human
The roof to the library leaks!
gpt
What of it? she asked.
human
That roof never was good, even back in the days when 'twas a private house and my great-uncle lived in it.
gpt
Well, the talk is that the town won't vote a cent toward repairs.
human
They'll have to! You can't get along without a library!
gpt
No, they won't. The talk is that the men won't vote to have the town give a bit of money for shingles. No, nor to pay somebody to take the place of Ellen Monroe as librarian. She's got work in the print mill at Johnsonville and is going to move down there to be near her mother's family.
human
Oh, _talk_! said Miss Abigail with the easy contempt she had for things outside her garden hedge.
gpt
Haven't you heard men talk before?
human
But they say really they _won't!_ They say nobody ever goes into it any more when the summer folks go away in the autumn.
gpt
What's the matter with young folks nowadays, anyhow? They always used to run there and chatter till you couldn't hear yourself think.
human
Miss Abigail, they _ain't_ any young folks here any more!
gpt
What do you call the Pitkin girls!
human
They were the very last ones and they and their mother have decided they'll move to Johnsonville this fall.
gpt
What in the Lord's world are the Pitkinses going to move away from Greenford for! They belong here!
human
There aren't any music pupils left for the oldest one, the two next have got positions in the print mill and little Sarah is too old for the school here any more.
gpt
How about the Leavitts? There ought to be enough young ones in that or family to--
human
They moved to Johnsonville last week, going to rent their house to city folks in the summer, the way all the rest here in the street do. They didn't want to go a bit. Eliza felt dreadful about it, but what can they do? Ezra hasn't had enough carpentering to do in the last six months to pay their grocery bill, and down in Johnsonville they can't get carpenters enough. Besides, all the children's friends are there, and they got so lonesome here winters.
gpt
What's the matter with the Bennetts? The whole kit and b'iling of them came in here the other day to pester me asking about how I grew my lilies.
human
Why, Miss Abigail! You don't pay any more attention to village news! They've been working in the mills for two years now, and only come home for two weeks in the summer like everybody else.
gpt
Like everybody else! Molly, you talk like a fool! As if there was nobody lived here all the year around!
human
But it's _so!_ I don't know what's coming to Greenford!
gpt
Don't chatter so, Molly! If it's true, that about the library, we've got to do something!