You should have seen Leon following around after Laddie,trying to do things for him,taking on his work to give him more time with the horses,getting up early to finish his own stunts,so he could go over to Pryors' and help.Mother said it had done more to make a man of him than anything that ever happened.It helped Shelley,too.Something seemed to break in her,when she cried so with Leon,because he was in trouble.Then he was so crazy to show off his horse he had Shelley ride up and down the lane,while he ran along and led,so she got a lot of exercise,and it made her good and hungry.If you don't think by this time that my mother was the beatenest woman alive,I'll prove it to you.
When the supper bell rang there was strawberry preserves instead of the apple butter,biscuit,fried chicken,and mashed potatoes.
She must have slapped those chickens into the skillet before they knew their heads were off.When Shelley came to the table,for the first time since she'd been home,had pink in her cheeks,and talked some,and ate too,mother forgot her own supper.She fumbled over her plate,but scarcely touched even the livers,and those delicious little kidneys in the tailpiece like Leon and Ihad at Sally's wedding.When we finished,and it was time for her to give the signal to arise,no one had asked to be excused,she said:"Let us have a word with the Most High."Then she bowed her head,so all of us did too."O Lord,we praise Thee for all Thy tender mercies,and all Thy loving kindness.Amen!"Of course father always asked the blessing to begin with,and mostly it was the same one,and that was all at meal time,but this was a little extra that mother couldn't even wait until night to tell the Almighty,she was so pleased with Him.Maybe I haven't told everything about her,after all.Father must have thought that was lovely of her;he surely felt as happy as she did,to see Shelley better,for he hugged and kissed her over and over,finishing at her neck like he always did,and then I be-hanged,if he didn't hug and kiss every last one of us--tight,even the boys.Shelley he held long and close,and patted her a little when he let her go.It made me wonder if the rest of us didn't get ours,so he'd have a chance at her without her noticing it.One thing was perfectly clear.If shame came to us,they were going to love her,and stick tight to her right straight through it.
Now that everything was cleared up so,Shelley seemed a little more like herself every day,although it was bad enough yet;I thought I might as well hurry up the end a little,and stop the trouble completely,so I began watching for a chance to ask her.
But I wanted to get her away off alone,so no one would see if she slapped me.I didn't know how long I'd have to wait.I tried coaxing her to the orchard to see a bluebird's nest,but she asked if bluebirds were building any different that year,and I had to admit they were not.Then I tried the blue-eyed Mary bed,but she said she supposed it was still under the cling peach tree,and the flower,two white petals up,two blue down,and so it was.Just as I was beginning to think I'd have to take that to the Lord in prayer,I got my chance by accident.
May and Candace were forever going snake hunting.You would think any one with common sense would leave them alone and be glad of the chance,but no indeed!They went nearly every day as soon as the noon work was finished,and stayed until time to get supper.They did have heaps of fun and wild excitement.May was gentle,and tender with everything else on earth;so I 'spose she had a right to bruise the serpent with her heel--really she used sticks and stones--if she wanted to.I asked her how she COULD,and she said there was a place in the Bible that told how a snake coaxed Eve to eat an apple,that the Lord had told her she mustn't touch;and so she got us into most of the trouble there was in the world.May said it was all the fault of the SNAKE to begin with,and she meant to pay up every one she could find,because she had none of the apple,and lots of the trouble.
Candace cried so much because Frederick Swartz had been laid in the tomb,that mother was pleased to have her cheer up,even enough to go snake hunting.
That afternoon Mehitabel Heasty had come to visit May,so she went along,and I followed.They poked around the driftwood at the floodgate behind the barn,and were giving up the place.
