Dab Kinzer | Page 7

use, a great stack of bundles of shingles, some barrels of lime,
and a heap of sand. Whichever way Dab looked, there were visible
signs of an approaching renovation.
"Going to fix it all over," he remarked.
"Yes," replied his mother: "it'll be as good as new. It was well built,
and will bear mending. I couldn't say that of some of the shackling
things they've been putting up around the village."
When they entered the house it became more and more evident that the
"shabby" days of the Morris mansion were numbered. There were men
at work in almost every room.

Ham's wedding-trip would surely give plenty of time, at that rate, for an
immense amount of "mending;" and his house would be, as the widow
had promised, "all ready for him on his return."
There was nothing wonderful to Dabney in the idea of his mother going
about and inspecting work, and finding fault, and giving directions. He
had never seen her do any thing else, and he had the greatest
confidence in her knowledge and ability. He noticed too, before they
left the place, that the customary farm-work was going ahead with even
more regularity and energy than if the owner himself had been present.
"Ham's farm'll look something like ours, one of these days," he said, "if
things go on at this rate."
"I mean it shall," replied his mother, a little sharply. "Now go and get
out the ponies, and we'll do the rest of our errands."
Dab started for the barn at a half trot; for, if there was one thing he
liked better than another, it was to have the reins in his hands and that
pair of ponies before him. Time had been when Mrs. Kinzer did her
own driving, and only permitted Dab to "hold the horses" while she
made her calls, business or otherwise; but that day had been safely put
away among Dab's unpleasant memories for a good while.
It was but a few minutes before the neat buggy held the widow and her
son, and the ponies were taking them briskly down the road towards the
village.
It they had only known it, at that very moment Ham Morris and his
blooming bride were setting out for a drive, at the fashionable
watering-place where they had made their first stop in their
wedding-tour.
"Ham," said Miranda, "it seems to me as if we were a thousand miles
from home."
"We shall be a good deal farther before we get any nearer," said Ham.

"But I wonder what they are doing there, this morning,--mother, and
the girls, and dear little Dabney."
"Little Dabney!" exclaimed Ham, with a queer sort of laugh on his face.
"Why, Miranda, do you think Dab is a baby yet?"
"No, not a baby, but"--
"Well, he's a boy, that's a fact; but he'll be as tall as I am in three years."
"Will he? Do you think so? But will he ever get fat?"
"Not till after he gets his full length," said Ham. "We must have him at
our house a good deal, after we get home, and feed him up. I've taken a
liking to Dab."
"Feed him up!" said Miranda. "Do you think we starve him?"
"No, I suppose not; but how many meals a day does he get?"
"Three, of course, like the rest of us; and he never misses one of them."
"Exactly," said Ham: "I shouldn't suppose he would. I never miss a
meal, myself, if I can help it. But don't you think three meals a day is
rather short allowance for a boy like Dab?"
Miranda thought a moment, but then she answered positively,--
"No, I don't. Not if he does as well at each one of them as Dabney is
sure to."
"Well," said Ham, "that was in his old clothes, that were too tight for
him. Now he's got a good loose fit, with plenty of room, you don't
know how much more he may need. No, Miranda, I'm going to have an
eye on Dab."
"You're a dear good fellow, anyway," said Miranda, with one of her
very best smiles, "and I hope mother'll have the house all ready for us
when we get back."

"She will," replied Ham, after a moment spent in somewhat thoughtful
silence. "Do you know, Miranda, I shall hardly be easy about that till I
see what she's done with it? It was in a dreadfully baggy condition."
CHAPTER IV.
TWO BOYS, ONE PIG, AND AN UNFORTUNATE
RAILWAY-TRAIN.
"That's him!"
Dab was standing by his ponies, in front of a store in the village. His
mother was making some purchases in the store, and Dab was thinking
how the Morris house would look when it was finished; and it was at