixty-seven of 
 it already. My half -month's salary would pay 
 board until we were settled, and give us a little 
 besides. We had some sheets and pillow-cases that 
 Eve had made in the summer; but no pillows, no 
 blankets. 
 
 The succeeding day was rainy. We settled our 
 rooms, putting down some matting in the smaller 
 room, and setting up my cot in one corner. As we 
 hated to shut up the north window, we stood the 
 bedstead down a little way in the large room 
 Eve's that was to be. It seemed almost to cut it in 
 two, but we could do no better. The stove-end
 
 IN A GARDEN 35 
 
 would be the kitchen. We placed our chairs, our 
 table, Eve's rocking - chair, and my folding arm - 
 chair. 
 
 " And now we must invent a closet," said Eve in a 
 sort of dismayed tone. 
 
 Thoughts of building one ran through my mind. 
 I was quite an expert at using carpenter's tools. 
 
 " Three or four packing-boxes would make one," 
 resumed Eve. " The summer we were in the 
 Adirondacks we emptied our boxes and used them. 
 We thought it no end of fun, yet we were not as 
 comfortable as you and I will be here." 
 
 " You do take a most cheerful view of it," I said 
 laughingly. 
 
 " If I had been born rich instead of handsome, and 
 always lived in one house, I should not have learned 
 the art of making myself comfortable," Eve said 
 drolly. " You have no idea of the hardships people 
 take for pleasure. We had a furnished cottage a 
 month at Lake George, and there was nothing useful 
 in it. Oh, the straits and perplexities aunt Carry 
 and I had ! Louise's lover was up there, it was just 
 before she was married, and we absolutely didn't 
 have dishes enough to go round ; and as for beds 
 well, I used to roll up a bundle of clothes for a pil 
 low ; and I can do it here. But we look a little like 
 living. And now I am going to unpack my trunk.
 
 36 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Kate gave me a set of plated knives and forks, so 
 we will not have those to buy. And butters, and 
 some salts ; and you have two birthday china cups, 
 and I have three, and a number of plates." 
 
 There was quite an array of dishes when she took 
 them out. Then she had some silver of mother's, 
 and some tablecloths and napkins. Really, we were 
 quite rich. 
 
 " We must not spend more than ten dollars at the 
 auction," she declared presently. 
 
 We went up the next day about noon. Most of 
 the articles were disposed of very cheaply. We 
 purchased two pairs of pillows, some needed kitchen 
 utensils, a clock, a bureau, and, joy ! a small closet, 
 for eleven dollars all told. 
 
 At the end of the first week in November we were 
 in living order, Mrs. Corwin having lent us some 
 blankets until we could get ours. What with the 
 large stove in the waiting-room and our range, which 
 burned beautifully, we were cosily warm. Pictures 
 had been arranged on some improvised brackets. I 
 had made Eve a workstand which she covered with 
 part of an antiquated dress, and now I was busy 
 at a sort of bookcase to hold our intellectual 
 treasures. 
 
 Our first supper was a success. Indeed, I had 
 enjoyed the last week immensely, and sat down to
 
 IN A GARDEN 37 
 
 my own table with the delight of a true house 
 holder. We did not envy the bridal couple, nor sigh 
 for the delights of palaces. There are times when 
 one feels quite content, brief seasons of a lost 
 paradise.
 
 38 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 OUR SHARE OF THE WORLD'S WEALTH 
 
 As if to try us the next morning, there came an 
 offer of a situation in New York with a salary of 
 sixty-five dollars a month. 
 
 " If it only had come sooner ! " I cried regretfully. 
 
 " I don't know," said Eve, drawing her brows into 
 a wise little frown. " It is true that you can have 
 every thing in New York, but it costs a great deal 
 of money. Perhaps it is better to be out of tempta 
 tion's way. Out of the extra twenty dollars we 
 would probably spend fifteen for rent, and five for 
 car-fares. And we would have to think about 
 company." 
 
 "Do you mean to make a hermit of yourself 
 here?" I asked. 
 
 She laughed. " Why, I know half the people in 
 town already. They can call on me in the office 
 down-stairs. Some of them are very entertaining, 
 and a little afraid of me, I think. They can't decide 
 just where to class me. My clothes are so fine, and 
 I have an air of"
 
 IN A GARDEN 39 
 
 " Of courts," I interpolated. 
 
 "I fancy some of them suspect me to be a princess 
 in disguise, especially that young Pryor. I feel that 
 I shall not lack for amusement. I might not want 
 to live here forever, but I shall enjoy it for a while. 
 It is not half so bad as being out on a section, and I 
 have even considered the feasibility of that. But 
 I never told you what Mrs. Harwood said to me on 
 the night of the wadding, did I ? '' and Eve glances 
 up hesitatingly. " You remember her, surely, a 
 little old lady with very white hair and very black 
 eyes. She was quite a visitor at aunt Carry's." 
 
 "I think I do," I answered. 
 
 " She asked me if I was going to Washington ; and 
 I told her I expected to spend the winter, at least, 
 keeping house for you. Then she said, brothers 
 sometimes married ; and when I was out of a situa 
 tion, I must come to her, that I would find one 
 in readiness. It was very kind of her." 
 
 "O Eve! I wonder "- 
 
 " Cease to wonder, then," said she. " I do think, 
 if Mrs. Harwood had offered me a companionship 
 last winter when aunt Carry was throwing Mr. 
 Longworth at me continually, I should have taken 
 it. But now I have cast in my lot with you " 
 
 " And if you should find it a lot of sacrifice and 
 privations "
 
 40 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " Then I can get up and go," answered Eve, with 
 such adorable candor that I laughed. "You see, 
 here we have a great advantage over matrimony. 
 If we cannot agree, the world will merely nod tri 
 umphantly with an ' I told you so ! ' but we shall 
 make no scandal. Still, I never could understand 
 why relatives were expected to disagree, while two 
 strangers, who have only seen each other in their 
 best clothes and finest manners, should live like 
 turtle-doves ever thereafter." 
 
 "I do not believe many young wives would be 
 content to come and live over a railroad-station." 
 
 " Yes, they would be content, only they would be 
 afraid of what the world would say. And I have 
 made up my mind to regard it as a picnic." 
 
 " You are a jolly girl, Eve," I said in admiration. 
 
 " And I can be serious too. Now I want to talk 
 seriously. Do you know, I was very much inter 
 ested in Mr. Corwin's reasons for coming to live 
 at Athens? I thought him especially entertaining 
 the other evening." 
 
 I remembered it all after a moment or two. Mr. 
 Corwin was a jeweller. He had a nice, sensible 
 wife, and five children, the eldest a bright lad of 
 thirteen. He had been speaking of the irregularity 
 of employment for some years back, and this had 
 decided him to get a home somewhat in the country.
 
 IN A GARDEN 41 
 
 An insurance company had foreclosed the mortgage 
 on this place, and offered it a pretty house of some 
 eight or nine rooms, with an acre of ground for 
 three thousand dollars. He had paid half down 
 four years ago, and been able to reduce the mort 
 gage to eight hundred, besides adding some improve 
 ments, and cultivating his ground. He had now an 
 abundance of fine fruit, not only for summer use, 
 but for preserving as well, berries, grapes, and 
 space for most of the vegetables the family needed. 
 He was quite an enthusiast about country homes. 
 "I don't know," he had said on the evening of 
 our talk, " as employment will ever be regular again. 
 I remember when one could hardly get a two weeks' 
 vacation : now I find that for the last three years I 
 have averaged two and a half months out of employ 
 ment. In the city, there is nothing to do but lounge 
 around, or walk the streets. When you have a good 
 employer, you do not want to leave him because 
 there is a week off now and then : indeed, it might 
 be no better in another place. So now I make 
 my time useful. Last year I helped to paint the 
 outside of my house. I bought the paint, and hired 
 an excellent painter, a friend, by the day. I was 
 astonished at the difference in the cost. I do odd 
 jobs around, and I find that we have more real 
 comfort at a less expense."
 
 42 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "But, Eve," I said, "you surely do not think of 
 farming?" 
 
 She laughed gayly. 
 
 " And what if I did ? See here, Adam ! there are 
 women going out West, the very Far West, I mean, 
 who get to own vineyards and orchards and planta 
 tions and ranches. Now it seems to me there is a 
 good deal of hard work somewhere, if a woman has 
 very little money. If one took the little money, and 
 did the work here, it is a question with me whether 
 one might not have more real pleasure staying 
 with friends, and amid civilization. I should like 
 to help do something. I am not ambitious to be 
 clerk or cashier in a store, or write in a stuffy 
 office, half the time by gaslight. What I want 
 most is a home. Can I not help make one here 
 as well as on the Pacific coast? And I do realize 
 that I like the country, but I do not want to be 
 very far away from the city. If we could get a 
 little place " 
 
 "But you wouldn't want it here at Athens?" 
 
 " I am not so sure. I have studied it as I ' took 
 my walks abroad.' It certainly is a lovely place nat 
 urally. Cutting it up into streets and blocks has 
 spoiled it, but the trees and shrubs are growing up 
 again. I wish do you remember any thing of our 
 old place, Adam?"
 
 IN A GARDEN 43 
 
 "It was very pretty. Father had a great love 
 for beauty and gardening." 
 
 " And I've inherited the taste," she said triumph 
 antly. " I wish the place had not been sold, and 
 it was too bad to make such a sacrifice. But I 
 suppose dear mamma thought it best, and she 
 hated the country." 
 
 " And you want to buy a farm ? " I said, rather 
 aghast. 
 
 " Well, I should like to, presently. Listen," 
 and her fair face is a study, " the wealth of the 
 United States, if evenly divided, is supposed now 
 to give every person nearly eight hundred dollars 
 apiece. Now I propose that we set to work and 
 earn ours. After we have our full share, we will 
 not worry, but take all the comfort we can. But 
 we ought to do our duty by the wealth of the 
 world. And we may be able to do it in this pretty 
 little place." 
 
 "Sixteen hundred dollars will not buy a farm/' 
 
 " Well, if we can get that together, we might get 
 some more presently. I have over three hundred 
 dollars, so have you. It is the first step that costs." 
 
 " But, Eve, you never could content yourself to 
 stay here for years ! And the people are why, half 
 of them do not know whether to accord you any 
 social recognition or not "
 
 44 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " Because I have come to live in a railroad-station. 
 Well, I can wait," and she gave a piquant nod. " I 
 told you I meant to consider it a picnic. Don't you 
 know, sometimes before the day is done you have 
 met so many nice people, and made some real good 
 friends ? You will see by spring." 
 
 A train sounded in the distance. After that had 
 been attended to, Pryor came in for a little chat. 
 He was a bright young fellow, who kept a real- 
 estate and insurance office, a coal-agency, and did 
 surveying; also procured loans, and had a little 
 of his own that he kept lending in small sums. He 
 was about my age, a well-informed person, shrewd 
 at bargain-making, and very entertaining. 
 
 I kept revolving Eve's plan in my mind ; but it 
 certainly was the wildest of schemes, and utterly 
 impracticable, though I did not say so. A pretty 
 young girl like Eve would marry, of course. I 
 could not help remarking that here she looked a 
 very queen. Her walk, the peculiar pliant grace of 
 her figure, the inclination of her head, the fit of her 
 gloves and boots, and the style of her garments, 
 bespoke city ways and familiarities. Yet I had a 
 misgiving, when I saw people eye her, that these 
 very gifts and graces went against her in their 
 estimation. 
 
 But we found so much enjoyment in the lovely
 
 Itf A GARDEN 45 
 
 walks, for October was pure Indian summer. Eve 
 sketched and painted a little, she had several 
 accomplishments. We went to church after a 
 Sunday or two ; and Eve settled herself in a pretty, 
 old gray stone church that had stood almost a 
 century. Next door was a vine-clad rectory, occu 
 pied by one of the church-wardens ; as the rector 
 was a young, unmarried man, of rather High-Church 
 proclivities, and a tendency to asceticism. Mother 
 and aunt Carry were both Episcopalians; though four 
 of the denominations were represented at Athens. 
 
 I was somewhat amused at the reception accorded 
 us. We were shown to a very comfortable seat, 
 and there were curious, surreptitious glances. Per 
 haps Eve's stately walk rather impressed these 
 good people as being not quite the thing for a young 
 woman who lived in two rooms over a railroad- 
 station. No one spoke to us. I couldn't help 
 thinking that it would have been kindly. The 
 Corwins were Methodists, and Mr. Pryor went to 
 the old Reformed Church. 
 
 " I wanted so much to sing," said Eve. " There 
 are some good voices in the choir, but they incline 
 more to volume than to melody. And how do you 
 like Mr. Bradford?" 
 
 " I don't like him," I made answer. " He is a 
 regular stick."
 
 46 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "Rather formal and precise. I sometimes think 
 how odd it is that so few make really good news of 
 the gospel." 
 
 " But why did you not sing ? " 
 
 " Because I knew everybody would look at me ; " 
 and she laughed a little, with just a touch of 
 embarrassment. 
 
 We went down to Northwood one day to do a 
 little purchasing, and found a nice library, to which 
 I subscribed for six months, as we were both fond of 
 reading. We had quite furbished up our two rooms, 
 though I must admit they were not pretty to furnish. 
 
 "If it wasn't for the bedstead!" said Eve. "I 
 believe I shall shut up the window, after all, though 
 it is the only large one in the room, and roll the 
 bedstead clear up. It will be more symmetrical." 
 
 "Why didn't we get a lounge or sofa?" I ex 
 claimed with sudden regret. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! if you had slept on lounges and sofas 
 and every invention of the brain, not a bedstead, 
 you would know how good it seems to be the 
 possessor of one. And we shall have no company 
 but those who can be entertained in your office." 
 
 When the first of November came, along with the 
 month's salary, we felt quite elated, as we had nearly 
 run aground. Still, Eve insisted that enough was 
 enough.
 
 IN A GARDEN 47 
 
 " Not to buy a farm," and I laughed. 
 
 " We have been getting a good many odds and 
 ends of housekeeping, and I was afraid we would 
 not come out quite as well as this. And I haven't 
 pinched you very much in diet, have I?" 
 
 " You had better not try that," I said warningly. 
 "I have a bitter remembrance of such an experi 
 ment." 
 
 " When some one starved you ? " 
 
 "When I starved myself." 
 
 " Experience meeting," said Eve, with a face full 
 of dimples and laughter. " Relate." 
 
 "I kept house once." 
 
 " Oh ! you did ! " 
 
 "I was trying to save money. I wanted to pay 
 uncle Marvin. I read in a paper that a man kept 
 himself splendidly on a dollar and a half a week, 
 besides the rent of his room. I hired a furnished 
 room, in which there happened to be a small cooking- 
 stove, for six dollars a month. I purchased a few 
 articles, and started out bravely. I had to go on 
 duty at seven in the morning, and was off at seven in 
 the evening. I had to do my shopping on my home 
 ward journey, and cook in the evening. Then I had 
 to be up by six in the morning, and sometimes I ate 
 on the fly at that. The first week it seemed fine, 
 but it cost me over three dollars. The next week I
 
 48 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 economized rigidly, and it cost me two. I could buy 
 the cheap meats the man had written about; and, 
 when I had cooked them three hours, they still were 
 tough. My bread grew dry, but then I liked toast. 
 My room had a wretched smell of cooking ; it pene 
 trated the bedclothes and everywhere: and, if I 
 opened windows, it was too cool. Then I had to 
 hurry so. After a little, nothing seemed to taste 
 so good. I would take a morning nap, and just 
 snatch a few mouthfuls. The first month I found 
 my expenses had averaged two fifty a week, which, 
 with the rent and washing, made three seVenty-five ; 
 and I had been far from comfortable. Still, a dollar 
 a week was worth saving : so I went on. One night 
 I brought home a bargain in a cheap piece of beef, 
 and put it on to stew. It did have a queer smell. 
 The next morning I was late ; so I ate some bread, 
 and drank a cup of the broth. Before I reached the 
 office I was awfully sick. I did not go home for any 
 dinner. At night I made a cup of coffee, and ate a 
 little bread and cold beef. It was tough as sole- 
 leather, and had a disagreeable taste. That night I 
 was sick again, then I threw my bargain in beef over 
 the fence to the cats. For several days I could 
 retain no food whatever, and one day I dropped off 
 my stool with an attack of vertigo. I went to a 
 doctor, who lectured me on bad habits and dissipa-
 
 IN A GARDEN 49 
 
 tion. I wanted to knock him down, but I was too 
 weak ; so I told him the whole truth. He smiled 
 kindly, and softened. 
 
 " ' My lad,' he said, ' you've been trying a poor 
 experiment. You have almost starved yourself from 
 lack of proper food, illy prepared, and too hastily 
 eaten meals, with not enough variety. No one ever 
 makes any thing by taking the absolute strength out 
 of his own body. A man who is steadily worked 
 needs a nourishing diet. The vital question is not, 
 How little the man can live upon, but how he can 
 best do the work set before him. You have a severe 
 attack of dyspepsia, and are very much reduced. 
 Take good, wholesome board somewhere, sleep all 
 you can, don't worry about saving money ; and in a 
 month or so, you will find yourself a new man.' 
 
 "I had kept house two months, and it had cost me 
 in all about thirty-two dollars. Then I had to be 
 three days off, which was six more. Doctor's bill and 
 medicine was seven. So for the seven weeks it had 
 cost me five dollars a week besides the discomfort, 
 the labor and trouble, and wretched feeling ; while I 
 could have boarded for six. I never tried it again." 
 
 Eve was laughing heartily. 
 
 "I sometimes think, when I see this wonderful 
 wisdom about very cheap living, if the writers ever 
 did try it. And in cooking, you can do many
 
 50 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 economical things if you have plenty of time ; and 
 if you save your time, you must spend your money. 
 A man or a woman employed twelve or thirteen 
 hours a day has no time for cooking." 
 
 "Solid truth," I appended. "And to keep in 
 good health, body and mind, you want good food." 
 
 " You have not suffered under my reign," and Eve 
 looks me all over humorously. 
 
 " I can't see how you learned so much." 
 
 " I think I was born with a genius for housekeep 
 ing : then, to get a good deal out of a little money 
 does sharpen one's wits." 
 
 " It rather dulled mine." 
 
 " But you did not get a good deal," laughs Eve. 
 
 November came in rainy, then it cleared up, and 
 we had the true Indian summer. 
 
 Eve went to New York for a day, and I missed her 
 dreadfully. She looked prettier than ever to my 
 longing eyes when she returned; and, oh! what 
 budgets of news ! 
 
 "Two invitations to theatre parties, one to a 
 luncheon, and an afternoon tea, a reception really to 
 introduce two young English girls staying with Mrs. 
 Brooke. I've had just the gayest time ; and I have 
 asked a crowd of girls over, and I know they mean 
 to come." 
 
 " But what will you do with company ? "
 
 IN A GARDEN 51 
 
 " Well I have been thinking. I shall get some 
 pretty olive and light blue Canton flannel, and cur 
 tain off my sleeping apartment ; and we must have 
 two more chairs." 
 
 "And I haven't been idle, nor economical. Pryor 
 was in here, and wanted to give me a season ticket 
 for a series of entertainments at Northwood. Bur- 
 dette is to lecture, Carleton to read, and several 
 other stars. Six in all. Season-tickets one dollar 
 and a half ; and I bought two, because I knew Pryor 
 was counting on taking you." 
 
 " You lovely Adam ! '' and Eve threw her arms 
 about my neck. " Defend me from young men ! " 
 
 " And Mr. Bradford called." 
 
 Eve had joined the singing in church. Her voice 
 was one of those clear sopranos, which, soft rather 
 than shrill, was of considerable compass penetra 
 tive. 
 
 " Oh ! what did he say ? " and her face was mirth 
 fully curious. 
 
 "He stammered something about you. Women, 
 young women, are a little outside of his religion, 
 which I think is of the Lara or Thebaid type. And 
 I said a few things " 
 
 " You were not rude ? " apprehensively. 
 
 "Well " and I reflected a little " no, not rude, 
 but I made him understand that one might live over
 
 52 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 a railroad-station and be a lady, well informed, and 
 used to all the refinements and proprieties of social 
 life. And he apologized for not calling sooner, and 
 said there were several of the church people who 
 were anxious to make your acquaintance." 
 
 "Let them come," said Eve with a dainty little 
 nod ; but she held her head straighter than ever. 
 
 The ordinary range of the Athenians was not very 
 extensive, I found. The old settlers were the usual 
 type, country people, with plenty of pedigree, and 
 names that elsewhere carried weight; but these 
 degenerate scions had dropped into unambitious 
 grooves, content to eat, drink, and sleep, and let the 
 world go by. We prate of contentment, and yet we 
 secretly despise it as being a virtue practically more 
 honored in the breach than the observance. Some 
 had sold farms, and seen them cut up into building- 
 plots, and continually regretted it : others as perse- 
 veringly bewailed their blindness in not selling when 
 they might have done so. They all seemed to think* 
 there was a fortune in the land still. People from 
 the adjacent cities must come, there would not be 
 room enough for them ; but I had learned, whether 
 wisely or not, that cities could be crowded to reple 
 tion, because the business was there, and it was not 
 in the country. Property was high enough for a 
 prosperous city, but no one ever sold. A few traded;
 
 I1ST A GARDEN 53 
 
 now and then a mortgage was foreclosed; or some 
 speculator, discouraged, closed out his investments 
 cheap. " There was no public spirit," groaned every 
 body ; but there was no private spirit either. They 
 were waiting for a miracle to come along, and trans 
 form them into prosperity. It certainly must have 
 been Sleepy Hollow before the railroad was built. 
 
 " People are so queer ! " said Pryor one day as we 
 were tramping over the hills, that glowed with a 
 dusky red sunset. "If you get a chance to make 
 a bargain, the owner claps on five hundred more, and 
 the thing falls through. There are a number of 
 places standing empty, that are a bill of expense, 
 and falling into decay : others do not pay two per 
 cent on their fancied value. The ridiculousness of 
 asking eight or ten thousand dollars for a place, and 
 getting two hundred dollars rent for it ! Now, there 
 is a house over yonder, that greenish one with a 
 tower. It has all the modern improvements, and 
 a tank that freezes up every winter, and deluges the 
 house. Some New- York parties foreclosed a mort 
 gage of seven thousand dollars five years ago. I 
 could have sold it the year after for six thousand 
 cash, but they wouldn't look at that. Two years it 
 has not been tenanted : once they put it in good 
 repair, and the tenant staid six months. Now it is 
 rented for eighteen dollars a month, and the tenant
 
 54 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 gets all out of it he can. The fences I suspect he 
 uses for firewood, also some of the trees. My opin 
 ion is, that the interest of six thousand dollars would 
 be of more account to them, for in a few years the 
 house will be half ruined. Now [pausing as we 
 came down the hill], here is a place that I think will 
 go cheap some day." 
 
 It was two streets above the railroad. Avenues 
 most of the streets running north and south were 
 called, and this was Oak Avenue. It stood on the 
 corner ; and on Jay Street, a hedge of Norway spruce 
 almost shut it from sight ; while at the back, there 
 was a grove of chestnut-trees. There was a pictu 
 resque house, a small barn, and dilapidated hennery, 
 and an acre or so of ground. On Oak Avenue, 
 where the house fronted, the prospect was lovely ; 
 for the slope went down to the river, broken by the 
 intervening streets. The bank on the other side was 
 high again. You had Athens at your feet, though 
 nearly all of the town lay below Jay Street; and 
 at its southern end, there was another station, 
 which went by the name of the little place below, 
 Rutherford. 
 
 "I have been up here several times," I said. 
 Indeed, this was a favorite ramble with Eve as well. 
 "I have wondered about this house can it be 
 rented ? "
 
 IN A GARDEN 55 
 
 " Well, I am not sure. The last tenant used it 
 dreadfully, and then went off owing three months' 
 rent. It is for sale." 
 
 " Of course," I said in an amused tone. 
 
 " And it will be a bargain for some one. Come, 
 Thurston, buy it yourself." 
 
 " Pray for some one to leave me a fortune. But I 
 might rent it in the spring, if the rent was not too 
 high." 
 
 " The owner is bound to sell it now. It has quite 
 a romantic history. The man who built it some 
 twelve years ago was a Mr. Cassel. He was an 
 engraver, and something of an artist. The Mont 
 gomery farm had just been cut up, and the station 
 opened; and people supposed it would soon be a 
 great place. A few years afterward his wife was 
 killed by being thrown out of a friend's carriage. 
 Then he shut up the house, and went away for two 
 years, when he came back with a new wife, a gay 
 young widow. But the place was too lonely for her, 
 and she spent a good deal of her time in New York. 
 Gossip said they were very unhappy ; and he grew 
 rather queer, became partially deranged, and killed 
 himself at a hotel in New York. Every thing had 
 been left to her. She offered the place for sale for 
 six thousand, then five and four, and two weeks ago 
 told me to report any offer to her. It is a good deal
 
 56 A MODERN" ADAM AND EVE 
 
 out of repair, but is well built. That north side is 
 filled in with brick. And there were loads of lovely 
 fruit and berries, but boys and tramps do so destroy 
 things ! I'll bring the key up sometime, and we will 
 take a turn through it." 
 
 We entered the dilapidated gate. It was over 
 grown with weeds and briers. The barn was in the 
 rear of the house: all the rest was, or had been, a 
 garden-plot. Trees were in sad need of pruning : the 
 grape-arbor had tumbled down at one corner, or per 
 haps been broken. The house was two full stories 
 with a steep Gothic roof, which gave some rooms up 
 stairs. Across the front, which was to the east, ran 
 a wide porch, where honeysuckle rioted. On the 
 southern side a two-story bay-window, and another 
 small porch. 
 
 " I wouldn't mind undertaking some repairs, if I 
 could rent it cheaply enough," I said. 
 
 " Mrs. Cassel is bound to sell. I think she would 
 make an easy bargain." 
 
 "My dear fellow, forty-five dollars a month will 
 not buy many houses, besides taking care of two 
 persons ; " and I sighed. 
 
 " I wish I could sell it," and Pryor sighed as well. 
 
 We walked out reluctantly. I wondered if, in the 
 whole course of my life, I should save up three or 
 four thousand dollars. What art was there, that
 
 IN A GARDEN 57 
 
 could get a good deal out of a very little ? If one 
 could stop eating if clothes would never wear out. 
 We might go without books, newspapers, evening- 
 lamps alas ! what would life be worth with mental 
 pleasures taken out of it. 
 
 Two lugubrious fellows meandered down to the 
 station.
 
 58 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 TEMPTATION NO. I 
 
 EVE went down to her theatre party, and staid all 
 night. The next evening but one, the series of the 
 Clayonian Club commenced with Burbank ; and we 
 found it quite delightful. Then Sadie and Bertha 
 Brooke came over, and we had the gayest kind of a 
 lunch. The curtain had been put up, and our 
 dining-room looked really tasteful. The girls took it 
 as an immense joke. Then the oddest incident 
 occurred as they were waiting for the train to return. 
 Mr. Bradford came in for a ticket, stared around in 
 his near-sighted way, and Sadie, the irrepressible, 
 gave a little shriek that was half a giggle. 
 
 " O Mr. Bradford ! " she cried. " So we meet 
 again at Athens instead of Philippi ! Classic shades ! 
 Of course you know my friend, Miss Thurston ? " 
 
 " I have heard her sing in church, and have met 
 her brother." 
 
 "Oh! your church is here, isn't it? I had a 
 vague fancy it was somewhere at Western New 
 York."
 
 IN A GARDEN 59 
 
 " Train ! " I exclaimed, and helped Bertha in, 
 while Mr. Bradford took charge of Sadie. 
 
 Eve's face was one gleam of amusement. 
 
 " Wherever could he have met Sadie Brooke ! " she 
 cried. " The greatest flirt I ever knew, only there 
 is not a bit of sentiment in any of it. I hope - no, I 
 will not be unchristian." 
 
 " You ridiculous girl ! Mr. Bradford is leagues 
 and leagues above such pastime." 
 
 " But Sadie flirts with the soberest people. All is 
 fish that comes to her net. It would be amusing to 
 see him caught." 
 
 Oddly enough, a week later we had quite an 
 influx of calls from the Athenians. I gave up my 
 office to Eve. She had added some womanly touches, 
 and we had flowers blooming in the window. I felt 
 proud of my fair sister, who was a lady anywhere. 
 
 Indeed, now we seemed to have a social status. 
 We were asked to join a young people's guild ; and I 
 took two seats in a partly rented pew at church, 
 so that we might feel at home. 
 
 The month passed rapidly, and at its close Eve 
 looked over the accounts. 
 
 " We have been extravagant in the way of pleas 
 ures," she declared. " Three dollars for club-tickets, 
 two dollars for a library-ticket, and three dollars in 
 going to and fro."
 
 60 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " But we shall have books five months longer, and 
 there are three more entertainments." 
 
 "And Christmas will come next month. Well, 
 we have not spent quite all our money." 
 
 " But we need a little pleasure." 
 
 " And the eight hundred dollars " 
 
 " Bother that ! " I interrupted. 
 
 "Getting and saving is likely to be bother 
 enough." 
 
 But after a walk the next morning, Eve came in 
 radiant. 
 
 
 
 " What do you think ? " she began breathlessly. 
 " I have three music-scholars, and one in painting. 
 Forty dollars a quarter ! " 
 
 "Eve!" 
 
 "Well, it is just nothing at all. Mrs. Morrison 
 was very much taken with my playing the other 
 evening at the Whartons's, and I said I wished I 
 could find some music-scholars, when she offered me 
 her two little girls. Annie plays quite well already. 
 Then she said she had seen those pretty birthday 
 favors at the Corwins's, and asked if I ever gave 
 lessons in painting; and I answered that I would 
 readily. She wants a quarter's lessons. Mrs. Clark 
 happened in just then; and as she was dissatisfied 
 with her daughter's teacher, and had given her up, 
 she engaged me. Think of it ! Some money all my
 
 1ST A GARDEN 61 
 
 own ! And that it should come to me without any 
 trouble ! I do wish tfiere was room for my piano." 
 
 That was at Long Branch. Aunt Carry had 
 written Eve two quite lengthy letters, and in the 
 second sent the invitation for the month of February. 
 Helen was having a splendid time, and no end of ad 
 mirers. But Eve decided not to go to Washington. 
 
 "You see, I can be quite gorgeously apparelled 
 here," she said laughingly; " and my vanity prompts 
 me to stay where I can make the most show. What 
 would my old gowns be there ? " 
 
 Eve certainly was very happy. Young people 
 began to throng around her, and invitations were 
 showered upon us. We had four for a Christinas 
 dinner, and three for a party in the evening. Then 
 there were Christmas greens and a children's treat. 
 Mr. Bradford paid her some especial notice, and 
 begged her to take part in the carols. 
 
 " It is so different from last winter, with teas and 
 germans, and receptions and crushes, and racking 
 your brains about gowns ! But I enjoy the change, 
 and it isn't half such hard work." 
 
 We did have a very pleasant time, and then Eve 
 went to New York for a week. Sadie Brooke' came 
 over for her, and the days were crowded full of 
 enjoyment; though she returned home looking rather 
 fagged out.
 
 62 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " I do not mean to go out of an evening for the 
 next two weeks," she declared. " We will turn over 
 a new leaf. Why, I am ever so much more dissipated 
 in this benighted little Athens than I was at Great 
 Mammoth Beach." 
 
 We both laughed at that. 
 
 There was a week of wintry weather with snow 
 and rain and sleet. Business was dull. But, oh! 
 how cosey and snug we were in our odd little 
 home ! 
 
 I was reading aloud one evening from "My 
 Summer in a Garden." Eve had been sewing ; but 
 presently she dropped her work, and her eyes 
 wandered into vacancy. I paused, but she did not 
 appear to remark it. 
 
 " Eve ! " I exclaimed. 
 
 " Oh ! " with a long sigh and a dreamy kind of 
 smile as she roused from her revery. "I was not 
 asleep." 
 
 " What were you thinking of so intently ? " 
 
 " I had a vision." 
 
 
 
 " A vision ! " I repeated, startled. 
 
 " Yes. I saw us both in a garden. Adam, let us 
 stay here at Athens. It will be so lovely in the 
 spring, and all through the summer. And if you do 
 not earn so much, I can make a little. Let us have 
 the garden and fruit, and flowers and poultry. Some
 
 IN A GAKDEN 63 
 
 people make money at that. And if one could have 
 a permanent home " 
 
 Some one came in the waiting-room, stamping the 
 snow off his boots. 
 
 " Hillo ! " cried a cheery voice. " You two people 
 are the picture of content." 
 
 " We are content," answered Eve. " Could there 
 be a more cosey interior ? " and she glanced around 
 in triumph. 
 
 I knew very well that Pryor thought it would 
 be hard to find a prettier girl. For Eve's eyes 
 were so softly bright, and her cheeks a dainty peach- 
 pink. 
 
 " Yet you were wishing for something else." 
 
 " Are you quite sure it wasn't some one else the 
 lad you left behind you in New York ? " 
 
 " There were so many of them ! " said Eve with a 
 graceful little shrug. " And now they are dancing 
 with other girls, so why should I bewail them ? In 
 sober truth," and a serious expression crossed her 
 face, "I was going back to what my brother terms 
 first principles." 
 
 Pryor looked puzzled, and glanced from one to the 
 other. 
 
 " It is not lovers or husbands, though the world 
 insists that is a woman's greatest and most absorbing 
 subject of contemplation. Adam and I have formed
 
 64 A MODEKN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 a league of amity and good-fellowship, and we want 
 to go back to the garden." 
 
 He laughed doubtfully as if he did not quite see 
 the point. Then he said, "Do you want a real 
 garden, or is it some figurative " 
 
 " German, with favors. No : what I mean is real 
 solid earth, that will raise berries, chickens, and 
 flowers." 
 
 " There, Thurston ! " Pryor exclaimed triumph 
 antly, "you can't do better than take the Cassel 
 place. I had a letter from the owner to-day. She 
 offers it for thirty-five hundred. I am almost certain 
 three thousand will take it." 
 
 " My dear fellow," I replied, annoyed at his perti 
 nacity, " I am in the position of the man, who, when 
 corner-lots were selling at a dollar apiece, couldn't 
 buy half a one." 
 
 " And she will take five hundred dollars down, with 
 good security for the rest." 
 
 " That pretty place on the hill ? " asked Eve. " I 
 have looked at that with a longing eye, and the eye 
 of faith also. It has possibilities." 
 
 " It is a bargain. She might throw off enough to 
 put the place in order." 
 
 "We all looked at each other like guilty conspirators, 
 until the silence was positively ridiculous. Then Eve 
 drew a long breath, and laughed in a ringing fashion.
 
 IN A GARDEN 65 
 
 " Little does Mrs. Cassel know of the deep plots 
 against her interest," said I. 
 
 " See here," began Pryor : " suppose she had sold 
 it five years ago for three thousand, and put the 
 money out at six per cent. Reckon it up at simple 
 interest nine hundred dollars, where it's safe to say 
 it hasn't paid her a penny. Why, it would be to her 
 best interest to dispose of it as speedily as possible. 
 My advice is, when a thing doesn't pay, and isn't 
 likely to pay, get rid of it as soon as you can." 
 
 " I should like to go through the house," said Eve 
 quietly. 
 
 " The first decent day we will," replied Pryor. 
 
 He talked on about places. The last train came, 
 and I began to prepare for the night. A fine sleet 
 had set in ; but the young man pulled up his coat- 
 collar, and lighted his lantern. 
 
 " Pryor is the most persistent fellow I ever saw," 
 I said impatiently. "Heaven help the woman he 
 sets out to gain if she doesn't want him ! " 
 
 Eve began to fold up her work. I had a misgiving 
 that the serpent had entered Paradise. 
 
 I dreamed that night of processions of chickens, 
 and long rows of berry-pickers, while crates were 
 piled mountain high. 
 
 It stormed furiously again the next day, but just at 
 sundown the air grew wonderfully mild. I shovelled
 
 66 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 away the snow. Mr. Bradford came up on the train, 
 and stopped in the office to chat with Eve, a small 
 matter that amazed me. 
 
 We read again in the evening, then we talked farm 
 and garden. 
 
 "You have given the subject a good deal of 
 thought, Eve," I said presently. 
 
 " Yes. Now and then I have felt like proposing to 
 you that we should go West, and pre-empt a tract of 
 land ; but I should not like the grand and awful lone 
 liness. I am social, and fond of my kind, even if they 
 do flirt and tell fibs occasionally. And it puzzles 
 me to know how you live the first year while your 
 crops are growing, and you haven't any money. 
 Now, if one can keep a situation, and be getting a 
 place in order ; if one can save up a little money to 
 pay on it all the time, there will come a year when 
 you have your own home." 
 
 " But we couldn't buy any thing with six hundred 
 dollars. And it might not be wisdom to put our 
 little money where we could not get it in case of 
 sickness or trouble. And if any thing happened to 
 us that we could not meet payments, away would go 
 every thing under foreclosure." 
 
 " There wouldn't even a tiny lion's whelp in the 
 way miss your apprehensive eyes," said Eve laugh- 
 ingty. " I have been used to seeing ventures. Oddly
 
 IN A GARDEN 67 
 
 enough, while I was dancing and junketing around 
 in New York, I was studying up some of these sub 
 jects. Mrs. Stannard, Mrs. Brooke's sister, who is a 
 rather imaginary invalid, I think, has three dozen 
 fresh-laid eggs brought in to her every week, for 
 which she pays fifty cents a dozen, from the first of 
 December until the first of April. There are plenty 
 of others I heard of one lady giving sixty cents for 
 white Leghorn eggs. And as for flowers well, I 
 never realized before how much money was spent in 
 flowers." 
 
 " But for flowers, you must have a greenhouse ; 
 and no person on a small scale can compete with the 
 larger gardeners, who have every appliance. And if 
 your hens laid abundantly in winter, so would others, 
 and down would go prices." 
 
 " At all events, I would like to try, in a home of 
 my own where I could have matters as I desired. I 
 wonder these stupid Athenians do not start up and 
 do something with their land." 
 
 " There is another thing, Eve," I said gravely: "just 
 as you were settled in this paradise of flowers and 
 hens, there might come a tempting offer of matri 
 mony. You are too young and quite too charming 
 to remain a wall-flower. Even here " 
 
 " Yes, there is Gordon Pryor devoted to your inter 
 ests, I observe, and Dan Montgomery and two or
 
 68 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 three others ; but I am afraid the flowers and hens 
 that you mention so disdainfully would be potent 
 rivals. Indeed, you might want to marry; but it 
 seems to me, that, if we both had money in one house, 
 we might settle it amicably." 
 
 " My dear Eve " 
 
 She clasped her arms about my neck. 
 
 " You are not going to get rid of me so easily," she 
 said, with something that sounded like a sob. " And 
 I am going to help you make your eight hundred 
 dollars, for that will be our share at the next 
 census, whether you will or not." 
 
 There followed a week of rather cold but beautiful 
 weather. Sleigh-riding was perfect, and not a day 
 but some one came for Eve. Pryor was away four 
 days on business, and the house had a rest. 
 
 So it was almost the last of January before we took 
 our peep at it, cast a wistful eye where we had no 
 possessions. It was a bright, sunny day, though 
 roads and streets were still white with snow. 
 
 There was, as I have said, a porch in front, but it 
 ran only half across. The southern end jutted out 
 about six feet, and there was a large double window 
 that opened on a balcony. Pryor unlocked the 
 creaking door, and ushered us into a room, a sort of 
 reception-room and hall. It was large ; and quite at 
 the end, the stairs went up with two turns, but were
 
 IN A GARDEN 69 
 
 broad and easy. There were two windows on the 
 north side, that overlooked Jay Street ; and opposite 
 a chimney with a grate set. A door opened on each 
 side of this, the nearest into a pretty parlor. Here 
 the chimney was across the corner of the room, with 
 a quaint hard-wood mantel. On the south side this 
 had two windows. Back of this, and opening on the 
 hall as well, was the dining-room, with a square bay- 
 window at the south, and just such a corner mantel 
 as in the parlor. Indeed, one stack of chimneys did 
 duty for the three places. Back of this room was a 
 wash-room and a kitchen, and another chimney that 
 answered for both. From the kitchen a back-stairs 
 started up, and we followed these. There was only 
 a little sort of loft over the kitchen, but in the main 
 house four sleeping-rooms; the hall being divided in 
 two, not so large as the others, but nicely furnished 
 with closets. Up in the attic were three gable-ends, 
 in one of which there was a very fair servant's room. 
 
 The paint and the walls were something dreadful. 
 There had been some papering and some very 
 wretched kalsomining. Several panes of glass were 
 out, and sash-cords were broken. It had a forlorn and 
 dilapidated air ; but, as Eve observed, it had possibili 
 ties. The ceilings were moderately high, the doors 
 and wood-work were good in spite of shabbiness. 
 
 We retraced our steps, and investigated the cellar.
 
 70 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 It was under the main house, and had been very nice 
 in its day of good order. There was a large closet, 
 but the door had been carried away. The coal-bins 
 had been partly torn down. There was an ash-shaft 
 in the foundation of the chimney. When we went 
 up again, we investigated. It connected with the 
 grate ; and in the dining-room was set an odd sort of 
 thing, a kind of fireplace heater, but different from 
 any I had ever seen, more nearly resembling a fur 
 nace in fact. There was a register through in the 
 parlor, and three in rooms up-stairs. 
 
 "If it heats at all," said Eve, "it must be 
 excellent." 
 
 On examination, I did not see why it should not 
 heat ; as it was extremely simple, and its manner of 
 disposing of the ashes was commendable. 
 
 We had kept up a running fire of comment, fault 
 finding, depreciation, and approval. It was oddly 
 
 planned, yet convenient enough, with no waste room, 
 
 \ 
 no great useless halls. 
 
 One small bedroom up-stairs had no mode of egress 
 save through another, but that might not be much 
 detriment. 
 
 Then we went out to the barn. That was not 
 large ; but it had a nice loft, and on this sunny day 
 was positively warm. The hen-house would have to 
 be made over altogether. It would take a good deal
 
 IN A GAKDEN 71 
 
 of time and labor, and not a little money, to get it in 
 good order. 
 
 It was nearing train-time, and we had to return. 
 "I'll drop in this evening," said Piyor. "Miss 
 Thurston, it is an excellent chance." 
 
 We discussed it pro and con. I said the house 
 was larger than our needs, and that a smaller place 
 would cost less. I had come to have a horror of 
 indebtedness. 
 
 " A house is not quite like any thing else," per 
 sisted Eve. 
 
 "But the interest on three thousand dollars, 
 repairs, and taxes," I suggested. 
 
 " I could earn all that, I am sure," said she. 
 
 " But you must have clothes and journeys " 
 
 " Aunt Carry's trunkful is not exhausted yet," 
 with a bright smile. " I shall have another music- 
 scholar ; and when spring opens, I shall try to get a 
 class in flower-painting." 
 
 She had set her heart, on having a house and 
 garden, I could plainly see. 
 
 " After all, suppose we do give up a good many 
 things for the next five years we can imagine our 
 selves out on the ranch ; and when we have almost 
 expired from sheer loneliness, we can go into New 
 York." 
 
 "But I might do better than forty-five dollars a
 
 72 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 month somewhere else. And this is a queer dead- 
 and-alive little place." 
 
 A fourth person might have supposed us in some 
 heated argument that evening. I am not sure but 
 we were. And it ended by Eve having the face to 
 make an offer of three thousand dollars for the 
 house. 
 
 " Of course, she will not take that," said my young 
 bargain-maker serenely. " But she may come down 
 a little, and we can go up a little. And perhaps a 
 month hence we may strike a bargain. And, Mr. 
 Pryor, we shall depend upon you to study our best 
 interest, and to warn and counsel if any adversary 
 should be lurking around." 
 
 With that, Eve raises her eyes in that half entreat 
 ing, wholly bewitching manner, and I can almost 
 guess how the young fellow's heart thumps against 
 his ribs. 
 
 "You would make a splendid real-estate agent, 
 Miss Thurston," he says admiringly. 
 
 " Would I ? " She straightens up, and the small 
 face takes on a certain shade of haughtiness. "Well, 
 I hate haggling, and cheapening and depreciating 
 other people's belongings. If I were rich, even 
 moderately wealthy, I never would have a word 
 over any thing. If I wanted it, I would pay a fair 
 price for it : if any one's charges were unreasonable,
 
 IN A GARDEN 73 
 
 I would walk away without a word. And I hate 
 business, because there is so much discussion over 
 bargains." 
 
 " Then you would not be so good," and he gives a 
 little constrained laugh. " Why, I have known men 
 who waited a year over a bargain for the sake of fifty 
 or a hundred dollars." 
 
 "I am devoutly thankful that stores have one 
 settled price," appends Eve. " I am ashamed of a 
 woman who beats down." 
 
 " Eve," I said later on, " do you really think it 
 wisdom to undertake such a wild scheme? We 
 never can pay for the house, never ! " 
 
 " Adam," she answers with a seraphic smile, " we 
 will take up our common every-day lives for a few 
 weeks, and not even dream of a return to Paradise. 
 We may never go. But I wanted to see how it would 
 seem just to talk about having a home of one's very 
 own." 
 
 I dare say we both dreamed of it, but she kept her 
 word rigidly. She would not even let Mr. Pryor 
 discuss it ; and when the word came that Mrs. Cassel 
 could not for an instant entertain such an offer, I 
 know I allowed myself to think of what I could do 
 with the place, and the delight it would be. Is there 
 some deep and secret charm in owning a bit of ground 
 and the roof that shelters you? I even tolerated
 
 74 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Eve's hens when they scratched up my garden, and 
 called myself all manner of names because I had not 
 saved up more money. 
 
 February crept along. One day Mr. Pryor came 
 up to the station with a very stylish black-eyed 
 woman dressed like a princess. Some odd prescience 
 told me it was Mrs. Cassel. I was so glad that Eve 
 happened to be in ! 
 
 There was a rather funny, wary sort of a discus 
 sion. Mrs: Cassel finally offered to split the five 
 hundred. That was the best she could do. Eve was 
 gentle and polite, listened with the utmost affability 
 to a detailed account of all the place had cost, and 
 then very sweetly suggested that it was going to cost 
 a great deal more for repairs, that a new owner 
 could not be expected to pay for what was not there. 
 No agreement was reached; and Mrs. Cassel went 
 away rather vexed, I thought. She and Mr. Pryor 
 walked up to look at the house. 
 
 Meanwhile we visited several other places. Indeed, 
 half of Athens, it seemed to me, came in and offered 
 us houses, and paid us a curious deference. I could 
 see that we had gone up several degrees in the social 
 scale. But in whatever direction we went, our long 
 ing feet led us thitherward. We viewed the place 
 from every side. We were both curiously drawn 
 to it.
 
 IN A GARDEN 75 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 EVE AT BARGAIN-MAKING 
 
 ONE morning early in March, Eve went down to 
 the city. The "girls," as she called her bevy of 
 young friends, kept her in warm remembrance, and 
 thought it rare fun to come over for an hour or two. 
 Sadie Brooke had spent one night, and confessed 
 herself in no end of trouble with two lovers. 
 
 " I'd like to come over here and stay a month,"' 
 she declared, " and in that time both of them would 
 forget me." 
 
 I supposed Eve's day would be mostly devoted to 
 them. She came home with a radiant face. 
 
 " You dear old Adam ! " and she kissed me fondly. 
 "Have you missed me to-day and been lonesome? 
 For sentiment's sake, say ' Yes/ '' 
 
 " For truth's sake, my dear girl." 
 
 I held her in my arms a moment. I was coming to 
 have a strange, conscience-smitten feeling about Eve, 
 as if there was some man in the world that I was 
 defrauding of this sweetness and tender love. 
 
 She busied herself about our meal. There were
 
 76 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 cold chicken, and potatoes to fry, and a dainty pud 
 ding. She was detailing odds and ends of her day's 
 enjoyment. 
 
 " You had some luncheon ? " I asked suddenly. 
 
 "Oh, yes! Do you remember Mrs. Harwood, 
 Adam? Well, I went directly there, and staid 
 unconscionably." 
 
 "And she asked you if we had quarrelled, or 
 whether I had decided to take care of some other 
 fellow's sister?" 
 
 "Exactly!" Eve laughed. "Then we talked 
 business. And now I want to talk business with 
 you, about the house." 
 
 " Then, you haven't given it up ? " 
 
 " We will consider the subject seriously. If you 
 think it too much to undertake, then we will wait 
 until we have saved a little more money. I went 
 down to Mrs. Harwood to tell her about it, and ask 
 some advice. I knew that she was putting money out 
 all the time, and quite glad to find first mortgages. I 
 confessed that our united savings and interest would 
 amount to about seven hundred dollars, and what our 
 income was likely to be. There was one point she 
 asked me to consider, what I should do in event of 
 your death ; and I told her of your insurance policy. 
 Then she said, buy the house by all means. She will 
 take a two-thousand-dollar mortgage on it, and give
 
 IN A GARDEN 77 
 
 us five years to pay it, with a three years' exten 
 sion if we should not be able to meet it all. The 
 rest she will hold as' a note, and we can pay it in any 
 sums that we like. She is coming over to inspect 
 our bargain ; and, oddly enough, she knows a little 
 about Mrs. Cassel, who is to be married in April to a 
 rich old man, and go to Europe. And she says," 
 laughed Eve, " that we must stand out for our offer, 
 and that we will be sure to get it at the last. It 
 doesn't seem real honorable to me, but I suppose it is 
 business. Mrs. Harwood puts it in this light. The 
 place never cost Mrs. Cassel any thing, and she would 
 think nothing of spending two or three hundred 
 dollars on her personal gratification. It is not as if 
 she had worked and economized for it. And now 
 she will be in affluent circumstances , while we need 
 the money for repairs and so on, and it is our busi 
 ness to make the best bargain we can for ourselves. 
 But three thousand dollars does seem a ridiculous 
 sum for such a house and nearly two acres of 
 ground." 
 
 " O Eve, you brave girl ! " I began. " To think 
 of your doing all this when I hardly dared to take 
 the first step ! But I learned through Pryor that we 
 could take up two thousand dollars in almost any 
 of the moneyed institutions. Didn't Mrs. Harwood 
 say that I was a cad to let you go about it? "
 
 78 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "You did not send me about it, and I took care 
 to let her know that," says Eve, bridling her proud 
 little head. " She was only afraid you might marry, 
 and there would be some difficulty. You see, she 
 counts on my being an old maid." 
 
 " Eve," I reply, deeply moved, " if ever we do get 
 the house, it must be settled upon you, because I 
 never would have had the pluck to go at it alone." 
 
 " It will belong to both. We will both work for 
 it, both enjoy it. I shall be all impatience until Mrs. 
 Harwood comes, and that will be on Thursday. You 
 must like her, Adam. She would be a very good 
 friend to me if I needed one : she is our friend now." 
 
 After supper, Eve brought out her housekeeping- 
 book, and we went over it carefully. We had been 
 at Athens four and one-half months. Our real living 
 expenses had averaged twenty-six dollars a month. 
 There had been no rent to pay, and my fuel was 
 bought at first cost. For pleasures, books, and inci 
 dentals, we had averaged seven dollars. We had 
 spent, besides our summer savings, some twenty 
 dollars for furniture : we had needed very little in 
 the way of clothes, and we had now twenty-five 
 dollars on hand. It was not much to save during 
 that time, I confessed. 
 
 Then we counted up our assets. Eve had three 
 hundred and sixty dollars, I had three hundred and
 
 IN A GARDEN 79 
 
 forty odd. We could venture to pay seven hundred 
 dollars down on the house. At the first of April, 
 Eve would have forty dollars ; and there was quite a 
 prospect of her getting a class in painting. 
 
 Gordon Pryor came in presently, as usual. This 
 time he had another bargain. There was a house a 
 little farther to the north of us, to be sold under 
 foreclosure the middle of March, for about twenty- 
 five hundred. It was a larger and prettier house, with 
 one acre of ground. 
 
 The next morning we went to look at it. It was 
 a double house with a hall through the middle, and a 
 large parlor on one side, that had a very pretentious 
 air. There were four sleeping-chambers up-stairs, 
 and a nice attic for storage ; a furnace and a range. 
 The fences were good, and the house in fair repair ; 
 no barn, but a very nice hennery ; and some fruit. 
 There certainly was a thousand dollars difference. 
 
 Thursday brought Mrs. Harwood. She was a 
 bright, keen-eyed little old lad}^, with snowy white 
 hair, and a kind of apple-bloom in her cheeks, a rapid 
 talker, and she had a habit of giving sagacious little 
 nods to emphasize her sentences. We went over 
 the Cassel cottage exhaustively, made an estimate 
 of what repairs would cost, though I knew I should 
 do it for half the sum. Still, that was for Mrs. 
 Cassel's eye. Mrs. Harwood approved of the place,
 
 80 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 and she also believed in young people laying by 
 something. 
 
 " It is so easy," said she, " to take money out of 
 a bank, but one cannot get it out of a house at a 
 moment's notice." 
 
 She had a cup of tea with us, and was as much 
 interested in Eve's small housekeeping as if she had 
 been some connection. 
 
 We were to wait for some sign or word from Mrs. 
 Cassel. Oddly enough, she came to hand the very 
 next day. Pryor had a talk with her, in which he 
 said he played out his right bower, told her we 
 were looking at another place. They came up 
 together, and we had a long talk over repairs and all 
 that. 
 
 " Well," she said at length, " I am going away for 
 a year or so, and want to get rid of the house ; but 
 it cost twice that sum. It is really giving it away, 
 and I might better have done this soon after Mr. 
 Cassel's death. Take it at your own price, then." 
 
 Eve suddenly turned pale. I think she just real 
 ized the responsibility she had assumed. 
 
 Arrangements were made for the business to be 
 settled the ensuing week. We sent word to Mrs. 
 Harwood, and then lived in a curious state of expec 
 tancy, in which we felt that any thing might happen 
 to snatch away our coveted prize. Every day we
 
 IN A GARDEK 81 
 
 went to look at it. There was a spring-like tender 
 ness in the air, and a purplish tint to the swelling 
 buds. A bluebird now and then made a swift dazzle 
 across the sky, and the waysides came to have a 
 peculiar softness under the dead browns and grays. 
 
 No misfortune happened. Everybody came to 
 hand, we paid away our precious money, and the 
 house and nearly two acres of ground were trans 
 ferred to us. Mrs. Harwood made up the remainder, 
 and took a mortgage for two thousand dollars, and a 
 note for three hundred. I must confess that I had 
 some misgivings about the wisdom of staying at 
 Athens on forty-five dollars a month. But the die 
 was cast. 
 
 Athens was very much surprised. It was ex 
 tremely amusing to hear the comments. Two differ 
 ent parties professed to be dreadfully disappointed. 
 If they had suspected the place would go so cheap, 
 they would have purchased it. Two or three others 
 considered it dear at any price, and were sure one 
 thousand dollars would not put it in good order. 
 But we were the happiest of the happy. 
 
 " Still, we have enjoyed our nest up among the 
 eaves," said my sister, " only it would be too hot for 
 comfort in the summer. And now we really begin life. 
 The past, with me, has been merely playing at it." 
 
 I felt the responsibility of a large debt on my
 
 82 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 shoulders. I wondered how I would ever get used 
 
 to it. 
 
 We had a very great surprise a few days after this. 
 Uncle Lennard was in New York, and came over to 
 see us. He was looking very well ; but the mining 
 business had not turned out quite as prosperously as 
 he expected. He was getting up the company now, 
 and hoped in a few years to be a rich man. Aunt 
 Carry would spend the summer at Cleveland. Helen, 
 he believed, was engaged, or there was a prospect of 
 it. He was going to Long Branch, to look up some 
 belongings of the ladies, and would have Eve's 
 piano boxed and sent. 
 
 We kept him all night. How restless he was! 
 how full of schemes and hopes and plans ! Money, 
 money all the time ! Yet, when I said good-by, all 
 his old kindness rushed over me, and I felt that I 
 loved him like a son. 
 
 About a week later, Eve received a kindly little 
 note from him, enclosing a check for one hundred 
 dollars. He had made some money by a fortunate 
 speculation, and wanted to send Eve a little gift ; 
 though he wished he could afford to add another 
 cipher to the figures. Dear uncle Marvin ! you had 
 a generous heart. Had you been a millionnaire, you 
 would have made people rejoice on the right hand 
 and on the left.
 
 IN A GARDEN 83 
 
 " Now," said Eve, " I shall pay this directly on the 
 house. Isn't it just lovely ? " 
 
 I demurred at this. " You ought to keep some 
 thing for yourself. And there will be house-furnish 
 ing, and repairs and papering " 
 
 "And lions and lions," laughed Eve. "You are 
 certainly Mr. Ready-to-halt and Mr. Faint-Heart in 
 one. Dear old Bunyan ! How well he knew the 
 souls of human beings ! " 
 
 In spite of my arguments, she went and paid it. 
 Mrs. Harwood thought she had better keep it, but Eve 
 was resolute. Then her friend asked her to go out 
 shopping, and she purchased two pretty summer-silk 
 dresses. At parting, she put one parcel in Eve's hand. 
 
 "This is for you, my dear," she said; "and with 
 it my best wishes. But do not wear yourself out 
 too fast, saving and working. There is nothing so 
 sweet as youth, and that is the season for pleasure." 
 
 " How lovely she was ! " exclaimed Eve. " I 
 should have valued any little gift, and I wasn't 
 expecting any thing ; for somehow I have always 
 fancied Mrs. Harwood a very close woman, though 
 she has a good deal of upright common sense, the 
 kind that is just and earnest. And, when we get set 
 tled, she is coming over to pay us a visit. I do seem 
 to be in luck. I am getting all the things I want." 
 
 " You seem to want very little."
 
 84 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "You didn't think so when I first proposed a 
 house," she said archly. " And, Adam, the girls are 
 coming over, lots of them. We shall have the gayest 
 sort of a summer here in this sleepy little town. 
 Everybody will be amazed." 
 
 We resolved we would be in no hurry to get in. 
 It was comfortable where we were while fires were 
 needed, and we would take our renovating by 
 degrees. I found the roof needed a little repairing, 
 the leaders were choked up by leaves and dirt, and 
 the dining-room chimney had a small leak. I had a 
 man come, who, with my assistance and planning, did 
 the mending, and all the leaders were freshly painted, 
 at a cost of seven dollars. The outside of the house 
 needed painting badly, but that must wait. Then a 
 woman came, and cleaned the attic and the second 
 floor in one day, at the very moderate price of a 
 dollar and a quarter. The next thing was to paint 
 the woodwork. 
 
 "Aunt Carry and I painted down at Long 
 Branch," said Eve; "and why isn't it just as sen 
 sible as painting innumerable plaques and panels? 
 There ought to be a practical side to art, when people 
 need it for real use. Now, I am sure you and I can 
 paint it to our liking. I want some pretty delicate 
 tints. I shall have blue rooms and green rooms, and 
 dainty bits of coloring. Why, Adam, it will be the
 
 IN A GARDEN 85 
 
 most delightful thing in the world ! I have wished 
 that I could get into the business of house decoration, 
 and now I can try on ours." 
 
 We purchased some household paints in various 
 tints, and a can of white, to lighten if we needed. 
 We had ten pounds in all, and by that quantity we 
 purchased it for eighteen cents a pound. I bought 
 seventy-five cents' worth of brushes, one quite 
 large, two small ; and, after settling upon our colors, 
 we went at the two small rooms. One was in a 
 delicate lavender ; the other a pale gray, with lav 
 ender alternations. Eve took the sashes, and I the 
 doors. There were four doors and three windows. 
 I must confess that Eve would have made good 
 wages if it had been piece-work at a fair price. She 
 was so quick and deft, so neat as well. Now and 
 then I had to run down for a train ; but we finished 
 both chambers, and they looked very inviting. 
 
 " Do you know," said Eve, " that I shall paint the 
 floors ? The rooms are small, and painted floors will 
 be cleaner. We can lay down rugs, and that will be 
 cheaper," with a bright laugh. 
 
 That evening she " dreamed " out her color, she 
 declared. The bay -windowed room was to be hers. 
 By skilful manipulation, she made a lovely tint, 
 neither green nor blue, but an indescribable medium, 
 and, with the least bit of gray, softened it to perfec-
 
 86 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 tion. The other was in parti-colors again, buff, 
 with a bit of dull blue. We finished both the same 
 day, and found we had not used all our paint. The 
 parlor down-stairs had been trimmed in black walnut ; 
 and the mantel was of the same wood, very pretty 
 indeed. The hall and stairs were grained to match; 
 but it looked now as if suffering from some eruptive 
 disease, so many bangs and rubs had it received. 
 The dining-room was pine, oiled originally, but 
 looking badly now. 
 
 "A coat of varnish will help it," I said. "And 
 the graining must be mended and varnished." 
 
 " That will be a labor long drawn out, if not of 
 linked sweetness," she said humorously. 
 
 Then we discussed papering. There really was 
 nothing else to do with the chamber-walls. 
 
 " And when once done, it lasts for a long while," 
 Eve continued. " We can do it ourselves." 
 
 But we decided, while we were about it, that it 
 would be the part of wisdom to paper the ceilings as 
 well. Then we could go on for years without much 
 fuss of house-cleaning. We went down to North- 
 wood one morning, and looked at "odd lots," finding 
 many really beautiful remnants that the dealer was 
 glad to sell at any price. One piece took Eve's fancy 
 particularly. It had four stripes in the width that 
 were exquisite.
 
 IN A GARDEN 87 
 
 " You see," said Eve, with an eye to economy, 
 " this will make beautiful bordering at a very small 
 cost. I am not going to have it put on in the usual 
 regulation way, but try how much harmony and 
 effect I can get in it." 
 
 We spent for paper, nine dollars and fifty cents, 
 and had enough for the chambers and the dining- 
 room. I had a man come one day to paper the ceil 
 ings : the' rest we did ourselves. There was a little 
 deep red in the dining-room paper ; and we touched 
 up the woodwork at the edges of the moulding 
 with Pompeiian red, and the effect was excellent. 
 The hall and stairways had painted walls, also the 
 parlor. They were not in very good order ; but being 
 clean, we decided to let them go until a more conven 
 ient season. The kitchen had a wainscoted dado 
 with paper above, but we resolved sometime to paint 
 it. I must not omit to state that Eve painted the 
 floors of the small chambers in Pompeiian red, and 
 was well satisfied with her experiment. We found 
 it to be a most excellent and cleanly proceeding. 
 
 We had now spent for labor and material twenty- 
 four dollars and fifty-five cents, and had the inside of 
 our house in very fair order. For this we used our 
 March surplus and the fifteen dollars we had saved 
 before. We would have enough to live on during 
 April, but I insisted that Eve should keep her forty
 
 88 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 dollars for the present. So far, it was then about 
 the 10th of April, the weather had been decidedly 
 cold. Not much could be done in farming. 
 
 We had entertained ourselves by reading up all 
 kinds of farm and garden literature that came in our 
 way, and we could get plenty of it at the library. 
 We laughed over the failures and mistakes : we mar 
 velled a little at some of the wonderful stories. 
 
 " The best way," said Eve sagely, " is to strike a 
 golden mean. Since we have a garden and some 
 time on our hands, let us try to make it profitable. 
 If we could pay the interest with our sales " 
 
 " O Eve ! " I interrupted, " don't dream of that. 
 In fact, don't dream of any thing. This year will be 
 just an experiment." 
 
 " But we must avoid what has proved unfortunate 
 in other people's experiments, and adopt the best. 
 What is the good of all this wisdom of years and 
 years, if it does not teach you to do something ? " 
 
 I took a serious survey of my garden one sunny 
 morning, and began to trim the trees. There were 
 three .quinces that looked quite promising when 
 pruned into shape. Just back of the house was 
 one large pear-tree, and at the south-west corner a 
 cherry-tree. At the side near the street was a large 
 oblong of grass, lawn, I suppose I ought to call it. 
 Back of this were two rows of pear-trees going up to
 
 IN A GARDEN 89 
 
 the barn, eight in all. One in each row I found was 
 dead, but the space was better for those that remained. 
 Beyond this there were the quince, two apple-trees, 
 one more cherry ; and there had been peaches innu 
 merable, but they were nearly all dead, though some 
 promising young ones had grown up. The ground 
 had a frontage of two hundred feet on Oak Avenue, 
 and was three hundred feet in length. Over on the 
 west side at the dividing-line was a blackberry 
 tangle that did look hopeless. I found currants, 
 gooseberries, and raspberries. The two former were 
 set between the pear-trees. Certainly, there had been 
 an abundance of fruit when the place was in order. 
 
 I trimmed and trimmed. I dragged my dead and 
 useless branches to the barn-yard, and decided that 
 we ought to have a fireplace in the house, that we 
 might enjoy the blaze thereof. It seemed to me an 
 endless task ; but I went over the ground thoroughly 
 as far as I did go, and was amazed at the improve 
 ment. There would be a large space for gardening, 
 and we discussed what our vegetable venture would 
 be. 
 
 " Pease and sweet corn," said Eve, " and radishes 
 and lettuce and tomatoes. Oh, we ought to plant the 
 seeds in boxes ! And cucumbers and every 
 thing." 
 
 I laughed.
 
 90 
 
 I was leaning on my own gate-post resting, when 
 one of my neighbors came along. This was a Mr. 
 Montgomery, whose son, Dan, cast tender glances at 
 Eve. Mr. Montgomery had owned all this end of 
 the township, and been a prosperous farmer, some 
 fifteen years before. But when the mania for im 
 provement overtook Athens, he cut up his farm, laid 
 out the two avenues, Oak and Montgomery, and sold 
 off some plots. Then came the great depression. 
 Much of the land had lain waste since then. It 
 would hardly pay to fence it in, so it had been 
 allowed to grow bountiful crops of weeds. His 
 money he had been compelled to live upon, and found 
 himself now in .very straitened circumstances, and 
 leading a kind of aimless life. There were four girls 
 and three boys in the family. The eldest son and 
 daughter worked in the hat-factory at Springdale, 
 the next station above. Dan was about twenty, 
 and was clerk in the principal grocery-store at 
 Athens. The next daughter had just set up as 
 a dressmaker, and the three younger ones were 
 at home. 
 
 "Well, young man," began my senior, "I suppose 
 you think you are going to do quite wonders here, 
 set us all an example ; " and he gave a good-natured 
 but rather derisive laugh. 
 
 "I do not know about the example," I returned.
 
 IN A GARDEN 91 
 
 "I am rather new to this kind of business, and I 
 may need a little advice." 
 
 " Well, I suppose you've lots of book-learning on 
 the subject, and let me tell you that isn't worth a 
 rye straw. What you want is practical knowledge. 
 And then, this kind of work doesn't pay hereabouts. 
 Bermuda and the South are sending in every thing : 
 there isn't any profit in gardening, or farming for 
 that matter, unless you go West. If my wife was 
 willing, I'd start to-morrow." 
 
 "Yet," I said, "people on Long Island, and, indeed, 
 in every direction from New-York City, do make 
 gardening pay. There seems a continual demand." 
 
 " Well, you don't get any returns. The best 
 prices are gone, and you come in at the fag-end. 
 Wasn't calculating to do that yourself, I hope ? " 
 
 " Not at present ; but I shall raise a little to try 
 my hand." 
 
 " There's no use bothering with it. You can buy 
 it for half of what it will cost you. Now, do you 
 know what I'd do with this place?" 
 
 "What?" I inquired. 
 
 " Well, first of all, I'd hustle up that great patch 
 of blackberry briers. They are the worst things to 
 get in the ground : you have to fight 'em out every 
 inch of the way. I had 'em several years, then I 
 cleared 'em out root and branch "
 
 92 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "But what do you do for berries?" 
 
 " Oh ! plenty of 'em grow wild about here. Wife 
 and the girls often go out of an afternoon, and pick 
 a lot. Everybody comes over here." 
 
 "If I should tear them up, they wouldn't come. 
 That might be an object." 
 
 Mr. Montgomery looked rather curiously at me. 
 " Well, you'll be sick enough of 'em," he said. 
 " Cassel just had a few set out along the fence, and 
 now look where they've gone." 
 
 "But you can sell blackberries," I returned. 
 
 " Well, what would you get ? Not enough to 
 pay for picking," rather contemptuously. " Cassel, 
 you know, had every thing put in that money could 
 buy; but late years it's gone to rack and ruin." 
 
 "And if I take up the berries?" I suggested, 
 rather amused. 
 
 " Well, I'd get a man to come and plough up the 
 whole thing. Then I'd have it seeded down. 
 'T would look neat and nice, and be no trouble ; and 
 'most any one would cut it for the grass." 
 
 "And how much would this cost?" 
 
 "Well, two days' work, say, about ten dollars. 
 Ploughing, harrowing, and seeding, you know, take 
 quite a little time." 
 
 "And give my grass away?" 
 
 "Well, you might hire it cut, but you wouldn't
 
 IN A GARDEN 93 
 
 more than pay expenses if yon sold it. Just as 
 broad as it's long," and he gave a chuckle. 
 
 " I do not believe gardening can come out much 
 worse than that," I ventured. 
 
 "Well, you'll see. Fellows like you think they 
 can do wonders, but you'll find* book-gardening 
 doesn't amount to much. However, if you want to 
 spend your money, that isn't my affair. Maybe 
 experience is the best teacher after all," and he 
 nodded in a kind of satisfactory manner. 
 
 I had to run for the train, and my chance for 
 further practical wisdom was lost.
 
 94 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 MY TRAMP 
 
 WE were spending the evening with the Corwins, 
 when I happened to repeat the sage advice of Mr. 
 Montgomery. 
 
 " I suppose we will have to call him a pessimist," 
 said Mr. Corwin. "According to his view, nothing 
 pays but a salaried position or weekly wages. He 
 cannot understand that a certain degree of pleasure 
 in an undertaking is a reward. He will die a com 
 paratively poor man ; and I have heard people say 
 he was a very brisk, prosperous farmer. Now he 
 raises a little corn and potatoes and vegetables for 
 the family, and keeps declaring that you can buy 
 them much cheaper. His once beautiful and produc 
 tive farm is half waste land, filling the world with a 
 crop of all kinds of weeds. A neighbor of mine 
 wanted to take a three-years' lease on some lots next 
 door to him ; but no, Montgomery was sure to sell 
 them in a year's time, and they are not sold yet. 
 When I think of all the unproductive land lying 
 about these little towns, and the people who might
 
 95 
 
 have gardens and fruit, it seems such a waste ! Of 
 course, Mr. Montgomery's taxes are much higher 
 than if his property was still a farm ; and it will eat 
 up half his substance in the end." 
 
 "And, Miss Thurston, don't ever allow yourself 
 to be inveigled into going after wild berries of any 
 kind," said Mrs. Corwin. " They are small, full of 
 seeds, half green if you do get them, because the 
 children pull them so soon. Many a time I have 
 picked enough of my own in ten minutes, and just 
 gone down to the foot of the garden. But I shouldn't 
 wonder if you were overrun with children this 
 summer, they have been so used to roaming over the 
 place." 
 
 " I shall keep a dog," I said. 
 
 "And I shall be frightened every day and hour 
 lest the dog goes mad," responded Eve, at which 
 everybody laughed. 
 
 However, by the middle of the month, a gentleman 
 came up to Athens to look at the plot of ground 
 next to me. It had just fallen to his wife by inherit 
 ance ; arid she had resolved to have a country-house 
 built, if the place was at all desirable. We walked 
 through his ground and then mine ; and I think he 
 was very favorably impressed, for the next day he 
 brought up his wife. They were a Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wilbur, and had five children. They wanted a plain,
 
 96 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 roomy house, just for summer living, with plenty of 
 out-of-doors, and some shade. On their plot stood 
 two magnificent old apple-trees and some chestnuts. 
 That seemed to decide the lady at once, and they 
 concluded to go at the building immediately. So 
 we would have a next-door neighbor in the summer 
 at least. 
 
 I was casting about for some one to assist me in 
 my labors, when an incident occurred that enabled 
 me to do a good deed as well. Going down for the 
 noon train, I saw a ragged tramp sitting on a step at 
 the end of the freight-room. After the train had 
 gone, he shambled along in a downcast way, watching 
 me wistfully. He was not more than twenty, but a 
 pitiable object ; still, I had seen so many poor, half- 
 starved railroad lads, that my heart went out to him. 
 
 " Well ? " I said in a tone of inquiry, as he halted 
 within speaking distance. 
 
 "Then, you don't know me, Thurston?"' and the 
 pale face flushed, partly with shame I think. 
 
 As I studied him doubtfully, he said with some 
 hesitation, " Crawford. I was down at Great 
 Mammoth Beach two summers ago." 
 
 " Not Joe Crawford ! " 
 
 The tears came into the poor lad's eyes. 
 
 Twenty months ago I had parted from a nice, 
 bright, rosy-cheeked lad, who had been but two years
 
 IN A GARDEN 97 
 
 in service. Now he was pale, gaunt, sodden as to 
 complexion, and his eyes showed traces of dissipation. 
 
 " I've seen awful hard times this winter," he said ; 
 " and I have a promise of a place in Jersey City the 
 1st of May. I've been staying a week with Jim 
 Turner at Field's Landing, and he passed me on, 
 if the boys hadn't been good to me " and the poor 
 fellow broke down. 
 
 The old, old story. Jim Turner was good-hearted, 
 and a first-class man when he was sober ; but once a 
 month or so he would go on what he called a u tear." 
 Likely he and Crawford had been drinking together. 
 
 "When did you leave Jim?*' I asked. 
 
 "Last Friday. I've tramped since then, and 
 begged. I heard some one say you were here. 
 Thurston, I haven't had a crust since noon yester 
 day, and I crawled under a shed last night. I can't 
 see why some boys should have such bad luck." 
 
 " First, then, you want a good square meal," I 
 said. " Come into the station. I am living here." 
 
 " Oh ! you're married." 
 
 " No : my sister is with me," was my brief reply ; 
 and I was rather glad Eve was up at the house. 
 
 He followed me in. There was a little fire in the 
 stove, and he went close to it with a sigh of relief. 
 How wan and wretched he looked, a travesty upon 
 youth, and the health he used to have !
 
 98 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " Sit down, and rest yourself," I said, " and I will 
 hunt you up something." 
 
 I was to take some lunch to Eve, who was busy 
 with closets, painting the shelves and floors, and did 
 .not want the walk just then. I prepared a bountiful 
 plateful for Crawford, cold beef, biscuits, and a 
 great slice of cake, and then put up ours. 
 
 " Now," I said cheerfully to him, " you eat this ; 
 then take this cushion, and curl up in the corner, 
 and go to sleep. I'll be back in about an hour and 
 a half," for I did not want to alarm Eve by any pro 
 longed stay. "Make yourself at home. You're 
 used to a railroad station." 
 
 " You're such a good fellow ! " he said grate- 
 fully. 
 
 I locked the door of my office as usual, but the 
 waiting-room was always kept open. 
 
 Eve and I had our lunch, and then went on with 
 our work. Hers was finished presently, but I had to 
 leave mine with the same hopeless aspect. I should 
 not get over to the berries before midsummer. 
 Against Farmer Montgomery's advice, I had spaded 
 up some ground, and planted pease. 
 
 Going down, I told Eve of my tramp, and what I 
 knew of him. I had met him first at the beach. 
 He was a country lad, an orphan, and had learned 
 telegraphing. When his married sister went West,
 
 IN A. GARDEN 99 
 
 he floated out to the great city, to add one more to 
 the waifs and strays. 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " said Eve pitifully. 
 
 " If they would not spend their money for drink ! " 
 I returned, rather impatiently. 
 
 " Yet you have said, Adam, that you could hardly 
 blame them, either, when their lives were so hard." 
 
 I sighed. There was and is a great wrong some 
 where, when destruction is set in the way of thou 
 sands. Arid I remembered the first time I had seen 
 Joe Crawford drunk : some of the boys had done it 
 as a joke. He was very sick for a day or two, and 
 very much ashamed ; and I had taken him in hand. 
 
 He was asleep now, curled up in the corner-seat, 
 with the cushion back of his head. He looked pallid 
 in the extreme, and his lips were a kind of purplish 
 blue. Deep shades of the same tint were under his 
 eyes. His rusty felt hat was pulled down over his 
 forehead ; but his nose was fine, and his chin had a 
 certain character and determination, as if he might 
 overcome evil if he once resolved earnestly. I re 
 membered my own turning-point. 
 
 Eve was busy about housewifely matters up-stairs. 
 She was employing her time in the manufacture of 
 marvellous lambrequins and curtains and chair- 
 covers. Trains came and went. I wrote a little 
 and at six Joe was still sleeping.
 
 100 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " We shall have to keep him all night," said Eve ; 
 and then she glanced in dismay at his rough and 
 soiled attire. 
 
 " Well, he can sleep anywhere : the trouble with 
 such lads is often where to find a place to sleep." 
 
 Joe started then, roused himself, and flushed 
 redly. 
 
 " I've had such a splendid nap ! " he began. 
 " Why, it's never that late ! " glancing at the clock. 
 " Well, I suppose I must tramp along," regretfully. 
 "I'm obliged to you, Thurston, for this good rest 
 and my dinner." 
 
 "Were you going anywhere in particular?" 
 
 " Well, no ; " and his face was scarlet. " I must 
 tramp out a couple of weeks somehow." 
 
 " Then, I think you had better remain here all 
 night," I said quietly. " We can make you a bed." 
 
 " I ain't fit to stay with with decent people," he 
 blurted out on a half cry. 
 
 "You can make yourself a little better. You 
 would feel ever so much improved by a nice wash, 
 and I can hunt up a clean garment or two." 
 
 Joe Crawford did not speak, but winked his eyes 
 hard ; yet, in spite of that, some tears rolled down 
 his cheeks. 
 
 "Come," I began cheerfully, "we'll fix you up 
 so that you will hardly know yourself. I have a
 
 IN A GARDEN 101 
 
 nice little corner up-stairs, and I'll get some warm 
 water." 
 
 I had manufactured a screen out of an old-fashioned 
 clothes-horse, that shut my room off from the stair 
 way. I consulted Eve, and she found an old suit of 
 underwear and a shirt laid by for charitable uses. I 
 filled a pail nearly full of warm water, brought towels 
 and soap, and spread down an old mat. Then we 
 retired to the office, and left him free from any 
 danger of interruption. 
 
 " I wish you had some clothes that would fit him. 
 See here," said Eve eagerly. " He is just about Mr. 
 Corwin's size ; and Mrs. Corwin was complaining a 
 few days ago of the old clothes around, and declaring 
 she would have to make a rag carpet in self-defence. 
 I'll just run over, and see what I can raise." 
 
 She returned in about ten minutes, breathless, with 
 a great bundle in her arms, two pairs of trousers, 
 a vest, and a coat. 
 
 " Take them up to him directly, and see how they 
 will do. I didn't actually beg them," declared Eve, 
 with a bright laugh, " but I made a bargain. Mrs. 
 Corwin wanted some of that red curtain trimming, 
 and I promised to send her some of your cast-off 
 garments for her carpet." 
 
 I waited until the splashing of water had nearly 
 ceased, and then went up with my arms full.
 
 102 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " I haven't had any thing so good for a month," 
 said Joe in a quivering voice. " And these soft, 
 clean clothes ! Thurston, old fellow, may I just 
 stick mine into the fire ? They are rags and shreds, 
 and not fit for any one to touch." 
 
 They were all that, and they did go into the fire. 
 
 Nothing could exceed his gratefulness for the suit 
 of clothes. He brushed up his hair, and looked 
 really well, though thin and haggard. 
 
 Supper was quite late; and Joe seemed, indeed, a 
 new creature. Eve went out, she was helping with 
 some church matters. I must confess, that, since the 
 talk of our purchasing a house, a good deal more 
 deference had been paid us both. The old, old story 
 of the gold ring and the fine apparel. It is always, 
 " Friend, come up higher." 
 
 While she was away, I had a long talk with Joe. 
 The same quicksands that wreck so many, drink 
 and bad company. Yet there is so little besides for 
 thousands. Too often, if they attempt to cross the 
 dividing-line, they are pushed back. I wondered 
 secretly, if I had been a drunkard, whether any hand 
 in all Athens would have been stretched out to save 
 me. 
 
 Yet Joe was not innately vicious. Given a pleas 
 ant home and surroundings of interest, and he would 
 have been quite satisfied. There was no evil longing
 
 IN A GARDEN 103 
 
 for the sins that were dragging him down ; but he 
 was right in the midst of them, and it was so hard 
 to swim against the current. How much of virtue 
 and goodness consists in surroundings, I think the 
 great world little realizes. 
 
 The poor lad had lost two places through the 
 winter from drink and neglecting his business. I 
 drew from him the fact that he had been drinking 
 with Turner, who then procured a pass, and sent 
 him farther down the road. Who would employ him 
 in such disreputable attire ? A friend in Jersey City 
 had written to him that there would be a vacancy 
 about the 1st of May ; and on this slender hope he 
 was going there, into new temptations and pitfalls 
 Could anybody save him? Would not the evil 
 forces so in the ascendency sweep him to destruction 
 in the end ? 
 
 We made him a bed down-stairs on the lounge. 
 The next morning he looked like a new creature. 
 He was so simply grateful, and he followed Eve about 
 with such adoring eyes, that I was fain to smile. 
 
 "Why couldn't you keep him for a few days?" 
 said she. "He might help you clear up the place. 
 You know you were talking of hiring some one for 
 a while." 
 
 The same thought had entered my mind the even 
 ing before. The poor lad was homeless and without
 
 104 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 a penny. And I might hear of something for him 
 that would be less dangerous than the great vortex 
 of the city. 
 
 I suggested the plan to Joe, and he caught at it 
 eagerly. 
 
 " I'd do any thing for you, Thurston. I'd like to 
 pay back a little of your kindness. Yes, I'll work at 
 any thing. And I know a good deal about such 
 work too. Oh, how lucky you are ! I wonder 
 but I don't suppose I shall ever have a home of my 
 own," and he sighed. " I've often thought how nice 
 it would be." 
 
 " I was no nearer it at twenty than you are now," 
 I made answer. " And there is a long stretch before 
 me ere I can call the home really mine." 
 
 "And you have your sister. My sister was so 
 much older than I, and married, and somehow never 
 took much interest in me. I'd like to marry " 
 
 " Do not marry until you can care properly for a 
 wife," I said, almost sharply I am afraid. " It is 
 a shame to drag any woman through want and hard 
 work." 
 
 " I wasn't thinking of such a thing until I could 
 afford it, Thurston," he answered humbly. 
 
 " And until you can love and honor her, and en 
 dow her with all your earnings, which will be little 
 enough."
 
 IN A GARDEN 105 
 
 Joe hung his head in abasement, and I felt sorry. 
 Then I added in a cordial tone, " What is the de 
 cision ? Will you stay? I can't afford to pay much 
 besides the living." 
 
 " I'll stay gladly, and do my best. I have been 
 paid beforehand." 
 
 Certainly Joe did his best. He had an aptitude 
 for this kind of work. He was cheery and obliging, 
 and he followed Eve about with the devotion of a 
 true knight. Our garden flourished under his minis 
 tration. We went at the famous blackberry tangle, 
 armed with old gloves, and old clothes and sickles, 
 and cut a long, straight path through. Then we dug 
 up the roots, trimmed the dead branches out of the 
 rows, and made it look quite business-like. It seemed 
 as if Joe improved every day. Regular sleep and 
 nourishing food took the haggard lines out of his 
 face, his weak and bloodshot eyes cleared up, they 
 were a soft hazel as to color, and his voice grew 
 strong and ringing. He could sing well, and we 
 passed some entertaining evenings. 
 
 After the berry patch, we cleaned out our cistern, 
 and then we felt that we could move in almost any 
 time. We had tried our heater, and found it excel 
 lent. There was a good deal of garden to make, 
 for I had put in only pease and potatoes, and the 
 chicken-house to remodel, for Eve had the poultry
 
 106 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 fever. She had already bought two dozen eggs, and 
 had two hens sitting in the barn. 
 
 " I'll get you some fancy ones," said Gordon Pryor 
 one evening when we had been discussing the busi 
 ness from the amusing as well as the profitable point. 
 " I have a friend up on the other side of the river, 
 who makes money out of it, does it with an eye to 
 profit. I should like you to go up there sometime, 
 Thurston. I'll get a horse and carriage some day, 
 and we'll go. Crawford can keep the shop?" 
 
 Joe nodded. 
 
 " Westfield, you know .the station, Thurston, 
 though this is a mile or two from the railroad. 
 Vanduyne is my friend's name. He was very much 
 out of health some years ago, and went to Florida, 
 meaning to stay, but didn't like it. Then he started 
 a chicken ranch. He keeps all of the fancy kinds, 
 and sells eggs for hatching, raises prize birds, and all 
 that. It is a sight, I tell you. But he is the most 
 discouraging fellow to talk business that I ever 
 heard. According to him, you want a fortune to 
 start, and you want knowledge enough to run the 
 Government of the United States, or settle the 
 Indian question. Now, it never struck me that a 
 hen was such a very abstruse subject." 
 
 " Unless you had her for dinner at a boarding- 
 house," said Joe dryly; and Pryor threw back his 
 head and laughed.
 
 IN A GARDEN 107 
 
 " I'll get you some white Leghorn eggs : they are 
 all the rage. And the hens are warranted to lay two 
 eggs a day." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! what will I do with the eggs ? " said 
 Eve in comic dismay. 
 
 "Sell them at a dollar a dozen for hatching; and 
 drop four out of every dozen in boiling water." 
 
 " But why ? " 
 
 " To keep the species from increasing too rapidly. 
 Eight chickens are about as much as one can reason 
 ably expect out of a dozen eggs." 
 
 "-Yes," replied Eve soberly. "I'll remember that." 
 
 Joe giggled. 
 
 "Then, when your hens are laying bountifully, 
 and eggs are cheap, you pack them in lime and some 
 thing, and bring them out as fresh eggs when the 
 price goes up to sixty cents." 
 
 " Is that the way your friend does ? " 
 
 "His methods are past finding out; but he has 
 loads of eggs when prices are high, and hatches 
 chickens in an incubator, to put on the market about 
 the middle of February. But, as I said, he will talk 
 you into believing the thing impossible before you 
 have listened five minutes. Still, I have an old lady 
 friend at Springdale, who doesn't keep a very large 
 flock, from fifty to a hundred, and makes a clear 
 hundred dollars every year."
 
 108 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " I should like to see her" 
 
 "But she hasn't any method. And she thinks any 
 one can do it." 
 
 " I have often wondered," I said, " why people in 
 general advise you against the business they are in. 
 Mr. Montgomery insists that no kind of farming or 
 gardening pays ; people who try poultry, for the most 
 part pronounce that a failure ; and so with many 
 other things. Then, Watson told me the other day 
 that I'd be sick of my house in a year or two ; that 
 I could rent for half the sum interest and repairs 
 would amount to." 
 
 " Half the world is very depressing, the other half 
 over-sanguine," commented Pryor dryly. 
 
 " And the medium class go on and succeed," said 
 Eve. "I have often heard people argue that real 
 estate did not pay 5 but Mrs. Harwood at thirty-five 
 was left a widow with two small houses in New York, 
 and now is a rich woman. She has bought and sold, 
 owns considerable property, and has money out on 
 mortgages. Everybody cannot work on a large 
 scale ; but a good many can do their best in a small 
 way, if they will." 
 
 "You will do it, Miss Thurston," Pryor said 
 admiringly. 
 
 If Eve ever thought of failure, she did not allow 
 it to herself a moment, I am sure. I used to stand
 
 IN A GARDEN 109 
 
 still with a sudden fear, but I meant to do my best. 
 Her efforts, I resolved, should not shame mine. 
 And, as spring advanced, I came to the conclusion 
 that there were few places more beautiful than 
 Athens. The long, gradual swell of land up to the 
 highest point, broken here and there abruptly, as 
 well as in a picturesque manner, clothed with 
 verdure in the innumerable shades of tender green. 
 The river winding along, a blue ribbon under the 
 skies of faultless blue. The ascent on the other side 
 dotted with little hamlets, for they could hardly 
 be called towns, and here and there a handsome 
 residence perched on some eminence like a castle. 
 The fresh, balmy air, the grassy fragrance, the twit 
 ter of birds, the long, tender notes of the wood-robin, 
 filled my soul with a peaceful exaltation. It was as if 
 I had come out of a confused, hurrying struggle, and 
 just begun to live. Indeed, I had secured time to live. 
 It might be dull if one had no resource but a small rail 
 road station, and no companion : I had both. What 
 wonderful pictures Eve and I studied in our walks, 
 what tones of color, what tenderness and breadth ! 
 
 "It makes me wild to paint something higher than 
 flowers," said Eve longingly. "I wish I had some 
 friend who was a true artist, who could feel and see 
 and worship ; and I should ask her to come and stay 
 weeks with me."
 
 110 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 JOE'S FALL FKOM GRACE 
 
 EVE went to New York for the day. Joe and 
 I worked steadily all the morning ; and after lunch, I 
 sent him down-town, as the business part of Athens 
 was called. He was to leave a message with Pryor 
 also. 
 
 After an hour or so I began to wonder why he did 
 not return. I went up to the house, but he was not 
 there ; busied myself a while, then came down at four, 
 as an up and a down train passed about that time. 
 No Joe yet. It seemed odd: then I bethought 
 myself that he might have gone riding with Pryor. 
 
 At five he came sauntering up on the platform. I 
 knew in a moment what had happened. I was hurt 
 and mortified. I had made no comments on Joe's 
 unfortunate weakness; and it seemed unpardonable 
 in him, under the circumstances, to drink at some 
 other person's expense, to bruit abroad the secret I 
 had kept. 
 
 He delivered his message in a voice that was a 
 little thick, and his eyes avoided mine.
 
 IN A GARDEN 111 
 
 "Joe," I said, "you have been drinking. How 
 could you?" 
 
 He turned and straightened himself, as if to brave 
 it out, then suddenly collapsed. 
 
 " O Thurston ! " he cried, " I'm a fool, a beast ! 
 And when you've been so kind, and I resolved I'd 
 never touch another drop ! Shake me off, and let 
 me go to ruin ! I'm not worth saving." 
 
 Those few words, "let me go to ruin," pierced 
 me to the quick, though he had not uttered them 
 upbraidingly. In that great bond of human brother 
 hood I was in some degree answerable for him. I 
 went and put my arm over his shoulder, and drew 
 him into the office. Then he broke down and cried, 
 as a half-drunken man is very apt to do. 
 
 "I shall not shake you off without another 
 chance," I said quietly. " But I am so hurt ! You 
 might have cared more for me and my sister." 
 
 He started up. " Let me go somewhere and hide. 
 I'm not fit to meet her sweet eyes. O Thurston ! 
 what devil did possess me ? I'm fated. There's no 
 use trying. I've signed the pledge three times, and 
 that doesn't help." 
 
 " No," I said, " nothing will help until you resolve 
 to help yourself. Now I am going to make you a 
 cup of good strong coffee, and that will sober you up 
 some. Miss Thurston can not be home until six.
 
 112 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Come up-stairs," for I did not want to leave him 
 alone. 
 
 He stumbled along. " I'm a miserable wretch to 
 treat the best friend a fellow ever had in this world 
 in this manner. You had better cut me adrift. I 
 shall never be good for any thing- Thurston, you 
 don't know the awful temptation, the want that is so 
 much stronger than yourself ! I have tried over and 
 over again. No, I never can ! I'm a weak, miserable 
 idiot!" 
 
 I had put the kettle over the fire, and it was sing 
 ing already; and in a few minutes more I poured 
 a little water on the coffee. 
 
 " Will you tell me whom you have been drinking 
 with?" I asked. 
 
 "No one. At least, this is the solemn truth, 
 Thurston. While I was in Pryor's, he had a bottle 
 of lager, and I took a glass. It stirred up all the 
 devil of longing in me. I started to come home, 
 then I went down the street to a saloon ; but I said 
 I wouldn't go in, and I went past it, and on down 
 to the boat-house. There is a little place below 
 there " 
 
 " Yes." A low den it was too. There had been 
 strenuous objections to having the man's license 
 renewed, but somehow it had worked through. 
 
 " I went in, and had a drink of whiskey, and then
 
 IN A GARDEN 113 
 
 my brain was all on fire. And I took another drink. 
 I had only a quarter." 
 
 " Where did you get it, Joe ? " I had been very 
 careful not to give him any spending-money, and a 
 horrible reflection on his honesty flashed through my 
 mind. 
 
 " Miss Thurston gave it to me. Oh, what a vile, 
 thankless creature I have been ! I've carried that 
 quarter since last Friday. Kick me out, Ad, dear 
 old chap ! I'm not worthy of shelter and kindness." 
 
 He began to cry again, and sprang up as if to go. 
 I forced him back into his chair, and poured the 
 coffee, which was black. 
 
 " Here, drink it ! " I exclaimed. " Then lie down 
 on my cot, and take a nap." 
 
 " I will never touch another drop, I swear I will 
 not, Thurston ! That is the last of the devilish stuff. 
 Oh, what a good, good friend you are ! Do believe 
 me, do ! " he entreated: 
 
 "We will talk it over to-morrow. Now lie down." 
 I led him to my bed, over which I had thrown a 
 blanket, and went down-stairs. Eve did not arrive 
 in that train ; but there were several of the business 
 men I had come to know pretty well, and we chatted 
 a bit. The next one was in at six-forty. I gave out 
 some express parcels, looked over my accounts, and 
 whiled away the time, half expecting a telegram,
 
 114 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 though none came. But she stepped out of the 
 next train, and gave a careless nod to the polite 
 conductor. 
 
 "I am quite late," she began eagerly. "I hope 
 you did not worry, and that you and Joe have had 
 some supper. I have done such lots of things, and 
 seen such crowds of people ! and, oh, it is so lovely 
 to get back, even to a railroad station ! " 
 
 We were in the waiting-room by this time. I had 
 her satchel and parcel in one hand ; and the other 
 arm I put around her, drawing her to me in a tender 
 embrace, as I kissed her. She seemed so especially 
 dear. 
 
 " O Adam ! we might pass for lovers ! " with a 
 curious little thrill in her voice. 
 
 We went up-stairs, she talking rapidly; and then 
 she threw her hat and mantle on the bed. I had set 
 the dishes on the table, and the kettle was again 
 boiling. 
 
 " Where's Joe ? " she asked, as she lighted the lamp. 
 
 " We had some coffee a while ago, and, as he was 
 rather used up, I sent him to bed." 
 
 "He is not ill?" 
 
 " Oh, no ! rather tired out," I replied carelessly. 
 
 I had resolved that I would not let Joe Crawford 
 go ; and this secret, if kept between us two, might 
 prove a bond.
 
 IN A GARDEN 115 
 
 " I have had two dinners, or luncheons, or whatever 
 they may be," she said gayly, " and a treat of cream, 
 and some bananas; but I brought the last home 
 to you and Joe. And now you must have some 
 supper." 
 
 I went out, and found Joe sleeping heavily as I 
 expected. 
 
 Eve poured my tea, and sliced the cold meat, 
 dished out some jelly, and then leaned back in her 
 chair. 
 
 " You will laugh when I tell you all," and her face 
 was radiant with mischief. " I have nearly furnished 
 my house, and I have boarders and boarders ! " 
 
 " O Eve ! " I exclaimed reproachfully. 
 
 " I will begin at the very first. I went in to see 
 Mrs. Harwood ; and she grows sweeter and sweeter, 
 with just spice enou'gh to keep her from spoiling. 
 She proposes to come over the first two weeks in 
 June, and stipulated that she should be received as a 
 boarder. She wants to go out driving every day, 
 and it will be your business to hunt up the quadru 
 ped and the vehicle. Then I went to the Browers's, 
 for she told me they were going away. O Ad ! some 
 people do have a lovely side to their misfortunes, after 
 all. You know Mr. Brower failed in February ; and 
 of course he gave up every thing, but that only paid 
 thirty per cent. And now, through some friend, he
 
 116 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 has a situation to go out to a great fruit-importing 
 house, at Zante I think it is, and he will take the 
 family. Living is very cheap, and he has a good 
 salary. Mrs. Brower is just wild with delight. Of 
 course, she is charming any way ; but I couldn't help 
 thinking that they never really suffered in any 
 misfortune. They are selling off their furniture at 
 private sale : that was hers, and the really valuable 
 has all gone at a fairly good price. Next week they 
 break up. Mrs. West will go to Tennessee to her 
 other daughter's to live. That lady is coming on 
 just after Fourth of July, when they will go to 
 Saratoga, and up to Canada. Meanwhile Mrs. West 
 must board somewhere, and she is very fond of the 
 country. I don't know just who proposed this ; but 
 I am going to have some household goods, and Mrs. 
 West will take it out in board. She is the dearest, 
 sweetest old lady, and will make very little trouble." 
 
 " Upon my word," I said laughingly, " it is a 
 clear case of barter! Eve, you are setting the 
 improvements of political economy at defiance. It 
 is only in the early stages of civilization that people 
 trade in this manner." 
 
 "I always get tangled up on political economy, 
 but I can make bargains. She pays eight dollars a 
 week, a pretty good price, I think ; and there will 
 be eight weeks, sixty-four dollars. For that I get
 
 IN A GARDEN 117 
 
 a really pretty cottage suite, springs and mattress, 
 lots of odds and ends of carpets that will make over 
 into rugs, and some beautiful glass and china, odd 
 pieces that are not salable. In fact, I think I shall 
 have a good deal for my trouble and small ex 
 pense." 
 
 " But and you are to teach music and painting, 
 and keep house, and every thing ! You will wear 
 yourself out." 
 
 "I shall have a handmaiden. I had partly bar 
 gained for her. Then, in July, six girls are coming 
 over for a week. I am so afraid I shall get lonesome 
 in the country," and she made an amusing face. 
 "What makes you look so grave? does the prospect 
 frighten you ? " 
 
 I smiled then. "It is not the girls," I said, "but 
 the one girl dearest to me. You seem to be doing 
 every thing ; and I cannot make a dollar more, try 
 my very best." 
 
 " But you save it, you see," with her bright look, 
 which certainly is inspiriting. " Do you not remem 
 ber several of the neighbors said it would cost at 
 least one hundred dollars to put that place in order ? 
 We have only had it a month yet, and see what has 
 been done at a trifling cost. And next week we 
 must move in. The goods will be up on Tuesday, 
 and on Friday Mrs. West is coming over. I am so
 
 118 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 glad Joe is still here, though I suppose it is not very 
 profitable for him. But he is so handy and willing." 
 
 We had finished our supper by this time, or rather 
 I had. Joe was still asleep. Eve stood the tea on 
 the back of the stove, and deftly put away the dishes. 
 I sat there, growing angrier at myself that I was not 
 in some business where I could keep her a lady. I 
 hated to have her always planning how she could 
 make a little money. Yet, with all the incidents of 
 the day, she had been to look at a new picture that 
 was creating unusual interest, and her vivid descrip 
 tion seemed to place it before my very eyes. She 
 was fitted to adorn some higher station. How 
 could she be so delightfully content! 
 
 I roused Joe presently, and sent him to his own 
 bed. But afterward I lay awake a long while, pon 
 dering the grave question of another's moral salva 
 tion. I should have been glad to go to Mr. Bradford, 
 and ask his help ; but I could see that there would 
 be no sympathy between the two. Joe would shrink 
 into himself, and seem ungracious, stolid; and Mr. 
 Bradford would drop into platitudes. They would 
 not meet at any vital point. Yet why should not 
 the salvation of any soul be an important matter 
 with him ? 
 
 Eve was bright and stirring the next morning : I 
 was about to say bustling, but that word never
 
 IN A GARDEN 119 
 
 applied to her. She always moved with such grace 
 and ease, and looked so truly the lady. Joe was up 
 early, swept the office and waiting-room, and was out 
 on the platform before I came down. He looked 
 rather shamefaced, but his dissipation had left no 
 other trace. 
 
 " Did you tell her ? " he asked in a whisper. 
 
 " No," I answered ; and he wrung my hand. 
 
 We decided at breakfast that it would be best to 
 take every thing we could spare, and let Joe sleep in 
 the new house. The piano had been there several 
 days ; but it was still boxed, and no one knew it had 
 come. We packed baskets and boxes, and Joe moved 
 on a wheelbarrow, making a good deal of amusement 
 out of it. They put up window-curtains and lam 
 brequins, hung pictures and brackets, and placed 
 some pretty vases and ornaments around. My cot 
 was put in one of the small rooms, and a rug laid in 
 front of it. There was a pretty curtain at the win 
 dow, bordered with a soft, dull red ; a wall-pocket 
 we had manufactured to hold odd papers ; two book 
 shelves arranged bracket- wise ; and when the chairs 
 and washing-stand came up, it would look cosey 
 enough. 
 
 Joe and I had no chance for a talk all day ; but 
 Eve went down to the choir-practice with Ruth 
 Montgomery. She had been asked to join them ;
 
 120 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 but for various sensible reasons had declined, though 
 her voice never failed in the congregation. 
 
 "Thurston," Joe said, after a long silence, "you 
 are the best fellow I ever knew. I acted like a fiend 
 'yesterday, didn't I? Was I very much" and 
 the poor lad faltered with shame. 
 
 " You were not quite out of your senses, I am 
 thankful to sa} 7 . But, O Joe ! how could you ? " 
 
 "I don't know. I'll take the pledge again." 
 
 " What good will that do, if you do not mean to 
 keep it?" 
 
 "But I do mean when I sign it. Only I'm so 
 awfully weak when the temptation comes. And the 
 desire is so strong you don't know, Thurston. 
 You've never been there." 
 
 " Joe," I said slowly, " I have been there : to my 
 shame and sorrow I confess it. Yet it was not from 
 any real love for liquor, but rather the jolly com 
 panionship, and the most horrible indifference. I 
 can't say that I ever longed for it. And to burn up 
 one's blood and brain and health, to throw away 
 character and capability, does seem so senseless." 
 
 "What did you do?" 
 
 "I resolved, and then I kept steadfastly to my 
 resolve. I said my strength should be stronger than 
 the temptation." 
 
 " I have tried," he returned complainingly. " I
 
 IN A GARDEN 121 
 
 thought the pledge would help me, give me some 
 strength ; but it did not," and he sighed. 
 
 "No," I said, "you do not try to the extent of 
 your strength. You rather try the extent of the 
 temptation. You keep looking at it, and longing 
 for it ; and you take yourself to the door of the 
 saloon, and then you topple over, and' say you can't 
 help yourself. Suppose yesterday you had come 
 directly up here, and not tempted yourself further? 
 Suppose you had said, ' I will not do this thing,' and 
 walked resolutely away. Then } T OU would have 
 tried your own strength. I do not believe God ever 
 made any soul so weak but that it could put forth 
 some strength. You and I, who were born of sober, 
 health}' parents, cannot plead the excuse of the poor 
 wretches who have been born of generations of 
 drunkards. So God has already helped you in that 
 way." 
 
 "Ad," he said, in a low, awed voice, "are you 
 religious ? " 
 
 It was not the first time in my life that I had 
 wished I dared say boldly and bravely that I was. 
 I did not understand the great and awful mystery 
 that some can make so simple, and others so com 
 plicated and well-nigh impossible. 
 
 " I have never quite decided the matter for my 
 self," I answered slowly ; " but if I cannot do all the
 
 122 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 things I consider right, I can at least refrain from 
 some I know to be deadly wrong. And this matter 
 of drinking is one. If the taste of it fills you with 
 desire, then you must not drink at all. I think I 
 would make a resolve for six months, at least. It 
 has been the cause of all your troubles so far. It 
 keeps you at poverty's door, it throws you out of 
 situations, it loses friends and trust and respect. 
 It may not kill you speedily, but you might better 
 a thousand times be dead. And your example acts 
 upon others. You encourage them every time you 
 drink. Some younger lad may lay his sin and 
 weakness at your door." 
 
 "I never thought of it in that light. Oh, I 
 wish I could stop ! God knows I wish I could 
 stop ! " 
 
 He was walking up and down, his voice in a 
 great tremble, that meant earnestness now, even if 
 evanescent. 
 
 " You raw, Joe. Just think as strongly and 
 surely that you can, as that the temptation has so 
 much more power than your own will and your own 
 soul. What you want is real backbone. All the 
 resolves in the world will not save you. It is a 
 great fight with the powers of evil, and God will 
 help you ; but he doesn't keep you in spite of your 
 self. You must act. Nothing saves you against
 
 IN A GARDEN 123 
 
 your own self. If you are looking for that, you may 
 as well hurry to a drunkard's grave at once." 
 
 " But, oh ! what am I to do ? " he pleaded. 
 
 " You are to begin in good earnest. See here, you 
 are not quite twenty-one yet. I suppose you have 
 been drinking three years or so. How many situations 
 have you lost in the last year? What have you 
 gained except to add to the prosperity of the liquor 
 interest? You have gone in rags, you have suffered 
 with hunger and cold, and the man who sells you rum 
 laughs to himself to think what a silly fool you are." 
 
 Joe's face flushed deeply. 
 
 " It is idiotic when you come to think of it in that 
 light. It is shameful all around. See here, Ad 
 Thurston, I will never drink another drop as long as 
 I live, so help me God ! " 
 
 He stopped right before me, and put out both 
 hands. I took them in a strong grasp. 
 
 " Make that promise solemnly to God," I said ; 
 " but give me your faithful word, that, for the next 
 six months, you will neither buy it for yourself, nor 
 allow any one to treat you. Tell me this every 
 Saturday night. When you are away from me, send 
 a postal or telegram. Giving an account so often 
 will keep it fresh in your mind. And never think 
 you cannot do it ; always believe that you can by going 
 away from the temptation, not looking and longing
 
 124 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 after it. And now," I continued, " I am going to 
 give you Miss Eve's quarter back again. Think 
 that you spent my money, not hers. You see, it isn't 
 any trust when you know a fellow can't do a certain 
 thing. I know you have the money to get a drink, 
 but I trust you wholly for my own and my sister's 
 sake. I know you mean to keep your word this time." 
 
 "Yes," he said just under his breath, and began 
 to walk up and down again. 
 
 I had learned before this that long sermons were 
 useless. There was such a thing as talking away 
 the strength of an argument in cases like these. 
 One's own reflection and resolves must count for a 
 factor, or the work is in vain. 
 
 After the train came in, we went down for Eve. 
 Pryor was there ; and we all walked back together, 
 and had a pleasant little chat about our moving. 
 
 " Do you know," said he, " that I am half sorry ? 
 What jolly evenings we have had in this little office, 
 and what famous talks about every thing ! I never en 
 joyed a winter more in my life, though of course I've 
 had gayer ones. I can just imagine, though, what a 
 paradise you will make of that place up there. You 
 have taken hold of the right end, and you'll succeed 
 too." 
 
 " If we shouldn't stumble over an apple," returned 
 Eve, her eyes alight with humor.
 
 IN A GARDEN 125 
 
 " An apple ! " he exclaimed in amaze ; but Joe 
 caught at the joke, and giggled. 
 
 " Oh ! " and he laughed. " It will be Adam and 
 Eve in a garden. And who is to play serpent ? " 
 
 " Some designing Lilith, who will set her cap for 
 Adam. But we have made a league, offensive and 
 defensive ; and we shall allow of no third person 
 until Paradise has been paid for in hard cash ! " Eve 
 exclaimed resolutely. 
 
 " O Miss Thurston ! " 
 
 Pryor looked at her so steadily that he almost had 
 his heart in his eyes. 
 
 " Yes," she resumed, in a tone that was friendly to 
 a point of frank meaning. " It is hard, I know, for 
 the girls. Ad is nice." 
 
 "But you" 
 
 " Well, I've brought him into this trouble, almost 
 against his will, and it would be cruel not to see him 
 through. So I shall have to put up a card over the 
 hall-door, ' All hope abandon, ye who enter here.' " 
 
 " You are cruel," he said. " That was not the way 
 the flaming sword was used." 
 
 " But, you see, we do not mean to have any falls 
 from grace until the five years are ended." 
 
 " Pryor is more than half in love with your sister," 
 Joe Crawford said that night.
 
 126 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 ON Monday morning we began to pack up our 
 bulky articles. The smaller ones had gone in the 
 manner in which Pip was brought up, " by hand." 
 I had hired a wagon of a neighbor ; and after break 
 fast, we made ready, and moved. Joe and I put the 
 kitchen-stove in place, and the fire was kindled. Joe 
 and Eve put the matting down in the two chambers, 
 and the furniture was placed in proper position after 
 some moving about. Eve had chosen the room with 
 the bay-window, and it furnished very prettily. 
 Indeed, the bedroom suite had never looked half so 
 pretty in the big room over the station. Then she 
 prepared the dinner ; but we were compelled to have 
 it in the kitchen, as our conveniences were of that 
 sort, and extremely limited. 
 
 " The first thing to-morrow morning we must go 
 down to Northwood, and buy some more matting, a 
 dining-table, and chairs. When we get rich, we can 
 have some carpets. I have just fifty dollars." 
 
 " Which you ought to spend on yourself."
 
 IN A GARDEN 127 
 
 " As I mean to ; " and Eve nodded complacently. 
 " The 1st of June I shall have ten dollars more. 
 The 1st of July thirty dollars ; and if the class in 
 painting gets together, I have offered to give a 
 class of ten girls twelve lessons for five dollars 
 apiece, just half price ; but having them all at once 
 makes the difference. That will be fifty dollars, you 
 see," triumphantly. 
 
 " You seem to coin money," I said jocosely. " I 
 shall have to look well to my ways." 
 
 " Oh ! this is a sort of summer harvest," she laughed. 
 " But I do hope to go on with the music ; and now I 
 have my own dear piano for aid and comfort. For 
 fifty dollars we must furnish our dining-room, and 
 cover our parlor-floor." 
 
 " Well, you know how to work miracles," I replied. 
 
 Then we went out in the garden. The grass was 
 looking green and lovely : there were some daffodils 
 in bloom, and here and there a crocus. The rose 
 bushes had been trimmed : there were indications of 
 tulips, and great mounds of day-lilies. We could 
 think how lovely it would be when the fruit-trees 
 came out : the cherries were showing white, and the 
 peaches were in a haze of pink, but nothing really 
 open. We had discovered a great lilac, and several 
 bushes of syringa. 
 
 " I can hardly wait," she declared ; " and yet I wish
 
 128 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 the days were twice as long, there is so much to do. 
 Why, I never knew time to go so fast." 
 
 We were to sleep in our own house that night, and 
 Joe was to take the lounge down at the office. He 
 insisted that I should not come down for the first 
 train but I knew I should be awake. I spent the 
 evening taking the piano out of its coffin, as Eve called 
 it. The packing had been well done, and it had not 
 suffered a scratch; but it needed polishing, and, no 
 doubt, tuning. We decided where it should stand ; 
 and, as soon as we had the matting down, I would 
 get some help to lift it. 
 
 The stairs and hall we resolved to leave for the 
 present, or, at least, until my pay came. We dis 
 cussed the feasibility of purchasing our parlor furni 
 ture on the instalment plan, just the articles that 
 were absolutely necessary. Somehow- we could 
 hardly resign ourselves to the idea of retiring to bed, 
 every thing seemed so strange and unreal. And 
 long afterward my brain was busy wondering how 
 the house, and all we desired to have therein, would 
 ever get paid for. 
 
 We left Joe to keep the station the next morning, 
 while we set off in search of adventures. Matting 
 we found was comparatively high, it being early in the 
 season for it ; but we saw some very pretty, not quite 
 as good a quality as I preferred, but the man lowered
 
 IN A GARDEN 129 
 
 his price in consideration of our taking the whole 
 piece and a remnant besides, as we needed forty-eight 
 yards. That came to fifteen dollars and thirty-six 
 cents. Then we looked at furniture, the expensive, 
 the beautiful, and the cheap. We found one man 
 whose stock was good, and reasonable in price, 
 and who was very anxious to secure a customer, 
 either cash or on instalment. We turned into a 
 block presently where there were four auctioneer's 
 flags flying. 
 
 " Let us go in," said Eve. " Mrs. Toodles never 
 wanted a bargain any more than we do." 
 
 They were selling some very handsome furniture 
 in the first place, but the bidding was quite above 
 us. We watched for a while, and then went out, 
 regretting our inability to have a voice in the 
 matter. The second was an intensely common 
 establishment, filled mostly with Irish women ; and 
 the confusion of tongues would have done credit to 
 Babel. The next was quite thinly attended. They 
 were selling some excellent carpet very cheap. Then 
 two suites of bedroom furniture, followed by a hand 
 some dining-room suite in walnut. It went cheaply 
 enough, but quite above us. 
 
 Then an ash table, buffet, six chairs, and a small 
 side-table, were put up. People seemed languid. 
 A small, Jewish-looking man started it at twenty,
 
 130 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 which the auctioneer scouted, but took reluctantly. 
 I added a dollar, so did he. 
 
 " Let us consider how high we can go, and fix our 
 limit resolutely," whispered Eve. 
 
 "Well?" inquiringly. "Do you like it? How 
 high will you go ? " 
 
 "I had not thought of ash, nor a buffet; bid 
 again while I consider." 
 
 I did, rather reluctantly it seemed. The Jew 
 scanned me eagerly. 
 
 "Thirty dollars," concluded Eve. "It is all we 
 ought to spend. The man is a second-hand dealer." 
 
 A woman put in the next bid, then the Jew again. 
 The two had another bout. Then I bid. The 
 woman turned away in disgust. Two or three people 
 went out. Then the Jew bid half a dollar, and I 
 followed suit. It was up to twenty-nine dollars and 
 a half; and we half turned, for we knew it was lost 
 to us. The Jew was watching us closely. At the 
 last moment I touched my limit. 
 
 " We shall not get it," I said in a whisper ; and 
 now I felt disappointed. 
 
 "Going," said the man of lungs, "going," a 
 long, long pause of alniost breathless silence, 
 "gone!" 
 
 I was so utterly amazed that I looked question- 
 ingly at the Jew.
 
 IN A GARDEN 131 
 
 "You haf a goot bargain. I buy him to sell again, 
 and cannot give so mooch," shaking his head. 
 
 Eve and I glanced at each other in a curious 
 manner. 
 
 " Well, it is a good deal for the money," said she ; 
 " and it is pretty neat and solid-looking yes, I 
 like it. Let us be content." 
 
 We paid for it, and I found an expressman who 
 took it to the station for seventy-five cents. On our 
 homeward way we laughed a little, and felt quite 
 uncertain. When we reached Athens, we found our 
 other furniture had come, a chamber suite, two 
 extra chairs with fine rush seats, but a good deal 
 defaced, and two packing-boxes. 
 
 " I think here is quite a large bargain also," 
 laughed Eve. 
 
 About four o'clock our city traps came up, and the 
 load was moved over to the house. In all it made 
 quite a show. And when we had the furniture set 
 out in the dining-room, it looked very well indeed. 
 The buffet, though simple, was very pretty, and the 
 chairs excellent. 
 
 " Yes, I do like it," declared Eve positively. " It 
 wants cleaning and polishing, and it furnishes 
 admirably." 
 
 I thought so myself. In fact, though we had been 
 rather surprised into bargain-making, we were not
 
 132 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 dissatisfied. I took the covers off the boxes, and we 
 had a good laugh over the contents. There were 
 several pieces of partly worn carpets, a pair of 
 blankets, odds and ends of almost every kind, some 
 pieces of elegant china and glass, some kitchen 
 utensils, a pair of pillows, shades, brackets, and two 
 or three pictures. 
 
 "I thought the stair-carpet would do a while," said 
 Eve, surveying it dubiously. " The edges are good, 
 and we can have the middle covered. And there 
 will be enough of our up-stairs matting for the 
 hall until we get rich," laughingly. " We must 
 believe ourselves at Lake George, or at the seaside, 
 in a furnished cottage, and it will look all right." 
 
 The next day we put the matting down in the 
 parlor and dining-room. The latter appeared very 
 pretty and summery. The piano was set up; and 
 we brought in the odd chairs, and looked quite at 
 home. 
 
 " I shall not have a parlor suite at present," an 
 nounced Eve. " You remember those lovely Turkish 
 lounges in French cretonnes for ten dollars, I want 
 one of those and some lounging-chairs, cheap folding 
 ones, and no end of rocking-chairs. Those things 
 will come by degrees. Now let us enjoy ourselves, 
 and be content." 
 
 The stair-carpet looked fairly well when it was
 
 I1ST A GAKDEN" 133 
 
 down. Two breadths of matting all we had were 
 put somewhat in the centre of the hall-room. The 
 spaces at the edges were to be painted red. Those at 
 the hall-door and at the rear were quite wide, and a 
 rug could be laid in both places. Two of the Brus 
 sels remnants we had purchased in the fall, harmo 
 nized admirably. The room up-stairs was put in 
 order, and the work seemed almost done. 
 
 " So, you see, we will not need to run in debt, after 
 all," said Eve triumphantly. " Indeed, the furnish 
 ing has come much more easily than I expected. 
 And Mrs. West will be pleasant company to keep me 
 from longing after the delights of Egypt, as I sojourn 
 in this wilderness." 
 
 That night Joe said to me, " Thurston, should you 
 mind if I did a little work for the new people at the 
 building? They are short-handed, and the man is 
 hurrying them dreadfully. They offered me a dollar 
 and a half a day." 
 
 " Why, no ! " In fact, I was rather pleased. " Do 
 as much as you can anywhere." 
 
 " It is so strange they don't send up for me ! " and 
 Joe knit his brows anxiously. 
 
 " Something may come to hand presently," I re 
 turned, in a more hopeful tone than I really felt. I 
 had written to Jersey City, and the reply was, that 
 Joe Crawford was not very steady or reliable ; but
 
 134 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 when the rush came on, and they were short of 
 hands, he might find a place. Already the poor 
 lad's bad habits stood in his way. Yet he was so 
 willing and good-tempered, ready to do any thing 
 with all his strength. I had been casting about to see 
 whether I could keep him a while longer ; but, with 
 all I had on my hands, I could not pay him wages. 
 He had taken express packages the last week, and 
 earned himself a new hat ; but he did need a suit of 
 clothes. 
 
 He, it seems, was thinking of the same thing. " If 
 I could earn a suit of clothes," he said. " I could 
 get one for twelve dollars. And I could do a good 
 deal for you nights and mornings." 
 
 " That's good of you, Joe." 
 
 " Well, I ought to make up my board. Oh, I wish 
 I could stay with you always, Thurston ! I never 
 liked any one half as well as you and Miss Eve." 
 
 She was playing on. the piano, and we went in. 
 Oh, how delightful and homelike it was ! I was one 
 great throb of thankfulness. My cup seemed run 
 ning over ; but I had a fear that it was too fairy-like, 
 and would vanish. 
 
 Joe was up at five the next morning, and delved 
 away in the garden for nearly an hour, when he 
 insisted that he should go down to the station. 
 Eve made biscuits : we had radishes and fried eggs,
 
 IN A GAKDEN 135 
 
 that were done in a manner known only to Eve, 
 and were simply delicious. 
 
 " I have bargained for four more hens," said Eve. 
 " They want to sit, and Mrs. Banks doesn't want 
 them. The way she does, is to kill them off as soon 
 as they begin to cluck. She was going to sell these 
 to the butcher. She says they are of no account after 
 you let them sit once, as they only lay six or eight 
 eggs, and then want to sit again. But she says a 
 late hatched pullet will lay all summer through. I 
 shall treasure up all these bits of chicken-wisdom. 
 And that reminds me that I ought to have some 
 young chicks to-day. After breakfast, let us go out 
 and see." 
 
 Surely enough ! In one nest we found four, and 
 in the other six. What lovely, cunning balls of 
 down they were ! I do believe Eve kissed the one 
 she held up to her cheek. Joe had made two coops 
 of lath ; and now we put all the chickens and one 
 hen in one, on the floor of the barn, and the eggs 
 under the other hen. We brought out a saucer of 
 water, and some crumbs of bread ; and two black- 
 eyed chicks knew by intuition that eating was the 
 great business of life. I could hardly tear myself 
 away, so fascinating were the little midgets in white, 
 yellow, and brown. 
 
 " To-night Joe or you must go after my new hens.
 
 136 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Mrs. Montgomery is to let me have two dozen Brahma 
 eggs, and Mrs. Clark a dozen Plymouth Rock. You 
 see, I am going into the chicken business in good 
 earnest." 
 
 " I wonder what next ! " I retorted gayly. 
 
 Joe ran up home to breakfast, and then went off 
 to his day's labor. They were digging and carting 
 dirt, and laying the cellar-wall. The house was to 
 be quite large, much on the plan of ours. 
 
 Mrs. Brower and Mrs. West came over about noon, 
 accompanied by a large trunk. Mrs. West was a 
 pretty little woman, with a soft, wrinkled face, blue 
 eyes, and silvery hair that was a mass of natural 
 waves and stray ends, and just the sort of tender 
 voice that one would expect. She kissed Eve, and 
 called her " My dear ; " and the ladies walked up 
 together. Eve had her dainty luncheon almost 
 prepared. The weather was still chilly, and we kept 
 just enough fire in the heater to diffuse a comfortable 
 warmth. Mrs. West was delighted with the appear 
 ance of the house, and Mrs. Brower admired every 
 thing in an almost effusive manner. Her pretty 
 enthusiasms were not really insincere, but they 
 evinced no discrimination whatever. She was just 
 as content in the thought of going out to Greece, as 
 if it was a fortune left to her, and quite certain that 
 Mr. Brower would prosper. A happy aisposition
 
 IN A GARDEN 137 
 
 perhaps, but one that was never weighted with eare 
 or trouble. 
 
 In the afternoon she returned, and at supper-time 
 I found Mrs. West and Eve as cosey as possible. She 
 had, from her husband's estate, an annuity of about 
 seven hundred a year, the rest having been spent by 
 her children long before ; but she was so content and 
 sweet, so simple in her tastes, that it seemed a 
 fortune. 
 
 " It is all settled, just what we are to do," said Eve, 
 as we were walking down to Mrs. Banks's, who was 
 our colored washerwoman, but an extremely nice 
 body. " Mrs. West isn't coming down to breakfast. 
 She likes a cup of coffee, an egg and some toast, 
 about nine o'clock ; and that will be taken to her 
 room. Then, she prefers her heartiest meal in the 
 middle of the day, which seems to be our habit just 
 now. She is extravagantly fond of reading, so our 
 books from the library will come in play. There 
 certainly will be no trouble about entertaining her. 
 It seems to me that I shall pay this debt easily." 
 
 " And the handmaiden you spoke of ? " I inquired. 
 
 " Oh ! that is Letty Banks. She wants to take 
 lessons on the melodeon, as they have a very fair 
 one, and she wondered if she could not come and 
 work it out. So, you see, other people understand 
 ' barter,' as you call it ; " and Eve laughed. " She
 
 138 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 will come to wash my dishes every evening, and all 
 day Saturday ; and I am to give her two lessons a 
 week." 
 
 " You certainly are brilliant in managing." 
 
 Eve laughed gayly. 
 
 Mrs. Banks received us in a quiet, pleasant 
 manner, took me out to the hen-house, and the cap 
 tured hens were too sleepy to say a word. I packed 
 them in my basket, and tied down the cover. Letty, 
 bright-eyed and trim, about fifteen years old, had a 
 little talk with Eve while we were gone. After 
 vacation commenced, she would be willing to come 
 regularly. Now she was going to school. 
 
 We took our hens home without any misadventure. 
 Joe had made nests for them in a dark corner, and 
 Mrs. Banks told us to keep them shut in for the 
 first two days. We put in the eggs and the hens, 
 and left them to settle themselves. Our other 
 mother had eleven little chicks, but we concluded 
 that she had better remain where she was for the 
 night. Joe had gone down to the station for the 
 nine-o'clock train, pretty well tired with his day's 
 work, but very cheerful. 
 
 The weather was lovely the ensuing week. Gar 
 dening began in good earnest. The fruit-trees dis 
 played a wealth of bloom : lilacs scented the air, that 
 was sweet already with the varied fragrance of
 
 IN A GAEDEN 139 
 
 spring. The little belts and clumps of wood the 
 hand of improvement had left standing, put on their 
 bravest greenery. I never tired of studying them ; 
 and it seemed as if I had never understood before, 
 how beautiful the world was. Surely, one would go 
 far, to find a lovelier place than Athens. 
 
 By Saturday night, Joe had four dollars and a 
 half for his three days' work, and another dollar for 
 delivering parcels. He handed it over to Eve, with 
 the utmost pride, declaring that she must be his 
 banker. As we were walking down to the station, 
 he said, 
 
 " Thurston, they had some lager at the building to 
 day. One of the men treated." 
 
 "Did he treat you?" I asked quietly, but with 
 inward fear. 
 
 " No : I kept my word. You know, I was to 
 report every week how it fared with me. It 
 wasn't as hard to refuse as I thought ; but I was 
 thirsty, and I went up to the house for some water. 
 Miss Eve gave me some splendid cold tea, about 
 half milk; and then I didn't seem to care for the 
 lager." 
 
 " I hope I shall hear just as good an account of you 
 every week, my dear Joe ; " and I put my arm over his 
 shoulder. " I know you can, but there will be some 
 hard times."
 
 140 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "I don't mean ever to drink again. I ought to 
 help myself, when you and Miss Eve are so ready 
 with your kindness and sympathy." 
 
 Eve did not go to choir-practice that evening. I 
 found her playing and singing to Mrs. West ; but 
 I had hardly settled myself, when Pryor made his 
 appearance with a small parcel. 
 
 " There are a dozen white Leghorn eggs," said he, 
 laying it carefully down on the table. " I used some 
 strategy to get them. Vanduyne is still selling eggs 
 at a dollar and a half a dozen." 
 
 " I hope you didn't give that ; " and there was a 
 touch of remonstrance in Eve's voice, as she wheeled 
 round on the piano-stool. 
 
 " No, no. Set your heart at rest. I told Van 
 duyne I was going to bring you up next week. What 
 day can you go ? It is a sight, truly, and you will be 
 amazed." 
 
 " I have no hen," said Eve, glancing at the parcel, 
 and not heeding his query. 
 
 " Beg or borrow one, then. These are too valu 
 able to have for breakfast. Now please reward me 
 with a song. They missed you at church." 
 
 " I am so much farther away now." 
 
 "But I hope that is not going to keep you at 
 home?" 
 
 Eve turned over some songs, and we three sang
 
 IN A GAKDEN 141 
 
 together. At ten Mrs. West quietly withdrew, and 
 presently Eve stopped playing. 
 
 " I suppose I must be going," began Pryor regret 
 fully. "It doesn't seem half as gay and cosey as 
 when you were at the station. I suppose I ought to 
 suffer for having persuaded you to buy a ( house." 
 
 " Yes," replied Eve piquantly. " And now you 
 compel me to buy a hen. Where all this extrava 
 gance will end, the future only can tell." 
 
 Pryor rose. He was in the mood when he longed 
 for a word or a look to persuade him to stay ; but 
 Eve was dignified, and I had promised to play watch 
 ful dragon. 
 
 "Good-night," lingeringly. "I shall be so glad 
 when it is warm enough to sit out of doors." 
 
 " Good-night," we said in a breath. 
 
 We all went to church in the morning, except Joe. 
 Mrs. West enjoyed it very much. In the afternoon 
 we took Joe with us, and rambled through the woods, 
 bringing home an armful of wild-flowers. 
 
 I found the next week, as I surveyed my garden, 
 that I had some things planted pretty well in the 
 shade. I had hardly supposed the trees could reach 
 so far. But there was still quite a large space over 
 at the back. I put in more sweet corn and some 
 for the chickens, then squash and pop-corn. Already 
 I found weeds were beginning to grow apace, and I
 
 142 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 realized that eternal vigilance was the price of many 
 things besides liberty. Still, I did enjoy the work. 
 A garden, I learned, always offered fresh entertain 
 ment, and Eve's two families of chickens were our 
 delight. 
 
 On Wednesday morning, Pryor drove up to the 
 station in a two-seat wagon, and insisted that we 
 should go at once for Eve. He had bargained with 
 Joe the evening before to keep the station while we 
 were away. He had to "see a man," and would 
 leave us at Vanduyne's, while he was doing some 
 business. 
 
 Mrs. West insisted that Eve should go. She was 
 not timid about staying alone, as there were workmen 
 on the building next door. 
 
 It was a perfect day, and birds were singing their 
 love-ditties in a maddening manner. Could it be 
 possible that the bleak and bare world of a brief 
 while ago was smiling in richness and bloom? 
 Surely, this in itself was a miracle. And, oh, the 
 long wafts of sweetness ! Would I go down to the 
 sand and the glare of the great beach, and live in 
 the hurrying rush for the little difference in money ? 
 It seemed as if I should never love a city again. 
 
 I had seen chicken-farms at the West, larger in 
 extent and numbers than this place of Mr. Van 
 duyne's, but nothing in such perfect order. It was
 
 IN A GARDEN 143 
 
 like turning the pages of an illustrated poultry-book. 
 The owner was a fair, still delicate-looking man of 
 six or eight and thirty, very affable in manner, and 
 with a trained voice, that bespoke familiarity with 
 the world of society as well. He received us 
 courteously, and, as he was not especially busy, 
 attended us himself through the different depart 
 ments. Every thing was arranged as compactly as 
 possible, and in a manner to save time as well as to 
 prevent waste. There were three large houses of 
 young chickens, old enough to be without mothers : 
 there were broods with hens, broods with artificial 
 mothers, and one incubator was still full of eggs. 
 There were young chickens being prepared for 
 market : there was a house with all the appliances for 
 packing eggs in large or small quantities, and it 
 seemed then as if it was half full at least. Every 
 kind was labelled ; but, on a close inspection, even an 
 unpractised eye could detect the difference in shape 
 and color. Then, of the same kind, there were three 
 sizes, large, medium, and small. Evidently Mr. 
 Vanduyne had not reached the secret of compelling 
 every hen to lay a large egg. 
 
 As for the show-pens, they were truly marvellous. 
 I never saw any thing more nearly perfect. Every 
 feather was as true as if it had been painted on the 
 fowl. But the clouds of white Leghorns were like
 
 144 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 snowdrifts. The brilliant red of comb and wattles, 
 the rich yellow of their legs, made them dazzling. 
 They really seemed to know they were handsome, and 
 to enjoy it. There were immense Brahmas, snowy 
 white as well ; others with their beautifully pencilled 
 collars and tails, and dark ones that were not less 
 striking. There were all kinds of fancy breeds and 
 magnificent games, down to tiny Seabrights not 
 much larger than birds. One could have studied 
 them for a week. 
 
 It was as Pryor said, Mr. Vanduyne gave away 
 no hints, or bits of knowledge. Eve was at her best 
 and brightest, and did surprise him into several 
 admissions ; but he soon covered them with a doubt. 
 He could keep his hens laying all winter : he could 
 raise hundreds of chickens without getting disease 
 among them, and he evidently was making it pay. 
 But he laughed satirically at most of the methods in 
 vogue, and was doubtful of the success of ordinary 
 people in the attempt to make it profitable. 
 
 Pryor was gone less than half an hour; and I 
 began to feel that we must not trespass upon Mr. 
 Vanduyne's time, and neither must I waste my own. 
 We had already consumed nearly two hours. So we 
 expressed our obligations, and he cordially invited 
 us to come up again. 
 
 " Well," began Pryor, when we were seated in the
 
 IN A GARDEN 145 
 
 wagon, " were you paid for your trouble ? Have 
 you learned any thing, Miss Thurston ? I was very 
 glad you never suggested the ownership of a hen, or 
 he would have drawn into his shell at once." 
 
 " It is all very elegant," replied Eve. " It has 
 taken time and money to perfect all this, and is like 
 the wonderful fruit-farms. But sometimes a peach 
 or a pear off your own tree may have as fine a flavor, 
 and one of your own hens may lay as fresh an egg 
 for your breakfast. I picked up a few words of 
 wisdom," and she laughed. " You see, every thing 
 that is not perfect is taken out of the choice flocks, 
 so their faults and failings are not propagated. 
 But, after all, some old woman summed it up : 'A 
 good hen ought to lay twelve dozen eggs a year ; and 
 at twenty-five cents a dozen, she earns three dollars, 
 and eats up one.' Now, the profit is, making her 
 eggs bring in more than three dollars ; and keeping 
 her good and warm in the winter hot food, with 
 pepper and spices ; plenty of fresh warm water ; 
 when she cannot find worms or bugs, give her some 
 meat." 
 
 " You have it quite down to a business point, 
 Miss Thurston," Pryor said with admiration, as well 
 as amusement. 
 
 " I strive to bring every thing to a business point," 
 she replied sententiously. " I have started out to be
 
 146 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 a business woman, and to make the eight hundred 
 dollars that I am justly entitled to." 
 
 " Eight hundred ? Why just eight hundred ? " 
 
 Eve laughed merrily. How pretty and dainty 
 and bewitching she looked, though I had remarked 
 of late she had not put on her sweetest ways for 
 Gordon Pryor. 
 
 We explained about the money. 
 
 " See here, Miss Eve ; wouldn't it be a stupendous 
 joke if every man and woman should set out to get 
 his and her share, and the children as they grew up ? 
 By Jove ! what would become of the millionnaires ? 
 You certainly have discovered the great panacea, 
 the secret of equalizing the crooked and unjust 
 things of this world." 
 
 We all laughed.
 
 A GARDEN 147 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 A PASTORAL IN HENS 
 
 JOE added six dollars to his store the next week. 
 He wanted his clothes so badly, that Eve proposed 
 to lend him the rest ; and we went down to North- 
 wood, wliile she kept station with a big boy at hand. 
 Through the winter she had added to her other 
 accomplishments the train-signals, and quite a 
 knowledge of telegraphy, and could manage very 
 well; though, when I had occasion to leave her, I 
 always made certain that Frank Barr would be 
 about. He soon became one of Eve's devoted 
 admirers, and I think she wilfully encouraged him. 
 I know there were times when Pryor wanted to kick 
 him, out of pure jealousy that a smile should be 
 wasted on a cub of thirteen. 
 
 I never saw a happier lad than Joe this morning. 
 He seemed bubbling over with a wholesome, grate 
 ful joy. We found a very nice business-suit for 
 fourteen dollars, and his shoes were three and a half 
 more. It left him just five dollars in my debt. We 
 went into the library to change some books, and then
 
 148 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 sauntered up the busy street, somewhat disfigured, 
 I must own, by saloons. The blind-door of one 
 opened, and a young lad not more than eighteen 
 staggered out. I saw a hot flush go over Joe's face : 
 then suddenly he broke away from me, and threw 
 his arm over the shoulder of the boy. I walked on 
 slowly. Perhaps the good seed had taken root 
 when Joe desired to save some one else. 
 
 " I couldn't help it ! " he exclaimed, as he rejoined 
 me, his eyes full of tears. "I thought of the 
 wretched object that I was when I came to you, 
 and how good you were ; and I wanted to say a 
 word. He has a mother and two sisters oh, why 
 must he break their hearts ! and he told me where 
 he lived, 19 Cross Street. Maybe it isn't true. 
 Oh, why can't they shut up these dens and holes 
 that drag boys and men down to destruction ! " 
 
 Why not, some of them at least ? I counted five 
 on one side of the block, four on the other. Two 
 or three young men dropped into one, even as I 
 counted. If they cannot be strong for themselves, 
 has Government no duty towards its citizens ? 
 
 Eve declared herself very proud of Joe in his 
 new clothes. He went to church with us on Sunday, 
 though he insisted on sitting in a far-back seat. 
 Now, why should not some one take him by the hand 
 in a friendly manner? I had begun to like Mr.
 
 IN A GAKDEN 149 
 
 Bradford a good deal, in some sermons ; but it 
 seemed to me that he took himself and his religion 
 too far off, and, when he called you to follow, he was 
 out of sight. If you could walk side by side ; if you 
 could feel and believe that it was not the system 
 that was so dear, but the human soul it might snatch 
 from the ways of destruction ! 
 
 One of the sweetest and bravest things was Eve 
 walking right over to Joe when church was out, and 
 taking him under her protection by the cordial smile 
 and inclination of her head. There were three or 
 four others, and no end of girls : and Joe, blushing 
 like a peony, fell back to me; but she had given 
 him that fine, brave recognition before them all. 
 
 " Will you be surprised to hear that my painting- 
 class is an absolute fact ? " Eve inquired, a few even 
 ings later, as we sat at the supper-table. "Josie 
 Morrison was in here an hour ago, and the last girl 
 has joined. They are to begin the first week in 
 June, and come every Tuesday and Thursday after 
 noon. I shall transform this room into a studio, and 
 range my girls around the dining-table. Just fancy 
 me!" 
 
 " My dear," said Mrs. West, who had succumbed 
 entirely to Eve's fascinations, "how can you find 
 time for so many things? You will work yourself 
 to death."
 
 150 A MODEEN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Eve laughed gayly. " Why, do you know that 
 I thrive upon it ! I am absolutely getting fat, and I 
 never was better in my life. But " retrospectively 
 "I don't know that I am much busier than I used 
 to be, only it is different. Why, some days I have 
 run half over town, made dozens of calls, gone to a 
 " tea," to the theatre, and then to a dancing-party, 
 and come home two o'clock at night, aching in every 
 joint, and by ten the next morning started on 
 another round. I don't work half as hard ; and there 
 is not the awful rush and worry, and wonder as to 
 how you will get gloves and ribbons and gowns, 
 and running all over to find cheap goods no, I 
 mean elegant goods for a little money. Why, I 
 think it idiotic ! " and Eve straightens herself up. 
 "It makes me laugh, from its sheer ridiculousness. 
 Fashionable girls have to work very hard when they 
 are poor, and want to seem rich." 
 
 " And you know how to do so many things ! 
 Where did you learn them? What a treasure you 
 will be to your husband ! " and the sweet old face is 
 solid admiration. 
 
 " That depends on the kind of husband. I have 
 resolved that I will never make believe rich for 
 any man's sake ; and I cannot help thinking that a 
 great many men are just as fond of appearances as 
 women are said to be. They would not be willing to
 
 IN A GAKDEN 151 
 
 -keep house in two rooms, except Adam, here," and 
 she nods at me ; " and that heroic virtue is due to 
 my training. If we had not lived over a railroad 
 station, we might never have owned a house. And 
 how many young husbands would like to admit their 
 wives did not keep a servant ? It is about an even 
 thing, dear Mrs. West, though we women do get the 
 blame." 
 
 " I do not believe you will go begging for a husband 
 of the right kind." 
 
 " Well, they are scarce ; " and Eve drew her rosy 
 lips down solemnly. 
 
 She had found time, with all her other work, to do 
 some parlor ornamentation. We had framed several 
 pictures, and made a pretty standing frame, or almost 
 easel, for a plaque that had been given Eve a year or 
 so before, and was a very good painting. This was 
 done up in ebonizing and gold paint. Then we had 
 invested in a steamer chair, which she cushioned with 
 satine, and tied with bright ribbons, and made a 
 very attractive parlor reclining-chair. We had plans 
 innumerable for tables, easels, and bookcases. There 
 did not seem any time to get at them, what with 
 the garden, the chickens, and daily duties. 
 
 I bought some cheap odd lengths of lumber, some 
 lath and chicken-wire, and remodelled my hen-house 
 and yard. From our first eggs we had hatched
 
 152 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 twenty-three chickens, and lost one. We put them 
 in the loft of the barn, tying the hens in corners so 
 there should be no unnecessary jarring. The chicks 
 grew apace. They were all kinds, odd lots. We 
 fed them table-scraps, scalded meal, and cracked 
 corn, as soon as they were able to eat that. I kept a 
 supply of gravel and bits of grass-roots : they had 
 plenty of sunshine, and throve finely. Of our two 
 dozen Brahma eggs, we only hatched twenty-one 
 chickens. Our next hen brought off nine, which 
 we divided between the other mothers, and set her 
 again, on some white Leghorn eggs from a neighbor. 
 A few days later, another hen came off with nine, 
 when we placed the new eggs under her, and let the 
 other have the chickens. If she was surprised, she 
 said nothing, but went on with the pertinacity of a 
 hen. Eve was quite wild over her little flock. 
 
 Certainly, the place began to look like a veritable, 
 garden of Eden. I wondered now how it could have 
 stood empty so long, and I began to feel afraid some 
 untoward accident would deprive me of it. The 
 vines were reduced to order, honeysuckle, wistaria, 
 and Virginia creeper. The trees bloomed magnifi 
 cently, but two of my pear-trees showed signs of 
 decay. One blossomed but never leaved out, and I 
 cut it down. The other was very scrubby, and, 
 later in the season, showed indications of pear-blight ;
 
 IN A GARDEN 153 
 
 so that wended its way to the woodshed. Certainly, 
 I would not have to buy kindling-wood very soon. 
 
 Joe worked on our next-door building a good 
 deal, though he insisted that a certain amount of 
 labor was due me for board. He paid his debts, 
 and replenished his wardrobe ; and a prouder lad 
 I never saw. His thin figure filled out, and took on 
 the ruddiness of health : he was bright and cheerful, 
 and I began to feel that he might yet make a man of 
 himself. 
 
 With a little training and oversight, our young 
 handmaiden did very well. She came about four; 
 washed up the dinner-dishes for Eve, prepared sup 
 per, often doing some sweeping and cleaning, in 
 between. After the supper-dishes were washed, she 
 practised half an hour, for visitors rarely came that 
 early ; and sometimes she remained an hour or 
 two. 
 
 Mrs. West we found the perfection of boarders. 
 She certainly was one of the loveliest of old ladies. 
 Pryor hit upon a delightful scheme. He purchased 
 a horse, and took a carriage from a friend who had 
 no use for it, and invited the ladies to drive out with 
 him. Eve was charming, frank, sisterly, but always 
 showing that matrimony was a long way off in her 
 plans. Couldn't Pryor see ? 
 
 If April was delightful, May was enchanting.
 
 154 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 The fragrant air, the fields and woods abloom, the 
 gardens with their tidy paths even the fields of 
 weeds look lovely now in their soft greens. My 
 two long rows of blackberry bushes came out in a 
 perfect snow of blossoms, and I resolutely kept the 
 paths clean. I had to go over my raspberries again, 
 and trim out many more dead branches ; but there 
 would be enough. 
 
 Our first-fruits were radishes and rhubarb, the 
 lovely thick stalks in a coat of beautiful red. We 
 had sauce and pies, and the latter were simply deli 
 cious. Eve could make a pie with an under crust as 
 light and flaky as a cream biscuit. 
 
 Our choice Leghorn eggs brought out ten cunning 
 chicks, and we changed hens again. One other one 
 brought out the whole twelve, the first hen that 
 had done so well. We had now eighty-four chickens, 
 but Eve declared that she should not stop short of 
 one hundred. 
 
 " But what will you do with them all ? " I asked 
 in amazement. 
 
 " Broilers," replied Eve, with a droll smile. " And 
 now eggs are only twenty cents a dozen. They are 
 quite cheap enough to transform into chickens. I 
 came across some funny Houdans the other day ; and 
 the woman has promised to save me some eggs, and 
 lend me a hen."
 
 IN A GARDEN 155 
 
 "You will have the ranch presently. But we 
 must not overcrowd." 
 
 Everybody had predicted that we would find 
 them so troublesome ; but thus far they had not 
 interfered with my garden. They had the barn-yard 
 enlarged considerably ; and I threw into it pea-pods 
 and plantain, which I soon found they were very 
 fond of. I made a covered run for rainy weather, by 
 stretching some cheap unbleached muslin over a 
 framework, and covering it liberally with linseed-oil. 
 It kept the runs light and dry, and answered admir 
 ably. We gave them red pepper, kept a little iron 
 in their drinking-basins, and used the utmost cleanli 
 ness. The refuse I showered on my garden as a 
 top dressing. 
 
 Mr. Montgomery seemed rather resentful that I 
 had not " seeded down " the whole thing. " I'd get 
 tired enough before I was through ; and as for 
 chickens, they always ate their heads off. Women 
 folks were continually fussing about them; and it 
 would be cheaper to buy all the eggs his family used, 
 than have them about." He was quite interested in 
 selling off some of his property, now that a new 
 house was being built in his vicinity, and, as a 
 preparatory step, put up all his prices. 
 
 I liked what I saw of Mr. Wilbur ; and one day 
 his wife came up and paid Eve quite a visit, staying
 
 156 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 to lunch. They compared notes about cities and 
 theatres and summer resorts, and found they had 
 some mutual acquaintances. The house was being 
 pushed rapidly. It would not be completely finished 
 before another season, but Mrs. Wilbur wanted to 
 bring her family out by the middle of July. 
 
 As for ourselves, we did not suffer from dearth of 
 friends. There were many nice people in Athens, 
 but they wanted shaking up. They had settled into 
 dreamy grooves. They looked too much through the 
 eye of faith, but they saw only the evidence of things 
 in the far distance ; and though they might be hoped 
 for, there was no real substance to them. But when 
 Athens was so beautiful, healthful, too, in all the 
 higher parts, why should it not be prosperous? 
 Why should not people come here as well as to go to 
 places that had not half its attractions ? 
 
 "Lots of boarders go up to Truro," said Pryor. 
 " There is a hotel, besides two large boarding-houses. 
 To my mind, it is not half as attractive as this ; but 
 they do have good times, dancing-parties, moon 
 light-drives, and all that. This place is so stupid, 
 so inert ! though I do think your sister will manage 
 to infuse a little life if any one can." 
 
 One evening not long after this, we had an influx. 
 It was a moonlight night and very warm. Ruth and 
 Dan Montgomery came first. Ruth had taken a
 
 IN A GARDEN 157 
 
 great liking to my darling Eve. Then Mr. and Mrs. 
 Morrison, the Corwins, Pryor, and after this about 
 half a dozen young people, girls who were to be 
 in the painting-class, and their brothers. It was 
 absolutely funny when they came in. Eve was 
 equal to the occasion. She set them to acting- 
 proverbs, and we had a good deal of amusement. 
 Then she played, and actually made them all sing. 
 As soon as the first bashfulness was worn off, 
 we had quite a concert. Everybody enjoyed it 
 immensely. Then they all wondered that there 
 were so few good times at Athens, so little fun, as 
 some one phrased it ; and the affair ended by the 
 party being invited to Mrs. Morrison's the next 
 week. Eve promised to go. 
 
 "You do manage to make the most pleasure out of 
 every thing," said Pryor admiringly, as he lingered 
 on the porch. 
 
 " Perhaps it is because I have been brought up to 
 pleasure," returned Eve with a laugh. " It does not 
 answer for you to be dull in a city, or you would 
 be dropped out without any mercy. You must bring 
 your share of wit and entertainment to the picnic." 
 
 * " Still, I do not believe there is another girl in the 
 whole wide world like you, Miss Thurston." 
 
 We watched him down the path. " I wish he 
 didn't care quite so much," I said.
 
 158 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 u I try to be careful. I have never given him that 
 kind of encouragement. Adam," and her voice was 
 suddenly inspirited, " I mean to have a diversion. I 
 shall train Ruth Montgomery to catch him. She is 
 pretty and sweet-tempered, and could be a bright, 
 entertaining girl. It will give me something to do." 
 
 " You idle girl ! " I cried laughingly. 
 
 " It was very pleasant," said Mrs. West. " See how 
 much I have gone past my usual hour. My dear, you 
 are a marvel." 
 
 "If I'd had. cake enough to go around," said Eve 
 dolorously, "or lemons to make lemonade, or figs, 
 or nuts, or cream, consequently we had to season it 
 with our wits. . Quite a surprise party ! " 
 
 We put out the lights, and went to bed. 
 
 And what shall I say for June ? The world was 
 full of flowers, the air was fragrance that stole into 
 one's very soul. Such skies, such views, such pic 
 tures, everywhere : such a heavenly completeness, 
 that my heart went up in gratitude continually. Was 
 it from the glad consciousness that sometime I might 
 really be the owner of this bit of land, and this 
 house, growing prettier to my eyes every day? I 
 had always been amused by the enthusiasm of people 
 concerning their own houses or their first baby. I 
 am afraid, now, that I began to have exalted ideas of 
 the possessorship of land.
 
 IN A GARDEN 159 
 
 Pryor dropped in at the station a day or two 
 after. 
 
 "Thurston," he began, "will you allow me to 
 bring some one up to your place to see what you have 
 done ? Maybe I can sell the Moore house. There 
 was a man over here looking at this very place 
 last summer , but he thought it rather discouraging, 
 and wanted more ground. His health isn't very 
 good, and he has two sons to step into his business in 
 New York. He wants to buy a place where he can 
 have a nice large garden, and chickens, horse and 
 cow, and all that. Yesterday he stopped off a train 
 and talked about it; but he is almost afraid to try 
 Athens, there is so little enterprise. I thought, if he 
 could see your place and the Wilburs's new house, he 
 might not consider us quite so benighted." 
 
 " Why, of course," I answered. 
 
 "Wouldn't it be jolly now, if I could sell the 
 Moore place ? And, you see, that would tend to 
 improve the value of yours as well. Who knows, 
 Thurston, but that your coming may be the start of 
 prosperity for this forlorn coast ? " 
 
 We both laughed. The man, a Mr. Randall, came 
 to hand. He was little past middle life, and did look 
 very poorly ; but he proved pleasant and entertain 
 ing, with a good fund of common sense. Pryor was 
 right. He was caught by the wonderful improve-
 
 I 
 160 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 ment we had made. I had almost forgotten how 
 forlorn and unpromising the place had looked. He 
 examined the fruit, the garden, the chickens, the 
 house, and then we went over to inspect the new 
 one. Afterward we went up to Moore's, which was 
 only a short distance above us, on the same avenue. 
 
 The house was a large, attractive one, with a hall 
 through the middle, three bay-windows, two large 
 piazzas, a fine, long arbor, with a variety tff grapes ; 
 a large barn, and numerous sheds, and three acres 
 of ground with considerable fruit. The land, like 
 ours, lay on a gentle slope, was dry and sunny. For 
 two years this house had not been tenanted. The 
 price was seven thousand dollars. Mr. Randall did 
 seem quite impressed. 
 
 " If I could do as well as you have," he said to 
 me, " and if my folks would be content. Still, it is 
 easy getting to the city, and we do go away every 
 summer. We are talking about it now. It is a big 
 expense," and he gave a low whistle. 
 
 His family consisted of himself and wife, one 
 single son, who would live at home, two daughters, a 
 niece, and a grandson and his widowed mother. There 
 was plenty of room. We could see that he was 
 " very much taken," as the Athenians expressed it. 
 He did not even demur at the price. 
 
 Two days afterward he was over again, and ques-
 
 IN A GARDEN 161 
 
 tioned me closely about my plans and methods. He 
 had been brought up on a farm. 
 
 "But matters have changed so much since that 
 time," he said, with a brief, amused laugh. " Now it 
 is all scientific farming. People make as much off 
 of an acre of ground as my father did from three or 
 four, and do it easier too. I don't know why, but 
 a man does have a hankering after a country-place 
 as he grows older." 
 
 I am afraid I was enthusiastic. I may as well say 
 here that Mr. Randall took the place, the owner 
 falling five hundred dollars in his price. After some 
 repairs, the family came over the first of July, and 
 so far they have not regretted it. We found them 
 very agreeable neighbors. Pryor was delighted with 
 his success, and sent Eve two veranda-chairs in red, 
 that certainly were ornamental to our front porch, 
 as well as useful. Accompanying them was an amus 
 ing note, in which he quoted the old adage, that, if 
 a visitor brought his chair, he might be sure of a 
 welcome. 
 
 Then Eve was appealed to for a home. Mrs. 
 Wilbur wanted to find a boarding-place at Athens 
 for a few weeks, as they had been promised some 
 rooms by the middle of July, in their own house. 
 Eve scoured the little town, and was much enter 
 tained by her experiences, as well as entertaining us.
 
 162 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Up above us, there was considerable boarding: 
 indeed, Truro was quite a favorite. But among 
 those who could take so large a family, for there 
 would be eight in all, most of the householders 
 seemed to feel afraid. Several days after, when 
 Eve's hopes had fallen to zero, since she could not 
 suddenly enlarge our house, one of our neighbors, 
 a Mrs. Ten Eyck, some of the old aristocracy, came 
 in, and, after considerable apologizing, wanted to 
 talk the matter over. Her husband was dead ; her 
 father and mother lived with her, the former partially 
 paralyzed; and she had one young son who went 
 to the city on business. She confessed reluctantly 
 to Eve, that their income was very small ; and she 
 had been thinking of this business for several years, 
 but did not know how to begin. 
 
 Eve set the matter before her in a sensible and 
 attractive light. She must make a business of it, 
 but in a pleasant way; and she would find many 
 little bits of satisfaction, that would quite repay her 
 for the sacrifices on the other side. She declared 
 that in any difficulty she should come at once to 
 Miss Thurston for advice. 
 
 "My dear," she said to Eve, "how have you 
 learned so much ? And you are so young ! " 
 
 " I have always thought I'd like to know Mrs. Ten 
 Eyck," Eve said afterward, "she is so quaintly
 
 IN A GAKDEN 163 
 
 formal and delicate. But I am almost afraid of the 
 five children, though Mrs. Wilbur is a very sensible 
 mother." 
 
 Mrs. Harwood was to come the middle of June. 
 Meanwhile Joe and Pryor struck a bargain about 
 the horse, with my consent ; though later on I 
 resolved to join them. Joe would keep the horse 
 clean, and in good order, for the use of it an hour 
 or so a day. His parcel delivery had so increased, 
 that it took too much time to travel on foot, seeing 
 that he was in such requisition at the new house. 
 I offered the stable, and also to pay half of the keep 
 to have it one-third of the time. We were to agree 
 about our " time " amicably, and not have arbitrary 
 days or hours. So Mrs. Harwood 's carriage was 
 provided without any difficulty. Pryor had been 
 paying twelve dollars a month for rather indifferent 
 care. There was a good deal of the time that he 
 was busy about other matters, so this arrangement 
 suited him admirably. 
 
 " Really,'' exclaimed Mr. Corwin, as he sat with 
 us on the porch a few evenings later, " I am not sure 
 vbut the ruling spirit has appeared at Athens ! Or 
 the goddess of good fortune, shall I say, Miss 
 Thurston? I have never known people so stirred 
 up since I have been here. Montgomery has nearly 
 doubled the price of every lot he owns. And the
 
 164 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 young people have broken out in parties and musi- 
 cales and painting-classes, and are planning picnics." 
 
 " Two or three people like Montgomery are 
 enough to stamp out every gleam of prosperity," 
 declared Pryor in a vexed tone. He did not monop 
 olize the chairs, but generally took the step of the 
 porch, so that he could face his audience. "See 
 here, Corwin, don't you want to join me in a 
 scheme ? If you will buy half the Wallace shore 
 property, I will chip in for the other half. I happen 
 to know that Wallace has hard work raising money 
 on it. Athens has such a wretched name that people 
 are wary. He would sell it cheaply, but we'll offer 
 him a fair price. I know some parties who would 
 take it inside of two months. What they want to 
 do with it, is my affair ; but they are not coming here 
 if they have to pay a big price. It would be a good 
 thing for this three-cent town. But if I hinted it to 
 Wallace, he would be like Montgomery. Come, join 
 me, and make a few hundred dollars. We can pay 
 a small amount down, and the balance in a year, say. 
 I wish you could join, Thurston. You see, I do not 
 like to shoulder the whole thing, for Wallace would 
 set me out as a thief and a scoundrel. But the 
 matter is sure." 
 
 " How much down ? " asked Corwin. 
 
 " Not more than a thousand."
 
 IX A GARDEN 165 
 
 " And you are certain ? " he asked slowly. 
 
 "Sure as the tax-gatherer or the man with the 
 scythe," and Pryor laughed. 
 
 "I will think about it. We'll walk down after 
 supper to-morrow evening, and look at it." 
 
 Then we talked nonsense.
 
 166 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 EVERY-DAY IDYLS 
 
 MRS. HARWOOD came over the middle of June. 
 We were almost buried in flowering shrubbery. I 
 thought I had trimmed and pruned, but there was 
 no end to it still ; and there were some lovely roses 
 among other things. The syringa perfumed the air 
 up and down, and every room was sweet. We had 
 still some cherries, currants were in their glory, and 
 raspberries were just ripening. I found there were 
 several kinds, two of red and a palish-yellow one 
 besides the blackcaps. As I cleared up my chicken- 
 houses, I distributed the fertilizer as a top dressing ; 
 and now with the horse I felt that I should be quite 
 rich. 
 
 Mrs. Harwood was delighted. She admitted that 
 she had made allowance for Eve's enthusiasm, but 
 that it had not been overdrawn. Eve had arranged 
 her room for our new inmate, and taken one of the 
 smaller ones. We found Mrs. Harwood very bright 
 and entertaining. She had a dry kind of wit that 
 amused us all, and seemed to fascinate Joe. I think
 
 IN A GARDEN 167 
 
 she really loved Eve as if she had been some connec 
 tion ; but how could she help it? She was quite sus 
 picious of Pryor at first ; but Eve insisted that for 
 the present, matrimony was out of her thoughts. 
 She also took a great fancy to Joe, who was growing 
 handsome by the day. I would hardly have believed 
 the transformation. His eyes were so clear and 
 merry, his complexion fresh as a rose, even if a little 
 sunburned, and his voice had a manly ring as if he 
 had come to be proud of himself. He had bought a 
 new light summer suit, that gave him a very " natty " 
 look ; and he had begun to save a little, which he 
 handed over to Eve to keep for him. 
 
 I hardly know how Joe did put in so much in the 
 way of work. He was quick, and he could fit one 
 thing in with another most admirably. I began to 
 think that holding out a helping hand to Joe was 
 one of the best deeds of my life. 
 
 Every day the ladies went out driving ; and Mrs. 
 Harwood enjoyed the lovely winding roads, the bits 
 of wood, the peaceful river ; and farther out, there 
 were some actual farms, one quite celebrated for its 
 Alderney cattle. Then they paid a visit to Mr. Van- 
 duyne's chicken-ranch, and took several short jour 
 neys by rail. Sometimes it was all three of the 
 ladies, at others Eve and Mrs. Harwood, or that lady 
 and Mrs. West. Every evening there was a house 
 ful of callers.
 
 168 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "I really do not think you are likely to die of lone 
 liness," Mrs. Harwood said to Eve. " And I am so 
 glad you have sense enough to take your pleasure as 
 you go along. Though where or how you find time 
 to get meals, is a mystery to me. You ought to 
 keep a hotel." 
 
 Eve laughed at that. "I am thinking about an 
 addition to the house," she answered merrily. 
 
 As for the meals, they were a mystery to me. Eve 
 and Joe could concoct something in the least space 
 of time. We had chickens and eggs, not very many 
 of our own, but they were cheap ; we had fruits ; and 
 many were the dainty dishes we had served up 
 under high-sounding French names, but they were 
 better than French admixtures. I thought her 
 strawberry shortcake was perfection, but she could 
 make with raspberries and cream a shortcake equally 
 nice. 
 
 Meanwhile" Mrs. Wilbur came over with five 
 children, a nurse, a housekeeper who at present 
 supervised the whole family. Mrs. Ten Eyck was 
 quite dismayed at first, but Mrs. Wilbur was one of 
 the most agreeable of women. She spent about half 
 of her first week with us; indeed, all summer she 
 was Eve's shadow; but she had such pretty and 
 engaging manners, that she never seemed intrusive. 
 
 Pryor and Mr. Corwin bought the plot of ground, a
 
 IN A GARDEN 169 
 
 kind of point jutting out into the river. There was 
 in some places quite a wide strip between the road 
 and the river. A few dilapidated boat-houses and 
 saloons, and several old factories, in which some 
 of the most wretched of the Athenians, black and 
 white, lived, disfigured the shore. 
 
 Pryor engaged part of it first, then he made 
 Wallace say what he would take for the whole. 
 Once he decided to back out. " Very well," said 
 Pryor indifferently, and seemed in no great heat 
 about negotiations. Then Wallace came to terms, 
 and sold, receiving a thousand dollars down, another 
 thousand at the end of six months, and the balance at 
 the year's end. Then Pryor interviewed the factory 
 people who wanted it, and found their offer to be 
 just one thousand dollars higher. It was to be an 
 establishment for weaving wire cloth, as the lease 
 of the place they were in could not be renewed on 
 favorable terms. 
 
 It was a source of great amusement to us all, 
 when the property was resold, to see the manner in 
 which Wallace took it. 
 
 " If I'd had the slightest idea that the factory 
 people would have come to hand, I'd made them pay 
 roundly for it ! Why, Pryor, you've given the land 
 away, fairly made them a present of it ! I didn't 
 think you were such a short-sighted fool ! If I had
 
 170 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 that land back again, no such money would get it 
 from me ! " 
 
 Mr. Montgomery bewailed the matter in much 
 the same manner. If a few more such sales were 
 made, Athens would become a laughing-stock of all 
 the towns around. Such men as Pryor were enough 
 to ruin any place. No one could stand out for 
 decent prices if property was to be given away in 
 that style ! 
 
 " What idiots ! " Pryor said angrily. " Now, these 
 men will bring in quite a number of new people, and 
 find employment for many others. There must be 
 houses for them to live in, and all that; they will 
 trade at the stores ; and this factory being here, may 
 start up others. Wallace had a fair price for property 
 that hadn't paid him a penny for twenty years ; and 
 we have made a little, enough to pay us for our 
 trouble. Only I wish, Thurston, it had been you 
 instead of Corwin. Not but what he's a good fellow, 
 only I would like to give you a lift. Well, better 
 luck next time." 
 
 Mrs. Harwood went away reluctantly. She 
 wanted to take Eve to Lake George with her for a 
 week or so, but a crowd of girls were coming for the 
 Fourth of July. However, she insisted that Eve 
 should be her guest at Saratoga a week in August, 
 and that she should spend some time with us in the
 
 IN A GARDEN 171 
 
 autumn. Besides her board, she insisted upon paying 
 six dollars for the carriage-hire, and made Joe a 
 little gift that surprised him greatly. 
 
 "Take good care of my girl," she said to me at 
 parting. " I can't have her getting faded and worn, 
 no, not for twenty houses." 
 
 " I should be rich enough to keep her a lady," I 
 answered with a regretful sigh. 
 
 " Eve Thurston could never be any thing but a 
 lady," she returned rather sharply. "And if she 
 willed, she might be kept in luxury." 
 
 The next thing was Mrs. West's departure. We 
 had become so attached to her, that I think even 
 Joe shed some tears with his good-by. Her daughter, 
 an elegant, middle-aged woman, came over for her, 
 and expressed not only gratitude but delight that 
 her mother had fallen in such good hands. It was a 
 sad parting, and they exchanged promises of writing. 
 
 But for Mrs. Wilbur I think Eve would have been 
 quite depressed by the loneliness of the house. I 
 wondered what we would do when winter came. 
 But she had to get in order for the new influx. 
 Letty was ready to come now; and I was glad to 
 have Eve relieved of some work, though she did not 
 look as if her care had weighed heavily. 
 
 The 1st of July was Saturday. Five girls were 
 coming, and on Sunday two gentlemen. The rooms
 
 172 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 were freshened and put in order, and made sweet 
 with flowers. Mrs. Wilbur came up. She was much 
 amused at what she called a " hen party." 
 
 Certainly they were the gayest crowd. The two 
 Brooke girls, a Miss Fisher whom I had met at 
 aunt Carry's, Bel Lane, and Kitty Travers. The 
 sixth would arrive on Monday. 
 
 We asked Pryor to come up to tea. I needed 
 some one to keep me in countenance. We had 
 broiled chicken, fried potatoes, raspberry shortcake, 
 and custard. But the merriment was beyond any 
 description. I thought them the wittiest lot it had 
 ever been my fortune to meet. Sadie Brooke was 
 the drollest and most winning shall I say the most 
 audacious ? flirt that I ever saw. 
 
 I had to go down to the office, and Pryor had to 
 see the inevitable man. Sadie and Kitty Travers 
 walked down with us, and then strolled on to the 
 river, where I overtook them, and escorted them 
 homeward. We met Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur, who 
 swelled our procession. 
 
 " I couldn't rest until Mr. Wilbur had looked in 
 upon you," declared his wife. " But the party seems 
 to have increased," and she glanced rather amazed at 
 the new additions. 
 
 Saturday night had become a kind of reception 
 evening with us. Two of the Montgomerys were in,
 
 IN A GARDEN 173 
 
 Charlie Wharton, Mr. and Mrs. Morrison, and their 
 daughter. I was very glad to have the Wilburs 
 meet some of their neighbors. 
 
 The party talked, half a dozen at a time, and 
 langhed in chorus. I do not know who first pro 
 posed a picnic, but Mr. Wilbur took it up enthusi 
 astically. 
 
 " See here," he began. " I shall have to spend the 
 glorious Fourth in these classic but unpatriotic 
 shades. Generally I manage to take my wife off 
 somewhere ; but, as this cannot be done, I ought to 
 have some compensation. Is there a respectably 
 level ground, with the proper degree of shade, where 
 a quadrille can be danced, and the exhausted par 
 ticipants loll around afterward, without danger of 
 getting freckled or sun-burned ? For one, I am 
 choice of my complexion. Ambrosial Balm is ex 
 cellent, but dear. If you can find this favored spot, 
 and will promise to let me dance with all the prettiest 
 girls, I will pay the piper." 
 
 " Excellent ! " exclaimed Sadie. " Mr. Wilbur, I 
 hope you want to dance with me ? " 
 
 Everybody laughed. 
 
 " There's Terry's woods, you know," Dan Mont 
 gomery made haste to announce. " It's cleared 
 pretty well, and it isn't far." 
 
 " Capital place," declared Pryor. " If only those
 
 174 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 who contribute will be allowed to dance, I beg to be 
 placed on the cream committee at once." 
 
 It went on taking shape ; and before one would 
 have imagined it, the matter was arranged. The 
 picnic was to open at three punctually, at Terry's 
 woods, unless it rained. 
 
 " If it rains, we will have to adjourn to my new 
 house. I will see that they get all the floors laid on 
 Monday," said Mr. Wilbur. 
 
 " Or we might take the station," appended Joe. 
 " There ought to be one jolly frolic down there in 
 remembrance of old times." 
 
 " I think of engaging it for a dancing-school next 
 winter," said Eve sententiously. 
 
 It came out that there were some amusing associa 
 tions connected with it ; and Mr. Wilbur insisted that, 
 as new-comers, they were entitled to a fair share of 
 knowledge concerning their neighbors' affairs. Eve 
 went briefly over the story of our housekeeping, set 
 ting it forth in a most entertaining light. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Wilbur laughed heartily. The clock struck 
 eleven ; and our guests started with guilty con 
 sciences, beginning to make excuses for such late 
 staying. 
 
 " The picnic is a true fact, as my little girl says," 
 announced Mr. Wilbur. " No backing out. I shall 
 be there promptly, with a fiddler ; and every pretty
 
 IN A GARDEN 175 
 
 girl will be there, so we shall know in what esteem 
 the truants hold themselves. Miss Brooke, I shall 
 open the grand entertainment with you. My wife 
 will provide her own partner, and look out that there 
 is no poaching on her manor." 
 
 "Yes, girls," said Mrs. Wilbur laughingly, "you 
 may all pull straws for him after the picnic is fairly 
 under way. Good-night, good-night." 
 
 They dispersed, rather reluctantly I thought ; and 
 we talked on for a good hour, I am sure. In fact, I 
 heard laughs all the remainder of the night. 
 
 Sunday morning was splendid, but rather warm. 
 We all went to church< and Athens seemed to be 
 amazed. The afternoon we spent up in the chestnut- 
 grove with cushions, blankets, hammocks, and books. 
 Some of us went to church again in the evening. 
 Pryor, Mr. Bradford, and the inevitable Dan walked 
 up with us, and we had some very good singing. 
 Sadie managed to give Mr. Bradford an invitation 
 to the picnic. Miss Travers's admirer, a Mr. Dane, 
 and Frank Gaylord, had been added by the evening 
 train ; so we all walked down again to see them off, 
 and both declared they would be up on Tuesday. 
 
 Pryor was in early Monday morning. Eve was to 
 give herself no uneasiness about the cream, and if 
 there was any thing else 
 
 " We are going to make biscuits, and boil a ham,"
 
 176 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 returned Eve. " Miss Ruth is going to supply some 
 cake; Mrs. Corwin and Mrs. Wharton also. There 
 will not be much for us to do." 
 
 " Couldn't you go for a nice row late this after 
 noon ? The river is so lovely, and when the heat of 
 the sun is over " 
 
 " Oh, enchanting ! " interrupted Sadie Brooke, 
 coming forward. " We always row at Lake George. 
 Come, let us hurry with our biscuits and things. 
 If only we did not have to eat, how much time we 
 might devote to other matters, fun, for instance ! " 
 and her eyes were brimful of dangerous light. 
 
 Instead of biscuits, she and Kitty Travers went 
 off to ride with him. I was busy at the station, and 
 in my garden picking berries. We still had a plen 
 tiful supply of delicious currants, and the raspberries 
 seemed never failing. We really were the envy of 
 some of our neighbors, who couldn't see how we 
 could get so much out of that old, neglected place. 
 
 There came up from New York a basket of choice 
 fruit and a box of confectionery. Eve declared the 
 donation party had begun. By night, several cakes 
 had been sent in. We went for the row, and it was 
 most delightful ; the sky full of soft, fleecy white 
 clouds, that now and then hid the sun, though that 
 was fast dropping behind the hill. It was such a 
 lovely, drowsy river, with its reaches of shade, and
 
 IN A GARDEN 177 
 
 open spaces, and a few little settlements. One of 
 the towns made quite a pretence to business, with 
 its docks and several factories at the water's edge. 
 But the soft golden and hazy lights, the faint breeze 
 stirring the sedgy grass, or the trees higher up, and 
 rippling the waters, made it a perfect picture. 
 Some one repeated Tennyson's poem of " The Lotos- 
 Eaters." Another gave us Robert Browning. Bertha 
 Brooke contributed bits of pathos and audacity from 
 Owen Meredith. Coming home, everybody sang in 
 the soft summer twilight. Even now that seems one 
 of the fairy touches of existence. Had I ever truly 
 lived before? I glanced at Eve with her lucent 
 eyes and soft-tinted cheeks, and knew she was 
 enjoying herself to the uttermost. 
 
 There was a plain little supper for us, arranged by 
 Letty, who somehow entered right into the spirit of 
 the affair, and served us with a kind of cheerful 
 delight. Before we were through, the guests began 
 to gather again, and we had a merry evening. 
 
 Joe was as full of pleasure as any one else. Some 
 times when I looked at him, I could hardly believe 
 him the same lad who had come to me in such dire 
 distress. Every day he seemed to grow larger and 
 handsomer, and his manners were really refined, 
 delicate. Had Eve worked this change ? Oddly 
 enough, Pryor was less boisterous in certain ways ;
 
 178 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 and even Dan Montgomery was coming to have a 
 gentlemanly air. Was it not . the contact with real 
 fineness of breeding ? Eve, with all her nonsense, 
 had such a gracious, charming refinement. She 
 never lowered herself to people, but, in some curious 
 fashion, met them on her level, drew them up to 
 some better height. But it did not seem as if 
 these few months could so have transformed either 
 soul or body. 
 
 We had our wish, and it was a tolerably fair 
 morning ; though we all agreed it would rain before 
 night, as it. always did on Fourth of July. Joe and 
 Mr. Pryor went up to the ground to clear up, and 
 arrange some seats ; while the girls dawdled around 
 after the pretty, graceful fashion of girls of leisure. 
 Mr. Wilbur took them all through his new house, 
 though Mrs. WilBur declared they looked at a great 
 deal of it with the eye of faith. 
 
 Athens made a show of patriotism by now and 
 then firing off a pistol, or a squad of boys congre 
 gated about a pack of fire-crackers. Some of the 
 larger towns around had processions and speeches : 
 even our solitary and forlorn Brass Band went out 
 of town. But there was quite an influx of visitors, 
 and trains ran full : indeed, there were some extras. 
 Joe insisted that I should go to the picnic, and 
 promised to run up once or twice between trains.
 
 IN A GARDEN 179 
 
 Dan Montgomery came over with his father's 
 wagon, and offered to help carry up the " creature 
 comforts," as Pryor dubbed them. Our house seemed 
 to be the meeting-place, and we formed quite a pro 
 cession when we started. It was over the hill above 
 us, something farther to the north, a kind of natural 
 clearing in the strip of woods, oak, hickory, hem 
 lock, and chestnut. The short grass had been raked 
 and swept. There was quite a pretentious table, two 
 long plank benches, some camp-seats, several ham 
 mocks hung, and three colored musicians. 
 
 Few especial invitations had been given out : there 
 had not been time. Frank Gaylord had brought a 
 young Cuban up with him, who \^fas employed in the 
 foreign correspondence of his uncle's business-house, 
 a very gentlemanly young fellow with a rather 
 handsome face and fine manners. 
 
 " He seemed so lonely, and did not know what to 
 do with himself," explained Frank to his sister and 
 mine. " You see, he only came to New York last 
 March, and has not made many friends ; but he's first- 
 class, and I was telling him how jolly you all were 
 out here." 
 
 " Take him around, and introduce him to every 
 body," said Helen. " It may not be fashionable ; but 
 we are in country-wilds, and it does make a stranger 
 feel more at home."
 
 180 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Frank obeyed the behest. Manuel Estradura 
 seemed a trifle abashed at first; but Sadie Brooke 
 and Mr. Wilbur took him so cleverly under their 
 mutual wings, that he almost became the hero of the 
 occasion. His rival was Mrs. Wilbur's cousin, a Mr. 
 Palmer, eight and twenty perhaps, and charming 
 enough to be remarkable at a fashionable watering- 
 place. Sadie declared privately that she felt utterly 
 eclipsed and maddingly jealous. 
 
 The music struck up, and the dancing began. 
 Pryor was supremely happy with Eve for a partner ; 
 while Dan Montgomery looked on in a rather surly 
 fashion, resolving, I dare say, to acquire the art at 
 the very first opportunity. In the Lancers that 
 followed, Eve had Mr. Palmer, and Sadie the Cuban ; 
 but in the next set Sadie was supremely content with 
 the tall, distinguished stranger. 
 
 They danced, they chatted and laughed. There 
 was the quickest of repartee, the merriest of badi 
 nage. It was a picture out there in the woods, a 
 Watteau-like scene that harmonized admirably. Joe 
 was wild with delight when he came up. They were 
 just about dancing again; and he took Ruth Mont 
 gomery, rather to my surprise. I thought of Eve's 
 plan of attracting Pryor thitherward, but in my 
 heart of hearts I knew it would not work. 
 
 It was a happy time with youth and delight. The
 
 IN A GARDEN 181 
 
 moments flew too rapidly. Never did music sound 
 sweeter, never did sandwich, cake, cream, and lemon 
 ade taste better. Is there any zest like that of the 
 freshness of youth and the piquant unconventionality 
 of such an occasion ? 
 
 " There will not be any thing quite as charming at 
 Lake George, I know," declared Sadie wilfully. " I 
 have half a mind not to go." 
 
 Palmer looked up quickly. 
 
 "Are you booked for Lake George?" he asked. 
 " I am to start next week with a camping-out party, 
 and spend a fortnight. Are you going with a party ? " 
 and he gave a mirthful glance around. 
 
 "I am always in a party," declared Sadie. "I 
 abhor solitudes and sages, and enjoy being ' in the 
 midst of alarms.' Yes, my sister, Miss Fisher, Miss 
 Lane, and Miss Travers, go with us. I only wish I 
 could coax Eve Thurston to join, but she has spent 
 one whole summer there." 
 
 They compared notes about their respective loca 
 tions, and found they were not going to be very far 
 apart. Mr. Bradford, who had come up an hour or 
 so before, found himself quite supplanted, and had to 
 comfort his soul with Bertha. Was he really attracted 
 to Sadie Brooke ? I could not imagine him choosing 
 such a gay society wife ; but he was in no wise 
 devoted to young women.
 
 182 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 On the homeward route Mr. Palmer was her 
 escort. The young Cuban seemed curiously attracted 
 to Eve. Mrs. Wilbur now informed us that she had 
 made all arrangements with Mrs. Ten Eyck for our 
 party to have supper there, and Mr. Wilbur had laid 
 in a liberal supply of fire-works. There was a little 
 demurring, but Eve was speedily overruled. 
 
 There had been quite a number of Athenians who 
 had strolled up to Terry's woods, rather curious to 
 know just what was going on. We had made several 
 of our friends and neighbors very welcome, and the 
 breaking up was characterized by expressions of 
 delight and good feeling at their venturing to trust 
 our hospitality. 
 
 " Why, we might often have pleasant little times 
 like this," said Charlie Wharton. " Athens has been 
 the stupidest place ; but if we only can get in 
 some new people with a little vim and brains above 
 a Sunday-school picnic, where you are in fear of 
 children breaking their limbs, or tearing their best 
 clothes ! " 
 
 " They are well enough in their way," rejoined his 
 sister-in-law, "but the older people might enjoy a 
 pleasure on a different scale. And I do think we 
 owe a debt or a vote of thanks to Miss Thurston for 
 stirring up the Rip Van Winkles." 
 
 " Yes," declared Pryor. " Thurston, you will yet
 
 IN A GARDEN 183 
 
 be the light and regeneration of Athens. When we 
 come to get some business and some new people " 
 
 "And a hotel, 1 ' interrupted Sadie. "Put Miss 
 Thurston in as business manager." 
 
 "And I will do my best toward filling it," said 
 Mr. Wilbur. 
 
 Eve, Joe, and I paused a few moments at the 
 house. Joe was to do the chores. I ran down to 
 the station, and attended to the up and down trains. 
 When I reached Mrs. Ten Eyck's, I found Pryor 
 and Mr. Bradford had both accepted the invitation. 
 Indeed, it was quite a party. Mrs. Wilbur was mis 
 tress of ceremonies, and we did have a gay time. 
 Afterward we went out on the porch. It was quite 
 cloudy, so it was considered prudent to have the fire 
 works at once, as the children were eager for them. 
 
 So we ended with a patriotic glorification. Our 
 day had been a great success. Frank Gaylord and 
 Estradura were going on the train, but Palmer had 
 accepted Mrs. Wilbur's invitation to remain a few 
 days longer. We saw the travellers off, with decla 
 rations on their part that they had found Athens 
 delightful. 
 
 The next morning Joe and I were very busy, and 
 the girls had the house to themselves. But in the 
 afternoon they all went off driving with Palmer and 
 Mrs. Wilbur. Indeed, they were so late that Letty
 
 184 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 and Joe had supper all ready when they came 
 home. Mr. Bradford and Pryor were both up that 
 evening. 
 
 Mr. Wilbur's house was progressing so rapidly, 
 that they had decided to get in before it was all 
 finished, and resolved to move about the middle of 
 the month ; though Mrs. Wilbur explained the case 
 more fully to Eve. They had some friends who 
 would like to board with the Ten Eycks, but who 
 wanted to get out in the country by that time, and 
 Mrs. Ten Eyck would be pleased to have them come, 
 a married couple with a son and daughter. The 
 Wilburs did not intend to furnish very elaborately. 
 Most of the floors were hard wood or stained, and 
 Mrs. Wilbur promised herself much pleasure talking 
 matters over with Eve. Both husband and wife had 
 taken an immense fancy to Joe. 
 
 Indeed, Joe developed such a multifarious genius 
 that I was sometimes quite amazed. He was like a 
 woman in the "short cuts" he took to accomplish 
 his object. If he did not get a satisfactory result 
 one way, he used another. Some of his suggestions 
 were so excellent that Mr. Wilbur placed the arrange 
 ment of the grounds and several other matters in his 
 hands. A nice barn was to be built through the fall, 
 and next year they would keep a horse and a cow. 
 
 Already Joe had begun to save some money. He
 
 IN A GARDEN 185 
 
 had bought a nice, inexpensive summer-suit, and was 
 paying for a watch on instalments. His parcel busi 
 ness was considerable, and the regular expressman of 
 the town looked sourly at him. He had also made a 
 contract with several ladies in Athens, elderly peo 
 ple, to take them to drive now and then, bring them 
 to the station when they needed to go to the city, 
 and take them home. His prices were so low, that 
 Pryor quite laughed at him at first ; but when he 
 made seventy-five cents on some days, and had the 
 pleasure besides, he felt quite elated. 
 
 " Thurston, next year I'll have a horse, you see if 
 I don't," he said confidently to me. " I've made up 
 my mind that Tm going to see if I can't get my 
 share of the world's wealth that Miss Eve was 
 explaining to me one day. It looks like a big thing, 
 to set out for eight hundred dollars ; but I dare say 
 if I hadn't stumbled over you ^s I did that day, I 
 should drink up that amount in ten years ; so I just 
 said to myself, 'If you can afford to drink up that 
 sum in beer and rum, you can afford to save it.' 
 And money does help you to make money. O 
 Thurston ! I can never be grateful enough to you and 
 Miss Eve," and Joe's eyes were limpid with tears. 
 
 Certainly, even this was worth doing. And it 
 seemed, with a helping hand now and then, that 
 Joe might be a success for himself. Cities were
 
 186 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 full enough of young men crowding each other for 
 bread, and even here Joe was making more clear 
 money than in any position he was likely to get. 
 The thought of his future troubled me now and 
 then, whether, indeed, this was a good business 
 discipline for the man. 
 
 Thursday was crowded full of pleasure. The 
 girls were to go back on Friday, except Miss 
 Gaylord, who was to rejoin some relatives at Long 
 Branch on the first of August. Now she proposed 
 to spend the intervening weeks at Athens. 
 
 " It will be very pleasant to have her," said Eve. 
 " I have been so used to some society and companion 
 ship, that I must be let down easily;" and she 
 laughed gayly. 
 
 Mrs. Brooke sent an invitation for Eve to 
 accompany them to Lake George, and remain a 
 fortnight ; and Sadie insisted that she should consent. 
 
 "Indeed, I cannot!" said Eve. "I must finish up 
 my painting-class and feome music-lessons, and make 
 some fine attire. Then I am to go to Saratoga to 
 Mrs. Harwood." 
 
 "Then you can surely come. We will never, 
 never forgive you if you don't ! " cried the chorus. 
 
 Eve did partly promise. 
 
 There was a rather amusing dispute at the last. 
 Eve had arranged it with me that the girls' week
 
 IN A .GARDEN 187 
 
 should be considered a visit. They had not intended 
 that, but Eve pluckily held her ground. The girls 
 gave in presently, and were so agreeable, that I felt 
 quite certain they had settled it among themselves. 
 
 We were all sorry to have them go. Mr. Palmer 
 had remained, and joined them on their return- 
 trip. Mr. Pryor and Mr. Bradford both found an 
 important errand to take them to the city. The 
 girls insisted that there should be another splendid 
 week in the autumn. Gertie Fisher, we knew, was 
 to be married. Her lover was buyer for a New- York 
 house, and was now abroad ; so there might be one 
 less. 
 
 It seemed quite lonely that evening, for, strangely 
 enough, no one dropped in ; but we had the 
 inexpressible pleasure of going to bed early. In 
 fact, we had been dreadfully dissipated. 
 
 Frank Gaylord had written to ask if he and 
 Estradura might come over on Sunday afternoon, 
 and Helen had replied in the affirmative. So we 
 were not likely to be utterly deserted. The quiet 
 Saturday was a real pleasure. We looked after our 
 young chickens. I trimmed and tied up vines, and 
 took account of stock, as one might say. 
 
 On Monday, Eve had an express parcel with the 
 jolliest of letters signed by the whole five girls, who 
 had endowed her with enough table-napery to last
 
 188 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 a lifetime, or furnish the hotel. They strongly 
 suggested the latter. 
 
 We liked Miss Gaylord very much. She and 
 Frank were the youngest of a large family, all 
 married and scattered, save these two, who were still 
 under the guardianship of an uncle, who had been 
 like a father to them. Helen had a small portion of 
 seven thousand dollars well invested, and was about 
 twenty; not quite such a madcap as some of the 
 others, and a very pleasant companion. Frank was 
 two years younger, a bright, smart business fellow. 
 When we came to see Estradura again, we were 
 much pleased. He was a fine musician, read French 
 and Italian beautifully. I had half a fancy that he 
 was smitten by Miss Gaylord, at which suggestion 
 Eve smiled a little.
 
 189 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 SUMMER AND SENTIMENT 
 
 OUR next excitement was getting Mrs. Wilbur's 
 house furnished. I wondered why everybody, old, 
 young, middle-aged, or between^ came to Eve for 
 counsel, suggestion, and approval. Mrs. Wilbur 
 carried her off to New York two days to help her 
 select furniture. Every thing was to be light, airy, 
 cheap, she said, but not as Eve and I counted cheap 
 ness. There were willow, bamboo, splint chairs; 
 rugs ; bed-room suites in maple and ash, and they 
 were plain. The furniture was not to be removed in 
 the winter. 
 
 For compensation Mrs. Wilbur insisted that Eve 
 should take her dressmaker for two days, and this 
 was a wonderful relief. The painting-class met 
 again, and Helen was much interested in it. She 
 was delicately helpful in many ways. Mr. Pryor 
 was their gallant, of course. 
 
 I found a great deal to do in my garden. Weeds 
 grew apace, though Joe had a curious knack of ex 
 terminating them. As my raspberries ceased bearing, 
 I cut out the old canes, which made quite a thinning,
 
 190 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 and trimmed back young shoots. I cut out a multi 
 tude of young currants, and made a new bed of them 
 in a rather shady place, to see if I could root them. 
 Our chickens throve nicely. We had been culling 
 out the cockerels, and using them up, and very nice 
 we found them. The horse, too, proved a great satis 
 faction. I gave the stable, and Joe the care ; for we 
 used it the most, I found. The food we supplied by 
 thirds ; and it proved not at all onerous, as she was 
 an easy keeper. 
 
 We heard from the girls. It was very jolly at 
 Lake George. Mr. Palmer's camping-party was just 
 magnificent. If Eve could only be there ! couldn't 
 she, wouldn't she, come ? Then Mrs. Harwood wrote. 
 She would be ready for Eve on the 10th of August, 
 and would like to keep her a fortnight. 
 
 " That falls in right with the painting and every 
 thing," said Eve. " Some of the music-scholars will 
 stop now ; but after all, I seem to have about as 
 much pleasure as work." 
 
 " You make pleasure out of every thing," I replied. 
 
 Then a new application surprised us. Mr. Estra- 
 dura came over one day to beseech Eve to open her 
 hospitable home, and take him in. A friend was to 
 spend some months in New York to learn the lan 
 guage, and perfect himself in American ways ; and 
 they desired to board together in some pretty coun-
 
 . IN A GARDEN 
 
 try-place for six weeks or so, and he had seen noth 
 ing he liked so well as this place and the woods up 
 beyond. His friend was something of an artist, and 
 he would be delighted with the scenery, the home, 
 the quiet ; and if they might have the horse a little 
 now and then. His friend had some fortune, and 
 was willing to pay for all the comforts and pleasures, 
 and the piano would be such a treat. 
 
 Eve was quite amazed. We talked it over in a 
 sort of family conclave. I saw she had a leaning 
 toward it. 
 
 " But you must go away," I said. " You shall not 
 toil and moil the whole summer." 
 
 " That is all the bother. As for the rest, they will 
 have their breakfast, and go to the city, and I shall 
 see nothing of them until evening. I shall not be 
 expected to provide entertainment for them all day ; 
 and as there will be two, they can be company for 
 each other." 
 
 " You have worked enough for one summer." 
 
 " Well, I am not much worn out," and she laughed. 
 " I have had a good time so far. Then, the first of 
 August the Wilburs are going away for one or two 
 weeks, and I may be lonesome. No, to tell the truth," 
 and her gay expression settled into soberness, " I do 
 think of the money. There will be quite a sum to 
 meet in the fall, and I should like to keep Letty. If
 
 192 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 we were alone, it would be too great an indul 
 gence." 
 
 "I hate to have you thinking of money all the 
 time ! " I declared warmly. " You, of all others, 
 must not grow mercenary." 
 
 "Fancy me at the most successful of watering- 
 places, balancing the purses of my admirers, and 
 using all my ingenuity to learn which is the heaviest ! 
 There is nothing mercenary about that ! " 
 
 " I shall come to hate the place " 
 
 " No, you will not, Adam ; " and her soft arms were 
 about my neck. " Every day it fascinates you more 
 and more. Every shrub, every blade of grass, every 
 berry, and even the potatoes, are dear to you, and 
 have a flavor that no others could ever have. There 
 is something exhilarating about one's own home. 
 While I am young and well, I ought to help ; and I 
 love to have people about me. I was not formed for 
 solitude." 
 
 " I may as well give up," I said. " You will talk 
 me over to your way of thinking ; but go to Saratoga 
 you shall. It would be ungracious to Mrs. Harwood." 
 
 " I shall surely go. Set your heart at rest. I will 
 see if I can figure out the other matter." 
 
 Estradura was very much in earnest. He came 
 again one evening to announce that his friend had 
 arrived. They were to go to Manhattan Beach for
 
 193 
 
 several days, then take a brief trip to the Catskills, 
 and wished to settle themselves as soon as they 
 returned. He and Eve looked at the rooms : they 
 would have to content themselves with one large one 
 and a small one. 
 
 " That will be all right," declared Estradura. " I 
 will have the small one, and we can sit in my friend's 
 when you do not want us down-stairs. You are so 
 happy and gay, Miss Thurston, and every thing is so 
 pleasant, the whole wide out of doors as well. My 
 friend will be charmed." 
 
 Eve explained that she was engaged to go away 
 for a week or two. Could they get along in her 
 absence ? 
 
 " We shall miss you, of course," and he smiled 
 flatteringly ; " but even that will not keep us away. 
 We shall count on having you afterward." 
 
 So they settled it at length, giving me no voice in 
 the matter. They would come the last week in July. 
 Then Eve engaged Mrs. Banks to superintend Letty 
 during her absence. 
 
 On the top of this arrived the most amusing letter 
 from Sadie Brooke. Mr. Palmer was to spend about 
 ten days in New York on business, and then return 
 to Lake George on the 5th of August. They had 
 commissioned him to bring Eve, and five days 
 later she could come down to Saratoga. Mr. Palmer
 
 194 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 had been bound by all manner of solemn promises, 
 threats, and warnings, not to venture into their 
 presence without her ; and they would all be dying 
 to see Mr. Palmer. See what a great commotion a 
 little obstinacy on her part would create ! 
 
 It was very funny, to say the least. Every thing 
 did come together. Eve consulted Mrs. Wilbur^ 
 who only made matters worse by declaring they 
 would take that for the commencement of their 
 journey, making it all the pleasanter for Eve. 
 
 " And if it will be any assistance," declared Helen 
 Gaylord, " I will stay a week or so longer, and see 
 that the house is not shrouded in gloom for your 
 absence. Long Branch will keep." 
 
 It was extremely good of her. Somehow the mat 
 ter did get settled harmoniously. Helen moved into 
 Eve's room : and the two others were garnished and 
 changed about for the new-comers, who were prompt 
 to the day, though a note announced them. Mr. 
 Estradura's friend was rather smaller and slighter 
 than himself, but extremely pretty, you could 
 apply no other adjective to him. He talked very 
 broken, and was much embarrassed by his mistakes, 
 flushing like a girl. But that evening they sang 
 some Spanish songs that were enchanting, and alto 
 gether it was delightful. After a few days they 
 began to feel very much at home, and really troubled
 
 IN A GAEDETST 195 
 
 no one. Indeed, they rather entertained us with 
 their exquisite foreign ways. 
 
 Every thing went along smoothly. Mr. Palmer 
 was over at the Wilburs's, who were quite settled 
 already. Eve was extremely busy, but Helen helped 
 like a sister. No evil befell us : it did not rain on the 
 appointed day, and the travellers started off in high 
 spirits. Eve had given everybody charges. Mrs. 
 Banks promised to come when needed. Joe declared 
 that he could run the house himself, if it were 
 necessary. 
 
 But, oh, how lonely it was ! I wondered how I 
 could ever live without Eve again. There seemed 
 so much time for every thing. I looked after the 
 chickens, though Joe was much more deft when it 
 came to finishing their earthly careers, and preparing 
 them for the cook. My blackberries were ripening 
 magnificently. The Wilburs had engaged two quarts 
 a day ; also, Mrs. Ten Eyck, who liked her new ' 
 people very well ; and several others had spoken for 
 some to make blackberry brandy, which I thought I 
 should try myself. 
 
 Meanwhile the new-comers had begun with their 
 factory, and in one little spot Athens seemed quite 
 awake. Mr. Corwin decided to build two pretty 
 cottages on his ground, either for sale or to rent ; 
 and we all had a hand in the planning. He found
 
 196 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 he could raise some money easily, after he had them 
 started, as he was resolved not to mortgage his 
 house. 
 
 Miss Gaylord did splendidly, and declared that 
 she needed no one besides Joe and Letty. I was 
 getting to be quite a housekeeper myself, and tried 
 to remember Eve's charges. We heard from her 
 nearly every day; and every thing was just splendid, 
 with no end of fun. She was afraid Saratoga would 
 not be half as nice. 
 
 However, she went on the appointed day, and was 
 conscience-smitten that she had fancied she might 
 not be happy. Mrs. Harwood was delightful. There 
 were rides and sails on the lake ; parties and parlor- 
 dances and hops ; arid she staid two whole weeks. 
 Even then Mrs. Harwood would have kept her. 
 Pryor had gone up and spent one Sunday, and came 
 home rather fractious, I thought. 
 
 Miss Gaylord went away the week before Eve's 
 return, on account of some festivities, at which she 
 was needed. We did miss her immensely, but we 
 managed very well. I had a half feeling, that, if 
 there were no Eve in the world, Pryor might turn 
 in that direction. He did promise to spend a Sunday 
 at Long Branch. 
 
 I went down to New York to meet Eve. Was 
 she really prettier than ever ? bright, arch, and
 
 IN A GARDEN 197 
 
 vivacious ; her cheeks like a peach, her eyes lucent 
 as water-blown lakes. 
 
 " And with all the fun and enjoyment, I am so 
 glad to see you," she confessed. "I have had at 
 least one wish every day to be at home. Oh, how 
 have you managed ? and are the Cubans dis 
 gusted ? " 
 
 " Not a bit," returned I. " What with easy-chairs 
 out on the lawn, and the hammocks, and the horse, 
 I do believe they fancy themselves in clover. Letty 
 has not given notice, neither has Joe gone off; and 
 we have had pears and peaches, and all the luxuries 
 of the season." 
 
 " Oh, how lovely it looks ! " she exclaimed, as we 
 walked up the hill. " O Adam ! do you remember 
 the splendid walks of last autumn, and how we 
 coveted just this particular house ? Why, I never 
 had such a happy, satisfying, pleasure-crowded year 
 in my life." 
 
 I was glad to hear her say so. She flew into the 
 house like a child, and could not rest until she had 
 peeped into every room, seen Letty and Joe, and 
 run over to the Wilburs's. The place was suddenly 
 transformed. She looked like a sprite dancing about 
 the garden, inspecting the chickens, and patting 
 Bess, who seemed to give her a most cordial greet 
 ing. Yes, she was a part of every thing, and mine.
 
 198 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 I was just selfish enough, in that hour, to rejoice that 
 no one had any claim upon her. 
 
 Mrs. Banks had come over every afternoon to see 
 about the dinner. The breakfasts, Letty and Joe 
 managed admirably ; though I dare say Mrs. Banks 
 had planned them out the night before. And now 
 she insisted upon Miss Thurston finishing her holi 
 day; so Eve disported herself in her white dress, 
 with adornings of cherry-colored velvet, and ate 
 peaches to her heart's content. 
 
 There had also been a harvest-apple, which had 
 not done as well as its wealth of blossoms promised ; 
 but we had enjoyed it nevertheless : and now another 
 was ripening, from which we had pies and sauce. 
 
 I believe the Cubans enjoyed Eve's home-coming 
 the least of anybody. They seemed at first rather 
 embarrassed, and went out after dinner, to walk up 
 the road, and smoke their cigars. Pryor, fortunately, 
 was out of town, so I had her to myself; and we 
 looked over the household books which I had kept ; 
 and I related the few ups and downs, while she 
 entertained me with the delights of her sojourn. 
 
 " Do you know," she said, " that I am inclined to 
 predict a conquest, though I don't just know which 
 will win the crown? But Mr. Palmer is hard hit 
 with Sadie Brooke, and very much in earnest. Mrs. 
 Brooke admires him extremely. And if one could
 
 IN A GAKDEN 199 
 
 tell about Sadie ; but I think she is more in love 
 than she would like to have any one suspect. Mr. 
 Bradford is very what shall I say ? deeply fasci 
 nated. Indeed, it will be well for the other girls 
 when she makes her election : they can have some 
 sort of chance." 
 
 " Even Pryor went down to her, I suppose ? " I 
 asked meaningly. 
 
 " No, he did not. I wish he had. I was well, 
 hateful to him ; and I am ashamed of it. But I don't 
 want him to ask me, and I am afraid he will never 
 be disenchanted any other way." 
 
 " Then, you may as well have it over with," I 
 advised. 
 
 "After all," said Eve the next morning, " Athens 
 is beautiful, not wild or grand, but comfortably 
 beautiful. I am sure I could live here all my life, 
 and take my tours elsewhere." 
 
 After a few days^we settled down into the accus 
 tomed routine, and then it seemed as if the Cubans 
 suddenly woke to the fact that Eve was a charming 
 young woman. They coaxed her out on the porch ; 
 were fain to give up cigar-smoking for her sake. 
 They taught her Spanish : they sang to her and with 
 her. Mr. Cassimera played deliciously on a guitar ; 
 and really, one might have fancied them half in love 
 with her.
 
 200 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 All this was flame to Pryors passion. 
 
 "See here, Thurston," he exclaimed huskily one 
 night as he walked down to the station with me, 
 " have you no care or thought for your sister ? What 
 do you know about those fellows ? They are both 
 head over heels in love with her, and they may be 
 frauds and humbugs ; and I dare say they don't really 
 mean any thing with all their great fuss/' 
 
 " All the better for them if they do not mean any 
 thing," I answered. "I do not think my sister's 
 heart is lightly won. Society women are used to 
 making themselves agreeable, and receiving atten 
 tions that in a little place like this would naturally 
 be more serious. They are very gentlemanly." 
 
 " Hang it I I don't care what they are ! You have 
 had opportunities to know about me, Thurston. You 
 must have seen have understood" 
 
 " Don't, Pryor," 1 interrupted. " I would save 
 you any pain that I could. Use your own eyes. 
 What has she done to encourage more than a friendly 
 regard ? " 
 
 "Well, I love her. It is out now. And you have 
 a good deal of influence over her. She feels bound 
 to you about the place, I mean, but if she were 
 quite free and I like you so well, Thurston, that 
 no brother could be dearer. Why can we not all pull 
 together ? Come, do not stand in my way. Heaven
 
 IN A GARDEN 201 
 
 knows I would lay down my life for your sister if 
 she needed it! Give me a brotherly speeding in 
 this matter." 
 
 I had tried hard to shield Eve from an occasion 
 like this, but I had never imagined the sweet old 
 story might be told to me in such a desperate fashion. 
 What would Eve do if she were here ? What if she 
 had an underlying strand of tenderness for him? 
 Yet it seemed as if I knew her heart. 
 
 " I am afraid it is of no use, Pryor," I said ; and I 
 felt heartily, deeply sorry for him. " So far as I am 
 concerned, I could give you a brother's welcome 
 any day, or a God-speed , but I think it is hopeless. 
 Eve doesn't care to marry. She likes a young girl's 
 good time. She has not " how should I say it with 
 out hurting him ? " she does not mean to encourage 
 any one." Then the past came into my mind like a 
 flash. Would it help her here ? " There was some 
 thing in her life a while ago it is her secret, and I 
 have no right even to hint at it ; but I may say it will 
 keep her from all such matters at present. They 
 would be distasteful to her." 
 
 " But I would wait she is not engaged, tell 
 me that ! " and his voice trembled with fateful 
 anticipation. 
 
 " She is not engaged, but as little will she desire to 
 listen to lovers at present. If you must try your
 
 202 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 fate, Pryor, I will not stand in your way ; but I warn 
 you it will be hopeless. Watch her closely. If you 
 can detect the slightest sign of encouragement " 
 
 Pryor sighed. We had reached the station, and 
 the train came in. Then I locked my office. 
 
 " There never was such a happy time as last win 
 ter," he said, with a lingering intonation that pierced 
 me. " I have never seen anybody that I liked so 
 well. Thurston, I can't even bear to say good-night 
 to you ; for you are so near and dear to her, that, if I 
 did not love you so well, I should hate you bitterly. 
 But in all truth you could not be so false-hearted as 
 to influence her against me " 
 
 " No, no ! " I cried. " Test her yourself. If you 
 win any thing beyond a friendly recognition " 
 
 " Good-night! " he exclaimed abruptly, and plunged 
 down the street. 
 
 I walked slowly homeward. Eve was in the ham 
 mock ; and the two young men were singing, with a 
 guitar accompaniment. 
 
 " Isn't it delicious ? ' said Joe from a seat on the 
 terrace-grass. 
 
 They dispersed presently with a kindly good-night. 
 We sauntered around in doors. 
 
 "Eve,' I began, "have you been taking lessons of 
 Sadie Brooke ? ' 
 
 " I am afraid there was some one before that, and
 
 IN A GARDEN 203 
 
 then long before that," she answered with a laugh. 
 " After all, why shouldn't we enjoy ourselves ? Sum 
 mers are fleeting. I do not want them to fall in love 
 with me and I try in certain ways O Adam ! do 
 I flirt ? I sometimes feel as if I were getting cross 
 and old-maidish when Pryor is here. I wonder 
 oh ! what makes you so solemn ? I will shut myself 
 up in a convent, I will put on a cap and glasses, but 
 you must love me and be tender." 
 
 " It is about Pryor," I said. " Let me tell you." 
 
 I drew her to the corner of the sofa, and repeated 
 nearly all of the conversation. For a moment or two 
 she was silent. 
 
 "Oh ! " I cried, " could you care for him, love him 
 in time ? " 
 
 "No: I do not think I could love him dearly, 
 could want him for my husband ; and it ought to be 
 the strongest of all preference. I like him, I could 
 be good friends if it were not for this regard that 
 now keeps me all the while on the defensive. I am 
 so glad you told him. Life is delightful with you, 
 Adam, and you are so good to me." 
 
 " Still, when you do love, you must not let me 
 stand in the way." 
 
 She gave me a tender kiss, many of them indeed. 
 
 The next day, Pryor was called to a neighboring 
 State by the illness of his mother, and was gone over
 
 204 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 a week. Still, there was no lack of visitors to sit on 
 the porch during the lovely summer evenings. And 
 so August drew to a close, and September came in. 
 
 One day it was the first week in September when 
 a curious incident happened. The 3.10 train came 
 up from the city, and there were only two passen 
 gers to get off. One was a common, middle-aged 
 man ; the other a rather slim, compact-looking young 
 lady, in a soft gray dress, a gray straw hat with a 
 great cluster of nasturtiums on the brim, hanging 
 about on their long, light green stems. We had a 
 large mound of them in all colors, and these looked 
 as fresh as the real ones in our garden. 
 
 She walked down the platform rather slowly. I 
 thought of Joe, and wondered if she would like to 
 ride. I came along behind her; and just after the 
 steps, she turned. 
 
 " I wonder," she began in a soft, cultured voice, 
 how I remarked all these little things now, "I 
 wonder if you could tell me where a Miss Thurston 
 lives, a Miss Eve Thurston? " 
 
 " Yes," I answered. " Turn straight up this 
 street." 
 
 I walked along not right in range, but at a 
 " respectful distance." 
 
 This was some one I had not seen before. Eve 
 had mentioned several new acquaintances made at
 
 IN A GARDEN" 205 
 
 Lake George and Saratoga, and one especially, a 
 youngish married woman, who had begged permis 
 sion to visit her. This lady might be two or three 
 and twenty, certainly not older. There was some 
 thing yery interesting about her, though she was 
 sweet and gracious rather than beautiful. Her eyes 
 were a clear blue, a color seldom seen out of child 
 hood, large, serious, frank in certain respects, but 
 with a steadiness that impressed you. The complex 
 ion was clear and somewhat pale ; the hair of a rather 
 flaxeny brown, instead of golden tints, and abundant 
 if one could judge by the great coil worn low down 
 in the nape of her neck. 
 
 She made a little halt. " Is it far?" she asked. 
 
 " Oh, no ! just above, on that hill." 
 
 She glanced up toward it. 
 
 "How odd, to call a little village like this, Athens ! " 
 and she smiled. 
 
 " We have the old names in the New World." 
 
 " And Mount Ida, and shepherds with their crooks, 
 and their sheep browsing or I believe it is goats 
 that browse. When I was a little girl, I was taught 
 that sheep nibbled ; and it seems to express their 
 fashion of eating." 
 
 I laughed at the conceit. I don't know why, but I 
 was glad to have her a friend of my sister. 
 
 " Goats still seem to be in fashion," I said ; for just
 
 206 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 then we saw two tethered in a small patch of ground. 
 " But we have no shepherds." 
 
 She halted a moment, and half turned. There was 
 a polite inquiry in her face. Was she wondering 
 why I followed her ? 
 
 " Fortunately, my sister is at home this afternoon," 
 I announced, congratulating myself on so bright a 
 thought. 
 
 " Your sister ? Is Miss Thurston your sister ? " 
 
 My evil genius prompted me to reply, " Madam, 
 I'm Adam ; " but a kind of astonishment seized me, 
 that she could have met Eve, and known her, and not 
 have heard of me. My brotherly vanity was wounded. 
 
 "Yes," I answered, opening the gate. 
 
 She seemed to hesitate. I was sorry that Eve was 
 not on the porch in her soft white gown. I invited 
 her within ; and she came slowly, casting questioning 
 glances around. 
 
 "I will sit here," she said, pausing in the wide 
 hall, our reception-room. "Tell Miss Thurston a 
 lady, a stranger, wishes to see her." 
 
 I obeyed her behest. 
 
 " Oh, goodness ! " cried Eve ; " you do not think 
 her an agent or a canvasser, do you?" 
 
 " No," I said positively. Then I laughed. " She 
 is artistic." 
 
 " And aesthetic. Green gown and all that ? "
 
 IN A GARDEN 207 
 
 " Gray gown. Heavenly blue eyes. Not quite as 
 tall as you." 
 
 Eve threw off a kitchen-apron, and stood arrayed 
 in white. Giving some charges to Letty, she passed 
 through the rooms. I went out to the barn, for I 
 was patching up my chicken-house to make it good 
 and warm; and Joe and I had made plans for a 
 greenhouse. We had been gathering stones to lay 
 a wall, and the mason had explained to Joe how to 
 make mortar for laying them. It really would not be 
 much more than an extensive cold-frame, sheltered 
 by the barn. 
 
 Of course I thought of Eve's visitor. She had not 
 gone away when train-time drew nigh. Joe was 
 going down with the wagon to meet a passenger.
 
 208 
 
 THEY came out to the garden in a strangely famil 
 iar way. I wonder what I would have said or done 
 if I could have seen what those two girls were to be 
 to each other in the years to come ! 
 
 They walked up towards me. I brushed the debris 
 off my clothes. 
 
 "My friend, Miss Hildreth," announced Eve. 
 " My brother, Mr. Thurston." 
 
 Miss Hildreth smiled and bowed, and we plunged 
 at once into an amusing conversation. 
 
 " Come and find me some nice peaches and pears," 
 said Eve. "I see some lovely ones that I cannot 
 reach." 
 
 I obeyed. We rambled around and talked. I felt 
 like quite an old friend, since Eve was so informal 
 with Miss Hildreth. We discussed flowers and fruit 
 and locations, and drives about the country, and 
 sunsets ; and then, looking at her watch, she declared 
 that her time was up, and her train would soon be en 
 route for the city.
 
 IN A GARDEN 209 
 
 "Adam will go down with you," my sister said. 
 " And you will be sure to come over for the day, 
 let it be early next week, and we will have a 
 most delightful drive about the by-ways and hid 
 den nooks." 
 
 I put on my " other " coat, and escorted Miss Hil- 
 dreth, put her on board the train. In fifteen minutes 
 the up-train was due, and the rest of our household 
 would arrive. I was all curiosity to hear about Miss 
 Hildreth, yet there was nothing but patience. 
 
 Estradura and Cassimera leaped lightly from the 
 train. They were such agile, graceful, well-mannered 
 young men. I had some parcels to look after, but 
 Joe came ; and I hurried up home just in time for 
 the dainty dinner, which certainly was as well served 
 as that of the first Eve. 
 
 One event after another occurred. It was ten 
 o'clock before I had Eve a moment to myself. 
 
 " It is too utterly funny," she said. " You are 
 dying with curiosity to know about Miss Hildreth. 
 I can see it in every line of your face. She is an 
 artist, and has a studio in New York ; paints pic 
 tures, gives lessons, has one brother isn't it queer, 
 there are only two of them, and two of us ? But he 
 is in South America, making a fortune ; and I have 
 you here safe and sound, and shall never, never let 
 you leave me." With this, Eve clasped her arms
 
 210 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 about my neck, and kissed me tenderly. "Well, 
 where was I ? Oh ! this is the oddest is there a 
 curious kind of fate or presentiment? She, Miss Hil- 
 dreth, was going up the Hudson one day early in 
 July, and there was a merry party on board that 
 interested her extremely. Once they were sitting 
 quite close together ; and they were talking about 
 Athens, the beautiful walks and drives, and wishing 
 they were artists. They mentioned Eve Thurston, 
 and she thought it such a peculiar name ; and she 
 gathered from their chatter that they had been stay 
 ing with this Miss Thurston, so she imagined it was 
 a delightful old country-house where boarders were 
 taken in the summer ; and she fancied Miss Thurston 
 one of those fascinating women of about forty, who 
 always attract young people to them. Think of 
 that ! " and Eve laughs merrily. " But, you know, 
 
 
 
 she only heard snatches, and not a coherent conver 
 sation. It lingered in her mind, and she resolved to 
 hunt me up. She has orders for two landscapes, 
 ' Autumns', one about a month later than the other, 
 and one with a river. So she came over to-day, and 
 found me, and actually said ' My dear child ' to me. 
 That was simply delicious," and Eve laughs again. 
 "Well, the end of this marvellous and improbable 
 story is, that we like each other, and she is coming 
 over one day next week, and we will drive around
 
 IN A GARDEN 211 
 
 to hunt up cosey nooks. How I shall tease the 
 girls ! " 
 
 I was silent, revolving Miss Hildreth's strange 
 entrance into our world. 
 
 " She was very nice," continued Eve. " She gave 
 me some references in a quiet business way, as if she 
 was not afraid. She boards with a cousin of her 
 mother, a charming elderly person whose description 
 suggested Mrs. Harwood to my mind. And I must 
 say I like her, although I do know there are frauds 
 and adventurers in the world." 
 
 " She is no fraud ! " I declared indignantly. 
 
 " Then, she impressed you favorably. I am glad of 
 that, for you ought to be wiser than I, Adam. Still, 
 we will why, we will trust her, unless she tells 
 some awful story, or does something very naughty. 
 Now we must both go to bed and dream about her. 
 Would it not be funny if she never came again ? " 
 
 We both laughed heartily at that. 
 
 I do not think I dreamed of Miss Hildreth, but 
 I thought of her a long while before I fell asleep. I 
 could see her large, clear eyes through the dusk, and 
 the very atmosphere seemed touched and penetrated 
 with her voice. 
 
 We talked of it the next day, and somehow it 
 had a very incredible air. 
 
 But we were busy enough planning and consider-
 
 212 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 ing. There was fruit to can and preserve. We 
 would have more pears than we could use, and more 
 peaches ; but we found ready customers in the Wil 
 burs. Joe was laying out their garden, and had 
 reduced their blackberries to order. My currant- 
 slips had rooted nicely, so we gave them a row of 
 currants, and, later, were to transplant some of our 
 over-abundant shrubbery. Mr. Randall came down 
 to ask my advice. The neighbors about us seemed 
 to think we had such a wonderful garden. How did 
 I do it, one and another inquired ; and even Mr. 
 Montgomery ceased to sneer at book-learning and 
 experiments. 
 
 Miss Hildreth sent a card, specifying the day of 
 her visit. The weather was still warm; but there 
 had been a little rain the evening before, and the 
 roads were in an excellent condition. I found 
 myself watching eagerly for her train. The acquaint 
 ance had a flavor of the unusual in it, a touch akin 
 to the occult. That she should have hunted up 
 Eve and Athens just because the names had taken 
 her fancy ! 
 
 We found her quite as charming as on her first 
 call. I say we. I escorted her up to the pretty house, 
 where some late wistaria and Chinese honeysuckle 
 were in bloom, and no end of sal via and foliage- 
 plants. Somehow, every thing had grown so abun-
 
 IN A GARDEN 213 
 
 dantly with us. I could hardly convince myself 
 that it was the neglected old Cassel place. 
 
 " How beautiful it is ! " Miss Hildreth said, paus 
 ing. " Mr. Thurston, you should be a gardener or 
 florist. You have the divine inspiration." 
 
 " I think much of the credit due my sister," I 
 answered. " She has the exquisite ideas." 
 
 " If I were not an artist, I should want to be 
 a florist. The height of my ambition is to own a 
 greenhouse." 
 
 I smiled. Eve came out to welcome her friend. 
 Joe had the carriage ready. They were to go in the 
 morning, as Joe had an engagement to drive two old 
 ladies out at two o'clock. 
 
 They had, it seems, a delightful time, and were 
 hungry enough when they reached home, allowing 
 Joe just ten minutes' grace. We had a merry 
 luncheon, then Miss Hildreth inspected the farm 
 with Eve, and they went over to Mrs. Wilbur's. I 
 had to pay attention to business, but I took one 
 little walk with them down to the river's edge. Miss 
 Hildreth was very fond of sailing or rowing, was 
 quite handy with the oars herself. We coaxed her to 
 remain to dinner ; but she had promised to be back 
 by dusk, and we were forced to exchange a reluctant 
 good-by. She was such an agreeable companion. 
 While $he had decided views on many points, she
 
 214 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 was so gracious and liberal-minded ; and the girls 
 found that their tastes in reading were much alike, 
 though Miss Hildreth had gone deeper in the 
 classics. Music she knew very little about, but was 
 extremely fond of it. 
 
 "Still, I understood that I could not do every 
 thing," she said. " I wanted to take care of myself, 
 and I did have a decided talent for all kinds of art 
 work. I shall probably never be very famous, but 
 I shall try to make myself happy with what I. can 
 do." 
 
 "We are wonderfully alike," declared Eve after 
 ward. " Miss Hildreth and her brother have planned 
 to live together, and he is so fond of country life. 
 His ideal is to have a pretty country home. He 
 went to South America three years ago, with a 
 friend ; and they thought, in five years, they would 
 make quite a fortune. But somehow their plans 
 have not worked ; that is, they are not very rich yet. 
 Miss Hildreth wants him to come home. She is 
 quite enchanted with our plans, and the way we are 
 managing. Wouldn't it be funny if they came to 
 Athens to settle ? And, O Adam ! she wants to 
 come over to board for a fortnight or so. Her aunt 
 owns a house in New York, which she rents fur 
 nished, reserving some of the rooms, and taking her 
 meals with the family. She is going away for^everal
 
 IN A GARDEN 215 
 
 weeks. You see, we will have to come to the hotel ; " 
 and Eve laughed. 
 
 " You are so attractive." 
 
 " I let people pretty well alone : I think that must 
 be it," she answered gayly. 
 
 " Have the Cubans said any thing about going ? " 
 
 " Not a word. They are sure to stay all this 
 month. Mrs. Harwood was to come. And, O 
 Adam ! the tax-paper came in. We must look over 
 our assets and liabilities." 
 
 I sighed. 
 
 " Well, we have had a good time," was her consol 
 ing rejoinder. " And, Adam, I think we have done a 
 little good. I am so proud of Joe, so pleased about 
 him. Have you any idea how much money he has 
 saved ? " 
 
 " No," I answered. 
 
 " He set out to put by two dollars a week, just 
 what he thought he would be sure to drink up under 
 other circumstances. And he has done better than 
 that. He has over forty dollars, and a very credit 
 able wardrobe. He wants to buy Bess of Mr. Pryor. 
 She cost seventy-two dollars." 
 
 " She would be a good bargain for that, but Pryor 
 believes in making money as well. Bess is an easy 
 keeper. I don't know whether Joe would find her 
 profitable in the winter."
 
 216 A MODEKN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 There was a soft, wistful light in Eve's eyes. 
 
 " I suppose," she said slowly, "that there are a 
 good many boys and young men who might be saved 
 and made useful members of society. And I wonder 
 how many young men in Athens have saved any 
 money this summer ? " 
 
 " Dan Montgomery hasn't, for one." 
 
 " And a good many of them are idling about. 
 Why can they not take up life in real earnest ? " 
 
 " I think it may be because they haven't you 
 standing right behind them," and I laughed. 
 
 Eve blushed brightly. 
 
 The third week in September we went over our 
 business for the last six months, counting assets up 
 to the first of the month. It stood in this manner : 
 
 My salary for six months $270 
 
 Eve's painting-class 50 
 
 Music-scholars 110 
 
 Paintings and fancy articles sold 17 
 
 Mrs. West's board $64 
 
 Mrs. Harwood 16 
 
 Miss Gaylord "... 20 
 
 Estradura 40 
 
 Cassimera ... . 40 
 
 To this we were able to add $16 for fruit sold. 
 It made a total of $643. Out of this we had spent
 
 IN A GARDEN 217 
 
 for furnishing and repairs. Then we went over 
 our chicken account. We had bought ten hens and 
 nine dozen eggs ; and three dozen eggs had been 
 given to us. Out of one hundred and seventeen 
 eggs, we had raised one hundred and three chickens. 
 The food that I had bought had cost me $26, mak 
 ing a total of $33.25. We had had from our hens, 
 after raising their broods, thirteen dozen eggs, which, 
 at the prices averaging, had been worth $3.25. 
 We had used fifty-seven chickens and two of our 
 hens, which at forty cents apiece, a low estimate, 
 would have cost us $23.60. Our forty-six young 
 chickens and eight hens now stood us in $6.40.. If 
 we could make them lay through the winter, then 
 would come the profit on eggs. I had sixteen beau 
 tiful white Leghorn pullets. These I kept by them 
 selves. The others ran together. All our cockerels 
 had been culled out except two. 
 
 We found that after our living and incidentals 
 were subtracted, we had just $201. The interest 
 was $126, our tax $34. Then, at the 1st of Septem 
 ber we would have a balance of $41 in our favor. 
 
 I glanced up at Eve. " That is not getting rich 
 very rapidly," I said rather ruefully. " At this rate, 
 we shall get our house paid for when ? " 
 
 "We have done a good deal of furnishing this 
 year, remember. We can save at least a hundred
 
 218 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 dollars on that next year. And there have been 
 repairs " 
 
 " And the house must be painted by next spring. 
 It is very hard to get ahead on a little money a 
 low salary. What a pittance forty-five dollars a 
 month really is ! " 
 
 " But you have done so much besides. Why, the 
 house and grounds are improved beyond compare. 
 And we have lived well, quite stylishly." 
 
 At that Eve bridles up, and gives me her most 
 bewitching smile. Still, I can hardly be appeased. 
 
 " I don't know when we will get the house paid 
 for," I say disconsolately. 
 
 " There is one thing I think we can always sell 
 at some advance. See how much Athens has 
 improved in a year. We did buy cheaply; and, 
 
 Adam ! we have had a delightful home." 
 
 " My dear girl, you are better than gold," I say 
 with a tender kiss. " But think of the money you 
 have earned ! " 
 
 " And think of the pleasure I have had. Saratoga, 
 Lake George, picnics and every thing. And now 
 
 1 have begun with four new music-scholars, and I 
 shall try to do some pretty Christmas work. There'll 
 be no class to take painting-lessons, I am afraid, but I 
 will manage some way. Dear Adam, don't get blue 
 or discouraged. It seems as if we had a good many
 
 IN A GARDEN 219 
 
 blessings. We are not rich, and perhaps never will 
 be ; but we will get all the joy we can out of life." 
 
 A few days after, Eve and Mrs. Wilbur went 
 down to the city, and called on Miss Hildreth. She 
 shared a studio with a pleasant, middle-aged woman, 
 a Mrs. Raymond, who painted china, tapestry, plush, 
 and satin, and had some exquisite work on hand. 
 Indeed, they were quite fascinated with the latter. 
 
 There was no question but that Miss Hildreth had 
 told the truth about herself, curious as the episode 
 appeared. Eve was delighted, and had actually 
 agreed for her to come. 
 
 " She insisted upon taking the little room, if Mrs. 
 Harwood should come," said Eve. " And she thinks 
 she will stay a month. She likes October in the 
 country. O Adam ! I wonder if we cannot get one 
 or two rooms finished off up-stairs by another sum 
 mer ? I wish the house was twice as large. I should 
 keep it full all the time. One turns the fruit and 
 vegetables right over to profit, the chickens and 
 every thing." 
 
 Eve certainly was a happy housekeeper. 
 
 I must put in a word about our hand-maiden, 
 Letty. She was absolutely bewitched with Eve, and 
 she was an ambitious girl as well. Music she seemed 
 to have in her soul, as well as her finger-ends. She 
 did not mean to go back to school, and she did want
 
 220 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 to stay with us. Her mother desired her to learn 
 dressmaking. However, it was presently settled that 
 she was to remain with us through the winter at low 
 wages, go on with her music, and Eve was to teach 
 her somewhat in sewing. 
 
 Mrs. Harwood managed to get round to us the last 
 of September ; and three days later, Miss Hildreth 
 was to come. The Cuban friends were to remain 
 through October. Eve put Mrs. Harwood in her 
 room, and we rigged up a comfortable bed in our 
 attic for me, while Eve was to take my room. 
 
 And now I must relate the march my dear Eve 
 stole upon me. She borrowed Joe's money, forty- 
 five dollars it was then, and ten from Mrs. Corwin, 
 and took up another hundred dollars on the note. I 
 felt almost angry when she confessed it. 
 
 " See here," she began in her pleading, charming 
 fashion. "I am going to pay Joe two-months' 
 interest on his money ; and by that time, my music- 
 dues will come in. The other small sum I can soon 
 return. Our expenses are not going to be fearful 
 this winter. You will see me coming out in a new 
 plush suit, maybe a seal coat. Oh, I dare say I shall 
 try your very soul with my extravagance ! " 
 
 Well, there was no use in scolding. Indeed, Mrs. 
 Harwood was so enthusiastic ; and she took such a 
 fancy to the Cubans. She was very fond of young
 
 IN A GARDEN 221 
 
 men. It was growing cool in the evenings now, 
 though it had been summer up to this time ; and 
 every evening we made a fire in our grate in the re 
 ception-room, burning logs that gave out an odorous 
 fragrance. We had put up hooks for two hammocks ; 
 we had a pretty, light couch that we could roll 
 around ; and, with the easy-chairs, we looked lazily 
 luxurious. Every one did enjoy it. When Miss 
 Hildreth came, her delight knew no bounds. 
 
 Joe took Mrs. Harwood out every day. He was 
 still busy for Mr. Wilbur, but they were soon going 
 in town. The two elder children were already there, 
 attending school. Next spring the house would be 
 put in good order, all the finishing-touches added. 
 Joe was to work at the grounds. 
 
 "That young fellow should be a landscape gar 
 dener," said Mr. Wilbur. " I have been surprised at 
 his ideas; and he does his work so thoroughly. 
 I have just been paying him ordinary wages ; but I 
 mean to give him a nice sum in the end, for he has 
 saved me dollars and dollars, and he is so willing to 
 change any thing. I want you to overlook him a 
 little. We have the matter all planned out, and I 
 think he can get the grounds in good order before 
 every thing freezes up. I shall be over every now 
 and then." 
 
 There was a pretty oval lawn, the carriage-path
 
 222 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 going up and winding around the house. The bed 
 of this had been made with stones of all sizes com 
 pactly laid, and covered with dirt, then gravel. 
 There were some spaces for flowers : shrubs, border 
 ing, hardy plants and trees, had been set out, and 
 fertilizers of various kinds brought. Joe had sodded 
 the lawn and the terrace in a beautiful manner, and 
 it was to be covered presently. 
 
 I was very much pleased with Joe's success. He 
 was equal to Eve for putting in the time ; and the 
 thought of one day owning something, inspirited him 
 thoroughly. 
 
 Indeed, I am not sure but October was as delightful 
 as any other month. Only the 'Wilburs did go away, 
 and we missed them sadly. Then Mrs. Harwood said 
 her good-bys, though she overstaid her fortnight. 
 Eve demurred at considering her in the light of a 
 boarder, after accepting her generous hospitality. 
 
 " My dear child," she said, " do not look at matters 
 in a wrong or distorted light. I am a rich, elderly 
 woman : you are just beginning life, and it would be 
 the quintessence of meanness for me to take of your 
 slender store. I could make you a present, you 
 know ; but I approve your business methods, and 
 just now the money is best." 
 
 It was true enough. We liked Mrs. Harwood so 
 sincerely and well.
 
 IN A GARDEN 223 
 
 But I think we were both bewitched over Celia 
 Hildreth. She was such a nobly sweet girl, so 
 friendly, so ambitious to do well, so generous to all 
 others. She would have Eve paint a little, and 
 praised her with rare judiciousness. 
 
 The Brookes, Gertie Fisher, and Mabel Lane, came 
 over one day. There was so much to tell. Miss 
 Lane was engaged, Miss Fisher was to be married, 
 and so was Kitty Travers. 
 
 " And the clique will be broken up," bewailed 
 Sadie Brooke. " We have had the loveliest time for 
 three years, and now you are going to spoil it 
 all." 
 
 " It is a great pity, since you are never likely to 
 leave the charmed circle. Eve, she flirted shame 
 fully with that elegant Mr. Palmer ; while any of us 
 would have given our two eyes for him." 
 
 " And thrown your lovers overboard ? Not a bit 
 of it ! " declared Sadie. 
 
 " You will flirt once too often won't she, Eve ? " 
 
 Sadie colored curiously. 
 
 Of course they had to hear the romance about 
 Celia Hildreth. It was very curious, they all agreed. 
 
 "So you may know we did not slander you ter 
 rifically," laughed Bel. " The passengers must have 
 thought us crazy that day." 
 
 "Where is Mr. Palmer?" Eve asked.
 
 224 A MODEKN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "Gone off, nobody knows where, to some 
 Western ranch," answered Sadie, with assumed 
 unconcern. 
 
 Did she care for him? 
 
 Oh, what a lovely autumn it was! After all, I 
 had been prospered wonderfully; and I sometimes 
 asked what there was, short of a fortune, that could 
 make me happier. For I could not undervalue 
 money. I was learning the worth of it more and 
 more every day. Was it not as noble for Joe and 
 me to strive for our small share of it as for some 
 great millionnaire to rejoice when he doubled his 
 thousands? We were wronging no one, we were 
 defrauding no man, but striving honestly and heartily 
 for our little share of the world's wealth. 
 
 With the first of November our happy household 
 dispersed. Cassimera was going back to Cuba, 
 Estradura to return to New York for the winter ; 
 but he insisted that we were sure to see him early 
 the next summer, and begged to be allowed to come 
 in a friendly way occasionally. They had enjoyed 
 themselves so much. They had been so happy ; and 
 to hear them, one would think they had sojourned 
 in Paradise. 
 
 Miss Hildreth remained a week after they had 
 gone. She had secured two music-pupils in New 
 York at eighteen dollars a quarter for Eve, who
 
 IN A GARDEN 225 
 
 now was sure of going to New York twice a week, 
 and one day she must be able to come in and paint. 
 
 Then Mrs. Wilbur came up with some wonderful 
 news. 
 
 "Would you believe," she began, "that Royal 
 Palmer is actually engaged to Sadie Brooke ? They 
 had a half engagement, and quarrelled, of course, as 
 all true lovers do ; and last evening it was made up. 
 He only came home yesterday morning. Quick 
 work, wasn't it ? She is a charming girl, but I pre 
 dict for them a stormy time. And, O my dear 
 Eve, I wish it had been you ! I wish I had an 
 unmarried brother, or Mr. Wilbur possessed one ; 
 and I should demand you out of hand." 
 
 Eve laughed. "I felt almost sure of it at Lake 
 George," she said. "And I think it a splendid 
 match." 
 
 " And Roy is a splendid fellow. But, oh ! what 
 are you ? " 
 
 " Splendid too," declared Eve, standing up to her 
 tallest. 
 
 " You are sure neither of those Cubans took your 
 heart away?" 
 
 " Oh, quite, quite sure ! " and Eve laughed gayly.
 
 226 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ATHENS IS BOUSED 
 
 I REMEMBER one evening, Joe and Eve and I sat 
 round a fire of blazing corn-cobs, and talked over 
 our plans and our gains shall I say? Joe was 
 very happy, very proud and triumphant. When Mrs. 
 Harwood left us, she had added ten dollars to his 
 store ; and now Eve had paid her borrowed money. 
 He had bought a really handsome new suit of win 
 ter clothes, and had sixty-four dollars to his credit. 
 He had talked over the horse with Pryor, who 
 seemed loth to part with it, yet he had not positively 
 declined. 
 
 I think Pryor was beginning to understand that 
 my sweet Eve could give him nothing warmer than 
 friendship. He did not stay away, but there was 
 a slight difference in his bearing toward her. He 
 was very busy just now trying to boom Athens. 
 The wire-factory was to begin operations the first 
 of December. Mr. Corwin had rented both of his 
 houses to the overseers of the different departments; 
 and the probability was, that he would sell one at an
 
 IN A GARDEN 227 
 
 advance of about three hundred dollars over the 
 cost. 
 
 " It is not very much," he said, " but it releases 
 my money for me to work with again." 
 
 Indeed, he and Pryor were planning some cot 
 tages, considerably smaller, on a tract of land the 
 latter owned; and a paper-mill was negotiating, 
 through him, for a desirable piece of water-front. 
 This would bring in a number of new people. 
 
 I was feeling quite cheerful over my garden. Its 
 products very much surprised Mr. Montgomery. I 
 had five bushels of potatoes, after using from the 
 last of June. We had sundry other vegetables, and 
 thirty bushels of corn on the ear. I had planted a 
 splendid variety of sweet corn "Giant," it was 
 called that had yielded beyond any thing ; the ears 
 being both long, and containing a large number of 
 rows. It was delightful table-corn ; and, though we 
 had supplied some of our neighbors, still a great deal 
 had hardened ; but the chickens were crazy over it, 
 so I found it no loss ; indeed, I thought it the most 
 profitable of any. I felt another year I could do 
 better still, with a judicious amount of fertilizer. 
 Then we had no end of canned-fruit, and two bushels 
 of pears laid away to keep, though I found they 
 ripened up rather fast. I also tried some experi 
 ments with grapes, of which we had an abundance,
 
 228 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 though not so many that bunched handsomely. We 
 had made blackberry cordial, and three gallons of 
 grape wine. 
 
 Our pullets were coming on nicely. Three or four 
 of the white Leghorns laid at five months, and some 
 of the mixed ones. We had about ten beautiful 
 light Brahmas, and began to average syc or eight 
 eggs a day. We had a customer in New York for 
 all our white Leghorn eggs at forty cents a dozen 
 for the season. Of our old hens we had but five 
 left, and they were good for another year. We 
 resolved to force them all to their utmost, and see 
 what we could do. The front of both houses was 
 nearly all of glass, and had a southern exposure ; 
 was good and warm and dry. 
 
 Joe had not quite finished his work next door, 
 but he was still kept busy. Indeed, on a rainy 
 day, Joe and Bess were in great demand at the sta 
 tion : then, there would be employment about the 
 new buildings, so it did not seem worth while to go 
 back to telegraphing. And I began to mistrust that 
 Joe was dreaming of a home and a somebody, as he 
 had once suggested. He was always escorting Ruth 
 Montgomery somewhere, and it seemed as if she was 
 not averse. Joe was too young and too poor to 
 think of such a future ; but, after all 
 
 " No, don't let us interfere," Eve had said. " If
 
 IN A GARDEN 229 
 
 she should like Joe, she will wait; and I begin to 
 think she will not do for Pryor. He needs a more 
 stirring wife, a kind of stylish society girl, who 
 will help him get rich." 
 
 "And Joe needs a wife to keep him poor," I 
 laughed. 
 
 " No : Ruth might help him. There would be so 
 many little ways, and he would make her very happy. 
 Oh, what nonsense ! Well, let us neither make nor 
 mar." 
 
 I looked at him now, and the honest manliness 
 shining in his eyes touched me. 
 
 " This is solid comfort," he said presently, with a 
 long breath. " When I have a house, I shall have 
 a grate or a fireplace." 
 
 We had started our heater, but so far had not 
 needed much fire. This in the -reception-room was 
 a luxury. We had settled again in our regular 
 sleeping-rooms, though we all declared ourselves 
 ready to vacate at the appearance of a crowd. But 
 the girls were very busy with approaching wed 
 dings. Even Sadie Brooke's had been set down for 
 Christmas Eve. 
 
 We were very happy, even if life had narrowed. 
 Indeed, gay, laughing Eve seemed inclined to a little 
 halt, especially as now she went to the city twice a 
 week. We returned to regular reading ; and, by
 
 230 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 odd spells, she painted quite industriously. Our 
 greenhouse experiment was a source of great inter 
 est. We had put in our plants; and, though we 
 would have no fire, we trusted to keep them alive. 
 At least, we had some splendid blossoms now. 
 
 Eve had another odd entertainment. From papers 
 that one and another sent us, she cut out items of 
 various kinds, and put them in scrap-books. She 
 had collected quite a variety of chicken wisdom, of 
 the care and culture of flowers, besides what she 
 called her house-book, a very useful volume. We 
 were all interested in experiments. Some we found 
 useful and judicious : others we laughed over. 
 
 Besides our out-of-door's garden, we had our dining- 
 room window quite well filled. Miss Hildreth had 
 sent Eve some lovely roses and bourvardias. 
 
 Joe sprang up presently, and said it was train- 
 time. He was so good about this matter, though 
 sometimes I felt conscience-smitten. Indeed, it was 
 quite delightful not to have to go all the time. 
 
 "It almost seems as though we ought to move 
 back to the station," declared Eve. "It was so easy 
 and pleasant, with everybody dropping in. However, 
 it will not be bitterly cold before January ; and then 
 three months will pass rapidly." 
 
 There was a step on the porch. " That is Pryor,' 
 said Eve.
 
 IN A GAKDEN 231 
 
 Sure enough. He had our evening-mail in his 
 hand, three letters for Eve. 
 
 " Oh; how charmingly cosey you are here ! " he 
 exclaimed. " I never did see people get so much 
 good out of life," and he looked as if he envied both 
 of us." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Eve. " Helen Gaylord is coming 
 over for a few days. And on Sunday, Estradura 
 wants to dine with us, if it is not too great an incon 
 venience. So our friends are not quite of the butter 
 fly order. The first cold snap does not freeze them 
 up. I was just saying to Adam that we would have 
 to go back to the station, for fear no one would 
 want to climb the hill." 
 
 "I do not believe you will be left much to your 
 own devices. Still, it was the jolliest thing! Do 
 you know, Miss Eve, I have wondered many a time 
 this summer how you had the courage to do it? 
 Some people would have been buried: you flashed 
 out a star of the first magnitude. And Athens has 
 been coming to the front ever since. Ad, I have a 
 scheme on hand myself. You know those lots on 
 Elm Street?" 
 
 I nodded. 
 
 "They are one hundred and fifty feet front. I 
 can build six nice cottages of five or six rooms, every 
 two houses being joined together, and leaving a
 
 232 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 pretty open space between the alternate ones. 
 Corwin thinks it worth the doing. I can rent them 
 in the spring. Don't you want to help me plan? 
 Miss Thurston, I want some of your ideas." 
 
 Eve was interested at once. We brought out 
 pencils and paper, and had an amusing time drawing 
 cottages. Eve's plan was the best, we had to admit. 
 She managed to put in more closets, to arrange win 
 dows so the house would furnish nicely. Then she 
 sketched out pretty fronts, so they should not all be 
 just alike. 
 
 " Corwin has sold one of his houses ; and the 
 probability is, that the other will go. I am going to 
 try for two hundred advance on mine ; and, if I can 
 get that, I'll turn my money over. Though they 
 will pay fair interest in renting. You see, the two 
 new mills are going to stir up matters." 
 
 I ran it over in my mind. If Pry or could make 
 twelve hundred on his houses in one year, it would 
 be quite an addition to his income. 
 
 " What is Joe going about ? " he asked, rather 
 abruptly. " Isn't Wilbur's place finished ? " 
 
 " Yes, all that can be done now." 
 
 " Joe is a nice fellow. If he should not care to go 
 away, we can keep him busy. Do you know, Corwin 
 and I have been talking of a lumber-yard ? If build 
 ing should have a boom, it wouldn't be a bad thing.
 
 IN A GARDEN 233 
 
 I should like a trusty, honest fellow, such as Joe is 
 going to make. Yet I did not take much stock in 
 him at first." 
 
 " Joe is my protege" said Eve, rather proudly, and 
 in a tone that forbade any doubtful remark. 
 
 " O Miss Thurston ! adopt us all. There is not a 
 soul of us who doesn't envy Joe. And all the young 
 people are talking of what we can have this winter. 
 Now, couldn't we form some kind of a social club, 
 and have a little dancing and music, and now and 
 then a regular supper that the gentlemen should 
 provide? Think it over in your brilliant brain. 
 Why, I would even meet up in the station. The 
 best cup of coffee I ever had in my life was there." 
 
 Eve laughed gayly. 
 
 " Come up to-morrow night, and help me entertain 
 Miss Gaylord," she said, as he was going away ; and 
 he replied that he should be happy to. 
 
 Joe did not come in until ten ; but he wore a rather 
 shy, mysterious expression, that I think we both 
 connected with Ruth. We told him of Pryor's visit 
 and the prospect. 
 
 "How good of him!" exclaimed Joe, with 
 unaffected pleasure. " Do you know, I think the old 
 Garden of Eden must have been here, and a little of 
 the goodness is left to leaven everybody ? I shall get 
 along just splendidly."
 
 234 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 We had been reading Warren's entertaining book, 
 " Paradise regained." Eve had been training Joe in 
 elocution; and he had such a nice, fresh, earnest 
 voice, that it was a pleasure to listen when his turn 
 came around. 
 
 Miss Gaylord reached us the next morning, and 
 found a warm welcome. Mr. Wilbur came over in 
 the afternoon, and had a long interview with Joe, 
 paying him his back wages. 
 
 "And you could not guess," said Joe, when I 
 entered the station. " I never would have believed 
 such wonderful luck possible. He said " and Joe 
 winked hard to keep the tears of joy and gratitude 
 from his eyes " he said I had been so faithful, and 
 worked so well, and actually saved him money, and 
 that he had been putting by a little every week to 
 make fair wages ; and it was absolutely fifty dollars, 
 Thurston. I did not want to take it ; but he said I 
 had been worth that, and more, and that I ought to 
 study landscape-gardening, and make a business of 
 it. Couldn't we get some books? And now I have 
 one hundred and eighteen dollars, all my own, and 
 good clothes, and am a sober fellow. I do not believe 
 I ever will drink again, Thurston. I shall think of 
 the health and prosperity and respectability, and, 
 oh, the love one forfeits ! Think what I was last 
 spring ! I don't know you both have been angels
 
 IN A GARDEN 235 
 
 to me : I don't care if I do cry a little, there ! " and 
 Joe wiped his eyes. 
 
 "I want you to be strong enough to resist the 
 temptation everywhere, not merely in a place like this. 
 Could you stand up against the boys ? I want you 
 to be proof against persuasion and jeers, and even 
 that insidious little demon who whispers, ' Once will 
 do no harm.' My dear boy," and I took his hand. 
 He really seemed like a younger brother. 
 
 "Miss Eve," he said that night, "I ought to be 
 paying some board. I am going to earn two dollars 
 a day. I am to keep my hours, and still manage my 
 parcel business, though there will not be so many 
 people wanting to ride out. And I am going to buy 
 Pryor's horse for eighty dollars, paying him fifty 
 down, and the rest he is going to take out in use. 
 And you are so good to me; but you know there 
 isn't much gardening now, or gathering of fruit and 
 vegetables ; and you keep Letty all the time " 
 
 " But you run down to the station, and let Adam 
 sit at his ease at home ; and you look after the 
 furnace, and chop wood, and bring me things, and 
 take me driving " 
 
 " That isn't any thing," he cried eagerly. " I'm 
 glad to do it. There is not any thing I would not do 
 for you and Adam. I shall feel better if you will 
 let me pay you something."
 
 236 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 So it was settled on a basis of three dollars a 
 week. Eve would not take any more, and Joe would 
 not pay any less. 
 
 " You see," said Eve, " there is the next interest 
 provided for. And now I shall indulge in a new 
 gown, and you must have a new suit of clothes." 
 
 We made our living quite an economical matter. 
 Meats we bought in a co-operative fashion, and 
 divided : various other goods we purchased in large 
 quantities. I had obliged my neighbors by ordering 
 coal by the car-load, quite early in the season. We 
 had obtained it a little less than cost, and had long 
 tons; and it had proved very satisfactory. Once 
 Mr. Wilbur had sent us fifty barrels of flour, when 
 it had taken a tumble ; and I found no difficulty in 
 disposing of them at a small profit, that gave us the 
 price of one, though we made sure of two. By these 
 methods, and our store of fruits and vegetables, we 
 kept our living at a figure that was really a source 
 of astonishment to me. Indeed, we had quite a little 
 co-operative society in this matter. 
 
 Pryor came up to help entertain our visitor, and 
 it seemed as if he enjoyed it greatly. We made 
 quite a summery picture in the glow of our wood- 
 fire, with the hammocks up, and easy-chairs about. 
 Two or three others dropped in, and we ended with 
 a little music.
 
 IN A GARDEN 237 
 
 "Adam," said my sister a few days later, when 
 she and Helen had been visiting Miss Hildreth, going 
 to an art-sale, and Eve had given her lesson, "I 
 intend to be sinfully extravagant in the way of dress. 
 Kitty Travers is to be married early in December, 
 in church, at three, and have a two hours' reception. 
 Sadie Brooke is to be married in church on Christ 
 mas Eve, but goes right away, and will have a recep 
 tion afterward. The Wilburs are to have an elegant 
 tea, and I am asked to a theatre-party ; and, oh, I am 
 to pour tea myself at Mrs. Harwood's ! So I shall 
 get a pretty blue-velvet gown. I have white lace to 
 trim it with, and black lace ; and I am going to have 
 a cloth gown, trimmed with chinchilla fur, as I have 
 oceans of that on hand. Miss Hildreth has a friend 
 who can get a piece of velvet much more reasonably 
 than at retail. Indeed, I have found that my mate 
 rial will cost just thirty-six dollars, and my two 
 music-scholars will pay for that. I am to have a 
 third, I believe, at fifteen dollars a quarter ; and my 
 four here are going on. Then I am likely to dispose 
 of some Christmas work at Celia's studio. They are 
 going to make a specialty of sales all December, and 
 Celia asked me to send in some things." 
 
 " Where are you going to get time to do every 
 thing ? " I asked in amaze. 
 
 " Well Helen insists that I have more time than
 
 238 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 most people. I think I know how to take advantage 
 of every thing. Why, I am not as busy now as I 
 was at aunt Carry's. Some people here in Athens 
 would be dismayed at the rush in a fashionable 
 woman's life. So you see," she says archly, " that 
 I have not dropped out of society." 
 
 Pryor was certainly devoted to us, or to Miss Gay- 
 lord. We coaxed her to go on staying: she was 
 such a pleasant, wholesome girl. Estradura came 
 up, and enjoyed himself mightily. Pryor took both 
 girls down to the theatre one evening. I was not 
 sure whether it was a ruse to take out Eve, 
 whether, indeed, his admiration of Miss Gaylord was 
 not a blind. 
 
 The young people in Athens were so in earnest to 
 have a circle of pleasure, with Eve in it, that finally 
 she helped them to form a Fortnight Club. It was 
 to meet once in two weeks at different houses, with 
 music, recitations or reading, tableaus or charades. 
 The lady at whose house it met was responsible for 
 the entertainment. Dancing was also to be allowed. 
 Refreshments were discussed; and finally they set 
 tled upon sandwiches, one kind of cake, coffee or 
 cream. The first one who overstepped the boundary 
 was to be fined five dollars. 
 
 Eve asked them first to our house. A gentleman 
 who was a member could invite a lady, a lady could
 
 IN A GARDEN 
 
 bring an escort. The admission-fee was one dollar, 
 and the members limited to twenty-five. Nineteen 
 joined, and there were twenty-seven present. Besides, 
 we had invited Celia Hildreth, and Helen, Frank, 
 and Mr. Estradura. We had music, singing, and 
 dancing ; and Pryor gave us an excellent Irish reci 
 tation. At ten we were to end our pleasure, but 
 they seemed very loth to go. So our evening was a 
 success. Mr. and Mrs. Wharton had joined, and the 
 second entertainment was to be at their house. 
 
 I must say that we heard quite often from uncle 
 Lennard. Sometimes he was in excellent spirits, 
 sometimes quite depressed. But he was so eager to 
 have Eve tell him how we were prospering with the 
 house. This autumn aunt Carry's last daughter was 
 married, so her soul would be no more perplexed 
 with that anxiety. 
 
 Our weeks absolutely flew by. Sadie Brooke 
 made us two brief visits, and it seemed to me that 
 she grew in beauty and in fun. We laughed unceas 
 ingly when she was with us. Mr. Palmer came over 
 one evening, and his engagement did not seem to 
 burden him with gravity. 
 
 " Isn't it funny," said Sadie, " that I should come 
 over here, and find a lover ? Oh ! do you remember 
 that first gay visit to the station? and what good 
 times we had here last summer ? O Eve Thurston !
 
 240 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 you are a confirmed match-maker. There's Gordon 
 Pryor going the way of all the rest after Helen. He 
 was awfully sweet on you, and jealous as a pasha last 
 summer. Are you going to remain single, and laugh 
 at your friends, as you see them floundering in the 
 marshes of matrimony after a will-o'-wisp ? " 
 
 " No," returned Eve solemnly. " I'm going to be 
 married myself, when Mr. Right comes along." 
 
 The blue velvet dress was lovely. It seemed as if 
 Eve had never looked so beautiful in any thing save 
 white. The cloth was dainty and jaunty, with its 
 soft gray-fur trimming and muff. The club, the teas, 
 the parties, and weddings came off in their succes 
 sion. How Eve found time to paint, and embroider 
 a little, and also to take an interest in church work, 
 really puzzled me. 
 
 Eve went down and spent the day before Christ 
 mas with the Brookes. Sadie had five maids of 
 honor, and was bewitching in silk and lace and 
 flowers. I went down in the evening, and escorted 
 my sister. The church was beautiful in its Christ 
 mas adornments, and the wedding like a picture. 
 Mrs. Palmer returned home, changed her dress, and 
 they took the night-train to Baltimore, where Mr. 
 Palmer's mother and an invalid sister lived, and who 
 had begged they should come there for a Christmas 
 dinner.
 
 IN A GARDEN 241 
 
 I brought Eve out of all the splendor to our own 
 little cottage. Joe had a bright fire in the grate, and 
 some fragrant coffee on the stove. Was she so 
 happy, so serenely content ? O Eve, my darling ! I 
 wished that night I could be a millionnaire for your 
 sake. You were worthy of the best. 
 
 " Do you know," said Eve gayly, as she sipped her 
 coffee, " that I have a new scheme ? I shall make 
 your life a burden, Adam, but not about an apple. 
 Here is Joe to do landscape-gardening. Here are 
 you who can make a dry twig grow, if you stick it 
 into the ground ; and I can make bouquets and 
 bargains. The world is sighing for flowers. It is 
 smothered in them, and yet, like Alexander the 
 Great, ' it sighs for new curiosities to conquer.' We 
 must become florists. We must go into a real garden. 
 That is a subject for you to dream out on this 
 blessed Christmas Eve. It has come to me like an 
 inspiration ! " 
 
 We both stared at her, the eyes lustrous and 
 merry, the mouth daintily sweet, the cheek like a 
 sun-kissed peach. 
 
 Then she laughed. The clock was striking. 
 
 " Merry Christmas ! Merry Christmas ! " she cried, 
 and kissed me, then turned to Joe with the sweetness 
 of a sister. 
 
 " Miss Eve," he said huskily, " you know I would
 
 242 A MODEKN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 do any thing for you. I'd go round the world. 
 You have helped to make a man of me, and, by God's 
 help, I mean never to shame your work. All my 
 life long you will be to me an angel holding out your 
 hand ; and if ever I should be tempted to go wrong, 
 I will come and cling to it." 
 
 Did we need to be any happier ? I forgot I was a 
 poor young fellow on forty-five dollars a month.
 
 IN A GARDEN 243 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 WINTER BLOOMS IN EDEN 
 
 EVE and I went to church Christmas morning. 
 The sound of her voice in the hymns and carols will 
 never vanish from my heart or brain, for it touched 
 both. We were to go to the Corwins's for a two- 
 o'clock dinner, and to the Morrisons's for the evening, 
 as they were to have a grand Christmas-tree. Joe 
 was to take Ruth Montgomery down to Northwood, 
 to hear quite a famous singer. 
 
 Altogether it was delightful. Just afterward came 
 a cold snap and a splendid snow-storm. Joe hired a 
 pretty cutter, and made the most of the pleasure. 
 Certainly, the lad had a good deal of shrewdness in 
 turning a penny, as old country people say. 
 
 Some time after this, Helen came up again. It was 
 quite evident that Pryor was in earnest. Eve took 
 him in hand in an indescribable manner, as if she had 
 been his sister. It was curious, but at first it almost 
 seemed to me as if he had offered Eve an indignity. 
 She spoke of it one evening when they had gone out 
 sleigh-riding.
 
 244 A MODEKN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " Having loved you, I do not see how he could love 
 any other woman ! " I exclaimed. 
 
 " O you foolish Adam ! Could it make me any 
 happier if he went mourning and moody? He is 
 young, vigorous, enthusiastic, and, I think, a bright, 
 energetic young man ; the kind of person to have 
 a happy home, wife and children, and prosper with 
 them all. He has improved very much in a year, 
 and the Gaylord connection will be just the thing 
 for him. Helen was very noble about it. She was 
 afraid at first that I might have cared ; and he was 
 brave enough to tell her that he had liked me very 
 much, and he desired us always to be friends. Helen 
 will love him dearly, and that is just what he wants 
 and needs. I am glad to have it so." 
 
 " I wonder if you like Estradura better ? " I said 
 slowly, watching her with eager eyes. 
 
 " Not that way. We are very good friends." 
 
 I remembered Pryor's jealousy of him, and smiled. 
 
 "All the girls will be married presently," I con 
 tinued ; and I know there was a suggestion of loneli 
 ness in my tone. 
 
 "Well, Dr. Johnson advised us to keep our 
 friendships in repair. I have begun with Ce.lia Hil- 
 dreth. And Mrs. Wilbur is to have a charming 
 niece come from Georgia to spend next summer 
 with her, and, of course, she will fall in love with
 
 IX A GARDEN 245 
 
 me. My poor Adam, you will never stand any 
 chance ! " 
 
 She looked so utterly bewitching as she said this, 
 with an assumption of melancholy, that I was com 
 pelled to laugh. 
 
 " Well, I am content to wait a while. Our league 
 was for five years, you know ; and by that time we 
 may each have a thousand dollars." 
 
 " What a dismal tone ! A thousand dollars, and 
 two thousand dollars' worth of enjoyment." 
 
 Certainly we did not lack for the latter. Some 
 one seemed to be coming all the time. Mrs. Har- 
 wood was over and staid a week. She was not feel 
 ing very well ; had been " dissipating too much," she 
 declared. She used to lie in the hammock, with some 
 pillows, and a bright shawl thrown over her, reading, 
 or watching the grate-fire. We had taken to cannel- 
 coal now, and its bright blaze pleased her wonder 
 fully. She used to watch Eve as she flitted about. 
 I remember this winter she wore a beautiful deep red 
 gown, with a good deal of white lace about her neck ; 
 and, somehow, it seemed to make her look taller and 
 slenderer. 
 
 We talked and read a great deal about green 
 houses, and plants of all kinds. Our little green 
 house had done very well. We had banked it up 
 on the exposed sides, and had a double door. The
 
 246 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 roof was of double sashes ; and we covered them with 
 matting and old carpets, or boards, on very cold 
 nights ; but on days that were pleasant and sunny, 
 we let them have the light. The pansies bloomed 
 abundantly in February. Sweet alyssum, mignon 
 ette, and some of the hardier red geraniums, kept 
 in flower. 
 
 Our chickens were doing pretty well, not as 
 wonderfully as some we read about, but they gave 
 us a profit ; while our neighbors' sat on the roost, or 
 huddled together in some sunny corner. We gave 
 them hot cooked food every morning. It stood on 
 the back of the stove, and we kept our fires all night. 
 I put plenty of red pepper in it, and we gave them 
 an abundance of warm water to drink. In their 
 water-kettle I generally kept a few old bits of iron 
 that were in a state of rust. For dinner they had a 
 light meal of wheat, buckwheat, and oats, and at 
 night a solid meal of corn. Twice a week a sheep's 
 pluck, and pounded or ground bone and oyster-shells. 
 During December new-laid eggs went up to fifty 
 cents; in January they touched sixty; February, 
 still at fifty; in March, forty and thirty-five. All 
 our refuse vegetables went to them ; and we let them 
 run at large, except when it rained, or the snow was 
 deep. We had forty-nine in all. In November we 
 had three hundred eggs, and sold to the amount of
 
 IN A GARDEN 247 
 
 five dollars ; in December, three hundred and sixty, 
 and sold to eight dollars. January gave us five 
 hundred, and we sold to fifteen dollars. February 
 gave us six hundred, and we sold fourteen dollars' 
 worth ; March, six hundred and eighty, bringing us 
 in ten dollars. So up to the first of April we had 
 realized fifty-two dollars. Now quite a number of 
 the hens wanted to sit ; so we put them in the barn, 
 and let them begin business. Among my Leghorns I 
 had nine splendid layers ; the other seven were very 
 indifferent, not as good as some of the common 
 fowls ; and we decided now to use up a number of 
 the poorest layers. Several of my Brahmas were 
 immense, weighing seven and eight pounds. 
 
 So we decided that poultry would pay. Ours had 
 been an experiment very well attended to, yet it 
 had proved no great amount of trouble. I felt that 
 I would like to select some industry that I could 
 carry on with my business. We rather inclined to 
 the flowers. Every year they would come more into 
 use, and the demand increase. One needed larger 
 grounds for poultry-raising. Still, I felt, that, if I 
 pushed it, even on my limited scale, I should make 
 several hundred dollars a year besides all we wanted 
 to use in eggs or chickens. 
 
 During March I accomplished the painting of my 
 house. Pryor and Mr. Corwin bought a large amount
 
 248 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 of a new kind of paint, highly recommended for 
 its durability; and the quantity I needed cost me 
 thirty-two dollars. I painted all my blinds, and most 
 of the house, hiring only ten dollars' worth of work 
 done. 
 
 I had managed to put by fifteen dollars a month 
 of my wages, and at the end of the six months had 
 seventy dollars ; but I found that Eve had been saving 
 up the interest as well. We had thirty dollars of 
 the egg-money, and feed enough now to last the next 
 two or three months. Of course, we paid the other 
 hundred dollars, and were very happy over it. Now 
 it was just an even two thousand, the face of the 
 mortgage. After all, we had not pinched ourselves. 
 Still, I knew well, and insisted, that I could have 
 done very little without Eve's help ; and she could 
 not have helped if she had not earned money. True, 
 we might have gone on living at the station or in 
 three rooms, and rigorously denied ourselves all 
 society. But the real question is, whether the pos 
 session of houses and lands, and money in the bank, 
 is worth the sacrifice of returning to semi-barbarism ; 
 for a life of deprivation amounts to that. We prate 
 of living simply, and find our tramps, who go back 
 to first principles, and pay no house-rent, intolerable 
 nuisances. As we lop off here and there, we drop 
 down in personal neatness and the amenities of life.
 
 IN A GARDEN 249 
 
 Philip Gilbert Hammerton has discussed this point 
 with much truth and fairness. 
 
 But the fact remained, I wanted to get my 
 fortune faster than at the rate of forty-five dollars a 
 month. Hundreds would have jumped at my situa 
 tion. You may estimate the great army of the 
 unemployed when you count the number who apply 
 for any position. Not a week through the autumn 
 but some lads stopped to question me about my road, 
 or any thing in the vicinity. They doubtless went to 
 others. Some were nice, honest-looking young men : 
 some bore traces of dissipation. I felt my own 
 poverty and inability sorely at such times, though 
 we did often give them a good meal. 
 
 Of course, there were higher salaries than mine ; 
 but these more fortunate ones were not going to step 
 out for my sake. Then, I had tied myself to this 
 place while I had my house, and the living here was 
 pleasant ; but I wanted to be making more than my 
 monthly stipend when I was forty. 
 
 The past six months, Eve had earned one hundred 
 and forty-six dollars by music-teaching, thirty-five by 
 holiday work, and our boarders had brought us in 
 one hundred and eighty-eight dollars. 
 
 Among other things, we discussed a hotel. Pryor 
 was infusing his own enthusiasm into some of the 
 sleepy Athenians, rather, I should say, into some of
 
 250 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 the new-comers. The old families like the Mont- 
 gomerys could hardly have been blown out of their 
 rut by a charge of dynamite. Strangers were coming 
 in to look at property. The paper-mills company 
 built a nice dock. There was one wretched little 
 lumber-pile connected with a coal and wood yard, 
 kept by a Mr. Van Alen, who was a counterpart of 
 Mr. Montgomery, and who always talked as if Pryor 
 were an adventurer, and would soon bankrupt the 
 whole town. 
 
 Meanwhile, Pryor sold the middle houses in his 
 row, which were the prettiest, we all thought, and 
 rented two more at eighteen dollars a month. The 
 one at the upper end was the least desirable, as it 
 had no southern exposure ; but, when he offered this 
 for fifteen dollars monthly, it was eagerly snapped up : 
 and at May, the last one was rented. Corwin had 
 bought some other lots, and decided to build again. 
 If I only had a little money to join them in a venture ! 
 
 The Randalls were delighted with these evidences 
 of prosperity. Some of the old houses were repaired 
 and painted, the streets cleared of stray bushes and 
 blackberry-briers. Two more villas were sold. 
 
 Pryor had lent out some money on property at the 
 foot of Jay Street, and now made its owner a fair 
 offer, that was presently taken. With the backing 
 of Mr. Wilbur, he at once opened a lumber-yard, to
 
 IN A GARDEN 251 
 
 the consternation of Mr. Van Alen. His affair with 
 Miss Gaylord had progressed to an engagement. 
 Helen had already bespoken board with Eve as soon 
 as the first of June. Mr. Estradura proposed to 
 come on the first of July. Indeed, Eve had appli 
 cations enough to fill a large house. 
 
 Joe, meanwhile, had bought a business-wagon at 
 an auction sale. Pryor engaged him for general 
 factotum, and moved his office up to Jay Street, 
 making it that much nearer the station. He also pur 
 chased another horse, and now they had a good team. 
 
 If possible, spring looked lovelier than it had the 
 year before. One cause, perhaps, was its lateness, and 
 our gladness to welcome it. I had kept every thing 
 in my garden quite up to the notch, and there really 
 was little extra work to do. Two more trees were 
 dead, a pear and a peach, but there were enough 
 left. I must say here that I saved my pears very 
 well until the middle of January, and we found them 
 a great treat. Our grapes did not fare so well, and 
 we used them up, but managed to have some Cataw- 
 bas yet at Christmas. During April I had not 
 counted on so much profit in eggs ; for we were 
 beginning to use them largely, and some hens were 
 off duty. But one day a man, who had heard the 
 fame of our hens, came for a dozen white Leghorn 
 eggs for hatching. I picked out the finest I could find,
 
 252 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 and charged him fifty cents ; though now they were 
 down to thirty, and even twenty-five. The next day 
 he came for some Brahmas, and engaged two dozen 
 more Leghorns, making no demur at the price. In 
 April we had seven hundred and ten eggs, to my 
 great surprise. And quite often some one wanted 
 eggs for setting, which kept up my profit wonderfully. 
 I sold twenty dozen for ten dollars; ten dozen for 
 three dollars and sixty cents. We never stinted our 
 selves, and we were very fond of them. 
 
 We discussed seriously the plan of finishing our 
 extra rooms up-stairs. I purchased some lath, and 
 hired a man by the day, helping him considerably. 
 A mason came and put on the scratch-coat, following 
 it shortly after by a smooth coat of brown. This 
 I painted when it was dry, and put up some pretty 
 bordering. One room was large, and very nice ; the 
 other fair. After painting the floors, I found the 
 whole cost to be not quite fifteen dollars. We 
 decided to make a little change in the furniture; 
 bought new matting for our dining-room, a new stair- 
 carpet, and moved the others up-stairs; purchased 
 a pretty single bedstead for one of the smaller rooms ; 
 and, with various odds and ends, furnished the small 
 one up-stairs, and bought a new set entire for the 
 larger one, which was to belong to Eve when the 
 house overflowed.
 
 IN A GARDEN 253 
 
 Athens presented such a bright business aspect 
 that it was quite inspiriting. Another incident oc 
 curred to increase its prosperity ; though it was, in 
 part, due to the energy of the towns above us. We 
 were allowed four more trains daily, from seven to 
 nine in the morning, and from four to six in the 
 afternoon. Every room in Mrs. Ten Eyck's house 
 was engaged by the middle of May, and one or two 
 others ventured to open their houses. 
 
 And now occurred an odd circumstance that did 
 depress me at first, and seem to extinguish one of my 
 hopes. Just north of the station, there was a large 
 tract of ground, belonging to some heirs, that had 
 lain unimproved for years. It fronted on Rutherford 
 Avenue, and ran down to the river's edge. Myrtle 
 Avenue had been laid out, and two cross-streets, but 
 no improvements made. It sloped gradually, and 
 had a lovely sunny exposure. Here and there a 
 cherry or an old apple tree appeared, blossoming 
 profusely, but despoiled of their fruit by the boys. 
 
 Suddenly Athens was startled by more prospective 
 improvements. The old Teall property was divided 
 among six heirs. Two of them, living at a distance, 
 placed their share at once in Mr. Pryor's hands for 
 sale. One a Mr. James Teall had his surveyed, 
 and staked off, and talked of building two handsome 
 villas. A Miss Teall had married a gardener and
 
 254 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 florist, a Mr. Riker ; and he announced his intentions 
 of beginning gardening on a large scale. They hired 
 a cottage in the vicinity, and started work at once, 
 ploughing, laying out, planning for greenhouses, 
 planting vegetables, setting out shrubs and plants. 
 
 I had not supposed that I could try such an 
 experiment on my own place. Still, I meant to 
 enlarge my flower-house considerably another year. 
 But that some one else should come, armed with my 
 idea, half broke my heart. To be sure, there were 
 other places besides Athens ; and occasionally one 
 heard of a plant for sale, already established. I did 
 not yield to my despondency very long, for Eve 
 looked at it in quite another light. 
 
 " Adam," she said, " I think we may be able to 
 learn a good deal, in case we want to take up such a 
 business. We will watch what this Mr. Riker does, 
 and make notes of all the ways and whys. I do 
 think, if one could come to understand it, it would 
 be a profitable business ; and I know now, if there 
 was a prospect, Mrs. Harwood would come forward 
 with assistance readily enough. So we will both 
 keep our eyes open, and learn all we can. What a 
 lucky happening for us ! " 
 
 That cheered me immensely. My fears looked so 
 small and foolish, that I would not confess them. 
 
 Mr. Riker's ground had a frontage of five hundred
 
 IN A GAKDEN 255 
 
 feet on both Rutherford and Myrtle Avenues. Lin 
 den Street was the first beyond Jay, and ran from 
 the river up to the top of the hill. The next street 
 was merely a wagon-road. The square gave him 
 about five acres, the other six heirs had the same. 
 Mr. Teall's property came next to this. I almost 
 looked at the young fellow with envy, when by a 
 lucky stroke, as one might say, he came into posses 
 sion of such a beautiful plot of ground. 
 
 His wife, judging from appearances, was five or 
 six years the elder. He might have been twenty- 
 five, not older. Following out Eve's hint, I walked 
 over one day to make a friendly call, as he had been 
 in the station several times. 
 
 It seemed to me that he was undertaking too 
 much ; that his garden-truck would be in the market 
 too late for decent prices ; and that he had more on 
 his hands than could be well attended to, unless he 
 hired a great deal of help. But he seemed ambitious, 
 confident, and was going to work with tremendous 
 energy. He knew all about flowers and shrubs and 
 soils, and quite confused me with his authoritative 
 manner. 
 
 Mr. Wilbur came up with his wife, and planned 
 some finishing and furnishing for the house. The 
 family were to move the last of May, leaving the two 
 boys to board through the week, and attend their
 
 256 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 school for five weeks longer. Mr. Montgomery 
 looked them' up a cow ; Joe found them a " man, 1 ' 
 a stout young fellow of nineteen, who had been 
 working on a stock-farm. The horse and carriage 
 were sent up, and it looked quite homelike at our 
 neighbors'. 
 
 Mrs. Wilbur had not changed in the slightest 
 degree, and was just as ready to monopolize Eve. 
 The Palmers were coming for a week or so, as soon 
 as matters were really settled. Sadie made the most 
 enchanting of wives ; and Bertha had a young man, 
 a special one. Soon all the gay crowd would settle 
 themselves to other lives. 
 
 I insisted that Eve should give up her music- 
 teaching in New York through the summer, and she 
 readily acquiesced. She had five pupils now at 
 Athens. Miss Gaylord was to have our largest 
 guest-chamber ; Estradura was to take the two small 
 ones, using one for a dressing and sitting room. 
 When Miss Hildreth arrived, she was to share Eve's 
 chamber. Joe and I took the smaller rooms above. 
 Letty, who was to stay with us through the summer, 
 went home at night. Helen insisted, that, when there 
 came occasional guests, she should be allowed to take 
 Eve's sky-parlor. We made a delightful family, with 
 just enough variety to keep us all fresh and full of 
 zest.
 
 IN A GARDEN 257 
 
 My garden did nicely; though I missed Joe out 
 of the paths, and everywhere, arid sometimes weeds 
 rioted. After having my land ploughed, I did the 
 work myself, but I put more ground in corn. This 
 year I did not have to be economical in fertilizers. 
 
 Now, as our hens ceased to lay, we culled out the 
 least desirable, and reduced the stock ; but we decided 
 not to raise more than a hundred chicks. This spring 
 we did not have quite such splendid luck, but ours 
 was better than many others. Out of one hundred 
 and twenty eggs we had ninety-five chickens, and 
 out of those lost five. I parted out the young cock 
 erels, and fed them with fat-producing foods, for 
 I knew we should use most of them. 
 
 There had grown up a very nice, friendly feeling 
 between our immediate neighbors and ourselves. 
 Even Mr. Montgomery did not sneer at my garden, 
 nor predict dire misfortunes. One daughter was 
 married, and went away from home. Dan began to 
 see, not only the hopelessness, but the ridiculousness, 
 of his hanging around after Eve, and devoted him 
 self to a daughter of Athens, though I doubt if he 
 immortalized her in a poem. 
 
 And Joe our dear, foolish, ambitious, earnest Joe 
 confessed to Eve that he had asked Ruth to marry 
 him, and she had promised. 
 
 " We are to be engaged a year," he explained.
 
 258 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 " We want to get a little something together. I 
 suppose I ought to wait until I earn my eight hun 
 dred dollars ; but I was telling Ruth what you said, 
 Miss Eve, and she thinks we will try it together. 
 You see, I've a horse and wagon ; and now I'm going 
 to give you all the parcel-money to keep. And I 
 want to pay four dollars a week for my board here 
 after ; but I shall do the little chores, and ease up 
 Adam all the same. You know, I never can pay 
 you for making a man of me. Do you know, Miss 
 Eve, it seems like a horrid dream, all those hateful, 
 shameful months when I drank, and went in rags ? 
 I do not even want to tell Ruth, I am so ashamed of 
 it. I did say, that, for a year or two, I had not been 
 real steady. Oh! what angel induced you both to 
 pluck me out of the fire?" 
 
 "You're not to scold Joe," Eve said to me after 
 this talk, "nor read him any homilies, nor consider 
 it an unwise step. Ruth will make him a lovely 
 wife ; and it will be such a delight to have some one 
 of his very own, to have a home to improve and 
 beautify. They will be just like two children ; and 
 he will help her sweep the house, and wash dishes, 
 in order for her to have leisure to enjoy him. Adam, 
 it was worth coming to Athens, just to save Joe." 
 
 It was some time before Joe had the courage to 
 say any thing to me on the subject, though I am
 
 IN A GARDEN 259 
 
 quite sure he counted on my knowledge of it. Cer 
 tainly Joe was a lad of whom one need not feel 
 ashamed. He and Pryor were great chums, and Joe 
 was ambitious to learn every thing that came in his 
 way. 
 
 " It would be odd if, twenty years from this time, 
 Joe Crawford should be among the influential and 
 highly respected citizens of Athens, and hearing 
 himself spoken of as assemblyman after having held 
 minor offices," I said laughingly. 
 
 " He may do that before twenty years." 
 
 Meanwhile our family settled itself under the 
 roof-tree ; and our happiness reached its summit one 
 cold, stormy evening in June when we had a fire in 
 the grate. We certainly looked Oriental, disported 
 in hammocks, lounges, and easy-chairs. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Wilbur, Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, were over ; and 
 Eve played all kinds of soft, suggestive music in 
 the next room. It seemed wrong and wicked for the 
 moments to fly on the wings of the winds, and bring 
 us midnight. 
 
 Mrs. Harwood came over now and then of a lovely 
 day, and every time it seemed harder for her to leave 
 my sister. 
 
 " Is Adam never going to get married ? " she asked 
 one day. " There are so many nice girls about here, 
 and many a one with money would be proud to take
 
 260 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 him. I will hunt him up a wife myself. Then you 
 and I will take a long tour away somewhere, and let 
 the young couple ' gang their ain gait.' " 
 
 Could I ever be in just the position to make mar 
 riage desirable? Had I lost the daring faith of 
 early youth that rendered so many dreams possible ? 
 Certainly I looked more at the realities of life, 
 counted the cost, as one may say.
 
 IN A GARDEN 261 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 AND YET ANOTHER 
 
 AFTER that June storm, it was the perfection of 
 summer weather, of riotous bloom, of such waves 
 of greenery that the earth seemed like an emerald 
 sea. Such skies of glory, such wafts of sweetness, 
 such heavenly calms, when, for a few moments, the 
 toil and moil seemed to stop. A country life amid 
 such surroundings often fills one's mind with vague 
 wonders concerning the other world and the next 
 life. If the best of this is but a type and shadow, 
 what will the glory of that prove ? 
 
 I stood and watched the train winding along. 
 The hills over opposite, with here and there a house 
 standing out; the river in the interstices of the trees; 
 the birds with their sweet, entreating, early-evening 
 songs, quite different, if you will observe, from the 
 jocund morning carols, moved me inexpressibly. 
 Are these presentiments? I had a curious feeling 
 that something was to happen that would alter my 
 life and that of Eve, that in some strange way I
 
 262 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 should always be able to connect it with this hour 
 and the song of the wood-thrush. 
 
 There was a shriek, and the train halted. No 
 one was going up from Athens. A number stepped 
 out, nodding, or giving pleasant greeting, then the 
 one I was watching for. 
 
 Her veil was down. When the noise and fuss 
 sped off to the distance, I looked closely at her. 
 She had been crying. Even now her lips were all 
 in a quiver of emotion. 
 
 " Miss Hildreth " 
 
 " Walk a little way ! " she entreated. " O Mr. 
 Thurston ! my heart seems broken. Even now, to 
 day, my brother may be dead ! " 
 
 " Your brother ! " I think she loved him with a 
 greater passion and fervor than Eve loved me. 
 
 "He has been very ill again. He had the fever 
 the first year he was there, but then I knew nothing 
 of it until all the danger was past. Now they say 
 he must come home, if he has strength to bear the 
 journey ; but I am sorely afraid. I am sure I have 
 not heard the worst." 
 
 " No," I replied, with a poor attempt at comfort, 
 " do not think that way. From whom did you hear ? " 
 
 " He asked a friend to write. His last letter was 
 curiously brief and disconnected, but he said he 
 was in great haste. It seems he was improving:
 
 IN A GARDEN 263 
 
 then he had a relapse. A sea-voyage will be the 
 only thing. But if he should die at sea ! O Laurie ! 
 Laurie ! If I never see you again, how can I live ! 
 What will life be without you ? " 
 
 It was such a heart-rending cry. I felt so helpless 
 and blundering. I should like to have gathered Tier 
 in my arms, and let her cry on my shoulder as Eve 
 did in her great sorrow. But I must leave her here 
 and now, for I was required at the station. 
 
 " Go to my sister," I pleaded. " No one can com 
 fort you so tenderly." 
 
 I stopped, and she paused also. " I must return," 
 I began confusedly. 
 
 " Yes, yes. Thank you for your sympathy." 
 
 She went on so wearily ! I kept looking back 
 until I knew I had not a second to lose, and found 
 two very angry people hammering on the ticket- 
 window. However, they were served in time. Under 
 the new arrangement, I could not leave until after 
 six. How long and leaden the moments seemed! 
 What inane questions people asked ! Then Joe came 
 in sight, bright and cheery. There were several 
 parcels to be taken, and he was all vivacity over 
 some of Pryor's ideas. 
 
 When I went home, Miss Hildreth was in Eve's 
 room, and did not come down to dinner. And in 
 the evening she had a wretched headache.
 
 264 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "I am afraid it is very bad, Adam,'' said my 
 sister. "He has been ill so much longer than she 
 has known of, and his friend does not seem hopeful. 
 Sending him thus seems a desperate chance. And 
 her horror is, lest he shall die at sea. She cannot 
 change any thing: she can do nothing but wait 
 in this awful suspense. And she loves him so 
 dearly!" 
 
 There were tears in Eve's tender eyes. I kissed 
 her with a passionate fervor. And we could do 
 nothing for the other poor girl! 
 
 She went down to New York the next day, but 
 she looked like some wandering ghost. I think I 
 never saw such wordless pathos in eyes as that in 
 hers. 
 
 Every one tried to rouse her hopes. No one could 
 hurry the steamer. No one could lighten that dreary 
 waiting. 
 
 Somehow we could not be gay, though the young 
 people were making merry with summer pleasures. 
 Their Fortnight Club had been a success, and was 
 still in existence. I should have stated, that, early 
 in May, we did have one grand frolic at the station, 
 up-stairs. It was not so elegant; but they danced 
 to their heart's content, with the inspiriting "viol 
 and flute." The dressing-room was my office. The 
 table was set in the smaller room off the ball-room,
 
 IN A GARDEN 265 
 
 and the gentlemen were generous with refreshments. 
 But it had been gay and joyous enough. 
 
 Now they were planning a sail up the river, and a 
 picnic at a very beautiful and romantic place. Eve 
 had been training them to do without her. 
 
 The days went on. There were two or three 
 pictures to finish, a few lessons in a last course to 
 give ; and Miss Hildreth went about her task under 
 the strain of compulsion. 
 
 " But it is best," she said. " I should craze myself 
 with grief, if I had to keep still." 
 
 The steamer came in. Estradura, who was kind 
 and gentle as a woman, went down with her. I 
 wanted to go ; but fate ruled me out, since it was 
 not necessary. There was no person answering that 
 description, but it was a comfort that Hildreth's 
 name was not in the passenger-list. The mails had 
 been sent up to the office. 
 
 There was a brief note. They had not been able 
 to complete the arrangements in time. Mr. Hildreth 
 was no worse, but a little weaker, perhaps. He 
 would reach New York, positively, in the next 
 steamer. 
 
 " If he lives that long," was Miss Hildreth's dreary 
 comment. 
 
 Curiously enough, we go on, and take a certain 
 interest in the every-day matters of life, even when
 
 266 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 one's mind seems wholly preoccupied with some 
 great pain or anxiety. Miss Hildreth's strain per 
 vaded us all. Mrs. Wilbur's niece, a Miss Kate 
 Leverne, came ; and we found her a bright, vivacious 
 girl. There were many other delights; but we all 
 walked softly, as it were, as one does when there is 
 a death in the house. 
 
 At length this day came around. Eve and Helen 
 were going down to the city, and Mr. Pryor had 
 some business that required attention. I saw them 
 off. Then I strolled up to Riker's, and watched 
 the progress being made. They were laying founda 
 tions for two greenhouses on Linden Street. We 
 had a talk about methods and soils and fertilizers 
 for different kinds of flowers, temperature, and 
 appearance. The young fellow had a great deal 
 of pride in his knowledge, I might say vanity, 
 and was very ready to display it. 
 
 "It would not be a bad idea to come to school 
 here," I* thought to myself. The amusing part was 
 the disdain with which he treated amateur attempts. 
 I modestly spoke of some of the things I had suc 
 ceeded with. 
 
 " Yes, that's all well enough," he rejoined, " when 
 you are not setting out to make money. That is the 
 theory of fancy or pleasure gardening, but the real 
 thing is very different."
 
 IN A GARDEN 267 
 
 " You do consider it a profitable business ? " 
 
 " Profitable ! " There was a superb touch of scorn 
 in his voice. " Why, I could mention a dozen men 
 I know, who are making fortunes, and who, ten or 
 twelve years ago, hardly had a thousand dollars. 
 But they were not amateurs. They served a regular 
 apprenticeship at the business." 
 
 I went up to dinner, and took a look at my own 
 garden. I had some magnificent roses, young ones 
 from last summer's cuttings, and others from divided 
 roots. After all, was not the true meaning of prac 
 tical knowledge, constant practice ? 
 
 One thing Hiker said that rather disheartened me, 
 as applied to myself. 
 
 " I do not know any place that has the chances of 
 this. From Northwood up to Truro, -there is not a 
 single greenhouse or nursery. I shall get the start 
 of everybody with mine, you see." 
 
 At two there came a telegram from Eve, that 
 simply said, " Steamer in ; all right." 
 
 Then I knew Lawrence Hildreth had reached New 
 York alive. How strange we should all take such 
 an interest in a person we had never seen. 
 
 At five Eve returned home. We went into the 
 little office. 
 
 "Helen and Pryor are going to the theatre this 
 evening," she announced. "Celia and her brother
 
 268 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 are at a hotel. I am so glad for her sake that he 
 reached home alive ! And, O Adam ! are we to be 
 in everybody's sorrows and joys ? " 
 
 "We cannot help sympathizing with her." 
 
 That sounded almost indifferent. I did not dare 
 say all that was in my soul. I was puzzled and 
 confused with my own emotions. 
 
 Eve did not appear to remark this, or she was too 
 intent upon her own thoughts, as she continued, 
 
 "We all went to the hotel. Celia explained 
 everybody and every thing beautifully ; and the 
 queer part was, that Mr. Hildreth proposed to be 
 taken home where Celia was staying. She had 
 written so much about us, that, you see, he feels 
 quite as if we were old friends. Well, it put such 
 an odd complexion on that matter! Of course he 
 expects to get well, but it doesn't look so now. I 
 never saw such a skeleton ; but he has beautiful dark 
 blue eyes, like, and yet unlike, Celia's ; and there is 
 something in his voice that goes to your heart. 
 After a while it seemed to get settled. Helen was 
 so good. She proposed she should go up-stairs, and 
 give up her room : she is going to Asbury Park pres 
 ently, and will make several little visits. And now, 
 Adam, shall we open our house to the lame and the 
 halt and the blind ? " and Eve laughs, with tears in 
 her eyes and in her voice. " I can see how pleasant
 
 IN A GARDEN 269 
 
 it will be for Celia, and how dreadful it would be 
 among strangers if he if any thing happened to 
 him." How we always do pause and falter over 
 that terrible word death ! " What shall we do ? " 
 
 " Why, you have already decided the case in your 
 mind," I replied, with a smile. 
 
 " But you " - 
 
 " We will consider Celia, and do as we would like 
 some one to do to us," I said gravely. 
 
 " O Adam ! you are so generous " 
 
 " It is you who are always thinking of every 
 body." 
 
 " Well, we won't quarrel about our virtues," says 
 Eve, with some of her olden gayety. "You know, 
 after all, it is not quite as if the Hildreths were poor, 
 and would depend upon us alone. We have only to 
 be company, and encourage and keep Celia hopeful, 
 and all that. We did not count on being as gay as 
 we were last summer and it is so lovely at Athens ! 
 It seems as if any one might get well here. Mr. 
 Wilbur considers the air very fine and invigorating; 
 and what with the hills in their changing beauty, 
 and the soft-flowing river poetic enough for any one, 
 and the drives winding about in veritable fairy 
 land "- 
 
 "And the garden, and the chickens, and the 
 porch "
 
 270 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "And roses and hammocks and lazy-chairs and 
 my good temper." 
 
 We both laugh there. 
 
 " Then, you do not so much mind if we have a 
 hospital?" 
 
 " It may be a good training-school," T reply. 
 
 Merry as we made ourselves, I think we had some 
 unconfessed misgivings of soul. What if the gray 
 wing of grief and parting should be folded over our 
 pretty home ? For Celia's sake that settled it. 
 
 Eve went down again the next day. Mr. Hildreth 
 was extremely weak, indeed, had not sat up five 
 minutes since reaching the hotel. But he was so 
 glad and thankful to be at home, as he called it. 
 Eve detailed all the plan to Celia, who first made a 
 faint protest. 
 
 " You are so good to render it possible ! Mrs. 
 Palmer said that day on the boat you were the 
 'dearest and sweetest girl in the whole world,' and I 
 am sure it is irue. But I am afraid we shall make 
 you too much trouble. Still, you must believe 
 nothing would be so delightful to me." 
 
 " It is all settled, then. As soon as your brother 
 can stand the journey, you are to come. And you 
 are not to think of the trouble." 
 
 Eve had taken a great bunch of fragrant roses 
 that the sick man enjoyed wonderfully.
 
 IN A GARDEN 271 
 
 The day following we had no word, but early the 
 next morning a note. There were no worse symp 
 toms, only Lawrence was very restless, and did not 
 seem to improve as they had hoped. 
 
 After that we heard every day. Pryor, Miss Gay- 
 lord, or Eve went down frequently. After a fort 
 night they decided to remove him. He would gain 
 a little for a day or two, and then slip back. Celia 
 was quite confident he would improve more rapidly 
 at Athens. 
 
 I went down that day. A carriage brought him 
 to the ferry, where Eve and I met them. Certainly 
 Lawrence Hildreth did not look promising. Thinner 
 he conld not well be. His breath came in gasps, his 
 eyes were sunken, his lips pinched and colorless ; 
 but there was a curious strength to his voice, a 
 certain something that assured you he had not given 
 up hope. 
 
 Joe drove him up from the station ; and Ave both 
 carried him up-stairs, he was so exhausted. Eve 
 and Helen had arranged the room like a little bower, 
 and brought up one of the reclining-chairs ; but 
 Hildreth begged to go straight to bed. 
 
 " You are all so kind, that I should be the most 
 ungrateful fellow in the world if I did not get well 
 now ! " he exclaimed with a wan smile. " I never 
 can repay you."
 
 272 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 We were especially glad to have Celia back, as 
 Miss Gaylord was going away for two weeks. Mrs. 
 Wilbur and Miss Laverne were to spend some ten 
 days or so at Saratoga with the Palmers. Mrs. 
 Harwood had gone out to Detroit to visit the only 
 sister she had living ; and she would have taken 
 Eve, if our dear housekeeper could have been 
 spared. I did protest against her staying at home 
 all summer ; but she seemed so busy and cheerful, 
 and kept so bright and rosy, that one could not banish 
 her on the score of health. 
 
 We were both deeply engrossed in floriculture. 
 We had been parting and slipping roses until we 
 really had what might be called a rose-garden. 
 From one well-known rose-grower I had purchased 
 several beautiful varieties, and gleaned many useful 
 hints from his catalogue, as well as from several of 
 the rural papers we took. Every thing useful, Eve 
 cut out, and pasted in her scrap-book. I sometimes 
 felt as if, in spite of Mr. Riker, I should put up a 
 real greenhouse. Joe and I enlarged ours, for I 
 meant to put in a good many more plants. Pansies 
 I knew I could raise successfully. 
 
 My vegetables did fairly well. Potatoes and corn 
 yielded bountifully. Our cherries this season had 
 not been so much of a success, on account of a storm ; 
 but prices had been higher, and the demand greater.
 
 IN A GARDEN 273 
 
 We had sold to the amount of five dollars' worth ; and 
 Eve had disposed of some canned ones for the sum of 
 two dollars and a half. My currants had been splendid. 
 The worms had bothered me some ; but what with 
 an infusion of quassia and dry ashes thrown up on 
 the underside of the leaves, I had kept them in check. 
 Mr. Riker rather smiled over my amateur efforts, 
 but did say he had never seen such thrifty currants. 
 From them we had received seven dollars and a half, 
 besides all we, wan ted to use. To a hotel up above 
 us, I had sent raspberries daily ; and though they 
 were cheap, still my account of eleven dollars looked 
 pretty fair. I had planted early tomatoes and 
 cucumbers under cold-frames, and made a fair suc 
 cess of the first, and an excellent one of the second. 
 Tomatoes I sold only while prices were high. Of 
 course, mine were in small quantities, and I disposed 
 of them to special customers. They brought me 
 in five dollars and a half. We took our chance with 
 them after prices came down. The first cucumbers 
 I sold for seventy cents a dozen. For some reason, 
 care and study of soil, I think, mine were excep 
 tionally fine and growthy. They brought me in 
 twelve dollars and ten cents. Our harvest apple was 
 delightful : our peaches would do well, and the black 
 berries were still to hear from. So far we had taken 
 in forty-three dollars and fifty cents, and seven dollars
 
 274 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 from chickens sold. I had planted hills of corn among 
 some of my early vegetables, and by the time they 
 were done with, the corn had a good start. Cer 
 tainly, I improved my ground. I kept it rich and 
 soft, working it frequently. I wanted to try my 
 utmost in order to have a fair understanding of the 
 possibilities of the ground. Mr. Riker's coming had 
 spurred me to my best efforts. I think I made gar 
 dening more profitable than he did. His work was 
 spread over too much surface. Two acres well cul 
 tivated would have given a better result. All his 
 vegetables were too late for decent prices. Some 
 he allowed to go to seed, but even in this he was 
 not very successful. He progressed very well with 
 his greenhouses : indeed, I thought this part of the 
 business displayed more real capacity than any other. 
 
 After about a week, Mr. Hildreth began to show 
 signs of improvement. Up to this period, one of the 
 troubles had been utter lack of appetite. Eve and 
 Celia concocted dainty dishes, and the fruit was 
 especially grateful to him. Celia brightened up 
 wonderfully, and the delicate tints came back to 
 her soft cheeks. Mr. Estradura paid the invalid a 
 visit nearly every evening, as Hildreth was a fluent 
 talker in both French and Spanish. 
 
 "When I can come down-stairs," poor Hildreth 
 would say longingly, as we talked of pleasures.
 
 IN A GARDEN 275 
 
 But we were not doleful. Indeed, Athens was 
 becoming quite a lively place. There was a stir and 
 life among the young people, a number of engage 
 ments, and several marriages. Pryor's lumber-yard 
 was an undoubted success, and now he resolved to 
 add a coal-shed. 
 
 " I shall take possession of Joe Crawford," he said 
 to me. " He is going to make a splendid business- 
 manager. Just look at the way he has worked up 
 this parcel business, and carrying passengers and old 
 ladies to and fro. Why, there has not been a young 
 fellow, nor an old fellow, with vim enough to start 
 the thing. But he is worth more than that brings 
 him in, and he wants a special business training. I 
 propose he shall sell out that scheme, and cast in his 
 lot with me. After a little, I will take him in as a 
 partner. I shall be married during the autumn or 
 winter, and we have decided to live right along here. 
 Helen likes it, and she loves Eve as a sister. Is she 
 going to marry that Cuban, Thurston ? " 
 
 " No," I returned. " She is not going to marry 
 any one just yet." 
 
 "I should hate to have her. Oh, you needn't 
 think I am going to keep watch and ward of her, like 
 the desperate hero of a seaside novel ! I love her 
 dearly, and Helen knows it, but it is an honorable 
 regard ; and any man is the better for knowing and
 
 276 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 admiring your sister. I want her to stay here at 
 Athens, where we can all see her ; and I should hate 
 any man who took her away. But if you want to 
 glower at anybody, Ad, glower at Joe : he's utterly 
 smashed on her, in spite of Miss Montgomery." 
 
 We both laughed at that. 
 
 Then he laid his business-plans before me. He 
 could afford Joe a salary of fifteen dollars a week to 
 begin with, ten dollars to be taken up weekly, and 
 the rest to remain. At the end of the first year Joe's 
 money should begin to draw a certain percentage of 
 the profits, that being turned over as well. 
 
 " I have figured it all out. At the end of three years, 
 if all goes well with us, Joe shall be a partner. It 
 is better than taking him in now, for he will see the 
 value and the necessity of saving and getting ahead. 
 And he is so honest, so trusty, so good-tempered. I 
 wouldn't give him for half a dozen of the young 
 fellows about here, though I have had two offers 
 of partners already ; " and he laughed. 
 
 "You are very good to him," I said, in some 
 amazement, wondering if / would not have con 
 sidered such an offer. But I could see Joe's fitness 
 for the place, and I resolved not to envy him his 
 good fortune. Was there any thing coming to me 
 in the wide future ? 
 
 Joe was astounded at first, and then wild with
 
 IN A GARDEN 277 
 
 delight. He rushed out presently, and went to 
 hilling up some corn. 
 
 "That is just like him," said Eve, with a smile 
 of merriment. "When Joe has any special good 
 fortune, he has a sudden rush of gratitude, and 
 always goes out in the garden to give thanks." 
 
 Joe was quite shrewd about his other business. 
 
 " I could get a young lad to do this, and to attend 
 to office-chores, and work in the yard. But if any 
 one wants to give me a fair price for it, he may 
 have it." 
 
 The Wilburs returned, and Mr. and Mrs. Palmer 
 were to spend the remainder of August with them. 
 Bertha Brooke was to be married in October. Helen's 
 marriage would leave Eve the only unmarried one of 
 the gay company who had held carnival at our house 
 hardly more than a year previous. 
 
 The 10th of August, Lawrence Hildreth ventured 
 down-stairs. It was a very warm day ; but our club- 
 room, as Pryor called the pretty hall, was lovely and 
 cool. Somehow we had taken the new-comer to our 
 hearts, partly from pity and sympathy, partly from 
 a certain admiration of his patient sweetness. He 
 longed to get well with his whole soul. He was not 
 tired of life, though, so far, it had given him some 
 keen disappointments, and he had not reached his 
 ambitious aims. Still, there was a good deal of the
 
 278 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 doing and daring left in him, and he made no useless 
 moans : indeed, he had a most amusing strand of 
 humor, of that quiet, irresistible sort. He and Eve 
 kept up a curiously gay atmosphere. In some respects 
 the similarity struck me as being quite remarkable. 
 
 We had a festival dinner to celebrate the event, 
 asking in the Wilburs and the Palmers ; and, Mr. 
 Bradford happening up, we kept him to the feast. 
 Helen had returned the day before, but was to leave 
 us shortly, on another tour. We had a delightful 
 time. Joe was so good that he ran down for the 
 trains, and I had two , hours of uninterrupted enjoy 
 ment. Hildreth had to return to his couch ; but he 
 joined in the feast of reason and flow of soul, food 
 and laughter. We had some fruits from our garden, 
 flowers in abundance, and happy hearts that were 
 not to be weighed or measured, but overflowed at 
 every bright thought. 
 
 Hildreth was not so well the next day, and, for 
 the first time, rather depressed. We had Dr. Rand, 
 one of the Athenian physicians, but he had said very 
 little about the case. 
 
 Celia asked me to call him in that morning. I 
 stopped long enough to make several inquiries. 
 
 "It will be a long while before Mr. Hildreth re 
 covers his strength, if, indeed, he ever does, but 
 there is no imminent danger of his dying. He will
 
 IN A GAKDEN 279 
 
 find himself fluctuating a good deal when he begins 
 to test his vitality, and his greatest aids will be pa 
 tience and cheerfulness. Do not allow him to get 
 discouraged. I shall have to talk to your sister 
 about this;" and Dr. Rand smiled.
 
 280 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 SOME IMPORTANT QUESTIONS 
 
 ON the whole, we could see, by the end of August, 
 that Hildreth had made a great improvement. He 
 was out every day. If the girls could not go, Joe 
 was always ready. He came down to his meals. 
 He sat on the porch, or idled in the hammock, and 
 sometimes picked out a few tunes on the piano. He 
 evinced a wonderful interest in the flower-garden: 
 indeed, we found we were all flower-mad together. 
 Eve and Hildreth talked it over pro and con. He 
 read her wise scraps of information, books and pa 
 pers ; and I do believe we all began to envy Mr. 
 Hiker his opportunity. 
 
 "You could have some nice greenhouses here," 
 Hildreth said ; " and since there is so much profit in 
 cut-flowers, and they are generally sold at a distance, 
 the rivalry would be no great matter. All the same, 
 I should like to own Hiker's plot of ground." 
 
 Just here an adventure happened to Eve. Mrs. 
 Harwood sent her an excursion ticket to Niagara. 
 She was to be put on the train in New York on the
 
 IN A GARDEN 281 
 
 evening of the 2d of September, and would find her 
 friend waiting for her at her journey's end, and they 
 would have a little visit together. 
 
 " How can I go ? " cried Eve in dismay. 
 
 " Celia and I can keep house," said Helen. "You 
 have had no vacation, and you must not miss such 
 a pleasure : besides, you could not well disappoint 
 Mrs. Harwood." 
 
 " No," replied Eve thoughtfully. 
 
 An hour later, Sadie Palmer strolled over, and 
 heard the news. Mrs. Wilbur declared that the day 
 was lonely when nothing happened at our house to 
 stir one up. 
 
 " I have half a mind to go myself," Sadie announced. 
 " We were talking of a journey off somewhere. The 
 sweets of Hymettus are occasionally cloying, and 
 Mount Ida loses its charm. Let us away to fresh 
 fields, the Nile and the pyramids." 
 
 "So that is the complexion you put upon it?" said 
 Hildreth. "But I give you fair warning, that, if you 
 lose or otherwise make away with Miss Thurston, you 
 had better plunge into the interior of Africa at once." 
 
 " Hear him, ye winds and waters," chanted Sadie 
 in operatic style ; and they had a rather brilliant war 
 of words. 
 
 " I wish you would resolve to go," Eve said pres 
 ently, coming out of a brown study.
 
 282 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 That was the way the matter was settled. We 
 bade Eve a reluctant good-by, still we were very glad 
 for her to have the pleasure. Helen and Celia and 
 Letty, and I might add Joe, who insisted on having 
 a hand in every thing, kept house in a delightful and 
 harmonious manner ; and we had company every 
 evening. But we missed Eve more than I would 
 have thought possible. Celia, Lawrence, and I 
 talked of her continually, or at least in snatches, 
 and counted the days. But, alas ! They came to 
 New York, and then rushed off to Newport; and 
 it was a full fortnight before we saw our darling. 
 How could we ever part with her again ! 
 
 Mrs. Harwood came over with her. Certainly, it 
 would be necessary to enlarge our borders if we 
 continued to keep a hotel. But somehow we dis 
 tributed around, and were happy. 
 
 We paid our interest, but this time nothing on our 
 principal. We had not quite an even hundred ; and 
 Mrs. Harwood insisted that we should not pinch 
 ourselves, and that Eve must not wear herself 
 with music-teaching in addition to her other cares. 
 Lawrence Hildreth was wonderfully taken with our 
 bright old lady. 
 
 I was amused with the sharpness with which she 
 studied Estradura, as if she had some suspicions 
 concerning Eve in the matter. There had been
 
 IN A GARDEN 283 
 
 times when I had felt that only Eve's rare womanly 
 wisdom had kept him on the safe side of friendship. 
 However, an incident occurred which was to take 
 him quite out of our lives for several years. The 
 house he was with wished to send him abroad. 
 
 He had enjoyed his stay with us on account of the 
 pleasant, homelike feeling, the ease and freedom, 
 the reading, music, and merry chats. Then, he was 
 extravagantly fond of the country and its various 
 belongings, and at the last he left us with a very 
 real sorrow. 
 
 Meanwhile the Hildreths were considering their 
 future. A physician had advised Lawrence to go 
 South for the winter, and he consulted Dr. Rand on 
 the matter. 
 
 " I should like a breath of real invigorating air, 
 such as comes in October. I am tired of a soft, 
 warm atmosphere ; and I have a great inclination to 
 trust myself here for the present. But I do wish, 
 above all things, to get strong enough to be of some 
 use in the world." 
 
 " Then stay here," answered Dr. Rand. " I know 
 of few healthier places. Should the winter prove 
 exceptionally cold, it might be wiser to try a warmer 
 clime ; but I think we shall be able to brace you up 
 successfully. However, at the first note of danger, 
 I will promise to give you warning."
 
 284 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 It was decided then that both of them would go 
 on with us through the winter. Celia was to have 
 one of the up-stairs' rooms for a studio, and paint at 
 home part of the time, staying in New York on 
 certain days. Her aunt was desirous of trying 
 Florida, so she could have no compunctions about 
 leaving her. 
 
 And now a new difficulty met us. Our admirable 
 Letty had an excellent opportunity to go to work 
 with a dressmaker at wages which were really tempt 
 ing. It would have been unfair to keep her from 
 what was evidently her best interests. But how 
 could we supply her place? 
 
 " For," said Eve, " I do not feel like taking in an 
 ordinary servant to waste and destroy my small 
 patrimony. I think we will have to wait, and see 
 what Providence sends us." 
 
 " A course of housework might be good for me," 
 suggested Hildreth. " I hear such wonderful stories 
 of Joe and Adam, that I am quite ashamed of my 
 limited acquirements. And, you see, presently Celia 
 and I might try your experiment only she would 
 earn the money while I kept the house." 
 
 The long, lank figure, sweeping, dusting, and 
 cooking, was irresistibly funny to us all. 
 
 I found, when I made up my farm accounts, that 
 I had done remarkably well. With the blackberries,
 
 IX A GARDEN 285 
 
 pears, and peaches, my receipts had swelled to sixty- 
 three dollars and seventy cents, leaving me the sixty 
 clear profit. We had gone on selling some eggs, 
 averaging enough every month to pay for our feed, 
 and a little over ; and now, to our surprise, we had 
 eighty nice fowls, pullets and hens. Hildreth was 
 much interested in them. The question at present 
 seemed to be whether we should turn poultry-fanciers 
 or florists. 
 
 This autumn the boarders who had by accident 
 stumbled upon Athens, found so many charms that 
 they lingered on ; and a party of artists, well known 
 to Miss Hildreth, took the spare rooms at Mrs. 
 Ten Eyck's for the month of October, which proved 
 exceptionally beautiful. Of course our house was 
 invaded, and we did have some wonderfully enjoy 
 able evenings, to say nothing of rambles and drives. 
 Suddenly it seemed Hildreth made rapid strides in 
 improvement. He took up gardening with a vim, 
 and I found my occupation well-nigh gone. Our 
 greenhouse assumed quite business-like proportions. 
 We put in slips of roses, young and tender plants, 
 and hardy flowers that we knew would bloom for a 
 long while without fire, and live all winter. Then 
 he began to cultivate young Riker. 
 
 Meanwhile, Joe's affairs progressed finely. He 
 went to his new business ; though nothing was said,
 
 286 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 outside of ourselves, about the partnership. The 
 " boy " Joe found without any difficulty, and I was 
 amused at the shrewdness with which Joe trained 
 him. As Pry or said, there was the making of an 
 excellent business manager in Joe. 
 
 He began to look mature and manly. The Mont- 
 gomerys were very proud of him. Through the sum 
 mer, another daughter had married ; and Ruth wore 
 a pretty, satisfied look, that was quite bewitching; 
 while, it seemed to me, she adored Eve more fondly 
 than ever. And presently they had a plan to lay 
 before my sister. There was no further need of 
 waiting for their marriage. They could keep house 
 on ten dollars a week, they were quite sure ; but the 
 method they preferred from now until spring, was 
 that Joe should remain, and Ruth come and keep 
 house for us, making herself ready, meanwhile, for 
 her own essay in the spring. 
 
 Such a novel idea took Eve quite by surprise at 
 first. 
 
 " I should so like to live a while with you," Ruth 
 explained. " You have such a pretty way of doing 
 every thing, and Joe is used to it all. Mother would 
 as lief have us home, but I'm afraid Joe wouldn't 
 be satisfied; and father's ideas, about nearly every 
 thing, are so different. And I know we should be 
 real happy," she finished with a wistful cadence.
 
 IN A GARDEN 287 
 
 Eve debated within herself, and then with me. 
 
 " There would be some very nice points about 
 such an arrangement," she admitted presently. " It 
 is friendly, and I like them both. I hardly know 
 how we can give up Joe. He seems just like a 
 younger brother that we have cared for and felt 
 anxious about, and whose prosperity is dear to us. 
 I should enjoy their happiness. Our home-keeping 
 is getting to be such an old, old story ! Why, I am 
 quite a veteran ! " and she laughs with an infectious 
 gayety. 
 
 " I do not think Joe would be comfortable under 
 Mr. Montgomery's very depressing views of what 
 you can do in this world," I said. " I should miss 
 him very much. And then, if the Hildreths should 
 go away presently " 
 
 " Yes : I should find Ruth and Joe quite a delight 
 then," Eve answered vivaciously ; " and, though one 
 ought not always consider economy, I do believe I 
 should find it better, and at a less cost." 
 
 Out of my garden-money we paid the taxes, and 
 the few repairs it had been necessary to make. We 
 had our coal put in, an abundance of it ; and coal 
 was thirty cents a ton lower than last year. Eve 
 had some new attire; and we found that we were 
 able, after all, to attack the next thousand dollars, 
 so we paid one hundred. Miss Brooke was married,
 
 288 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 and we both went to the wedding. Sadie had gone 
 to housekeeping up near the Park, and insisted Eve 
 should spend two solid weeks with her when " fun " 
 really commenced. 
 
 Pryor was to be married the day before Thanks 
 giving, in church, at two in the afternoon, and go to 
 Washington. If our house had not been full, I know 
 he would have proposed boarding with us : in fact, 
 I think he felt annoyed because Hildreth was there. 
 
 " I certainly should be tired of having such a 
 skeleton around ! " he exclaimed rather disdainfully 
 one day. 
 
 But I never enjoyed an autumn more. Now and 
 then we drove out together Hildreth was such a 
 wonderfully companionable man. He had seen so 
 much; and he had an admirable memory, vivid, 
 compact ; and his descriptive powers were fine ; his 
 eyes keen ; his love of beauty deep, ingrained. What 
 a wealth of asters and golden-rod ! what gorgeous 
 sumach ! what shades in the fields of green to brown ! 
 what magnificent ripening of the leaves ! Every 
 beautiful tree impressed itself upon his memory. 
 
 There was another pleasure we shared, boating. 
 The banks of the river were a series of pictures. 
 We used to float idly, drinking in the alluring sweet 
 ness of air, the golden-freighted ripeness of the 
 summer, that still lingered as if loth to leave us.
 
 IN A GARDEN 289 
 
 Idle leaves fluttered from some overhanging trees, 
 and drifted down ; birds called from shore to shore ; 
 insects hummed and droned sleepily. I used to like 
 to hear him talk of the marvels of Brazilian forests 
 at such times ; and yet he admitted that he always 
 longed for his native clime. 
 
 I think I sympathized with ITildreth's disappoint 
 ment in his life-plans. He had set out to make a 
 fortune. During his first year, he had been ill a long 
 while with a fever. Then part of their plans had 
 miscarried at a loss ; but prosperity seemed within 
 his grasp, when the second illness attacked him ; 
 and he had stubbornly resolved not to give in until, 
 during a dangerous relapse, his physician told him 
 that his only hope for life was in leaving the country 
 at once. His business was in the hands of his part 
 ner, to be wound up, or disposed of; and though he 
 would realize considerable, it was far short of the 
 limit he had set for himself. 
 
 "Still," he admitted, "I believe I shall be content. 
 It seems to me I have had more real delight since 
 my return, wretched as my health has been, than in 
 the years of my desperate chase after fortune. If 
 Celia and I can be as happy as you and your sister!" 
 
 So we talked and rambled about. He was so 
 different from Pryor! Oddly enough, now that I 
 had come to know Mr. Bradford better, there was a
 
 290 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 peculiar similarity in some of their views, while the 
 men themselves were widely different. Had the 
 clergyman grown broader, more to the needs and 
 levels of every-day nature? He used to drop in 
 frequently, and we had many a pleasant talk. 
 
 Then the leaves began to fall. There was a storm 
 of days, a dreary, sodden kind of storm, with sullen 
 gusts and thick skies. We started our heater, and, 
 oh! the delight of our glowing grate. Hildreth used 
 to lie in the reclining-chair just in the changeful 
 radiance and warmth. One of the girls would read, 
 the other occupy herself with some fancy-work. 
 What a pretty, comforting picture they made when 
 I came in after the trains were through with, and 
 speeding on in the storm ! 
 
 After that we had the late Indian summer. 
 Hildreth suffered from touches of rheumatism, but 
 on the whole his condition was encouraging. He 
 did fret a little about not being able to take up 
 some kind of business. 
 
 Joe decided to be married early in December, 
 as soon as Pryor came back and was settled. I 
 thought it altogether too soon, but did not oppose 
 it very strenuously. Eve, woman-like, became more 
 and more interested ; and now I think she would 
 have been deeply disappointed if any change had 
 occurred in the plans. Ruth was to be our house-
 
 IN A GARDEN 201 
 
 keeper. Joe was to " favor " me a little, as he termed 
 it, to favor Ruth a good deal as I expected, and both 
 were to have their home. Eve and I decided it 
 would be worth that, but Joe insisted at first that 
 it was quite too generous. 
 
 " Why, I shall not spend any thing," he declared. 
 " I shall soon get together my share of the world's 
 wealth. Thurston, if ever I do any thing to forfeit 
 your esteem and friendship, I shall be a scoundrel 
 of the deepest dye." 
 
 We went down to the city to see Pryor married. 
 The wedding was a stylish one : the bride looked 
 charming in a deep wine-colored satin with garniture 
 of velvet. Pryor beamed with pride and happiness. 
 The Gaylords were all pleased, and we saw many 
 familiar faces in the church. They were to spend 
 two or three weeks in New York after their return, 
 Pryor coming up every day. 
 
 The Montgomery wedding was to be at home at 
 first, Montgomery pere being opposed to so much 
 fuss and flummery as going to church. But Mr. 
 Bradford said something to Ruth about the church 
 being the proper place for such a solemn service ; 
 and somehow Joe evinced a decided desire for it, 
 and presently it veered around that way. A cousin 
 of Ruth's, who was to be married a few months 
 later, was to stand, with her lover. So they de-
 
 292 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 cided to be married in church on Thursday evening 
 at seven, have a wedding reception, and leave at 
 ten, taking the train to Philadelphia, and returning 
 Monday morning. 
 
 It seemed so strange to me. Indeed, I could 
 hardly admit to myself that it was right for Joe to 
 settle his future so young. One could not have 
 wished him a more admirable helpmeet. Yet I must 
 say Joe had done better than many of the young 
 men at Athens, whose future eighteen months ago 
 seemed much more promising. I concluded that 
 mine could not be a sanguine nature. So far Joe 
 had kept himself perfectly sober, and still reported 
 every Saturday night. Indeed, I am not sure but 
 that in our last tryst before his marriage, both were 
 very near to tears. 
 
 " Thurston," he said, with a great, joyful tremble 
 in his voice, "I'm the happiest fellow alive. I 
 would not change places with any one." 
 
 The marriage was certainly a pretty one. Both 
 looked their best, and Joe was handsome enough for 
 any one to be proud of. Ruth was fair and sweet in 
 her flowing white, and an abundance of white chry 
 santhemums. I must say here that Hilelreth and I 
 were trying some experiments with these in our 
 greenhouse. 
 
 We all went to the reception ; and it was quite
 
 IN A GARDEN 293 
 
 charming, thanks to Eve's planning. Then we kissed 
 our young travellers, and they went out to test the 
 sweet and the bitter of the world for themselves. 
 
 " I should like to cry ! " exclaimed Eve, when we 
 returned home. " Do you know, Adam, I feel as 
 if it was our very own son who is speeding away 
 to this unknown country. It is strange how Joe has 
 come into our hearts." 
 
 " Put me in the lonely place," entreated Celia. 
 
 Eve went and twined her arms about the other's 
 neck. 
 
 " See here, Thurston," said Hildreth, in an odd, 
 whimsical manner, "suppose you adopt me, then? 
 I shall want to belong to some one. I'm too utterly 
 thin to be left out in the cold." 
 
 We all laughed at that. And yet, can anybody 
 explain the inexpressible sadness that comes over 
 one now and then, 
 
 " That resembles sorrow only 
 As the mists resemble rain " ? 
 
 We were all, I think, in the state of feeling where 
 the soul reaches out blindly ; where the new life is 
 a formless thing ; a spirit, moving upon the waters, 
 dimly conscious that some truth will be evolved to 
 change the old existence. Even the laugh seemed 
 a cover merely for some deeper emotion.
 
 294 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 We four were alone the few days that followed. 
 No guests came : I think, indeed, Mr. Bradford was 
 the only one who called. Pryor was busier than the 
 mythical bee. 
 
 "To tell the truth, Thurston," he said Saturday 
 evening, as he dropped in for the train, "I don't 
 believe I could get along without Joe. I begin to 
 have a wonderful respect for the manner in which 
 he manages every thing. Joe will make a rich man 
 if he should live, and a first-class man as well." 
 
 Dear Joe ! My heart beat unwontedly at this 
 praise. 
 
 Sunday was crisp, clear, and one of those uplifting 
 days when the hours seem so full and long, and 
 bound about with a heavenly satisfaction. We staid 
 at home in the evening, and read and sang. I always 
 remember how lovely Celia looked that evening. 
 
 But we came to a new phase of life. We always 
 were, I think, having new phases. It grew colder, 
 quite winter-like indeed ; and Joe returned about 
 noon, looking so serenely and joyfully happy, that 
 I envied him. 
 
 The last of the week they moved. Joe told me 
 privately, that while mother Montgomery was as good 
 as an angel, the old gentleman was just too queer for 
 any thing. " And he is continually saying you will 
 never get back the money you have put in your
 
 IX A GARDEX 295 
 
 house ; and that Pryor, Corwin, and two or three 
 others, will be the ruin of Athens. If his property is 
 worth a good deal, so is yours : if all this business 
 down by the river, and the new houses being built, 
 depreciate values, he had better sell out now, before 
 he goes any farther." 
 
 Joe was at home with us, of course ; but it seemed 
 a little odd about Ruth at first. 
 
 " It is just the same, in one way, as if we were 
 boarding with you," Eve explained. " You are the 
 mistress of a certain department. You must invite 
 your friends to visit you ; and when you and Joe 
 want to go out for an evening, or a day, I will step 
 in, and take the reins of government." 
 
 By Christmas we were working harmoniously, and 
 it proved a very pleasant arrangement for Eve; while 
 Ruth, who was quick and ambitious, learned many 
 useful ways and bits of knowledge that somehow 
 came natural to Eve. Joe was idiotically happy, 
 we said ; but he took our badinage in good part. 
 
 We four went down to the Palmers's for a Christ 
 mas dinner. All Sadie's family and the Wilburs 
 had been invited. It was very bright and jolly; 
 and once again Eve had to relate experiences of 
 living over a railroad station, which she did in her 
 most amusing manner. 
 
 Soon after this an incident happened that set-
 
 296 A MODERN ADAM AND EYE 
 
 tied some matters definitely, although we did not 
 understand all its bearings at the time. A friend 
 of the Hildreths wrote for Lawrence to come out 
 to Minnesota. There were fine business openings; 
 and his town was the centre of health and length 
 of life, according to his accounts. So Lawrence 
 proposed he arid Celia should make a visit, and if 
 they found it of incalculable benefit, they might try 
 it permanently. 
 
 " I am very well satisfied here : still, if it should 
 be best for you " and Celia made a curious 
 pause. 
 
 "Then marry him to some nice girl, and come 
 back to us," said Eve in a spirited manner. 
 
 They went about the middle of January. Every 
 three days one or the other wrote, so we had two 
 letters a week. But we missed them sorely. Was 
 life becoming a graver matter ? Mrs. Harwood came 
 over and staid a week with us, and brought Eve 
 what she termed a lot of old finery. 
 
 "What you don't want, you can give away," she 
 declared with her short, bright laugh. "But you 
 have such a genius for remodelling; and some of 
 these garments are not the kind to give in charity, 
 or bestow upon your washerwoman." 
 
 " I should think not, indeed," said Eve afterward, 
 as she and Ruth inspected them. " Why, it is as
 
 IX A GARDEN 297 
 
 much of a treasure as aunt Carry's tfunk of goods ; 
 and that, I believe, dressed me for a year. My dear 
 Adam, next to being rich yourself, is the possession 
 of rich friends." 
 
 But we did miss the Hildreths. I think I made 
 another discovery "about these times," in the par 
 lance of an old-fashioned almanac. Was it Joe's and 
 Pryor's infinite satisfaction that roused a longing in 
 my soul that I had never experienced before ? Or 
 was it that the one who had gone out had taken 
 something I had not understood before, that one 
 learned indeed, by missing it, how necessary it had 
 become to the comfort and joy of one's life ? 
 
 I knew by the want and hunger of soul, that could 
 not be appeased by the sweetest and daintiest moods of 
 Eve, and it seemed to me she had grown strangely, 
 awesomely sweet, what it was that had befallen 
 me. I had drifted into caring for another. I would 
 not admit that it was really love. Fascinating as the 
 glimpse vouchsafed me proved, I knew there were 
 heights and depths that these vague imaginings 
 barely shadowed. If a man allowed himself to love 
 if a woman loved if he glanced into her eyes and 
 saw the knowledge written there that nothing could 
 ever entirely hide the possibility was that delicious 
 kind of torture that one returns to with a breaking 
 heart, that one holds to his soul until the very forces
 
 298 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 of life are drained. And yet what had I to offer 
 that she would care to accept ? She had a better posi 
 tion than I, she made twice the money I did more 
 than that perhaps. To take her, would be to mar her 
 life. And I had tied myself here ! I had shut out 
 my own hopes of advancement. The delusive joy of 
 having something of one's own in the shape of a 
 home, cut me off from the greater joy. I must be 
 manly enough to do my duty to Eve, and my whole 
 duty to Celia Hildreth.
 
 IN A GARDEN 299 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SWEET, FATAL KNOWLEDGE 
 
 I KEPT myself very busy. I was restless and 
 unhappy, and did not wish Eve to have the faint 
 est suspicion. Every moment I was at work some 
 where. Our chickens hens, rather were doing 
 finely, exceeding our last year's profits. We had 
 many excellent layers : we fed for eggs, and had 
 them too. It was cold weather, and prices ruled 
 high. Then I had a plan for early strawberries and 
 cucumbers. I had bought some old sashes, and 
 put in the stray panes myself, and made others. 
 My endeavors were to be in the nature of experi 
 ments, and I resolved somehow to make some 
 money outside of my salary. I really did envy 
 Joe his chance, and half wished I had cast in my 
 lot with Pryor. 
 
 Helen came up and spent a week, and of course 
 we had the happy husband. Pryor was so full of 
 schemes, so hopeful. He had sold four of his houses, 
 and was building two others, and working with all
 
 300 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 his energy to get another large factory to locate at 
 Athens. I think their visit was quite a god-send 
 to me : it broke up the mad, despairing, perpetual 
 revery. Other men had seen possibilities, no doubt, 
 and given them up as well ; for give it up, I re 
 solved I would. Some other woman might find it 
 worth her while to marry me in the years to come, 
 but my hand should make no blur in the delightful 
 living of Celi a Hildreth. 
 
 Pryor was wild on another idea. He wante(to build 
 a summer hotel, and teased Eve to take charge of it. 
 Eve and Helen discussed it with much seriousness. 
 
 "I'll do it before another year, I do believe," 
 declared Pryor. " Why should we not make Athens 
 a centre of attraction, when it has these pretty walks 
 and drives, and the beautiful river for boating ? Just 
 give a place a push, and get some nice people to 
 talk about it and visit it, and, if you have a delight 
 ful hotel, half the battle is won. Adam, here, can 
 raise the vegetables and fruit, Joe can manage the 
 transportation department, and the business will run 
 as if by magic." 
 
 " It would be too late now," said Helen, " for you 
 could not have it done and furnished in time ; but 
 I am quite sure it would be a success. See how 
 many watering-places have started from the merest 
 beginning ! "
 
 IN A GARDEN 301 
 
 A few days after they had gone, I was rushing up 
 home one bitter evening, when Mr. Bradford came 
 striding down. " Horrible night," I said ; but he did 
 not seem to notice me. I hurried in, hung up my 
 coat, and found no one in the dining-room, so walked 
 through. Eve started up from somewhere with so 
 strange a look in her sweet face that a sudden terror 
 seized me ; though a .second after, I knew bad 
 tidings must reach me first. 
 
 "What is the matter?" I asked. 
 
 She colored vividly, and turned away. There was 
 such a peculiar droop to her shoulders, an air of 
 something sorrowful pervading her. 
 
 " What brought Bradford up here this wild night ? 
 I met him flying along " and then I halted sud 
 denly. That curious consciousness, like a gleam of 
 second sight, illumined me. 
 
 " My dear girl " 
 
 " O Adam ! I did not mean you to guess ! I never 
 was so surprised ! I had not dreamed myself if I 
 had thought, I could have been more careful ; " and 
 her tender, deprecating voice broke with a long, 
 sobbing breath. 
 
 There had been one wild bound of joy, then my 
 heart dropped like lead. She did not care for him. 
 If she were going to happiness 
 
 "O Eve!" I cried vehemently, "you must not
 
 302 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 let any thought or care for me interfere with a wish 
 or hope " 
 
 "No, Adam, it was not that. I love you well 
 enough to make any needful sacrifice oh, believe 
 this ! and if you loved a woman tenderly, you ought 
 not allow me to stand in the way of your happiness. 
 But I do not love Mr. Bradford in that manner. 
 I am not fitted to be a clergyman's wife, and I am 
 so sorry about it all. Forget it, Adam, and help me 
 to forget it. He will see in time that it would not 
 have been a wise step. O Adam ! surely you are 
 not tired of me ? " and Eve clasped her arms about 
 my neck, and laid her soft cheek against mine. " If 
 I should never marry that need not keep you 
 single, you know. And when you are weary of 
 seeing me around, you remember there is Mrs. 
 Harwood " 
 
 " My dear, dear girl ! " 
 
 She gave a little, hysterical half sob, half laugh, 
 and held me so strangely close. Had the flame of 
 her soul gone out in that old time ? 
 
 Joe and Ruth had come down, and were talking 
 in the dining-room. We went out together, break 
 ing up the tense strain. 
 
 " Wouldn't a cup of coffee go nicely ? " said Ruth. 
 "It is an awfully cold night. I do wish the Hildreths 
 were back, don't you ? or Mr. and Mrs. Pryor ! The
 
 IN A GAKDEN 303 
 
 house hardly seems right unless it has some extra 
 people in it." 
 
 She made the coffee. We had a little plain cake 
 and some nuts. All of us possessed excellent 
 digestions. 
 
 That was the last of February. March came in 
 like a lion. For a week we had the worst winds I 
 ever knew. The papers were filled with terrific 
 accounts, and the damage to shipping- was fearful. 
 Western to\fns suffered tremendously. Then a lull, 
 and, behold ! spring seemed in our midst. 
 
 A telegram followed by our wanderers signalized 
 the second beautiful day. They reached us by the 
 early evening train, and quite a procession was at 
 the station to meet them. Joe took Lawrence home 
 in the wagon, for he seemed very much done up by 
 the journey. 
 
 " I am afraid it has not been of much benefit," 
 Celia remarked anxiously. " I am troubled about 
 him. For the last three weeks I know he has been 
 slipping back. And it has been such dreadful 
 weather ! I do believe there is no place like 
 Athens ! " 
 
 And when we entered the warm, bright house, 
 with its lamps and cannel-coal fire, and its easy, 
 well-used furniture, a sudden thrill seemed to sweep 
 over us all. Celia glanced up at me with such an
 
 304 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 unspeakable radiance in her face, that I had much 
 ado not to gather her in my arms ; but in my soul I 
 thanked her for the loving appreciation. 
 
 Lawrence stretched himself out before the bright 
 blaze, and drew some satisfied breaths. 
 
 "Do you know, friends," he began, "that I do 
 believe I have been homesick ? You have all spoiled 
 me. Celia wouldn't own it, but I know she is 
 spoiled as well. And though we have seen much 
 that is wonderful, it has tired me to death. As for 
 cold, and storm, and blizzards, well, I simply 
 could not stand them. Of course, we should have 
 taken it in the summer, but I wanted to know it at 
 its worst ; and I am not enchanted, though I must 
 admire. Yet I am quite convinced it would not do 
 for me." 
 
 We had a very thorough home welcome. Indeed, 
 Eve was brimming over with delight ; and there 
 were sweet, half-bashful touches of cordiality in 
 Ruth that were quite enchanting. 
 
 " Miss Eve," said Hildreth, when we had laughed 
 and talked, and the clock had run on to midnight, 
 " how is it that you know every art and ingredient 
 that goes into home-making? The very atmosphere 
 has caught the fragrance. The fires blaze as no 
 other fires on the face of the earth ;. the chairs just 
 fit you ; the lamps burn with a soft, suggestive
 
 IN A GARDEN 305 
 
 light ; and well, I have half a mind to say that 
 you will never get rid of me again while I live." 
 
 A paleness flickered over Celia's face. Might 
 there come a time when she would belong to us in 
 a sad, sacred manner ? 
 
 The next morning Hildreth showed plainly that 
 he had dropped back a little. His cough was worse. 
 He had lost flesh and strength. But the air proved 
 really inspiriting. Even the frogs and turtles began 
 piping ; and martens flitted about with a short, jerky 
 song, as if they were not sure whether it was best to 
 scold or approve the weather. 
 
 I covered my strawberry-beds, after removing the 
 mulch, and stirring the ground. They grew by the 
 hour. In a sunny barn-window I had some potted 
 tomatoes, that were looking splendid ; and my young 
 cucumbers were thriving. When Lawrence, took his 
 walk, he inspected them with a peculiar enthusiasm. 
 
 There was another cold snap and a snow. I cov 
 ered some of my treasures, and watched them well ; 
 but in a few days it was pleasant again. We had 
 some young chickens out, and I put those in the 
 loft of the barn. By April it really was spring 
 weather. 
 
 Suddenly Hildreth began to improve again. The 
 deadly pallor vanished, the cough mended. He rode 
 out, and took short walks several times during the
 
 306 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 day, and was getting a wholesome appetite. Celia 
 was very busy filling urgent orders, and making up 
 for lost time. She left on an early train, and did not 
 return until dusk. She seemed unusually grave. 
 Was she worried about Lawrence ? 
 
 His South-American affairs were now settled, 
 though at some sacrifice. He was master of seven 
 thousand dollars, for which he had almost given his 
 life. 
 
 We sat in the office one delightful afternoon, talking 
 of the great subject of living, how to make money, 
 and not sacrifice every thing. " I started out to be 
 a rich man," he said, with a little sigh. "I was will 
 ing to take it hard for the first ten years ; and now 
 I must take it comparatively easy all the rest of my 
 life. A great many employments will henceforth be 
 beyond my strength. But I have quite settled a 
 part of my future." 
 
 I glanced up with questioning eagerness. 
 
 "You know, we have discussed floriculture so 
 thoroughly, and found that we both have a genius 
 for it. When a man has that, which must comprise 
 love and patience to be of any real account, he can 
 acquire the rest. It is coming to be one of the 
 successful businesses of the future. Every year 
 flowers are in greater demand. Let us join forces, 
 Thurston, and do it in a profitable way."
 
 IN A GARDEN 307 
 
 "But" -I. sat and stared. There was so much 
 to say ; and the old dream thrilled me. 
 
 " I spent all the morning at Hiker's, and some 
 new ideas entered my mind. I don't altogether 
 like the man ; and his methods seem too expensive 
 for the result. With all his training and his oppor 
 tunity, he is not going to succeed. He undertakes 
 too many things, and stops too often in the middle. 
 I have seen just such men in other walks of life. 
 Last spring he borrowed one thousand dollars for 
 a year. He has not made his living ; is in debt now, 
 and wants one thousand dollars more to enable him 
 to go on at all. I have decided to advance him two 
 thousand dollars, and take a mortgage on the place. 
 I shall work with him part of the summer. I shall 
 go elsewhere and study other methods. Next year 
 he will want some more money. He is going to 
 lose that place just as surely as that he once owned 
 it ; and there will be a chance. I shall not defraud 
 him, nor make a hard bargain ; but if we can agree 
 upon it, Thurston, why not cast in our lives to 
 gether? When I was in New York, talking over 
 matters with a sensible physician, he recommended 
 light farming fancy farming ; and I spoke of this, 
 which he seemed to think would answer if I did 
 not confine myself too closely to greenhouses dur 
 ing the winter. Two of us could manage admirably. 
 What do you say to it ? "
 
 308 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 I was so surprised that at the first moment I could 
 say nothing ; then I gasped, 
 
 " But you forget that I have no money." 
 
 " Well, some of the most successful florists have 
 come up from one small greenhouse. I have money 
 enough to- buy the plot of ground, when it falls in, 
 as it is sure to do. And, Thurston, I don't believe 
 I could like or esteem a brother of blood any more 
 highly than I do you. Well, let me go on, and tell 
 the truth nothing may ever come of it but, if 
 God should bless me with returning health, it will go 
 hard indeed with me if I do not win your sister. 
 Can you wish me God-speed from your heart ? " 
 
 "Can I?" I cried joyfully as I grasped his hand. 
 " My dear fellow ! " then my courage failed. If 
 others had sued to Eve, only to know disappoint 
 ment, would Lawrence Hildreth be likely to 
 win? 
 
 " From my own heart I can," I continued, recover 
 ing myself ; " but Eve is different from most girls. 
 I mean that she seems to have no idea of marrying," 
 I blurted out. "But she is the sweetest and 
 dearest " 
 
 " There need be no hurry. And if she should not 
 smile upon your humble servant," a curiously 
 confident expression crossed his face, " why, I 
 should want you more than ever. I was not made
 
 IX A GARDEN 309 
 
 for solitary life. I like people about . me, a wide and 
 diversifying interest. Your sister, I observe, is very 
 similar in this respect. There are many points 
 well, she is the first girl that I have ever been drawn 
 to in that coveting sense that I suppose always comes 
 to a man when he thinks of marriage. Outside of 
 this is the larger business question, for " with a 
 little smile "I think no man has a right to ask 
 a woman's love if he cannot take care of her ; so 
 business must be considered. Then, I have never 
 believed it reprehensible to desire to better one's 
 condition, to make money. I have almost given my 
 life for it, which I don't mean to do again, for life 
 has a new sacredness to me. I have an ardent love 
 for flowers, and have studied the subject a good deal 
 for the mere pleasure of it. Now I shall go into it 
 from the profit point of view. You, I think, have 
 a wonderful gift that way as well. I do not see why 
 we cannot succeed as well as other people. Then, I 
 do like Athens. I believe I feel better here than 
 any place I have yet tried. So, if you are agreed, 
 the minor points can be arranged, I am sure." 
 
 " I do not know how to express my " and I 
 paused for a word sufficiently comprehensive. 
 
 " Well, don't ; " and a humorous smile lighted up 
 his fine, tender eyes. " It will be business, you 
 know; and you have done enough of it to realize
 
 310 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 that truth and straightforwardness make the best 
 foundation. Now we will take up all manner of 
 sharp study on the subject. Honestly, I do not like 
 Riker's methods; he spends too much to reach a 
 given result: and I think you have a wonderful 
 economy of forces. That is one secret of success." 
 
 "Depend upon me for the very best that is in 
 me," I made reply. Somehow, I was deeply touched. 
 I could only think that my small efforts for Joe were 
 being repaid fourfold. 
 
 Mrs. Wilbur and Mrs. Palmer were up a day or 
 two after this. They had to inspect the young chick 
 ens. I had forty-five with three hens, though it had 
 taken five hens to hatch them out. The ladies 
 shrieked over my window of tomato-plants, with 
 small green tomatoes the size of a cherry. 
 
 " Oh, you should see the strawberries ! " cried Eve. 
 And now the loveliness of the chickens paled. 
 
 The strawberries were doing well. I had kept 
 them covered on the coldest days; the ground was 
 rich; they had been aired and watered; and now 
 some berries were nearly grown, and had a whitish 
 look. 
 
 "You will sell them, of course," said Mrs. Palmer. 
 " You never could be so extravagant as to eat straw 
 berries at from one to two dollars a quart, and I 
 shall engage some."
 
 IN A GARDEN 311 
 
 She laughed so mischievously, like the Sadie 
 Brooke of old. 
 
 "Yes," I answered as gayly, "on the principle 
 that farmers never can afford to use fresh eggs, or 
 spring chickens, or any thing in season." 
 
 "But you certainly will have some to spare, so 
 you can count me in. Why do you not have a 
 great greenhouse full of them?" 
 
 " For the best reason of all, I have not the 
 greenhouse." 
 
 "You ought to have," said Mrs. Wilbur. Then 
 she took a comprehensive survey of the place. " Mr. 
 Thurston, I shall suggest to Mr. Wilbur that he 
 build you a greenhouse, and we take the interest- 
 money in flowers and early fruits berries. Why, 
 you might make money enough to pay for it all ! 
 You and Miss Thurston are the most wonderful 
 people I ever met. And when you see Eve dancing 
 around like a butterfly, you wouldn't suppose " 
 
 " That I had an idea," interrupted Eve. " Why, 
 / think I have ideas enough to furnish a whole 
 colony. Why doesn't some association send me to 
 the West, or to Florida?" 
 
 " Let such a plan be mentioned," declared Sadie, 
 "and I shall straightway choke the mentioner. 
 Besides, you are to have a hotel here in Athens, and 
 a greenhouse. We shall fill the hotel with our most
 
 312 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 delightful friends, and we shall buy the contents 
 of the greenhouses." 
 
 We went in for a lunch, and had a merry time. 
 Afterward, Mrs. Palmer took me solemnly apart, to 
 the great amusement of the others. 
 
 " See here," she began, in her eager, girlish way, 
 "I just want to say to you, that, if you desire to 
 start in any of these things, you shall have whatever 
 money you want. Mr. Palmer will advance it, and 
 I will be the security." 
 
 "Thank you a thousand times," I made answer 
 from a full heart. 
 
 I may as well say here, that, of my strawberries 
 raised under glass, I sold, during the first two weeks 
 in May, twenty quarts at a dollar a quart, and fifteen 
 at seventy-five cents. But we were like the farmers, 
 we did not eat any except the imperfect ones. 
 They were large and fine flavored, for I kept them 
 on until ripe ; and I could have sold twice that 
 amount. The plants had been forced beyond their 
 strength, and most of them died through the sum 
 mer ; but I had plenty of others. My tomatoes did 
 fairly well, and brought a high price ; and my next 
 lot was ready for sale before Mr. Riker managed 
 to get any on the market. I had ten cucumbers 
 which I sold for a quarter of a dollar apiece, but on 
 the whole they were not a success : my next lot,
 
 IN A GARDEN 313 
 
 raised under glass, proved profitable. Hildreth made 
 note of all these experiments, putting down the mis 
 takes for future avoidance. 
 
 There certainly was a boom in Athens. People 
 looked about for houses to buy, and came to engage 
 board. 
 
 " I should have gone at the hotel," Pryor declared 
 ruefully. " I wish I had set myself about it last 
 fall, but I was so full of getting married and other 
 things. I could live here all the year round. I've 
 locked up my money in some new ventures with 
 Corwin, but I could hire some, I know. Let us hold 
 a meeting, and hunt up an attractive site. There 
 is a lovely chestnut-grove just above the Teall prop 
 erty, an elegant location. I am going to look after 
 it." 
 
 Meanwhile our plans matured more rapidly than 
 we imagined. Mrs. Riker had a child born, which 
 died when a few weeks old. Eve had made a little 
 acquaintance with her, and reported her as being 
 quite discouraged about her husband's venture. 
 She had been offered thirty-five hundred dollars for 
 the land by her cousin ; and she felt sure they could 
 never realize fifty-five hundred, even after her hus 
 band had spent the two thousand dollars. 
 
 The latter part of May a business offer came to 
 Mr. Riker. He had a cousin, a well-established
 
 314 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 nursery-man and fruit-grower in Western Pennsyl 
 vania, who had once asked him to come out. Now 
 this man's two sons had gone out to New Mexico, 
 where they had started extensive vineyards, and the 
 elder Mr. Riker found he must have some competent 
 help. He offered his nephew an excellent interest in 
 the business, and it seemed too good an opportunity 
 to miss. Mrs. Riker was very much in favor of his 
 going. 
 
 If he could dispose of his business. He consulted 
 Pryor, and threw out hints to Hildreth. Then he 
 started off to visit his uncle, and returned more 
 urgent than ever. Hildreth did not appear over 
 anxious, and insisted upon an appraisement before 
 he took any steps. A florist came down from Truro, 
 who considered the finished greenhouse should not 
 have cost more than seven hundred, and that the 
 new one, when finished, would be worth one or two 
 hundred more, being larger. But it still lacked a 
 great deal, though there was a contract for complet 
 ing it, and much of the material there. Then a man 
 came up from Northwood, and offered four thousand 
 for the whole thing. Riker asked six thousand. 
 Hildreth came forward with an offer of forty-five 
 hundred. The Northwood man reluctantly went a 
 hundred higher, when Hildreth put in his last bid of 
 five thousand, to hold good for the next fortnight.
 
 IN A GARDEN 315 
 
 No other offer came to hand. Mrs. Riker insisted 
 that he should close with it. So Hildreth paid over 
 to her the remaining three thousand dollars. There 
 was not at this time much stock on hand, as Mr. 
 Riker had been disposing of it in any quantity he 
 could work off, and it was too late for vegetables to 
 be of any great profit. So the first day of July 
 Hildreth took possession. 
 
 " Now," he said, " I must make my two thousand 
 dollars go a long ways. I can't afford to fly as high 
 as Mr. Riker." 
 
 The partnership was next in consideration. That 
 required some thought. At present I did not con 
 sider it advisable to throw up my position, though 
 I could devote some time to the work. Then, too, 
 I had not a little really valuable stock. Indeed, 
 Hildreth admitted that my roses were extremely 
 fine. We settled presently that the stock and labor 
 should be a joint-partnership concern ; Hildreth 
 owning the place, and a fair rent being paid for 
 it. 
 
 Everybody was wonderfully interested. Mr. Wil 
 bur and Mr. Palmer offered to become my bankers, 
 also our dear, lovely Mrs. Harwood, who came over 
 and boarded a fortnight with us, and was greatly 
 interested in the hotel project. Pryor had bought 
 the ground, and plans were being considered. Eve,
 
 316 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Celia, and Helen were inseparables, and each drew 
 plans until we could have built up the whole of 
 Athens with them. 
 
 " Suppose you sell," Pryor said to me one day. 
 
 I stared at him, then I replied that I half wished 
 I had the money for business purposes. 
 
 "Well, I struck something rather funny a few 
 days ago. You remember the Mr. Benson that 
 I took through your place, the man who was so 
 interested in poultry ? He asked then if the place 
 was for sale, and I said unhesitatingly, ' No.' I saw 
 him on Tuesday in the insurance office of a friend 
 when I was in New York, and we talked house and 
 poultry. Maybe I put it in rather glowing terms," 
 and Pryor gave a little chuckle. " He is a man of 
 considerable means, has several children married ; 
 but his youngest son, a boy eighteen, I think he 
 said, was badly injured a few years ago in a railroad 
 accident, and is deformed somewhat. He has had a 
 poultry craze for two years, and has a few thousand 
 dollars of his own to invest. Mr. Benson has been 
 thinking of buying a country-place, and wants to 
 bring his son over to talk ' chicken ' with you. Now 
 is your time to sail in and sell your house. I may 
 make an arrangement for him to come over, I sup 
 pose?" 
 
 For a moment I was astounded.
 
 IN A GARDEN 317 
 
 "I don't know about Eve," I replied. 
 
 " Eve is all right. She is going to take my hotel. 
 She can keep a hotel splendidly. You may just 
 count her out." 
 
 " What would you ask for the place ? " was my 
 hesitating inquiry. 
 
 " Five thousand dollars, and do not take a cent less. 
 Let them come over. The place is in its glory, and 
 your chicks beat any thing around here ; " said he, 
 nodding confidently. 
 
 " You couldn't get that for it." 
 
 " Give me leave. Well, I simply would not sell 
 it for less than that. Why, every thing in Athens 
 is worth more than it was two years ago. The 
 Wilburs' building has enhanced this; and think of 
 the new houses that have gone up ! And the hotel 
 will make things spin." 
 
 I drew a long breath, then hurried into the ticket- 
 office, as it was train-time.
 
 318 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 TEMPTATION NO. II 
 
 MY head spun as I walked up the hill to my 
 dinner, which was still the evening-meal. I felt in 
 a whirl of business. For two months events had 
 rushed upon me, upon us all. But, oh! how more 
 than beautiful it looked in the late sun-rays, trees, 
 flowers, velvety grass, the hammocks stretched on 
 porch and lawn ; Eve, Helen, and Lawrence disport 
 ing themselves ! Celia was to remain until eight 
 that evening, being very busy. 
 
 I have said little about her of late, not because 
 desire had grown any less, but an intangible some 
 thing seemed to stand between. How could I ask 
 a woman to marry me when I could not do for her 
 what she was doing for herself? I steeled myself 
 to a curious patient waiting, and just now it was 
 not hard to wait. 
 
 But, oh! how could I give up this delightful 
 home? Dreams had chilled me to the marrow of 
 being out of employment, of foreclosure of mort 
 gage, of loss and trouble, of being compelled to go
 
 IIs T A GARDEN 319 
 
 away; but could I leave of my own free will? 
 Never had it seemed so dear to me. A crowd of 
 happy remembrances flooded my mind. How Eve 
 and I had worked and planned, and made all manner 
 of ingenious adornments ! How closely we had 
 counted our money, she with a wonderful buoyant 
 hope, I with clutch of desperation ! Did she, would 
 she ever, care for Lawrence? She had a curious 
 I was going to say motherly way with her.^ She 
 sent him in out of the damp ; she made him go to 
 bed when he was looking tired ; when his voice 
 grew weary, she would not allow him to read aloud. 
 She even arranged his diet, and he gave in with a 
 sweet sort of meekness. But what steps would he 
 take to compel her to love him, when she liked him 
 so much ? 
 
 "What is the matter, Thurston?" he said pres 
 ently, when we were about half through the meal. 
 "You have not spoken a word. Are you repent- 
 ing?" 
 
 " You will find that Adam possesses an immense 
 capability of repentance, and a tremendous share of 
 misgiving," said my sister, with a laugh. " But 
 you must not allow him to infect you with his 
 fears." 
 
 " So long as he grows magnificent roses, I shall 
 forgive him and love him," was the reply. " And
 
 320 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 when the roses begin to fail, I hope I shall be strong 
 enough to get up and thrash him. I am not sure 
 but it is an event to be desired." 
 
 " Which ? " I asked. 
 
 " I do not believe the roses will deteriorate," 
 said Helen humorously. 
 
 I went down to the train, and found Celia looking 
 tired enough with her day's work, and drove her up 
 home in Joe's wagon. 
 
 " Isn't it time vacation begun ? " I asked, with 
 solicitude. 
 
 " I have just a few little things to finish up," she 
 answered in a rather weary tone. " And this 
 summer I mean to take a real vacation. I shall 
 spend it nearly all in the garden. I do begin to 
 envy you and Larry." 
 
 " We shall make you welcome in the garden," I 
 returned, with a quick beat of the heart. 
 
 "Do you know," Celia said, turning her sweet 
 face to me, " that I am so glad and thankful that 
 Lawrence is going to be settled here? And he is 
 growing stronger. Oh! do you remember the first 
 time I walked up this hill with you ? How strangely 
 events get shaped, just by a chance word ! " 
 
 Would they shape themselves to my desire, I 
 wondered. She seemed so much nearer, so infinitely 
 dear, in these worn and tired moods. I wanted to
 
 IK A GARDEtf 321 
 
 stretch out my arms and take her for all time. If 
 my new plans worked well 
 
 We could not do a great deal at this season of 
 the year, but Lawrence and I spent our spare 
 moments in " straightening up." We altered some 
 things in our greenhouse, and began to hurry the 
 other to completion. Many of the young trees and 
 shrubs looked poorly. We decided not to buy 
 much, but to bring all the cuttings we could from 
 my house. We would make the ground profitable 
 in this manner until we saw our way clear to do 
 something else with it. 
 
 " One could easily build a house at the upper 
 end," Hildreth said. " I do not suppose we shall 
 even want two acres in greenhouses. But what a 
 superb place for graperies ! Really, one almost 
 wishes for thousands to invest; but we must not 
 rush on too fast, rather take warning by our 
 young friend's over-ambitious schemes." 
 
 It was a lovely plot of ground, and Mr. Teall's 
 two houses were very handsome. He proposed to 
 build two more on the avenue, and was much 
 pleased with the hotel project. 
 
 It was a week after this, I think, that Mr. Benson 
 and his son Walter came out. The lad was small 
 and fragile-looking, with one high shoulder. There 
 had been a wrench to the spine, but it was not a pos-
 
 322 
 
 itive hump-back. He was fair, with a sweet, almost 
 imploring face ; and somehow my heart went out to 
 him at once. 
 
 I took him through my chicken-yards. We had 
 hatched out one hundred and twenty-three chickens 
 this year, and had already used a good many. My 
 Leghorns had been culled of every thing not quite 
 true, and they were a handsome lot. They and 
 some games were all that I kept separate. The 
 young chicks were in a yard by themselves, and the 
 hens in another, about thirty-seven extremely hand 
 some fowls. I explained to him very freely my ex 
 periments and successes. I had not done it on a 
 purely business basis, but I saw how it could be car 
 ried forward to a considerable profit. 
 
 " It would be good to have more land," said Mr. 
 Benson. " I wonder if one could buy some of that 
 lying above." 
 
 The remark startled me. 
 
 " If my son should make such a venture, I should 
 want him to have a chance of success. It seems as 
 if one ought to be able to do the work he is inter 
 ested in, and there are things that would be much 
 too wearing for Walter." 
 
 " I mean to try the experiment somewhere," said 
 the lad. "And this is such a lovely place ! I do 
 not like real country ; that is, large farms with houses
 
 IN A GARDEN 323 
 
 ever so far apart. What a nice show of fruit ! " and 
 he glanced around. "Can you sell any of it?" 
 
 I told him I had sold both fruit and berries. 
 
 " Do you suppose, now, that a young fellow could 
 make his living on a place like this well, by 
 branching out a little ? " asked Mr. Benson. 
 
 " One young fellow certainly could. I have not 
 given half my time to it, and it was very much run 
 down when I came." 
 
 "You have matters in excellent shape. Now, 
 Walter, do you imagine you have as much genius as 
 Mr. Thurston ? " 
 
 " This is my first attempt," I said. " I did not 
 suppose I had any special genius for farming. I 
 should not hesitate to undertake it on a larger 
 scale." 
 
 " Is that your purpose ? " 
 
 " Not exactly. I am to try raising flowers with a 
 friend." 
 
 " You have a splendid showing here ; " and he 
 glanced about. "Will you take us through the 
 house ? Isn't five thousand pretty steep fox a place 
 like this?" and he turned rather sharply upon 
 me. 
 
 " It is in excellent order, and there is" a great deal 
 that can be made profitable all the time," I said, 
 with a show of being indifferent ; " and I really had
 
 324 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 not thought of selling it until Mr. Pryor mentioned 
 you." 
 
 Walter was really enchanted with the interior. I 
 think Mr. Benson was very much pleased. He 
 asked about the water and the drains, and inspected 
 the cellar. Every thing was as neat as a pin. 
 
 Afterward I walked down to the station with 
 them, and was a little amused by the backward 
 looks they bestowed. 
 
 " We shall want a little time to think this over ! " 
 exclaimed Mr. Benson. " Walter may run up some 
 day by himself, if you have no objection." 
 
 I said he would be welcome at any time. 
 
 Eve came down an hour later to walk up home 
 with me. 
 
 " What did those people want? " she asked. " My 
 mind misgave me. They had a sort of buying-look." 
 
 " Would you sell under any circumstances ? " and 
 I looked her square in the eyes. 
 
 " O Adam ! it would be like selling your first 
 born." There was a touching quiver in her voice. 
 "And yet I wonder if I am mercenary? if we 
 could make something ! And I'm half enchanted 
 with the hotel project. I like stir and life and 
 business. Oh ! would you ever believe that I coaxed 
 you to live in two rooms over a railroad-station?" 
 and she gave a rather hysterical laugh.
 
 IN A GARDEN 325 
 
 "I wish you would tell nie what a buying-look 
 was like," I said with a sense of amusement. 
 
 " They had an air I can't describe it " looking 
 perplexed. " And I had a presentiment. They will 
 buy it, I know. And what have you asked? " 
 
 I told her Pryor's estimate and advice. 
 
 " Oh, my lovely, lovely house ! " she cried, as we 
 entered the gate. " There can never be any thing 
 quite like you again ! And I thought we were 
 settled for life." 
 
 " But we need not go away." 
 
 " We need not ? All the same, I think we will. 
 And if it is best well, we have been very, very 
 happy. It is like a fairy story, and we can turn 
 back to it with no regret. Every thing has been 
 prosperous right along." 
 
 " Do you realize how steadily you have toiled to 
 this end, my dear Eve ? how you have taught 
 music and painting, and brought housekeeping to 
 a fine art, and made economy a science?" 
 
 "Yes: I believe I have a genius for planning out 
 all the housekeeping, and systematizing the work. 
 I would rather do this on a large scale than teach 
 music. I must confess that the hotel looks attractive 
 to me ; and, while I should not like to break up my 
 own pretty, cosey home for that, if we could sell to 
 an advantage, I should step right into that, and
 
 326 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 make another delightful centre. This, you see, is 
 my genius." 
 
 "And are you never going to marry ? " 
 
 I turned away to study something as I said this, 
 for I experienced a qualm of insincerity. 
 
 " Suppose I should not ? Well, I shall soon be 
 on the ' list,' " and she gave a gay little laugh. 
 "But it is the fashion nowadays for women to be 
 in business. If you are a successful business-woman, 
 and make money, you do not lose caste. The 
 romantic idea of a woman sitting in her back- 
 kitchen window, in a faded calico dress, darning her 
 husband's old socks, patching his shirts and trousers, 
 has gone out of date. Confess, now, that I am ever 
 so much prettier than she ? " 
 
 Eve stands before me, straight, slim, and tall, with 
 glowing eyes and cheeks, and the sauciest, most be 
 witching cherry-ripe lips. Alas for the poor house 
 hold drudge ! No, I should not like to see her in 
 such a place. 
 
 "Then," she adds, a little more grave in tone, 
 "Joe and Ruth will commence housekeeping some 
 time this fall. There will be changes and changes. 
 When we are too utterly homesick, we will come up 
 here and roam around, and bedew the paths with 
 our tears. Out of mine will spring a red, red rose, 
 and out of yours a brier, ier, ier "
 
 IN A GARDEN 327 
 
 I caught her in my arms and kissed her. She 
 had managed Mr. Bradford in the most admirable 
 manner. What it cost her, I knew long afterward. 
 She would not allow any difference ; if any thing, she 
 went to church more regularly ; she sang, she petted 
 up the younger girls, she sent her choicest flowers 
 to adorn the chancel, and took a hand in all good 
 works, making herself so undeniably friendly that 
 a man could not mistake. Eve certainly had the 
 rare gift of transforming her lovers into friends. 
 They could not resist her : they could not refuse to 
 take what she offered them so frankly. I do not 
 believe she had a better or truer friend in the 
 world than Gordon Pryor, and I knew the time 
 would come when Mr. Bradford would settle into 
 a similar regard. 
 
 The last week in July was one of those curious 
 summer anomalies, beginning with a thunder-shower 
 one evening, then drizzling all night, and keeping 
 up an east wind, moist atmosphere, and occasional 
 rain for several successive days. Hildreth and I 
 took advantage of this. We decided to turn at 
 least two acres into fruit-growing for some years, 
 quite certain it would be more profitable than 
 regular nursery business. I had such hosts of 
 splendid young currants, and others ready to slip, 
 so we did quite an extensive business in trans-
 
 328 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 planting. Indeed, like many others I had filled my 
 place so full that I must have given or thrown 
 them away. We decided also to take up a number 
 of chrysanthemums. We cut squares large enough 
 to enclose all the roots, and I don't believe they 
 ever realized they had "moved." Then we drove 
 down stakes ; and when the sun shone again, we had 
 awnings of cheap unbleached muslin that had been 
 given a coat of oil, which we stretched over them, 
 and the currants as well. I had used this to cover 
 my chickens' coops in a storm, and found it admirable 
 protection for young chicks. 
 
 We had on our place one very late peach. Half 
 of it was dead the year we came ; but I trimmed it, 
 put wood-ashes about the root, and gave it two or 
 three baths of hot soda-water. It bore about a 
 peck of the most magnificent peaches I ever saw, 
 ripening from the first until the middle of October. 
 I planted all the pits, but only ten of them germi 
 nated. The second year I sold from it a basket of 
 peaches for which I obtained two dollars and a half. 
 I had learned that very early fruit and the very late 
 commanded the best prices. I had budded several 
 stray peach-trees, and also planted again. I had 
 what might be called a swamp of young peach- 
 trees; so Hildreth and I decided that we would 
 devote one acre to a peach-farm, with rows of
 
 IN A GAKDEN 329 
 
 strawberries set between. There were fifty young 
 grapevines Riker had planted out, but they had 
 not been well cared for ; and a few fruit-trees of 
 various kinds. Two cherries were dying. Some 
 of the dwarf-pears looked thrifty. We wanted to 
 raise enough fruit to pay the tax on the whole 
 place. Later on in the season we would transplant 
 the peaches, raspberries, and blackberries. 
 
 We decided to devote one house exclusively to 
 roses, and make those a specialty. We had 
 received a catalogue from one famous rose-grower, 
 and Hildreth had resolved to visit him in prefer 
 ence to sending an order by mail. I had numbers 
 of roses, and some rarely beautiful, both in slips I 
 had raised, and others from roots divided. We 
 should take from our place all we could spare 
 without impoverishing it, even if we sold. 
 
 The week Hildreth was away, young Benson came 
 over. I let him see my poultry account, and im 
 parted various bits of experience. To make hens 
 lay in winter, to raise chicks of breeds that grew 
 rapidly and could be put on the market early, 
 and to keep some choice kinds, pure, of course, 
 from which one could sell eggs for hatching, seemed 
 about the greatest points. As for the rest, good 
 diet, cleanliness, and care in season, light and 
 warmth, were about all the grand secrets. So far
 
 330 A 
 
 I had kept mine free from vermin, had no contagious 
 diseases, and very few cases of gapes. When my 
 chickens were first hatched out, I put some kerosene 
 under the mother's wings, and now and then a sprin 
 kling of sulphur around them. While I had them in 
 the loft, I took up a sod every day or two, and let 
 them peck at the tender roots, and scratch off the dirt. 
 I also fed them bits of meat and worms occasionally. 
 
 Walter had given the subject a good deal of study ; 
 but he said, 
 
 " Why, how simple you make it all ! It would be 
 splendid to have an adviser like you. I wonder if 
 you would be willing to counsel me occasionally, 
 if I did get into a bad fix ? " 
 
 " Certainly," I returned. " I do not pretend to be 
 over-wise, but you are quite welcome to all that 
 I have learned by experience." 
 
 Eve gave him the daintiest lunch, and then played 
 an hour for him, making him sing a little. He had 
 a sweet, but not very strong, voice. 
 
 " I should like to come here because you are not 
 going away," he confessed, with a kind of wistful 
 frankness. "People seem so nice and cordial at 
 Athens. I like Mr. Pryor, and that Mr. Crawford is 
 so bright and merry. It almost seems in the air." 
 
 " I think it is," replied Eve. " Athens always was 
 a famous place, you know."
 
 IN A GARDEN 331 
 
 Pryor offered to take him up to see his friend Van- 
 duyne, and drive him about a little, if he would 
 come over again. 
 
 " You and Eve are bound to sell the place," I said. 
 
 They we all, I think settled upon a plan for 
 the hotel. It was to be built so that a wing could be 
 added any time ; and would contain on the two floors 
 above the first story thirty-two nice sleeping-cham 
 bers, with good closet-room, baths, and so arranged 
 that rooms could be thrown into suites for family pur 
 poses. There was a handsome long drawing-room, 
 two small reception-rooms, a reading and smoking 
 room for gentlemen, besides the dining-rooms, which 
 were arranged in three sections, with sliding doors, 
 and could thus be converted into one large apart 
 ment. The kitchens were below; though the ground 
 sloped somewhat toward the rear, which made them 
 only a step or two below the ground at the back. 
 Mr. Palmer and Mr. Wilbur were to advance the 
 money for the building, leaving Pryor the more free 
 with what he had, and in no immediate danger of 
 foreclosure, since the mortgage was to run five 
 years. 
 
 The first of August they broke ground, and began 
 the foundation. There was to be a driven well and 
 two large cisterns with force-pumps ; as at present 
 there were no water-pipes in Athens, although the
 
 332 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 matter had been discussed. Our greenhouses had 
 been arranged with leaders to catch the rain-water, 
 and lead it into tanks ; and an old well had been 
 cleared out and put in order, so we were tolerably 
 well provided for. f 
 
 Hildreth remained away five days, and came home 
 glowing with knowledge and enthusiasm. He had 
 invested twenty-five dollars in roses. 
 
 " And such a gorgeous place ! " he declared. " It 
 would fill you with envy ! Of course we shall never 
 have any thing like that, but I know I should have 
 bankrupted myself if there had been any place ready 
 to put so much stock. Yet we must not undertake 
 more than we can attend to properly, and for the 
 present we do not want to hire a regiment of help. 
 But I have resolved to finish our other house. I 
 have found a better method of heating, considerably 
 cheaper than the contract Mr. Riker made." 
 
 This had been something of a bother to us. We had 
 given the man notice on our taking possession ; but 
 he had come up immediately, and insisted upon doing 
 the work at once. When we declined, he threatened 
 to sue for breach of contract. This had not alarmed 
 Hildreth, however ; but the man had proved curiously 
 persistent, and we as much in earnest to get rid of 
 him. 
 
 Our cold-frames we went at ourselves. The foun-
 
 IN A GARDEN 333 
 
 dation of one had been so poorly laid that the mortar 
 was crumbling out. There was no end of stone and 
 rubble ; but I had succeeded so well with my own 
 experiment, that I went at it with renewed courage. 
 My lime, sand, and such materials, I could get at 
 Pryor's for a trifle beyond cost. I did hire a stout 
 Irish laborer for two days. We made two long rows 
 of wall that would answer at any time for a green 
 house. The partitions were temporary, put in 
 more to support the frames than any thing else. 
 
 Miss Hildreth was much interested in our venture. 
 She came down nearly every day : she and Eve took 
 walks and drives in a leisurely way. There was no 
 chance to take boarders this summer : we had our 
 house full. Then both girls went to Asbury Park for 
 a week, and Mrs. Wilbur persuaded them to take an 
 excursion to Bar Harbor afterward. 
 
 Meanwhile the Bensons came over singly and en 
 famille. Mrs. Benson was really captivated with 
 the place. The abundance of flowers and fruit, the 
 homelike aspect of every thing, won her completely. 
 I left the matter in Pryor's hands ; and the very day 
 before the girls returned home, Mr. Benson came 
 to hand with five hundred dollars to bind the bar 
 gain, and to learn when we would be willing to give 
 possession. 
 
 I could do nothing until Eve's return. The very
 
 334 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 first night we sat up until long past midnight, dis 
 cussing it pro and con. That it was very dear to the 
 whole four of us, we admitted. We even said there 
 never could be such a charm about another place. 
 But there were several points that made it appear 
 desirable to let it go. The impending change which 
 did seem for the best, the freedom of using the money 
 in other ways, and having no divided interest, over- 
 
 x 
 
 balanced the sentiment. 
 
 Yet the wrench was like parting with something 
 out of one's very soul. We went about saying, 
 
 " And must I leave thee, Paradise ? " 
 
 in a mock-heroic way, but there were times when 
 tears were not far from the surface. 
 
 Joe had settled upon a pretty cottage in Pryor's 
 Row, as it had been christened by the Athenians. 
 It had six nice rooms, with an excellent fireplace 
 heater in the parlor that could be counted upon 
 for keeping the second floor comfortable. They 
 were to pay ten dollars a month rent, and had the 
 option of buying it; but Joe thought he would 
 rather wait and purchase more ground. They de 
 sired to get settled during the month of September. 
 The Bensons did not want to wait later than the 
 first of October, if they moved in the fall. Mr. 
 Wilbur offered us his house for the winter, and we
 
 IX A GARDEN 335 
 
 resolved to make that our headquarters ; though Eve 
 had suggested going back to the station. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Pryor proposed to cast in their lot with us, 
 and Eve decided upon a capable colored woman 
 that Mrs. Banks recommended. So that was all 
 settled without further difficulty. Our goods could 
 be stored at the station ; though some of them had 
 been donated to Joe and Ruth, and a few we would 
 take with us. It was curious how easily every thing 
 seemed to get arranged.
 
 336 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 WE ENTER THE GARDEN 
 
 ON the 18th of September we met at Mr. Pryor's 
 office, and bargained away our lovely home ; sealed, 
 signed, and transferred to Walter Benson, through 
 his guardian, Edward Frye Benson, all right, title, 
 etc., receiving therefor the sum of five thousand 
 dollars; and we took up the mortgage, which our 
 dear, bright-eyed Mrs. Harwood was ready to release, 
 and she generously offered the money back to me if I 
 needed it. 
 
 The Bensons would have preferred waiting until 
 spring, but Walter was anxious to begin his venture. 
 The money paid for the house he had received for 
 damages from the railroad company as if any 
 thing could ever make amends to the poor lad for 
 his maimed body ! He would have lost some time 
 by waiting, though he took his business at the most 
 unprofitable season. 
 
 And now we that is, Eve and T came out of 
 our business venture in this manner. We had
 
 IN A GARDEN 337 
 
 owned our house two years and a half. The ex 
 penses against it had mounted up in this wise : 
 
 Amount of interest paid $300 00 
 
 Taxes for three years 119 56 
 
 Paper for walls 9 50 
 
 Finishing two rooms in attic 15 85 
 
 Spent for paint and labor 52 67 
 
 Miscellaneous repairs 22 60 
 
 Deed, recording, etc 12 50 
 
 $532 68 
 Add to this present amount of mortgage . . 1,700 00 
 
 $2,232 68 
 
 We had now to deduct this sum from the five 
 thousand dollars we received. We had paid one 
 thousand three hundred dollars besides the current 
 expenses. Out of the sum returned, four hundred 
 and sixty-eight dollars was clear profit. This may 
 not seem to the reader at all extravagant, but we 
 felt quite well satisfied. Our home had been de 
 lightful, our living luxurious, I might say, for the 
 fruit, poultry, and eggs had been abundant. My 
 income from my position and the " farm " had been 
 about six hundred and thirty dollars a year. Eve 
 had averaged two hundred from her music and other 
 matters, not counting the boarders. 
 
 So that in two years and a half we had increased 
 our little hoard of seven hundred to two thousand
 
 338 A MODERN ADAM AND EYE 
 
 seven hundred and sixty-eight dollars by dint of 
 hard work, economy, and good fortune. Neither 
 of us had experienced a day's absolute illness. We 
 had won our share of the world's wealth, and 
 done our duty by the bloated or plethoric million- 
 naires. 
 
 I insisted upon dividing our fortune. I wanted 
 Eve to take the odd hundreds, and let me keep an 
 even thousand ; but she would not, so we had 
 thirteen hundred and eighty-four dollars apiece. 
 Mrs. Harwood came up to the house, for Eve 
 declared that we must have a party. The Pryors, 
 the Wilburs, and our own six, were all the guests. 
 Joe had just bargained away his express-business 
 to a young man who meant to keep a hack for 
 passengers, besides the parcel delivery, which was 
 too much now for Joe to attend to. 
 
 The lad's prosperity amazed me more than my 
 own. Most people would call it sheer good luck. 
 There had been times when it seemed so to me ; 
 then I remembered Joe's industry, and the admirable 
 quality of thinking no work beneath him. He had 
 won Mr. Wilbur's regard by the cheerfulness with 
 which he had done all kinds of chores at the time of 
 the building: he had attracted Pryor by his per 
 sistency, shrewdness, and entire honesty. And he 
 had won my love and that of Eve by the good,
 
 IX A GARDEN" 339 
 
 manful fight he had made on the side of temperance, 
 and his cheerful, steady affection. Meanwhile, how 
 many young lads had gone to ruin for want of a 
 friendly hand stretched out at the crisis of their lives ! 
 
 I think we were all the merrier this evening, 
 because one would not allow the other to be sad. 
 We said all manner of laughable things, and we did 
 laugh over them : we ate our peaches, pears, grapes, 
 and melons, with cake sandwiched between, and 
 some most delightful coffee. Mrs. Wilbur declared 
 it a feast of nectar and ambrosia. Then we ad 
 journed to the parlor, and had some music, sang 
 songs, and said good-night. 
 
 Was it that for the first time in my life I had 
 allowed myself to dream that Celia might actually 
 be mine ? I went so far, she came so near, that at 
 one point our lives interpenetrated. I had the 
 divine glimpse of what was possible, I had a vision 
 of what would be. 
 
 Our guests went away after midnight. The rest 
 retired to their rooms. Eve went up to see that 
 Mrs. Harwood was comfortable. I locked and 
 barred, then sank down into an arm-chair in a most 
 blissful reverie. 
 
 A light step startled me. Eve stood there with 
 such a sweet, mysterious face. Then she stooped 
 and kissed me.
 
 340 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 "O Adam!" she murmured, under a long, tremu 
 lous breath, " I couldn't wait. I wanted to know. 
 I have had it in my heart so long. I have loved her 
 like a sister. Because I wanted to have it this way, 
 I have felt almost afraid ; and now " 
 
 "But I have not asked her," I gasped. "I could 
 not. I have always thought what did I have to 
 offer her ? But to-night " 
 
 " O you dear, delicious old goose ! " Eve's face 
 was hidden against mine, and its flush seemed to 
 thrill through me. " Well, then, find out for your 
 self! This was why I thought it best to sell, to 
 make a change, to leave you more free. I guessed 
 when she was away last winter. Providence has 
 interfered signally in your behalf ; and if you haven't 
 the pluck to go on, and ' ask for yourself, John ! ' 
 why, then you must go mourning all your days." 
 
 She straightened herself suddenly, and kissed me 
 once more, turned, but I caught both hands. 
 
 " Eve," I cried, " are you never going to have any 
 confidence for me?" 
 
 "How can I, if no one comes to woo?" she 
 replied laughingly as she ran away. 
 
 I sat and dreamed a long while. After all, we 
 had been very happy, though we had worked no 
 miracles; and they are not possible on small in 
 comes, in spite of romantic economists and imagi-
 
 IN A GARDEN 341 
 
 native statisticians. We had furnished, simply 
 enough ; we had clothed ourselves ; taken a daily 
 paper, a weekly ; and our 'library subscription had 
 given us magazines as well as books. We had en 
 joyed an occasional theatre and concert, taken a few 
 short journeys, and tried to keep in excellent physi 
 cal and mental order ; for there may be a good deal 
 of existence that is no true living. 
 
 We awoke the next morning homeless. What a 
 queer, lonely pang it gave one ! I had a bit of 
 breakfast with Eve ; and, remembering a paper I 
 needed, I went out to our pretty reception-room 
 where we had enjoyed so much delight. A light 
 step came down the stair. Eve tripped or flew, 
 and had as many paces as a young colt ; but Celia's 
 movement was always the same, elastic, but with 
 a curious steadiness. I turned. 
 
 Did we both understand? I wonder how many 
 hearts have been plighted without a word ! I took 
 her in my arms. The throbbing of her pulses 
 thrilled me. I could feel the flush on her cheek, 
 the tremulousness of the lips that met mine, and 
 withheld not that first sacred troth, that exquisite 
 surrender. It was martyrdom to tear one's self 
 away, and yet I had to do it. 
 
 How impatiently I waited for my next glimpse ! 
 There was a crowd of people impatient for tickets,
 
 342 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 but I snatched one moment, and touched her hand 
 before the train whirled her away ; and it seemed as 
 if a hundred things might happen, and we two 
 never meet again ! I resolved to follow her to the 
 city : then I remembered how many important mat 
 ters were waiting for my supervision. 
 
 Hildreth and I had formed our partnership. The 
 remaining greenhouse was to be finished at his 
 expense, and the rent was to be paid before any 
 real division of profits. My own stock was a set-off 
 to that he had taken from Mr. Riker, and now we 
 were to put in our labor and money equally. I had 
 stipulated with the Bensons for the removal of 
 certain young trees, plants, etc., and was to devote 
 all my spare time to it. We had promised posses 
 sion the first of October. 
 
 Mrs. Harwood came down to inspect our new 
 arrangements. I think she was wonderfully inter 
 ested in our venture. I had brought over geraniums 
 and various other plants. We had two strawberry- 
 beds set out from runners I had struck in pots, and I 
 had set out a number of annual roses and vines. 
 
 "If ever you should cover your five acres, you 
 will have a fortune," she said. "Do not rush on 
 too fast, but remember that you need never stint 
 yourself of any thing necessary ; and I am very glad 
 that Eve can take a holiday."
 
 IN A GARDEN 343 
 
 It was not so merry that evening ; but I know of 
 one, who, if not caught up to the third heaven, still 
 heard things that are too sacred to utter. I did not 
 suppose we kept our secret from Eve or Lawrence ; 
 but they exhibited a wonderful wisdom, and left us 
 quite to ourselves while they went over to settle 
 some matters with our neighbors. 
 
 Somewhere in the talk I spoke of my present 
 limited circumstances. 
 
 " The new order of greater equality between men 
 arid women has settled some points," Celia replied, 
 with a lovely and convincing smile. "And while 
 any true wife must always be dependent on her 
 husband for many things, if she has a genius or a 
 business that she can carry on without neglecting 
 her home or his claims upon her, I do not see any 
 pertinent reason for her giving it up. I am not a 
 genius, perhaps, in the larger sense; but I have estab 
 lished a place for myself in the world, and have 
 reached a point where I can make some money with 
 ease. So for the present I prefer to go on ; but I 
 want you to feel, my dear love, that, if it was wisest 
 and best, I should live cheerfully upon your in 
 come." 
 
 I called her an angel. I was supremely, idiotically 
 happy. 
 
 Joe meanwhile made his nest ready, arid trans-
 
 344 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 ported his belongings thither. Mrs. Montgomery 
 made some additions. Eve sent them our parlor- 
 chairs and several ornamental articles she did not 
 wish to store. The others, except some we intended 
 to use, were boxed, and sent down to the station. 
 Mrs. Wilbur declared that she hated to go away, 
 and that we might count on her as a frequent 
 visitor. Mrs. Pryor was to make the first essay in 
 housekeeping. Eve and Celia had planned to spend 
 some time in New York. 
 
 And at last the pretty house was dismantled. 
 Still, we had no opportunity to mope over its dreari 
 ness; for the very next day some of the Bensons' 
 belongings came up, with a woman to clean and to 
 settle them. Our new handmaiden, a tidy colored 
 woman of five and thirty, a relative of Mrs. Banks, 
 had been with us for a fortnight, and we liked her 
 very well. We decided to "even up" the cost of 
 living, as there were three couples of us, and our 
 rent comparatively low. Indeed, at first Mrs. Wilbur 
 would not consent to any remuneration ; but we 
 placed it before her in a proper light, and our 
 eloquence prevailed. 
 
 Mr. Wilbur had invested twelve hundred dollars 
 for Eve in some stock that paid ten per cent. I 
 placed mine at the bank, but I meant to make one 
 or two small investments as I saw chances. I had
 
 IN A GARDEN 345 
 
 another bit of luck. The attention of the company 
 had been called to the lack of proper room for 
 freight and express, and the superintendent had 
 come up to inquire into the matter. I described the 
 changes that had taken place since my coming to 
 Athens, and gave Joe no small degree of credit in 
 the part he had worked up so successfully. It was 
 decided to tear out the small freight-house, and build 
 a much larger place, putting in a broad, easy stair 
 case, and connecting it with the room over the office. 
 While we were discussing this matter, I asked for an 
 increase of salary, and represented that I had done 
 something toward working up extra business, and 
 that the duties of the place were much more exten 
 sive than when I had first taken it, and that no 
 doubt the hotel, as well as the natural increase of 
 business, would add to the number of passengers. I 
 also gently insinuated that I would not be at loss in 
 obtaining a much better position. 
 
 When my month's pay reached me, I found my 
 talking had been to some purpose/ Five dollars a 
 month was not very much, to be sure, but I took 
 it with thankfulness. 
 
 By the last of October we made quite a show in 
 our greenhouses. For our twenty-five dollars we 
 had one hundred and thirty-five roses, some of them 
 extremely beautiful ; and we had made a very good
 
 346 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 friend of the Messrs. S. & Co. I had sixty of my 
 own, besides a number of hardy plants in the ground. 
 One of our cold-frames I had filled with some late 
 chrysanthemums that I found were going to blossom 
 finely. We had many choice geraniums, one very 
 handsome white, that looked not unlike a small rose. 
 Eve's passion had been bourvardias : we had them in 
 all colors, and the dear old-time clove-pinks. Indeed, 
 we had a very handsome show of carnations, and 
 some splendid young heliotrope. We were to plant 
 beds of mignonette and sweet alyssum, and also to 
 do what we could in spring-violets. These things 
 we thought would be as much as we ought to ven 
 ture upon, for we had much still to learn. 
 
 We went in and took possession of our new home. 
 The parlor was very large and on the north side. 
 No provision had been made for heating this, but on 
 the other side one Baltimore heater had been set. 
 There was a sitting-room, dining-room, and com 
 modious kitchen. Up-stairs on the south side were 
 three spacious chambers, two on the north. Three 
 were all we should want to use ordinarily. We 
 might not be quite so cosey, but it would answer very 
 well ; and in case of need we could put up a stove or 
 two. At present we could keep warm enough with 
 a very moderate fire. 
 
 Walter Benson had spoken for my poultry. I had
 
 IN A GARDEN 347 
 
 thirty-five ordinary hens, mixed considerably with 
 Brahma and a Houdan strain, eighteen elegant Leg 
 horns with a really superb cock. I had kept these 
 apart, and culled out every thing with the slightest 
 off feathering or mark. Then I had about sixty 
 pullets and cockerels, though we had been using up 
 the latter sex. He took the hens of both kinds, and 
 forty of the finest pullets, and paid me sixty-five 
 dollars. I certainly had made on my poultry, 
 though I had done it more to convince myself than 
 for actual profit. Eve was quite jubilant, but we 
 both decided that we did love the flowers rather 
 more. In fact, Eve was a most enthusiastic green 
 house girl. I think the hotel project rather trembled 
 in the balance, though the building itself was mak 
 ing rapid strides. 
 
 I insisted upon dividing my hen-fortune with Eve ; 
 and about this time she gave up her last music- 
 scholar, although the fair ladies of Athens now 
 formed a musical union, and expected to give several 
 entertainments through the winter. They had a 
 very delightful leader, an enthusiastic, pleasant- 
 tempered German. 
 
 My twenty remaining chickens I devoted to the 
 family store. I was deeply interested in Walter's suc 
 cess, and promised to give him the benefit of my expe 
 rience. Besides Mrs. Benson, there was Mrs. Oilman
 
 348 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 and her two children ; and they did seem much 
 pleased with their new home. The second week in 
 October was cold, rainy, and unpleasant, but after 
 that it was delightful weather. There was an abun 
 dance of grapes for them, some pears and a few 
 apples. They bought a horse, and enjoyed the lovely 
 drives, and we made them acquainted with several 
 of the most agreeable of their neighbors. 
 
 I must not omit to state that our new business had 
 already begun. Soon after Mrs. Harwood's return 
 to the city, she had sent me an order for every chrys 
 anthemum that I could cut. A young friend of hers 
 desired to be surrounded by her favorite flower 
 at her wedding. I had white, yellow, and four 
 shades of pink, one very deep red, a beautiful feath 
 ery flower, very large and very delicate-looking. 
 From an old root on the place I had raised eight 
 elegant plants. I sent them without knowing their 
 value, leaving it to her to arrange, and received in 
 return a check for seven dollars, with word that 
 some of mine were the finest in the display. I think 
 we both felt wonderfully elated. We had hardly 
 thought to sell them, or indeed any thing, so soon. 
 And a few days later we had an order from Mrs. 
 Palmer for our choice roses and all the bourvardia 
 we had. 
 
 I was so near that I could spend a good deal of my
 
 IN A GARDEN 349 
 
 time at this new and fascinating employment ; and, 
 as soon as she had a little leisure, Eve must needs 
 stray down, at which Mrs. Pryor complained loudly, 
 until I suggested they might both come and live in a 
 garden. Jane, our handmaiden, seemed left much to 
 her own devices ; but she was a good cook, and, the 
 girls said, not extravagant. 
 
 Lawrence Hildreth certainly throve upon his new 
 occupation. His angular frame began to fill out, and 
 a healthy color came in the place of the pallor that I 
 had concluded must be natural. He worked in a 
 sensible fashion, leaving off as soon as he felt 
 fatigued. 
 
 " I have too much at stake to overdo now," he 
 would say with a smile. " My lessons have been suf 
 ficiently costly to make me heed them." 
 
 But we walked round about our plantation with 
 high hearts. I had an enthusiasm here, that I had 
 not experienced about our home : indeed, there had 
 always been some presentiment of loss, some vague 
 fear, that I could laugh at now. And I was very 
 happy. I should have been an ingrate had it proved 
 otherwise. 
 
 " But we shall never have this great place full," I 
 said one day to Larry. " Every week it seems to grow 
 larger to my eyes." 
 
 " I don't know as we shall turn it all into a gar-
 
 350 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 den," he replied. " On the avenue next to Mr. Teall's 
 we may some day build a house, or houses, unless we 
 get so used to living together that we shall never 
 want to live alone ; " and he gave a humorous smile. 
 There was a row of fine old maples along Ruther 
 ford Avenue ; and we set out some trees on Linden 
 Street, not enough to shade us in time to come. Mr. 
 Riker had built his first greenhouse a little distance 
 from the corner. We had a plan of some day adding 
 to this by a pretty two-story structure, mostly of 
 glass. We had seen one in Northwood that had 
 captured our fancy. The greenhouse was eighty- 
 seven feet long on Linden Street. The stone foun 
 dation was about two feet high, then glass for about 
 thirty inches. The building was twenty feet wide : 
 the peak of the roof was about eight feet, the path 
 down the centre being sunk eighteen inches. On 
 each side of the edge of the roof was fastened a 
 leader that caught the rain from the roof, and at the 
 end they both ran into a cistern. Here were situated 
 the boiler-house and a coal-bin, a force-pump, and a 
 closet for various useful articles ; and from here ran 
 the iron pipes used for heating in winter. . Nearest 
 the outside edge along both sides was a wide border 
 for plants, while underneath various ferns and plants 
 needing shade could be stowed. On iron braces was 
 another wide row of shelving just high enough to
 
 IN A GARDEN 351 
 
 clear one's head. In this we had placed our roses. 
 The methods of ventilation were excellent, and on 
 the Linden-street side the sashes were protected from 
 an accidental stone by coarse wire netting that did 
 not interfere with the light. 
 
 The other was far enough back of this to escape 
 being shaded ; the side toward the north being 
 boarded, and the glass roof being pitched all one 
 way, with shelves rising step-like for plants. This 
 house was seventy-five feet long, and twenty feet 
 wide, the heat and water arranged the same as in the 
 other. We put our promiscuous plants in here, and 
 the borders we prepared for our violets and seedlings. 
 I had been gathering fine compost, and had brought 
 from the woods several loads of rich soil, and piled 
 up some good loam. We had altered this border, 
 shoring it up with timber by the path. It was about 
 forty inches wide. We made a foundation of rubble, 
 sand, and earth, then mixed our soils for the top 
 layer. We had now the whole thirty-five feet like a 
 large garden-bed. We had ordered one thousand 
 violets ; and the day they came, Eve insisted upon 
 helping us to plant them out. By this device we 
 were spared any trouble of potting ; though we left a 
 space between, and kept each kind by itself. In this 
 border we also set out fifty heliotrope plants, sowed 
 our mignonette, alyssum, and at the end Eve began
 
 352 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 a bed of nasturtiums, one of her favorites. We had 
 a number of boxes in which we placed three or four 
 plants of heliotrope, and the rest of our hundred we 
 kept potted. 
 
 Every spare moment through October we worked 
 like beavers, doing some things in the evening. At 
 the end of the month we were in tolerable order, 
 and had bought most of our plants for the present. 
 Twice we had gone to auction where private green 
 houses were selling out. Our bills stood thus : 
 
 135 roses $25 
 
 15 roses 7 
 
 2 camellias 9 
 
 100 heliotrope 14 
 
 1,000 violets 95 
 
 30 azaleas 25 
 
 100 bourvardia 20 
 
 5 daphne 5 
 
 20 fuchsias 5 
 
 50 heaths 20 
 
 A job lot . 7 
 
 $232 
 Fertilizers 15 
 
 Flower-pots 24 
 
 $271 
 
 We had both greenhouses well stocked with these 
 and the plants we had. We planted seeds of several 
 other things, choice petunias, snow-queen candy-
 
 IN A GARDEN 353 
 
 tuft, and pansies, the last two in a cold-frame. Our 
 two houses had looked large, but we began to under 
 stand that more would be needed another year, 
 though we did not mean to have them so expensive. 
 We saw now that Riker's ideas had not been quite 
 so wild. Cold-frames I could manage tolerably well 
 myself. I had become almost a mason as well as a 
 carpenter. 
 
 The last week in October, Eve went to the city. 
 Celia was to make her aunt a brief visit. I went 
 down twice, and took them to see a play that was 
 fascinating everybody, and to hear the "divine 
 Patti." That we were enchanted, I hardly need 
 state. 
 
 But, oh, how dreary the meals proved ! We were 
 not at home the alternate evenings, being so much 
 engrossed ; and Mrs. Pryor complained loudly. 
 
 "Really," said Lawrence in a dry tone, "every 
 body seems to have a claim upon Eve. What will 
 
 there be left for a husband ? " 
 
 
 
 " Take warning," I replied. 
 
 "But, you see, even a piece of cake might be 
 better than none, on the half-loaf principle." 
 
 Lawrence had given me a most cordial and 
 brotherly welcome when he knew of the bond 
 between myself and Celia. 
 
 " Though I half suspected it when we were at the
 
 354 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 West," he confessed. "She was always rehearsing 
 the superior points of Athens, and thought it quite 
 good enough to live in or die in." 
 
 But now that they had Eve in New York, they 
 were not going to let her slip so easily. Mrs. Palmer 
 and Mrs. Wilbur made so many engagements for her, 
 that Mrs. Harwood could sympathize with Helen. 
 There were theatre-parties, receptions, teas, and 
 dances. She came home now and then quite as a 
 visitor. Celia returned after a fortnight, so that I 
 had her. Larry could take his turn going to the 
 city, which he did quite often. 
 
 We had some cards and circulars printed, and we 
 advertised in a paper at Northwood ; for we were 
 quite in earnest about making ourselves known. 
 Orders from New York came to us, through our 
 good friends, I suppose. Now that outdoor flowers 
 were gone, and hot-house blossoms rather scarce, new 
 people might stand a chance. I found two places in 
 the city where I could be sure of disposing of cut- 
 flowers. 
 
 I had not expected a profit so soon, but by the 
 last of November we had taken in thirty-five dollars. 
 But now we were expending our ingenuity in heating 
 and ventilation, which had to be narrowly watched. 
 Our heater for the rose-house was too large, and 
 we did have trouble in tempering it at first.
 
 IN A GARDEN 355 
 
 We found, too, that we had not planned judiciously. 
 The heliotrope required more heat than the violets. 
 We had " cut-offs " in the pipes, and thermometers at 
 different places. On cloudy days we needed greater 
 heat. The night temperature bothered us the most. 
 Indeed, I slung a hammock, and spent two nights 
 studying the alternations. There would be less 
 trouble when the weather became colder : we really 
 had to guard now against too high a range. The 
 watering was more easily managed. An experienced 
 florist told us not to water until a plant required 
 it, - was, indeed, dry on the surface, and then fill 
 the pots to the brim. Twice a week, plants were to 
 be showered. Heliotrope and roses required extra 
 fertilizing. We kept guano-water in a cask, and 
 applied it to some of the plants twice a week, to the 
 others but once. 
 
 Among the things I characterized as a job lot 
 were numerous bulbs, hyacinth, amaryllis, and lilies 
 of various kinds. We resolved to bring our hyacinths 
 into the market early, and. covered them up in the 
 mould a short distance from the pipes, potting them 
 as soon as they budded.
 
 356 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 NABOBS IN A SMALL WAY 
 
 WE all kept the feast of Thanksgiving with Mrs. 
 Wilbur. I petitioned for the " extra man ; " and as 
 I was in good repute with the company, he was sent 
 without demur, though he did not come until noon. 
 Lawrence and the Pryors had gone down in the 
 morning. Jane must have thought her numerous 
 mistresses sad gad-abouts ; but she was given a day 
 out as well. Joe promised to see that all went well 
 with the greenhouses, which were like a first baby, 
 
 we hardly dared take our eyes off of them. But 
 he was quite as much infatuated as we : indeed, I 
 think only the aim of being a partner in a good busi 
 ness kept him from taking service with us. 
 
 The hotel was enclosed, and looked quite preten 
 tious ; though the prettiest part of the roof a tower 
 
 was to be in the wing. Still, there were some or 
 namental peaks and windows. A wide piazza was 
 to run across the front, and two bow-windows were 
 to be set on the roof of this, with balconies for the
 
 IN A GARDEN 357 
 
 windows above. We had decided that it must hold 
 all of us the next year; for Lawrence and I could not 
 be so far away, and Pryor was resolved to have Eve. 
 
 The day was splendid ; rather crisp and cold, but 
 with a magnificent sun. I took with me a box of 
 beautiful roses, and had sent some to Ruth and Joe, 
 who were to have the Montgomery household to 
 dine. 
 
 How proud and exultant I felt as I stepped on the 
 train ! I believe I did not even envy our president, 
 who considered himself one of the coming great 
 railroad-men. I found them all assembled, waiting 
 to welcome me. Mrs. Harwood was there, looking 
 prettier than ever, and keeping Eve under her wing, 
 like a hen with one chick ; Mrs. Brooke ; Mr. and 
 Mrs. Palmer ; Miss Laverne, the Southern cousin ; 
 Mr. and Mrs. Farnsworth, ne Bertha Brooke; and 
 our own six. 
 
 I am afraid we talked "shop." It was green 
 house and hotel, and yet we found time for no end 
 of chaffing. They admired the roses enthusiastically: 
 there were three of a new kind, that had made their 
 first essay at blooming. We had some music, and 
 I found we were all to go to the opera. Dinner was 
 at four. It was a dinner of the season, of course, 
 and we enjoyed it heartily. I took out Mrs. 
 Harwood. Two friends of Mr. Wilbur's came in, a
 
 358 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Mr. Woolfe, and Mr. Bernard, who, by the way, was 
 well acquainted with Celia. She looked so bright 
 and winsome, that more than once I almost won 
 dered how she had come to accept me, after all. 
 
 The evening was most delightful. We had a 
 dainty supper afterward, then Lawrence and I 
 wended our way homeward. Luckily for us, there 
 was a midnight train. We cast a lingering look at 
 the gleaming roofs that protected our heart's treas 
 ures, then trudged on up the hill. 
 
 "I declare," said Hildreth, "I feel as if I had 
 taken a new lease of life, and might live to be a 
 hundred. I grow stronger every day. Think of me 
 last year at this time." 
 
 Somehow after that every thing went on with a 
 rush. The freight-house was finished, and business 
 seemed on the increase. Joe was here and there, 
 his bright, manly face clear and smiling. Pryor 
 almost flew about, as there was a prospect of con 
 siderable building. The " scratch-coat " was put on 
 the hotel : the Musical Union gave a concert, which 
 was splendidly attended at fifty cents a ticket, and 
 passed off finely, leading to a talk of building a real 
 hall, as the only one Athens could boast of was a 
 rather poor affair over some stores. Then there 
 were Christmas preparations. Celia was very busy; 
 and I thought it too hard for her to come home
 
 IN A GARDEN 359 
 
 every night, since Eve was away so much. She, 
 radiant girl, was as gay as a butterfly, like the Eve 
 I had known at aunt Carry's. 
 
 As for us, we made some mistakes, but, in the 
 main, were successful. Our violets began to bloom, 
 and the mignonette showed buds. Of course, there 
 was a demand for every thing at Christmas-tide. I 
 had brought down a tub of callas in the fall, intend 
 ing to pot them, but had been too busy, until I 
 found, with the warmth and watering, they were in 
 bud. I had five out by Christmas. We had some 
 calls from the little towns around, two large orders 
 from New York, and numerous private orders. On 
 making up our books the 1st of January, I found 
 we had sold to the amount of sixty-five dollars, and 
 could have done better if we had had the flowers 
 desired. But we counted on quite a harvest during 
 the month to come. 
 
 Our Christmas was not spent together, and I 
 seemed to be the one counted out of most things. 
 Eve went to Baltimore with Mrs. Harwood for a 
 fortnight. Evidently she meant to hold my sister 
 with a close hand ; but she was so sweet and gener 
 ous, no one could say her nay. The Hildreths had 
 been hunted up by some Philadelphia cousins in a 
 very cordial manner, and invited for holiday week. 
 Christmas fell on Sunday. On Friday, Eve started.
 
 360 A MODERN ADAM AND EYE 
 
 At the last moment she had half a mind to 
 decline. 
 
 " If Celia wasn't going ! And you to be left 
 alone ! " she exclaimed pathetically. 
 
 " Some one must stay with the greenhouse, and 
 the station refuses to carry on its business without 
 a clerk. Besides, I am to take Christmas dinner 
 with Joe." 
 
 Eve kissed me with a fond, lingering good-by. 
 Then, on Saturday, Lawrence and Celia went. I think 
 she, dear girl, would easily have declined the invita 
 tion ; but Lawrence was very urgent, thinking to 
 
 visit the Messrs. S again, and see their beautiful 
 
 greenhouses in winter. The Pryors were to be in 
 New York : indeed, we decided to shut up the house, 
 and give Jane a holiday. 
 
 Sunday morning I went to church with Joe. I 
 did miss Eve's voice in the singing. I must say 
 I had never liked Mr. Bradford better. I certainly 
 was coming to pay him a much higher regard, and 
 he had quite won Joe's heart. 
 
 The week passed without any special incident. 
 Letters came from all the travellers, who were en 
 joying themselves immensely : indeed, the Hildreths 
 were to be kept captive until the second day of the 
 New Year. 
 
 The first of January was simply magnificent. It
 
 IN A GARDEN 361 
 
 seemed like an April day. In the brightness of the 
 morning sunshine was born Joe Crawford's baby, 
 a boy, and both parents were wild with delight. 
 I had brought up some lovely flowers for Ruth. 
 
 "And he is to be named for you, my best, my 
 dearest friend," declared Joe, wringing my hand; 
 " and if he will only be as good and noble and gen 
 erous " 
 
 " O Joe, hush ! " I cried earnestly : " you must 
 begin to see that you have used some strength of 
 your own ; that others have befriended you to more 
 purpose than my few efforts " 
 
 " But you were the first. You made it possible 
 for me to accept the rest, for it to be offered to me. 
 No, in my heart you will always be first, best ; and 
 though my boy will never understand it, he, too, will 
 owe you a debt of gratitude." 
 
 " Not if he is saddled with such a queer old-time 
 name. It was my father's fancy to call us after the 
 first two, and Eve does very well ; but Adam ! " and 
 I laughed with a little contempt. " Anyhow, wait 
 until Eve returns home. She ought to have a voice 
 in the name." 
 
 Mrs. Pryor came down, and insisted upon taking 
 the first hug out of the baby. Indeed, Joe's baby 
 created quite a sensation, in spite of there being so 
 many babies in the world.
 
 362 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Celia and her brother returned delighted with their 
 visit. These Philadelphia people were Hildreth 
 relatives, and for a number of years had dropped 
 out of sight, more by accident than design. They 
 were loth to let Celia return, and wished both were 
 to be settled in the Quaker City. Lawrence had 
 enjoyed himself wonderfully, and came home full of 
 plans and projects, and, if it had not been winter, 
 would at once have plunged into building green 
 houses. 
 
 " But we do look splendid," he commented enthu 
 siastically. " I can't help thinking that I have struck 
 just the right thing. Why, it fairly bewitches me ; 
 and I've caught up to you in love if I have not in 
 knowledge. I've studied every spare moment, and 
 asked enough questions to vex any one who was not a 
 
 born florist. I told the Messrs. S about you too, 
 
 and promised to send you next time. Ad, you must 
 take a vacation. It is selfish for me to have all the 
 good times." 
 
 I laughed at that. I was glad enough to see him 
 looking so well and in such bright spirits. 
 
 We went back to our usual living. Celia staid 
 home the remainder of the week. On Thursday it 
 blew off very cold, and Friday morning it began to 
 snow. All day the storm increased. Trains were 
 delayed, roads blocked, and though about nightfall
 
 IN A GARDEN 363 
 
 the snow ceased, it seemed more bitterly cold than 
 before. 
 
 " I shall stay down all night," I said to Larry. 
 
 He insisted that he should, also, but I overruled 
 him. I was a little afraid of some cold or trouble ; 
 and finally he gave in, for his greatest desire now 
 was to be strong and well. About nine I took a 
 blanket and hammock, and after looking at the fires 
 and the dampers, and seeing the temperatures were 
 right, I rolled myself in the blanket, and settled for a 
 nap among my fragrant roses. It was a rather warm 
 and sweet atmosphere, but I could sleep anywhere. 
 I left my lamp burning. How the wind did roar and 
 tear about in great gusts ! I felt almost as if the 
 houses might be moved off their foundation. 
 
 But presently I slept soundly, three solid hours. 
 It was two when I looked at rny watch. I roused 
 myself from my rather cramped position, sprang 
 out, and glanced at the thermometer. It was. fifty 
 degrees, hardly up to the mark for roses and helio 
 trope. I had brought all my largest plants in here, 
 and they were showing bud. So I stirred up my 
 fire. I wondered with a little shiver how the other 
 house was doing, and dreaded to plough through the 
 snow. However, there was a good deal at stake, and 
 it was eternal vigilance here as well as elsewhere. 
 So, wrapped in my blanket, lantern in hand, I sallied
 
 364 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 out, going up to my knees in snow. We had 
 resolved, before another winter, to connect the 
 houses. The biting wind shaved my face. I un 
 locked the door and entered. 
 
 I had not come a moment too soon. The highest 
 temperature was forty-six degrees, the lowest forty 
 degrees. I put on the draughts immediately. If- 1 
 had waited until morning, my plants would have 
 been ruined. For the next hour I watched and 
 tramped around until it came up to fifty-two degrees. 
 I knew it would rise a little higher, and that outside 
 it could not well be colder ; so I returned, and, find 
 ing matters right here, again settled myself to my 
 hammock. Hard work, do you say? Well, as a 
 lad in a Western station, I used to go out at one 
 o'clock, and switch off one cattle-train that a freight 
 and express might pass, there being but one track. 
 If I had overslept, or been taken suddenly ill, a 
 smash-up would have been the result. I have some 
 times run up and down the track fifteen minutes on 
 the coldest of nights, lest drowsiness should over 
 come me. Ah ! this was heaven itself compared to 
 that dreariness. 
 
 I slept until morning in my Eden. All things 
 were right, when a far-off whistle roused me. I ran 
 up to the station. The few who took this train had 
 commutation tickets; but I always preferred being
 
 IN A GARDEN 365 
 
 on hand, though it was now behind time. Then 
 I began to shovel snow : I do not think there had 
 ever been such a storm at Athens. The roads were 
 impassable until the snow-plough came out. The 
 trains wheezed and groaned along ; but, oh, how 
 lovely the world looked ! The gray sky turned to 
 blue : there were bars of faint yellow in the east, and 
 presently a pale sun struggled through. We had 
 been to zero in the night, and now were slowly 
 crawling up, but the wind had ceased blowing. 
 
 Lawrence came down with my breakfast and some 
 coffee, which we heated anew on the stove, and 
 I toasted my piece of steak. We impressed one of 
 the indolent Athenians into shovelling snow, had 
 our station-platform cleared, and some paths made 
 about our greenhouses. Every thing was all right. 
 Larry insisted upon being very grateful, but I would 
 have it that the business risk was fully as much 
 mine as his. 
 
 "And when we come to real living, it must be 
 nearer by," said he. " I feel rather sorry that we are 
 up there on the hill, but for Pryor's sake I wouldn't 
 make any change. He is such a capital good fellow. 
 But, Ad, I am thankful you did sell your house to so 
 good an advantage." 
 
 Certainly, it was a piece of rare good fortune. 
 
 Pryor grumbled a little as well. He had never
 
 366 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 lived so far away. He brought Mrs. Pryor and 
 Celia down in his sleigh. They could not spend a 
 long, dreary day alone in the house. 
 
 " If Eve does not come home, we will have to move 
 down in town. What did possess us to take a house 
 so far from the station ! " 
 
 I laughed at this. " Why, it has never seemed 
 any great distance to you all," I said. 
 
 "Well, we are lonesome without Eve, that is 
 the truth ; and we have come to spend the day in the 
 greenhouses," was the reply. 
 
 Down we went. We had the hammock and some 
 stools. We envied no one Florida or Bermuda. 
 The girls strolled around in the warm, fragrant 
 atmosphere, did a little work, then rested, reading 
 novels. It was a kind of fairy-land. They had 
 brought some lunch, and Pryor came up from Joe's 
 with some steaming coffee and cups. We had a 
 regular picnic. 
 
 " What a silly thing to leave this space between 
 the houses ! " said Lawrence ; " and how delightful 
 it will be to glass it all over, and wander about at 
 one's will ! " 
 
 Celia considered this quite a brilliant scheme. 
 They were about twenty feet apart now. We could 
 put two rows in between, with a- width of ten feet 
 apiece, which would give us a fine lot of room.
 
 IN A GARDEN 367 
 
 We wandered about : we made love, let me be 
 honest ; how could one help it amid roses and violets, 
 and all sweet things ? The sun sparkled over the 
 snow outside, but the keen air nipped your cheeks 
 the instant you stirred out. Well, we were in 
 Arcadie. 
 
 The roads were quite broken and cleared up that 
 day, and the weather some ten degrees warmer. I 
 ventured to go home and go to bed, like a reasonable 
 human being ; and the next day the world was jolly 
 with sleigh-riding. Lawrence went to New York 
 with boxes of flowers, and brought home orders for 
 the first heliotrope we could rush into market. It 
 seemed to me that people were crazy about flowers. 
 How could they be willing to spend so much money 
 for such fragile, perishable things? Had I really 
 touched the secret spring of a successful business ? 
 
 There followed upon this three weeks of the 
 most magnificent winter weather that could be ima 
 gined. The roads were kept white by a few lighter 
 snowfalls. The sun shone nearly every day, and 
 there were no violent alterations in the temperature : 
 it was just steady cold. Two nights I spent in the 
 greenhouse, but I need not have done so. It is the 
 sudden changes that are so difficult to provide for. 
 Celia took a holiday most of the time. We went 
 sleigh-riding, and Lawrence was transformed into
 
 368 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 ticket-agent. He was quite a fair operator, as well ; 
 and no brother could have been kinder. 
 
 Eve went to Washington, the gay little witch, 
 and had the best of times ; stumbled over aunt 
 Carry, who was visiting her daughter. Uncle Len- 
 nard was quite successful in some land speculations 
 in Colorado ; and aunt Carry was in the best of 
 spirits, but much amazed that a pretty girl like Eve 
 should be single still, and bewailed the misfortune 
 of her being buried alive in a little country village. 
 This time her sympathy included me ; for some 
 months after, uncle Lennard wrote to offer me a 
 promising business opening, and thought it a sin 
 that a capable young man should be wasting his 
 time in a wretched little railroad station. 
 
 Ah, uncle Lennard ! I would not have changed 
 my Eden for all the money you were making ! 
 
 During January we sold one hundred and fifty 
 dollars' worth of flowers. That looked enormous to 
 me. I went over the account several times to see if 
 it was true. ' But we had such splendid luck with 
 heliotrope and bourvafdia, and there was always a 
 demand for roses. I felt now that we might reason 
 ably expect to succeed. 
 
 Now there came a thaw with a " muggy " week. 
 This was worse than the cold. How to get the 
 right proportion of ventilation and not chill, the
 
 IN A GARDEN 369 
 
 right amount of watering, and how to provide for a 
 sun that obstinately refused to shine, were important 
 questions. But we came through it pretty well for 
 new beginners. Some of our largest heliotropes 
 blighted, and we cut them back. Some of our roses 
 hung listlessly ; but we had hosts of carnations, and 
 no end of violets. 
 
 We planted now a hundred three-inch pots with 
 cucumber-seeds, three to a pot. Where we could 
 make room for them, we hardly knew ; but some of 
 the violets and other things would be done before 
 long, and for a month, at least, we need not worry. 
 Eve came home radiant. Joe and Ruth and the 
 baby claimed her for a whole week : indeed, she was 
 in danger of being divided around piecemeal. 
 Where Lawrence was to come in, rather puzzled me. 
 But distance all the rest, he surely did. 
 
 "I suppose you think it queer enough that I 
 have not hunted up some one with a fortune," she 
 said to me in a curiously defiant manner, as if that 
 had been my plan for her. " Aunt Carry will con 
 sider that I have gone out of my senses, for she did 
 pick out a rich old fellow in Washington who has 
 worn himself almost to a shadow amassing a for 
 tune. And there hav,e been others. But I like 
 him" blushing warmly, "for his manliness, his 
 truth, and his sense of honor about little matters
 
 370 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 
 
 that so many people pass over ; " and her eyes are 
 lustrous as she utters this. "I could trust him to 
 the uttermost, I could trust him anywhere, under 
 any stress ; and the world is full of evil deeds now 
 adays. O Ad, my darling ! " and her soft arms are 
 about my neck, her flushed cheek throbs against 
 mine, " have we not both found the best, the sweetest 
 thing in the whole wide world ? Is it not Eden come 
 over again ? Who cares for the great Babylon with its 
 strifes and env}dngs and hatreds ? We shall be rich 
 enough for our needs, and, what is immeasurably 
 better, we shall be happy, gladly, joyfully happy. 
 We shall not envy any nabob of them all." 
 
 I held her in my arms many minutes. Who dares 
 to say other loves pale beside the one great soul- 
 giving ? 
 
 I think Pryor rather resented Eve's engagement 
 in a queer, irritable sort of way ; but everybody 
 else took it fairly well. Sadie Palmer insisted that 
 she had thrown herself away, and that, if she had 
 shown good sense, she would have chosen a plumber, 
 so she could have made sure of a trip to Europe. 
 But we four were satisfied. 
 
 The baby's name, too, did get settled at last. It 
 was simply Thurston. Eve and I stood for it. I 
 endowed it with a silver cup and five dollars that 
 opened the little lad's banking-account.
 
 IN A GARDEN 371 
 
 We exhort our young people a great deal on the 
 subject of saving money, and there are tremen 
 dous economical essays in many of the more intel 
 lectual journals. I sometimes wonder how the 
 writers thereof would live and save on fifty dollars a 
 month. Here was my essay for four months. I 
 seldom smoked. I rarely drank beer or any other 
 liquor. Our housekeeping, as I have said, was a 
 joint affair, we three men paying the bills ; and we 
 did buy at a considerable advantage. My cost of 
 the living, including Eve's share, was as follows, 
 under the head of board : 
 
 October. Board $26 
 
 Clothing G 
 
 Incidentals 7 
 
 November. Board $22 
 
 Overcoat 20 
 
 Incidentals 5 
 
 $47 
 
 December. Board $22 
 
 Clothing 6 
 
 Incidentals 3 
 
 Gifts 7 
 
 January. Board $18 
 
 Shoes 5 
 
 Incidentals 4 
 
 Gifts 10
 
 372 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 The reader will see that during four months, at 
 fifty dollars a month, I had earned two hundred 
 dollars. I had spent one hundred dollars and sixty- 
 one cents. Consequently I had saved just thirty- 
 nine. Incidentals with me meant my paper, car-fares, 
 charities, and a very few personal wants. I was not 
 severe on clothes. I seldom bought high-priced ones. 
 During these four months I had hardly spent five 
 dollars for Eve : she would have it so. Granting 
 that I could continue this scale, which was hardly 
 possible, I should save one hundred and thirty-six 
 dollars in a year. I could take no journeys, rarely 
 go to a place of amusement, must never be ill, and 
 have no extra demands. Is not the subject of saving 
 largely theorized upon when one has a small income ? 
 
 I had lent Pryor my thousand dollars at seven per 
 cent, on condition it remained six months or longer 
 with him. I knew out of the remainder I could 
 carry on current expenses with the greenhouse, and 
 I would not have that lying idle. 
 
 Before finishing this chapter, I must say a few 
 words about Walter Benson. I found him a careful 
 little business chap. When one has a great love 
 and aptitude for any certain branch, carefulness does 
 the rest. I think these three are the component 
 parts of most of the so-called genius. There is no 
 such thing as luck, generally speaking. If you
 
 IN A GARDEN 373 
 
 know how to do a thing rightly, and do it in that 
 manner, success may be looked for with certainty. 
 He had the love and the aptitude. A cross hen 
 rarely pecked at him. His voice and motions were 
 all gentle. He was very ingenious as well. He had 
 ninety-six laying hens and pullets, and he made 
 them attend to their duty straight along by warmth, 
 water, and proper food. In December he purchased 
 an incubator that held two hundred eggs, and put 
 in half that number. Testing them on the fourth 
 day, he found fifteen of the number not fertilized. 
 Of his eighty-five eggs he hatched successfully 
 seventy-eight chickens, paying thorough attention to 
 it. He made some artificial brooders that would 
 hold about twenty-five, and kept- them in these in a 
 warm room for two weeks, losing five chickens. He 
 had fitted up the barn-loft with a stove and a hot- 
 water pipe to run under the brooders, and now he 
 took them out there. They had sunshine, freedom, 
 gravel, bits of green things, and proper food, and 
 grew famously, being all of large breeds. He had 
 seventy-three beautiful chickens, which he sold, at 
 seven weeks old, for a dollar apiece. The next time 
 he put in two hundred eggs, and had from these one 
 hundred and seventy-eight chickens, losing only three 
 or four. Of eggs he had an abundance at their 
 highest prices. Clearly, he had a " genius " for it.
 
 374 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 After February came in, our winter was very much 
 broken. And, oh, how busy we were, Celia with 
 her pictures, Eve and Helen with the hotel, Lawrence 
 and I with our greenhouse which grew more captivat 
 ing every day ! We learned to economize space. 
 When our plants showed signs of giving out, we cut 
 them back, put them in a cooler place, infirmary, 
 we called it, treated them to fresh soil, and let them 
 recover. Our geranium-slips were coming on finely, 
 and we would have quite a host of bedding-plants. 
 After the snow went off, I enriched my strawberries, 
 and covered them with the sashes ; and in a short 
 time bud-clusters stuck up their defiant green heads 
 as if they were outwitting somebody.
 
 IN A GARDEN 375 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 COUNTING THE GAINS 
 
 THE 1st of April we balanced our books, as we 
 had resolved to do every six months. So far it had 
 been an experiment, though we did not mean to be 
 discouraged if we had not come out quite square. 
 We had found many ways in which we could 
 improve. Our nasturtiums coming in bloom during 
 March were eagerly snapped up, and brought us con 
 siderable profit. I told Eve that this rightly belonged 
 to her ; but she declared that she had been so in luck 
 all winter, she would not take a penny of it. 
 
 I found now that we stood on this wise, 
 
 EXPENSES. 
 
 Plants $247 
 
 Circulars and advertising and fares 24 
 
 Flower-pots 36 
 
 Fuel 73 
 
 $380 
 Half-year's interest 175
 
 376 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 We had decided the business must pay the interest 
 on the cost of the place at seven per cent, so Law 
 rence would not lose on his investment. 
 
 Our profit ran in this order : 
 
 October $21 
 
 November 37 
 
 December 65 
 
 January 170 
 
 February 145 
 
 March 163 
 
 $591 
 
 I suppose you will think thirty-six dollars was 
 small pay for half a year's work. It would not have 
 done had we nothing else to depend on. I am aware 
 that people have made more money on a smaller 
 place. Our advantage was our increase of stock, our 
 experience, our business being in good shape to go 
 to work at in real earnest. We had bedding-plants 
 and tomatoes and lettuce in cold-frames. Indeed, we 
 -began to sell the lettuce now ; our first fifty heads 
 bringing us in seven dollars, and giving us our ground 
 to use over again. The last of the month brought us 
 thirty-eight dollars for strawberries. In fact, our 
 April sales mounted up one hundred and ninety-five 
 dollars, and our expense for coal was trifling. 
 
 By the middle of April the hotel was practically 
 completed. There was to be no papering at present,
 
 IN A GARDEN 377 
 
 until after the walls had settled. Part of the wood 
 work was finished in oil or varnish, a little of it 
 stained; and most of the walls on the third floor 
 were left in a soft light-gray tint, very pleasant to 
 the eye. It was plain, but comfortable and home 
 like ; no great pretence, or straining after effect. 
 Everybody was interested in the furnishing and 
 naming, especially Helen and Eve. 
 
 I think Lawrence had quite a desire to marry, but 
 Eve had some plans of her own. Pryor would have 
 been heart-broken had she declined the supervision 
 of the hotel : in fact, I think he felt rather fretted 
 until she did agree to it. Jane had offered to come 
 as general housekeeper, a position she had held in 
 a charitable institution. She had a cousin who was 
 an excellent cook, and who had a son sixteen, and 
 a daughter fourteen. On condition she could have 
 these two employed, she would come for lower 
 wages. Mrs. Pryor thought these young people 
 could be trained in ways of usefulness, and Jane 
 answered for their being " nice children." 
 
 Furnishing a place like this did seem rather 
 appalling, but this had been thought of in the 
 finishing. The parlors had a wide border of hard 
 wood, in very pretty design, and the carpets would 
 be more in the fashion of a large rug. On the 
 chambers, matting would be largely used: some of
 
 378 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 the smaller rooms had painted floors and rugs. 
 Celia brought out many very pretty ideas. I began 
 to learn that Eve had not a monopoly of them. 
 
 Lawrence and I chose a rather large chamber on 
 the third floor. It had two closets, was to have two 
 beds. On the second floor were to be the Pryors, 
 with Celia and Eve, and a family sitting-room, with 
 a. little studio for Celia. Our own rooms we fur 
 nished, and the sitting-room received general contri 
 butions. This was in the southern end also, and a 
 side-stairs led directly to our chamber. So, in effect, 
 we would be a little family by ourselves. 
 
 Certainly it was an unfailing source of interest; 
 but, as it needed to be advertised immediately, a 
 name was an urgent necessity. No one wanted to 
 stand direct sponsor, though we tried on each 
 other's names, and they sounded very well, but 
 did not quite captivate our fancy. Joe humorously 
 proposed "The Adam and Eve," as we could not 
 have it Paradise or Eden. 
 
 " See here," said Gordon Pryor, " some of you go 
 down and call on Mrs. Harwood, and ask the favor 
 of her name. Harwood House has a tone and style 
 about it. And it just occurs to me, that may I be 
 slangy, ladies and gentlemen ? Mrs. Harwood gave 
 Athens its fortunate ' boost ' into prosperity. I was 
 awfully discouraged when you came here, Thurston,
 
 IN A GARDEN 379 
 
 and thought I should look out some more thriving 
 settlement. But Truro and Glendale had built up 
 from nothing greater than a railroad station ; and 
 this place possessed finer capabilities, was more 
 picturesque. Perhaps I had a high ambition in 
 wanting to bring up a town ; but why not do it here as 
 well as at the West ? You know how I badgered you 
 to buy the Cassel place. I think I was making it 
 a sort of test. And but for your charming Mrs. 
 Harwood, there mightn't have been any luck at all." 
 
 " Why, that is splendid ! " declared Eve. " I will 
 go to New York to-morrow." 
 
 Mrs. Harwood accepted it as a compliment. She 
 came over, and we had a royal christening. We 
 had just " moved in," as the girls thought they could 
 get along faster by being on the spot ; and the living 
 was like a picnic, with oceans of fun to ease the work. 
 
 Lawrence and I were busy as badgers. We packed 
 away violets and every thing we could spare, and 
 had a cucumber garden. Of our three hundred 
 seeds, we had two hundred and nineteen thrifty 
 plants. In the warm, rich soil they had thriven 
 finely ; and, as luxuries out of season bring high 
 prices, we sold our first hundred for fifteen dollars, 
 the next three hundred for ten dollars a hundred, 
 and the lowest brought us in three dollars. In all, 
 we had nineteen hundred cucumbers.
 
 380 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 We had to hire an extra man in our garden, and 
 took an apprentice, a friendless lad Joe had taken in 
 out of the boundless pity of his heart, and who had 
 a passion for gardening. I felt I ought to throw up 
 my position, but Lawrence insisted that I did my 
 share in off-hours. 
 
 Cut-flowers were dropping down in price, but the 
 demand for bedding-plants began. It seemed as if 
 half the people in Athens were flower-crazy, and 
 from the little stations around they came daily. 
 Indeed, the prestige of raising strawberries and 
 cucumbers early in the season gave us a great 
 mount on the ladder of fame. 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Montgomery one day, as he was 
 sauntering round, " you do beat the Dutch ; and my 
 grandmother used to say they were hard to beat. 
 'Most ready to buy another house, I suppose ? 
 Young tnen like Pryor and you are making all the 
 money ! And that queer-looking little Benson, with 
 his incubator! I never would believe there were 
 any such fools in the world as to give a dollar for a 
 spring-chicken or a quart of strawberries, and ten 
 or twenty cents for a cucumber. Why, it used to 
 take solid work to make a fortune years ago, not 
 any such nonsensical fandangoes ! " 
 
 He looked very much aggrieved, and eyed the 
 greenhouses as if they were a positive injury to
 
 IN A GARDEN 381 
 
 him. It was rather hard, when he had so confidently 
 predicted my unsuccess. 
 
 We decided that we must have a new fence around 
 our garden. There was a very fair picket-fence 
 down Linden Street ; and we had this strengthened 
 with some extra posts, about two feet higher, from 
 which were stretched two rows of barbed wire. At 
 the bottom of the lot, a tight board fence three 
 feet high, and three rows of wire above this. On 
 Rutherford Avenue, we had quite a pretty wire 
 fence, and now we felt well protected from mis 
 chievous marauders. Then we arranged our ground 
 between the houses, which gave us two more long 
 arcades, both having pointed roofs, and taking the 
 sunshine beautifully, while they were quite pro 
 tected from the sharp winds. We put in one more 
 heater, and arranged some new leaders, that our 
 rain-water should not go to waste. The cost of 
 this, and the extra that Hildreth had spent in the 
 fall, added about another thousand in value to 
 the place. In here, we began to raise some stock 
 for the coming winter. 
 
 During May, our sales for bedding-plants, toma 
 toes, and cut-flowers amounted to three hundred 
 and ninety-seven dollars. We had also sold lettuce 
 and some cucumbers, and had our out-of-doors beds 
 arranged. My young peach-trees looked thrifty, and
 
 382 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 blossomed very nicely: my currants made a good 
 show. It was such a delight to watch them 
 changing day by day. 
 
 By the last of May ten rooms were engaged at 
 Harwood House. Our new cook rejoiced in the high- 
 sounding name of Bathsheba, commonly called Sheba^ 
 She was not quite as refined and lady -like as Jane, but 
 she evidently understood her business. Tilly made 
 a deft little waiter, and Homer exhibited signs of 
 " handiness " that spoke well for his future training. 
 By the last of the month we had quite a household, 
 and only five rooms vacant. Mrs. Harwood engaged 
 two rooms for summer quarters. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Palmer, infant daughter and nurse, and a cousin of 
 Mrs. Brooke's, a Mr. Danforth, came in their 
 party. Then we had no fear of the hotel not being a 
 success. We were all very much interested in it. 
 
 Eve kept the books, made out the bills, looked 
 after household stores, and entertained. The master 
 of the house, its acknowledged head, was Gordon 
 Pryor, quite an important citizen of Athens, with his 
 real-estate office, lumber and coal business ; but Joe 
 took most of the charge of this department. There 
 was, of course, a good deal of talk about his having 
 too many irons in the fire ; and some of the old fogies 
 predicted his speedy downfall. But I think Pryor 
 quite knew what he was about; and though in
 
 IN A GARDEN 383 
 
 certain respects he seemed venturesome, he had what 
 is called a long head, and a shrewd one as well. He 
 had started out to make Athens a live place, and he 
 was doing it. 
 
 He had the pretty chestnut-grove cleared up, 
 syustic seats arranged, and hooks put up for ham 
 mocks. Then he arranged a lawn-tennis court, and 
 a club was speedily formed. The Musical Union was 
 to meet once in two weeks in the hotel-parlor, and 
 regale us with songs. He purchased two fine row- 
 boats, and kept one or two carriages on hire all the 
 time. 
 
 Of course he was to pay Eve a salary. Mrs. Har- 
 wood demurred a little at the whole arrangement, 
 so did Hildreth ; but Eve carried her point in a most 
 charming manner. There was something quite inde 
 scribable about her. I think the French word 
 "chic" expresses it. She had an elegant kind of dig 
 nity, light, airy, but not frivolous. People would 
 not be likely to offer her a slight to her face. Then 
 she had such a joyous, inspiriting nature : every thing 
 she touched seemed to come into shape at once. 
 Joe had this same quality. Perplexity appeared 
 rather amusing when they attacked it. Trouble lost 
 its sharp edge. 
 
 We had a great surprise early in July, in the 
 return of Senor Estradura with a pretty Spanish
 
 384 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 wife, whose large, soft dark eyes conquered you 
 at once. His amazement at all things changes, 
 improvements was absolutely laughable ; and he 
 insisted at once on being enrolled on the books of 
 Harwood House. 
 
 We certainly did have a delightful summer. There 
 were musicales, amateur theatricals twice, dancing- 
 parties, and no end of out-of-door amusements. I 
 think everybody enjoyed it immensely. Other 
 houses were filled. People began to visit Athens as 
 a much talked-of place, and were enthusiastic about 
 its beauty; while its proximity to New York ren 
 dered it so accessible. It still had the air of a two- 
 hundred-years-old country-town. There were famous 
 old oaks and elms, hillsides, chestnut'groves ; and 
 this summer we christened our highest peak Mount 
 Ida. 
 
 As for ourselves, we prospered. We worked hard, 
 early in the morning and late at night, taking turns 
 at office-business for a rest. Lawrence certainly 
 throve upon it. We saw our way to larger things, 
 to prosperity, perhaps to fortune. The consump 
 tion of flowers and choice early fruit or berries is 
 enormous. True, an immense deal comes from the 
 South, from all over. People's desire for it may pall 
 a little; but you set before them a dish of straw 
 berries, ripened by the sun, fragrant with dews, and
 
 IN A QARDEN 385 
 
 fresh from the vine, with a lovely, perfect flavor, 
 and it is more enjoyable to a critical taste than 
 berries picked within three or four days of ripeness. 
 So with tomatoes. We raised some early ones in the 
 greenhouse : we had others that blossomed while yet 
 in the cold-frames. The later ones, I thought, 
 would hardly pay for marketing ; but the first fort 
 night my demand was beyond my supply. I had, 
 too, an excellent customer in the hotel ; though we 
 made special rates with Pryor, or rather Eve, who 
 proved as excellent a purveyor on a large scale as 
 she had been on a smaller one. 
 
 We kept our man ten weeks, and paid him one 
 hundred dollars ; and w r e made forty-one dollars on 
 the gardening he did for outside parties. We paid 
 Fred Harrison five dollars a week for the first year. 
 He was a strong, stout lad of sixteen, with a great 
 love for the business, and unusual tastes. He 
 boarded with a woman near by, who took him at 
 a low price in consideration of his doing some work 
 for her, which agreement I am glad to say he kept 
 faithfully. 
 
 There were times when my heart smote me with 
 a pang as Joe Crawford walked through the grounds 
 with me. His whole soul was with us, and it seemed 
 cruel to have him crowded out. But we could not 
 do as well by him as Pryor was doing, which was
 
 386 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 beyond what he had first promised. Then, I do not 
 know how he could have spared so efficient and 
 trustworthy a man as Joe. They pulled together so 
 harmoniously. Pryor had no mean little jealousies. 
 I think he was as anxious that Joe should prosper as 
 if he had been his own brother. 
 
 " It will all come out right in the end," said Joe 
 in his cheery fashion. " Pryor is thinking of getting 
 control of this piece of the Teall property on Myrtle 
 Avenue ; and if he does, I'm to have the lot down 
 there, joining you. We'll have a gate; and Ruth 
 and I can walk through at our leisure, and take as 
 much delight as if it was really ours. And maybe 
 you will let me come in and amuse myself trying 
 experiments. It is better to keep straight on in the 
 road of prosperity, than to turn aside and spend 
 one's time getting established over again. But I 
 shall always look at you two fellows with just a bit 
 of envy down deep in my heart." 
 
 Dear Joe. He was welcome to the best we had ! 
 There have been several happy years in our lives; 
 but with all its labor, that one might truly be called 
 a golden summer. It was not free from perplexities, 
 and sometimes I grudged the busy hours that kept 
 me from my darling. But every day brought us 
 nearer the time when our two lives would be merged 
 into one. I do not know that our hopes and plans
 
 IN A GARDEN 387 
 
 could have been more united by any tie. Now, in 
 our days of youth, we meant to make some pro 
 vision for the time that overtakes all, if life is 
 spared, when toil becomes a burden, and one loses 
 that keen relish for the struggle, the true time of 
 enjoyment, when one has fully earned it. 
 
 It was a bright, glad, lovely summer. Celia used 
 to repeat a little poem from a writer of some note 
 in years agone, beginning, 
 
 " Oh, time is sweet, when roses meet, 
 With breath of spring around them ! " 
 
 and two of the last lines used to float through my 
 
 brain, 
 
 "And naught can be so sweet to see, 
 
 As old friends met together." 
 
 And there was a great meeting of old friends. The 
 hotel and the growing charm of Athens called back 
 most of the gay group who had participated in the 
 frolic of the first summer in our own house. Mrs. 
 Wilbur gave a really elegant lawn-party, the 
 Randalls another, and Walter Benson insisted that 
 we should accept the hospitalities of our old home. 
 Estradura took his wife about the grounds, explaining 
 in his vivacious Spanish his remembrance of an 
 olden delight. Is it truly only such a brief while 
 ago? So much has happened since that summer!
 
 388 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 This with him is merely a visit, since he is to return 
 to Europe in the autumn. Why, it seems as if almost 
 a lifetime lay between. 
 
 We planned to be married in October, the four of 
 us. We were to go on living at Harwood House : 
 it was convenient, and in some respects less care. 
 Eve's engagement was made with Pryor for a year, 
 but she was to have a month's vacation. She had 
 certainly shown that she could keep a hotel. Several 
 of the married couples proposed to stay on through 
 the winter ; and three of the young men, whom I 
 rather suspected of being charmed with the native 
 belles, engaged steady quarters. Mr. Kingdon of the 
 wire-works, a widower with three daughters, gave 
 up housekeeping to go away for the summer, and on 
 returning they settled at Harwood House. So there 
 would be a family for the winter as well. 
 
 Pryor had arranged his house with due regard to 
 heating. The steam-boiler stood about in the 
 middle of the basement story; and the heat could 
 be entirely cut off of the northern end, as he had 
 not supposed there would be any demand for the 
 rooms in the winter. So with the water. One could 
 live in the southern rooms with no fear of freezing 
 pipes, or trouble of any kind. 
 
 In addition to the " help," there had been a young 
 colored man as waiter, and a laundress. This had
 
 IN A GARDEN 389 
 
 been a scheme of Eve's. There was a splendid large 
 laundry fitted up conveniently. The laundress had 
 twenty dollars a month and her board. She washed 
 and ironed regularly. The clothing of the boarders 
 was taken at ordinary prices, Homer spent an hour 
 or two a day at the washing-machine, and Jane 
 occasionally ironed. When they fell behind, an 
 extra woman was hired. There proved to be 
 considerable profit in this, and the boarders were 
 well satisfied. 
 
 Pryor had been getting his money out of his 
 cottages, and resolved to enlarge the hotel ; for we 
 found there was call for transient accommodations, 
 and a demand for meals. Parties rowed up the 
 river, and wanted a dinner, or were out driving, and 
 required refreshments of some kind. All these 
 accommodations had a bearing upon the future of 
 Athens, and Pryor had resolved to use every effort 
 for its advancement. 
 
 As for us, our ambition was not a whit behind his. 
 We improved every moment, every opportunity. Some 
 mornings we were in our garden by daylight, and it 
 repaid our care generously. We had a splendid out- 
 of-doors rose-bed. Having so much space, we made 
 nice wide paths everywhere, and our place was quite 
 a resort of the hotel people. We built two rustic 
 summer-houses, which we found extremely pleasant
 
 390 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 for ourselves. We re-arranged our rose-house, 
 putting in the most profitable winter-bloomers, and 
 those in greatest demand. Bon Silene, Sofrano, Mrs. 
 Charles Wood, a beautiful tea-rose called Sunset, and 
 a number of other hybrid perpetuals, we had found 
 excellent. We had also managed admirably with 
 heliotrope, and had a large plot of cuttings. But, we 
 found one of the greatest points for profit was novelty. 
 A new flower, or a great quantity of something out 
 of season, took like wildfire. We meant the coming 
 winter to make money. 
 
 We laid out some new cold-frames on quite a dif 
 ferent plan, digging about two feet down, and filling 
 up one foot with soil. The sides we braced with 
 timber. They were about five feet wide, and slanted 
 to a fall of ten inches in that. Our timbering was 
 raised a little, and the ground thrown up for 
 warmth. We had here two rows fifty feet long, 
 which lay to the south, and would take the sun all 
 winter. On bitter cold nights we could cover them 
 over ; and in here we set many hardy things for use 
 in the ensuing spring, and so had our heated houses 
 to use for other matters. Our timber had been odds 
 and ends from Pryor's yard, and our glass was very 
 cheap. The labor we did ourselves. 
 
 On the 1st of October, our second term, as we 
 called it, we stood thus :
 
 IN A GARDEN 391 
 
 SALES. 
 
 April. Flowers $195 
 
 Bedding-plants 87 
 
 May. Bedding-plants 395 
 
 Cut-flowers 150 
 
 June. Cut-flowers 130 
 
 Plants 180 
 
 July. Flowers 156 
 
 Aufj. Flowers 145 
 
 Sept. Flowers 132 
 
 Plants 54 
 
 Cucumbers, early and late 240 
 
 Strawberries 67 
 
 Other fruits and vegetables 78 
 
 Outside gardening 41 
 
 $1,950 
 
 The expenses for the six months were as follows : 
 
 Paid to gardener ten weeks $100 
 
 Paid to boy five months 125 
 
 For new plants 15 
 
 Flower-pots 10 
 
 Interest 210 
 
 Coal 7 
 
 Improvements 45 
 
 $512 
 
 Subtracting our expenses from the income, and 
 dividing that sum by two, gave us each seven hun 
 dred and nineteen dollars for our summer's work. 
 I had saved from my salary an average of twelve 
 dollars a month ; and all my savings, including the
 
 392 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 interest on my thousand dollars, counted up five hun 
 dred and twenty dollars. So that now my fortune 
 amounted to $2,247. I began to feel quite like a 
 nabob. 
 
 We advanced our lad's wages to six dollars a 
 week. Our coal had been put in: our autumnal 
 work was pretty well done. In such a business, there 
 always remains plenty of work, but we had resolved 
 not to let one season's duties lap over into another. 
 And in view of what was to occupy a part of this 
 month, we thought it would not be wisdom to fall 
 behind. 
 
 We found that we had nearly quadrupled our 
 stock. Our four houses were as full as they could 
 be crowded with regard to the well-being of our 
 favorites. Our roses were in a splendid condition. 
 We had kept on raising new ones, and now and 
 then developed an unexpected variety through some 
 queer freak of nature. 
 
 I must say a word here about my young peach- 
 trees. I had now two rows of twenty each that 
 would come into fine bearing another year. We had 
 from them all about five bushels of peaches this year, 
 and we could count on considerable profit. My black 
 berries 1 had set along the Myrtle-avenue fence. 
 Some few might be taken by officious hands, but 
 there would be an abundance left. They had grown
 
 393 
 
 tremendously, and would fruit finely another sum 
 mer. It seemed to me that we could count on a 
 clear income of over a thousand dollars apiece next 
 year. I could afford to throw up the station, and 
 sent in my resignation to take effect the 1st of Octo 
 ber. I received a very kindly note in reply, the 
 business at Athens, passenger, freight, and expressing, 
 had increased so much, that they regretted losing so 
 honest and efficient a man. They would therefore 
 advance my salary to sixty dollars a month. 
 
 Who shall say after this that corporations have no 
 souls ? 
 
 I explained that I had entered a more profitable 
 and agreeable business, and thanked them for their 
 generous offer. I could afford to retire from railroad 
 ing, unless at some future time I should be elected 
 director or president. Yet I looked around the old 
 station and the little office with a pang of curious 
 regret. There had been many hours of happiness 
 within its walls. 
 
 An old friend that I had known on a Western 
 road came to hand, a Frank Tracy who had 
 passed through quite a career. He had been married 
 and divorced. His wife was somewhere, taking 
 care of two children ; and he was a jolly, im 
 provident fellow of two and thirty, without money 
 enough to bury him when he died. Socially he was
 
 394 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 not likely to come much within our circle, for our 
 pleasures would have bored him. He drank a little, 
 not to excess, played billiards and pool, and did some 
 betting on horses in the season. In three months' 
 time there had been so many complaints that he was 
 removed, and the thing tried over with a rather worn- 
 out married man of forty, whose wife came to live 
 over the station. But it was not such romantic 
 living as ours had been. 
 
 " I suppose," said Joe, " if some one had told me 
 three years ago that I might succeed you at the sta 
 tion, and earn fifty dollars a month, it would have 
 lifted me clear off my feet. And here I am on the 
 high road to a fair competence, with the sweetest 
 wife in the world and the finest baby, all because you 
 hammered enough common sense into my head to see 
 that it was better and happier by far to have some 
 thing of one's own, instead of handing it over to a 
 saloon-keeper. If there was half the anxiety that 
 the poor man should have a home of his own that is 
 displayed in inducing him to drink beer and rum, 
 how much better off the world would be ! There 
 certainly will be a good deal to answer for at the last. 
 And I am not sure but it will one day become one of 
 the big factors in political economy." 
 
 I think Joe is right. I am not a bigot. But when
 
 IN A GARDEN 395 
 
 we talk of raising our fellow-creatures by education 
 and art and a love of beauty, let us not drag them 
 down with the other hand into blighting tempta 
 tions.
 
 396 A MODEKN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 WEDDING BELLS 
 
 " AND they were married, and lived happily ever 
 afterward." I suppose that is the orthodox ending 
 or beginning. Little did I imagine that Eve and I 
 would find our fate and fortune in a small, sleepy, 
 old-time country-town. But we had startled it out 
 of its hundred-year nap, which, perhaps, has been 
 better than " painting it red." 
 
 I fancy that a man's idea of marriage is, oftenest, 
 going off quietly, and, like Mr. Wemmick, stepping 
 in to be married, finding every thing ready with no 
 fuss. But well, Lawrence and I were in a manner 
 patriots, and were ready to be sacrificed for our 
 country. 
 
 It would have been a great disappointment to the 
 Athenians, and to our own little circle as well, if we 
 had not taken them into account. First of all, 
 Gordon Pryor announced that the bridal feast, in 
 whatever shape it was given, was solely his affair. 
 Then, a double wedding was rather out of the
 
 IN A GARDEN 397 
 
 ordinary. And there were so many friends 
 consequently, there was no resource but to resign 
 ourselves to fate. 
 
 It seemed to me that Harwood House overflowed 
 with guests. Many of Eve's girl-friends came over, 
 married now, of course, but one eould not forbid 
 them hotel privileges, even if one had felt ever so 
 hermit-like. The Hildreth cousins came on from 
 Philadelphia ; at least, three of them did, two 
 bright girls, and a very delightful young man. 
 There were three more who were heads of families. 
 
 We were married in church at seven in the even 
 ing. The church was almost a garden of flowers. 
 Mr. Wilbur gave away both brides. Mr. Bradford 
 performed the ceremony with the kind of tender 
 solemnity that goes to one's heart. We were con 
 voyed back to the hotel, which was fragrant with 
 flowers also ; and 
 
 " The feast was set, 
 The guests were met." 
 
 For two hours we enjoyed it all. We were not 
 bored, we were not surfeited with good wishes ; and 
 we did appreciate the love and kindness and the 
 enduring friendship, for some of it had been tried. 
 At nine o'clock, Celia and I said good-by to the 
 circle, and went out to try the new life by ourselves.
 
 398 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Lawrence and Eve had so willed it, since we could 
 not both go away. 
 
 Where we went, it matters not. It was strange 
 and new and sweet to have Celia all to myself. I 
 saw visions through her artistic eyes. We planned 
 out our lives, as I suppose all newly wedded lovers 
 do. But the crowning delight of all, was belonging 
 to each other. We had been sensible lovers, we had 
 license now to be as foolish as we listed. I do not 
 even think we were troubled about the opinion of 
 those we met, whether or not they considered us 
 newly married. It was a delightful, leisurely holi 
 day in the glorious old autumn. 
 
 We ended in Philadelphia one Friday evening, 
 expecting to reach Athens the next night; but, lo! 
 the hospitable Hildreths, aided and abetted by Eve 
 and Lawrence, had planned otherwise. They two 
 were to come on Saturday evening, and we were all 
 to return on Monday. 
 
 There were many things to see that day ; but I 
 obeyed Lawrence's behest, and visited his favorite 
 greenhouses. Seven acres under glass was flower- 
 farming on a large scale. It appeared to me that we 
 were viewing all the beauty and bloom of the whole 
 world. Ours was a sort of child's playhouse com 
 pared to it; and the well-informed, courteous pro 
 prietors were delightful men to spend hours with.
 
 IN A GARDEN 399 
 
 Many new ideas and suggestions presented them 
 selves to my mind ; but I found that, in the main, 
 we were making our time count profitably. It is 
 reaching a result in the best possible manner that is 
 the test: the amount of time spent upon it is not 
 the basis of a correct estimate. If the day should 
 ever come when each man can do the work for 
 which he is best fitted, and for which he has a love, 
 for the two things must go together to make a 
 success, there will be a great improvement in the 
 productions of the world, and, perhaps, the inhabit 
 ants thereof. 
 
 We had a most enjoyable day, and at nine in the 
 evening Lawrence and Eve made their appearance. 
 The greenhouses had been left to the care of Joe 
 and our young lad, who was progressing finely, 
 being born to the business. How curiously fasci 
 nating Eve looked ! I could not help watching her. 
 The Hildreths were quite bewitched, especially the 
 young man ; and I ought not omit uncle Jared, a 
 fine specimen of the half-Quaker school, whose 
 " thees " had the endearing German sound when he 
 used them. 
 
 A heavenly Sunday it was, but all days were 
 transcendent. I was so glad to have Eve and Law 
 rence once more, and Celia's happiness was as fer 
 vent. Eve would always be the more brilliant, of
 
 400 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 course ; and the added grace and dignity of marriage 
 imparted something quite indescribable. And just 
 here I ought to say that a New-York paper gave us 
 quite a grand "send-off" on the occasion of our 
 marriage, calling Eve a " beautiful society-girl well 
 known in the city," and Celia " one of our talented 
 young artists," and bringing Harwood House, as 
 well as Athens, into prominent notice. 
 
 Still, it was very pleasant to come back home. 
 There were warm welcomes on every hand : even 
 the very flowers seemed eloquent. Joe's greeting, 
 I think, touched me the most of all. 
 
 " I'm glad you are fast here," he added, between 
 smiles and tears; "for if you went to any new 
 place, I should pack up and follow. I don't know 
 why, Thurston, but it just seems as if I could not 
 stay in any place that didn't hold you." 
 
 "We are likely, all of us, to be fixtures," I re 
 plied cheerfully; "and I haven't seen many places 
 that I like better. If we are not quite in the heart 
 of things, we can get there in a few moments ; and 
 our little town has many beauties of its own." 
 
 It seemed so odd at first not to have to run up 
 to the station every hour or so ! I did oblige Tracy 
 now and then ; but I soon found that the more you 
 granted, the more he asked, and so began to decline. 
 And now I could throw my whole soul into my new
 
 IN A GAKDEN 401 
 
 business. We would have much more to take care 
 of this winter. There were experiments to try ; 
 there was propagating by almost every method ; the 
 continual watchfulness of light, heat, soils ; nursing 
 up drooping plants ; weeding out sickly, worthless 
 ones. I never tired of it. Each day my soul 
 seemed more thoroughly imbued with it, more con 
 tent with the delightful toil that was pleasure under 
 another name, a thin disguise, perhaps. 
 
 Of course, we went on at the hotel. I added an T 
 other to the suite of rooms Lawrence and I had 
 shared, a studio for Celia, that was library and 
 sitting-room when we chose. She kept up her art 
 connection in New York, going two days in a week, 
 but relinquished her classes, devoting herself wholly 
 to the pictures she loved, as she always had some 
 orders waiting for her. 
 
 But we four spent a great deal of time in the 
 greenhouses. Eve was quite an expert, always had 
 been. Her love for a home and a garden had led me 
 to take the first fortunate step in my career. I felt 
 that I really owed my good fortune to her ; and, 
 though she had refused to take more than her half, 
 my wedding-gift to her had been a check for five 
 hundred dollars : and, oddly enough, Mrs. Harwood's 
 had been the same, as she charmingly insisted on 
 not counting her additions to the trousseau. Indeed,
 
 402 A MODERN ADAM AND EYE 
 
 I thought the wedding-gifts of both brides quite 
 munificent. 
 
 By the time we were really settled, business started 
 up amazingly. I had been haunted by a secret fear 
 that we might overdo, have more stock on hand than 
 we could dispose of; but orders poured in. Prices 
 varied a little, to be sure, but choice flowers were 
 always in demand. I used to wonder how people 
 could afford to purchase such quantities of flowers. 
 Lawrence and I kept very busy ; but there was one 
 delightful side to the matter, if we wanted to go 
 away for a few hours, or down to the city to any en 
 tertainment, we were our own masters. Our young 
 man was very reliable, and Joe always insisted upon 
 an oversight of things when were both away. Dear 
 Joe ! If any deed of kindliness brought back four 
 fold, you returned a thousand-fold. I used to smile 
 when I saw him threading his way around, touching 
 some lovely blossom with the tenderness one bestows 
 upon a baby. How he did love all beautiful things ! 
 And how we all respected him for his manliness, his 
 courage, and his true, earnest soul ! 
 
 Seven years and more have come and gone since I 
 took my first look at Athens ; for now it is spring 
 instead of autumn. One would hardly call us a 
 sleepy little town at present. We have spread out
 
 IX A GARDEN 403 
 
 our borders in every direction. Streets have been 
 cleared up, built with rows of pretty cottages or 
 more pretentious villas. Two more factories have 
 come in, but they are all in the part below us, and 
 down by the river ; and there is a new station at Park 
 Street for the greater convenience of the inhabitants. 
 We have a handsome hall, a flourishing musical 
 union, an amateur dramatic club, and some very 
 attractive social life, a young men's gymnasium and 
 reading-room ; and, as we keep some of our best men 
 in the Board of Excise, saloons do not flourish vigor 
 ously. We may be bigoted and narrow-minded ; but 
 I think, as a community, we have proved that there 
 are higher and better moral tonics for the poor man 
 than beer or whiskey. We have also a building asso 
 ciation, of which Mr. Corwin who, by the way, is 
 prospering wonderfully is president, Mr. Joseph 
 Crawford vice-president, and Gordon Pry or secretary. 
 It builds houses on the instalment plan ; the owner 
 paying so much yearly, which includes interest at six 
 per cent, and a small amount of the principal, or a 
 larger sum, as one elects. If, through sickness or 
 misfortune, the payments cannot be met, they are 
 added back to the whole amount for one year. No 
 house is disposed of to an habitual drinker unless his 
 wife has means of meeting the claims. The cottages, 
 I am happy to say, are well built, if not so fanciful.
 
 404 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 Indirectly, it has another side of profit for Joe and 
 Pryor, in the sale of materials. So far, the demands 
 have exceeded the supply ; though Mrs. Harwood, 
 Mr. Wilbur, Mr. Randall, and several other Athe 
 nians, are stockholders. 
 
 Gordon Pryor is a very successful business-man. 
 His hotel is excellently managed. The added wing 
 is larger than the main building; and during the 
 season, which begins early and ends late, it is always 
 full. There are several pleasant boarding-houses 
 besides, and the current of summer pilgrimages to 
 Athens is unfailing. Our pretty woods have been 
 cleared up, we are at work on our roads, and boating 
 on the river is one of our delights during the late 
 summer afternoons and moonlight evenings. We 
 have also a fair brass band that plays two evenings 
 in the week, when people stroll around, or sit on the 
 benches disposed about our little nucleus of a park, 
 or haunt the broad hotel piazzas. 
 
 Eve's connection with the business management 
 ceased the spring after her marriage. A Gaylord 
 cousin, a Mrs. MacPherson, who had begun life with 
 brilliant prospects, but was now a widow with two 
 children, and only a few hundreds a year, came for a 
 visit, and begged to try her hand. She was an 
 attractive and very agreeable person, and succeeded 
 so well that she was given the post, and fills it
 
 IN A GARDEN 405 
 
 admirably. Her little girl is with her, her boy at 
 school. Mrs. Pryor has two pretty children, of 
 whom their father is immensely proud. 
 
 Thus relieved, Eve turned her attention to flowers, 
 and became Lawrence's shadow. They are a happy 
 couple, delightful as well ; and I sometimes think, of 
 all Eve's manifold gifts, there is none in which she 
 excels more than in the culture of flowers, unless it 
 is in their arrangement. She and Lawrence are like 
 two children, perhaps more harmonious than im 
 mature childhood usually appears. His health is ex 
 cellent, his gaunt frame has filled out to handsome 
 proportions, and they are noticeably fine-looking. 
 They have one little daughter. 
 
 We have two children, a son and a daughter. 
 Celia still finds time to paint, and has done some 
 excellent work. We haunt art exhibitions and club 
 receptions, and I sometimes feel enthusiastic enough 
 to paint a picture myself: then I remember the fate 
 of Jack-of-all-trades. 
 
 We are building our new houses just as Lawrence 
 planned, on Rutherford Avenue. They are together, 
 and give the effect of one very imposing residence. 
 The halls connect with wide sliding-doors, and we 
 expect that only portieres will divide us. We were 
 so well endowed with wedding-gifts, arid have accu 
 mulated so many treasures since that period, that it
 
 406 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 needed two houses to hold them. By autumn we 
 expect to be settled. Mrs. Banks's daughter, Letty, 
 is well married to a waiter in one of the large New- 
 York hotels ; and she the mother has petitioned 
 for the post of Eve's housekeeper. 
 
 Walter Benson has prospered as well as ourselves. 
 His portrait, his success, and a brief biography, 
 graced a recent issue of a poultry monthly. He has 
 taken prizes at poultry exhibitions, and keeps some 
 most beautiful stock. When eggs are high, he man 
 ages to have them in tolerable abundance, and, with 
 the aid of hens and incubators, is early in the mar 
 ket with spring-chickens. He has added two acres 
 of ground at the back of the place, and is, I think, 
 about as happy a young fellow as one can well 
 imagine, in spite of his great misfortune. He plays 
 delightfully on the violin, and spends many a 
 pleasant evening with us. He has a kind of adoring 
 fondness for Eve, and sometimes Joe is almost 
 jealous. Lawrence is rather amused by the plainly 
 exhibited preferences. 
 
 We have still a few of the old croakers left, or 
 we should fancy we were quite in a world of our 
 own. They complain that Athens has been ruined, 
 and insist that it is quite impossible to get a fair 
 price for property, since it has not gone up to the 
 fictitious value of the swell times. Mr. Montgomery
 
 IN A GARDEN 407 
 
 is the head and front of this party. So far, he has 
 not disposed of a single lot. Two or three times 
 he has partly bargained away several acres, then he 
 thought he ought to have a higher price, and raised 
 his figures, losing thereby his opportunity of selling. 
 However, as he is not in a really important part of 
 the town, his property can lie idle without so much 
 detriment. He grumbles about taxes and improve 
 ments j and conceited, feather-headed young fellows 
 running every thing, and ruining it as well. How 
 ever, his land will be of some benefit to his 
 children. 
 
 Lawrence and I have branched out considerably. 
 We have now one acre under glass, and numerous 
 cold-frames. Our "boy" is an intelligent florist, to 
 whom we pay twelve dollars a week ; and we have 
 two more lads who are learning. Through the 
 spring and early summer we require extra help ; but 
 we both devote our time and our brains to the 
 enlargement of our business and its prosperity. We 
 make a specialty of roses, both as to plants and cut- 
 flowers, and have, I think, some of the most magnifi 
 cent roses on the market. We also do something 
 in the way of choice fruit. Our late peaches have 
 been an astonishing success, and we have currants 
 that can almost compare with cherries ; but, as our 
 flower-space increases, we shall do less with them,
 
 408 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 though we find them an excellent return for the 
 time spent upon them. 
 
 Joe has achieved something better than his first 
 dream. Hildreth sold him a pretty plot at the 
 north-east corner of our lot, when we decided to 
 build on the north-west. He has erected a very 
 pretty Queen Anne cottage, not too ornate in style ; 
 and, as his grounds are just defined with a wire 
 fence to keep children from trespassing unduly, he 
 has all our wealth of flowers for his enjoyment, and 
 he loves them with an ardor that often touches my 
 soul. He is prospering in every way. Ruth makes 
 a sweet and tender wife, and an admirable mother 
 to her little brood of four. She and Joe were con 
 firmed at St. Mark's, and Joe is a very earnest vestry 
 man. Mr. Bradford is still with us, and has married 
 a very lovely young English girl, who came to New 
 York to spend a winter with some relatives. We all 
 like her exceedingly, and every year "our clergy 
 man " grows dearer to us. We are proposing now 
 to build a new and more convenient rectory on a lot 
 next the church, as we have received a very advan 
 tageous offer for the old one. 
 
 Our houses will be quite delightful. We have 
 planned them ourselves, with nooks and corners 
 and fireplaces to suit, to say nothing of closets. 
 We shall do a good deal of the interior finishing
 
 IN A GARDEN 409 
 
 ourselves, and we do not propose to be unduly ex 
 travagant so early in our business career. Indeed, 
 we have found out many methods of helping along, 
 of reaching a desired result without a great outlay 
 of money. We make some mistakes, to be sure ; 
 but we rectify them by that best of all light, expe 
 rience. We both work: even Celia and Eve often 
 lend a hand. Celia makes some five or six hundred 
 dollars a year of her own, and Eve has done some 
 lovely flower-pieces. But our garden does engross 
 us with a curious fascination. 
 
 What, indeed, is more lovely, more satisfying, 
 more comforting, than flowers ! They are always 
 appropriate : they cheer the cottage as well as the 
 palace. Every year the demand increases, and it is 
 rarely that the true florist fails of success. It re 
 quires close attention ; but then, what business does 
 not? Work seems the inexorable law for the many, 
 and a business that promises a greater success every 
 year is not to be held in light esteem. My idea of 
 prosperity used to be a steady position at one hun 
 dred dollars a month ; and, having exceeded that, I 
 ought to be content, especially as the prospect seems 
 to be, that ten years hence, if our business increases 
 as it has so far, we shall have all we desire, though 
 to many our desires may seem moderate. What 
 matter, so long as they bring leisure, ease, culture, 
 happiness, and an enjoyable social life?
 
 410 A MODERN ADAM AND EVE 
 
 We might have gone West on a ranch, and lived 
 the half-solitary existence that cannot be evaded. 
 Work among flocks and herds winter and summer 
 is not all holiday-time. You cannot depute every 
 thing to hired help. And it seems to me that at first 
 there must be many pinches and sacrifices when one 
 starts on a little money, as poor young men must. 
 
 There are, of course, the fruit-farms and vine 
 yards of which marvellous stories are told, and the 
 orange-groves of Florida. But trees do not fruit in 
 a single season, and grapes must have time to per 
 fect their strength for steady and profitable bearing. 
 Even in these glowing lands, there needs to be years 
 of waiting and patient endeavor. 
 
 And the land is not all filled up at the eastward. 
 The same courage, hard work, and waiting, would 
 make many of our desolate little country-towns 
 blossom like the rose. True, the land is often held 
 high for speculative purposes ; but there is many a 
 time when some entering-wedge may be used to an 
 advantage. To be near good markets, is a great 
 object. Flowers, fruits, berries, eggs, poultry, are 
 always in demand. The best commands the highest 
 prices and a ready sale. There will always be rich 
 people who can indulge in extravagances. 
 
 As for us, we are satisfied with our garden. We 
 sigh neither for ranch, vineyard, nor orange-groves,
 
 IN A GARDEN 411 
 
 though we expect to visit them all in time. We 
 enjoy having our friends about us, and within our 
 reach such pleasant adjuncts as libraries, art-gal 
 leries, museums, theatres, singers, anil noted 
 speakers and lecturers that float hitherward from 
 time to time. Ours is a kind of idyllic life ; and 
 when some one of the four reads aloud a good 
 novel or a stirring poem, we give thanks that we 
 have achieved the " garden." To us it is a bit of 
 the old Paradise.
 
 IRENE . JEROME'S 
 1 n DT tjnnK'Q 
 
 THE "PERPETUAL PLEASURE" SERIES 
 
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 THE MILLS OP TUXBURY 
 
 " There is a fascination about the stories of Miss Townsend that gives 
 them a firm hold upon the public, their chief charm being their simplicity 
 and fidelity to nature." Commonwealth. 
 
 Sold by all booksellers and newsdealers, and sent by mail, postpaid, 
 on receipt of price 
 
 LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston
 
 BY 
 
 POPULAR 
 
 . AUTHORS 
 
 AN AMERICAN GIRL ABROAD. 
 
 By ADELINE F. TRAFTON. i6mo, cloth, illustrated. $1.50. 
 )ne of the most bright, chatty, wide-awake books of travel ever written. It abound* 
 V ^formation, is as pleasant reading as a story book, and full of the wit and sparkle oi 
 " An American Girl let loose from school and ready for a frolic. 
 
 ONLY GIRLS. 
 
 By VIRGINIA F. TOWNSEND, Author of "That Queer Girl," &c., &c. xamo, cloth, 
 
 illustrated. $1.50. 
 
 " It is a thrilling story, written in a fascinating style, and the plot is adroitly handled." 
 It might be placed in any Sabbath School library, so pure is it in tone, and yet it is so 
 
 free from the mawkishness and silliness that mar the class of books usually found there, 
 
 that the veteran novel reader is apt to finish it at a sitting. 
 
 THE DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER. 
 
 By SOPHIE MAY, Author of " Our Helen," "The Asbury Twins," &c. i2mo, cloth, 
 illustrated. $1.50. 
 
 " A delightful book, original and enjoyable," says the Brownville Echo. 
 
 " A fascinating story, unfolding, with artistic touch, the young life of one of our im 
 pulsive, sharp-witted, transparent and pure-minded girls of the nineteenth century," 
 says TAe Contributor, Boston. 
 
 SALLT "WILLIAMS. 
 
 The Mountain Girl. By Mrs. EDNA D. CHENEY, Author of " Patience," " Social 
 
 Games," " The Child of the Tide," &c. I2mo, cloth, illustrated. $1.30. 
 Pure, strong, healthy, just what might be expected from the pen of so gifted a writer 
 as Mrs. Cheney. A very interesting picture of life among the New Hampshire hills, 
 enlivened by the tangle of a story of the ups and downs of every-day life in this out- 
 of-the-way locality. The characters introduced are quaintly original, and the adven 
 tures are narrated with remarkable skill. 
 
 LOTTIE EAMES. 
 
 Or, do your best and leave the rest. By a Popular Author. i6mo, illus. $1.50. 
 " A wholesome story of home life, full of lessons of self-sacrifice, but always bright 
 and attractive in its varied incidents." 
 
 RHODA THORNTON'S GIRLHOOD. 
 
 By Mrs. MARY E. PRATT. i6mo, cloth, illustrated. $1.50. 
 
 A hearty and healthy story, dealing with young folks and home scenes, with sleigh. 
 ing, fishing and other frolics to make things lively. 
 
 The above six volumes are furnished in a handsome box, for $9.00, or sold 
 separately by all booksellers, or sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price by 
 
 LEE AND SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.
 
 BY 
 
 OPULAR 
 AUTHORS 
 
 SEVEN DAUGHTERS. 
 
 By Miss A. M. DOUGLAS, Author of "In Trust," "Stephen Dane," "Claudia,* 
 " Sydnie Adriance," " Home Nook," " Nelly Kennard's Kingdom." 
 
 121110, cloth, illustrated. $1.50. 
 
 " A charming romance of Girlhood," full of incident and humor. The " Seven 
 Daughters" are characters which reappear in some of Miss Douglas' later books, in 
 this book they form a delightful group, hovering on the verge 01 Womanhood, with 
 all the little perplexities of home life and love dreams as incidentals, making a fresh and 
 attractive story. 
 
 OUR HELEN. 
 
 By SOPHIE MAY. 121110, cloth, illustrated. $1.50. 
 
 " The story is a very attractive one, as free from the sensational and impossible as 
 could be desired, and at the same time full of interest, and pervaded by the same bright, 
 cheery sunshine that we find in the author's earlier books. She is to be congratulated 
 on the success of her essay in a new field of literature, to which she will be warmly wel 
 comed by those who know and admire her ' Prudy Books.' " Graphic. 
 
 THE ASBURY TWINS. 
 
 By SOPHIE MAY, Author of "The Doctor's Daughter," "Our Helen," &c. 12010, 
 
 cloth, illustrated. $1.50. 
 
 " Has the ring of genuine genius, and the sparkle of a gem of the first water. We 
 read it one cloudy winter day, and it was as good as a Turkish bath, or a three hours' 
 soak in the sunshine." Cooperstown Republican. 
 
 THAT QUEER GIRL. 
 
 By Miss VIRGINIA F. TOWNSEND, Author of " Only Girls," &c. iamo, cloth, illus 
 
 trated. $1.50. 
 
 Queer only in being unconventional, brave and frank, an " old-fashioned girl," and 
 very sweet and charming. As indicated in the title, is a- little put of the common track, 
 and the wooing and the winning are as queer as the heroine. The New Haven 
 Register says: " Decidedly the best work which has appeared from the pen of Misg 
 Townsend." 
 
 RUNNING TO WASTE. 
 
 The Story of a Tomboy. By GEORGE M. BAKER. i6mo, cloth, illustrated. 
 
 $1.50. 
 
 " This book is one of the most entertaining we have read for a long time. It is well 
 written, full of humor, and good humor, and it has not a dull or uninteresting page. 
 It is lively and natural, and overflowing with the best New England character and 
 traits. There is also a touch of pathos, which always accompanies humor, in the life 
 and death of the tomboy's mother." Newburyport Herald. 
 
 DAISY TR AVERS; 
 
 Or the Girls of Hive Hall. By ADELAIDE F. SAMUELS, Author of " Dick and 
 
 Daisy Stories," " Dick Travers Abroad," &c. i6mo, cloth, illustrated. $1.50. 
 
 The story of Hive Hall is full of life and action, and told in the same happy 
 
 style which made the earlier life of its heroine so attractive, and caused the Dick and 
 
 Daisy books to become great favorites with the young. What was said of the younger 
 
 books can, with equal truth, be said of Daisy grown up. 
 
 The above six looks are furnished in a handsome box for fq.oo, or sold 
 teparate, by all booksellers, and sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price. 
 
 LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston
 
 RIGHT DOCKS OF TRAVEl 
 
 AND 11""^ ~ ~ ~ 
 
 'REEZY - - - - BY SIX BRIGHT WOMEN - - - - 
 
 A WINTER IN CENTRAL AMERICA AND MEXICO 
 
 By HELEN J SANBORN. Cloth, $1.50. 
 " A bright, attractive narrative by a wide-awake Boston.girl." 
 
 A SUMMER IN THE AZORES, with a Glimpse of Madeira 
 
 By Miss C. ALICE BAKER. Little Classic style. Cloth, gilt edges, $1.25. 
 " Miss Baker gives us a breezy, entertaining description of these picturesque 
 
 islands. She is an observing traveller, and makes a graphic picture of the 
 
 quaint people and customs." Chicago Advance. 
 
 LIFE AT PUGET SOUND 
 
 With sketches of travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon, 
 and California. By CAROLINE C. LEIGHTON. i6mo, cloth, $1.50. 
 " Your chapters on Puget Sound have charmed me. Full of life, deeply 
 
 interesting, and with just that class of facts, and suggestions of truth, tna* 
 
 cannot fail to help the Indian and the Chinese." WENDELL PHILLIPS. 
 
 EUROPEAN BREEZES 
 
 By MAKGERY DEANE. Cloth, gilt top, $1.50. Being chapters of travel 
 through Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland, covering places not 
 usually visited by Americans in making " the Grand Tour of the Conti 
 nent," by the accomplished writer of " Newport Breezes." 
 " A very bright, fresh and amusing account, which tells us about a host of 
 
 things we never heard ol before, and is worth two ordinary books of European 
 
 travel." Woman's Journal, 
 
 BEATEN PATHS ; or, A Woman's Vacation in Europe 
 
 By ELLA W. THOMPSON. i6mo, cloth. $i 50. 
 A lively and chatty book of travel, with pen-pictures humorous and graphic, 
 
 that are decidedly out of the " beaten paths " of description. 
 
 AN AMERICAN GIRL ABROAD 
 
 By Miss ADELINE TRAFTON, author of "His Inheritance," " Katherine 
 Earle," etc. i6mo. Illustrated. $1.50. 
 " A sparkling account of a European trip by a wide-awake, intelligent, and 
 
 irrepressible American girl. Pictured with a freshness and vivacity that is 
 
 delightful." Utica Observer 
 
 CURTIS GUILD'S TRAVELS 
 BRITONS AND MUSCOVITES; or, Traits of Two Empires 
 
 Cloth, $2.00. 
 
 OVER THE OCEAN; or, Sights and Scenes in Foreign Lands 
 
 By CURTIS GUILD, editor of " The Boston Commercial Bulletin." Crown 8vo. 
 
 Cloth, $2.50. 
 
 " The utmost that any European tourist can hope to do is to tell the old 
 story in a somewhat fresh way, and Mr. Guild has succeeded in every part of 
 his book in doing this." Philadelphia Bulletin. 
 ABROAD AGAIN; or, Fresh Forays in Foreign Fields 
 Uniform with " Over the Ocean." By the same author Crown 8vo. 
 
 Cloth, $2.50. 
 
 " He has given us a life-picture. Europe is done in a style that must serve 
 as an invaluable guide to those who go ' over the ocean,' as well as an inter 
 esting companion." Halifax Citizen. 
 
 Sold by all booksellers, and sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of prio* 
 
 AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston
 
 Date Due 
 
 CCC 12 
 
 
 2 7 1978 
 
 = 
 
 PRINTED IN U.S.A. 
 
 CAT. NO. 24 161 (**f
 
 3 1970 00287 3674 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A A 000269125 1
 
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