Of course the boys upset it , but as there was company nothing was said , and Ralph devoured his supper with the appetite of a hungry boy , while watching Merry eat bread and cream out of an old-fashioned silver porringer , and thinking it the sweetest sight he ever beheld . Then the young people gathered about the table , full of the new plans , and the elders listened as they rested after the week 's work . A pleasant evening , for they all liked Ralph , but as the parents watched Merry sitting among the great lads like a little queen among her subjects , half unconscious as yet of the power in her hands , they nodded to one another , and then shook their heads as if they said , -- `` I 'm afraid the time is coming , mother . '' `` No danger as long as she do n't know it , father . '' At nine the boys went off to the barn , the farmer to wind up the eight-day clock , and the housewife to see how the baked beans and Indian pudding for to-morrow were getting on in the oven . Ralph took up his hat to go , saying as he looked at the shade on the tall student lamp , -- `` What a good light that gives ! I can see it as I go home every night , and it burns up here like a beacon . I always look for it , and it hardly ever fails to be burning . Sort of cheers up the way , you know , when I 'm tired or low in my mind . '' `` Then I 'm very glad I got it . I liked the shape , but the boys laughed at it as they did at my bulrushes in a ginger-jar over there . I 'd been reading about ` household art , ' and I thought I 'd try a little , '' answered Merry , laughing at her own whims . `` You 've got a better sort of household art , I think , for you make people happy and places pretty , without fussing over it . This room is ever so much improved every time I come , though I hardly see what it is except the flowers , '' said Ralph , looking from the girl to the tall calla that bent its white cup above her as if to pour its dew upon her head . `` Is n't that lovely ? I tried to draw it -- the shape was so graceful I wanted to keep it . But I could n't . Is n't it a pity such beautiful things wo n't last forever ? '' and Merry looked regretfully at the half-faded one that grew beside the fresh blossom . `` I can keep it for you .
It would XXXXX well in plaster .
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