And his clothes wear out so
soon. He has a tailor who misfits him so exactly from year to year
that there is never the slightest deviation in the botch. I know
beforehand exactly where all the creases will begin. So I darn and
mend. The idea of his big, soft, strong feet making holes in
anything! but, then, you have never tucked him in bed at night, my
dear, so you know nothing about his feet."
"Not I!" said Harriet, embarrassed but not shocked.
Miss Anna continued fondly in a lowered voice: "You should have
heard him the other day when he pulled open a drawer: 'Why, Anna,'
he cried, 'where on earth did I get all these new socks? The
pair I left in here must have been alive: they've bred like
rabbits.'--'Why, you've forgotten,' I said. 'It's your birthday;
and I have made you over, so that you are as good as new--_me_!'"
"I never have to be reminded of my birthday," remarked Harriet,
reflectively. "Anna, do you know that I have lived about
one-eighth of the time since Columbus discovered America: doesn't
that sound awful!"
"Ah, but you don't look it," said Miss Anna, artistically, "and
that's the main object."
"Oh, I don't feel it," retorted Harriet, "and that's the main
object too. I'm as young as I ever was when I'm away from home;
but I declare, Anna, there are times when my mother can make me
feel I'm about the oldest thing alive."
"Oh, come now! you mustn't begin to talk that way, or I'll have to
give you more of the antidote.
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