"Behold the glad Archaics in their Ararat array;
They have stolen Mrs. Japhet's clothes (and Shem's and Ham's) away;
They're glad to see their animals come back for holiday:
Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!
"The solid ground beneath our feet is good—we've floated long.
But Ararat is high and dry, and we have anchored strong;
We're grateful this Thanksgiving tide, and so we sing this song:
Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!"
[CHAPTER XX]
AT THE SUBSIDENCE OF THE WATERS
Thanksgiving day was a white day. It had rained in the night, freezing as it rained, and in the morning the sun came up glorious behind the low-lying line of the most distant mountains, turning the world of ice-incrusted boughs and fields into a prismatic land of marvelous color and brilliancy.
Long before the sun came to work the transformation of an every day land into fairyland, Happie was restlessly awake, longing for rising time. Her thoughts flew to Rosie, who had taken the tidings of the night before with such gravity that Happie suspected that the return of her employers to town meant more serious trouble to that good woman than they had dreamed—indeed they had all expected her rather to rejoice in their good fortune as she had heretofore rejoiced and sympathized with whatever happened to them.
Happie had not lain long awake before she heard Rosie moving about in the kitchen, getting ready for the inevitable cleaning without which she could not have kept a feast, and for which she was undoubtedly going to get her baking out of the way before day had fairly begun. The last stars were still visible and the world was dark, but Happie crept out from sleeping Margery's side to go down and join Rosie, with the intent to find out, if she could, why she had looked so troubled at the idea of "the Archaics" going away.
"My days, Happie, you scared me!" Rosie said, facing about with a jump as the girl came softly into the kitchen. "I sent Mahlon out to do his barn work; I thought I'd git him out from under foot, and I'd have his breakfast ready till he got through."
"How did you manage to wake up so early?" asked Happie. "I heard you down here, I believe while I was half awake and half asleep, and it's only five now."