It was now Emily’s turn to fly into a pet, and she availed herself of the opportunity.  Running to her mother, she reported what Jerry had done, setting off his foolish conduct in the worst possible light.  Jerry soon made his appearance in the kitchen, and retorted upon his sister by charging her with having hid his cap.  Mrs. Preston tried to settle the difficulty by directing Jerry to get Emily’s bonnet out of the tree, and ordering Emily to tell Jerry where his cap was, if she knew; but Emily protested she knew nothing about the cap, and her brother did not seem inclined to obey his portion of the decree, while his sister failed to comply with hers.  The quarrel was thus becoming more and more complicated, when Oscar suddenly entered the room with the lost cap in his hand.

“Here’s your cap, Jerry,” he said; “I found it just where you left it last night, out in the barn.  Don’t you remember, you threw it at the cat to scare her?”

“Yes, so I did, and I forgot to pick it up again,” said Jerry.

“There, do you believe me now?” said Emily, with an air of triumph.

Jerry did not stop to reply; but, going into the garden, he climbed the apple-tree, and tossed the bonnet down to Emily.

“Now I ’m ready to start, just as soon as I ’ve had a drink of buttermilk,” said Jerry to Oscar; “come into the buttery and get some, won’t you?”

There was only one bowl-full of buttermilk left from the morning’s churning, but Mrs. Preston told the boys they might have that.  Jerry proposed that they should “go snacks,” and gave the bowl to Oscar that he might drink his share first.  The latter took one mouthful, but quickly spit it out, and puckered his face into all sorts of shapes.

“Ugh!” he exclaimed, “you don’t call that sour stuff good, do you?” and he handed the bowl back to Jerry, with a look that would have soured the buttermilk, if it had not already undergone that process.

As soon as Jerry could get over laughing at his cousin’s grimaces, he swallowed the contents of the bowl, and then smacking his lips, said: 

“There, don’t you think I like it?  You just drink it a few times, and then see if you don’t like it, too.  I could drink a quart of it now if I had it.”

“You may have it, for all me; I don’t want any more of it,” replied Oscar.

“Jerry, have the hens been attended to?” inquired Mrs. Preston, as the boys were about starting from home.

“I don’t know—­I have n’t fed them,” replied Jerry.

“You ought to know whether they are seen to or not; it’s your business to take care of them,” said his mother.  “Don’t you go off this morning till you have fed them.  You ought to have done it an hour ago.”