AGIES. 23

he was not expected to mend the fortunes of the family, though,
poor old man, he did his best even in that direction, by keep-
ing up a part of the garden, raising chickens, and bringing in
fish from the river.

Agnes took her shoes in her hand, and ran down to the
quarters where Uncle ’Rius was mending the axe-handle.

“Uncle ’Rius,” said the little girl, “I don’t see how you can
do anything to these shoes; they have been patched and mended
till there is nothing left to mend.”

The old man turned them over and over. Scratching
his head, he said, “Dey sholy is bad; what we gwine do,
honey ?” .

“Indeed I don’t know, unless I go barefoot all the time,”
said Agnes, looking down at her slender feet, that were already
scratched and brown.

“Fim! Hm! dat won’t do,” said Mammy Pris, coming to
the door. “’Rius, yo’ ain’t gwinter let dat chile go barfooty,
cole weather comin’ on, fros’ in de groun’? My! my! to think
dem little baby footies what I done been so keerful of gwine

’thout shoes. No, ’Rius. You ’bleedged to cobble ’em some-
how.”
*Rius looked ludicrously puzzled. “I ’clar’, Pris,” he said,
“ T don’ see how I gwine fix ’em; dey is plum wore out.”
“Yer ’bleedged to fix ’em,” Pris persisted.
“Tf I only might have a new pair,” Agnes said, wistfully ;
“but, "Rius, mamma cannot afford to get them. Grandpa needs