"Soldiers and sailors!" she exclaimed; "that's funny."
I looked on her side of the sign, and, sure enough, there was the inscription—
SOLDIERS'
AND
SAILORS'
HOUSE
"They must have bought this comprehensive sign in some town," I said. "Such a name would never have been chosen for a country tavern like this. But I wish they hadn't taken it down. The house would look more like what it ought to be with its sign hanging before it."
"Well, then," said Euphemia, "let's put it up."
I agreed instantly to this proposition, and went to look for a ladder. We found one in the wagon-house, and carried it out to the sign-post in front of the house. It was raining gently during these performances, but we had on our old clothes, and were so much interested in our work that we did not care for a little rain. I carried the sign to the post, and then, at the imminent risk of breaking my neck, I hung it on its appropriate hooks on the transverse beam of the sign-post. Now our tavern was really what it pretended to be. We gazed on the sign with admiration and content.
"Do you think we had better keep it up all the time?" I asked of my wife.
"Certainly! " said she. "It's a part of the house. The place isn't complete without it."
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