and don't you make any fuss about it, for it's your own, and

I can go without spending-money if you can, and am willing

to too. And it's no great denial, either, for the pony'll

come sometime, I'm quite sure. So don't you worry any more

about how the carpenter is to be paid. Good-by, dear old

fellow,

"Ned Thorn.

"P.S.—I was just as dismal as I could be after I got home,

longing to go back to that dreary, dismal, good-for-nothing

Culm Rock. The shells, etc., got here all right. Give my