"'Who is that funny old feller?' says I to her. He was poking out his arms every which way and talking like all possessed.
"'Why,' says she, sort o' scared like, 'that's Doctor Gowdy.' You might have thought I had let drive at the President himself. I see I had put my foot in it, so I pulled out as fast as I could."
"Gowdy," reflected Melissa; "haven't I heard that name before?"
"It didn't seem altogether new, somehow," acknowledged Jared.
But neither of them immediately associated this name with the authorship of Onward and Upward. They laid no more stress on the title-page of a book than you, dear reader, lay on the identity of the restaurant cook that gets up your dinner.
"It seemed all right enough," said Jared, reverting to the frame.
"Why, yes," assented Melissa. "I don't see what could have been more appropriate."
"Well, you watch me," said Jared, "and I'll get up something equally as good." For this choice collocation of words he was indebted to a political editorial in the county weekly.
Next morning he was strolling along the roadway, carefully scrutinizing a stretch of dilapidated fence.
"What you up to, Jared?" inquired Uncle Nathan Hoskins, who happened to be driving past. The fresh morning air had a tonic effect upon Uncle Nathan; he showed himself disposed to be sprightly and facetious.