for six weeks, as you have done, I shall expect you to have the parlor warmed and lighted on the first evening of my return, for I am sure I could not settle down to every day life all at once.”  “Well,” said Aunt Lucinda, as she seated herself by the lamp, and took up the knitting-work which was ever at hand, to fill up the “odd spells” which she called a few minutes of leisure, “I have made up my mind that in the future I will sometimes enjoy myself a little, and visit my friends, instead of staying at home till I forget there is any other place in the world but this farm, with its dingy old red house and weather beaten barn.”  “I am very happy to find,” replied my uncle, “that you have finally come to the conclusion that we have but one life to live, for by the way you have worked and drove ahead for the last fifteen or twenty years, one would think you had half a dozen ordinary life-times before you and if you have come to the conclusion that you have but one, and a good share of that gone already, perhaps there will be some peace in the house for the time to come.”  My aunt always complained that her brother had one very serious fault, he was prodigal of time, and took too little thought for the future, and on this ground she replied in rather a snappish voice:  “Well, at any rate, if every one was as slack and careless as you, they would hardly survive for one life time; and I can tell you one thing Nathan Adams, this old house has got to be painted, and that right away, for it is a disgrace to be seen.  I didn’t think so much about it till since I saw how other folks live.  You needn’t begin, as I know you will, to talk about the expense.  You may just as well spend a little money for this as for any thing else; and if as you say ‘we have but one life to live,’ we will try and spend the remainder of it in a respectable looking house.”  “What color would you prefer Lucinda,” replied my uncle, “I suppose it will have to be of the most fashionable tint.  Ah me, this is what comes of women folks going to visit, and seeing the world; I wonder,” continued he, with a roguish look at me “if Aunt Lucinda isn’t expecting some gentleman from Elmwood to visit her shortly, whom she would dislike should find her in this rusty-looking old house.  There’s no telling what may grow out of this visit yet.”  “There’s no use in expecting you to talk sensibly,” replied my aunt, “but the house will have to be painted, and that’s all about it.”  “Any thing to keep peace,” replied Uncle Nathan; “and if you are really in earnest we will see what can be done about it next week, if this fine weather continues, for the old house does need brushing up a little, no mistake.”  And this was the way matters usually ended.  To confess the truth, Uncle Nathan was inclined to be rather careless in matters requiring extra exertion and confusion; but when my aunt once took a decided stand, the matter was soon accomplished, for much as my Uncle enjoyed teasing her, he entertained