Gratia's Trials — page 34: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

GRATIA’S TRIALS. 25 CHAPTER VI. z THE STEP-MOTHER, ‘¢ Father !” Mr. Kempfield was in the harness-shed, mending a much- worn strap, with a bunch of waxed-ends on the bench beside him, and the awl between his'teeth, when Gratia stood before him, her auburn hair blown about by the wind, and her hazel eyes sparkling with a vividness that roused his dull senses into something akin to amazement. _ ‘‘Eh ?” said Mr. Kempfield, dropping the awl, and straight- ening himself up. ‘‘ What’s amiss now?” ‘«She—your wife—is moving little Raymond’s things up into the east garret chamber. Is he to beturned out of his room to suit her whims ?” ‘¢It does seem to me, Gratia, that you wanf/ to make mis- chief,” said Ira Kempfield, feebly. ‘‘ Your mother needs the room for her own things.” | ‘‘Are there not enough other rooms in the house?” indig- nantly demanded Gratia. ‘‘VYes, but she wants “haf room ; and Raymond’! do just as well in the garret. I ain't one that believes in this everlasting cosseting and coddling.” ‘‘ But, father, the roof leaks, and you can see daylight through the cracks in the siding.” ‘¢Well, what then?” said Mr. Kempfield. ‘‘WhenI was a boy we lived in a log-cabin, and I slept up chamber with the other children, and many a winter’s mornin’ we used to wake up with the snow drifted over us from the cracks in the ruff, JZ ain’t any the wuss for it, be I?” ‘‘ But Raymond was never strong, father,” pleaded Gratia. Eomichooks (E(0) =)