Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. The Pastor's Blue Apron. Pastor Schaefer was in serious trouble. It was the 22d of December, and his Christmas sermon was still unprepared : worse still, it stood every possible chance of remaining so; for how on earth was a man to consider texts, headings, arguments, or perorations, who had a house and six small children to care for, and a housekeeper whose brother had just been inconsiderate enough to die ? In truth, however, it was rather the housekeeper who should be blamed for want of consideration, since the brother would very likely have remained alive if he had been consulted about the matter; whereas Mary, the housekeeper, could certainly have restrained her grief sufficiently to take the sausages off the fire ! It was early that same morning that it had all happened, though the brother had been in a dying condition for several weeks, ever since he had fallen from a ladder during the operation of hod-carrying, and fractured his skull. Therefore Mary's mind had certainly had time to prepare itself for the shock; indeed the pastor's children had become so accustomed to hearing her shriek wildly every time there came a knock at the door, under the supposition that the knocker brought news of her brother's death, that, when this event really happened, little Bruno, the third from youngest, said solemnly, "PoorMary's brother is dead again; " but nobody supposed it was actually so. " You had better hold still, and have your hair brushed," said Christina a little sharply. Poor Tina was only nine vears old, yet felt herself, as the eldest, responsible for the i'amily; and the responsibility was apt to re-act on her temper. So they all hurried to finish dressing (for the odors of breakfast were unusually strong), and descended in procession to the kitchen, ...