“They ought to have some houses to live in, and barns,” said Jedidiah.  Then it was Mr. Dyer had said they could never get them back into the ark; and Jedidiah had said, “We might ask the ‘grateful people,’”—­for this was the name the inhabitants of Spinville went by in the Dyer family ever since the time of the potatoes.

The story of their coming for the potatoes had been told over and over again; then how the “people” felt so grateful to Mr. Dyer.  Mr. Dyer said he was tired of hearing about it.  Mrs. Dyer thought if they meant to do anything to let Mr. Dyer see they were grateful, they had better not talk so much about it.  But Jedidiah called them the “grateful people;” and it was he that caught the first glimpse of the procession when it came up with the ark, Mr. Jones at the head.  He had some faith in them; so it was he that thought there ought to be a village built for Noah and his family; and when Mr. Dyer had some doubts about building it he suggested, “Let’s ask the ‘grateful people.’”

What they did will be told in another chapter.

II.

ABOUT THE GRATEFUL PEOPLE AND THE WILD BEASTS.

That very afternoon there was a great rush to see Jedidiah’s Noah’s Ark, and there was immense enthusiasm about it.  Some brave ones opened the roof and looked in upon the growling wild animals.  The girls liked the lambs the best; the boys were delighted with the foxes that jumped on the edge of the boat that formed the ark.

In a day or two there was a flourishing little village built on a smooth place on the other side of Mr. Dyer’s house.  The minister’s daughter had brought a little toy village she had with red roofs, and one of the men scooped out the houses, which were made of one block of wood, but could now accommodate Noah and his family, and each one picked out a house to match the color of his garments.

Tom Stubbs built a barn of wooden bricks for the larger animals, and Lucy Miles brought a pewter bird-cage, with a door that would open and shut, for the birds.  The elephant knocked out a brick with his trunk as soon as he went into the barn, but that made a good window for him to look out of.  Jedidiah himself made the loveliest coop for the hen; and the boys had a nice time over a pond they dug in the mud, for the ducks.

Indeed, it occupied Spinville for some time; and Noah, Shem, and Ham did not sit down much, but looked very busy.  There was a fence built round the whole village, high enough to keep in the elephants and the giraffes, though they could look over.  There was a bit of pasture-land shut in for the cows, who fell to nibbling as soon as they were put in it.  A clover-leaf lasted one of the sheep two days.  The tinman sent some little tin dippers no bigger than a thimble, and the children were delighted to see the animals drink.  The boys handed one of the dippers into the ark for the tigers.  The giraffes found a bush just high enough for them to eat from.  The doves sat on the eaves of the ark, and Agamemnon brought some pickled olives, as he had no olive-branch for them.