Earth's
disturbing voices, Grandma Keeler herself, seldom reached him there.
Early, too, I saw him in the garden, leaning pensively on his hoe--a
becalmed and striking figure in a ragged snuff-colored coat, and a hat
marked by numerous small orifices, through which, here and there, strands
from his silvery fringe of hair strayed and waved in the breezes.
It was Grandma and Grandpa Keeler's custom at the first approach of
spring to detach themselves from Madeline's household, and to form a
separate and complete establishment of their own in the sunny kitchen,
away out at the end of the Ark. I was still, nominally, Madeline's
boarder, and sat at the table with her and the little Keelers; but the
impulses of my heart were ever guiding my feet to that other dear resort,
where doors and hearts seemed always open to receive me, and an
inexpressible warmth and light and comfort pervaded the atmosphere.
It was early in March, when, returning from school one day at the
noontide intermission, I found Grandma standing without the Ark,
singularly occupied. The sun was shining on her uncovered head, and the
tranquil glow on her face was clearly the exponent of no fictitious
happiness.
Pages:
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288