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diff --git a/26994.txt b/26994.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f144b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/26994.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14748 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of When Life Was Young, by C. A. Stephens + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: When Life Was Young + At the Old Farm in Maine + +Author: C. A. Stephens + +Release Date: October 22, 2008 [EBook #26994] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEN LIFE WAS YOUNG *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Barbara Kosker and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + [Illustration] + + + + + When Life Was Young + + At the Old Farm in Maine + + + BY + + C. A. STEPHENS + + + + + [Illustration] + + + + + PUBLISHED BY + THE YOUTH'S COMPANION + BOSTON, MASS. + + + + + _Copyright_, 1912 + BY C. A. STEPHENS + + _All rights reserved_ + + + _Electrotyped and Printed by + THE COLONIAL PRESS + C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U.S.A._ + + + + + DEDICATED + + WITH CORDIAL BEST + + WISHES TO THE MANY + + Readers of the Youth's Companion + + WHO HAVE SO KINDLY REMEMBERED + + US AT THE OLD SQUIRE'S + + FARM + + + + + Contents + + CHAPTER PAGE + + THE FARM ON THE PENNESSEEWASSEE 1 + + I. A NOSE IN COMMON 5 + + II. WHITE SUNDAY 13 + + III. MONDAY AT THE OLD FARM 28 + + IV. OUR FIRST JERSEY COW 47 + + V. SHEEP-WASHING--ADDISON'S NOVEL WATER-WARMER 57 + + VI. THE VERMIFUGE BOTTLE 72 + + VII. IMMERSING THE LAMBS 94 + + VIII. "OLD THREE-LEGS" 106 + + IX. HOMESICK AGAIN. BLUE, OH, SO BLUE 119 + + X. MUG-BREAD, PONES AND JOHNNY-REB TOAST 128 + + XI. THE BIRDS AND BIRD-SONGS AT THE OLD FARM 136 + + XII. TWO VERY EARLY CALLERS--EACH ON BUSINESS 153 + + XIII. WE ALL SET OFF TO HAVE OUR PICTURES TAKEN 166 + + XIV. "THERE IS A MAN IN ENGLAND, NAMED DARWIN" 176 + + XV. A WET FOURTH OF JULY, WITH A GOOD DEAL OF + HUMAN NATURE IN IT 187 + + XVI. WOOD-CHUCKS IN THE CLOVER--ADDISON'S STRATAGEM 208 + + XVII. HAYING TIME 218 + + XVIII. APPLE-HOARDS 227 + + XIX. DOG DAYS, GRAIN HARVEST, AND A TRULY LUCRETIAN TEMPEST 247 + + XX. CEDAR BROOMS AND A NOBLE STRING OF TROUT 255 + + XXI. TOM'S FORT 268 + + XXII. HIGH TIMES 286 + + XXIII. THE THRASHERS COME 297 + + XXIV. GOING TO THE CATTLE SHOW 308 + + XXV. THE WILD ROSE SWEETING 321 + + XXVI. THE OLD SQUIRE ALLOWS US FOUR DAYS FOR CAMPING OUT 329 + + XXVII. AT THE OLD SLAVE'S FARM 340 + + XXVIII. THE OLD SQUIRE'S PANTHER STORY 384 + + XXIX. THE OUTLAW DOGS 397 + + XXX. A HEARTFELT THANKSGIVING AND A MERRY YOUNG MUSE THAT + VISITED US UNINVITED 410 + + + + +When Life Was Young + + * * * * * + +THE FARM ON THE PENNESSEEWASSEE + + +Away down East in the Pine Tree State, there is a lake dearer to my +heart than all the other waters of this fair earth, for its shores were +the scenes of my boyhood, when Life was young and the world a romance +still unread. + +Dearer to the heart;--for then glowed that roseate young joy and faith +in life and its grand possibilities; that hope and confidence that great +things can be done and that the doing of them will prove of high avail. +For such is ever our natural, normal first view of life; the clear young +brain's first vision of this wondrous bright universe of earth and sky; +the first picture on the sentient plate of consciousness, and the true +one, before error blurs and evil dims it; a joy and a faith in life +which as yet, on this still imperfect earth of ours, comes but once, +with youth. + +The white settlers called it the Great Pond; but long before they came +to Maine, the Indians had named it Pennesseewassee, pronounced +Penny-see-was-see, the lake-where-the-women-died, from the Abnaki words, +penem-pegouas-abem, in memory, perhaps, of some unhistoric tragedy. + +From their villages on the upper Saco waters, the Pequawkets were +accustomed to cross over to the Androscoggin and often stopped at this +lake, midway, to fish in the spring, and again in winter to hunt for +moose, then snowbound in their "yards." On snowshoes, or paddling their +birch canoes along the pine-shadowed streams, these tawny, +pre-Columbian warriors came and camped on the Pennesseewassee; we still +pick up their flint arrow-heads along the shore; and it may even be that +the short, brown Skraellings were here before them, in neolithic days. + +There are two ponds, or lakes, of this name, the Great and the Little +Pennesseewassee, the latter lying a mile and a half to the west of the +larger expanse and connected with it by a brook. + +To the northeast, north and west, the land rises in long, picturesque +ridges and mountains of medium altitude; and still beyond and above +these, in the west and northwest, loom Mt. Washington, Madison, +Kearsarge and other White Mountain peaks. + +The larger lake is a fine sheet of water, five miles in length, +containing four dark-green islets; and the view from its bosom is one of +the most beautiful in this our State-of-Lakes. + +Hither, shortly after the "Revolution," came the writer's +great-grandfather, poor in purse; for he had served throughout that +long, and at times hopeless struggle for liberty. In payment he had +received a large roll of "Continental Money," all of which would at that +time have sufficed, scarcely, to procure him a tavern dinner. No +"bounties," no "pensions," then stimulated the citizen soldiery. With +little to aid him save his axe on his shoulder, the unremunerated +patriot made a clearing on the slopes, looking southward upon the lake; +and here, after some weeks, or months, of toil, he brought his young +family, consisting of my great-grandmother and two children. They came +up the lake in a skiff, fashioned from a pine log. Landing on a still +remembered rock, it is said that the ex-soldier turned about, and taking +the roll of Continental scrip from his pocket, threw it far out into the +water, exclaiming,-- + +"So much for soldiering! But here, by the blessing of God, we will have +a home yet!" + +While going through the forest from the lake up to the clearing, a +distance of a mile or more, they lost their way, for night had fallen, +and after wandering for an hour, were obliged to sleep in the woods +beneath the boughs of a pine; and it was not till the next forenoon that +they found the clearing and the little log house in which my +great-grandmother began her humble housekeeping. + +Other settlers made their way hither; and other farms were cleared. +Indians and moose departed and came no more. Then followed half a +century of robust, agricultural life, on a virgin soil. The boys grew +large and tall; the girls were strong and handsome. It was a hearty and +happy era. + +But no happy era is enduring; the young men began to take what was +quaintly called "the western fever," and leave the home county for +greater opportunities in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. The young women, +too, went away in numbers to work in the cotton factories at Lowell, +Lawrence and Biddeford; few of them came back; or if they returned, they +were not improved in health, or otherwise. + +The third son of the Revolutionary soldier and pioneer remained at the +old farm and lived on alone there after his own sons had left home, to +enter other and less certain avocations than farming. + +Then came war again, the terrible Civil War, when every one of these +sons, true to their soldier ancestry, entered the army of the Republic. +Of the five not one survived that murderous conflict. And so it happened +that we, the grandchildren, war waifs and orphaned, came back in 1865-6, +to live at grandfather's old farm on the Pennesseewassee. + +We came from four different states of the Union, and two of us had never +before even seen the others. It is, therefore, not remarkable that at +first there were some small disagreements, due to our different ideas of +things. + +We were, of course, a great burden upon the old folks, who were +compelled to begin life over again, so to speak, on our account. At the +age of sixty-five grandfather set himself to till the farm on a larger +scale, and to renew his lumbering operations, winters. Grandmother, too, +was constrained to increase her dairy, her flocks of geese and other +poultry, and to begin anew the labor of spinning and knitting. + +It is but fair to say, however, that we all--with one exception, +perhaps--had a decent sense of the obligations we incurred, and on most +occasions, I believe, we did what we could to aid in the labors of the +farm. + +Much as we added to the burdens of our grandparents, I can now see that +our coming lent fresh zest to their lives; they had something new to +live for; they took hold of life again, for another ten years. + +Ten years of youth. + +It was Life's happy era with us, full of hopes and plans for the future, +full, too, of those many jolts which young folks get from inexperience, +nor yet free from those mistakes which all of us make, when we first set +off on Life's journey. Like some bright panorama it passes on Memory's +walls, so many pictures of that hopeful young life of ours at the old +farm, as we grew up together, getting an education, or the rudiments of +one, at the district school, and later at the village Academy, Kent's +Hill Seminary and Bowdoin College. + +And later I may try to relate how we came out and what we are still +doing in life. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A NOSE IN COMMON + + +It was on a sunny, windy May afternoon, late in the month, that the old +gentleman drove to the railway station, eight miles from the farm, to +fetch home the writer of this narrative. Till that day I had never seen +either of my grandparents. But I knew that grandfather was to meet me at +the station, and immediately on getting out of the car, I saw an erect, +rather tall, elderly man with white hair and blue eyes, peering over the +crowd, as if on the lookout for a boy. The instinctive stir of kinship +made me sure who he was; but from some childish bashfulness I did not +like to go directly to him and came around from one side, then touched +his arm. He glanced down. "Are you looking for a small fellow like me, +sir?" I asked. + +"Yes, yes!" he exclaimed and laughed. + +He looked at me searchingly, and his face grew sorrowful as he gazed. + +"Yes, you are poor Edmund's boy. You've your father's forehead and eyes. +Well, well, my son, I am glad to see you, and I hope you will like with +us. You are coming to your father's old home, where he used to live when +he was a boy. Your grandmother will be glad to see you; and you must not +think of such a thing as being homesick. Your cousins are there; and +there will be plenty of things to take up your mind." + +I hastened to say that I was thankful for the home he was giving me, and +that I had come to work and pay my way. (My mother had fully explained +the situation to me.) + +Grandfather smiled and looked at me again. "Yes, you are quite a boy!" +he said. "If you are as good a boy as your father was, your coming may +prove a blessing instead of an additional tax on us." + +I felt much gratified that he considered me "quite a boy," and said that +I knew so many of us must be a great care; but that I meant to do my +best and to take my father's place with him, if he ever needed a son. +(More of my good mother's ideas, rather than my own, I am afraid.) +Unwittingly I had touched a pleasant chord, albeit a sad one. +Grandfather grasped me by the hand, and I saw that his worn blue eyes +had moistened. + +I drew out my baggage check and ran to get my small trunk, which I +dragged forward while grandfather backed the wagon up to the platform. +We drove off much reassured in each other; and I remember still that the +old gentleman's kind words stirred me to an impulsive boyish resolve +never to disappoint his confidence; but it was a resolve that I often +lost sight of in the years that followed. + +Presently our road led along the shore of the Pennesseewassee, past +woodland and farms, mile on mile, with the lake often in sight. I was +much interested in watching the loons, and also a long raft of peeled +hemlock logs which four men were laboriously poling down the lake to the +saw-mills. + +After a time grandfather began to talk more cheerily; he spoke of +farming and of town affairs to me as if I were older; and once or twice +he called me Edmund, although that was not my name; but I did not +correct the mistake; I thought that I could do that some other time. + +"There will be six of you now," he said, "six cousins, all in one +family; and all not far from the same age." Then he asked me my age. +"Twelve, almost thirteen," I replied. "Why, I thought you were +fourteen," he said. "Well, now Addison is fifteen, or sixteen, and +Theodora is near fourteen. Addison is a good boy and a boy of character, +studious and scholarly. I do not know what his learning may lead to; +sometimes I am afraid that he is imbibing infidelic doctrines; but he is +a boy of good principles whom I would trust in anything. He is your +Uncle William's son, you know, and came to our house two years ago, +after his father's death at Shiloh. Theodora came at about the same +time; she is your Aunt Adelaide's daughter. Poor Adelaide had to send +her home to me after your Uncle Robert's death at Chancellorsville. +Theodora is a noble-hearted child, womanly and considerate in all her +ways; and she is as good a scholar as Addison. + +"Then there's Halstead." Grandfather paused; and looking up in his face, +I saw that a less cheery expression had come there. "Sometimes I do not +know what to do with Halstead," grandfather remarked, at last. "He is a +strange boy and has a very unsteady disposition. He came to us after +your Uncle Henry's death. Your Uncle Henry and Uncle Charles both lost +their lives in the Gettysburg fight. O this has been a terrible war! But +what we have gained may be worth the sacrifice; I hope so! I hope so!" +exclaimed the old gentleman, fervently. + +"How old is Halstead?" I asked, after a silence of some minutes. + +"He is fifteen; and your little cousins, Ellen and Wealthy, are twelve +and nine," replied the old gentleman, resuming his account of my cousins +to me. "They are your Uncle Charles' little girls, good dutiful children +as one would ever need to have." + +It was a long drive. At length the road, bending round the north end of +the lake, led for half a mile or more up an easy hill. Here, on either +hand, fields, inclosed with wide stone walls, were now beginning to +show green a little through the dry grass of last year. Other fields, +ploughed and planted, faintly disclosed long rows of corn, just breaking +ground, presided over by tutelar scarecrows which drummed on pans and +turned glittering bits of tin as the breeze played over them. + +"We have lately finished planting," grandfather explained to me. "The +crows are very bold this spring. Halstead and Addison have been +displaying their ingenuity out there, to frighten them off." + +At some distance below the farm buildings, we entered between rows of +apple trees, on both sides of the walled road, trees so large and leafy, +that they quite shut out the fields. These were now in blossom. + +"To-morrow will be White Sunday," grandfather remarked, as old Sol (the +farm horse) toiled up the long hill. "Nature's own bright Whitsuntide, +never brighter, despite war and mourning." + +The great trees stood like huge bouquets; their peculiar, heavy odor +loaded the air, which resounded to the deep, musical hum of thousands of +bees. The near report of a gun rang out, followed by a great uproar of +crows. + +"The boys are scaring them out of the wheat-field," said grandfather. + +I was looking for the house, when old Sol turned in before a high +gate-frame of squared timber, overhung by the apple trees (we sometimes +walked across on the top timber from one tree into the other), and I +jumped down to open the gate. "Pull out the pin," grandfather said. I +did so, and the gate swung of its own accord, disclosing a grassy lane, +marked with wheel-ruts. The farm buildings stood at the head of the +lane; a two-story house, large on the ground, lately painted straw +color. Three great Balm o' Gilead trees towered over it. A long +wood-shed led from the house to a new stable, with a gilt vane and +cupola, which showed off somewhat to the disadvantage of the two larger +barns beyond it; for the latter were barns of the old times, high-posted +with roofs of low pitch, and weathered from long conflicts with storms. +Around them, like stunted children, clustered sheds, sties and a +top-heavy corn-crib, stilted on four long, smooth legs. + +Two boys, one carrying a gun, were coming in from the field; and I saw +girls' faces at the front windows. + +We drove in at the open door of the stable; and while we were alighting +from the wagon, grandmother came out to welcome me and see, I suppose, +what manner of lad I was. The two boys, larger than myself and bearing +little resemblance to each other, approached to unharness the horse; +they regarded me casually, without much apparent interest; and a sense +of being an utter stranger there fell on me. I hardly ventured to glance +at grandmother, who took me by both hands and looked earnestly in my +face. I feared that she would kiss me before the others and durst not +look at her. "Yes," I heard her say, in a low voice, "it is Edmund's own +boy." She led the way into the house, through the long wood-shed and +ell. Supper was waiting; and after a hasty wash at a long sink in the +wood-shed, I followed grandfather through the kitchen to the room beyond +it, where the large round table was spread. The family all came in and +sat down. I still felt very strange to the place; but a glance into +grandmother's kind face reassured me a little. + +Grandmother, as I remember her, was then fair and plump, with hair +partially gray, and a tinge of recent sadness upon a face naturally +genial. With a quiet sigh, she seated me next to her--a sigh for the +last of her boys. + +"They are all here now, father," she said, "the last one has come. It's +a strange thing to see them coming as they have and know why they have +come." + +My cousins were regarding me with a kind of curious sympathy. I picked +out Halstead at a glance: a boy with a rather low forehead, dark +complexion and a round head, which his short clipped hair caused to +appear still more spherical. A hare-lip, never appropriately treated, +gave his mouth a singular, grieved droop; but, as if in contradiction to +this, his eyes were black and restless. The contrast with the steady +gray eyes, and high forehead of the boy sitting next to him, was as +great as could well be imagined. + +As a boy, I naturally looked at the boys first; but while doing so, I +knew that a girl in a black dress, was regarding me in a kind, cousinly +way, a girl with a large, fair face, calm gray-blue eyes and a profusion +of light golden hair. Grandfather's remark, that Theodora was "a +noble-hearted child," came back to me with my first glance at her. + +Two smaller girls, who frequently left their chairs, to wait on the +table, were sitting at grandmother's left hand; girls with brown eyes, +brown hair, and rosy faces, one larger than the other; these were Ellen +and Wealthy. + +"They don't look much alike," said grandmother, looking at us all, over +her glasses. "One never would mistrust they were cousins." + +The old gentleman contemplated us kindly. "Only their noses," said he. +"Their noses are somewhat alike." + +Grandmother looked again, _through_ her glasses this time. + +"So they are!" cried she. "They've all got your nose, Joseph;" and the +old lady laughed; and we all laughed a little oddly and looked at +grandfather and laughed again. I think we felt a little better +acquainted after that; we had, at least, a nose in common. But even our +laughter that evening was distrait, or seemed to me so, as if shadowed +by something sad. + +As evening drew on, we all, save Halstead, gathered in the front +sitting-room without lights; for the windows were open; and there was a +hazy moon. Theodora sat at one window, looking off upon the lake; while +Ellen slowly and rather imperfectly played tunes on a melodeon, lively +tunes, I believe, but the old instrument seemed to me to be weeping and +wailing to us under a mask of pretended music. Beyond doubt I was a +little homesick and tired from my journey; and after a time grandmother +lighted a candle to show me the way up-stairs to bed. I remember feeling +disappointed when she told me that I was to sleep with Halstead. The +latter had come in and followed us up-stairs. He seemed surprised at +finding me in his room. + +"Thought you was going to roost with Ad," said he. "Heard the old gent +say so. Guess Ad has been whining to the grandmarm not to have you. He +is a regular old Betty. 'Fraid you'll upset some of his precious +gimcracks." + +"What are they?" I asked. + +"Don't know much about them. I don't go near him, and he keeps his door +fastened. Lets Doad and Nell in once in awhile. No admittance to me. + +"Hold on a bit!" he exclaimed, suddenly. "Don't sit down on the side o' +the bed just yet. There's (feeling under the bed-clothes) something soft +in there. Here 'tis (drawing out half a large apple pie). Have a piece?" + +Not liking to commit myself to pie under such dubious circumstances, I +said that I guessed not. Halstead began eating it without further +ceremony. + +"I always want a luncheon before I go to bed," he explained, between +mouthfuls. "The old folks think it's hurtful to eat and go right to +sleep. I don't; and I generally manage to get a bite stowed away during +the day." + +I inquired how he managed it. + +"Oh, watch my chance at the cupboard. 'Bout three o'clock in the +afternoon is a pretty good time. Women-folks all in the sitting-room +then." + +While Halstead was finishing the pie, I got into bed, taking the farther +side. There was a shockingly hard lump under my back and after trying in +vain to adapt myself to it, I asked Halstead if he knew what it was. + +"Oh! I forgot that," said he; and coming round, he made another +investigation in the straw bed and took out an old pistol, a very large, +long one. + +"It is loaded!" I exclaimed, for I caught sight of the bright brass cap. + +"Course 'tis," said he. "What's the good of a pistol, if you don't load +it? I had a pair. They're hoss pistols. But the old gent don't 'prove of +pistols. He nabbed the other one. I have to keep this one hid." + +"I should think they would find it when they make the bed," said I. + +"Oh, the grandmarm don't stir the straw very often. She's kind o' fat. +It tires her, I expect. After she's stirred it once, I know I'm safe to +put things in there for quite a spell." + +After secreting the pistol in the leg of an old boot, Halstead came to +bed, and was asleep in a few moments. Falling asleep almost as soon as +he touched the bed was one of his peculiarities. I, too, was soon +asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WHITE SUNDAY + + 'Tis Nature's own bright Whitsuntide, + The bloom of apple-trees. + The orchards stand like huge bouquets + And o'er them hum the bees. + + +My dreams that first night at the old farm were many and disturbing; and +I waked in the morning with a resentful recollection that I had received +not a few hard knocks; but as everything was quiet, I dismissed the +impression; for I had yet to learn that my new bed-fellow was a +spasmodic kicker in his sleep of great range and power. + +Erelong grandmother knocked at our chamber door and called us. Halstead +hastily opened his eyes and rose, as suddenly as he had fallen asleep, +without even a preliminary yawn. + +"Sunday, isn't it?" said he, as he dressed. "But we don't have to go to +church to-day. It's the Elder's turn to preach at Stoneham; he only +comes here half the time." + +After breakfast and after family prayers, Addison, Halstead and I went +out to the garden and there was some effort at a conversation about +blue-birds, a pair of which were building in a box on a pole which had +been set up in the garden wall. But we did not yet feel much acquainted; +Addison soon went back toward the house; Halstead sauntered off among +the apple trees in the orchard, and gradually approached the wall near +the road; then with a swift glance about him, he sprang over and +crouched out of sight behind it. + +It occurred to me that he was doing this to initiate a frolic; and after +waiting for a few moments, I drew near the place and peeped over. But he +was not hidden there. Immediately I espied him down the road, evidently +stealing away. + +White Sunday, indeed! The orchard was a sunlit wilderness of pink and +white blossoms. Every breath of the breeze shook off showers of them. +The ground grew white beneath the trees. The garden was bordered with +hedges of currant bushes; and within them stood a regiment of bare +bean-poles in line. On the upper side was a bee-house, also a long row +of grape trellises, covered with dry vines, showing here and there a +large, pale green bud. + +Presently Theodora came out. + +"Alone, cousin?" she asked. "Where are the other boys?" + +I told her that Addison had gone into the house. + +"And Halstead?" + +I replied that he was in the orchard a few minutes ago. + +"He's gone now," said she, glancing through the trees. "Let's go find +Addison." + +No long search was necessary. She led the way directly up-stairs to his +room and tapped at the door. There was a moment's skurry inside and a +voice said, "Who's there?" + +"Doad,"--with a smile to me. + +The key turned and Addison looked out. + +"I have brought our new cousin," she said. "Can we come in?" + +"Yes," said he, hesitantly, with a backward glance into the room. "Come +in. Halse isn't there, is he?" + +"No, Halse has gone, again," said Theodora. + +They looked at each other significantly. Addison then opened the door +and bustled about, clearing out chairs for us. The room seemed filled +with things. On one side there was a great cupboard, stuffed, in a +helter-skelter way, with books, papers and magazines. Farther along +stood a bureau upon the top of which were set several bottles. A +hat-tree in the corner had, perched upon it, a stuffed crow, a hawk and +a blue jay with bright glass eyes. A rough shelf had been put up along +one end, on which lay many glistening stones of all sorts and sizes; and +on the bed was a large book, open to some cuts of birds. + +"Naughty boy!" exclaimed Theodora, pointing to several loose feathers on +the bed and on the floor. "What did you promise me?" + +Addison reddened. + +"No, I will not hush it up!" cried Theodora. "You deserve to be exposed! +A youth who breaks his promises! You shall show us what you've been +doing. I know where you have hidden it!" Before he could hinder her, she +threw back the pillow and lo! more feathers and a small white and black +bird! "Ah-ha, sir!" she exclaimed. "Didn't you say that you would not +'mount' another bird, Sunday?" + +"Yes, I did, I own I did," said Addison. "But I only got this bobolink +last night. He would spoil, if I let him go till Monday. Besides, I +shall have to work then. And (holding him up) he's such a little beauty +that I couldn't bear to lose him." + +This last appeal disarmed Theodora. "We will pass it over this time," +she said; "but (lowering her voice) you must not 'stuff' birds, Sunday. +Yet now that you've broken the Commandment in your heart, by beginning, +perhaps you might as well finish it. So we will both go off and let you +get through with your wickedness as soon as you can." + +"Addison is a real good cousin," Theodora said to me, apologetically, as +we returned to the orchard. "He is one of the nicest boys I ever saw. He +almost never gets angry, and always speaks in a gentlemanly way to +grandfather and grandmother; and he is real good to us girls, whenever +we have anything hard to do, or want to make flower boxes, or spade up +our flower beds. He knows the different kinds of rocks and trees and +flowers, and the birds, too, and all about their nests and where they go +winters. Uncle William, you know, was a teacher, the preceptor of an +Academy; he understood botany and mineralogy and taught Ad when he was a +little boy. Addison means to get a college education, if he can make his +way to do it. + +"I should like to get a good education, too," Theodora added after +awhile. "Have you any plans of your own?" + +I replied that I had no plans as yet; but that I, too, would like to +attend school. + +"We all go to the district school here," said Theodora, "and we can +learn a good deal, if we study well. But I should like to go to a more +advanced school when I get a little older, so that I could be a teacher +myself, perhaps; though I would rather be something else than a +teacher," she added. + +"What is that?" I asked. + +"Oh, I don't quite like to tell you that just yet," she said. + +"I am going to show you the good apple trees," she continued, and led +the way through the orchard. "These three great ones, here below the +garden wall, are Orange Speck trees; they are real nice apples for +winter; and there is the Gilliflower tree. Over here is the Early Sweet +Bough; and that big one is the August Sweeting; and out there are the +three August Pippins. All those away down there toward the road are +Baldwins and Greenings. Those two by the lane wall are None Such trees. +Out there by the corn-field wall are four Sweet Harvey trees and next +below them, two Georgianas. I learned all their names last year. But +this one here by the currant bushes is a Sops-in-wine. Oh, they are so +good! and they get ripe early, too, and so do the August Pippins and the +Harveys and the August Sweetings; they are all nice. Those small trees +just below the barnyard fence are pears, Bartlett pears, luscious ones! +and those vines on the trellises are the Isabella and Concord grapes; +some years grapes don't get ripe up here in Maine; but they did last +year, pretty ripe, in October. Grandfather carried some of them to the +County Fair and lots of the apples; he had over forty different kinds of +fruit on exhibition. We girls went with him and placed the apples and +pears and the grapes on plates, in the Fair building. You will go with +us this year, I suppose. + +"All this ground here is planted to beets and carrots and turnips. You +mustn't step on it," my pleasant-voiced cousin admonished me. "And we +will not go up very close to that little shed there. That is the +bee-house. See all those hives! The bees will sometimes sting any one +they don't know. Ad isn't afraid of them; I am not much afraid; they +have never stung me. They sting Halstead like sport, if he goes up in +front of the hives. Grandfather puts on a veil and some gloves and takes +them off the apple tree limbs, when they swarm. Ellen is afraid of them, +too; but Wealthy will go up and sit right down in her little chair, +close by that biggest, old, dark-colored hive. There's an enormous swarm +in that hive; and they send out two or three young swarms every year; +that is one of them in the white, tall hive there at the end of the +shed. + +"Last year robber bees came out of the woods and attacked that hive with +the red cap-piece on it. Ad watched them all through one day and threw +hot water on the robbers. You'll see lots of excitement here when a +swarm comes out and grandfather has to hive them. They got fifty cents a +pound for the honey one year; but it isn't so high now. In the winter +the hives stand right out in the cold and snowdrifts. In February, last +winter, the drift in front of the shed was higher than the shed itself. +Grandfather stops up the holes into the hives, that's all; and in March, +before the snow is gone, the bees sometimes come out and get the +honey-sap on the birch and maple logs, when the men-folks are working up +the big woodpile in front of the wood-shed." + +Ellen and Wealthy saw us talking by the bee-house, and approached the +garden gate. "Come down here, girls, and get acquainted with our new +cousin," Theodora called to them. + +"Don't say much to them at first," she continued to me in a lower tone. +"They are bashful." + +Being in much the same case, I looked another way while the two girls +joined us, Theodora having for the moment directed my attention to a +tremendously large queen bumble-bee which came booming along the ground +and began burrowing in a little heap of dry grass. + +"Halstead says those big bumble-bees are the kings," Wealthy ventured to +remark. + +"Well, that is not right," said Ellen. "For Ad says they are the +queens." + +Theodora looked at me and laughed. "You see Ad's word is law," she said. +"But now I want to show you Gram's geese." + +We climbed the garden wall and went around a large shed which joined the +"west barn" and then down into a little hollow behind it, where a rill +from a spring had been dammed to form a goose-pond, fifty or sixty feet +across. Near by the pond, in the edge of a potato field, we found the +geese, seven of them and a gander, which latter extended an aquatic, +pink beak and hissed his displeasure at our approach. "Go back, Job!" +Theodora said to him; Wealthy stepped to the rear of the others, being +still a little afraid of "Job." He was a grievous biter, Theodora +informed me, and had bitten her several times, till she had given him a +switching for it. + +"Two old geese are sitting on eggs in a goose-house, under the shed, +near the barn," Ellen said. "That's what makes Job so valiant. It's most +time for them to hatch the goslings; Gram has given us strict orders not +to go nigh them." + +My new cousins, having undertaken to show me the sights of the farm, +conducted me next to the large old barns, now empty of hay, disclosing +yawning hay bays, weathered brown beams and grain scaffolds. + +On this Sabbath morning, the cobwebbed roofs were vocal with the +twitterings of many tireless, happy swallows, whose mud nests were +placed against the dusty ribs and rafters. Three comma-shaped +swallow-holes in the gable gave them access to the inside, where for two +generations of men they had found a safe breeding-place. Less safe and +less fortunate were the eaves swallows, a row of whose mud nests was +placed along one side of the barn, beneath the eaves without; for wind, +sun and rain often caused their nests to fall; crows, too, at times +stole up and plundered them; and weasels playing along the margin of the +roof, had been known to throttle the fledglings. + +"He must go and see the 'Little Sea,'" said Ellen. + +"Yes, cousin," Theodora said, "you have no doubt heard of the Black Sea +and the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea; but up here at Gramp's we +have a new sea that no geographer has yet put down on the map. It isn't +every day that anybody can discover a new sea, you know." + +Ellen and Wealthy led the way across the fields toward the east side of +the farm; we crossed the road and descended through a wide field of +grass land, and came to a broad stone wall, extending for near half a +mile betwixt the fields and the pastures. Here grew a long, irregular +row of wild red cherry trees and black cherry trees, now just past the +season of bloom. + +"The cherries off some of these trees are fine to eat," Theodora +remarked as we stood on the wall and looked about. "This one here is +Gramp's tree," she said. "Those off this tree are nearly half as large +as the 'tame' cherries; and this one by the rock is my tree; and those +out by the pine stump are Ellen's and Wealthy's. Halstead claims a whole +row of those higher up; he talks large if any of us rob his trees; but +the birds get the most of them. Ad thinks they are not really fit to eat +and says there is danger in swallowing the stones. We have enough of the +large, tame cherries, too, all through July and until the first of +August. Those trees that you saw along the barnyard fence of the north +barn are the tame cherry trees. The black cherries do not get ripe till +later; October is the month for them. They are nice when real glossy +black and ripe, after the first frosts. The trees are just loaded down +with them, sometimes; and right there, by that double tree, is where +Uncle Henry and Uncle Edmund (your father) saw a bear in the tree, or in +a tree that stood there then; it may not be the same one, but it was a +cherry tree. The bear was up in the tree, getting cherries. He would +reach out and pull in the branches with his paws, and then draw the +little twigs, all covered with cherries, through his big mouth and +scrape off a lot at once. That was what he was doing there, and he had +broken the top of the tree half off. The boys heard the green limbs +creaking and cracking, and the tree shaking under the bear's weight. So +they stole up and stood on the wall to look; and pretty soon they saw +his black hair amongst the leaves; but the bear was so busy eating +cherries that he did not notice them. They had no gun, so they each +picked up a good big stone and both threw at once; and one of them hit +the bear, thump, on his back! It took him by surprise, I expect, and his +mouth being so full of leaves and cherries, he sucked some of them down +the wrong way, maybe; for they said the old fellow gave an awful +cough!--and then started to slide down the tree. At that they both +turned and ran, like sport, for the house; for they imagined the old +bear meant to pay them back for that stone that had hit him." + +"Did the bear chase them?" I cried. + +"I rather think not," replied Theodora. "I didn't hear that he did." + +"Are there bears around here now?" I inquired. + +"Not many; they don't come around the buildings now as they did when our +fathers were boys." + +"Old 'Three-Legs' comes into the sheep-pasture after the sheep," said +Ellen. + +"Yes, and Halstead says he saw him when he was looking for the cows, one +night this spring," said Wealthy. + +"Is 'Three-Legs' a bear?" I asked, greatly interested. + +"Yes, a very bold, cunning old bear that lost his right foot in a trap +years ago," Ellen explained. "Halstead says he saw him about a month +ago." + +"Halstead sees lots of bears," said Theodora, laughing. "I suppose there +are a few about, yet," she added. "They come down out of the Great Woods +once in awhile. But Gramp says there is no danger in our going out in +the pastures and the woods around the farm, except perhaps a little +while in the spring, when they first come out of their winter dens and +are very gaunt and hungry." + +"Gram doesn't like to have us go off into the woods," said Wealthy. + +"I have been all over the pasture and through all these woods here, and +those on the west side of the farm; and once, last November, I went up +to Mud Pond in the Great Woods, with Ad, after beaver-lily root, and I +never saw any bears," said Theodora. + +"Nor I either," said Ellen. "But Gram never likes to have us go off +far." + +"Where is the 'Great Woods'?" I asked. + +"Oh, away off to the north and the west of the farms," replied Theodora. +"Most anything may come out of the Great Woods! It's a realm of mystery. +It extends off to the White Mountains and to the Lakes and toward +Canada. There are deer and moose in it, and 'lucivees.'" + +"What are they?" I asked. + +"It's a kind of big woods cat," Ellen said. "Some hunters brought out +three which they had shot, last winter; they were as large as dogs and +had pretty little black tufts on their ears, and such great, round, +silvery eyes and such paws, too, with toe-nails an inch long!" + +"Addison thinks that there are valuable minerals up in the Great Woods," +Theodora remarked; "silver and amethysts and tourmalines. The day he and +I and Kate Edwards went after the beaver-lily root, we climbed part way +up a high mountain and on the side of it Ad found rock crystals. Oh, +such beautiful ones! as large as a pear. He says he is going to explore +all those mountains, by and by." + +"Are there mountains in the Great Woods?" I inquired. + +"Yes, and ponds and brooks full of trout and I don't know what else. I +would like to explore it myself. Addison said that some time, when the +work is well along, we can get up a party and go up there, to explore +and fish and camp out a week. Wouldn't that be fun?" + +"But it isn't often that the work is well along," remarked Ellen. "There +is always lots to do here." + +"Well, now we must go down to the 'Little Sea,'" said Theodora; and we +descended through the pasture, a large tract of grazing land, partly +bushy, overgrown in many places by high, rank brakes, and at length came +to a brook, running over a sandy bed. Here at a bend was an artificial +pond, formed by a dam, built of stones laid up in a broad wall across +the course of the brook. In one place the wall was six or seven feet in +height; and through a little sluice-way of planks, the water ran in a +slender stream over the dam and fell into a pool below it. The pond was +perhaps a hundred feet in length by forty or fifty in width; a part of +the bottom was sandy and in one place it was over a boy's head in depth. + +"This is the famous Little Sea," said Theodora. "Isn't it an extensive +sheet of water?" + +"Who built the dam?" I inquired. + +"Oh, your father and mine and all the rest of our uncles, grandfather's +first boys, when they were young." + +"What did they build it for?" I asked. + +"To wash the sheep. They hold the sheep under the stream of water where +it falls over the sluice-way below the dam here," replied Ellen. + +"And to learn to swim in," said Wealthy. "They used to swim here when +they were boys; and Ad and Halstead come down here now, Saturday +evenings, for a bath. Doad and Nell and I are going to have us some +bathing suits and come down here, too, so that if ever we go to the +seashore, we may know how to swim." + +The older girls laughed indulgently at Wealthy for thus ingenuously +informing me of their projects. + +"Well, you needn't laugh," said Wealthy, coloring. "He's our cousin, +isn't he?" + +This made me feel so awkward that, to change the subject, I began +skipping stones, and was very glad to have Ellen ask me whether I knew +how to make "whistles." I did not. "I do," said she. "If you will lend +me your pocket-knife, I will show you how." + +"But it is Sunday, Nell," said Theodora, smiling. + +"So 'tis!" exclaimed Ellen. "I forgot." + +"I guess it need be no harm to make just one, now you've spoken of it," +said Theodora. So the knife being opened, I was instructed how to cut a +stick of green osier, or maple, shape the end, cut and loosen the bark; +and having slipped the bark off, how further to make the requisite +notches, so that the hollow cylinder of bark being replaced, there would +be a whistle of keen, shrill note. + +This bit of sylvan handicraft having been explained to me, in detail, +Theodora announced that it was time to return to the house. "Gram does +not approve of our taking too long strolls on Sunday," said she. "But so +long as we do right, I can see no harm in it. Besides, our new cousin +had never seen the farm before and to-morrow he will have to go to work, +I suppose." + +"But there's lots more to show him," said Ellen. "He hasn't seen the +house-leek rocks, nor the old cider mill, nor the artichoke flat, nor +the sap-house, nor the colts." + +"Nor the other trout brook where Ad caught the mink, nor the wood-chuck +wall, nor the bog where the big mud-turtle lives, nor the blackberry +hill, nor 'the fort.' Why, he hasn't seen hardly anything, yet," Wealthy +added. + +"O well, he will have time to see it all, for he is going to live here, +you know," said Theodora. "But now we really ought to go home, for we +must help Gram get up the dinner, and it is past noon already, I think." + +We took our way leisurely up through the fields where the wild +strawberries were in bloom, great patches of them, half an acre in +extent, white with the lowly blossoms. The girls carefully marked +certain places, so as to know where to come early in July, when the +grass was grown tall. + +"Gramp does not quite like to have us come into the tall grass, after +strawberries," Theodora remarked, "because we trample the grass down and +make it difficult to mow; but Gram always sends us out and sometimes +goes herself." + +"And when she goes, I tell you the grass has to catch it!" exclaimed +Wealthy. "She just creeps along and crushes down a whole acre of it at +one time!" + +"Yes, Gramp scolded a little about it one day," said Ellen. "He came in +at noon and said to grandma, 'Ruth Ann, I should think that the +Millerites had been creeping through my east field.' He said that to +tease her, because Gram doesn't approve of the Millerites at all. + +"'Joseph,' said Gram, pretty short for her, 'I'm afraid your memory's +failing you.' + +"'What's my memory got to do with it?' said Gramp. + +"'Didn't I put it in the bargain when I married you, that I should be +allowed to go strawberrying in the hay fields just when I wanted to?' +Gram said. + +"At that, Gramp began to laugh and said, that if his memory was failing, +there certainly was nothing the matter with grandma's memory; and he +never said another word about the grass; so I guess he did make some +such promise when they were married." + +The girls went into the house; and feeling pretty warm from our walk, I +lay down beneath one of the large old Balm o' Gileads. Addison came out +of the sitting-room and asked where we had been. "I was going to ask you +to go down to the 'Little Sea,'" he added, "for a swim before dinner. +But if you have been down there and back, you would be too warm to go +into the water; so I'll lend you a book to read." + +He brought me from his room _Cudjo's Cave_, saying that the Old Squire +and Gram might not consider it wholly proper reading for Sunday, but +that it was his most interesting book, in the way of a story. + +"Do you call grandfather the 'Old Squire'?" I asked. + +"Yes, that is what the folks around here mostly call him," replied +Addison. "So I do. It doesn't sound quite so childish as to be always +saying grandfather, or grandpa. + +"Of course," Addison continued, "we expect girls, or little boys, to say +'grandfather,' or 'gramp'; but we boys when we are out among other boys, +have to say the 'Old Squire,' or the 'old man,' or else they would be +laughing at us for milksops. It doesn't do for a boy to seem too +childish, you know. + +"But I never like the sound of 'the old man,'" Addison went on coaching +me confidentially. "Sounds disrespectful and sort of rowdy. I don't like +'old gent,' either. But I sometimes speak of grandfather as the old +gentleman and of grandmother, generally, as 'Gram.' So do the girls. She +likes that, too; for some reason she doesn't like to be called +grandmother very well. I guess it makes her feel too old. For fun I +called her 'Ruth' one day. That is her given name, you know. She looked +at me and laughed. 'Addison,' she exclaimed, 'you are getting to be +quite a young man!' + +"But I guess if the truth were known," Addison continued sapiently, +"that no oldish people like to be called grandpa and grandma very well, +till they get to be as much as eighty years old. Then they seem to enjoy +it." + +Grandmother provided but two meals on Sunday: breakfast at about eight +in the morning, and dinner at three in the afternoon. Consequently we +were sitting down to dinner, with very good appetites, judging the +others by my own, when one seat was seen to be vacant. + +"Where's Halstead?" the Old Squire asked. + +There was an expectant hush; and again I saw Theodora and Addison glance +across to each other. As no one seemed to know, nothing further was +said. We were half through dinner, when the absent one came quickly +into the kitchen, looking very red and much heated. With a stealthy +glance through the open door into the dining-room, he hastily bathed his +face in cold water, then came in and took his place. His hair was wet, +his collar limp, and altogether he looked like a boy fresh from a hot +run. + +"Where have you been, Halstead?" the Old Squire inquired. + +"Up in the sheep pasture, sir," said Halstead promptly. "I can't make +but forty-seven lambs, the way I count. There is one gone." + +"A very sudden liking for shepherd life," remarked Addison in an +undertone to Theodora. + +"What made you run and heat yourself so?" Gram asked him. + +"I was afraid I should be late to dinner," answered Halstead with a bold +look, intended for a frank one. + +Grandfather looked at him earnestly; but nothing more was said. We all +felt uneasy. Dinner ended rather drearily. + +In the evening Theodora read to us several chapters from _Dred_, Mrs. +Stowe's novel. Anti-slavery books were then well nigh sacred at the old +farm. Almost any other work of fiction would hardly have been considered +fit reading for Sunday. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MONDAY AT THE OLD FARM + + +"I shall expect you to work with us on the farm, 'Edmund,'" grandfather +said to me after breakfast. "But you may have this forenoon, to look +about and see the place. Enjoy yourself all you can." + +The robins were singing blithely in the orchard. I went thither and I +think it was four robins' nests which I found in as many different apple +trees, one with three, two with four and one with five blue eggs. Is +there anything prettier than the eggs of a robin, in the eyes of a boy? + +As I climbed the orchard wall to cross the road, a milk snake was +sunning on the loose stones among the raspberry bushes, the first I had +ever seen; and I bear witness that the ancestral antipathy to the +serpent leaped within me instantly. I beat his head without remorse, ay, +pounded his tail, too, which wriggled prodigiously, and chopped his body +to pieces with sharp stones. + +This sorry victory achieved, I set off across the fields to the west +pasture and thence descended to the west brook, where I saw several +trout in a deep hole beneath the decayed logs of a former bridge. With a +mental resolve to come here fishing, as soon as I could procure a hook +and line, I continued onward through a low, swampy tract overgrown with +black alder and at length reached the "colt pasture," upon a cleared +hill. Here a handsome black colt, along with a sorrel and a white one, +was feeding, and at once came racing to meet me, in the hope of a nib +of provender, or salt. Continuing my voyage of discovery, I came to a +tract of woodland beyond the pasture through which a cart road led to a +clearing where there was a small old house, deserted, and also a small +barn. This, as I had yet to learn, was the "Aunt Hannah lot," an +appendage of the farm, which had come into grandfather's possession from +a sister, my great-aunt of that name. Save a field of oats, the land +here was allowed to lie in grass and remain otherwise uncultivated. +Beyond this small outlying farm, there was a dense body of woodland, +which I did not then attempt to penetrate, but made a circuit to the +northward through pasture land and young wood for half a mile or more, +and by and by crossed the road, looking along which to the northwest, I +could see the farmhouses of several of our neighbors. + +Still farther around to the north rose a bold, rocky, cleared hill which +I concluded was the sheep pasture. In a wet run along the foot of the +hill was a stretch of what looked to be low, reddish, brushy grass, +which I ascertained later was the "cranberry swale." + +Beyond it to the east, a long field curved around the foot of the sheep +pasture; and on the far side of this field there was woodland again, +descending first to the valley of the east brook where lay the "Little +Sea," then ascending a rugged hill. + +A boy, like a bee, must needs take his bearings before he can feel quite +at home in a new place. I crossed the valley and climbed the wooded hill +beyond, a distance of nearly a mile and a half from the farmhouse. +Formerly there had been a grand growth of pine here; and there were +still a few pine trees. Numbers of the old stumps and stubs were of +great size. This rugged ridge bore the name of Pine Hill. From the +summit I gained a fine view of the country around, with its farms and +forest tracts, and of the Pennesseewassee stretching away to the +southward; also of the White Mountains in the northwest; while on the +other side of the hill to the east and southeast, lay an extensive bog +and another smaller lake, or pond, known as North Pond. + +For half an hour or more I sat upon a pine stump and pored over the +geography of the district with much boyish interest, noting various +hills, farmhouses and other landmarks concerning which I determined to +inquire of Addison. + +At length, beginning to feel hungry and bethinking myself that it must +be getting toward noon, I descended from my perch of observation, and +made my way homeward, although it did not seem very much like home to me +as yet. The tramp had done me good in the way of satisfying my "bump of +location." + +Reaching the house in advance of the noon hour, I went out with Theodora +to see the eaves swallows again. We counted fifty-seven nests in a row, +each resembling very much a dry cocoanut shell, with a swallow's head +looking out at a little hole on the upper side. Dora pointed out the +nest of one pair which had experienced much ill luck. Three times the +nest had fallen. No sooner would they finish it and have an egg or two, +than down it would fall on the stones below. But their misfortunes had +finally taught the little architects wisdom. They brought hair from the +barnyard and mixed it with their mud, after the manner of mortar, and so +built a nest which successfully adhered. + +All this Theodora told me as we stood watching them, coming and going +with cheery, ceaseless twitterings. + +"And I think they've got a kind of reason about such things," Theodora +added with a certain tone of candid concession. "Although Gram says it +is only instinct. She doesn't like to have any one say that animals or +birds reason; she thinks it isn't Scriptural." + +Just then Ellen came out with the dinner-horn which, after several +dissonant efforts, she succeeded in sounding, to call the Old Squire and +the boys from the field. Theodora and I were so greatly amused at the +odd sound that we burst out laughing; and Ellen, hearing us, was a good +deal mortified. "I don't care!" she exclaimed. "It goes awfully hard; I +haven't got breath enough to quite 'fill' it; and my lip isn't hard +enough. Ad says it takes practice to get up a lip for horn blowing." + +Theodora tried it, and elicited a horrible blare. I did not succeed much +better; something seemed to be lacking in my lip, or my lungs. It +required a tremendous head of wind to make the old tube vibrate; at +last, I got it started a-roaring and made the whole countryside hideous +with an outlandish sort of blast. Theodora begged of me to desist. + +"We shall have the neighborhood aroused and coming to see what the +matter is," she said. I was so much elated with my success, however, +that I blew a final roar; and just then Addison, Halstead, grandfather +and two hired men came upon the scene, over the wall from the field +side. + +"What on earth are you trying to do with that horn?" Halstead called +out. "Do you think we are deaf? I never heard such a noise!" + +"It is only our new cousin getting up his lip," said Ellen, scarcely +able to speak for laughing. + +Grandfather told me that if they ever organized a brass band thereabout, +I should have the big French horn to play, for I seemed to have the +makings of a tremendous lip. All these little incidents of my first few +days at the farm are enduringly fixed in my memory. + +The day proved a warm one; and after dinner I went into the front +sitting-room and looked at the old family pictures: grandfather's father +and mother in silhouette, General Scott's triumphant entry into the city +of Mexico, Jesus disputing with the Doctors, Martin Luther, George +Washington and several daguerreotypes of my uncles and aunts, framed and +hung on the wall. Next I read the battle parts of a new history of the +War, by Abbott. + +Erelong grandfather came in for a nap on the lounge; and I found that +Addison and Halstead were hitching up old Sol and loading bags of corn +into the farm wagon, to go to mill. They told me that the grist mill was +three miles distant and invited me to go along with them. We set off +immediately, all three of us sitting on the seat, in front of the bags. +Halstead wanted to drive; but Addison had taken possession of the reins +and kept them, although Halstead secured the whip and occasionally +touched up the horse, contrary to Addison's wishes; for it proved a very +hilly road. First we descended from the ridge on which the home farm is +located, crossed the meadow, then ascended another long ridge whence a +good view was afforded of several ponds, and of the White Mountains in +the northwest. + +Descending from this height of land to the westward for half a mile, we +came to the mill, in the valley of another large brook. It was a +weathered, saddle-back old structure, situated at the foot of a huge +dam, built of rough stones, like a farm wall across the brook, and +holding back a considerable pond. A rickety sluice-way led the water +down upon the water-wheel beneath the mill floor. + +When we arrived there was no one stirring about the mill; but we had no +more than driven up and hitched old Sol to a post, when two boys came +out from a small red house, a little way along the road, where lived the +miller, whose name was Harland. + +"There come Jock and George," said Addison. "Maybe the old man isn't at +home to-day. + +"Where's your father?" he called out, as the boys drew near. + +"Gone to the village," replied the larger of the two, who was +apparently thirteen or fourteen years of age. + +"We want to get a grist ground," Addison said to them. + +"What is it?" they both asked. + +"Corn," replied Ad. + +"If it's only corn, we can grind it," they said. "Take it in so we can +toll it. Pa said we could grind corn, or oats and pease; but he won't +let us grind wheat, yet, for that has to be bolted." + +We carried the bags into the mill; there were three of them, each +containing two bushels of corn; and meantime the two young millers +brought along a half-bushel measure and a two-quart measure. + +"It's two quarts toll to the bushel, ye know," said Jonathan, the elder +of the two. "So I must have two two-quart measurefuls out of every bag." +He proceeded to untie the bags and toll them, dipping out a heaped +measureful. + +"Here, here," said Addison, "you must _strict_ those measures with a +square; you're getting a good pint too much on every one." + +"All right," they assented, and producing a piece of straight-edged +board, _stricted_ them. + +"Have to watch these millers a little," Addison remarked. "And I guess, +Jock, you had better not toll all the bags till you see whether there's +water enough to grind all of it." + +"O, there's water enough," said they. "There's a whole damful." + +They then poured the first bagful into the hopper over the millstones, +and went to hoist the gate. It was a very primitive, worn piece of +mechanism, and hoisting it proved a difficult task. Addison and Halstead +went to help them. At length they heaved the gate up; the water-wheel +began to turn and the other gear to revolve, making a tremendous noise. +I climbed down beneath the mill, at the lower end, to see the +water-wheel operate. The wheel and big mill post turned ponderously +around, wabbling somewhat and creaking ominously. By the time I went +back into the mill, above, the first bagful of corn was nearly ground +into yellow meal, which came out of the stones into the meal-box quite +hot from the molinary process. Addison was dipping the meal out and +putting it up in the empty bag. + +"Is it fine enough?" Jock called out. "I can drop the stone a little, if +ye say so. We will grind it just as ye want it." + +Presently something went through the millstones that made an odd noise; +and the young miller, George, accused Halstead of throwing a pebble into +the hopper. They had a dispute about it, and George complained that such +a trick might spoil the millstones. + +Another bagful was poured into the hopper and ground out; and then +Addison and I brought along the third bagful. + +"Hold on there," said Jock. "I haven't tolled that bag." + +We thought that he had tolled it. + +"No," said both Jock and George. "You said not to toll that last bag +till we saw whether there was water enough to grind it." + +"But you declared that there was water enough, and tolled it!" cried +Halstead. + +Addison and I could not say positively whether they had tolled it or +not; and they appeared to think that it had not been tolled. The point +was argued for some moments; finally it was agreed to compromise on it +and let them have one measure of toll out of it. So there was two quarts +of loss or gain, whichever party was in error. + +When the last bagful was nearly ground and the hopper empty, all save a +pint or so, Jock and George ran to shut the gate and stop the mill. + +"Hold on!" cried Addison. "That isn't fair. There's two quarts in the +stones yet; we shall lose all that on top of toll." + +"But we must shut down before the corn is all through the stones!" cried +Jock, "or they'll get to running fast and grind themselves. 'Twon't do +to let them get to running fast, with no corn in." + +"Well, don't be in such haste about it," urged Addison. "Wait a bit till +our grist is nearer out." + +They waited a few moments, but were very uneasy about the stones, and +soon after the last kernels of corn had disappeared from the hopper, +they pulled the ash pin to let the gate fall. It was then discovered +that from some cause the gate would not drop. The boys thumped and +rattled it. But the water still poured down on the wheel. By this time +the meal had run nearly all out of the millstones and they revolved more +rapidly. The young millers were now a good deal alarmed, and, running +out, climbed up the dam and looked into the flume, to see what was the +matter with their gate. + +"It's an old shingle-bolt!" shouted Jock, "that's floated down the pond! +It's got sucked in under the gate and holds it up! Fetch the pike-pole, +George!" + +George ran to get the pike-pole; and for some moments they tried to +push, or pull, the block out. But it was wedged fast and the in-draught +of the water held it firmly in the aperture beneath the gate. It was +impossible to reach it with anything save the pike-pole, for the water +in the flume over it was four or five feet deep. + +Meantime the old mill was running amuck inside. The water-wheel was +turning swiftly and the millstone was whirling like a buzz saw. After +every few seconds we could hear it graze down against the nether stone +with an ugly sound; and then there would fly up a powerful odor of +ozone. + +Jock and George, finding that they could not shut the gate, came +rushing into the mill again in still greater excitement. + +"The stones'll be spoilt!" Jock exclaimed. "We must get them to grinding +something." + +He ran to the little bin of about a bushel of corn where the old miller +kept his toll and where they had put the toll from our bags. This was +hurriedly flung into the hopper and came through into the meal-box at a +great rate. It checked the speed in a measure, however, and we took +breath a little. + +"You had better keep the mill grinding till the pond runs out," Addison +advised. + +"I would," replied Jock, "but that's all the grain there is here." + +It was evident that the mill must be kept grinding at something or +other, or it would grind itself. It would not answer to put in pebbles. +Ad suggested chips from the wood yard; and George set off on a run to +fetch a basketful of chips to grind; but while he was gone, Jock +bethought himself of a pile of corncobs in one corner of the mill; and +we hastily gathered up a half-bushel measureful. They were old dry cobs +and very hard. + +"Not too fast with them!" Jock cautioned. "Only a few at a time!" + +By throwing in a handful at a time, we reduced the speed of the stones +gradually, and then suddenly piling in a peck or more slowed it down +till it fairly came to a standstill, glutted with cobs. The water-wheel +had stopped, although the water was still pouring down upon it; and in +that condition we left it, with the miller boys peeping about the flume +and the millstones and exclaiming to each other, "What'll Pa say when he +gets back!" + +That was my first experience in active milling business, and it made a +profound impression on my mind. + +But we were not yet home with our grist, by a great deal! Halstead had +resented it because he had not been able to drive the horse on the +outward trip. While Addison and I were throwing in the last bag, he +jumped into the wagon and secured the reins. Not to have trouble, +Addison said nothing against his driving; and we two walked up the long +hill from the mill, behind the wagon. Reaching the summit, we got in and +Halstead started to drive down the hill on the other side. As I was a +stranger, he wished me to think that he was a fine driver and told me of +some of his exploits managing horses. "There's no use," said he, "in +letting a horse lag along down hill the way the old mossbacks do around +here. They are scared to death if a horse does more than walk. Ad won't +let a horse trot a single step on a hill, but mopes and mopes along. +I've seen horses driven in places where they know something, and I know +how a horse ought to go." + +In earnest of this opinion, he touched old Sol up, and we went down the +first hill at such a pace, that I was glad to hold to the seat. + +"You had better be careful," said Addison. "Drive with more sense, if +you are going to drive at all--which you are not fit to do," he added. + +Out of bravado, I suppose, Halstead again applied the whip and we +trundled along down the next hill at a still more rapid rate. + +"Now Halse, if you are going to drive like this, just haul up and let me +walk," Addison remonstrated, more seriously. But Halstead would not +stop, and, touching the horse again, set off down the last hill before +reaching the meadow, at an equally smart pace. + +It is likely, however, that we might have got down without accident; but +the road, like most country roads, was rather narrow and as we drew near +the foot of the hill, we suddenly espied a horse and wagon emerging from +amongst the alder clumps through which the road across the meadow wound +its way, and saw, too, that a woman was driving. + +"Give us half the road!" Halstead shouted. But the woman seemed +confused, as not knowing on which side of the road to turn out; she +hesitated and stopped in the middle of the road. + +Perceiving that we were in danger of a collision, Addison snatched the +reins and turned our horse clean out into the alders; and the off hind +wheel coming violently in contact with an old log, the transient bolt of +the wagon broke. The forward wheels parted from the wagon body, and we +were all pitched out into the brush, in a heap together. The bags of +meal came on top of us. + +Halstead had his nose scratched; I sprained one of my thumbs; and we +were all three shaken up smartly. Addison, however, regained his feet in +time to capture old Sol who was making off with the forward wheels. + +The woman sat in her wagon and looked quite dazed by the spectacle of +boys and bags tumbling over each other. + +"Dear hearts," said she, "are you all killed?" + +"Why didn't you turn out!" exclaimed Halstead. + +"I know I ought to," said the woman, humbly, "but you came down the hill +so fast, I thought your horse had run away. I was so scared I didn't +know what to do." + +"You were not at all to blame, madam," said Ad. "It was we who were at +fault. We were driving too fast." + +We contrived at length to patch up the wagon by tying the "rocker" of +the wagon body to the forward axle with the rope halter, and reloading +our meal bags, drove slowly home without further incident. Addison, +having captured the reins, retained possession of them, much to my +mental relief. Halstead laid the blame alternately to the woman and to +Addison's effort to grab the reins. "Now I suppose you will go home and +tell the old gent that I did it!" he added bitterly. "If you had let the +reins alone, I should have got along all right." + +Addison did not reply to this accusation, except to say that he was +thankful our necks were not broken. As we drove into the carriage house, +Gramp came out and seeing the rope in so odd a position, asked what was +the matter. + +"The transient bolt broke, coming down the Sylvester hill," Addison +replied. "It was badly worn, I see. If you think it best, sir, I will +take it to the blacksmith's shop after work, to-morrow." + +"Very well," Gramp assented; and that was all there was said about the +accident. + +It had been a long day, but my new experiences were far from being over. +A boy can live a great deal during one long May day. After supper I went +out to assist the boys with the farm chores, and took my first lesson, +milking a cow and feeding the calves. The latter were kept tied in the +long, now empty hay-bay of the east barn. I had already been there to +see them; there were ten of them, tied with ropes and neck-straps along +the sides of the bay to keep them apart. + +Weaned, or unweaned, they were fed but twice a day, and from six o'clock +in the morning to six at night is a very long time for a young and +rapidly growing calf to wait between meals. As early as four o'clock in +the afternoon those calves would begin to bawl for their supper; by half +past five one could hardly make himself heard in the barn, unless there +chanced to fall a moment's silence, while the hungry little fellows were +all catching breath to bleat again. Then they would all peal forth +together on ten different keys. + +How those old bare walls and high beams would resound! Blar-r-rt! +Blaw-ar-ar-ah-ahrt! Blah-ah-aht! Bul-ar-ah-ahrt! There were eager little +altos, soaring sopranos, high and importunate tenors that rose to the +roof and drowned the twitter of the happy barn-swallows. + +Addison, Halstead, Theodora and Ellen, who had come to the farm before +me, knew all the calves by sight and had named them. There was Little +Star, Phil Sheridan, Black Betty, Hooker, Nut, Little Dagon, Andy +Johnson and Babe. I do not recollect the others, but have particular +reason to remember Little Dagon. + +At the time I made the acquaintance of this broad-headed Hereford calf +he was five weeks old, and the soft buds of his horns were beginning to +show in the curly hair of his forehead. His color was dark red, except +for a milk-white face, two white feet, a white tassel on his tail, and a +little belt of white under his body. Grandfather had unexpectedly sold +this calf's mother, a fine, large, line-backed cow, to a friend at the +village on that very morning. + +The old gentleman kindly showed me how to milk and how to hold the pail, +then gave me a milking-stool and sat me down to milk "Lily-Whiteface." +She was not a hard milker, but it did seem to me that after I had +extracted about three quarts of milk, my hands were getting paralyzed. +Halstead, who sat milking a few yards away, had, meanwhile, been adding +to my troubles by squirting streams of milk at my left ear, till Gramp +caught him in the act and bade him desist. + +The old gentleman presently finished with his two cows, and went away +with his buckets of milk toward the house. Then, with soothing guile +which I had not yet learned to detect, Halstead offered to finish +milking my cow for me. I was glad to accept the offer. My untrained +fingers were aching so painfully that I could now hardly draw a drop of +milk. My knees, too, were tremulous from my efforts to clasp the pail +between them. + +"It made mine ache at first," said Halstead with comforting sympathy as +he sat down on my stool and took my pail between his knees. I stood +gratefully by, and after a few moments he looked up and said, "While I +finish milking your cow, you run over to the west barn and get Little +Dagon. He is dreadfully hungry. His mother was sold this morning, and we +have got to teach him to drink his milk to-night." + +"He had better not try to lead that calf!" Addison called out from his +stool, at a distance. + +"Why not?" Halse exclaimed. "Oh, he can lead him all right. All he has +to do is to untie the calf's rope from the staple in the barn post. He +will come right along, himself." + +It seemed very simple as Halstead put it, and I started off at once. +Addison said no more; he gave me an odd look as I hastened past him, but +I hardly noticed it at the time. + +Little Dagon was making the rafters re-echo as I entered the bay. When +he saw me, he jumped to the end of his rope and fairly went into the +air. He had sucked the bow-knot of the rope till it was as slippery as +if soaped, and when I strove to untie it, he grabbed my hands in his +mouth. At length I untied him and then with a clatter on the loose +boards, we went out of the hay-bay, pranced across the barn floor and +out at the great doors. + +No one has ever explained satisfactorily what that instinct is which +guides young animals unerringly back home, or in the direction of their +kin. Hungry Little Dagon, tied up in the barn, could hardly have noted +with eyes or ears the direction in which his mother had been driven +away; but as soon as we were out at the barn doors, instead of rushing +to the other barn, where he had hitherto found his mother night and +morning, the rampant little beast headed straight past the house and +down the lane to take the road for the village. + +A man could have held him without difficulty. I was in my thirteenth +year, and may have weighed seventy-five pounds, but did not have weight +enough. In the exuberance of his young muscle, Little Dagon erected his +tail and made a bolt in the direction which instinct bade him take. + +My one chance of holding him would have been to noose the rope about his +nose and seize him close by the neck, at the start; but this I did not +understand, and, in fact, had no time to study the problem. I clung to +the end of the rope, and away we went. I was not leading the calf. +Little Dagon was leading me. First I took one long step, and then such +strides as I had never made before. + +Halstead and Addison had jumped up from their milking-stools and come to +the barnyard bars. "Hold him! Hold him!" they shouted. "Don't let him +get away!" + +Grandfather, too, had now come to the kitchen door. "Hold him! Hold that +calf!" he called out, and I clung to the knot in the end of the rope, +with determination. + +In a moment Little Dagon was towing me down the long lane to the road. +The gate stood open, and out we went into the highway, on the jump. +There, however, the calf pulled up short, to smell the road. I tried to +catch the strap round his neck and turn him back, but he seized my arm +in his mouth to suck it; and being unused to calves, I was afraid he +would bite me. When I attempted to lead him about, that eager impulse to +find his mother again possessed him, and away he ran down the long +orchard hill. + +I do not now see how I contrived to hold on to the rope, but I remember +thinking that if I let go Addison and Halstead would laugh at me, and +that Gramp would blame me. + +We raced down that long hill, my feet seeming hardly to touch the +ground, and struck a level, sandy stretch at the foot of it. The sand +felt queer to the calf's feet, and he stopped to smell it. By this +time I was badly out of breath, but I turned his head homeward and began +towing him back. He sulked, but took a few steps with me. Then he gave a +sudden wild prance into the air, headed round and started again. I could +not hold him, and on we went, a long run this time, until we came to the +bridge over the meadow brook. There the planks proved a new wonderment +to the calf, and he pulled up to smell them. + +[Illustration: WHEN I LED LITTLE DAGON.] + +Just then there appeared in the road ahead Theodora and "Aunt Olive +Witham," a working woman, who came every spring and fall to help +grandmother clean house and to do the year's spinning. Theodora had been +to the Corners that evening, to summon her. + +"Oh, help me stop him!" I panted. "For pity's sake, catch hold of this +rope! He is running away with me! I can't hold him!" + +Theodora edged across the bridge to bear a hand; but "Aunt Olive" knew +calves, or thought she did. + +"Boss-boss-boss!" she crooned to the calf, and extending her hand, +walked straight to his head to get him by the ears. This may have been +the proper thing to do, but it did not work well that time. Little Dagon +suddenly looked up from his snuffing of the planks, and for some reason +his young eyes distrusted "Aunt Olive." + +He bounded aside and began again to run. I was clinging fast to the +rope, and Aunt Olive and I collided. Aunt Olive, in truth, recoiled +nearly off the end of the bridge; I was jerked onward. Little Dagon had +learned that he could pull me, and I might as well have tried to hold a +locomotive. Theodora ran a few steps after us, trying loyally to succor +me. Aunt Olive stood endeavoring to recover her breath; ordinarily she +was energy personified, but for the instant stood gasping. + +Beyond the meadow there was a hill, and going up that hill I came very +near mastering the calf; but after a hard tussle he gained the top in +spite of me and ran on, over descending ground, where the road passed +through woodland. We were now fully a mile and a half from home. Thus +far I had held on, but strength and breath were about gone. I was +panting hard, and actually crying from mortification. + +Now, however, I saw a horse drawing a light wagon coming along the road. +A well-dressed elderly man was driving. I called out to him to aid me. +If I had known who he was, I might have been less unceremonious. "Oh, +help me stop him!" I cried. "Do help me stop him! I can't hold him!" + +The stranger reined his horse half round across the road, and Little +Dagon ran full against the horse's fore legs and stopped to sniff again. +The elderly gentleman got out quickly. + +"Did the calf run away with you, my son?" he asked, smiling at my heated +and tearful appearance. + +"Yes, sir," I replied, panting. + +"Well, well, you have had a hot run, haven't you?" and he gave me +several sympathetic pats on the shoulder. "How far have you come, all so +fast?" + +"I came from Grandpa S.'s," I replied, as steadily as I could, for I was +sadly out of breath. + +"Your grandfather is Joseph S.?" queried the elderly man. + +"Yes, sir," I replied. "I have just come there to live." + +"Ah, yes," commented my new acquaintance. "I know your grandpa very +well. I am on my way to call on him. Now let's see. How shall we manage? +Do you think that you could sit in the back part of my wagon and lead +the calf, if I were to drive slowly?" + +"I'm afraid he would pull me out!" I exclaimed. + +"Not if we both hold the rope, I think," remarked the elderly man, still +smiling broadly. "I will reach back with one hand and help you hold +him." + +After much pulling, hauling and manoeuvring, Little Dagon was brought +to the back of the wagon. I then sat in the rear, with my feet hanging +out, and took the line; and my new friend gave hand to the rope over the +back of the seat. The horse started to walk, and Little Dagon was drawn +after; but the perverse little creature settled back in his strap till +his tongue hung out. The stranger laughed. + +"It seems that we cannot lead a calf unless the calf pleases," he said. +"Can you think of any better way, my son?" + +I thought hard, for I was ashamed to put my new acquaintance to so much +trouble and have nothing to suggest. At last, I said, with some +diffidence, that we might tie the calf's legs with the rope and put him +in the rear of the wagon, while I walked behind. + +"That appears to be a practical suggestion," the stranger remarked. "Do +you think you can tie his legs?" + +I answered that I believed I could if I had the calf on the ground. +"Well, sir," said he, with a whimsical glance at me, "I think I can +capsize the calf and hold him down, if you will agree to tie his legs +within a reasonable time." + +I said I would try; and while I held the rope the stranger alighted, +seized the calf suddenly by the legs, and threw it down on its side. +Little Dagon struggled pluckily, but my new ally held fast and called on +me to do my part. After some hard picking at the knot, I untied the rope +from the neck-strap, then tied the calf's legs into a bunch and +crisscrossed the rope. + +"Pretty well done, my son, pretty well done," was the encouraging +comment of my new friend. "Now I will take him by the head while you +seize him by the tail, and we will hoist him into the wagon." + +Before we could do so, however, we heard a sudden rattle of wheels close +at hand, and glancing around, I saw Gramp and Addison with old Sol in +the express wagon. They had harnessed and given chase; Theodora and +Aunt Olive, whom they met, had adjured them to drive fast if they hoped +ever to overtake me. Grandfather, on seeing who was helping me, +exclaimed, "Why, Senator, how do you do, sir! My calf appears to be +making you a great deal of trouble." + +In fact, my friend in need was none other than Hon. Lot M. Morrill, who +had been Governor of Maine for three terms in succession, and was now +United States Senator. Grandfather and he had been acquaintances for +forty years or more; and I have inferred since that the object of Mr. +Morrill's visit on this occasion was in part political. At this +particular time the Senator was "looking after his political +fences"--although this phrase had not yet come into vogue. + +Grandfather and Mr. Morrill immediately drove home together, leaving +Addison and me to put the calf in the express wagon and follow more +slowly. + +Senator Morrill at this time gave me the impression of being a man +oppressed by not a little anxiety, and inclined to be dissatisfied with +his career. As distinctly as if it were yesterday, I recall what he said +to me the next morning as he was about to drive away. "My son," said he +impressively, "don't you be a politician. Be a farmer like your +grandfather. He has had a happier life than I have had." + +As it chanced, I was soon to have further experience with headstrong +young cattle. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +OUR FIRST JERSEY COW + + +Theodora had brought home the mail from the post-office out at the +Corners; and I remember that at the breakfast table next morning, the +Old Squire, who was reading the news from the weekly papers, looked up +and said in a tone of solemnity, that General Winfield Scott was dead; +that he had died at West Point, May 29. + +The announcement signified little to us young people, whose knowledge of +generals and military events was confined mainly to the closing years of +the Civil War, but meant much to those of the older generation, who +remembered with still glowing enthusiasm the victor of Lundy's Lane in +1814 and the conqueror of Mexico in 1846. + +"He was a good man and a patriot as well as an able general," the Old +Squire remarked. "And, old as he had become in 1861, President Lincoln +would have done better to trust more than he did to General Scott's +judgment." At that time the Old Squire and nearly every one else in +Maine feared that President Johnson was a treacherous and exceedingly +dangerous man, whereas the verdict of history seems to be that he was +merely a very egotistical and headstrong one. There was already much +talk of impeaching him and removing him from office, although the Old +Squire had doubts as to the wisdom of so radical a course. + +He and Addison were debating the matter quite earnestly, when there came +a knock at the door, which I answered, and saw standing there a strong, +sturdy, well-favored boy of about my own age, one I was to know +intimately all the rest of my life; for this, as I now learned, was +Thomas Edwards, from the farmhouse of our nearest neighbors across the +fields. He had come to fetch word to the Old Squire that another farmer, +named Gurney--a relative of the Edwards--who lived at a distance of +three or four miles, had concluded to sell us one of his _new_ Jersey +heifers. + +That morning, too, I recollect that just as we were finishing breakfast, +grandmother looked around on our enlarged family circle, over her +spectacles, and said to the Old Squire, "Joseph, we really must have +their pictures taken,"--referring to us young folks. + +"I want them all taken now, so that we may have them to keep, and know +how they looked when they first came home here," the old lady continued. +"I don't want it put off and not have any pictures of them, if anything +should happen, as we did poor Ansel's and Coville's. (Two of my uncles +who fell during the Civil War.) + +"We must go down to the village some afternoon and have them taken," +grandmother continued quite positively. + +"Well, we will see about it," the Old Squire said over his paper. + +"It must be done and done soon," Gram insisted. + +"Yes, yes, Ruth, I suppose so," he assented. + +"There must be no 'suppose so' about it," said Gram, very decidedly. "It +is one of the things that mustn't be put off and off like your trip to +Father Rasle's Monument." + +We newcomers had yet to learn that for twenty years the Old Squire had +been talking, every season, of making two wagon excursions, of several +days' duration each, one to Lovewell's Pond, the scene of the historic +fight of Captain Lovewell and his rangers with the Pequawket Indians in +1640, and the other to Norridgewock, where the devoted French +missionary, Father Sebastian Rasle, lost his life in 1724. + +Owing to the constant press of farm labors, opportunity for setting off +had never yet fairly occurred. But the Old Squire always fully intended +to go; he was genuinely interested in the early history of our State +and, indeed, remarkably well posted as to it. Francis Parkman, the +historian, had once come to the farm for a day or two, on purpose to +inquire as to certain points connected with the massacre at +Norridgewock. + +Nothing more was said that morning about our pictures, however, for both +the Old Squire and Addison were engrossed in the late disturbing news +concerning President Johnson. + +"And father says," continued Thomas, "that I may go over to uncle +Gurney's with Addison and help him get the heifer home." + +These, be it said, were the first Jersey cattle ever seen in that +vicinity. Gurney had bought four of them from a stock farm somewheres in +Massachusetts, and their arrival marked an era in Maine dairying. +Farmers were very curious about them. Opinions differed widely as to +their value. + +The Jersey cow is now, to quote a certain witty Congressman, one of our +national institutions. Asked to name the five most characteristic +American "institutions," this waggish legislator replied, "The +Constitution, Free Public Schools, Railroads, Newspapers and the Jersey +cow!" + +There is a spice of homely truth underlying the jest. For certainly the +greatest delicacies of our tables are the cream, the butter and the milk +that now come to us from our clean, well-managed dairies; and it is +hardly too much to say that we owe the best of these products to the +Jersey cow. + +By careful breeding and feeding the Jersey has gained wonderfully in +size, temper and good appearance, until few handsomer animals can now +be found in the farmer's pasture or barn. But many of us can remember +the first Jerseys, and what a reproach their wizened bodies and piebald +hides were in any herd. It was admitted that their milk was yellow and +wonderfully rich in butter fat; but they were so homely, so +spindle-legged, so brindled along the withers, so pale-yellow down the +sides, so foolishly white in the flanks, down the fore legs and about +the jowls, yet so black-kneed and wildly touched about the eyes, that no +one could admire them. + +"That a cow!" cried an honest old Vermont farmer, the first time he ever +saw one. "Why that looks like a cross between a deer and a 'Black +Scotch'!" + +As to the real origin of Jersey cattle, nothing very definite is known. +They are said to have been brought to the Isle of Jersey from Normandy. + +There is a theory, supported by tradition and legend, that thirty +centuries ago, when the Druids first came into western Europe, they +brought with them the Hindu sacred cattle, derived from the zebu, or +Brahman ox, in order that their sacrificial rites might be supplied with +the "cream-white heifers" which the altars of that strange, wild +religion demanded. + +It is thought that in after centuries the Druid sacred cattle were +cross-bred with the urus or wild German buffalo, described by Caesar, or +else with native breeds of domestic cattle, owned by the Gauls; and that +the Jersey of to-day is the far-descended progeny of this singular union +of zebu and urus. In color the sacred cattle ranged from white, through +mouse, fawn and brown to black. + +But Addison could not go that day; so with a smile at thoughts of my +recent experience leading Little Dagon, the Old Squire said that I might +go; and immediately Thomas and I set off on foot with a rope +nose-halter, a few nubbins of corn in our pockets as "coaxers," and +many injunctions to be gentle. Grandfather supposed that two boys of our +age would be able to get a small heifer home without difficulty, one +leading, the other following after with a switch. + +When we reached the farm, we found the odd-looking little white and +brindled heifer tied up at a stanchion in the barn; and Gurney appeared +to have doubts about our ability to take her home. + +"She's a Jersey, boys," said he. "They're ticklish creatures. Awful +skittish at everything they see, particularly women-folks. So you must +look out sharp." + +Thomas thought we could lead or hold a heifer as small as this one, even +if she was frightened. With the assistance of the farmer and his son, we +adjusted the halter, gave the heifer nubbins of corn, coaxed her out +upon the highway, and set off. + +It soon became evident, however, that she was very timid. At every +unusual object along the road her head was raised high, and it was only +by much coaxing that we made any progress. Moreover, her fears appeared +to increase with every onward step. Presently we met a dog, and for five +minutes the heifer careered wildly on both sides of the road. The dog +behaved very well, however, and made a wide detour to pass us. + +A horse and buggy and a loaded wagon each made trouble for us. The +driver of the team said, "You've got one of those wild Jerseys there; +I'd sooner try to lead a deer!" + +Thomas and I had found already that, small as she was, both of us could +hardly hold her; she had a manner of bounding high with such suddenness +that we had no chance to brace our feet. By this time she was inspecting +everything by the roadside and far ahead, and an hour was spent in going +half a mile. + +Suddenly her head went up higher than ever. She had discerned what we +had not yet seen, two girls coming on foot a quarter of a mile away. +Not another inch could we make her budge, either by pulling or +switching. Her eyes were fixed on those girls, and it was plain there +would be trouble when they came nearer. Thomas bethought himself to +blind her, however, and, taking off his jacket, wrapped it about her +head and horns, while I took the precaution to pass the end of the +halter around a post of the wayside fence. + +Thus prepared, we stood waiting the approach of the girls, and if they +had gone by quietly, our precautions would have sufficed; but they were +greatly amused by the spectacle of our hooded heifer, and one of them +laughed outright. At the sound of her voice our Jersey went into the +air, broke the halter rope, and leaping blindly against the rail fence +beside which we were holding her, knocked down a length of it and ran +off across the field on the other side, with Thomas's jacket and the +head-stall of the halter still on her head. We gave chase, but the +heifer shook off the jacket and ran for a cedar swamp seven or eight +hundred yards distant. + +We spent the remainder of the afternoon in that swamp, engaged in +efforts to approach near enough to the animal to seize and secure her. +By this time all her wilder instincts appeared to have revived. She fled +from one end of the swamp to the other, seeking the densest thickets of +cedar and alder, where she would lie up, still as a mouse, till we found +her; then she would make a break and run to another quarter of the +swamp. + +Hungry and tired out, I now earnestly desired to go home; but my +resolute new acquaintance declared that they would all laugh at us if we +returned without the heifer. + +At length, we went back to Gurney's farm, just at dusk, spent the night +there and in the morning proceeded to the cedar swamp again and resumed +the hunt, the farmer and his son Oscar accompanying us out of +compassion for our ill success. + +An hour's search convinced us that the heifer had left the cedar +thickets; and she was at last discovered in a pasture half a mile away, +in company with six other young cattle to which she had joined herself +during the night in spite of three intervening fences. + +On approaching them, however, it became apparent that the fugitive +Jersey had in some manner infused her own wild fears into these new +acquaintances. They all set off on the run with tails in the air; and +after coursing round the pasture several times, they jumped the fence +and made for a distant wood-lot, our Jersey leading the rout. + +By this time I was wholly disheartened. But Thomas still said, "Come on. +We've got to get her;" and I followed wearily after the others. +Proceeding to the farmhouse of the owner of the young cattle, whose name +was Robbins, we informed him what had occurred, and in company with his +son, Luke, spent the forenoon searching for the runaways. Mr. Gurney +returned home, but Oscar went with us. The cattle had made off to an +extensive tract of forest, and after following their tracks hither and +thither for some time longer, hunger impelled us to retrace our steps. +Luke Robbins told us that the six young Durham cattle in their pasture +had previously been docile, and that they had never before broken out. +The Jersey heifer seemed to have demoralized them. + +Quite discouraged and tired out, we now started for home, and were glad +enough to meet the Old Squire and Addison driving over to look us up. +Thomas's father, too, had come in quest of him. Night was at hand; we +all went home; and that was the last of the Jersey for months. I may as +well go on here, however, and relate the rest of the story. + +Farmer Robbins and his son continued the search next day, but could not +find their stock; and beyond making inquiries, we did nothing further +for four or five months, until "housing time," in November. Then, +shortly after the first snow came, Luke Robbins drove over to tell us +that the fugitive cattle were reported to be in the woods, six miles to +the northwestward of their farm. He thought that we might like to join +in an effort to recover them and get them home before winter set in. Two +deer-hunters had seen them, but they were very wild and ran away at +speed. A party was now made up to attempt their capture, consisting of +the Old Squire and Addison, with two of our hired men and Thomas's +father. Farmer Gurney and his son also joined in the hunt, as also Luke +Robbins and his father. Thomas and myself were allowed to accompany +them, by virtue of our previous experience. Halters, axes and food were +also taken along. + +No success attended the search during the first day, and we passed the +night at a newly cleared farm, five miles from home. But cattle-tracks +were discovered in dense fir woods near a large brook during the +following morning; and after following them for two hours we came upon +the whole herd, snugly sheltered in the ox hovel of a deserted +lumber-camp. + +It was a low log structure, roofed with turf, and it had not been +occupied for three years. Bushes and briers had sprung up about it; but +the door was open, and the cattle were inside, lying down. We could see +our Jersey's head as she lay near the door, facing out, as if doing +sentinel duty. But she had not seen us, and was chewing her cud as +peacefully as if in a barn at home. + +The situation was carefully studied from the bushes, at a distance; and +then Asa Doane, one of the hired men, crept quietly up from the rear +and, crawling round the corner of the hovel, suddenly clapped the old +door to and held it fast, before the cattle had time to jump up and rush +out. The little herd was now penned up inside; but they made a great +commotion, and we were at a loss how to proceed. After much talk Doane +said that he would take a halter, slip in and secure the Jersey heifer, +if the others would tend the door. + +But he had no sooner entered than the heifer attacked him. He seized her +by the horns, and they tumbled about in a lively manner for some +moments. Immediately the other cattle began bawling, and evinced so +unmistakable a disposition to gore Doane that he shouted for us to help +him get out. This was not easily accomplished. At last he reached the +door, and we hauled him forth and clapped it to again. But he had lost +his hat, and his coat was torn in several places. He was also limping, +for in the struggle the cattle had trodden on his feet. + +"I wouldn't go in there again for fifty dollars!" he exclaimed. "They +are wild cattle." + +As none of the rest of the party had any wish to go in, and night was at +hand, we made the door fast with props and went home. + +This last trip ended my own part in the adventure. Our winter school +began the next day, and the Old Squire deemed school of more importance +to me than cattle-hunting. + +But the plan finally adopted was to proceed to the place with two yokes +of large, steady oxen, connected by a long draft-chain. A number of +neighbors assisted; and seven or eight "tie-chains," such as are used to +tie up cattle in the barn, were also taken along. After a series of +violent struggles the wild young cattle were secured, one by one, and +tied to the long draft-chain, on each side of it. Then with a yoke of +heavy oxen in advance and another in the rear of the procession, to +steady it, the rebellious creatures were constrained to walk home. For +the first mile or so they bounded and struggled, and some of them even +threw themselves down. But it was of no use; the procession moved +steadily on; and by the time they reached home all were pretty well +tamed. + +We kept this wild-headed little Jersey at the farm for seven or eight +years afterwards, and several of her calves made good cows; but to the +end of her life she was always a skittish little creature, apt to take +fright at any moment. A dog coming along the barn floor in front of her +manger was always the signal for a struggle at her stanchion. But the +object of her worst fears was the sight of a woman! She would leap in +the air, wrench and tear, and even bawl aloud and cast herself flat on +the floor. Neither Gram nor any of the girls ever went in front of +"Little Jersey," if it could be avoided. This fear of women has always +seemed to me rather singular, for I am told that in the Isle of Jersey, +the women usually care for the cows. + +But this digression has taken me a long way in advance of my narrative. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SHEEP-WASHING--ADDISON'S NOVEL WATER-WARMER + + +"To-morrow we must wash the sheep," the Old Squire remarked at the +breakfast table next day. "We will try your water-warming apparatus, +Addison," he continued. "Do you think that you can get the pipes +together again?" + +"I am sure of it, sir," Addison replied. "But I shall have to go borrow +the blacksmith's wrench and pipe-tongs." + +"Ad thinks that patent warmer of his is something great," Halstead +remarked ironically. + +"I think it is nice to warm the water, and not put the poor sheep into +stone-cold water when they are heated from running, in their heavy, hot +fleeces," said Theodora. + +"It seemed to prevent them from taking cold last year," observed the Old +Squire. "Sheep often take cold when washed and sheared," he continued. + +"If you girls go with us, you shall help fetch wood and tend fire," said +Halstead. "It is a hard job to keep the fire up under the pipe." + +"O we will help," cried Ellen. "It's fun, I think, to fetch dry stuff +and make a big blaze." + +"How are you off for soap, Ruth?" the Old Squire asked. "We shall want +two bucketfuls of soft soap for the first washings." + +"Well, sir, I don't know about that," replied Gram, not well pleased. +"My soap barrel is getting low; and I have not been able to have Olive +Witham come to make soap yet, nor clean house. I think that a bucketful +will be all I can spare you." + +"That will be small soap for seventy-six sheep," remarked Addison. +"There ought to be a pint to every sheep, half a pint at least. You may +work and work, and squeeze and squeeze, but you cannot get their thick +fleeces clean unless you put on plenty of soap." + +"Murches' folks never use soap," said Halstead. "The boys just fling the +sheep into the pond and souse them round a few times, then let them +crawl out. They don't bother with warm water and soap. Willis catches +the sheep and pitches them in; and his father and Ben souse them. They +stand in the water up to their waists all the time; but I saw Murch take +a sly pull at a little bottle which he had set behind a stump on the +shore." + +"Murch does not half wash his sheep," Addison remarked. "When they +carried their wool to market last year, it all had to go at twenty-eight +cents per pound, as unwashed wool, when clean-washed brought forty +cents. I don't like to stand in cold water two hours at a time, either. +A man who takes a drink of liquor every half hour can stand it, maybe; +but all people don't think it best to drink liquor." + +"I suppose you would stand and chatter your teeth two hours before you +would take a swallow of whiskey," said Halstead with a laugh. + +"I would warm the water," retorted Addison. "Certain people we know +would stand in cold water just for an excuse to get a drink." + +It was manifest that Addison had the best of the argument, and that the +Old Squire agreed with him. + +"Let's get an early start with our housework," Theodora made haste to +say, "so that we can all go. You must go, too, Gram. It is fun to see +the long fires under the pipe." + +"Yes, Gram, I want you to go and see how finely my new water-warmer +works," said Addison. "The Edwardses are going to drive their flock over +here and wash them at the 'Little Sea' this year, so as to try the +warm-water plan. They will come after we finish, in the afternoon." + +I now asked Addison whether he really had a patent on his water-warmer. +"O no," replied he, laughing. "You cannot take a patent right for +warming water. Still, it is a rather new idea hereabouts. I use the iron +pipe which we took out of a pump aqueduct a year ago. But you will see +how we do it to-morrow." + +We worked putting stove-wood into the wood-house that day; and after +what seemed a remarkably short night, I waked to find Halstead dressing +in haste. + +"Ad's up, and gone after the tools," he said. "Ordered us to get up and +help the old gent milk." + +"Did he 'order' us to do it?" I asked, a little surprised. + +"'Bout's good as that," grumbled Halstead. "Stuck his head in at the +door and hollered, 'Hurry up now and help milk.' O he is +dandy-high-jinks 'round this farm, I tell ye. Everything goes as he +says. The old gent thinks he's a regular little George Washington." + +I did not quite know what to think of this talk; it was evident that my +two cousins did not altogether admire each other. + +Meantime, Halstead had set off for the barn; but I lingered about the +kitchen, where I was presently impressed into the service of Theodora +and Ellen, who were kindling a fire and making preparations for +breakfast. + +"Now, cousin, do please split a few sticks of this wood," the latter +besought me. "It's so large I cannot make it burn; and I am in no end of +a hurry. Here is the axe. But look out sharp now, or you will chop your +toes off. Take care now." She seemed half sorry, I thought, that she had +asked me, after watching my first strokes. For I laid about me with +might and main, causing the splinters to fly, from a boy's natural +instinct to show off before girls. + +As there was a great deal of coarse wood in the shed, I continued to +wield the axe, and split a large heap, for which those wily girls +praised me without stint; but I am sure, none the less, that they were +smiling on the sly. Gram, too, came out from the pantry and praised me, +but she also laughed. It is exceedingly difficult for a boy to show off +without exciting risibility. When Gramp came in with two milk-pails, +presently, he also looked into the shed, to bid me good-morning, and +went away smiling. + +At length I heard the clang of iron on the doorstep, and looking out, +saw that Addison had returned and thrown down the pipe-tongs. "You're a +good one!" he exclaimed, catching sight of my woodpile. "Gram and those +girls will make a saint of you right off. Splitting kindlings is the +royal road to all their good graces. It means a doughnut, or a piece of +pie, any time, at a moment's notice. All the same it is somewhat sweaty +work," he added, noticing my perspiring brow. "I go a little easy on it +myself; I never refuse when they ask me; but I don't try to make such a +pile as that at one time." + +Halse, who had been turning the cows to pasture, now came in; and +breakfast being not quite ready, we went to the wagon-house and got down +the lengths of iron pipe from the loft, preparatory to loading them into +the cart, to be taken to the "Little Sea." It was what hardware dealers +term inch and a quarter pipe, and it was in lengths or sections, each +twelve feet long. These were somewhat heavy, and had screw threads cut +at each end, so that the ten or twelve lengths could all be joined +together by screwing them into couplings, and thus form one continuous +pipe. The pipe-tongs and wrench were needed to turn the couplings. + +Addison had called at the post-office, and the Old Squire at once +became engrossed in the papers, containing further news of President +Johnson's quarrel with Congress. He and Addison were discussing politics +during breakfast. It made me feel uncomfortably ignorant, to hear how +well Addison was informed upon such matters, and how much interested +Theodora appeared to be in their conversation. Addison even undertook to +say what was Constitutional and what wasn't. + +Not to be utterly outstripped, I ventured to express my opinion that +General Hancock ought to be the next President; but neither Addison nor +grandfather agreed with me, and I was afraid Theodora did not, for I +thought she looked at me compassionately, as if my opinion was immature. + +Halstead did not say a word, but ate his breakfast with an air of +supreme indifference. Afterwards, as we were going out through the +wood-shed, he remarked to me that it made him sick to hear Republicans +palaver. "I'm a Democrat," said he. "I'm a 'Secesh,' too. I would be a +Democrat anyway, if Ad was a Republican." + +I confess to feeling somewhat "mugwumpish" myself that morning, for it +was pretty plain that I never could lead the Republican party in that +house, as long as Addison was about. Still, I did not like the idea of +being a "copperhead;"--for that was the unhandsome designation which +Addison applied to all lukewarm or doubtful citizens. On the whole, I +decided that I had better be a quiet, not very talkative Unionist, and +not mix too freely in politics. I had some idea, however, of being a +"War Democrat," for General Hancock was then the subject of my very +great admiration. I ventured to intimate darkly to Theodora, a few days +afterwards, that I leaned slightly toward the condition of a "War +Democrat;" but although she admitted, very tolerantly, that a "War +Democrat" might be a decent citizen, I found that she looked upon all +such as a still not wholly regenerate order of beings, and that nothing +less than a fully-fledged, unswerving Republican could command her +respect and confidence. She took pains to let me know, however, that the +fact of my being a "War Democrat" would not by any means constitute a +bar to our future good-fellowship and cousinly acquaintance. + +I remarked that Halstead appeared to be a "copperhead." + +"Yes," she replied, with a heavy sigh. + +"I don't know that I ought to tell you what he said the morning the +dreadful news came, that President Lincoln was assassinated," she +continued, after a pause and in a very saddened tone. "I would not speak +of it if I did not have a reason." + +"What did he say?" I asked, curiously. + +"He and Addison were splitting stove-wood in the yard," continued +Theodora. "They had been arguing and disputing. Ad does not argue with +Halstead so much now; he has learned better. But that morning they had +been talking pretty loud. Gramp had gone to the post-office, and when he +came back and drove into the yard, he spoke in a low tone and said, +'Boys, there is a terrible rumor abroad.' 'What is it?' exclaimed +Addison, turning around quickly. + +"'News has come that the President and Secretary Seward have been +assassinated,' said Gramp. Ad dropped his axe and stood looking at +Gramp, as if spellbound. 'It cannot be!' he said. 'I am afraid it is too +true,' replied grandfather. + +"Then what do you think Halstead did but shout, 'Glad of it! Served 'em +right!' + +"Gramp looked at Halse, astonished; he did not know what to think, and +drove on into the wagon-house without saying a word. But Addison turned +on Halse and said, 'Anybody that will say that ought to be strung up to +the nearest tree!' + +"With that Halse shouted again, 'Glad of it! Glad of it!' and then +jumped on a log and, flapping his arms against his sides, crowed like a +rooster. Addison was so disgusted that he did not speak to Halstead for +more than a week. + +"And now you see how it is," Theodora continued to me, in a confidential +tone. "That is why I told you this. Halstead has a reckless temper. He +feels and sees, I suppose, that Addison is more talented than he is, and +that all of us naturally place more confidence in what he says and does. +That provokes Halstead to do and say what he otherwise wouldn't. Instead +of doing his best, he often does his worst. Ad is intelligent and +conscientious; he despises anything that is mean, or tricky, and he has +no patience with any one who does such things. So they don't get along +very well; and I often think that it isn't a good thing for them to be +together--not a good thing for Halse, I mean. + +"Isn't that a strange thing," continued Theodora, thoughtfully, "that +because one boy is good and manly and intelligent, another one in the +same household may not do nearly as well as he would if the first one +were only just stupid?" + +Theodora had taken me into moral waters quite beyond my depth, observing +which, I presume, she went on to say that she wanted me to see and +realize just how it was with Halstead, and always try to bring out his +best side, instead of his worst. + +If I could only have seen the matter in as clear a light as she did and +labored as hard as she did to bring out that "best side" of my youthful +kinsman, the outcome might perhaps have been different. + +Breakfast over, after a parting glance at the newspaper, Gramp came out +to give directions for the sheep-washing. "I will go to the pasture and +see to getting the sheep myself this spring," said he; for it appeared +that on a previous occasion, Halse and Addison had difficulty, owing to +the injudicious use of a dog, and finally arrived at the brook with the +flock, as well as themselves, in a badly heated condition. + +"I wish you would, sir," replied Addison. "I will yoke the oxen and haul +the pipe to the brook while you are gone." + +This plan being adopted, the oxen were yoked and attached to the cart; +and under Addison's supervision, I took the goad-stick and received my +first lesson in driving them. "Swing your stick with a rolling motion +towards the nigh ox's head, and say, 'Back, Bright, get up, Broad,' when +you want to call them towards you," he instructed me. "And when you want +them to veer off, step to the head of the nigh ox and rap the off ox +gently on the nose, then reversing your stick, touch up the nigh ox." He +illustrated his teachings and I attempted to imitate him. Halstead stood +at a little distance and laughed; no doubt it was laughable. + +"What a teamster he will make!" I heard him saying to the girls. "He +talks to old Bright as if he was afraid of hurting his feelings by +swinging the goad-stick so near his head. Next thing he will say, 'Beg +your pardon, Broad, but I really must rap your head and ask you to gee, +if it will not be too much trouble.'" + +They all laughed at Halse's joke, not unkindly, yet I can hardly +describe how much it wounded my vanity and how incensed I felt with the +joker. Slowly the oxen moved away out of hearing. Even my instructor, +Addison, lagged a little behind to indulge in a broad smile. Glancing +backward, I detected his amused expression and was almost minded to +fling away the goad-stick; and I did not feel much reassured when he +remarked that I did very well for a beginner. + +"Don't mind what Halse says," Addison continued. "He cannot drive a +cart through a gateway himself without tearing both gate-posts down." + +There was solace in that statement. The oxen were very steady and well +broken; and I contrived to drive the cart across the field and down +through the pasture to the brook without much difficulty, although I +noticed several times that old Bright rolled the white of his eye up to +me, in a peculiar manner, as if something in my movements was puzzling +to the bovine mind. I asked Addison whether he did not think that the +oxen had very handsome eyes, for they seemed to me exceedingly soft and +lustrous. + +"Yes," replied he, "all cattle have just such large, fine eyes." But he +appeared to be somewhat amused at the way I spoke of it; for the thought +had struck me that it was strange and not quite clear why cattle should +have eyes so much finer and more lustrous than human beings. I ventured +to ask Ad's opinion on that subject, as we were taking out the pipe +beside the brook. "Well," he replied, still laughing, "perhaps it is +because their lives are simpler and they don't have so much evil in them +as human beings do. But I recommend you to ask Elder Witham about that +the next time he spends the night here." + +We now took the pipe out of the cart and chained up the oxen to the nigh +cart-wheel. Addison then explained to me his method of warming the water +for washing the sheep. From the dam which formed the Little Sea, there +was a considerable descent in the brook for some distance; and Addison's +device consisted in laying the pipe from the pond above the dam, so as +to carry water to two half-hogshead tubs, ninety or a hundred feet +farther down the bed of the brook. The pipe rested on heaps of stones +placed eight or ten feet apart and was thus elevated a foot and a half +from the ground; and directly beneath it a fire was kindled and kept +burning briskly all the time the washing was going on. The pipe was thus +exposed to the fire along its whole length; and it was found that the +water running through it was rendered very comfortably warm where it ran +out into the first tub. A short spout connected the first tub with the +other, set a little lower down, so that the warm water ran on into that +one. The sheep were first put into the lower tub and there soaped and +scrubbed, then taken to the upper tub and rinsed thoroughly. + +"Now get out the wrench and pipe-tongs," said Addison. "The first thing +to do is to screw the pipe together." + +This proved a task requiring some little muscular strength; and even +when we had done our best, several of the couplings leaked a little. We +put it together after awhile, however, and set the water running through +it to the two half-hogshead tubs, which had also to be lifted from the +cart and placed on a good foundation. Next, the sheep-yard, close beside +the tubs, had to be repaired, for the brush fence had sunk low during +the previous winter. Fresh bushes needed to be brought and a little +green spruce shrub with which to block up the hole that served as a +gate. + +An hour or more elapsed while we were thus employed; and then, as we +were about ready to attend to the fire, we heard the voices of the +girls; and lo, besides Theodora and Ellen there was Gram herself, coming +down the pasture side. + +"Good," said Addison. "They will help us drag brush and dry stuff from +the woods. It takes a lot of it to keep a good fire going. But the girls +like that. Nothing suits girls half so well as a fire out of doors. You +will see Gram herself fetching brush pretty soon. + +"Just in time!" Addison shouted to them. "We were wishing for some help. +Now for a brush-bee!"--and he led the way to the edge of the woods, at a +little distance. "Gather up anything that will burn and carry it to the +pipe." + +Soon we were all running to and fro with armfuls of it, and collected a +large heap, alongside the pipe, which was presently set blazing at one +end. From that point, the fire ran along beneath the whole line of pipe, +and very soon the water came out steaming into the half-hogsheads. + +Erelong the bleating of the sheep and lambs was heard. "They're coming!" +Ellen cried. "I can see Wealthy running beside them, and Halse ahead of +the flock with the salt dish. Gramp is behind." + +"Now we must form a line down here and guide them into the sheep-yard," +Addison exclaimed. "The old and cunning ones will not like to go in." + +"They have been there before; they know what is in store for them, and +they don't like it," said Gram, laughing. "They are like a little boy +whom I took off the town farm one spring. He had not been washed since +the previous summer. The sight of the tub frightened him dreadfully; he +bleated louder than the sheep do when I put him into it." + +The flock came on with a rush, Halstead and Wealthy at the sides and the +Old Squire in the wake. By an adroit distribution of our forces, we +headed them into the yard, although three or four old sheep made +strenuous efforts to escape to one side and gain the woods, particularly +one called "old Mag." This venerable ewe was in great trouble about her +twin lambs that strayed continually in the press. The old hussy found +opportunity, however, to dart out betwixt Addison and myself, and +reached cover of a little hemlock thicket, with one of her lambs. But +anxiety for the other one caused her to emerge again, bleating, when she +was surrounded and ignominiously driven into the pen. + +By this time the water was running as warm as fresh milk; and after +taking breath, the Old Squire and Addison removed their coats, rolled up +their sleeves and took their stations at the two tubs. Halstead, too, +prepared to assist. + +"Now," said Addison, "let's each one have his or her particular part to +do. I will name you, sir" (addressing Gramp), "_Chief Washer_, if you +please. You may stand at the first, or lower, tub and take each sheep as +it comes from the yard. I will name Halse your _Assistant Washer_. I +will be _Rinser_ and stand at the second, or upper tub. Our new cousin +here, I shall name _Catcher_. It is to be his business to catch the +sheep in the yard and bring them, one by one, to the _Chief Washer_, and +also take them back from the _Rinser_ to the yard; and he will have to +look out sharp, or some of those strong, young sheep will throw him. +Fact, I think I will name Nell, who is pretty nimble and strong, +_Assistant Catcher_. She is to help hold and pull them along to the +tub--and pick Catcher up, if he gets thrown. Wealthy may be +_Sheep-Hole-Tender_; she must guard the sheep-hole and open and close it +with the spruce bush, as ordered by the Catcher and Assistant Catcher. + +"I shall name Gram, if she has no objection, _Chief Fireman_, and Doad +her assistant. It is to be their business to put the wood and dry stuff +which we have gathered under the pipe and keep a good fire going. + +"Are you all satisfied with your parts?" he then asked. + +We all expressed ourselves delighted, except Halse, who desired to be +Catcher, instead of Assistant Washer. Thereupon I offered to resign in +his favor; but for reasons which they did not explain fully, the Old +Squire and Addison opposed my resignation. Halse grumbled a little, but +at length acquiesced. + +"Now then," continued Addison, "every one to his or her station, and the +business of the day will open." + +Still laughing a good deal, we took our places. + +Elevating his voice, Addison then called out, "Catcher, do your duty!" + +The Sheep-Hole-Tender hauled aside the bush and Catcher, followed by +Assistant Catcher, entered the yard. + +"Take a little one, to begin with," whispered Ellen, who apparently +distrusted my competence for the office. That nettled me and, instead, I +made a plunge for a big wether and fastened both hands into his wool. +The animal gave a tremendous jump and then went round about that yard, +into corners and over the backs of the other sheep, at a rate of speed +that was simply distracting! But I held on. First, I was on my back, +with the rest of the flock leaping overhead. The Assistant Catcher +couldn't overtake us. At last, she turned and ran the other way and +headed us into a corner, and there the wether fell down and I fell on +top of him; and when the flock got done running by, I looked up and saw +that the Chief Washer, Rinser, Chief Fireman and their Assistants had +all left their posts and were peering over the fence into the yard, with +faces wearing every appearance of excessive mirth. + +But Addison cried out, "Hurrah for the Catcher!" and that relieved my +embarrassment considerably. + +My Assistant, however, looked coldly at me. + +"What in the world possessed you to grab that biggest sheep first?" she +commented, as we dragged the now nearly breathless beast out at the +sheep-hole. "And you mustn't run at them in such a savage way. No wonder +the poor thing was scared! Go toward them more calm and gentle-like." + +It appeared to me highly unbecoming that my Assistant should take it +upon herself to lecture her superior after that fashion; and I promptly +informed her (my blood being pretty hot by this time) that I would thank +her to obey orders and give advice when it was asked for. Much abashed +at this unexpected blast of spunk, cousin Ellen asked my pardon. When I +delivered the sheep into the hands of the Chief Washer, old gentleman +gazed benignly at me and simply remarked, "Well, well, sir, you had a +dusty time of it, didn't you? But you'll learn, you'll learn, my boy." + +They proceeded to soap the animal by pouring strong suds into its wool, +and then seizing it by the legs, threw it upon its side in the tub of +water. Thereupon another struggle ensued, during which the Chief Washer +and his Assistant were plentifully spattered; but the experienced +calmness with which the former bore it, greatly excited my admiration. +After perhaps three or four minutes of scrubbing and squeezing the wool, +the now bedraggled and hopelessly patient creature was passed on to the +Rinser, who in turn immersed and rinsed it in the cleaner water of the +upper tub. Meantime another sheep had been required from the Catcher, +who again entered the yard, followed by his Assistant. This time I was +quite content to attempt the capture of a smaller one, and to approach +the animal in a less precipitate manner; for much as I had spurned my +cousin's advice at the moment of receiving it, I now recognized its +value. + +The Catcher and his Assistant were kept very busy during the remainder +of the forenoon, for the Chief Washer was an experienced and rapid +operator. Some of the young sheep proved wild and refractory; and I +remember that both Ellen and I grew very tired by the time the last of +the seventy had been caught, subdued, dragged to the tub, and then +dragged back to the yard from the Rinser's tub. I for one had had quite +enough of it, and was content to sit down and look on, while Halstead, +Addison and Theodora caught several of the lambs, and ducked them in the +tub, by way, as they said, of giving them an early lesson and a +foretaste of what they would have to encounter the next spring, in the +regular order of things. + +The fire was now allowed to subside under the water-pipe; and the Chief +Fireman declared that she and the girls must set off for the house at +once, in order to prepare dinner, for by this time the sun was nearing +the meridian and every one getting hungry. + +It was an easy matter to drive the now docile and water-soaked flock +back to pasture; and we left pipe and tubs at the brook for our +neighbors. When we returned from the pasture, Gram and the girls had a +hastily prepared meal in readiness, consisting of fried eggs, bacon, and +a "five minute pudding" with cream. What a flavor it all had! My only +fear for some minutes was, lest there would not be half enough of it! +While at table, Rinser, Assistant Washer, Catcher and even Chief Washer +and Chief Fireman laughed a great deal as the various incidents and +mishaps of the morning were recounted. It is certain that work always +passes off much more pleasantly when it is enlivened by some such +play-plan as that which Addison had devised. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE VERMIFUGE BOTTLE + + +"Shall we dip the lambs as we did last spring, after shearing the +sheep?" Addison asked the Old Squire, as we drew back from table. + +"I suppose we shall have to do it," the old gentleman replied. "It is a +disagreeable job, but it needs to be done." + +"That means another poke stew!" cried Ellen, with a look of disgust. + +I was quite in the dark as to what a "poke stew" might be. + +"O it's beautiful smellin' stuff!" exclaimed Halstead. "Going to put any +tobacco into it?" he asked. + +"A little," replied Gramp. "That is about the only use I ever would like +to see tobacco put to," he added with a glance at Halse, at which the +latter gave me a sly nudge under the table. + +"Then I suppose we may as well take two large baskets with tools for +digging, and go down to Titcomb's meadow for the poke," suggested +Addison. "If you can get the arch-kettle hot while we are gone, we can +have the poke put to stew and simmer, so as to be good and strong by day +after to-morrow. I suppose you will shear the sheep that day; and by the +next morning the lambs will need attending to, will they not, sir?" + +"Most likely," replied the Old Squire, smiling to see how Addison was +taking the burden of work on his young shoulders. "I can certainly get +the kettle hot," he added, laughing. "That looks like the easiest part +of the job." + +"But you worked hard this forenoon, sir," Addison said. "I noticed how +you handled those sheep. To wash seventy sheep is no light job." + +"Ad doesn't count me in at all," remarked Halse. "I reckon the +'Assistant Washer' had something to do." + +"Yes, my Assistant worked well," said the Old Squire. "I could not have +washed more than fifty, but for his aid." + +"Well, there is one thing to be said, right here and now," interposed +Gram with decision. "I cannot and will not have that awful mess of poke, +tobacco and what-not brewed in the kitchen arch-kettle. Now you hear me, +Joseph. Last year you stewed it there and you nearly drove us out of the +house. Such a stench I never smelled. It made me sick all night and +filled the whole house. I said then it should never come into the +kitchen again. You must take the other kettle and set it up out of +doors." + +"Aren't you growing a little fussy, Ruth?" replied the Old Squire, +evidently to rally her, for he laughed roguishly. + +"Maybe I am," replied Gram, shortly. "If you were a little more 'fussy' +about some things, it would be no failing." + +This bit of fencing amused Addison and Theodora very much; and I began +to surmise that good-humored as grandmother habitually was, she yet had +a will of her own and was determined to regulate her domain indoors in +the way she deemed suitable. + +"Well, we will boil the stuff out of doors this year," replied the Old +Squire. "It is not the kind of perfumery women-folks like to smell," he +added, teasingly. + +"Now don't try to be funny about it," rejoined Gram severely. "I never +ran you much in debt for perfumery, as you know. But I don't think it +is quite fair for a man to bring such a nauseous mess as that into the +kitchen to stew, then run off and leave it for the women-folks to stand +over and stir, and finally leave the dirty kettle for them to scrub out +the next day!" + +"Hold on, Ruth! Hold on. You've let out a great deal more than I wanted +you to, now!" cried the Old Squire. "I remember now, I did forget that +kettle last year. 'Twas too bad. I don't blame you, Ruth Ann, I don't +blame you in the least for grumbling about it." + +With that Gram looked up and laughed, but still gave her head a slight +toss. + +I watched for a day or two a little anxiously, to see if she really +cherished any resentment, but soon discovered that there was no real +ill-feeling; it was only Gram's way of holding her ground and standing +for her house rights. + +As we went out to get shovels and the two baskets, I ventured to ask +Addison, confidentially, whether Gram were really severe. "No!" said he. +"She's all right. She touches the Old Squire up a little once in awhile, +when he needs it; she always gets him foul, too. I suppose he doesn't +try very hard to hold up his end, but she always floors him when they +get to sparring. Then he will laugh and say something to patch things up +again. O they never really quarrel. Gramp once said to me, as we were +going out into the field together, after Gram had been touching him up, +'Addison,' said he, 'your grandmother was a Pepperill. They were nice +folks; but they had spicy tempers, some of them. Old Sir William +Pepperill, that led our people down to Louisburg, was her +great-great-uncle. They were good old New England stock, but none of +them would ever bear a bit of crowding; and I always take that into +account.'" + +Halstead came out and then went to search for a tool which they termed +a "nigger hoe," a hoe with a narrow blade, such as, in the old +plantation days of the South, the negroes are said to have used for +turning over the turf of new fields. + +Theodora came to the door of the wagon-house. "Going with us after +poke?" Addison called out to her. + +"I wish we could," she replied; "but we have lots to do in the house. +Gram says that, as we were out all the forenoon, we must stay indoors +the rest of the day." + +Ellen, too, was espied gazing regretfully after us, as we set off with +the baskets and tools. Halse had a pocketful of doughnuts (which he +always called duffnuts). He had made a raid on the pantry, he said, and +enlivened the way by topping off his dinner with them. + +We went out through the fields to the southwest of the farm buildings, +then crossed a lot called the calf pasture, and then a swale, descending +through woods and bushes into the valley of the west brook. + +"This is the meadow-brook," said Addison. "But Titcomb's meadow is a +mile below here. We will follow down the brook till we come to it. + +"That's poke," he continued, pointing to a thick, rank, green plant, +with great curved leaves, now about a foot in height and growing near +the bank of the brook. Halstead gave one of the plants a crushing stroke +with his hoe, and I noticed that it gave off a very unpleasant odor. + +"It is poison," Addison remarked. "It is the plant that botanists call +_veratrum viride_, I believe. But the common name is Indian poke." + +"O Ad knows everything; his head is stuffed with long words!" exclaimed +Halse, derisively. "It'll bust one of these days. I don't dare to get +very near him on that account." + +"No danger that yours will ever 'bust' on account of what's inside it," +retorted Addison, laughing. + +But Halstead, although he had begun the joking, did not appear to take +this shot back in good part. He turned aside and began to cut a +witch-hazel rod. + +"Now quit that, Halse," exclaimed Addison. "Wait till we get the poke +dug, then we will all three cut some rods and fish for half an hour." + +But Halstead proceeded to string a hook, bait it with a bit of pork +which he had brought, and then dropped it into a hole beside an alder +bush at a bend of the stream. + +"He is the most provoking fellow I ever saw," muttered Addison. "He will +fish all the time, and we will have the poke to dig. I meant to show you +a good hole to fish in, but now he will scare all the trout away! + +"Come on, Halse!" he shouted back. "What's the use to skulk and shirk +like that?" + +"O you dig viratum-viridy!" cried Halstead. "You understand all about +that, you know. I don't comprehend it well enough; but I guess I can +manage to fish a little." A moment after we saw him haul out a trout, +which glistened as it went wriggling through the air and fell in the +grass. Halse got it, and holding it up so that we could see it, shouted, +"No viratum-viridy about that!" + +"No use fooling with him," Addison said to me. "His nose is out of joint +about that word. He will not lift a finger to help us, but will catch a +good string of fish to take home; and if I say a word about it to the +folks, he will declare that I was so overbearing that he couldn't work +with me. That's the song he always sings. + +"Sometimes," continued Addison, with another backward glance of +suppressed indignation, "I get so 'mad' all through at that boy that I +could thrash him half to death. If it wasn't for Doad and the old +folks, I believe I should do it. + +"But of course that isn't the best thing to do," Addison continued. "The +best way to get along is to have as little to do with him as you can, +and not pay any attention to his quirks. For he is the trick pony in +this family. You cannot go out with him anywheres, without having some +sort of a circus; I defy you to. You see now, if we ever go out +together, without a scrape." + +We went on down the brook to the meadow, called after its owner's name; +the stream was more sluggish here, and along its turfy banks the clumps +of Indian poke were very numerous. With shovel and hoe, we then +proceeded to dig up the rank-growing and ranker-smelling plant. To get +out much of the root required a great effort, and we did not like to +smear our hands with the juice. For this plant (which is the same made +use of by homoeopathic physicians as a medicine) proves poisonous to +cattle when, as is sometimes the case in the early spring, the animals +are tempted to crop its rank, fresh leaves. In order to take home enough +in our two baskets, we trod it down with our feet very solidly; and when +at length they were heaped full, each was heavy. + +"I wish Ellen could have come, to help us home with it," said Addison. +"There ought to be two to each basket, one on each side, and so change +hands once in a while." + +"Are we going to fish now?" I asked. + +"Well, but you see the sun is nearly down," replied Addison. "It is +getting late in the afternoon for fishing, and we have a hard job before +us, to tote these baskets home. Besides, Halse has fished away down past +us, in all the good holes. I guess we had better not stop this time, but +wait for a lowery day. + +"Come, help carry these baskets home!" he shouted to Halstead, who was +now near the lower end of the meadow. But the latter was very intent at +a trout-hole into which he had just dropped his hook, and did not +respond. We waited a few minutes, then shouldered the baskets, and +carrying our shovels in our free hands, set off. At first the basket did +not seem very heavy; but, by the time I had gone half a mile, I found +myself very tired. Addison, however, plodded sturdily forward with his +basket, and after resting for a few moments, I toiled on in his wake. + +Presently Halse overtook us. + +"Hullo, shirk!" Addison called out. "How many fish?" + +Halstead held up a pretty string of fourteen. + +"Well, you've had all the fun so far," said Addison. "Now let's see you +carry one of these baskets." + +"What a fuss about a little basket of green stuff!" exclaimed Halstead +contemptuously; and throwing mine on his shoulder, he started on at a +great pace. + +Before he had got as far as the "calf pasture," however, he began to +lag, fell behind and at length set down the basket. + +"What was the use of stuffing them so full!" he grumbled. "There was no +need of so much." + +A few rods farther on, he again set the basket down on a rock. Addison +turned round and laughed at him. "What's the matter with that 'little +basket of green stuff?'" he exclaimed. + +"But there's no need of so much!" cried Halstead, and he threw out a +part of it before going on. I gathered up what he threw out and followed +behind him. When we came to the stone wall between the pasture and the +southwest field, Halse set the basket down and hurried on past Addison +to the house, in advance of us. + +"He has run ahead to show his trout and tell a fine story," said +Addison, with a laugh. "That's the way he always does. But they know him +pretty well. I don't take the trouble to contradict any of his talk +now." + +"Does he tell lies?" I asked. + +"Not exactly outright lies," said Addison. "But he will talk large and +try to lead the folks to think that he dug the most of the poke and +brought it home, besides catching the trout. That's the kind of boy he +is; but if I were you, I would not mind anything of that sort. They all +know how it is--a great deal better than they want to know. You will not +lose anything by keeping quiet." Addison saw that I was a little ruffled +on account of the fishing incident, and thought it best to calm me. + +By the time I reached the farm-yard, where the Old Squire had hung up a +large iron kettle and had water boiling in it, I was very tired indeed. +What with splitting wood in the early morning, catching seventy sheep +and digging and carrying poke, I had put forth a good deal of muscular +strength that day, for a lad unused to such exertion. In fact, the day +had seemed a week in length to me; for I appeared to myself to have +learned a hundred new things since morning, and had passed through a +wide series of new experiences. + +But supper was ready, and supper is a great source of recuperation with +a hungry boy. How delicious the "pop-overs" and maple syrup tasted! I +was ashamed to ask for a sixth "pop-over;" but when cousin Theodora +called for more and slipped a sixth upon my plate, I felt very grateful +to her. Halstead was boasting of his skill fishing, and relating how he +threw the trout out of the holes. + +"Won't they taste good for breakfast!" he exclaimed. "Nell, if you will +clean them and fry them, you shall have three. I shall want four for my +share," he continued; "and that will give the rest of you one apiece!" + +Addison laughed. "That's real generous of you, Halse, seeing that the +rest of us had such poor luck fishing," said he. Theodora was listening, +and by and by asked me in a whisper--her chair at table being next +mine--whether Halstead had helped dig the poke. + +"Ask Addison," I said, laughing in turn. + +She did not ask, but I noticed that her face wore a thoughtful +expression during the remainder of the time we were at table. + +After supper we put the poke into the kettle. The Old Squire had already +chipped up and thrown into it a pound of tobacco; and during the evening +we brought wood several times from the wood-shed and kept the kettle +boiling. By the time it had grown dark, I was glad to creep away to bed, +for I had grown so sleepy that I could scarcely keep my eyes open. It +seemed to me, too, that I had no more than fallen soundly asleep when I +heard somebody knocking and saying that it was time to get up and dress. +'Twas actually some moments before I could believe that morning had come +again. The sun had risen, however, and Halstead was dressing. +"Grandmarm's up fryin' my trout," said he. "I can smell 'em. O won't +they taste good! But one is all you can have." + +"If you had done your part, we might all three have caught some trout," +I grumbled, for I felt sleepy still and not in a good humor. + +"Look here," said Halstead, "I stand a good deal of that kind of talk +from Ad, but you needn't think you can take up his tune." + +"What will you do?" I asked. + +"Give you a thrashing," said Halstead. "It would do you good, too. One +little George Washington is all we can have in this house." + +I had some doubts as to his being able to handle me; still he was +considerably the larger, and I concluded that I had better not provoke +him to a trial of his ability in that direction. But his threat set a +deep resentment brewing in my mind. At breakfast time, however, he +attempted to soften the asperities of boy life between us, by putting +two trout, instead of one, on my plate. I surmised that Theodora had +prompted him to do it, however, but was not certain. + +Gramp and Ellen had been to the pasture the previous evening and driven +the flock of sheep and lambs down to the west barn, where they had +remained shut up over night. This was the Old Squire's custom with his +flock the night of the washing, to prevent the sheep from taking cold, +and also from a theory of his that if they were kept warm for two nights +after washing, the oil from their skins would start sufficiently to put +the wool in proper condition for shearing on the third day. + +After breakfast, the business of the day was announced to be +bean-planting, at which Halstead groaned audibly. Twelve quarts of +yellow-eyed beans, which had been carefully picked over, were brought +out from the granary chamber for seed; and with tin basins to drop from +and hoes to cover with, we were about setting off for the field, when +the bleating of sheep was heard along the road, and a babel of voices. +"There comes Edwards' flock!" cried Halstead. "And there's Tom and +Kate." + +The flock went streaming along the road; and we young folks turned out +to assist in driving them through the field and pasture, down to the +yard by the Little Sea. + +Thomas I had met already. His sister Catherine looked to be a little +older than Ellen. She and our girls appeared to be great friends and +rapidly exchanged a stock of small news and confidences. I felt bashful +about drawing near them, to receive an introduction; but Ellen brought +her young neighbor around, near where I was helping the other boys pen +up the sheep, and informed her that I was the new cousin who had come to +live at the farm, and hence that we must needs become acquainted. +Catherine and I did not become much acquainted, however, for months +afterwards. + +Thomas and Catherine had an older brother, who did not appear with them +that morning. Mr. Edwards himself was a strong, weather-browned farmer, +then about forty-five years of age. Addison explained to them the +workings of his water-warming apparatus, and showed them where fuel +could be gathered for a fire beneath the pipes; we then returned to go +to our work. Before we had gone to the field, however, another +interruption occurred. A swarm of bees came out of one of the hives, at +the bee-house in the garden, and after mounting in a dense, brown cloud +into the air over the hives, settled upon the limb of a large apple +tree, a few rods distant. Gram bustled out with a pan and began drumming +noisily upon it, to drown the hum of the queen bee, as she said, and +thus prevent the swarm from flying away. + +Meantime the Old Squire was putting on a veil and gloves, and then came +out with a saw in his hand, while Addison brought forth a new hive which +had been hurriedly rinsed out with salt and water. + +"Fetch a ladder, quick!" was the order to Halstead and me. + +Theodora had brought the clothes-line, which Addison hastily took from +her hands, and climbing the apple tree, attached one end of it to the +bending bough upon which the dark-brown mass of bees now clustered. This +seemed to me then to be a very brave act, for numbers of the bees were +darting angrily about, and one--as he afterwards showed us--stung him on +the wrist. + +By this time the Old Squire had set the ladder, and climbing up, sawed +off the bough a little back of the point where the bees were clinging to +it. All this time Gram was drumming vigorously without cessation; and +Theodora having fetched a broad bit of board which she placed on the +ground under the tree, Addison slowly lowered the bough with the bees +till it rested upon the board, when Gramp clapped the empty hive over +them, and the swarm was hived; for during the day the bees went up from +the bough into the top of the hive, and that evening it was gently +removed to a place in the row of hives at the bee-house. + +This was an early swarm, hence valuable. Gram repeated to us a proverb +in rhyme which set forth the relative values of swarms. + + "A swarm in May is worth a load of hay. + A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon, + But a swarm in July is not worth a fly." + +July swarms would not have time to lay up a store of honey during the +season of flowers. + +Between bees and neighbors the forenoon was far advanced before we +reached the field and began bean-planting. Quite enough of it remained, +however, to render me certain that farm work, in summer, is far from +being a pastime. We planted the beans among the corn which had been +planted two weeks previously and was now a finger's length above the +ground. The corn hills were three feet and a half apart, and between the +hills of every row we now inserted a hill of beans. Halstead and I +dropped the seed, three beans to a hill, going a few steps in advance of +Addison and the old Squire, who followed us with hoes and covered the +beans. The process of dropping was very simple; we had only to make an +imprint in the soft earth with the right heel, and then drop three beans +in the hole. Yet with the sun hot above my head, I found it a sweaty +task, and was but too glad to hear Ellen blow the horn for dinner. + +Bean-planting was the business again after dinner, but dark clouds rose +in the west, shortly before three o'clock, and soon the first +thunder-shower of the season rose, rumbling upward over the White +Mountains. We were compelled to run for the barn. Gramp improved the +opportunity to sharpen the sheep-shears, and as soon as the shower +abated, sent Halstead off to notify a man at the Corners, named Peter +Glinds, a professional shearer, that his services would be required on +the following day. "Old Peter," as he was called, had made shearing +sheep his spring vocation for many years; he was a very tall, lean, +yellow old man, who was reported to use a plug of tobacco a day, the +year round. + +Addison set about preparing a half-hogshead tub to hold the poke +decoction for immersing the lambs after the sheep were sheared. + +But singeing off caterpillars' nests in the orchard was my work for the +remainder of that afternoon and the following forenoon. I went up to the +west barn a number of times, however, to see Peter Glinds shear sheep, +for I had a great curiosity concerning this piece of farm work. + +Addison and Halstead were assisting at the shearing, the latter catching +and fetching the sheep, one by one, to the shearers, while the former +was attending to the fleeces, binding up each one by itself in a compact +bundle with stout twine. Instead of sitting at a bench, or standing at a +table, the sheep-shearer worked on his knees, extending the sheep prone +upon the barn floor. Old Peter could shear a sheep in ten minutes; Gramp +was less speedy with the shears; he contrived to shear about as many as +Peter, however, for, after every fourth sheep, the latter would have to +stop to light his pipe and refresh himself. "A bad habit! A bad habit!" +he would exclaim nearly every time he lighted up. "A bad habit! but I +can't seem to get along 'thout it." He also "chewed" constantly during +the intervals between smokes. + +Peter was not very considerate of the feelings of the sheep while under +his hands, and a little careless with the shears. Naturally a sheep will +get clipped occasionally, and lose a bit of skin; but all those that +Peter sheared were plentifully covered with red spots. It nettled the +Old Squire, who always detested needless cruelty to domestic animals. +One of the sheep, in fact, looked so badly that Gramp exclaimed, +"Glinds, if you are going to skin the sheep, better take a butcher +knife!" + +"'Twas a bad nestly sheep; 'twouldn't keep still nowheres," replied +Peter. + +The old man had a thin, but rather long, gray beard; and while shearing +one of the sheep, either in revenge for its cuts, or else, as is more +likely, mistaking Peter's beard for a wisp of hay, it made a fitful grab +at it and tweaked away a small mouthful. Peter cried out angrily and +continued scolding in an undertone about it for some minutes. This +vastly amused Addison, who chanced to see the incident. In addition to +his duties with the wool, Addison was also "doctor." When a sheep was +cut with the shears, Gramp had the spot touched up with a swab, dipped +in a dish of melted tallow, to coat over the raw place and exclude the +air. To be effective, however, the tallow needed to be hot, or at least +quite warm, so that Addison was frequently making trips with the tallow +dipper to the stove in the house kitchen. + +Going in with him to tell the girls of the accident to old Peter's +beard, I found them laboring and discouraged over the churn; for some +reason the cream had failed to come to butter that morning in a +reasonable time. They had been churning for nearly two hours. It was an +old-fashioned dasher churn, and the labor was far from light. Addison +could not stop to assist them; but I volunteered to do so, and soon +found that I had embarked in a tiresome business, for we had to work at +the dasher for as much as an hour more before the butter came. + +That evening I had an ill turn. It may have been due to change of +climate, or of food, or perhaps the unwonted exercise. Gram, however, +was convinced that I had a "worm-turn;" and that night, for the first +time, I made the acquaintance of the Vermifuge Bottle! + +Now Gram was a dear old soul, but had certain fixed ideas as to the +ailments of youngsters and the appropriate remedies therefor. Whenever +any one of us had taken cold, or committed youthful indiscretions in +diet, she was always persuaded that we were suffering from an attack of +Worms--which I am spelling with a big W, since it was a very large +ailment in her eyes. To her mind, and in all honesty, the average child +was a kind of walking helminthic menagerie, a thin shell of flesh and +skin, inclosing hundreds, if not thousands, of Worms! And drastic +measures were necessary to keep this raging internal population down to +the limits where a child could properly live. + +For this bane of juvenile existence, Gram had one constant, sovereign +remedy in which she reposed implicit faith, and which she never varied +nor departed from, and that was a great spoonful of Van Tassel's +Vermifuge, followed four hours later by two great spoonfuls of castor +oil. Be it said, too, that the castor oil of that period was the +genuine, oily, rank abomination, crude from the bean, and not the +"Castoria" of present times, which children are alleged to cry for! And +as for Van Tassel's Vermifuge, it resembled raw petroleum, and of all +greenish-black, loathly nostrums was the most nauseous to swallow. It +was my fixed belief and hope in those youthful years that, if anywhere +in the next world there were a deep, dark, super-heated compartment far +below all others, it would be reserved expressly for Van Tassel and his +Anthelminthic. + +Whenever, therefore, any one of us put in an appearance at the breakfast +table, looking a little rusty and "pindling," without appetite, Gram +would survey the unfortunate critically, with commiseration on her +placid countenance, and exclaim, "The Worms are at work again! Poor +child, you are all eaten up by worms! You must take a dose of +Vermifuge." + +This diagnosis once made, excuses, prayers, sudden assumptions of +liveliness, or pseudo exhibitions of ravenous appetite, availed nothing. +Gram would rise from the table, walk calmly to the medicine cupboard and +fetch out that awful Bottle and Spoon. + +With a species of fascination, the Worm-suspect would then watch her +turn out the hideous, sticky liquid, till the tablespoon was full and +crowning over the brim of it all around. Why, even to this day, as the +picture rises in memory, I feel my stomach roll and see the hard, wild +grin on the face of Halstead as he watched the ordeal approach me. + +"Now shut your eyes and open your mouth," Gram would say, and, when the +awful dose was in, "Swallow! Swallow hard!" Then up would come her soft, +warm hand under my chin, tilting my head back like a chicken's. There +was no escape. + +On one occasion Halstead bolted, while the Vermifuge was being poured +out, and escaped to the barn. But he had to go without his breakfast +that forenoon, and when he appeared at the dinner table, Bottle, Spoon +and Gram with a severe countenance were waiting for him. + +Theodora used to try to take hers without murmuring, although convinced +that it was a mere whim, stipulating only that she might go out in the +kitchen to swallow it. But with Wealthy, who was younger, the ingestion +of Vermifuge was usually preceded by an orgy of tears and supplications. +Addison, who was older and generally well, long smiled in a superior way +at the grimaces of us who were more "Wormy." But shortly after our first +Thanksgiving Day at the farm, he, too, fell ill and failed to come down +to breakfast. On his absence being noted, Gram went up-stairs to inquire +into his plight; and it was with a sense of exultation rather than +proper pity, I fear, that Halse and I saw the old lady come down +presently and get the Vermifuge Bottle. We heard Addison expostulating +and arguing in rebuttal for some minutes, but he lost the case. Wealthy, +who had stolen up-stairs on tip-toe, to view the denouement, informed us +later, in great glee, that Addison had attempted by a sudden movement to +eject the nauseous mouthful, but that Gram had clapped one hand under +his chin and pinched his nose with the thumb and finger of the other, +till he was compelled to swallow, in order to breathe. + +About that time it was hopefully observed that the Bottle was nearly +empty. A certain cheerfulness sprang up. It proved short-lived. The next +time the Old Squire went to the village, Gram sent for two more bottles. +The benevolent smile with which she exhibited the fresh supply to us +that night caused our hearts to sink. To have it the handier, she poured +both bottlefuls into an empty demijohn and put the Spoon beside it in +the cupboard. + +Addison, although a pretty good boy in the main, was a crafty one. I +never knew, certainly, whether or not Halstead and Ellen had any +previous knowledge as to the prank Addison played with the Vermifuge, +but I rather think not. There was another large flask-shaped bottle in +the same cupboard, about half full of elderberry wine, old and quite +thick, which Gram had made years before. It was used only "for +sickness," and was always kept on the upper shelf. We knew what it was, +however; by the time we had been there a year, there were not many +bottles in that or any other cupboard which we had not investigated. + +The Vermifuge and the old elderberry wine looked not a little alike, and +what Ad must have done--though he never fairly owned up to it--was to +shift the thick, dark liquids from one bottle to the other and restore +the bottles to their usual places in the cupboard. Time went on and I +think that it was Ellen who had next to take a dose from the Bottle. It +was then remarked that she neither shed tears nor made the usual wry +faces. Nor yet did she appear in haste to seize and swallow the draught +of consolatory coffee from the Old Squire's sympathetic hand. "Why, +Nellie girl, you are getting to be quite brave," was his approving +comment; and Ellen, with a puzzled glance around the table, laughed, +looked earnestly at Gram, but said nothing; I think she had caught +Addison's eye fixed meaningly on her. + +If recollection serves me aright, I was the next whose morning symptoms +indicated the need of Vermifuge; and I remember the thrill of amazement +that went through me when the Spoon upset its dark contents adown the +roots of my tongue and Gram's cozy hand came up under my chin. + +"Why, Gram!" I spluttered. "This isn't----!" "Here, dear boy, take a +good swallow of coffee. That'll take the taste out o' your mouth," Gramp +interrupted, his own face drawn into a compassionate pucker, and he +clapped the cup to my mouth. I drank, but, still wondering, was about to +break forth again, when a vigorous kick under the table, led me to take +second thought. Addison was regarding me in a queer way, so was Ellen. +Gram was placidly putting away the Bottle and Spoon; and something that +tingled very agreeably was warming up my stomach. I burst out laughing, +but another kick constrained me to preserve silence. + +For some reason we did not say anything to each other about this, +although I remember feeling very curious concerning that last dose. A +species of roguish free-masonry took root among us. Once after that, +when Vermifuge was mentioned, Addison winked to me; and I think we were +pretty well aware that something funny had started, unbeknown to Gram. +Theodora, however, knew nothing of it. Whether this reprehensible +slyness would have continued among the rest of us, until we had taken up +the whole of the elderberry wine, I cannot say; but about a month later, +a dismal expose was precipitated one Friday night by the arrival of +Elder Witham. There was to be a "quarterly meeting" at the meeting-house +Saturday afternoon and Sunday, and the Elder came to the Old Squire's to +stay till Monday morning. + +Elder Witham was getting on in years; and upon this occasion he had +taken a little cold, and being a lean, tall, atra-bilious man, his +appetite was affected. Gram, as usual, had prepared a good supper, +largely on the Elder's account; but I remember that after we had sat +down and the Elder had asked the blessing, he straightened back and +said, "Sister S----, I see you've got a nice supper. But I don't believe +I can eat a mouthful to-night. I'm all out of fix. I'm afraid I shan't +be able to preach to-morrow. If you will not think strange, I want to go +back into the sitting-room and lie down a bit on your lounge, to see if +I can't feel better." + +Gram was much disturbed; she followed the Elder from the table and we +overheard her speak of sending for a doctor; but the Elder said no, he +guessed that he should soon feel better. + +"Well, but Elder Witham, isn't there something I can give you to take?" +Gram asked. "Some Jamaica ginger, or something like that?" + +"Oh, that is rather too fiery for me," we heard the Elder say. + +"Then how would a few swallows of my elderberry wine do?" queried Gram. + +"But you know, Sister S----, that I don't much approve of such things," +the Elder replied. + +"Still, I think really, that it would do you good," urged Gram. + +"Perhaps," assented the Elder; for, truth to say, this was not his first +introduction to the elderberry bottle; and we heard Gram go to the +medicine cupboard. + +And "about this time," as the old almanac used to have it, several of us +youngsters at the supper table began to feel strangely interested. +Addison glanced across at Ellen, then jumped up suddenly and took a step +or two toward the sitting-room, but changed his mind and went hastily +out through the kitchen into the wood-shed. After a moment or two, Ellen +stole out after him. As for myself, mental confusion had fallen on me; I +looked at Halse, but he was eating very fast. + +The trouble culminated speedily, for it does not take long to turn out a +small glass of elderberry wine, or drink it, for that matter. The Elder +did not drink it all, however; he took one good swallow, then jumped to +his feet and ran to the wood-box. "Sin o' the Jews! What! What! What +stuff's this?" he spluttered, clearing his mouth as energetically as +possible. "You've given me bug-pizen, by mistake!--and I've swallered a +lot of it!" + +Inexpressibly shocked and alarmed, Gram could hardly trust the evidence +of her senses. She stared helplessly, at first, then all in a tremble, +snatched up the bottle, smelled of it, then tasted it. + +"My sakes, Elder Witham!" she cried, "but don't be scared, it's only +Vermifuge, such as I give the children for Worms!" + +"Tsssauh!" coughed the Elder. "But it's nasty stuff, ain't it?" + +By this time, Gramp had appeared on the scene, and he fetched a cup of +tea to take the taste out of the Elder's mouth. Halstead snatched a +handful of cookies off the table and decamped. I could not find anything +of Addison or Ellen, and so ventured into the sitting-room, with +Theodora and Wealthy. + +Gram, the Old Squire and Elder Witham were now holding a species of +first-aid council. The Elder had taken a full swallow of Vermifuge, and +after reading the "Directions," they all came to the conclusion that the +only safe and proper thing to do was for him to take two tablespoonfuls +of castor oil. This was accomplished during the evening; but it was a +strangely hushed and completely overawed household. Gram, indeed, was +nearly prostrated with mortification. How the Old Squire felt was not +quite so clear; as we milked that night, I thought once that I saw him +shaking strangely as he sat at his cow which stood next to mine; but I +was so shocked myself that I could hardly believe, then, that he was +laughing. + +Addison helped milk, but immediately disappeared again, and Halse soon +retired to bed. Ellen, too, had gone to bed. + +Next morning, affairs had not brightened much. Nobody spoke at the +breakfast table. The Elder's breakfast was carried in to him, and the +net result was that he did not preach that afternoon, as was expected; +another minister occupied the pulpit. + +Gram gave up going to that quarterly meeting altogether. Shame was near +making her ill; and the clouds of chagrin hung low for several days. + +It was not till Thursday, following, that Gram recovered her spirits and +temper sufficiently to inquire into it. Thursday morning she questioned +the whole of us with severity. + +Little actual information was elicited, however, for the reason that the +most of us knew but little about it. We confessed what we knew, unless, +perhaps, Ad kept back something. We all--all except Theodora--knew that +we had previously taken elderberry instead of Van Tassel; and Gram gave +us an earnest lecture on the meanness of such concealments of facts. The +Old Squire said nothing at the time; but I think that he had some +private conversation with Addison concerning the matter. + +The episode put a damper on the Vermifuge Bottle, however; it was never +quite so prominent afterwards. But I have digressed, and gone in advance +of my narrative of events at the old farm that season. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IMMERSING THE LAMBS + + +The sheep were inclosed at the barn that night, partly that they might +not take cold, owing to the sudden loss of their winter coats, partly +also that, being pent up close with the lambs, all the parasites +("ticks") would leave the bare skins of the sheep and take refuge within +the partly grown fleeces of the lambs--and thus the more readily fall +victims to the bath which we had specially prepared for their +extermination on the morrow. + +Immersing one hundred lambs, one by one, in a tubful of mingled poke and +tobacco juice is far from an agreeable task; it was a novelty to me +then, however, and I entered into it with much zeal and curiosity. I +wanted to see how the lambs would behave, and also how the parasites +would enjoy it. A boy's mind is eager for all kinds of visual +information. + +We put on old clothes, and having set the tub containing the decoction +near the lean-to door of the barn, caught and brought forth the lambs, +one after another. Addison, by virtue of greater experience, undertook +the business of immersion, while Halstead and I caught the lambs. They +struggled vigorously, and the only practicable method of dipping them +was to grasp all four of their legs, two in each hand, and then thrust +them down into the tub, taking care that their noses did not go under +the liquid. Each had then to be held in the bath for about a minute, +giving time for the liquid to thoroughly saturate their wool. But this +was not all, nor yet the most disagreeable part of the affair. On +raising them from the tub, it was necessary to dry their fleeces to some +extent, by squeezing and wringing them in our hands, lest, owing to the +absorbent capacity of their wool, there should soon be nothing left of +our decoction in the tub. Taken with the struggles of the lambs, this +proved a repulsive task. Before half the lambs were dipped, our old +jacket sleeves were soaked. Withal we were nauseated, either from having +our hands in the decoction, or else from the odor which arose from the +tub and the wet lambs. At length, Addison was obliged _to go out behind +the barn_, where he remained for some minutes, and returned looking very +pale. "Good gracious!" he exclaimed. "I think that I shall hate the odor +of tobacco juice to the end of my life." + +Not long after he made another trip; and immediately I was compelled to +follow him, in haste. Halse, who was not much affected, derided us; but +he had not held his hands in the tub as much as Addison; besides he was +known to have smoked tobacco on several occasions, and this previous +experience of the weed, perhaps, stood him in stead on this occasion. + +Theodora, who had come out to see how we were progressing, was +distressed at our woe-begone condition and ran in to report our +sufferings; and as a result of this bulletin, the Old Squire soon made +his appearance upon the scene and assumed the role of immerser. Gram, +too, came out with a dipperful of chamomile tea, of which she +authoritatively exhorted us to imbibe a draught. + +We judged from appearances that the lambs were also nauseated, for they +were observed to stand with drooping heads; and the Old Squire told us +that washing either lambs or calves in a strong solution of tobacco had +been known to kill them. + +Here I may add that the following year we purchased a device for burning +tobacco and blowing the smoke into the wool of the sheep and lambs, +called a "fumigator." It was said to be even more destructive to the +parasites than the bath of poke and tobacco juices. In point of fact, we +found it quite efficacious, also less sloppy and disagreeable to use; +but it rendered us even more sick, so ill in fact, that we were fully a +day in recovering from the effects. None save a well-seasoned old smoker +of tobacco can use the fumigator with impunity. + +There had been a "sea-turn" during the morning with the wind southerly, +and toward noon it set in rainy. The sheep were turned out to feed for a +little while, but at nightfall were driven indoors again. The Old Squire +took scrupulous care of his flock during washing and shearing week. A +few weeks later we drove the flock down to the barn and touched the +nostrils of all the sheep and the older lambs with tar, to prevent a +certain species of fly from depositing its eggs and larvae there, +causing what was known, later in the year, as "grubs in the head," an +affection that often causes many deaths in neglected flocks. + +A rainy day is often a farm boy's only holiday. In the afternoon we +talked of going down to the lake to fish for pickerel. It came on to +rain too heavily, however. Halstead had gone up-stairs to our room, and +was hammering at something or other, making a great noise. We heard +Addison, who was trying to read in his room, which adjoined, repeatedly +begging Halse to desist. Theodora and I played a few games at checkers +in the sitting-room, then went up to see Addison. He was reading from +Audubon's work on American birds (_Ornithological Biography_), of which +he had three volumes that had been his father's; but he did not own the +great volumes of engravings which should accompany them, the want of +which he often lamented. I remember that he read to us a number of +little anecdotes of wild geese, among others how a certain "mighty +miller," with a great gun loaded with rifle balls, had shot geese clean +across the Ohio River. He then turned to the description of the heron. +"Herons build their nests down in the pines near the lake," said he. "I +have asked the Old Squire about making a trip there. He says I can go +Saturday afternoon. I would like to have you two and Ellen go with me, +but I do not want Halstead. You know how he always cuts up." + +"But he will feel hurt if we go without him," Theodora said. + +"If he would go and behave himself, I wouldn't say a word against it," +replied Addison. + +"Perhaps he would this time," said Theodora. + +"I don't believe it." + +"But he is our cousin, you know." + +"The more's the pity, I say." + +"But do not say it." + +"We shall all say it before long, I'm afraid. Do you know where he goes +Sundays?" + +"No," said Theodora, with a sigh. + +"Well, I do not, but there is something wrong going on. I've thought so +for some time. The Old Squire does not know of it." + +"I thought he seemed to suspect something last Sunday," said Theodora. + +"Yes, but he doesn't see as much as I do." + +"Couldn't you find out more about it?" asked Theodora. + +"Very likely; but then I do not like to go spying after Halse." + +"But perhaps you ought." + +"I don't know about that." + +They both seemed perplexed. Addison was turning over leaves in the book; +and Theodora sat looking at the birds, absently. + +"Let's not make any secret about going to see the herons," she said at +length. "Even if you don't want to ask Halstead to go, let him know we +are going, and if he wants to go with us, do not say anything against +it. We must not shun him, or have him think we do." + +It was left like that. + +The Old Squire spoke of our going at breakfast the next morning, and I +heard Halstead asking Theodora about it afterwards. I knew from what he +said that night after we had gone up to bed, that he meant to go. + +Saturday was fair. After dinner Addison went up to his room a few +minutes, then came down with the gun. Theodora had put on her hat and +came out under the trees where I was standing. Seeing us, Addison came +along and asked if we were ready. Ellen and little Wealthy also joined +us. Halstead was sitting at the front door, and as we started off, he +came along, saying, "I guess I'll go, too. Ad forgot to invite me, I +suppose." + +Addison did not reply, and we went on for some time without speaking. + +Leaving the road at the turn by the school-house, we went through the +pastures toward the valley of Foy Brook. The great pines in which the +herons built stand a little up from the lake. There are several groves +of them; many of the trees were gnarled, for which reason the lumbermen +had rejected them; some of them were four and five feet in diameter and +crooked into fantastic shapes. + +Very agreeably and somewhat to our surprise, Halstead was on his good +behavior. He was polite to the girls and helped them over the brush +fences; and when, on coming nearer the pines, Addison asked us to go in +as quietly as we could, he complied, not even allowing a twig to snap +under his feet. + +Addison wished to see the herons undisturbed; and the rest of us kept a +little to the rear while he went on cautiously. Presently he stopped, +then turned and whispered to us to come up quietly behind him and look +over his shoulder. "Up there," said he, pointing into the top of one of +the pines. In a fork, formed by the very highest branches, there was a +great mass of sticks and reeds as large as a two-bushel basket. + +"That's one of the nests," whispered Addison. "And see that head and +long, pointed beak, just over the top of it! The old hen heron is +brooding." + +"But look there!" whispered Halstead, pointing into another tree. + +On a high, dead limb stood a heron on one long leg, perfectly +motionless. The other foot was drawn up so as to be hidden in the +feathers of the under part of its body. Its neck was crooked back so far +that its long bill rested on its breast. It was seemingly asleep, and +looked so ungainly that Ellen laughed outright, despite Addison's +injunctions to be quiet. + +Several other nests were presently discovered, high up among the green +boughs. + +"If you want to shoot one, to stuff," whispered Halstead, "you will not +get a better chance than that," pointing to the one asleep. "He is just +in good easy range." + +"It seems too bad to shoot him, while he is sleeping," said Theodora. + +"Once let him wake up and see us, and he will make himself scarce in a +hurry," said Halstead. "Better make sure of him, Ad." + +Addison cocked the gun, and, raising it slowly, fired. The great bird +uttered a hoarse squawk, straightened up, then toppled over and fell to +the ground. Instantly there arose a deafening chorus of squawks. Herons +flew up from the tree tops all about us. The tops of the pines fairly +rocked. Great sticks, dirt and cones came rattling down. Upward they +soared in a great flock, several hundred feet above the trees, then flew +around and around overhead, uttering hoarse cries. + +We ran to the place where the wounded heron had fallen. He lay extended +on the ground; but a bright sinister eye was turned up, watching us with +silent defiance. + +"Don't go too near," said Addison. "He will strike with his beak. You +know I read to you, from Audubon, how a gentleman came near losing an +eye from the sudden stroke of a wounded heron. They always aim for the +eye." + +He put out the butt of the gun, extending it slowly toward the bird. The +heron watched it till within a couple of feet, then struck quick as +thought, darting its bill against the hard walnut of the gunstock. + +Meanwhile the other herons had flown off to the side of the mountain, +half a mile away. Now and then one would come back and circle about over +the pines. + +Addison desired to examine a nest. One of the pines had low knots on the +trunk, within six feet of the ground, and a little higher up drooping +branches. There was a nest near the top. Halstead offered to climb up to +it. Addison and I lifted him up to the knots. He climbed up by these to +the lowest limbs, and then went on from branch to branch toward the top. + +"Two eggs!" he shouted, peeping over into the great nest. + +"Don't break them!" cried Addison. "Bring them down if you can!" + +Halstead took them out and put them into his loose frock, then, before +we guessed what he was going to do, he had upset the nest from the +branches in which it rested, and it came bumping down through the boughs +to the ground. The fall shook it to pieces considerably, yet we could +see what its shape had been. There were some sticks in it three and four +feet long, as thick as a man's wrist. The inside was lined with dry +grass. It was large enough to allow the old heron to double its long +legs and sit in it comfortably. Halse now came down with the eggs. They +were of a dirty white color, the shells rough and uneven. Theodora +imagined that they would be as large as goose-eggs; they were not larger +than those of a turkey,--about two and a half inches in length by one +and a half in width. + +"I shall carry them home and hatch them under a hen," said Addison. + +"I guess the old hen will cackle when she sees what she has hatched," +exclaimed Ellen, laughing. + +While we were looking at them, a noise in the brush startled us, and, +turning hastily, we saw a young man wearing a glazed cap standing at the +border of alders, near the brook. His appearance startled us somewhat. +Presently we noticed that he was beckoning, evidently to Halstead, and +that the latter seemed very uneasy; he bent over the eggs and pretended +not to see any one. But the fellow continued loitering there; and at +last Halse jumped up, saying, "I'll see what he wants, I guess," and +went out to the alders. The man stepped back and they both disappeared +among the bushes. + +We stood waiting for some minutes, then started to go slowly out through +the pines into the pasture and homeward with our trophies. + +"Who could that have been?" Ellen exclaimed to Addison in a low voice; +but Addison merely shook his head. + +Somewhat to our surprise, we found Halstead at home in advance of us; he +had already sat down to supper with Gramp and Gram. + +That night, after milking was done and we had gone up-stairs to our +room, Halstead said to me, "I suppose you saw that fellow that came to +see me down at the pines this afternoon." + +I said yes. + +"That was a poor chap I promised to buy some seed-corn for," Halse went +on, hastily. "He came around to get the money; and I'm going to try to +make it up somehow, though I haven't got the money just now. Couldn't +let me have seventy-five cents, could you?" + +I said that I could, for I felt relieved to think that the mysterious +person was merely a poor farmer. + +Halstead regarded me for some moments. "I wish you would ask Doad and +Nell if they won't lend me a quarter apiece," he said at length. "I can +just make it up, if you would. I hate to ask them myself. But I will +give it back to you in the course of a month. + +"I wouldn't say anything to Ad about it," Halstead went on; "Ad don't +like me and I don't want to feel beholden to him for anything." + +I replied that I did not feel quite well enough acquainted with Theodora +and Ellen yet, to ask such a favor; but as Halstead seemed to feel hurt +that I hesitated about it, I finally promised to speak to them, although +I disliked the errand. + +Next day was Sunday, and after breakfast we all set off, except Ellen +and Gram, to go to the old meeting-house, called the "chapel," three +miles distant, on a road leading westward from the farm. It was a very +hilly road, and we three boys walked; but Theodora and Wealthy rode with +the Old Squire in the two-seated wagon. + +I had been accustomed to go to church in a more handsomely furnished +edifice, and the old chapel seemed, at first, very rude to me. It was a +weather-beaten structure, having a high gallery across one end and an +almost equally high pulpit at the other. The floor was bare, and the +box-shaped pews were not many of them provided with cushions. There was +a great clatter of feet when the people came in, and the roof gave back +hollow echoes. + +The Old Squire and Gram were nominally Congregationalists, and the old +meeting-house had once belonged to that sect; but becoming reduced in +numbers, and being unable to support a clergyman of that denomination +during the entire year, they had allowed the Methodists, and finally the +Second Adventists, to hold meetings there. + +The Old Squire, indeed, was by no means a strict sectarian; he attended +the Methodist service and sometimes, not often, the Adventist. Gram was +more conservative and did not go, as a rule, except when there was a +Congregationalist minister, although she always spoke well of the +Methodists; and the Methodist Elder Witham (the same who took the +Vermifuge) frequently visited at the farm. + +"All Christians are good people," Gramp was accustomed to say. + +"Well," Gram would reply, placidly, "I cannot help believing that we +(meaning the Congregationalists) are in the right." + +The Old Squire's chief objection to the Adventists was, that their +preachers had come into the place uninvited, and, by their zealous +efforts, had caused a considerable number to withdraw from the church, +thus breaking up the Congregationalist Society in that town. + +"I do not take it upon me to say who is right and who is wrong on these +great religious questions," the old gentleman used to remark, when the +subject came up. "But I disapprove of sowing the seeds of dissension in +any church." However, he used sometimes to go to hear the Adventists' +ministers. + +It was Elder Witham's turn to preach that Sunday. He was a tall, spare +man, and he preached in a long linen "duster." For one I became quite a +good deal interested in the sermon, for the preacher began very +pleasantly by telling us several short anecdotes. Toward the close of +his discourse, he became very earnest and raised his voice quite near +the shouting pitch. + +During intermission, there was an attempt made to organize a Sunday +school. The boys and girls were seated in classes in the pews, and +teachers were appointed from the older members of the church. + +There was a small Sunday-school library, consisting of quaint little +books with marbled covers. Each of us was permitted to carry home one of +these small volumes; and I recollect that my book that Sabbath was +entitled _Herman's Repentance_. + +The Elder rode home with our folks to tea, and Theodora walked with us +boys. There were six or eight others walking with us, the sons and +daughters of neighbors, to whom Theodora kindly introduced me: Georgie +and Elsie Wilbur, very pretty girls of about Ellen's age, also their +brother Edgar, near my own age, and a large, awkward but smiling +youngster, whose name was Henry Sylvester, whom the others called "Bub." +An older boy of rather swaggering manners overtook us on our way, and +began talking patronizingly to me, without an introduction. His name was +Alfred Batchelder. We also overtook a boy named Willis Murch, who had +stopped to sit, waiting for us, on a large rock beside the road. The +Murch family lived a mile beyond the Old Squire's to the northwest. + +The quiet of the walk homeward was somewhat broken in upon, however, by +a scuffle and some hard words betwixt Halstead and Alfred Batchelder. + +As we came near the great gate opening into our lane, Theodora walked up +to the house with me, a little behind the others, and told me, +confidentially--for my good, I suppose--that Alfred Batchelder was +deemed a reckless chap whose character was not above reproach. I, on my +part, seized the opportunity to proffer Halstead's petition for the loan +of twenty-five cents. + +"I could lend it to him," she replied, "and so can Ellen, I think." + +But she seemed thoughtful, and by and by asked me to tell her all that +Halstead had said. I did so, and added that he did not wish Addison to +know about it. + +"I am sorry for that," she said, "for I should like to ask Ad's advice. +But I suppose we had better not tell him, if Halse is unwilling." + +Later that evening she gave me the money, along with twenty-five cents +from Ellen. I handed it to Halstead that night, a dollar and a quarter +in all. He appeared much pleased. + +"Does Ad know it, or the old gent?" he asked me, and cried, "Good!" when +I said they did not. + +He sat on the side of the bed and tossed up the five quarter pieces, +catching them as they fell. + +"I know a way to get plenty of these fellers," he remarked to me at +length. + +"What makes you borrow of the girls, then?" I asked. + +"O, you needn't be scared. I'll soon pay you all," he retorted. + +But I had begun to doubt that the money was to pay for a poor farmer's +seed-corn. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"OLD THREE-LEGS" + + +Monday morning dawned bright and very warm. As we were about to sit down +to breakfast, Catherine Edwards called at the door and left a letter for +me, from my mother, which had arrived at the Corners post-office on +Saturday, but which Neighbor Edwards, who had brought the mail for us +late that evening, had overlooked; my letter had consequently lain over, +in his coat pocket, until that morning, when he had chanced to discover +it. + +My mother had written me a very nice letter, as such letters go, +exhorting me to good behavior in general; and if she had stopped short +at that point, it would have been better. She went on, however, to tell +me of affairs at home, of what she was doing, of "Bush," our cat, of the +canary, of three or four boys and girls with whom I was acquainted, and +also of a grand parade of returned soldiers. + +I had not half finished it, when I was seized with such a pang of +homesickness as I hope never to feel again; in fact, I do not believe +that I ever could feel another such pang. It penetrated my entire being; +I could not swallow a mouthful of breakfast. It seemed to me that I +should choke and die right there, if I did not get up and start for home +that very minute;--and I knew I could not go. Blue is no adequate word +with which to describe such sensations. In the course of an hour, +however, this first fit passed off for the most part, but left me very +pensive and melancholy. I was aware, too, that the Old Squire had +noticed my mood. + +As we hoed corn that forenoon, a boy came driving a horse and "drag" +into the field; it was Edgar Wilbur, one of the lads whom I had seen the +day before while coming from church. The Wilburs lived at the farm next +beyond the Edwardses, about three-quarters of a mile distant from us. +Mr. Wilbur was not a wholly thrifty farmer, and often borrowed tools at +the Old Squire's. Edgar had now come for the "cultivator," for their +corn. + +While we were loading it on the drag for him, Edgar told us boys that he +had to go to the back pasture to salt their sheep that afternoon, and +asked us to go with him. Addison replied that we were too busy with our +hoeing; but the Old Squire, who had overheard what was said, looked at +me with a compassionate smile, and said that I might go if I liked. I +suppose he hoped that the trip with Edgar would cheer me up. +Accordingly, after dinner, I was given my liberty, and set off for the +Wilburs, leaving Halstead grumbling over what he deemed my unmerited +good fortune. + +The Wilburs lived in a one-story red house; and their barn was a +somewhat weather-beaten, infirm old structure, yet the place had a cozy +appearance; there were beds of flowers by the house door, and a great +bunch of pink hedge roses on one side of the way leading into the yard, +with a thick bush of lilacs on the other. Elsie and Georgie were at the +district school; but Mrs. Wilbur, a fresh-faced, pleasant woman, came to +the door and very kindly asked me in, offering me presently a glass of +spruce beer which had a queer flavor, I thought, and which I was not +quite able to finish. + +Meantime Edgar--or Ned, as his mother called him--had filled a six-quart +pail with salt, and we set off immediately for the sheep pasture. The +distance was considerable, fully a mile; we first crossed their hay +fields, then a cow pasture and then a belt of woodland, through which +ran a cart road. Gradually ascending a considerable slope of the +woodland, we came out upon the cleared crest of a long ridge. This was +the "back pasture;" it was inclosed by a high hedge fence, made of +short, dry, spruce shrubs. This fence we climbed, and then Edgar began +calling the sheep,--"Ca-day, ca-day, ca-day, ca-day," stopping at +intervals to give me various items of information as to their flock and +the extent of the pasture. The Murches, who lived on the farm next +beyond the Wilburs, pastured their sheep with them, in this same back +pasture; they had a flock of thirty-eight, while the Wilburs had +thirty-three, but there were over a hundred lambs. Every spring the two +farmers and the boys repaired, or rebuilt, the high hedge fence in +company. The pasture was of seventy-five acres extent, Edgar said; but +it was much broken by crags and grown up to patches of dark, low spruce. + +Altogether it was a very wild locality, wholly inclosed by somber +forests; and from the top of one of the ledges, which I climbed, I could +see no cleared land, far or near, save on the side next to their farms, +and that at quite a distance. This ledge, I recollect, had a vein of +white quartz running across it, displaying at one point a trace of +rose-color; and I remember thinking that some time I would come here and +break out specimens of this handsome stone. + +At length in response to Ned's calls, we heard a faint _ba-a-a_, toward +the north end of the pasture, and going in that direction, past a number +of spruce copses and many other ledges, we came in sight of the flock of +sheep, feeding in a hollow near a spring. A great mob of lambs were +following their mothers and frisking about the rocks; and there was one +black sheep and one black lamb which, at first sight, I thought were +dogs or some other animals. "That black sheep is Murches'," Ned said. +"She's got two lambs; but that black lamb is in our flock. There's South +Down blood in a good many of them. You can tell the South Downs by their +black fore legs and smut faces. There's fifteen pairs of twins in our +flock and about as many in Murches'. Ca-day, ca-day, ca-day." + +Catching sight of us and the salt pail, the flock now came crowding +eagerly about us. The ovine odor was very strong. Black flies troubled +the poor creatures grievously, and another larger, evil-looking fly was +buzzing about their noses. + +"We are coming up in a day or two and tar all their noses," said Ned, +dealing out the salt in numerous handfuls, throwing it down on smooth +spots upon the grass, and running backwards to avoid the onward rush of +the sheep. + +"Now let's count 'em," he continued. "We always count 'em when we salt +'em. Let's see, can you reckon good? Murches have got thirty-eight sheep +and fifty-three lambs, and we've got thirty-three sheep and forty-eight +lambs. How many does that make in all?" + +After some cogitation, we agreed that there must be seventy-one sheep +and a hundred and one lambs, or a hundred and seventy-two all told. That +was what there should be; and we now set out to ascertain by counting if +all were there. + +This was a greater feat than would appear at first thought, the flock +was so crowded together and so constantly running about. We made several +attempts, but as many times lost the count, or grew confused. At length, +we drove the sheep apart, and the salt being eaten by this time, we +contrived to enumerate eighty-two on one side and eighty-seven on the +other. + +"Now how many's that?" said Ned. I could not make but a hundred and +sixty-nine from it; but Ned said that he guessed 'twas more. After +studying on it awhile, however, he agreed with me; and we then counted +the flock again, twice more, in fact, before we were both satisfied that +there were but a hundred and sixty-nine present. + +"Now that's bad," said Ned. + +"What suppose has become of them?" I asked. + +"Dogs, maybe," replied Ned, "or else a 'lucivee,' or a bear." + +"Perhaps 'twas men," I suggested. + +"O no, I don't think that," said Ned. "If 'twas in the fall, I should +think it might be, for there are some folks down at the Corners that +have been laid in stealing sheep. But let's see whether it's sheep or +lambs that's gone, and whose 'tis, whether it's ours or Murches'. Now +all our sheep have got two slits in the right ear and a crop off the +left; but Murches' have a crop off both ears; and all our lambs have got +red paint across the fore shoulders, but Murches' have got red on the +rump." This necessitated a new count and a much more difficult one. + +"I'll count the ones with slits and crops," said Ned; "and you count the +ones with two crops." But we were nearly half an hour establishing the +fact that one of the "two crops" was missing. + +"It is one of Murches' sheep that's gone," said Ned; "I'm glad it isn't +ours." We then counted the lambs and found also that the missing ones +were two of the Murches'. + +"It's an old sheep with twins," said Ned. + +"Isn't she off by herself somewheres?" I asked. + +"Not very likely to be unless she's got hung; they always keep +together," replied Ned. "But she may have got hung in the brush, or else +has tumbled in between big rocks and can't get out. I suppose we ought +to look her up if that's so. + +"I'll tell you what we will do," continued Ned; "we will walk clean +round the pasture, in the first place, keeping where we can see the +fence, for she may be hung in it." + +Thereupon we set off to walk around the pasture, going along the farther +side to the northwest and the southwest first. The fence skirted the +thick bushes and woods. Toward the southwest corner there was a long, +craggy ledge a little within the pasture fence. It fell off, rough, +rocky and almost perpendicular on that side, from a height of fifteen or +twenty feet, and about the foot of the crag were many of the low, black +spruces, but from the upper side one could walk out on the bare, smooth +rocks to the very brink of the ledge. We approached from this upper +side, and as we came out on it, to look down into the corner of the +pasture, a crow cawed suddenly and sharply, and we saw three crows rise, +flapping, off the ground, below the crag. + +"Hoh!" Ned exclaimed. "What are those black chaps up to there?" + +We stopped and looked down attentively into the partly open plat of +pasture, inclosed around on the lower side by the seared, reddish line +of the now dried hedge fence. + +"Why, Ned, see the wool down there on the ground!" I cried, as a white +mass caught my eye. + +"Something's killed the sheep there!" replied Ned, in a low tone. "See +the head there and the meat and bones strung along. Something's killed +her and eaten her half up; and there looks to be part of a lamb farther +along by that little fir." + +A very strange sensation, partly fear, stole over me, as we stood there +looking down upon the torn remains of the sheep and lamb. The place was +far off in the woods and the surroundings were wild and somber. There +was something uncanny, too, in the way those crows rose up and went +flapping away. In less degree, I think Ned experienced similar +sensations, for he stood without speaking for a moment, then said, "O it +may have been done by a dog, or maybe she died. + +"Let's climb down and see what we can see," he continued. + +"We can see that the sheep is dead from up here," I replied, for I did +not like the idea of going down there very well. + +"Come along," said Ned, laughing. "You needn't be afraid." + +"I'm not afraid," said I. "But it is a kind of lonesome looking place." + +"Yes, 'tis," replied Ned, stopping for a little to look again. "But +let's go down and see. They'll ask us all about it, and we've got to +find out what we can." + +He walked along the top of the ledge, and, coming to a place where we +could descend between some large split rocks, began to climb down. I +followed after him, a little in the rear. Ned had got down among the +small spruces, at the foot of the crag, when he suddenly called back to +me that one of the lambs was there. "Poor little chap, he's hid here, +under the brush," he continued; and on getting down, I saw the lamb +standing far under the thick, dark boughs. + +"I never saw a lamb hide in that way before," said Ned. "He's been awful +scared by something." + +We crept around and tried to catch the lamb; it ran along the foot of +the rocks among the evergreens, but did not bleat, nor behave at all as +lambs generally do. + +"He's got blood on his side there," remarked Ned. "But he may have got +that off the old sheep." + +After looking at the lamb a moment, Ned started to go down where the +carcass of the sheep lay, but I felt a little timid and stood still, +near the foot of the rocks. + +It was not far to go, not more than a hundred feet, I think, being about +half way down to the thick, reddish hedge of recently cut spruce. Ned +approached within a few yards and after looking at the fleece and bones +a minute, stopped to pick up a wisp of wool, when from right at hand +there burst forth the most frightful growl that I ever heard. It broke +on the utter stillness of that quiet nook like a thunder peal and it so +wrought on my already alert senses that I yelled outright from sudden +terror! + +For the moment I could not have told from what quarter the terrible +sound came, for the high rocks behind me reverberated it. Following +instantly upon the growl, however, we heard a cracking of the brush in +the thicket below the hedge fence; and next moment there issued through +a hole in it a large black animal of terrific aspect, that to my +startled eyes looked as large as an ox! + +Not that I stopped to estimate its size. I was on the move by the time +it had issued from the hole of the hedge fence;--but a boy's eye will +take in a good deal at one glance, under such circumstances. It was a +steep ascent betwixt the rocks to the top of the ledge; but if I had +possessed wings, I could not have got up much more quickly. As I gained +the top, I thought of striking off for the upper side of the pasture, +and thence running for my life toward the farms; but at the same instant +my eye fell on a low-growing oak, a few rods away, the lower limbs of +which I thought that I could jump up and seize. I had started for it, +but had taken only a bound or two, when I heard Ned say, "Hold on," +behind me. I looked back. He had gained the top of the ledge almost as +quickly as I had, but had stopped there. "Hold on," he exclaimed in a +low voice. I stopped and stood, half breathless and panting, ready to +bound away again and half inclined to do so. + +Ned was looking down from the ledge and motioned to me with his hand to +return. After some hesitation, I tiptoed back to him. + +"See him?" he whispered to me. "He's right there behind that little +spruce, close beside the sheep. He's looking up here and harking!" The +black animal was half hidden by the spruce boughs, yet I could see him, +and experienced a curious nervous thrill as I made out its shaggy +outlines. + +"Isn't it a bear?" I whispered. + +"Cracky, yes," whispered Ned. "A big one, too!" + +"But won't he chase us?" + +"Guess not," replied Ned. "Ye see, 'tis the sheep he felt so mad about. +He'd killed the sheep and that lamb last night, I expect, and eaten them +part up. And he had only gone down there a little way into the firs +behind the fence and was kinder watching till he got hungry again. He +saw and heard us come along, but he kept still and didn't say a word +till he saw me stoop down to touch it. Then, sir, he just spoke right +out in meetin'! Told me to get out and let his meat alone. O, don't I +wish I had a good gun, loaded with a ball!" + +"Would you dare to fire at him, Ned?" I said. + +"Well," replied Ned, doubtfully, looking around and seeing the oak, and +then glancing down the rocks, "I dunno, but I believe I would get good +aim and let strip at him. If I hit him and hurt him, but didn't kill +him, he might come for us, lickety switch. But he couldn't get up here +very quick. We should have time to climb that tree." + +"I wish we could shoot him!" I whispered, beginning to wax warlike. + +"I've a great mind to let a stone go down there," said Ned, looking +about. "Let's both get stones and throw at once, and see what he will +do. If he starts up here, we'll put for that tree." + +This was an extremely exciting proposition, but I was getting bolder. We +found each a stone as big as a coffee-cup. + +"Now both together," whispered Ned, and we flung them with all our +power. We did not hit our mark, but they struck the ground near the +spruce and bounced past it, quite closely. The bear growled again, +savagely, and started stiffly out from his covert, past the remains of +the sheep. We both turned to run, but noticing that the creature had +stopped, we pulled up again. The bear saw us and growled repeatedly, yet +did not come far past his jealously guarded treasure. He shuffled about, +keeping his head drawn down in a peculiar manner, but we could see that +his eye was on us. After a few moments, he drew back behind the spruce +again. Thereupon we threw more stones; and again the beast rushed out, +growling and scratching up the grass in an odd manner; he did not appear +inclined to pursue us, however, and we now noticed that there was +something clumsy in its gait, like a limp. + +"Gracious!" Ned suddenly exclaimed. "That's old 'Three-Legs!' He's come +round again!" + +"What, the bear that lost his foot in a trap?" I asked, remembering what +Ellen and Theodora had told me a few days before. + +"Yes, siree!" cried Ned. "He's an awful old sheep-killer! He comes round +once in a while. But he's mighty cunning! He's a savage one, too, but he +can't run very fast." + +"Then let's pelt him!" I exclaimed. + +"No, no," said Ned. "We must hurry back home and raise a crew. That bear +must be killed, you know. If we don't, he will come round every week and +take a sheep all summer." + +We therefore set off in haste, to run to the Wilbur farm, where we +arrived very hot and out of breath just as the family was sitting down +to supper. "Old 'Three-Legs' is in the sheep pasture!" shouted Ned at +the door. "Get the gun, pa! I'm going to tell the Murches!" + +Mr. Wilbur owned a gun, but it was not in shooting condition. We then +ran down the hill to the Murch farm, and there our story created +considerable excitement. Ben and Willis at once brought out a +double-barrelled gun, which their father proceeded to load, but they +lacked bullets and heavy shot. Willis and Ned and I therefore ran to the +Edwardses to notify Thomas and his father and procure ammunition. At the +Edwardses they had both shot and also a musket which carried balls. This +latter weapon was at once charged for bear. + +Mr. Edwards, however, advised me to go home and notify the Old Squire +and Addison, in order that they, too, might join the hunt, if disposed. + +I set off at a run again; but by this time I had become not a little +leg-weary; night, too, was at hand. The boys were milking, and I met the +Old Squire coming toward the house with two brimming pailfuls. "Old +'Three-Legs' has just killed one of Murches' sheep and a lamb, too!" I +shouted. + +"Is that so?" said the old gentleman, but the intelligence did not +excite him so much as I had expected it would. He looked at me and said, +"You look badly heated. You have run too hard." + +"But that old bear's killed a sheep!" I exclaimed. "They are all going +after him. They sent me to get you and the boys." + +By this time Addison and Halstead had risen off their milking stools to +hear the tidings, and exhibited signs of interest. + +"Did you see the bear, my son?" the Old Squire asked. + +"Yes, siree!" I exclaimed, and thereupon I poured forth all the +particulars. "They want all of us to load our guns and go with them," I +cried expectantly. + +"Well," remarked the Old Squire, with what seemed to me a very provoking +lack of enthusiasm. "If they are all going, I guess they will not need +us. You had better go to the well and wash your face and head in some +cold water, then rest a while and have your supper; it has been a very +hot day." + +"But old Three-Legs!" I exclaimed. "He may get away!" + +"Yes, he may," said Gramp, laughing. "I should not wonder if he did. + +"I will tell you something about bears, my son," he went on, +good-naturedly. "A bear is quite a knowing animal, and sometimes very +cunning. This one they call old 'Three-Legs' is remarkably so. I'm very +sure that, if we all went over there as quick as we could, and stayed +around all night, we shouldn't find him. That bear knew just as well as +you did that you had gone to get help and would be back with it; and I +shouldn't wonder if by this time he was three miles away--and still +going. What that bear did after you and Ned left was to listen awhile, +till he made sure you were gone, then stuff himself with as much more of +that mutton as he could hold, and leave the place as fast as he could +go. He's gone, you may depend upon it;--and he will not come near that +place again for a week or two probably. That is bear nature and bear +wit. They seem to know some things almost as well as men. They know when +they kill sheep that men will make a fuss about it. That bear was lying +quiet there, with his ears open for trouble; he wasn't much afraid of +two boys, but he knows there are men and guns not far off." + +I was really very tired and after hearing this view of the case was not +much sorry to rest and have my supper. We learned next day that Thomas +and his father, and Ned and the Murches went over to the pasture with +their guns, but they failed to find the bear. The Murches set a trap at +the place where the sheep had been killed, and kept it there for ten +days. A hound was caught in it, but no bear. + +I remember that my sleep that night was somewhat disturbed by exciting +dreams of hunting. At the breakfast table next morning I told the story +of our adventure over again, and described the ugly demonstrations of +the bear at such length, that I presently saw grandfather smiling, and +detected Addison giving a sly wink to Theodora. This confused me so much +that I stopped in haste and was more cautious about my realistic +descriptions in future. Halstead began hectoring me that forenoon +concerning my adventure, and nicknamed me "the great bear hunter." Much +incensed, I retorted by asking him whether he had paid for that +seed-corn. Hearing that, Addison, who was near us, cast an inquiring +look at Halstead, and the latter hurriedly changed the subject; he was +unusually polite to me for several days afterwards. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOMESICK AGAIN. BLUE, OH, SO BLUE! + + +The jaunt with Edgar and the excitement about old "Three-Legs" had +distracted my thoughts for the time being, but had not cured me of +homesickness. Two days later my mother sent me by mail my book of +arithmetic, the one I had recently used at school; she thought that I +might attend the district school in Maine and need it. + +Now there is not usually much in a text-book of arithmetic that excites +fond memories in a boy of thirteen. Often the reverse. But I had no +sooner taken that well-thumbed book from its wrapping of brown paper, +than another pang of homesickness went through me; and this time it was +nostalgia in earnest. + +If, at this moment, there is anywhere in the United States, or in the +whole world, a boy or girl who is homesick, I know how to pity each and +all of them. I do not suppose that my pity will do them much good. +Nothing does much good. But I know exactly how they feel, and they have +my heartiest sympathy. + +Whoever ridicules and laughs at any one who is truly homesick must have +a hard heart and a shallow mind. It is no laughing matter. Homesickness +is something midway between a physical disease and a mental worry. It +has a real, physiological cause, and is due to the inability of the +brain to adapt itself, without a struggle, to the strangeness of new +scenes and new surroundings; and that struggle is often a very painful +one. + +Homesickness had not fallen upon me at first, there were so many new +things to see, so many new cousins and young neighbors to get acquainted +with. For a time my attention was wholly taken up with the novelties of +the place. The farm, the cattle, the birds, the work which we had to do, +everything, in fact, was novel. Perhaps for that very reason, when the +mental struggle to really adapt myself to it came, it was the more +profound and severe. + +That morning I had no sooner unwrapped this old book than the pang began +again. I could not swallow a mouthful of breakfast. It really seemed to +me that I should die right then and there if I did not get up and start +for home. + +_Blue_ is no adequate word with which to describe what I suffered. It +came upon me with a suddenness, too, which nearly took my breath with +it. At the table were the bright, cheery faces of my cousins, and of the +Old Squire and Gram; but for the moment, how saddening, poor and dreary +everything looked to me! The thought of remaining there, month after +month, gave me heart-sink like death. + +Kind parent, if you have a boy or girl off at school, or anywhere at a +distance, whom you wish to be happy and content, do not write very much +to them, and above all things do not go on to tell them of home affairs, +home scenes and familiar objects. It is mistaken kindness. It might +possibly answer--if a boy--to speak of a woodpile soon to be sawn; +or--if a girl--to allude to great heaps of dishes to be washed; but I +would not even advise much of that, nor anything else in the least +suggestive of home scenes; in fact, write as little as possible. + +I remember, as I sat there at table, unable to eat, or even to swallow +my coffee, that Cousin Theodora glanced compassionately at me, and Ellen +and Addison curiously. They surmised what ailed me, from their own +previous experience, but said nothing. The Old Squire and Gram, too, +wisely forebore to stir me by foolishly expressed sympathy. How glad I +was that they did not speak to me! + +The day passed drearily enough, and as evening drew on, still gloomier +shadows fell into my mind. I stole away to read my mother's letter again +and be alone with my trouble. Billow after billow of the blackest misery +broke over me. I went out into the garden, then around to the back side +of the west barn; the darkening landscape was not more somber than my +heart. How unspeakably dreary the dim, weathered old barn, the shadowy +hills and forests looked to me! Not less dreary seemed my whole future. +I felt exiled. It appeared to me that I should never know another happy +moment, that I never could, by any possibility, enjoy myself again. I +sat down on a stone, in the dark, put my head in my hands, and gave +myself up to the most somber reflections. Cold despair crept into me at +every pore. A fever of tears then filled my eyes. I laid wild plans to +escape; I would run away that very night and go home. The distance, as I +knew, was about five hundred miles; but I was sure that I could walk +twenty miles per day, perhaps thirty. In twenty days I could reach home. +I did not think much about food by the way; it did not appear to me that +I should want to touch a mouthful of anything eatable till I reached +home. If I did so far desire, I fancied that I might gather a few +berries by the wayside. Then I began to plan the details of setting off. +I would go indoors and put on my other suit of clothes, after the family +were asleep; and not to be too mean and cause too much anxiety, I +determined to write a few words on a bit of paper and slip it under +Theodora's door, advising them all not to worry about me, as I had gone +home, "for a time." These latter words I concluded to add, by way of +breaking it a little more gently to them, not that I had the slightest +intention of ever returning. + +As I sat there with my hands over my face, planning, and brewing hot +tears, I heard a step in the grass, and looking up, saw a tall, shadowy +figure which I knew must be the Old Squire. + +"Is that you, 'Edmund?'" he said, as I jumped up off the stone. He still +called me that sometimes. "It is a close night, I declare," he +continued. "I had about as lief be out here in the cool myself, as in +the house abed. But the mosquitoes bite a little, don't they?". + +I had neither noticed that the evening was hot, nor yet that there were +any mosquitoes; I was quite insensible to ordinary physical influences. + +The old gentleman lay down on the grass beside me. "Let's lay and talk a +spell," said he. "I never come round back of the barn here, but that I +think of the fox I shot when I was a young man. That fox had a 'brush' +as big 'round as your leg, the biggest fox-tail I ever saw. He had been +coming around the barns for some time; I used to hear him bark, +mornings, about four o'clock." + +The Old Squire then went on, at length, to tell me how he watched for +the fox, and how he loaded the old "United-States-piece" musket for it, +and how he finally fired and shot the fox, but that the gun nearly broke +his collar-bone, he had loaded it so heavily. He was nigh half an hour +telling me all about it, and in spite of myself, I grew somewhat +interested. + +"Why, how these mosquitoes do bite!" he finally exclaimed, giving one a +rousing slap. "Let's go in before they eat us up, and go to bed." + +I went in with him and went to bed, but my trouble had now cankered too +deeply to be easily calmed. In the blackness of the bedchamber it beset +me again. Like other maladies, nostalgia, when once set up, must run its +course, I suppose. It never has appeared to me that I slept at all that +night, yet perhaps I did. Long before daylight, however, I was again +shedding hot tears and laying wild plans. But my thoughts had now taken +on an even gloomier and more desperate shade. What was the use of my +going home, I thought; my mother did not want me there. What was the use +of living in such a hopelessly dreary world! Live there at the Old +Squire's I could not, would not; of that I was certain. I never could +endure it. The thought of existing there, as I then felt, week after +week and month after month, was simply unbearable. Better die at once. I +began to think of various cases of suicide of which I had heard, or +read--in my happier days: the rope, poison, drowning. The latter I +believed to be the easier method of death; and I thought of the Little +Sea down where we washed the sheep and had begun to go in swimming on +warm days. There was water enough there in the deepest place;--and once +in, it would soon be over! + +As the hours of the night dragged by, I began to take a morbid pleasure +in thinking about it, as if I had fully decided the question. I really +believed that I had as good as decided to drown myself; and when at +length we were called at five o'clock, I rose to dress in a very +unhealthy frame of mind. + +"What's the matter with you?" exclaimed Halstead, as we were putting on +our shoes. + +"Nothing," said I, heavily. + +"You look as if you had lost your best friend," said he, with an +unsympathetic grin. + +"I shall lose something more than that before long," I replied, with a +miserable effort at mystery. + +"You don't say!" cried he, ironically, and went out with an air of hard +indifference, not at all flattering to my self-love. + +How poor and undesirable the house, the farm, the whole world, looked to +me that morning. I plodded about, assisting to do the early chores; I +really had no appetite for my breakfast, and stole away from the table +after a few moments. Gram called after me, to know if I were unwell; I +did not dare trust myself to reply, lest I should burst forth weeping, +and hastening out to the Balm o' Gilead trees, stood looking down the +lane a moment, with a dreadful tumult of repressed misery raging within +me. My mental malady had reached a crisis; I was wild with anguish. It +appeared to me that I never could endure it. One thought only kept its +place in my mind--the Little Sea! I stole away down the lane, crossed +the road, then went on through the east field and pasture, till I +reached the brook. + +Not that I now believe there was much likelihood of my drowning myself. +Even if I had been wretched enough to jump in, the first spoonful of +cold water in my nose would probably have sent me scrambling out, as +would have been the case with hundreds who have really drowned +themselves, if only they had not jumped into too deep water. But I +wanted to do something or other very desperate, what, I hardly knew +myself. As I ran, I debated whether I should take off my clothes, or +drown with them on; I did not remember reading how suicides of +hydropathic tendencies had managed that detail. The boys would find my +body Sunday morning when they came down to bathe, I thought. Yet some +one else might find me; and it seemed more decent and proper to drown +with them on. I walked around the Little Sea and singled out the deepest +place in it, where there was four or five feet of water. It looked to be +fully sufficient. + +There was now nothing to prevent my going ahead with my project; but +since I had looked into the water and saw how aqueous it appeared, +considered as a place to spend from that morning on till Sunday in, +haste did not seem altogether so desirable, and I was not in nearly so +great a hurry. I sat down on a stone to think it over once more. It +would be unbecoming, I recollected, to take such a step without mental +preparation. + +Still, I actually did half believe that when I rose from that stone, I +should plunge into the pond. I imagine that I sat there for more than +half an hour, and very likely should have remained much longer had the +Old Squire not made his appearance, glancing curiously over the dam, a +few rods below me. + +It struck me as a little singular that he should be there so early and +so very soon after breakfast. He had an axe on his shoulder, however, +and it occurred to me that it might possibly be that he was there to +mend the pasture fence. When he saw me sitting there, he smiled broadly, +and coming nearer said, "Oh, this isn't nearly so good a brook for +fishing as the other one on the west side." + +"'Fishing!'" thought I. "How little he knows what brought me here! Can +he not see that I haven't a pole?" + +"Don't know exactly why," he continued, retrospectively, "but there +never were nearly so many trout here as in the west brook. I meant to +have given you and Addison a day to go over there before now, but work +has been rather pressing ever since you came." + +I rose from the stone, thinking--and not wholly sorry to think--that +suicide must necessarily be postponed for that day, at least; for I +could not, of course, harrow the old gentleman's feelings by plunging +into the Little Sea before his very eyes. He seemed so guileless, too, +and so wholly unsuspecting of my fell design! + +As we walked away, he told me of great trout which he had caught when a +boy, particularly of one big three-pound trout which he had captured at +a deep hole in the west brook, down near the lake. + +My mind was still too much disturbed to enjoy these piscatorial +reminiscences, however; and noting this, after a time, Gramp opened +another subject with me. + +"A man has lately made an offer for my farm and timber lands here," said +he. "I do not know that I shall accept it; but I have had some thoughts +of selling and moving out West. If I should, I suppose you would have +to go back to Philadelphia. If I went West to look for a farm, I should +call at Philadelphia on my way. You and I would make the trip there +together." + +It is astonishing what an effect that last remark of grandfather's +produced upon me. The whole world changed from deepest, darkest blue to +rose color in one minute; and I said, provisionally, to myself that even +if he did not sell so that we could start for a month, I could perhaps +endure it. + +Observing the cheerier light in my face, probably, the old gentleman +laughed good-naturedly. He had not forgotten what it is to be a boy and +feel a boy's intense sorrows as well as joys; and he went on to say that +a journey to Philadelphia was a mere nothing nowadays. Why, one might +start, as for instance, that morning and be at Philadelphia the next +morning at eleven o'clock! + +But how glad I was that he did not notice that I was homesick! He did +not even appear to mistrust such a thing. And as for drowning myself, +well, the less said or thought about that now the better. + +I walked back to the house with the Old Squire; and I got him to let me +carry the axe, for I wanted Addison and Halse to think that Gramp and I +had been off mending fence together. + +At intervals, however, for a month or more, I continued to be afflicted +by transient spasms of homesickness, but none of them were as severe as +these first ones, and they gradually ceased altogether. + +Dear boys and girls who are homesick, it is astonishing sometimes how +quickly the spasm will pass off, and how bright and cheery life will +look again a few moments later. So don't jump into deep water without +waiting a bit to think it over. It is a hard old world to live in. I +don't pretend to tell you that it isn't; yet life has a great many +pleasant spots, after all, if only we will have a little patience and +courage to wait and look for them. Scores of poor, desperate young +people have actually drowned themselves, from one cause or another, who +would have scrambled out and lived happily for years afterwards, if only +they had not jumped in where the water was so deep! A safe rule in all +these cases is never try to commit suicide by drowning till after you +have learned to swim. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MUG-BREAD, PONES AND JOHNNY-REB TOAST + + +To this day I recall with what a zest my appetite returned after that +last attack of homesickness, and how good the farm food tasted. That +day, too, Gram had "mug-bread," and for supper pones made into +Johnny-reb toast. But these, perhaps, are unheard-of dishes to many +readers. + +The pones were simply large, round, thin corn-meal cakes baked in a +fritter-spider in a hot oven. I have lately written to Cousin Ellen, who +now lives in the far Northwest, to ask her just how they used to make +those pones at the old farm. She has replied lightly that for a batch of +pones, they merely took a quart of yellow corn-meal, two tablespoonfuls +of wheat flour, a teaspoonful of salt and half a teaspoonful of soda, +all well stirred to a thin batter in boiling-hot water. This batter was +then poured into large fritter-spiders, forming thin sheets, and baked +yellow-brown in a hot oven. To make these pones into "Johnny-reb toast," +they were basted while still hot with butter, then moistened plentifully +with Jersey milk which was half cream, allowed to stand five minutes, +then served still warm. + +The recipe, I may add, came from Virginia in 1862, being brought home to +Maine by one of my uncles, who lived for a time in an Old Dominion +family, despite all the asperities of the War. From the same sunny +homeland of historic Presidents we obtained the recipe for a +marvellously good spider-cake, but that came later, as I shall relate in +due course. + +As a hungry boy I used sometimes to think that pones and "Johnny-reb +toast" were pretty nearly worth the War to us! + +Yet neither of these ever came quite up to "mug-bread"--the best flour +bread ever made, I still verily believe. + +But the making and the baking of it are not easy, and a failure with +mug-bread is something awful! + +The reader may not know it as mug-bread, for that was a local name, +confined largely to our own Maine homestead and vicinity. It has been +called milk-yeast bread, patent bread, milk-emptyings bread and +salt-rising bread; and it has also been stigmatized by several +opprobrious and offensive epithets, bestowed, I am told, by irate +housewives who lacked the skill and genius to make it. + +We named it "mug-bread" because Gram always started it in an old +porcelain mug; a tall, white, lavender-and-gold banded mug, that held +more than a quart, but was sadly cracked, and, for safety's sake, was +wound just above the handle with fine white silk cord. + +That mug was sixty-eight years old, and that silk cord had been on it +since 1842. Its familiar kitchen name was "Old Hannah." I suspect that +the interstices of this ancient silk string were the lurking-places of +that delightful yeast microbe that gave the flavor to the bread. For +there was rarely a failure when that mug was used. + +About once in four days, generally at night, Gram would take two +tablespoonfuls of corn-meal, ten of boiled milk, and half a teaspoonful +of salt, mix them well in that mug, and set it on the low mantel-shelf, +behind the kitchen stove funnel, where it would keep uniformly warm +overnight. She covered in the top of the mug with an old tin coffee-pot +lid, which just fitted it. + +When we saw "Old Hannah" go up there, we knew that some mug-bread was +incubating, and, if all worked well, would be due the following +afternoon for supper. For you cannot hurry mug-bread. + +The next morning, by breakfast-time, a peep into the mug would show +whether the little "eyes" had begun to open in the mixture or not. Here +was where housewifely skill came in. Those eyes must be opened just so +wide, and there must be just so many of them, or else it was not safe to +proceed. It might be better to throw the setting away and start new, or +else to let it stand till noon. Gram knew as soon as she had looked at +it. If the omens were favorable, a cup of warm water and a variable +quantity of carefully warmed flour were added, and a batter made of +about the consistency for fritters. This was set up behind the funnel +again, to rise till noon. + +More flour was then added and the dough carefully worked and set for a +third rising. About three o'clock it was put in tins and baked in an +even oven. + +The favorite loaves with us were "cart-wheels," formed by putting the +dough in large, round, shallow tin plates, about a foot in diameter. +When baked, the yellow-brown, crackery loaf was only an inch thick. The +rule at Gram's table was a "cart-wheel" to a boy, with all the fresh +Jersey butter and canned berries or fruit that he wanted with it. + +Sometimes, however, the mug would disappear rather suddenly in the +morning, and an odor as of sulphureted hydrogen would linger about, till +the kitchen windows were raised and the fresh west wind admitted. + +That meant that a failure had occurred; the wrong microbe had obtained +possession of the mug. In such cases Gram acted promptly and said +little. She was always reticent concerning mug-bread. It had unspeakable +contingencies. + +Ellen and Theodora shared the old lady's reticence. Ellen, in fact, +could never be persuaded to eat it, good as it was. + +"I know too much about it," she would say. "It isn't nice." + +Beyond doubt, when "mug-bread" goes astray at about the second rising, +the consequences are depressing. + +If its little eyes fail to open and the batter takes on a greasy aspect, +with a tendency to crawl and glide about, no time should be lost. Open +all the windows at once and send the batter promptly to the +swill-barrel. It is useless to dally with it. You will be sorry if you +do. When it goes wrong, it is utterly depraved. + +I remember an experience which Theodora and Ellen had with mug-bread on +one occasion, when Gram was away from home. Aunt Nabbie and Uncle Pascal +Mowbray came on from Philadelphia while she and the Old Squire were +gone. + +Aunt Nabbie was grandmother's sister, and she and Uncle Mowbray had been +talking all that season of coming to visit us. But September had been +spoken of as the time they were coming. + +They changed their minds, however. Uncle Pascal desired to look after +some business venture of his in Portland, and decided to come in August. +It was a somewhat sudden change of plan, but they sent us a letter the +day before they started, thinking that we would get it and meet them at +the railway station. + +Now, all dear city cousins, aunts, uncles and the rest of you who visit +your country relatives, summer or winter, hear me! Do not hold back your +letter telling them you are coming till the day before you start. + +Nine times out of ten they will not get it. You will get there before +the letter does; and the chances are that you will have to provide your +own transportation for the six or ten miles from the railway station to +the farm, and you will think that distance longer than all the rest of +the journey. + +Most likely, too, you will find the farmer gone to a Grange meeting; and +by the time you have sat round the farmhouse door on your trunk till he +gets back at sunset, you will be homesick, and maybe hungry. + +Also--for there are two sides to the matter--your country brother and +his wife will be troubled about it. So send your letter at least a week +ahead. + +The first we knew of the coming of Uncle Pascal and Aunt Nabbie, they +drove into the yard with a livery team from the village, and an express +wagon coming on behind with their trunks. + +Besides Uncle and Aunt, there was a smiling, dark-haired youth with +them, a grand-nephew of Uncle Mowbray, named Olin Randall, whom we had +heard of often as a kind of third or fourth cousin, but had never seen. +He had never beheld Maine before, and was regarding everything with +curiosity and a little grin of condescension. + +That grin of his nearly upset us, particularly Ellen and "Doad," who for +a hundred reasons wished to make a very favorable impression on Uncle +and Aunt Mowbray and all the family. I nearly forgot to mention that +Uncle Mowbray was reputed very fussy and particular about his food. + +Our two-story farmhouse was comfortable and big, and we had plenty of +everything; but of course it was not altogether like one of the finest +houses in Philadelphia. For Uncle Mowbray was a wealthy man, one of +those thrifty, prosperous Philadelphia merchants of the era ending with +the Civil War. He never let a dollar escape him. + +They came just at dusk. We boys were doing the chores. The girls were +getting supper. Theodora had resolved to try her hand at a batch of +"mug-bread" for the next day, and had set "Old Hannah" up for it. + +The unexpected arrival upset us all a good deal, particularly Ellen and +Theodora, who had to bear the brunt of grandmother's absence, get tea, +see to the spare rooms and do everything else. And then there was Olin, +mildly grinning. His presence disturbed the girls worse than everything +else. But Aunt Nabbie smoothed away their anxieties, and helped to make +all comfortable. + +We got through the evening better than had at first seemed likely, and +in the morning the girls rose at five and tried to hurry that +"mug-bread" along, with other things, so as to have some of it for +dinner, for they found that they were short of bread. + +Ellen, I believe, thought that they had better not attempt the risky +experiment, but should start some hop-yeast bread. + +Theodora, however, peeped into the old mug, saw encouraging eyes in it, +and resolved to go on. They mixed it up with the necessary warm water +and flour and set it carefully back for the second rising. + +Perhaps they had a little hotter fire than usual, perhaps they had +hurried it a shade too much, or--well, you can "perhaps" anything you +like with milk-yeast bread. At all events, it took the wrong turn and +began to perfume the kitchen. + +If they had not been hard pressed and a little flurried that morning, +the girls would probably have thrown it out. Instead, they took it down, +saw that it was rising a little and--hoping that it would yet pull +through--worked in more flour and soda, and hurried four loaves of it +into the oven to bake. + +Then it was that the unleavened turpitude of that hostile microbe +displayed the full measure of its malignity. A horrible odor presently +filled the place. Stale eggs would have been Araby the Blest beside it. + +The girls hastily shut the kitchen doors, but doors would not hold it +in. It captured the whole house. Aunt Nabbie, in the sitting-room, +perceived it and came rustling out to give motherly advice and +assistance. + +And it chanced that while Theodora was confidentially explaining it to +her, the kitchen door leading to the front piazza opened, and in walked +Uncle Pascal, with Olin behind him. They had been out in the garden +looking at the fruit, and had come back to get Aunt Nabbie to see the +bees. + +When that awful odor smote them they stopped short. Uncle Mowbray was a +fastidious man. He sniffed and turned up his nose. + +"Is it sink spouts?" he gasped. "Are the traps out of order?" + +"No, no, Pascal!" said Aunt Nabbie, in a low tone, trying to quiet him. +"It is only bread." + +"Bread!" cried Uncle Mowbray, with a glance of rank suspicion at the two +girls. "Bread smelling like that!" + +Just then Ellen discovered something white, which appeared to be +mysteriously increasing in size, in the shadow on the back side of the +kitchen stove. After a glance she caught open the oven door. + +It was that mug-bread dough! It had crawled--crawled out of the tins +into the oven--crawled down under the oven door to the kitchen floor, +where it made a viscous puddle, and was now trying, apparently, to crawl +out of sight under the wood-box. + +Aunt Nabbie burst out laughing; she could not help it. Then she tried to +turn Uncle Mowbray out. + +But no, he must stand there and talk about it. He was one of those men +who are always peeping round the kitchen, to see if the women are doing +things right. But Olin scudded out after one look, and the girls saw him +under one of the Balm o' Gilead trees, shaking and laughing as if he +would split. + +Poor Doad and Nell! That was a dreadful forenoon for them. As youthful +housekeepers they felt, themselves disgraced beyond redemption. In +three years they had not recovered from it, and would cringe when any +one reminded them of Uncle Mowbray and the mug-bread. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BIRDS AND BIRD-SONGS AT THE OLD FARM + + "Sing away, ye joyous birds, + While the sun is o'er us." + + +Looking back to that first fortnight after my arrival at the Old +Squire's, I think what most impressed my youthful mind was the country +verdure and the bird-songs. Everything looked so very green, accustomed +as my eyes were to the red city bricks, white doorsteps and dusty +streets. The universal green of those June days at times well nigh +bewildered me. + +Astronomers tell us that there are systems of worlds in outer space, +presided over by green suns; it was as if I had been transported to such +a world. Moreover, the effect was cool and calm and healthful; cities +are abnormal places of abode; man originated and during all the early +ages of his development, lived in the green, arboreal country, +surrounded by rustic scenery and sylvan quiet. The clangor and roar of a +great city, particularly the noise by night, is unnatural; nor are the +reflected colors from urban structures normal to the eye. Add to these +the undue tension to which city life, as a whole, braces the living +substance of brain and nerve, and the reason why city populations have +to be so constantly recruited from the country is in some degree +explained. Children even more than older persons need country +surroundings. + +Next to the deep novelty of the wide green landscape, came the +bird-songs. It was June. The air seemed to me all a-quiver with +bird-notes, and I was listening to each and every one. Ah, to my +untried, youthful eyes those fresh great hay-fields, whitening with +ox-eyed daisies, reddening with sweet-scented clover and streaked golden +with vivid yellow butter-cups, over which the song-convulsed bobolinks +hovered on arcuate wings! + +I had never heard the nesting song of a bobolink before. What a song it +is!--the eager zeal, the exultation in it. The overflowing, rollicking +joy with which it is poured forth, filled me with such gleeful +astonishment, the first time I heard one, and struck such a chord of +sympathetic feeling in my heart and so powerfully, that I recollect +shouting, "ye-ho!" and racing tumultuously after the rapturous singer. + +"What does that bird say?" I cried. + +Laughing quietly at my fresh curiosity, the Old Squire told me that the +bird was supposed to say,-- + +"Bob o' Lincoln, take-a-stick-and-give-a-lick, Bob-olink, Kitty-link, +Withy-link, Billy-seeble, see, see, see!" + +Addison gave a somewhat different interpretation which has now slipped +my memory; I deemed the Old Squire's version the more reliable one. +While strawberrying in the fields, that summer, I searched three or four +times for the nests which I felt sure were close by, in the grass, for +the little plain gray wife of the noisy singer sat on the weed-tops, +crying,--"Skack! skack!" but I could not find them. + +Once, I remember, the following year Theodora and I resolved that we +would find the nest of one bold fellow that kept singing close over our +heads, as we were gathering strawberries in a grassy swale, in the west +field. We set down our dishes and crept over every foot of a tract at +least a quarter of an acre in extent, and went over a part of it two or +three times. At last, we found it, but not till we had crushed both nest +and eggs beneath our crawling knees--a denouement which distressed +Theodora so much that she declared she would never search for a +bobolink's nest again. "Clumsy monsters that we are," said she; "the +poor thing's nest is crushed into the dirt!" + +When we came to mow that swale a few days after, Gramp first marvelled, +then grumbled repeatedly; for the grass was in a mat. He spoke of it at +the dinner table that day, making a covert accusation against Gram, +whereupon Theodora and I owned up in the matter, Doad naively adding +that we had done it "on the strength of Gram's original permit," but +that we had agreed never to do so again. The Old Squire laughed a little +grimly and said he wanted it understood, that the permit, alluded to, +was not transferable. But the old lady now interposed her opinion, that +the permit could be made a moderate use of by others, if she saw +fit--and needed strawberries. + +A pair of blue-birds built their nest in a box which Addison had nailed +to a short pole and set up in the barnyard wall; and every morning, as +we milked the cows, we would hear their plaintive notes, repeated over +and over to each other as they flew about;--"Deary, cheer up, Deary, +cheer up!" as if life needed constant mutual consolation, to be +supported. "Old Ummy," the house cat, was much inclined to watch their +box and once attempted to climb up to them. + +Two pairs of peewees built about the premises, one just inside the south +barn cellar, the other under a projecting window-sill at the end of the +wagon-house. These two pairs, or younger birds reared there, had built +in these same places for seven or eight years. Night and morning as we +milked, and at noon also, as we sat grinding scythes at the well, those +old peewees would alight on posts, or gables, rub their beaks twice on +the dry wood and cry, "Peewee, peewee, peewitic; pewee, peer-a-zitic!" +For some not very good reason, I took a boyish dislike to peewees. They +are very useful birds, great destroyers of worms, moths and flies, and +so far as I know, never do the slightest harm, which can hardly be said +of all our feathered favorites. + +As we hoed potatoes and corn on those green June days, the song of the +little gray ground sparrows was constantly in my ears, although the +others seemed not to notice it. + +"And what does that one say?" I asked Gramp. + +"What one?" the old gentleman asked. + +"Why, that bird! It sings all the time," I rejoined. "Don't you hear +it?" + +He stopped and appeared to listen, at a loss, for a minute, as to what I +heard. + +"Oh, those sparrows," replied he, at length. "Addison, can you tell him +what they say?" + +"Yes," replied Ad, laughing, "they say and say it very distinctly, too, +'Charlotte, Charlotte, don't you hear me whistle?' Charlotte is his +mate, you know; and the reply to that is 'Philip, Philip's sitting on +the thistle.'" + +"That is a little different from what they used to tell me when I was a +boy," Gramp remarked. "I was told that they say, 'War-link, war-link, +christle, christle, christle; high-link, high-link, twiddle, twiddle, +twiddle.'" + +"Good deal anybody knows what a bird says," Halstead exclaimed, +derisively. "They don't say anything that I can make out." + +But it seemed to me, after Addison had mentioned it, that the first, or +opening note of the song sparrow, was much like, "Charlotte, Charlotte, +don't you hear me whistle?" They had several other notes, too, not as +easily likened to human language; indeed, these humble little sparrows, +when one comes to listen closely to them in all their moods, have a +curious variety of short _arias_. + +During my second week at the farm, I found a sparrow's nest in a small +bunch of hard-hack, a few rods from the cow-pasture bars, with four +eggs, resembling, only a little larger than, speckled garden beans; and +I visited it every morning, till the sprawling, skinny little chicks +were hatched. But on the third morning the nest was empty; something had +taken them. Addison said that it was most likely a crow, but possibly a +snake. We often found the nests, while haying in the fields; the scythe +generally passed over them without doing any harm, and to save them from +the rake, we would put up a stick close beside them. But their enemies +are wofully numerous; not half the nests of young are reared. Ants, I +think, kill numbers of the nestlings, soon after they are hatched, when +they chance to be near an ant-hill. + +But in the early mornings and evenings, and before the quickly gathering +south rains, the songsters of all others, which made the air vocal, were +the great, bold, red-breasted robins, not fewer than nine pairs of which +had their capacious nests in the garden, orchard and Balm o' Gilead +trees. They always took the greater part of our cherries, till Addison +at a considerable expense, some years later, bought mosquito netting to +spread over the tree tops; and they also ate strawberries greedily; but +we as constantly overlooked their offenses, they sang so royally and +came familiarly back to us so early every spring. No one can long find +the heart to injure Robin Red-Breast. + +I do not think it necessary to qualify, or speak of this our fine bird +as the "American robin, or red-breasted thrush," because a different +bird is called the robin in England. This our bird is the Robin; and we +shall call it so without apology, or explanatory adjectives. + +The robin songs in the Balm o' Gileads, just across the yard from our +chamber windows, were the matins that often waked us in June, and +sounded in our drowsy ears as we lay, still half asleep, reluctant to +rise and dress. For however it may be with most boys, I am obliged to +confess that both then and later, I was a sleepy-head in the morning; +it always seemed to me on waking, particularly in the summer months, +that I was not half rested, and that I would give almost anything I +possessed for another hour of sleep. As a fact, I now feel sure that I +did not get sleep enough, from half past nine in the evening to five in +the morning; and I think that most boys and girls of thirteen and +fourteen need nine hours of sleep in every twenty-four hours, especially +where they are in active exercise or work throughout the day. It is +really cruel to drive a boy up when he is so shockingly sleepy! There +was always so much going on, that we could not well go to bed till after +nine in the evening, although I would sometimes steal away up-stairs as +soon as it was dark. + +Curiously enough it was when I was but about half awake in the morning, +that those robin-songs sounded the most distinctly, and I seemed to hear +every note and trill which they uttered. + + "Tulip, tulip, tulip; skillit, skillit, + Tulip, skillit; fill it, fill it, fill it;"-- + +followed after a moment or two, perhaps, by a shrill and noisy "Piff! +piff! piff!"--as some sudden dissension broke out, or some suspicious +cat, or other marauder, came near the nest tree. The crows, always bold +in the early morning hours, would come into the Balm o' Gileads after +birds' nests, sometimes, before we were astir. I remember that Addison +once cut my nap short by firing his gun from the chamber window at a +crow that was sneaking into the Balm o' Gileads after young robins. He +shot the crow, but my own ear rang for more than two hours, and I was so +confused for a time, that I scarcely knew enough to dress myself. + +There is no combination of letters which more nearly represents the song +notes of the robin than the above, I think, although many attempts have +been made to render them into some semblance of human language. Addison +always insisted that they said, "Dew-lip, Dew-lip; bill it, bill it, +bill it;"--the whole song being an exhortation of the robin to his mate +whose name was _Dew-lip_, to get up and _bill it_ for worms. Halstead +had somewheres got hold of a medical rendering of the song, by a waggish +doctor who declared that the robins were constantly admonishing him in +the line of his profession:-- + + "Kill 'em, cure 'em; physic, physic." + +But the rest of us scouted this partisan interpretation. + +The explosive, alarmingly energetic danger cry of, "Piff, piff," which +will so suddenly wake the entire vicinity of the nest, is at times +modified and given quite a different intonation, as if to express +discontent: "Fibb, fibb!" and sometimes even loneliness: "Pheeb, +pheeb!"--very mournful. + +During a shower, accompanied by wind in heavy wrenching gusts, in the +night, that summer, a nest containing four young robins fell from a +maple, a few rods down the lane, into the grass beneath. Theodora heard +the outcry of the old robins, blended with the thunder and the roar of +the rain, in the night, and noticing their mournful notes next morning +about the tree, made search and discovered the calamity. Addison and she +gathered up the nestlings and putting them in an old berry box, lined +with grass and cotton batting, tied the improvised nest to a branch of +the maple. For an hour or two the scolding old birds would not go near +the thing, but later in the day we saw them, feeding their young in it, +quite as if nothing had happened to disturb them. + +In the rear of the wagon-house there grew a good-sized mountain ash or +round-wood tree which nearly every fall was crowned with the usual great +bright-red clusters of bitter berries. Late in October the robins +always came for those berries, and sometimes a flock of fifty or sixty +would assemble. We often tried to frighten the birds away, for the red +clusters are beautiful in winter, but for a long time we never succeeded +in saving them. The robins would linger about for a week, or more, +rather than leave a single bunch of those berries ungathered. Addison +once placed a stuffed cat-skin in the tree, at which the robins scolded +vociferously for a day or two from the neighboring shrubs and fence; but +they suddenly discovered the deception and got all the remaining berries +in the course of a single forenoon. Addison was boasting a little of the +success of his ruse when, at dinner, Ellen quietly bade him go look at +the tree. The robins had already got every berry and gone, leaving the +feline effigy in the bare tree, an object of mirth and ridicule. A +scarecrow made of old clothes, stuffed with hay and crowned by an old +hat, set up in the tree the following year, served no better purpose. +Ellen and Theodora then hung an old tin clothes boiler in the tree, and +arranged a jangling bunch of tin ware inside it, with a long line +running to the kitchen window, where they could conveniently give it a +jerk every few minutes. This device answered well for a day or two, and +it was very amusing to see those robins scatter from the tree, when the +line was pulled. They were some little time making up their minds +concerning it, and would sit on the back fence and rub their beaks on +the posts, at intervals, as if making a great effort to comprehend the +cause of the "manifestations" inside the boiler. No doubt the more +superstitious ones attributed it to "spirits." Skepticism increased, +however, and by the second day one unbelieving red fellow refused to +budge, till the line was jerked twice, and soon after that they wore the +girls out, pulling it, and got the berries as usual. The year after, +Addison saved the berries by stretching one of his cherry-tree nets over +the round-wood tree, in October. It chanced, however, that the tree +failed to produce a crop of berries the next season and died a year or +two later;--a circumstance which Gram hinted, mysteriously, might be a +"dispensation," on account of our persistent efforts to thwart the +robins. It should be taken into account, however, that the mountain-ash +is not long-lived, and that this was already an old tree. + +In a large maple, down the lane, a preacher-bird sang every day in June +and until into August, generally loudest and most continuously, from +eleven till two o'clock. On coming to or going from our dinner, we would +often hear him: sometimes he sang in the morning and now and then after +supper. This bird--it is the red-eyed vireo--has an oddly persistent, +pragmatic note, which can hardly be called singing, being more like +declamation and somewhat disconnected and disjoint, as if the "preacher" +were laying down certain truths and facts and seeking by constant +iteration to impress them upon dullards. Betwixt every one of these +short sentences, there is a little pause, as if the preacher were +waiting for the truth to strike home to his hearers; but if the bird is +watched, he will be seen to be picking and hopping about on the branch +which serves him as a pulpit, snapping up a bug or a seed here and +there. Yet his discourse goes steadily on, by the half hour, or hour, +sometimes with a rising inflection, as after a question, sometimes the +falling, as having given an irrefutable answer, himself. Once the idea +that the bird is preaching has entered a listener's mind, he can never +shake it off. + +"My hearers--where are you?--You know it--you see it.--Do you hear +me?--Do you believe it?" And so on, upon the same insistent and at +length tiresome strain. + +"Oh, I do wish that preacher bird would stop," Ellen would exclaim at +times. "He has 'preached' steadily all the forenoon!" + +His place for singing was always about half way from the ground to the +top of the maple, and he rarely came out in sight. The female was +probably sitting on her nest, hard by. They are trim little olive-tinted +birds and often rear two broods, I think, for they remain north till +autumn. + +Once while Elder Witham was with us, in haying time, Ellen exclaimed, +inadvertently, as we were going in to sit down at table one day, +"There's that preacher bird again!" + +The Elder looked at her a moment and said slowly, "'Preacher-bird, +preacher-bird,' what kind of a bird is that, young lady?" + +Greatly abashed at her lapse, Ellen hardly knew how to best explain it, +but Addison came to her rescue. "There are two of those vireos," he +remarked in a perfectly natural, matter-of-fact tone. "One of them, the +warbling vireo, they call the 'brigadier' on account of its peculiar +note, and the other or red-eyed vireo, the 'preacher,' from its earnest +manner of utterance. I don't know," Addison continued, with candid +frankness, "that the names are very well chosen, but we have got in the +habit of calling them that way." + +The Elder listened to this, observing Addison closely, then appeared +thoughtful for a moment and said, impressively, "Well, all God's +creatures preach, if only we have ears to hear them." Ellen drew a long +breath of relief, and after dinner, out on the wood-shed walk, she took +Addison by the button and said, "You're a treasure, Ad; ask me for a +cooky any time after this." + +The brigadier, or warbling vireo, frequently sits on the tops of trees, +when singing; while the preacher takes his stand midway from the ground +upwards; the brigadier, too, more frequently joins in the great opening +overture of all bird voices, at dawn, to usher in the new day, while +preacher reserves his notes till the earlier choir has ceased its +anthem. Withal the little preacher is much more apt to nest in trees +near the habitations of men than his congener, the brigadier, who not +unfrequently makes his abode at a distance from buildings, where forests +border pastures, or old roads enter woody lands. + +Another shrill, small songster of habits quite similar to the brigadier +we used sometimes to hear, but rarely saw, on our way over to the "Aunt +Hannah lot," an adjunct of the Old Squire's farm, to reach which we +crossed a tract of sparse woods. Its notes, prolonged on a very sharp, +high key, resembled the words, _My fee-fee-fee-fee-fee!_ each louder and +keener than the preceding. + +Addison was quite uncertain as to this bird, during the first and second +summers we were at the farm. We only saw it once or twice; for its +favorite place, while singing, is at the top of some large dense tree; +and we were never able to find its nest. Addison at length decided that +it was an oven-bird, a surmise which he greatly desired to verify by +finding the rest. + +Later in life he has often laughed over our ignorance and our fruitless +quests at that time. + +Among the raspberry and blackberry briars, beside the stone wall on the +south side of this same old road, leading to the Aunt Hannah lot, we +used to see, occasionally, a deep blue indigo-bird, a very active little +fellow, always flitting and hopping about amongst the briars. But we +never heard it sing, nor utter any note, save rarely a petulant _snip, +snip_, and never found its nest. + +To the south of the same lot there was a tract of mixed wood, sapling +pines, maples, a few beeches, and farther down, nearer the brook, white +ash and great yellow birches, with swamp maples, osier and alder. Here +among the beeches, maples and pines, we at times heard a Theresa-bird. +Theodora chanced to know something of this bird; and I remember that the +first time we ever went there together, she called out to us to listen +to the low, sweet note, which otherwise, in our haste, we should not +have noticed. Addison had never heard it then, and his volumes of +Audubon did not describe New England birds very clearly; but Theodora +said this was a Theresa-bird (which we subsequently found to be the +Green Warbler) and that its song was supposed, in Catholic countries, to +be a petition to _St. Theresa_, viz.,--"_Hear me, St. Theresa_," +beginning quite high and sinking to a much lower strain. I have since +seen in the naturalist Nuttall's work, that this author compares the +note of the Green Warbler to the syllables, _te-de-deritsea_, repeated +slowly and melodiously. + +On the north side of the lane, leading from the house down to the road, +opposite the maple above alluded to, where the robins had a nest, there +stood two elms, quite tall trees, in the uppermost of which, during +three summers, a pair of Baltimore orioles built. These orioles had +never come there previously; at least, the Old Squire had never seen +one, but Gram recognized them the first time one sang, as an old +acquaintance of her girlhood days; she called them Golden Robins and was +much delighted to hear them. They came on one of the first days of June; +and as I had arrived but a few days previously, Gram declared that I +"had brought them with me." But the fact is, that the Baltimore oriole +moves its habitat slowly northeastward, in the wake of man and his +orchards and shade trees; for it is one of those birds which, like the +robin, depend on mankind for protection. This pair constructed a hanging +nest from a twig of one of the drooping elm branches and reared a brood +successfully that season; and throughout that entire month of June, +their song, uttered at intervals of their labors, was a daily delight to +us all. Next after the wood thrush and the robin, the loud yet sweetly +modulated call of the Baltimore oriole is the most pleasing of all our +bird notes. Pure and sweet as it is, too, it nearly always startles the +hearer, from its regal volume and 5 strength. Gram's version of its song +was, _Cusick, cusick!_ _So-ho-o-o!_ _Do you know I'm back with you!_ But +the words themselves give no idea whatever of the song, unless uttered +with the strange, liquid modulations which characterize it. + +During the third season some accident befell the pair, or their nest; +they suddenly disappeared and thenceforward we missed their melodious +invocations. Gram, in particular, lamented their departure. A pair, +perhaps the same pair, afterwards built in a butternut tree near the +Edwards' farmhouse; but they never returned to us. To the lover of +birds, the oriole in its flight among the trees, like a yellow meteor +flashing past, is a sight that instantly rivets the attention, and is as +delightfully startling to the eye as its song is to the ear. But I know +of no device by means of which they can be attracted to nest in any +given locality; their tastes are not well enough known to us; "houses," +like those which attract the blue-bird and the martin, possess no charm +for the oriole. With the first of June Gram watched, wistfully, for the +return of this pair, during a number of successive springs; and for her +sake especially, we all hoped they would come back. + +I arrived too late the first spring, to hear the woodlands echo to the +May-note of the white-throated sparrow. Once only, while going out to +get the cows with little Wealthy, the second week after I came, I heard +it twice repeated, from the woods along the south side of the pasture, +and when I asked my small companion what kind of a bird that was, she +roguishly cried, "Oh, that's old Ben Peabody." + +"Is that what he says?" I asked, for the name at once struck me as being +like the bird's note. + +"Yes," cried Wealthy. "He says, 'Old Ben Peabody, Peabody, Peabody,' +just as plain as anything; Theodora says so; and so does Nell and all of +us, but Addison. Ad thinks he says, 'All day whittling, whittling, +whittling.' And Alf Batchelder says,--but I'll not tell what he thinks +the bird says." + +"What is it?" I queried. + +"It's nothing very pretty," quoth Wealthy, running off to get around the +cows, thereby evading the question altogether, for she had not as yet +grown very well acquainted with me. + +But I have perhaps lingered too long with birds and bird-songs. It is a +fond subject, however, and scarcely can I forbear to speak of the +veeries, the vesper-birds, and "hair-birds" whose nests we so often +found in the orchard; the cedar birds or cherry birds which so +persistently stripped the wild cherry trees and pear-plum shrubs; the +wood thrushes that trilled forth such sad, mellow refrains in the cool, +gray border of the wood-lot below the fields, at eventide; the +yellow-hammers that tapped on the pasture stumps and cried out +boisterously when rain was impending; the wrens that filled and +re-filled a bit of hollow aqueduct log on the lane wall, with sticks for +a nest and laid thirteen eggs in it; the hundreds of black-birds that +built in the reeds down at the great bog, near the head of the lake; the +sap-suckers that punctured the trunks of the apple-trees with thousands +of tiny holes; the many-voiced blue-jays that came around when the corn +was ripening in September and sometimes lingered all winter in the +neighborhood. + +And of the great pileated woodpeckers, a pair of which occasionally +cried loud and long from the five lofty pine stubs in the colt pasture, +beyond the Aunt Hannah lot; the yellow-birds that piped, _pee-chid-aby_, +_pee-chid-aby_, on wavy lines of flight, upon the last days of August, +just ere taking wing for warmer climes; the imitative cat-birds that +built in the alders along the road across the meadow, whose nests the +boys held it lawful to destroy because, forsooth, "they sucked other +birds' eggs," a false accusation rendered plausible, perhaps, from their +disagreeable feline squalls, and not wholly ingenuous imitations of the +songs of the thrush, the veery and the robin. + +How well, too, I recall the cuckoos that, night or day, intoned so +moodily in the willow copses below the east field fence and suffered +from a like unpopular accusation of "laying their eggs in other birds' +nests." Also the mated triads of sooty chimney swallows that rumbled +nightly in the great brick flues of the farmhouse, and at first almost +terrified me, but at length furnished the thalamian refrain that most +surely lulled me asleep; the red-headed woodpeckers that with sharp +cries and concave stoop of flight moved fitfully, from tree to tree, +tapping this one loudly, that one low and dull, and whose nest hole in +the dead maple on the hillside was re-occupied year after year, till at +last the stub blew down and broke short off at the hole itself; the +king-fishers that with the same stooping flight, sprung their sharp +rattles along the brooks and lakeside; the martins that feloniously +caught the bees, and every season dragged their squalling, screaming +young out of their pole-house, then poked them off the platform to fly +for themselves, having first, however, cleared the yard of cats. + +The militant king birds, too, that built every June on the tops of the +small apple-trees in the young orchard, and raged in mid air, overhead, +pouring out a wild farago of sharp cries, never so happy as when in full +career after crows, hawks, cats or dogs; the moth-catching night-hawks +that cried _peerk_ from their wide mouths, high in the sky at nightfall, +and dived far aslant on stiff wings, with a long drawn _soo-oo-ook_; +the clucking whip-poor-wills, that chanted from the bare flat pasture +rocks; the chickadees that came into the orchard and about the great +loose farm woodpile, in February, with their odd little minor refrain of +_cic-a-da-da-da-da_, mere feathery mites of ceaseless activity that +somehow did not freeze, at 20 deg. below zero. + +In this freezing weather, too, came the white-winged flocks of +snow-buntings, that heralded the coming storm and flew away, blending +with the whirling snowflakes, uttering queer thin notes that seemed like +spirit voices from the upper air: all these and many others, Nature's +humble angels, what part and parcel they were of that dear old farm life +of ours! + +Nor yet have I mentioned the larger game birds, nor the birds of prey; +the "hoot-owls" that both in summer and winter, but oftenest in March +and October, on still, dark, cloudy evenings, uttered their dismal, deep +bass _hoot, hoot, hoo-oo-oot_, from the depths of the gloomy forest +side, beyond the Little Sea; the hen-hawks that cried down _chickee-ee_ +to us, from endless mazy circles high over the farm, and occasionally +decimated the poultry, or were seen sailing low across the fields with a +snake dangling from their claws; the eagles that seldom, but on a few +occasions paid a brief visit to the vicinity; the herons that frogged +along the boggy shore of the lake and built their nests in the tops of +the Foy Brook pines; the wild geese that flew northward in a wide V, +early in the spring and again southward in October; the sheldrake and +the black ducks which Addison had such success shooting every fall, in +the old mill pond, beyond the east wood-lot; the swift-diving loons of +the blue Pennesseewassee, that flew heavily across the hills, to several +northerly ponds, uttering shaken, hollow cries, or that in the early +evening and morning hours, pealed their mellow, alto horns from the calm +bosom of the lake; the partridges that "drummed" in the outlying copses +and patches of second growth, in April, and led forth their broods in +June, subject every autumn to our first excited, early efforts at +gunning; and last of all, the flapping, canny, thievish, black crows +that like the foxes were always about, and always at loggerheads with +the farmers. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +TWO VERY EARLY CALLERS--EACH ON BUSINESS + + +Except on Sunday mornings, breakfast at the farm in summer came at six. +The Old Squire himself was often astir at four; and we boys were +supposed to get up at five, so as to have milking done and other barn +chores off, ready to go into the field from the breakfast table. Gram +and the girls also rose at five, to get breakfast, take care of the milk +and look after the poultry. Everybody, in fact, rose with the birds in +that rural community. But often I was scarcely more than half awake at +breakfast; Ellen and Wealthy, too, were in much the same case. + +On one of these early mornings when I had been there about three weeks, +our drowsiness at the breakfast table was dispelled by the arrival of +two early callers--each on business. + +Gram was pouring the coffee, when the outer door opened and a tall, +sallow, dark-complexioned woman entered, the same whom I had met on the +Meadow Brook bridge, while leading Little Dagon. She wore a calico gown +and sun-bonnet, and may have been fifty years of age; and she walked in +quite as a matter of course, saying, "How do you do, Joseph, how do you +do, Ruth?" to the Old Squire and Gram. + +"Why, how do you do, Olive?" said Gram, but not in the most cordial of +tones. "Will you have some breakfast with us?" + +"I have been to breakfast, Ruth," replied this visitor, throwing back +her sun-bonnet and thereby displaying a forehead and brow that for +height and breadth was truly Websterian. "I came to get my old dress +that I left here when I cleaned house for you last spring, and I should +also like that dollar that's owing me." + +"Olive," rejoined Gram severely, "I do not owe you a dollar." + +"Ruth," replied the caller with equal severity, "you do owe me a +dollar." + +She proceeded, as one quite familiar in the house, to the kitchen closet +and took therefrom an old soiled gingham gown. + +"Olive," said the Old Squire, "are you quite sure that there is a dollar +due you here?" + +"Joseph," replied the lofty-browed woman, "do you think I would say so, +if I did not know it?" + +"No, Olive, I don't think you would," said the Old Squire. + +"It's no such thing, Olive," cried Gram, looking somewhat heated. "I +always paid you up when you cleaned house for me and when you spun for +me." + +"Always but that one time, Ruth. Then you did not--into a dollar," +replied the sallow woman, positively. + +An argument ensued. It appeared that the debated dollar was a matter of +three or four years standing. There was little doubt that both were +equally honest in their convictions concerning it, pro and con. Still, +they were a dollar apart, somehow. Furthermore, it came out, that +"Olive" when she felt periodically poor, or out of sorts, was in the +habit of calling and dunning Gram for that dollar, much to the old +lady's displeasure. + +The Old Squire sat uneasily and listened to the talk, with growing +disfavor. At last he pulled out his pocketbook. "I will pay you the +dollar, Olive," he said, "if only to stop the dispute about it." + +"You shan't do it, Joseph!" exclaimed Gram. "There's no dollar due +her." + +But the Old Squire persisted in handing the woman a dollar. + +"I do not care whether it is due or not!" he exclaimed. "I have heard +altogether too much of this." + +"I thank you, Joseph, for doing me justice of my hard-handed employer," +said the tall woman, austerely. + +"Now did ever anybody hear the like!" Gram exclaimed, pink from +vexation. "Oh, Olive, you--you--you bold thing, to say that of me!" + +"There, there!" cried the Old Squire. "Peace, women folks. Remember that +you are both Christians and public professors." + +Gram sat and fanned herself, fast and hard. Our visitor folded the dress +into a bundle and marched slowly and austerely out. + +"Olive, I hope your conscience is clear," Gram called after her +severely. + +"Ruth, I hope your conscience is as clear as mine," the departing one +called back in calm tones, from the yard outside. + +She left an awkward silence behind her; breakfast had come to a +standstill; and I improved the elemental sort of hush, to whisper to +Theodora, who had been at the farm a year, and ask who this portentous +disturber of the family credit really was. + +"Oh, it is only 'Aunt Olive,'" Theodora whispered back. "She comes here +to help us every spring and fall." + +"Is she our actual aunt?" I asked in some dismay. + +"No, she isn't our real, kindred aunt," said Theodora, "but folks call +her Aunt Olive. She is a sister to Elder Witham; and they say she can +quote more Scripture than the Elder himself. + +"And I'm sort of glad that Gramp gave her the dollar," Theodora added, +in a still lower whisper. "Maybe Gram did forget to pay her, once." + +But Gram was both incensed and humiliated. She resumed the interrupted +coffee pouring and handed the Old Squire his cup, with a look of deep +reproach. + +Partly to change the unpleasant subject, perhaps, he said to us briskly, +"Boys, if we have good luck and get our haying work along, so we can, we +will all make a trip over to Norridgewock and see Father Rasle's +monument. + +"Ruth, wouldn't you like to take a good long drive over to Norridgewock, +after the grain is in?" he asked in pacificatory tones. + +"Joseph!" replied Gram, "you make me smile! You have been talking of +driving over to Norridgewock to visit Father Rasle's monument, and of +going to Lovewell's Pond, ever since I first knew you! But you never +have been, and I haven't a thought that you ever will go!" + +"Well, but something has always come up to prevent it, Ruth," Gramp +replied hastily. + +"Yes, Joseph, and something will come up to prevent it this year, too." + +It was at this point that the second early caller had his arrival +announced. Little Wealthy, who had stolen out to watch Aunt Olive's +departure and then gone to the barn to see to her own small brood of +chicks, came running in headlong and cried, "Oh, Gram! Gram! a great big +fox has got one of your geese--on his back--and is running away!" + +"What!" exclaimed Gram, setting the heavy coffee-pot down again with a +roiling bump. "Oh, Lord, what a morning. Where, child, where?" + +"Out beyond the west barn!" cried Wealthy; but by this time Addison, +Halse and I were out of doors, in pursuit. + +Beyond the west barn, there was a little hollow, or swale, where a +spring issued; and a few rods below the spring, a dam had been +constructed across the swale to form a goose-pond for Gram's flock. It +was a muddy, ill-smelling place; but hither the geese would always +waddle forth of a summer morning, and spend most of the day, wading and +swimming, with occasional loud outcries. + +As we turned the corner of the barn, we met the flock--minus +one--beating a retreat to the goose-shed. But the fox was not in sight. + +"Which way did he go, Wealth?" cried Addison, for Wealthy had run after +us, full of her important news. + +"Right across the west field," she exclaimed. "He had the old goose on +his back, and it was trying to squall, but couldn't." + +"Get the gun, Halse!" exclaimed Addison. "No, it isn't loaded! Bother! +But come on. The fox cannot run far with one of those heavy geese, +without resting. He is probably behind the pasture wall." + +We set off at speed across the field and heard Gram calling out to us, +"Chase him, boys! Chase the old thief. You may make him drop it." + +Away through the grass, laden with dew and "hopper spits," we careered, +and came on the trail of the fox where he had brushed off the dew as he +ran. But the rogue was not behind the pasture wall. + +"Keep on," cried Addison, "he cannot run fast." We crossed the pasture +and entered the sugar maple grove between the pasture and the Aunt +Hannah Lot. As it chanced, the fox was lurking in the high brakes here, +having stopped to rest, no doubt, as Addison had conjectured. We did not +come upon him here, however; for warned probably by the noise which we +made, the goose-hunter stole out silently on the farther side and ran on +across the open fields of the Aunt Hannah Lot. As we emerged from the +belt of woodland, we caught sight of him, toiling up a hillside beyond +the fields, fifty or sixty rods away. + +"It is of no use to chase him any further," said Addison, pulling up. +"He will reach the woods in a few minutes more." + +By this time we were all three badly out of breath. The fox had the best +of the race. We could distinguish plainly the white goose across his +back, in contrast to his butter-colored coat and great bushy tail. + +"Wouldn't Gram fume to see that!" Halse exclaimed. "Her best old goose +is taking its last ride." + +"I think I know where that fox is going," remarked Addison. "I was in +those woods, gunning, one day last fall, and I came to a fox burrow, in +the side of a knoll, among trees. There was no end of yellow dirt, dug +out, and there seemed to be two or three holes, leading back into the +side-hill. I told the Old Squire about it. He said it was a fox-hole, +and that there had been one there for years. When he was a young man, he +once saw six foxes playing around that knoll, and, first and last, he +trapped a number there." + +We went back to our interrupted breakfast. Gram heard our tidings with +much vexation. Gramp laughed. "If the foxes got every goose, I shouldn't +cry," said he. "Nasty creatures! Worse than a parcel of pigs about the +farm." + +"But you like to put your head on a soft pillow as well as any one," +replied Gram calmly. "If you know of anything that makes better pillows +than _live_ geese feathers, I shall be glad to hear about it." + +The Old Squire not having any proper substitute to offer, Gram went on +to say that she wished some of us possessed the energy (I believe she +said _spunk_) to make an end of that fox; for now that it had achieved +the capture of a goose from her flock, it would be quite likely to come +back for another, in the course of a day or two. + +This appeal stirred our pride, and after we had gone out to hoe corn +that forenoon, Addison asked the Old Squire whether he thought it likely +we could unearth the fox, if, as we suspected, it had its haunt in the +burrow on the hillside of the Aunt Hannah Lot. + +"Maybe," replied the Old Squire, "by digging hard enough and long +enough. But 'tis no easy job." + +Addison did not say anything more for ten or fifteen minutes, when he +observed that as Gram seemed a good deal disturbed, he for one would not +mind an hour or two of digging, if it would save her geese. + +"Oh, I have nothing against her geese, boys," replied the old gentleman +with a kind of apologetic laugh. "I like to hear her stand up for them +once in a while. + +"I wanted to get this corn hoed by to-morrow," he continued. "Let's see, +to-morrow is Saturday. We will take the crowbar and some shovels and +make a little trip over to that burrow, later this afternoon. Don't say +anything about it at dinner; for likely as not we shall not find the fox +there." + +After we had hoed for some time longer, Addison said, "What if we have +Halse run over to Edwardses', right after dinner, and ask Tom to take a +bar, or shovel, and go with us. Tom is a good hand at digging,--and that +fox may trouble them, too." + +The Old Squire laughed. "You are a pretty crafty boy, Addison," said he. + +Ad looked a little confused. "I knew Tom would like to go first rate," +said he; "and as there may be considerable hard digging before us, I +thought it would be all right to have somebody who could take his turn +at it." + +"Quite right," replied Gramp, still laughing. "Craft is a good thing and +often helps along famously. But don't grow too crafty. + +"I am quite willing for you to send for Thomas," he added. "I think it +is a good idea." + +Accordingly, at noon Halse went to the Edwards homestead, bearing an +invitation to a fox-digging bee. They, too, were busy with their hoeing, +but Mr. Edwards, who was a very good-humored man, gave Thomas permission +to join us at two o'clock. When we went out from dinner to our own +hoeing, we took along an axe, two spades, a hog-hook to pull out the +fox, and a crowbar, also the gun; and after working two hours in the +corn-field, we set off across the fields and pastures for the fox +burrow, just as Thomas came running across lots to join us. + +"Mother's glad to have me go," said he. "She lost a turkey last week; +and father says there's a fox over in that burrow, this summer, no +mistake. Father gets up at half-past three every morning now, and he +says he has heard a fox bark over that way at about sunrise for a +fortnight. But we will end his fun for him." + +Thomas was such a resolute boy that it was always a treat to hear him +talk. + +Crossing the pasture, we climbed the hillside of the Aunt Hannah lot, +and again entering the maple woods, went on for forty or fifty rods over +rather rough ground. + +"That's the knoll," said Addison, pointing to a hillock among the trees. + +"Yes, that's the place," the Old Squire corroborated. + +On the side of the knoll next us as we drew near, there was a large +hole, leading downwards and backwards into the bank side. A quantity of +yellow earth had been thrown out quite recently, looking as if dogs had +tried to dig out the fox. Tom looked into the hole. + +"Yes, siree," he exclaimed. "There's a fox lives here; I know by these +flies in the mouth of the hole. You'll always see two or three of these +flies at a hole where there's a fox or a wood-chuck." + +Farther around the knoll there were two other holes, one beside a rock +and the other under a birch-tree root, which manifestly led into the +same burrow, deep back in the knoll. + +"And only look here!" cried Addison. "See these bones and these +feathers." + +"Oho!" said the Old Squire. "'Tis a female fox with her cubs that has +taken up her abode in the old burrow this summer. That accounts for her +raids on the turkeys and geese; she's got a young family to look out +for." + +After some discussion, it was agreed to begin our assault at the hole +where the bones and feathers had been brought out; and while Addison and +I went to block up the entrance to the other two holes with stones, the +Old Squire threw off his coat, and seizing the crowbar, commenced to +break down the rooty ground over the hole, while Thomas and Halse +cleared it away with their shovels. We worked by turns, or all together, +as opportunity offered. It was no light task for a warm June afternoon, +and we were soon perspiring freely. Gradually we removed the top of the +knoll, following the hole inward, and came to the intersection of this +one with another farther around to the west side. There was a +considerable cavity here, matted underfoot with feathers and small +bones. From this point the burrow crooked around a large rock down in +the ground. + +Listening now at this opening, we could hear faint sounds farther back +in the earth, and an occasional slight sneeze. + +"Digging to get away, or get out!" exclaimed Thomas. + +While we were resting and listening, a sharp, querulous bark came +suddenly to our ears from out in the woods behind us. + +"'Tis the old fox!" said Addison. "She's been away. She isn't in the +hole. But she has come back in sight, and she don't like the looks of us +here." He seized the gun and went cautiously off in the direction of the +sound, but could not again catch sight of the fox. + +We resumed our digging, and soon broke into a still larger cavity, +leading off from which were three passages. Fresh earth was flying back +out of one of them. + +"We are close hauls on the fox inside!" cried Thomas. "Stand ready with +the gun, Ad; he may make a bolt out by us." + +The Old Squire plied the crowbar again, and breaking down a part of the +bank over the passage, we caught sight of three fox cubs, all making the +dirt fly, digging away for dear life, to get farther back. As the bank +broke down and the light fell in upon them, they turned for a moment +from their labors, and casting a foxy eye up at us, "yapped" sharply and +bristled themselves. + +"Oh, the little rogues!" cried Addison. "Only look at them! Look at +their little paws and their little noses all covered with yellow dirt! +There they go at it again, digging!" + +"Aren't they cunning!" exclaimed Thomas. "Fox all over, too. Regular +little rascals. See the white of those eyes, will you, when they turn +them up at us! Isn't that a rogue's eye now?" + +"We will catch them and carry them home, and put them in a pen," said +Addison. "By next November their skins will be worth something." + +"They will make you lots of work, to tend them and get meat for them," +said the Old Squire. "Their pelts will not half pay you for your +trouble." + +These cubs were several weeks old, I suppose, but they were not larger +than half-grown kittens. + +"It won't answer for you to grab them with your bare hands," the Old +Squire warned us. "I did that once, when a boy, and found that a fox cub +is sharp-bitten." + +They were of rather lighter yellow tint than a full-grown fox, but +otherwise much like, although their legs, we thought, were not yet as +long in proportion as they would become; nor yet were their tails in +full bush. + +It was not quite as far across lots to the Edwards farm as it was to the +Old Squire's, and at length Addison and Thomas set off to go there for a +basket to put the foxes in, and some old thick gloves with which to +catch them. + +Meantime the rest of us remained hard by, to watch the burrow, lest the +cubs should escape. Once, while the boys were gone, we heard the mother +fox bark. Halse went after her with the gun; she was evidently lingering +about, but he could not catch sight of her. + +The boys returned with a bushel basket and an old potato sack, to tie +over the top of it. A little more of the bank was then broken down, when +Addison, reaching in with his hands, protected by a pair of buckskin +gloves, seized first one, then another, of the snapping, snarling little +vulpines and popped them into the basket. It was agreed that Thomas +should have one of them; and in furtherance of this division of the +spoils, Halse and Addison went around by way of the Edwards farm, with +Tom and the basket, while the Old Squire and I loaded ourselves with the +tools and took the direct route homeward. + +Supper was ready and Theodora had been blowing the horn for us, long and +loud; in fact, we met her by the corn-field, whither she had at length +come in search of us. I hastily told her of the capture, but the Old +Squire said, "Don't tell your grandmother till the boys come with the +cubs, then we will show them to her." + +So we went into the house and leisurely got ready for supper. At length, +Addison and Halse came to the kitchen door with their basket; and Gramp +said, "Come here, Ruth, and see two little fellows who helped eat your +old goose." + +Gram came out looking pretty stern at the word goose, and when Ad pulled +the bag partly away and showed the two fox cubs, casting up the whites +of their roguish eyes at her, she exclaimed harshly, "Ah, you little +scamps!" + +"But, oh, aren't they cunning! Aren't they pretty!" exclaimed Theodora +and Ellen. + +"Well, they are sort of pretty," admitted Gram, softening a little as +she looked at them. "I suppose they are not to blame for their sinful +natures, more than the rest of us." + +We then told her of our exploit, digging them out of the burrow. The Old +Squire thought that the mother fox would not trouble the farm-yard +further, now that her family was disposed of. + +After supper, Addison gathered up boards about the premises and built a +pen out behind the west barn, in which to inclose the young foxes. As +nearly as I can now remember, the pen was about fifteen feet long by +perhaps six feet in width, with board sides four feet high. We also +covered the top of it with boards upon which we laid stones. A pan for +water was set inside the pen, and we gave them, for food, the various +odds and ends of meat and other waste from the kitchen. For a day or two +we enjoyed watching them very much. + +They did not thrive well, but grew poor and mangy; and I may as well go +on to relate what became of them. After we had kept them in the pen +about a month, a dog, or else a fox, came around one night and dug under +the side of the pen, as if making an attempt to get in and attack them. +The outsider, apparently, was not successful in breaking in, and +probably went away after a time, but it had dug a sufficiently large +hole for the two young foxes to escape; they were discovered to be +missing in the morning. Addison thought that it might possibly have been +the mother fox. + +One of these cubs--as we believed--came back to the pen under singular +circumstances eight or nine months later. Having no use either for the +old boards, or for the ground on which the pen stood, it was not taken +away, but remained there throughout the autumn and following winter. + +One day in April we heard two hounds baying, and as it proved, they were +out hunting on their own account and had started a fox. We heard them +from noon till near four in the afternoon, when Ellen, who was in the +kitchen at one of the back windows, saw them, and, at a distance of +twenty rods or less in advance of them, a small fox, coming at speed +across the field, heading toward the west barn. + +Addison and I were working up fire-wood in the yard at the time, and +Ellen ran out to tell us what she had seen. We now heard the hounds +close behind the barn, and getting the gun, ran out there. The fox, hard +pressed evidently, had run straight to that old pen and taken refuge in +it, through a hole in the top where the covering boards were off. But +before we reached the spot, one of the hounds had also got in and shaken +the life out of the refugee. + +We could not positively identify the fox, yet it was a young fox, and we +all thought that it resembled one of the cubs which we had kept in the +pen. I am inclined to think that, finding itself in sore straits, it +came to the old pen where, though a captive, it had once been safe from +dogs which came about the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WE ALL SET OFF TO HAVE OUR PICTURES TAKEN + + +A few days later--I think it was June 15th--Gram's constant, urgent +reminders prevailed, and directly after the noontide meal we all set off +for the village, to have our pictures taken. The old lady had never +ceased to mourn the fact that there were two of her sons whose +photographs had not been taken before they enlisted. This was not so +unusual an omission in those days as it would be at present; having +one's photograph taken was then a much less common occurrence. Indeed, +the photograph proper had hardly begun to be made, at least, not in the +rural districts. The ambrotype was still the popular variety of +portrait. + +Personally, I confess to a lingering liking for the old ambrotype, the +likeness taken on a glazed plate, on which the lights are represented in +silver, and the shades are produced by a dark background. I like, too, +the respectful privacy of the little inclosing case which you opened to +gaze on the face of your friend. Best of all, I like its great +durability and fadelessness. The name itself is a passport to favor in a +picture, from _ambrotos_, immortal, and _tupos_, type, or impression: +the immortal-type. Your pasteboard photograph so soon grows yellowed, +dog-eared and stale! For certain purposes I would be glad to see the +dear old ambrotype revived and coming back in fashion. True, you had to +squint at it at a certain angle to see what it was; but when you +obtained the right view, it was wonderfully lifelike and comforting. + +One obstacle and another had delayed the trip for several weeks, but on +that sunny June day the word to go was given. With much care and +attention to clean faces, and hair, our best clothes were donned, for to +have one's picture taken was then one of the great occasions of a +youngster's life. There was earnest advice given on all sides in regard +to "smiling expressions." Little Wealthy, especially, was exhorted so +much in this respect, that she actually shed tears before we started. A +"smiling expression" sometimes comes hard. Nor was she alone in her +anxiety. I remember being a good deal worried about it, and that I had +secretly resolved--since the sitting was said to occupy less than a +minute--to draw a long breath, set my teeth together hard, and hold on +to my "smiling expression" for that one minute, at least, if I died for +it afterwards. + +Indeed, the young folks of this later generation will hardly be able to +understand what an ordeal it was to sit for an ambrotype, in 1866. + +Ambrotypes were the kind of pictures which Gram had in view. Moreover, +she had no notion of investing in more than one likeness apiece for each +of us. This ambrotype was to be kept in the family archives, for the +benefit of generations to come; the idea of having a dozen taken, or +even half a dozen, to give away to one's friends, had not at that time +entered the minds of country people in that portion of New England. + +We had at first intended to start by nine in the morning and arrive by +ten or eleven, so as to have the benefit of the midday sun--an important +requisite for an ambrotype. But it was eleven o'clock before all were +properly ready, and Gram then decided to have our noon meal before +setting off. We got off a few minutes past noon. All the doors of the +farmhouse were locked, or otherwise fastened, the garden gate closed and +the horses harnessed. The Old Squire with Gram led the way in the +single wagon, and we six cousins, with Addison driving old "Sol," +followed in the express wagon, three on a seat. We were conscious that +we presented a curiously holiday appearance and laughed a great deal as +we rattled along the road, although secretly each felt not a little +anxious. + +"Oh, but it's nothing!" Halstead exclaimed over and over. "All you have +to do is to sit still a minute; the cammirror is the thing that does the +work;"--for he was a little shaky on the pronunciation of the word +camera, or the workings of it. To Addison and Theodora's great +amusement, he went on to inform the rest of us in a superior tone, that +the cammirror took a reflection from a person's face, much as a +looking-glass does, and then threw it on a "mess of soft chemical stuff" +which the artist had spread on a little pane of glass. "Being soft, the +reflection naturally sticks in it," Halse continued. "Then all the +fellow has to do is to harden it up--and there you are. + +"But he has to be pretty careful, or you come out upside down," Halstead +added. "I had a notion of buying one of those cammirrors once, before I +came here, and starting in the business. I wish I had now. It is a sight +better business than farming. I knew a fellow out at New Orleans that +made thirteen dollars in one day, taking pictures." + +"I wonder that you didn't get a 'cammirror,' Halse," Addison remarked. +"You might have become a rich man in a few years." + +"Oh, but it's dreadful unhealthy work," replied Halstead, in an offhand +tone. "The chemical stuff they have to mix up gets into the lungs. It +smells terribly. There's two kinds. The worst-smelling kind isn't the +most unhealthy, though; the other kind you can but just smell at all, +but one good whiff of it will about use a man up, if it gets fairly into +his lungs. It doesn't answer for the artist fellow to breathe much when +he is in the little dark place, where he spreads the chemical stuff on +the glass. They generally hold their noses when they are in there." + +"If that is true, we had all better be careful how we breathe much this +afternoon," Addison observed, feigning a very anxious glance around. + +Little Wealthy looked distressed, however, and erelong intimated a +desire to ride with Gram in the other wagon. She and Theodora and I rode +on the back seat of our wagon; and I heard Theodora whispering to her +reassuringly, that Halstead's talk was all nonsense. + +On reaching the village we hitched our horses under two of the +Congregationalist meeting-house sheds, and then proceeded to the small, +low studio, or "saloon," with a large window in the roof, where at that +time one Antony Lockett (or else Locke) practised the art of +photography. He was a tall, large man of sandy complexion, somewhat slow +in his movements and of pleasant manners. Gram opened negotiations with +him directly, as to the price of ambrotypes, etc. She was not a little +distressed, however, to learn from Mr. Lockett that ambrotypes were +somewhat out of fashion, and that a new-fangled thing, called a +photograph, represented the highest art and progress of the day. It was +expensive, however. Of ambrotypes the artist spoke somewhat +apologetically and slightingly. He also talked fluently of "tin-types," +a kind of small, inferior likeness on a thin metal plate, without case, +or glass. These he offered to make by the dozen at prices which almost +shocked us from their cheapness. + +As an artist who wished to exercise his vocation to the extent of its +possibilities, Mr. Lockett argued adroitly in favor of the new +photographs for all of us. + +Grandmother was much perplexed. "It appears that times are changing," I +heard her say to the Old Squire. "I should say times were changing, +Ruth!" he replied rather shortly. "If this man is going to charge six +dollars apiece for us all, for photographs, I guess we had better get +our horses and go home." + +"Of course we cannot pay any such money as that, Joseph," Gram +concurred. "We shall have to have ambrotypes, as we set out in the first +place. I cannot see any better way. But it's a pity fashion has turned +against them." + +Ambrotypes being declared for, artist Lockett made his preparations, +including several trips into his little dark room, the erection of his +camera on its tripod, hanging a little pink sock on a hook upon the wall +to look at, and setting out a chair with an iron head-rest. He then +said, somewhat impressively, "I am ready. Who will sit first?" + +None of us wished for that distinction, and to this day I recall the +terrified look in little Wealthy's eye as she sought to make herself +invisible behind Theodora's shoulder. The child was really much alarmed, +largely from the peculiar odor which pervaded the place, and the stories +which Halstead had told on our way down. It was the odor of all +ambrotype "saloons" of that date, which can best be described by saying +that it resembled what might have been, if the place had long been the +haunt of a horde of cats. + +"Joseph," said Gram at length, "you had better sit first, you are the +oldest." + +"I am not so very many months older than you, Ruth," replied the Old +Squire, with a twinkle of his eye. "And when I was a young man, it was +held to be the proper thing to seat the ladies first." + +"Now don't you go to being funny, Joe," replied Gram, fanning herself +vigorously. "This is no place for it." + +Thus rebuked, and after some hesitation, the old gentleman with a queer +expression took his seat in the "chair," and had his iron-gray head +adjusted to the round black disks of the head-rest. Gram arranged his +front lock with her comb, and said, "Now keep your eye on the little +sock, Joseph, and look smilin';"--a superfluous piece of advice, as it +proved, for he had already begun grinning awfully. + +The artist, who had his head under the black cloth of his camera, now +suddenly looked forth and gave different advice. "Not too smilin'. Not +so smilin' as that, quite," said he. + +But the Old Squire only grinned the more vigorously, showing several +teeth. + +Gram went around in front by the artist. "Oh, no, Joseph, not near so +smilin'!" she exclaimed. + +But do their best, they could not get the smile off his face. + +"Look more solemn, Joseph," Gram now exhorted him. "You are overdoing +it." + +But so certain as the artist raised his hand to take off the cap from +the camera, the Old Squire's face would begin to pucker again, and the +artist was obliged to wait. + +We all grew scandalized at his unaccountable levity. Addison sat +laughing silently in a chair behind, and Gram at last lost her patience. + +"If you were only a little boy, it wouldn't be quite so silly!" she +exclaimed. "But an old man, with only a few years more on the earth, to +behave so, is all out of character. Think of the shortness of life, +Joseph, and the certainty of death." + +But still from some nervous perversity, the old gentleman's face drew up +in the same inveterate pucker whenever Lockett raised his hand to uncap +the camera. + +"O Joe, I'm astonished at you! I am for certain!" cried Gram, so vexed +and angry that she lost all patience. She rushed to the door and looked +out, to control her feelings. + +Theodora then drew near the Old Squire's side and whispered, "Think of +the War, Grandpa." + +The War was then a topic of such terrible sadness for us that the +mention of it, ordinarily, was sufficient to unloose the most poignant +recollections. To grandfather, as to us all, it had brought a sable +cloud of bereavement. But even thoughts of the War did not now long +suffice to remove that grin--longer than till the Old Squire saw +Lockett's hand raised. Then out jumped the all too "smilin' expression" +again. + +Gram went out of doors altogether and walked along the sidewalk, in +mortification and despite; her feelings were much outraged. + +Lockett now essayed to turn the conversation upon a current political +topic, namely the nomination of General Grant for the Presidency; and it +seemed as if the grin was at last exorcised. Yet when the artist +attempted covertly to remove the cap, a hundred puckers gathered about +Gramp's eyes again, his chin twitched, and even there were wrinkles on +his nose. + +With that, Lockett himself walked to the door for a time. Gram now +returned, her face very red, and stalking in, surveyed the offender with +a look of hard exasperation. "My senses, Joseph, you are the most +provoking man I ever set my two eyes on. I do declare you are!" + +Lockett returned to his place by the camera, looking somewhat bored. +"Well, shall we try again?" said he. + +"If he don't keep his face straight now, I'll know the reason!" Gram +chimed in. + +Yet quite the same when Lockett lifted his hand, after an awful pause, +every furrow and pucker reappeared. + +"Oh, there!" Gram exclaimed almost in tears, so vexed she had grown. +"Take him. Take him, just as he is, the old Chessy-cat!" and again she +rushed away to the door and snatched out her pocket handkerchief. + +Then Addison, who had sat and laughed till he had laughed himself tired +and sober, came to the rescue, with a stroke of genius. Nodding covertly +to Lockett, he approached the Old Squire from behind, and in a tone, as +intended only for his private ear, murmured, "Say, Gramp, d'ye know this +Lockett charges six dollars an hour for his time!" + +The old gentleman's face suddenly straightened as his ear caught the +words, and a look of dignified indignation and incredulity overspread +his countenance, observing which the artist removed the cap and the +likeness was taken. What the thoughts of death and War failed to +accomplish was done by sudden resentment. After a moment or two, Gramp +perceived the ruse which Addison had practised on him, and laughed as he +rose from the chair. But Gram would not so much as look at him, and she +scarcely spoke to him again that day. + +The Old Squire did not at the time condescend to offer any explanation +of his "smilin' expression;" but years afterwards, on an occasion when +he and I were making a journey together, he told me that he never quite +understood, himself, what whimsical freak took possession of his mind +that day. To have saved his life--he said--he could not have kept a +sober face when Lockett raised his hand to the cap. The ambrotype +faithfully reproduced the sudden resentful expression on his +countenance; and we always spoke of it as the "six dollars an hour +expression." + +Grandmother sat next, after Theodora and Ellen had arranged or rather +rearranged her somewhat ruffled hair and collar. There was no +troublesome smile on her countenance that afternoon! The flush of +excitement and anger still tinged her cheeks, and her eye looked a +little snappy. Theodora tried to modify the severe expression by saying +pleasant things while helping seat her in a good position, but only half +succeeded; and the picture which we have of her does not do her entire +justice, since it gives an impression of austerity not in keeping with +her usual disposition and character. + +I think that Addison sat next, and after him Halstead, who assumed a +somewhat bumptious air, which was to an extent reflected in his picture. + +Theodora had the "smiling expression" naturally, and perhaps added a +trifle to it for the occasion. We often said to her afterwards, when +looking at the pictures, that her smile was almost as broad as Gramp's +irrepressible one. Still, it was a very good likeness of her at fifteen +and of the genial, half-amused expression she often wore during those +happy years at the farm. + +It now came my turn to sit in the chair and have my head put back +against the rest. For some reason Addison laughed, and then the others +came around in front of me and laughed, too. "Don't he look worried?" +cried Halstead. "Get on your 'smiling expression.' Don't stare at that +poor little sock so hard, you'll knock it down off the hook! The little +sock isn't to blame." + +"Smile a little," said the artist gently. + +But I had just witnessed what befell Gramp from smiling, and was afraid +to risk it. "Oh, now!" whispered Theodora, "you really mustn't look so +morose. Think of something pleasant. Think of catching trout." + +But it would not come to me. "He can't smile," said Addison. "I'll stump +him to smile." + +"Oh, but you do look sad!" exclaimed Ellen. + +"A regular cast-iron glare," said Halstead. + +I grew angry. + +"There's going to be a thunder-shower from the looks of his face," +Addison remarked. "I'm going to get under cover." + +They all took the hint and went away from in front of me. It seemed to +me that those iron disks of the head-rest were the only two points on +which my entire weight rested. The little pink sock swam up and down; +and from somewheres in the rear I heard Halse saying, "He will have a +fit in a minute more!" + +At that moment Lockett took off the cap. I caught my breath, tried hard +to smile just a little and no more, and clenched my fists. _Click!_ the +cap was replaced, and Lockett said, "That'll do." I got out of the chair +and walked to the door; my ears were singing and both feet had "gone to +sleep." The ambrotype subsequently gave evidence that my last effort to +smile had materialized to the extent of being faintly visible, like a +far-distant nebula on a clear night. The others always hectored me about +that "frozen smile." + +Ellen sat next and was taken very quickly, while I stood at the door +recovering myself; but Wealthy suffered even more than I did, I feel +sure. The poor child had stood awestruck and alarmed all the time the +others were sitting. What she had seen had by no means tended to +reassure her. She actually turned pale when Theodora took her to the +chair; her dark eyes looked uncommonly large and wild. The smile which +they finally developed on her face was one of fascination rather than +pleasure; and when at length the cap was replaced and the artist said, +"That'll do," she bounced out of the chair as if made of India-rubber. + +We did not get the ambrotypes, in their small, square, black cases, till +some weeks subsequently; and I recollect that the entire bill was twelve +dollars, also that we all--all except Gram--rode home from the village +in very high spirits, as those do who have successfully passed through a +perilous ordeal. Gram, indeed, was unable to recover her equanimity till +next day. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"THERE IS A MAN IN ENGLAND, NAMED DARWIN" + + +It was the following Sunday morning, if I remember aright, that I first +heard the name of Charles Darwin and received an intimation as to the +now world-famous theory of the origin and descent of mankind. What a +singular name Darwin seemed to me, too, the first time I heard it. + +The Old Squire was a great reader, for a Maine farmer, who as a rule has +little time for that, during the summer season. But he always caught a +few minutes for his newspapers at breakfast, or dinner, although we did +not then take a daily paper. + +The old gentleman had not received a college education, but he had once +attended Fryeburg Academy, at the time Daniel Webster taught there, and +afterwards had been a student for two terms at Hebron Academy. Even at +the age of sixty-nine he retained a somewhat remarkable thirst for +information of all kinds. I remember that he would sit for a whole +evening, poring so intently in a volume of Chamber's _Encyclopaedia_ as +to be hardly aware of what was going on in the room about him. After a +manner, too, he kept pretty well posted, not only on events of current +history and politics, but of scientific progress. + +That spring of 1866, he had privately sent to an acquaintance in +Portland to procure for him a copy of _The Origin of Species_, then a +new book, to which he had seen brief allusions in our weekly newspapers, +and concerning which he felt much curiosity. He read it all through, +carefully, without saying much, if anything, about it to Gram, or any +one else. But Elder Witham found out, somehow, that there was such a +book in our house, and his animosity against it was much excited. + +Before prayers that Sunday morning the Old Squire looked around--though +I think he had Addison and Theodora chiefly in mind--and said, "There is +a man in England, named Darwin, Charles Darwin, who has written a book, +called _The Origin of Species_, of which a great deal begins to be said. +This Darwin is a scholarly man and writes modestly. I see that a great +many appear to be adopting his views. He holds that man has risen from +certain lower animals, somewhat like the monkeys, or apes, and therefore +that we are related by descent to these animals, instead of having been +created perfect, as the Bible seems to teach. + +"This man Darwin brings forward a great many things in support of his +views, some of which seem reasonable. He appears to be a sincere man, +and as such ought not to be condemned hastily. I think it is still too +soon to form a decided opinion as to this, and that it is safer for us +to go on believing as the Scriptures teach. + +"I mention this," the Old Squire continued, "Because Elder Witham tells +me that he is going to take up Darwin's book in his sermon a week from +to-day, to warn people against it. The Elder, who is also very sincere, +believes that this Darwin is a dangerous man who is doing vast harm to +Christianity. I do not go quite so far as that, myself, although I still +hold to the Scriptural account of man's creation. But if Mr. Darwin is +as honest a man as he seems and has published what he thinks to be the +truth, I do not believe his book will in the end do any harm in the +world. But it is always better, in such important matters, not to change +our opinions hastily, but to reflect carefully." After a pause Addison +spoke. "Elder Witham's sermon against Darwin will not change my mind," +said he, very decidedly. "I think Darwin is right. He is a great man. +Elder Witham is always down on everything that touches his narrow views +of the Bible." + +"The Elder is an honest, fearless man," was all the reply the Old Squire +made to that. But Gram exclaimed that she hoped none of us would ever +read that wicked book about mankind being from monkeys--which somehow +made me perversely resolve to read it. + +The Old Squire, however, kept _The Origin of Species_ put away in some +secret receptacle known only to himself. + +That same Sabbath morning, too, the Old Squire read briefly from one of +the papers of a terrible war that was raging in South America, between +Paraguay on one hand and Brazil and the Argentine Republic on the other. +As usual, after reading anything of this kind at table, the old +gentleman commented on it and generally made some point clear to us. + +"The trouble down there in South America," said he, "comes wholly from +an unscrupulous man, named Francisco Lopez, who has contrived to make +himself Dictator of Paraguay. Lopez is an imitator of Napoleon +Bonaparte. He has an insatiate ambition to conquer all South America and +found an empire there, much as Napoleon sought to conquer Europe and +establish a great French empire. Napoleon is Lopez' model. He has +plunged Paraguay in misery and mourning. + +"When I was a boy," the Old Squire added, "I had a great admiration for +Napoleon Bonaparte and loved to read of his great battles. Nearly all +young people do admire him. But now that I see his motives and his acts +more clearly, I regard him as a monster of egotism and brutal +ambition." + +Halstead had stolen out while the Old Squire was reading to us. We could +not find him during the forenoon, but he came in after we sat down at +dinner, much as on a former Sunday; this time, too, he looked much +heated. Addison and Theodora bent their eyes on their plates, but +nothing was said by any one. Halstead ate hurriedly, with covert glances +around. He seemed disturbed or excited, and after dinner went out in the +garden alone, keeping aloof, but came up to our room late that evening, +after I was abed. + +At length I fell asleep, but immediately a noise like scratching or +squeaking on the window pane, roused me suddenly. The window was on the +back side of the house, but there was a driveway beneath it, and any one +outside could, with a very long stick, reach up to the glass panes. It +had grown dark, but when the noise waked me, I found that Halstead was +sitting on the side of the bed, as if listening. + +"What was that?" I said, sleepily. + +"Oh, nothing," replied Halse. "The wind rattled the window, I guess." + +I recollect thinking, that there was no wind that night, and I believe I +said so, but I was very sleepy, and although I thought it queer that +Halse should be sitting up to hear the wind, I soon fell into a drowse +again and probably snored, for my room-mate often accused me of that +offense. + +I had not fallen soundly asleep, however, when I again heard the tapping +at the window. A sly impulse, suggested probably by Halstead's demeanor, +prompted me to play 'possum and pretend that I had not waked this time. +I even went on breathing hard, on that pretense. + +Halstead was still sitting on the bed. He listened for a moment to my +counterfeit breathing, then slid easily off and approached the window. +It was already raised a little and rested on a New Testament which Gram +always kept in our room. Halse gently shoved the window higher and put +out his head. The air of the quiet country night was very still, and I +heard a hoarse whisper from the ground outside, although I could not +distinguish the words. + +"Yes," whispered Halstead in reply. + +Then the whisper below resumed. + +"I don't want to do that," said Halstead. + +The whisper outside rejoined, at some length. + +"Perhaps," answered Halse. + +The other whisper continued. + +"When?" asked Halstead. + +The whisper replied for some moments. + +"By eleven," Halse then said. "Not before." + +Then there was a good deal of whispering beneath, and Halstead replied, +"Well, I'll be there." + +Not long after, he crept back to bed, I meantime continuing my +fraudulent hard breathing, although by this time I was very much awake +and consumed by curiosity and suspicion. For at least half an hour, +Halse tossed and turned about, seeming to be very restless and uneasy; +in fact, he was still turning, when I fell asleep in very truth. + +When I first waked next morning, I did not recollect this circumstance +of the previous evening; in fact, it did not come into my mind till we +had gone out to milk the cows. I then began to think it over earnestly +and continued doing so throughout the forenoon. At first I had no +thought of telling any one what I had heard, for although Halse had +recently threatened me, I did not wish to play the spy on him. + +But the idea that something wrong was on foot grew very strong within +me. The more I pondered the circumstances the more certain I felt of it. +At length I concluded to speak of it to Theodora; for some reason my +choice of a confidante fell instinctively on her. + +We were "cultivating" the corn that forenoon with old Sol, and hoeing it +for the second time. Finally, I made an excuse to go to the house for a +jug of sweetened water. While preparing it, I found opportunity to call +Theodora into the wood-shed, and first exacting a promise of secrecy +from her, I told her what had occurred the previous evening. + +She seemed surprised at first, then terrified, and I went back to the +field with my jug, leaving her greatly disturbed. + +When we came in at noon, she motioned me aside in the pantry and said +hurriedly, that I must tell Addison and ask him to speak with her after +dinner. + +Twice during the afternoon we saw Theodora out in sight of the +corn-field, and I knew that she was anxiously looking for a word or sign +from Addison. At last, towards supper time, taking advantage of a few +minutes when Halse had gone to the horse pasture with old Sol, I briefly +mentioned the thing to Addison and proffered Theodora's request for an +interview. + +Addison listened with a frown. "I think I know who that was under the +window," said he. "Halse has been running round with him, on the sly, +for a month, and they've got some kind of a 'dido' planned out." + +"Suppose it is anything bad?" I queried. + +"Oh, I don't know," said Ad, impatiently. "Bad enough, I'll warrant you. +If it is the fellow I think it is, he is an out-and-out 'tough' and a +blackguard. One of those chaps that are hanging round Tibbett's rum shop +out at the Corners. You may be sure that a man of that stamp isn't +whispering around under windows, for any good." + +"Why, you don't suppose they were planning to steal, or rob, do you?" I +asked, much startled. + +"Who knows," replied Addison, coolly. "Halse is a strange boy. He is +just rattle-headed and foolish enough to get coaxed into some scrape +that will disgrace him and all the rest of us. I never saw a fellow in +my life so lacking in good sense. + +"Oh yes, I'll talk with Doad," continued Ad, somewhat impatiently. "Doad +is a good girl. She thinks moral suasion and generosity will do +everything. But if I had Halse to manage, I would put him under lock and +key, every night," said Addison, striking his hoe sharply into the +ground. + +"And if we only let him alone, I guess he will get there, of his own +accord," he added with a fine irony. + +I saw quite plainly that, as Theodora had once said to me, Addison had +no patience with Halstead and his but too evident weakness of character. + +"I don't like to run to the Old Squire with all that I see and hear," +Addison went on, in a low tone, for Gramp was hoeing only a few steps +behind us, and Halstead was now coming back from the pasture. "For they +all think now that I don't like Halse and that I am too hard on him. But +they will find out who is in the right about it." + +After supper I saw Theodora in earnest conversation with Addison, out in +the garden by the bee-house. Doad was a great friend of the bees; if she +were wanted and not in the house, we generally looked first for her in +the garden, in the vicinity of the bee-house. + +Later in the evening, after we had finished milking and were going into +the dairy with our pails, Addison said to me that it was best, he +thought, to say nothing to the old folks just yet. "Doad wants me to +watch to-night and, if Halse gets up to go off anywhere, to stop him and +coax him back to his room. + +"It isn't a job I like," continued Addison, "but perhaps we had better +try it; Doad thinks so. + +"So if you can keep awake, till ten or eleven, you had better," Addison +went on. "If he gets up to start off, ask him where he is going, and if +he really starts, come and call me, and we will go after him. I can +dress in a minute." + +To this proposal I agreed, and I may add here that at about eleven +o'clock we surprised Halse in the act of stealing away to the Corners, +but after some parley and a scuffle with him, succeeded in getting him +back to bed, and I lodged with Addison. + +It was but a short night thenceforward till five o'clock in the morning. +Before going down-stairs we peeped into Halse's room, to see if he were +there still. He lay soundly asleep. Addison closed the door softly. +"Poor noodle," said he, as we got the milk pails. "Let him snooze +awhile. I suppose it isn't really his fault that he has got such a head +on his shoulders. He is rather to be pitied, after all. He is his own +worst enemy. + +"I've heard," Ad continued in a low tone, as we opened the barnyard +gate, "that Aunt Ysabel, Halse's mother, was a sort of queer, tempery, +flighty person." + +The Old Squire had got out a little in advance of us and sat milking. +"Good morning, boys," said he, looking up cheerily, as we passed. +"Another fine day. The whole country looks bright and smiling. Grand +year for crops." + +"We will not say a word to him about our scrape with Halse last night," +Addison remarked to me. "There's no use plaguing him with it. We cost +him so much and give him so much trouble, that I am ashamed to let him +know of this." + +When we took in the milk, Theodora was grinding coffee (and how good it +smelled! She had just roasted it in the stove oven). "We got him back +all right, with no great difficulty," Addison whispered to her, in +passing. + +"Oh, I'm so glad," she replied. + +Halse had not come down; and pretty soon we heard the Old Squire call +him, at which Addison laughed a little as he glanced at me. At +breakfast Halstead looked somewhat glum; in fact, he did not look at +Addison and me at all, if he could avoid it. + +That forenoon we hoed corn again and talked a good deal of the Fourth of +July celebration which was to come off at the village the following +week. + +Toward noon, however, word was sent us that the husband of a cousin of +the Old Squire's who resided in the town adjoining, to the eastward, had +suddenly died, and that the funeral was to be at two o'clock that +afternoon. + +No one of the family seemed much disposed to attend it. It appeared that +the deceased had not been a highly respected citizen. It was said that +he had died from the effects of a fit of intoxication. The liquor which +drunkards were able to obtain, by hook or crook, at that period and in +spite of the Prohibitory Law, was of a peculiarly deleterious character. + +At dinner the Old Squire remarked that he should attend the funeral, and +that I could go with him, if I liked, but that the others might be +excused. I at once accepted the invitation; almost anything was +preferable to hoeing corn in the hot sun. + +It was a pleasant ride of eight miles along the county road to the +northeastward. We first passed numerous farms, then a "mud pond" and a +"clear water pond," following afterwards the valley of a small river +between two high, wooded mountains, till we came at last to a saw-mill, +grist-mill and a few houses at a place whimsically known as the "city." +Here in a little weathered house the last rites and services to the +deceased were held. Elder Witham, still in his duster, preached a short +discourse during which I felt somewhat distressed to hear him express +certain doubts as to the man's future state. The Elder was a thoroughly +upright Yankee and Methodist, who tried to preach the truth and the +gospel, as he apprehended it; he did not believe that all a person's +faults are, or ought to be, forgiven at his death. I remember the +following words which he made use of on that occasion, for they appealed +to some nascent sense of logic in me, I suppose: "The evil which men do +in this life lives on in the world after they die; and even so the just +penalty for it continues with them in a future state." + +The Old Squire, although ordinarily a kind and reasonable man, yet +possessed some of the same severe traits of character, which have +descended in the sons of New England, from the days of the Puritans. I +remember that he said, as we drove along the road, going homeward: "The +death of a drunkard is a shameful end. Such a person can expect other +people to mourn only for his folly." + +But these sentiments made far less impression upon me then than the +conduct of the wife of the dead man. I had somehow supposed that he was +an old man; but instead, he was only thirty-four years of age; and his +wife was an auburn-haired, strong woman, not more than thirty, unusually +handsome in face and form. She was in a state of great excitement, not +wholly caused by sorrow. It appeared that there had been a violently +bitter quarrel between the pair, the night before the man's death; and +so far from having forgiven her husband, even then, the woman exhibited +the turbulence of her temper and behaved in an unseemly manner during +and after the services. Her outcries gave me a very strange impression +and in fact so shocked and terrified me, that to this day I cannot +recall the scene without a singular sensation of disquiet. Withal, it +was the first funeral which I had ever attended. As a lad I was in not a +little doubt on several points, touching the behavior of widows on such +occasions; and as we drove homeward, I ventured to ask the Old Squire +whether women were often liable to go on at funerals as that one did. +For I remember thinking that if this were really the case, I should +never under any circumstances whatever, be allured into matrimony. + +But the Old Squire at once said, positively, that they did not behave +so, and that this woman (her name was Britannia) was an exception to all +rules. + +My next question upset him, however, for after a few moments of decent +inward satisfaction over his reply, I asked him whether Britannia was a +_Pepperill_. + +Gramp turned half around on the wagon seat and looked at me in +astonishment for an instant; he then burst out in a hearty laugh. + +"No, no," said he. "She is no Pepperill, no connection whatever of your +grandmother. The shoe is on the other foot. It's on my side this time." + +He laughed again as he drove on; and just before we reached home, he +told me, and seemed much in earnest that I should understand it, that +the Pepperills were a very good family, as much or more so than the +average, and that if I had got any different impression from anything I +had heard said, it was utterly erroneous. + +"You must never mind any of the nonsense I have over to your grandmother +when we are at table," he continued. "It's all fun. We don't mean +anything. Your grandma is the best woman I ever knew." + +I replied that I had thought that was the way of it, myself. As the old +gentleman had expressed himself so magnanimously toward the Pepperills, +I at once resolved not to say a word to Gram, or any of the others, +about this Britannia's behavior. I did not like to have Gramp put at any +disadvantage in the family; so the old gentleman and I kept that +incident quiet between us for a good many years. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A WET FOURTH OF JULY, WITH A GOOD DEAL OF HUMAN NATURE IN IT + + +The first days of July were very hot and sultry; the hoeing was +finished; haying was at hand. We young folks, however, were now chiefly +interested in the Fourth of July celebration at the village, seven miles +from the farm, and were laying our plans to go, all the previous day. In +fact, the whole family intended to go. + +If we were to get the farm chores done, breakfast eaten and reach the +village by six o'clock, in time to see the procession of "fantastics" we +would have to be astir by three in the morning. Addison proposed to +harness old Sol and Nancy to the hay-rack, decorate it with green oak +boughs, making a canopy over it, and all ride to town together, taking +up six or eight of our neighbors, to swell the party. + +Theodora and Ellen hailed this plan with delight, but Gram objected both +because of the fact that the hay-rack had no springs, and also upon +grounds of decorum. + +"Why, people would think we were a part of the 'fantastics,'" the old +lady exclaimed. "I will never ride in any such gipsy fashion!" + +This vigorous declaration tabled the hay-cart scheme. But as we were +milking that evening, Addison obtained the Old Squire's consent to +harness Nancy into the horse-cart, and decorate it for us young folks; +while our elders drove to the village with old Sol in the beach-wagon. +Boughs were accordingly fetched and a canopy made over the cart and by +nine we all retired, so as to secure as much sleep as possible before +three A. M. + +But the Pluvian powers forbade the excursion. The southern sky, indeed, +had looked a trifle dark and wet, the previous evening. Raindrops on the +roof waked us shortly before three. We hoped it was but a passing +shower. At daylight, however, the rain was pouring profusely. Wealthy +actually cried; Ellen scolded a little; Halstead made certain irreverent +remarks; while Gram sought to inculcate resignation in the abstract. + +It proved one of those profuse southerly rains, such as often occur in +Maine during the summer season. We milked in the barn and put the cows +out to pasture in the midst of the downpour, for it was a warm rain. + +"No celebration to-day," remarked Addison; but the Old Squire thought +that it would slacken by noon and perhaps clear. + +All the morning it rained too hard even to go fishing. Addison went up +to his room to read Audubon awhile. Halstead went out to the wagon-house +and having appropriated an auger, draw-shave and hammer, took an +umbrella and set off for the old cooper shop below the orchard. Seeing +me standing in the wood-house door, he said, "You can go down to my +shop, if you want to. I wouldn't invite Addison, but I will you." + +I ran out to his umbrella, and we went down to the old shop. When we +reached the door, Halstead remarked that I need not _see_ the way he +opened it; so I stepped around the corner for a moment, till he called +to me. I then entered after him and stood around while he set to work on +several odd-looking pieces of wheeled gear. Then with his permission, I +kindled a little fire in the large old fireplace, and dried my clothes +before it. + +"I tell ye that's a cute place to roast sweet corn ears," Halstead +remarked. "In the fall I have a fire here evenings and roast corn; I did +last fall and you and I will this next fall. It's jolly fun, after the +nights get cool; I would like to sleep down here, but the old gent wants +me to sleep in the house; I made a bunk of shavings and set out to stay +one night before my fire, but he came down and knocked at the door about +ten o'clock. He said I had better go up to the house. + +"The old gent is awful particular about a fellow being out after dark," +Halstead continued. "I ain't used, myself, to being bossed round so, and +treated as if I was a child that hadn't cut my teeth yet. I've seen +something of the world and can take care of number one, anywheres. It +ain't as if I was a little green chap. I've lived out among folks, till +I came 'way back here. I suppose the old gent and all the rest of them +think, that I don't know any more and must be looked after just like one +of these little greenhorns round here. It's a great bore to me to be +treated that way and I don't like it at all. It makes me mad sometimes. +A fellow that has travelled and seen something, wants more liberty." + +I could see that he was talking around to lead up to something he wished +to tell me, and so said nothing. + +"Now the other night," Halstead continued, "all I was going off for was +to get some money of a fellow who owes me out at the Corners; I wanted +to get it bad, for I wanted to pay you and the girls what I owe you. I +knew you wanted it for the Fourth and I wanted to pay it; so I thought I +would slip out to the Corners, and see this fellow and get it of him, +for he had promised me I should have it that night. I felt ructious that +I couldn't go, for of course a fellow wants to pay his honest debts, and +it's kinder hard when he can't." + +I mentally set this down as one of the things that are important, if +true; it was pretty plain to me, however, that Halstead was hedging, and +making up a story which he thought suited to my understanding. I did not +like to hear him go on, and contrived to change the conversation. + +Halstead was in one of his good moods that morning, and as he worked +with the draw-shave, he cast knowing, proud glances first at the wheeled +contrivance, then at me. I concluded that he wanted me to inquire about +it and so asked what it was for. + +"A wind-mill," said he. "It will be a buster, too! I'll show 'em a thing +or two 'round here. I mean to run a lathe with it here at the shop and +do wood turning. I'll turn banisters, rolling-pins, gingerbread creasers +and all sorts of things. I can make lots of money off a lathe. I'm going +to set the wind-mill up on a tall post at the corner of the shop here, +and then have a pulley shaft clean across this whole side of it. Won't +it just hum though!" + +I grew considerably interested in the proposed wind-mill, as Halse +explained it. He really had some ideas of a lathe, run by wind power, +and went on for some time telling me of his plans, till Ellen called us +to dinner. + +It continued to rain till past two o'clock, when the clouds broke away +and the sun came forth very hot and bright. + +"Shall we go?" was now the question. "Will there be a celebration now +the day is so far advanced?" + +The Old Squire thought it hardly worth the while to set off, assuredly +not in the bough-embowered cart. Gram and the girls therefore decided to +give up going altogether, but we three boys at length harnessed old Sol +into the express wagon and started; for we hoped to see the fireworks in +the evening and perhaps the sack-race and wheelbarrow-race which had +been set for afternoon. + +The meadow brook was swollen high out its banks and flowed into the +grass on both sides, and the wet road was full of puddles through which +old Sol splashed prosaically on. There were very few teams on the road. +Alfred Batchelder, the two Murch boys and Ned Wilbur overtook us, +however, when we had nearly reached the village, all four riding on one +seat of an old wagon. We found, too, that Thomas Edwards and Catherine +had come to the village, in advance of us. Catherine came out from one +of the stores to ask us whether Theodora and Ellen had come; she seemed +much disappointed to learn that they had not, and that she was the only +girl from our neighborhood who had ventured forth. + +Despite the wet, a crowd of three or four hundred persons, mostly boys +or young men, had collected in front of the Elm House, where they were +popping off firecrackers and playing pranks. Zest was presently lent to +these latter efforts, by the continuous explosion of half a bunch of +crackers beneath the wagon seat of a young farmer who, with his sister, +or some other young lady, was sitting in a wagon on the outskirts of the +crowd, looking on. Both of them were smiling broadly. In the rear end of +their wagon was a butter firkin and a number of packages. Some rogue +lighted the crackers and tossed them directly beneath the wagon seat, +and immediately they began to pop off. Their horse gave a bound; smoke +and sparks flew, and after a moment the girl jumped clear of the wagon +and landed nimbly on her feet two yards away! She looked very wild, +indeed, and did not relish the joke; for an urchin in the crowd, +attempting to follow it up by covertly dropping a lighted cracker near +her feet, was instantly detected and received such a box on the ear as +set him howling. + +Meantime the youthful farmer had no small ado to quiet his nag. When +the animal and the crackers had at length subsided into quiet, he began +to look about for the girl. His nerves were not of the highly strung +variety; he looked out for his horse first; he was not much excited, and +smiled broadly when Angelina came forward to climb into the wagon again, +but he was heard to remark in a slightly quickened tone. "By Gaul, 'f I +could find out who throwed them firecrackers, I'd lick him, I would, I +swan." + +He gazed about over the crowd, with an inquiring eye, as one honestly on +the lookout for accurate information; and although everybody had laughed +uproariously, no one now claimed the honor of having started the fun. + +Evidently a mischievous spirit possessed the crowd. In fact, when a +great concourse of people has gathered in expectation of a good time, +and has been balked of the fun, it is well to be wary and keep aloof. +Something is pretty certain to happen, and somebody is likely to be made +a victim of the general disappointment. In such a case the most prudent +thing is to go quietly home. + +While all stood laughing and gaping at young Agricola and his fair +companion, another hubbub broke out. A cracker suddenly exploded in the +outer pocket of a long linen duster, worn by a tall youth who at that +moment had his mouth widely distended with laughter. He clapped his hand +to his pocket, when another went off there. With that he whirled around, +the lengthy skirts of the "duster" floating out in a circle amidst a +wreath of blue powder smoke. _Snap-fizz_ went another and another +cracker, the sparks flying and an odor of burnt cloth beginning to +pervade the air. The crowd, shouting in fresh glee, speedily drew out +from the new victim and formed a ring about him. + +"Enoch, you're all afire!" exclaimed one of his acquaintances. "Throw +off yer duster." This was sound advice and would probably have been +acted upon by "Enoch;" but some one else cried, "Down and roll over." + +The adage advising all whose clothes take fire, to roll on the floor, or +the ground, has become pretty firmly fixed in the public mind; and +hearing it, Enoch at once threw himself down and rolled over and over in +the road, to the accompaniment of a tremendous shout. The maneuver did +not much improve matters; for a lot of crackers had been dropped into +the duster pocket. These continued to pop off, in twos and threes; and +the more alarmingly they popped, the more vigorously Enoch rolled! A +more laughable spectacle, for the onlookers, can hardly be imagined. The +tall fellow's arms and legs flew about in a wonderful manner; the smoke +and sparks flew, too, and every time a cracker snapped, Enoch howled. + +Somebody at length ran forward with a pailful of water that was set on +the tavern piazza, and dashed it over him, and withal the road was still +very muddy from the rain. When the water fell over him, he scrambled to +his feet; the crackers had snapped themselves out. But oh, sorrows, what +a fearfully singed and muddy object was Enoch! His own mother would have +looked coldly on him; and the unsympathetic crowd screamed with delight. + +But Enoch had arisen in a somber frame of mind; and it was at once +apparent that something was going to be done about it, and that somebody +must settle the account with him. He cast a rueful glance over his +personal remnants, then a wrathy one at the laughter-shaken crowd, took +a step forward and giving vent to certain emphatic remarks, declared, +"The feller that did that has got to suffer!" + +Thereupon a group of five or six boys, among them our Halstead and +Alfred Batchelder, not being upheld, perhaps, by the courage of entire +innocence, began to slink away and get behind others. In an instant +Enoch was after them. They took to their heels around to the rear of the +tavern, the crowd shouting, "Catch 'em! Give it to 'em! Go it, Enoch!" + +There was a rush to see the denouement. Neither Addison, nor I, +witnessed all which took place. The chase had led the principals far +around to the rear of a stable and sheds. At length, we saw Halstead and +Alfred on the roof of the latter, and heard cries of dismay and distress +from others of the runaway party; Enoch was with them, evidently. + +Alfred and Halse continued hastily to climb to the ridge-pole of the +stable and then walked along on the roof of an ell, till they gained the +higher roof of the tavern itself. Presently Enoch came back from the +rear and espying the refugees aloft, began to stone them with vigor, +till the proprietor came out and ordered all parties to the fracas to +desist and leave the premises. + +Addison and I now crossed the street and joined Thomas and Kate Edwards, +who were standing on the platform of a store opposite, spectators at a +distance of what had taken place. After a time Halse came to us, having +made a circuit of several buildings from the rear of the Elm House. He +had the generally rumpled appearance of a boy who has been roughly +handled. Occasionally he nursed and rubbed certain spots upon his +person. + +"Did he hit ye?" inquired Thomas, good-humoredly. + +"Yes, he did," muttered Halse. "The old long-legged loafer! I wish he +had all burnt up!" + +"Did you put the crackers in his pocket?" asked Catherine, laughing. + +"No, I didn't," replied Halse. "But I know who did," he added, with a +knowing nod. "And I know who lit the match, too." + +"You seem to know quite a good deal about it," commented Catherine. + +"He needn't have stoned me!" cried Halse. "He had no proof against me. +But I'll pay him out." + +"I guess you had better let Enoch alone," said Addison. + +Meantime the sun had come out very hot; it was already five o'clock. +Kate persuaded Thomas to carry her to visit an acquaintance of theirs, +living somewhere on the outskirts of the village. We lingered about for +a time, then some one of the crowd of boys proposed going up to the +outlet of the lake, above the dam, to go in swimming. The heat rendered +this proposal agreeable; and as many as fifty set off together, some +intending to go into the water, others to sit in the shade and watch the +swimmers. Enoch, minus his duster, with a number of his friends, was in +the party, observing which Alfred and Halse kept at a respectful +distance in the rear. Ned Wilbur and Willis and Ben Murch went along +with Addison and me. + +The distance up to the "swimming hole" was near half a mile; there was a +pretty bit of white, sandy shore, shelving off from shoal into deep +water. In a few minutes, twenty or thirty were splashing, wading and +swimming out, some boldly, as good swimmers will, others timidly, or +feigning to swim and taking good care not to get into water over their +heads. + +And all along shore the grass was dotted with small heaps, capped with +white, representing each bather's temporarily discarded wearing apparel, +beside which were set his holiday shoes or boots. + +It is the common, unwritten code among boys on such occasions, that +while in the water, each swimmer's clothes are to be held sacred from +molestation, even by his sworn enemies; at least, that was the "law," as +the writer understood it, in the year 1866. To meddle with another +boy's clothes while he was in the water was deemed an outlaw act. + +Alfred and Halse, however, who had approached in the rear, and observed +Enoch's wardrobe lying unguarded on the shore, determined to redress +their grievances by making a descent upon it, while he was in the pond. +Ned and I, who were sitting under a large maple a little back from the +stream, saw them peering about the heaps of clothes, like a couple of +crows plotting larceny from a robin's nest. We had little idea what they +were about to do, however, for they walked away, and it was not till ten +minutes afterwards that we saw them again, this time with Alfred's horse +and wagon, up in the road, a hundred yards or more from the water. + +"Why, Alf's going home!" Ned exclaimed. "I came down with him and I must +go back with him, unless I walk." "Don't go yet," I said. "You can ride +back with us. We are going to stay till evening." + +"All right, I will," replied Ned. "I don't like to go with Alf very +well; he is always 'sassing' folks on the road. + +"But they have stopped up there," Ned added. "Alf's got out and is +coming down here. Perhaps it's to call me to go home. He is picking up +stones. What suppose he is going to do?" + +We watched him curiously. Halse sat in the wagon, holding the reins, but +Alf was stealing down to the shore, and he seemed to have a stone as +large as one's fist in each hand. + +"You don't suppose he is going to stone Enoch and run?" queried Ned, in +some excitement. "There'll be high jinks, if he does." + +I thought that was the intention, and called out in a low tone to +Addison, who was coming out of the water, a few rods off, to come to us. +But before he had more than heard me, Alfred slipped down past an alder +clump, to the spot where Enoch's clothes lay, and quickly tucking a +stone into each of his boots, threw them off into deep water, then +snatching up his pile of clothes, ran for the wagon. + +They had the trick adroitly planned out, and he was not half a minute +executing it. Before an outcry was more than raised and the alarm wafted +out to Enoch, or his friends, Alfred and our Halstead were rattling off +up the road at a great rate. + +But when the fact really dawned upon the crowd of boys, there was a roar +of indignant exclamations, and only a very few laughed this time. "After +them!" was the first shout. "Catch them!"--and some said, "Drown 'em!" + +Not many were in a condition to make pursuit, however. The perpetrators +of the outrage easily escaped; they were a mile off, indeed, before the +most of the swimmers were dressed. + +Poor Enoch was now in bad straits. He and three or four others began +diving for his boots, but failed to bring them up. + +Addison was much disturbed. He gave Enoch his undershirt, and another +boy endowed him with a pair of drawers. With these donations, they got +him out of the bushes, and forming a close circle round him, escorted +him barefoot and bareheaded to one of the village stores, where he was +rigged up--on credit--so that he could go home. There was a great deal +of joking, yet the prevalent feeling was one of indignation; and if the +two tricksters had been caught that afternoon, they would have fared +badly, and probably taken a ride on a rail. Altogether, it had been a +bad day for Enoch; but for popular sympathy, he would not only have lost +his "duster," but been obliged to scud home under bare poles. + +At sunset we bought crackers and cheese for our supper. Ned and the two +Murch boys were now of our party, but Thomas and Catherine had gone +home. We were but slightly repaid for waiting till evening, however; +only six rockets, five Roman candles and two "pin-wheels" were burned in +the way of fireworks. It was very soon over, although we had been +obliged to wait until a quarter to nine for the exhibition to begin. +Boy-like, however, we would not have missed it for a great deal. + +Then came the long ride homeward in the dark, for the night proved +cloudy; but the events of the day furnished us a great deal to talk of, +as old Sol plodded onward,--and there was more to follow. + +We had gone about half way home, and were passing a partly wooded tract +on the upper or west side of the highway, when Willis suddenly said, +"What's that thing, hanging down from that tree over the road?" + +"I don't see anything," replied Addison. + +"I tell you there is!" muttered Willis, excitedly. "Hold on, Ad. Stop." + +Addison pulled up. + +"Yes, there is something there," Ned said. + +I was sure, too, that I could see something different from the branches +and leaves of the tree; there was a reflection as from white cloth, or +human skin. + +"It looks like a man hanging there," whispered Willis. + +"Gracious! You don't suppose it is a man, hung, do ye?" Ned whispered. + +The idea startled us. + +"Pshaw!" said Addison. "I don't believe it is any such thing. May be +something some one has lost in the road, and somebody else has found it +and hung it up there, where it will be seen." + +"Perhaps," said Willis, doubtfully. + +"I'm going to drive along, anyway," continued Addison. + +"No, don't. Hold on, Ad. Don't," whispered Ned, for the thing did have a +curious appearance. + +Addison persisted and slapped old Sol gently with the reins. The rest +of us cringed down as low as we could, for we did not like the looks of +the object, or the thought of passing close under it. But just as we had +got under it, Addison said, "Whoa," and old Sol stopped short. + +"Drive on, Ad, drive on," whispered Ned, nervously. + +"No," said Addison. "I'm going to see what that is. Take the reins," and +he gave them to me. "I can reach it by standing upon the seat." + +Addison raised himself slowly, and finding that he could reach the +object, began to feel it with his hand. + +"Great Scott!" he exclaimed suddenly. "'Tis a man's stocking, _on his +foot_!" + +"Ah-h-h!" quavered Ned. "Let's get from under!" He grabbed spasmodically +at the reins and gave a shake. Old Sol took a step, and Addison tumbled +partly over Willis and Ben, who both gave a howl of nervous +apprehension. + +"Quit that!" cried Addison, angrily, to me. "Stop, I tell you. You hold +that horse." + +I pulled old Sol up short and he backed a little, at which Ned jumped +out and ran on a few steps; Willis and Ben also slipped out behind. + +"Hold still," said Addison to me. "Don't let the horse start and pitch +me out." + +With that he stood up again and began feeling the object. "'Tis a man's +trouser leg, sure--and stocking--but there's something odd inside. Who's +got a match?" + +Ben had a few matches, with which he had been touching off firecrackers +earlier in the day, and ventured up to the back of the wagon. Addison +stood up again and struck one, while the rest of us stared as the match +burned slowly. + +"It is a stuffed man," cried Addison; "a scarecrow, I guess, stuffed +with grass. But where have I seen those checkered pants before, +to-day?--and, boys, here is a paper, pinned on to them higher up. Back +the horse a little." + +I backed a step, and Addison, striking another match, read aloud on the +piece of paper, "THIS IS ENOCH." + +"Oho!" cried Ned. "Alf and Halse did that!" + +"Yes, these are Enoch's clothes, sure," said Addison. "There's his hat +on a big pine knot for a head, with his pocket handkerchief tied round +it for a face, and great daubs of wheel grease for mouth, eyes and +nose." + +"Well, that's a queer sort of joke!" remarked Willis. + +"I'm glad they didn't carry Enoch's clothes clean home with them," said +I. + +"I was afraid they had," Addison remarked; "and I was thinking whether +or not he could make it out as stealing, against them." + +"Had we better take them down and send them back to him?" I asked. + +"No, sir-ee," said Addison. "We will not meddle with them. Enoch may +send the sheriff up here by morning. It would be a pretty go if the +clothes were found in our possession. Let them hang right where they +are, I say, and let's be going, too, before any one comes along and +catches us here!" + +We drove on accordingly, and reached home without further adventures. +The house was dark; all had retired, except Theodora, who was sitting at +her window looking out for us. She came down stairs quietly, lighted a +lamp and had set on a lunch for us by the time we came in from the +wagon-house. They had gathered three quarts of field strawberries that +afternoon and had saved a quart for us. They were the first strawberries +of the season. How good they did taste, hungry as we were that night, +along with some big slices of Gram's new "mug bread" and butter, and a +plentiful swig of lemonade, a pitcherful of which Theodora had also set +aside for us. + +"Doad!" cried Addison, giving her a pat on the shoulder. "You are the +boss girl of this county!" + +"Oh, I wanted to hear all the Fourth o' July news," said Theodora. "Now +tell me. But don't talk so loud, or you will wake Gramp and Gram." + +"The news, well, jingo, I don't know whether we ought to tell it all, or +not; what think?" said Addison to me, doubtfully. + +"Has Halse got home?" I asked. + +"Yes, he came just before supper. He said he rode up _with a fellow_ as +far as the forks of the road," replied Theodora. + +"Did he say why he left us and came home so early?" asked Addison. + +"Yes; he said there was nothing going on, and he had got tired of +loafing around." + +Addison laughed; so did I. + +"But I knew there was something behind it all," Theodora continued. "Now +what was it?" + +"Nothing--much," replied Addison, evasively. + +"Oh, but there was," exclaimed Theodora. "Tell me." + +"Nothing but the usual 'circus,' when Halse goes out anywhere," replied +Addison wearily, yet still laughing a little. + +"But tell me what it was," Theodora urged. + +With a certain reluctance which boys always feel, to divulge +circumstances that pertain mainly to boys and boys' affairs, we related +to her the salient events of the afternoon, for it would have been a bad +return for her kindness to us to have refused altogether, and we felt, +too, that her motive was something more than mere curiosity. + +Theodora was a fun-loving girl by nature; she laughed over the +snap-cracker episodes, and laughed, indeed, at the Elm House roof +exploit, and even could not help laughing at Alfred and Halse's final +trick with Enoch's clothes. + +"But that _was_ mean," she kept saying. "What do you suppose he will do? +Will he have them arrested?" + +"No, I guess not," replied Addison. "I think it will pass as a joke. +Enoch will probably get his clothes back, in a day or two, if not his +boots." + +"But he declared he would give Alf and Halse an awful licking the first +time he meets them out anywheres," I said. + +"Well, I shouldn't much blame him, I do say, if he did," observed +Theodora, laughing again. + +"I would if I were he," said Addison. "You see, they begun on Enoch in +the first place." + +Just then we heard a little creaking noise in the chamber stairway. + +"Sh," whispered Theodora. "I believe Halse is there, on the stairs, +listening." + +"Well, listeners rarely hear much good of themselves," said Addison, +loudly enough for him to hear it. We heard still another little creaking +noise, this time higher up the stairs, as if he were tiptoeing back to +his room. + +"I am sorry if he overheard us," Theodora remarked in a low tone, as we +got up to go to our rooms. + +"I don't care," said Addison. "What could he expect any one to say of a +mean thing like that?" + +When I entered our room, Halse was in bed, and pretended to snore. + +"Oh, that's too thin, Halse," said I. "We heard you on the stairs." + +"You are a couple of tell-tales!" he exclaimed, hotly. "To come home and +chatter out everything that happened, to the girls!" + +There was some little force in the reproach, and I did not at once reply +to it. "Tell-tale, tell-tale!" he kept calling out, tauntingly, as I +was undressing. + +"You just wait till Enoch gets hold of you!" I remarked, beginning to +grow irritated. + +"I'm not afraid of any of your Enochs!" cried Halse. + +"What were you on the top of the Elm House for, then?" I asked, +sarcastically. "I wouldn't like to be in your shoes the next time Enoch +gets his eye on you." + +"If he touches me, I'll fix him!" cried Halstead, wrathfully. "And I'll +slap you, too, if you don't keep still," he added, giving me a kick +under the bedspread, which I did not quite dare to resent, and so turned +over to the wall and fell asleep. + +Thus ended our first Fourth of July at the farm. + +I must add a word here relative to Enoch's clothes, however. The effigy +hung there over the road for two days; but word had been sent to Enoch, +who lived in another town, and on the third day he made his appearance +for the purpose of reclaiming his garments; but meantime, either that +morning or the previous evening, the effigy was stolen, or at least +captured and carried off. The latter offense was finally traced to a +passing tin-peddler, who, when accused of it, declared that he had found +the image lying in the road, and deemed the clothes old togs, fit only +for paper rags and not worth advertising; he had therefore put them in +his cart and driven on. He was subsequently shown to have sold the suit, +not as paper rags; and when threatened with legal proceedings, he +settled the matter on Enoch's own terms. + +On the first day of the "Cattle Show," or County Fair, that fall, Enoch +fell in with Alfred Batchelder, in the rear of the cattle sheds, and, to +make use of a phrase common among fighting characters, "wiped up the +ground with him"--not over clean ground, either--for a space of several +minutes. Our Halstead steered clear of him, however, and so far as I +know, never received his just deserts for his share in the +transaction,--which may, perhaps, be said to lie in the line of a remark +which Elder Witham was fond of making in his quaint sermon against the +Universalists. "Justice," quoth the Elder, "certainly does not get done +in this brief, imperfect life of ours. Many of the worst wrongs men do +us go unredressed in spite of our best efforts to square accounts with +them!" + +I recollect, also, that as we had unharnessed old Sol in the wagon-house +that night and led him out, we noticed a great light in the sky, away to +the southward. It shone up high in the heavens, but was pale, as if a +long distance off. I asked Addison what he thought it could be, and he +said there must be a great fire somewhere in that direction. We thought +no more about it at the time; but toward evening next day a rumor +reached us, afterwards confirmed, that a great part of the city of +Portland had burned, entailing a loss of nearly or quite twenty millions +of dollars. + +But along with all these distracting incidents of the Fourth of July, +there was a bit of seriousness and worry that lingered in a back nook of +my mind, connected with that funeral which the Old Squire and I had +attended. I felt that there was something, some question concerning it, +which I must solve, or settle, before I could feel right again. I had +never seen a person lying dead before; I tried not to think about it and +in part succeeded, when there were a good many other things going on, +yet all the time I knew that it was there in my mind and must be thought +about before long. When I was very tired and first shut my eyes, on +lying down at night, I would see that man in his coffin so plainly that +I would fairly jump in bed, and then have to turn over several times +and begin talking with Halstead, somewhat to his annoyance, for without +quite understanding it, I suppose, he yet perceived that it was not a +genuine conversational effort. + +During the days following the Fourth, this impression of death which had +entered my mind began to assume more definite limits, and grew pertinent +to my own status. I had heard that the average age of man was +thirty-three years, and granting that I should reach that age, I could +expect to live a little over twenty years more. That was a long time, to +be sure, twenty years; but it would pass, and at the end of it I should +have to die and look as that man looked, and be buried in the ground. +The thought of it caused me to gasp suddenly, and filled me with a sense +of terror and despair so awful that I could scarcely restrain myself +from crying out. Most young people, I conjecture, pass through a similar +mental experience, when the drear fact of death is first realized. + +It continued to weigh heavily on my mind; and by way of relief from it, +I followed Theodora out into the garden the next Sunday evening, and +after quite an effort, opened the subject with her. There was no one +else with whom I could have summoned resolution to broach that topic. + +"Did you ever see anybody after they were dead?" I asked her. + +She did not seem very much surprised at the question, since it was +Sabbath eve. "Do you mean their body?" she inquired. + +"Yes, their body," I replied. + +"I have seen three," she said, at length. + +"Didn't it make you feel strange?" I asked. "It did me. It is an awful +thing to die and be put down into the ground, with all that earth on +one." + +"Oh, but they don't know it," said Theodora. "It is only their dead +bodies; their spirits are far away." + +"Yes," I said, "but I cannot help thinking of their bodies, and that it +is them still, only they cannot wake up and speak." + +"Oh, no, their spirits are far away," replied my gentle cousin, +confidently. + +"But that man, the one whose funeral Gramp and I went to, he died +intoxicated. Where do you honestly think he is now?" I asked her. + +"It's a dreadful thing to think of," replied Theodora, solemnly. "You +know the Bible says, no drunkard can go to heaven." + +"Then he will be burned forever and ever and ever, won't he?" I said. + +"I suppose he will," she said, and taking out her handkerchief, she +wiped her eyes sadly. + +"Do you think it will be real fire and that it will smart just as it +does when we burn our fingers?" I asked her. + +"Maybe worse," Theodora replied, again wiping her eyes. "But sometimes I +cannot believe that it will be all the time, night and day, year after +year. Maybe it is wicked to hope it will not be, but I do want to think +that _they would stop sometimes_. Universalists teach that nobody will +be punished at all after they die; but Gram thinks they are not real +Christians. Our folks all believe that the wicked will be punished +forever, and the Bible does say so, I suppose. Grandmother says that all +the great Bible scholars agree that the wicked will be punished." + +"What does Ad think?" I asked, at length. + +"I don't know. I'm afraid that he doesn't think at all," replied +Theodora. "The thing I do not like in Cousin Addison is that he will +never take a serious view of these important questions. The time he had +the measles, he was very sick one day, and I said that I hoped that his +mind was at peace. He looked at me as if he were a little frightened at +first, for I suppose he thought that I thought that he was going to die, +for I did begin in a sort of clumsy way. His head was swelled nearly as +big again as it ought to have been, and he looked very queer about the +eyes. 'O Doad!' he exclaimed, 'please do talk of things that you know +something about.' But of course he felt peevish, being so sick." + +"I suppose he did," said I. "But isn't it awful that everybody's got to +die--and no getting away from it?" + +"Yes, it does make any one feel dreadfully sad," Theodora assented. "But +the good will be better off." + +I did not gain much comfort from the conversation, however, and for +years thereafter the thought of death filled me with the same choking +sense of terror. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WOOD-CHUCKS IN THE CLOVER--ADDISON'S STRATAGEM + + +Creameries with ice-chests were as yet unheard of in the rural counties +of Maine in 1866. At the old farm, all of the dairy milk was set in pans +on the clean, cool cellar bottom. As the warm mornings of midsummer drew +on, Gram was usually up by five o'clock, attending to her cream and +butter; and about this time, as we issued drowsily forth, in response to +the Old Squire's early rap, we were repeatedly startled at hearing a +sudden eldritch exclamation which was half scream, at the foot of the +bulkhead stairs. + +"What's the matter down there, Ruth?" the Old Squire would exclaim. + +"Dear me, I've stepped on that hateful toad again!" Gram would reply. +"It's always under foot there! Do, Ellen, you get the tongs and carry +that toad off again. Carry him away out to the foot of the garden, below +the currant bushes. I don't see how he is forever getting back to the +foot of those stairs! It gives me such a start, to put my foot on him!" + +And Gram would have to sit down for a time, to fan herself and to +recover her composure. + +"Well, Ruth, I should think it would give the toad a start, too," the +Old Squire would comment, dryly. + +Meantime Ellen or Addison would proceed to capture the toad--a fine, big +brown chunk of a toad--and exile him to the garden. Once Ellen carried +him, wriggling in the tongs, around to the back side of the west barn. +Ad, too, carried him out into the orchard one night. But by the next +day, or the day following, toady would be back at the foot of the +bulkhead stairs again. There is no doubt that it was the same toad, and +he certainly must have possessed a good sense of locality. We could not +for some time imagine how he obtained entrance to the cellar, for he +returned to his favorite cool spot on days when the outer bulkhead door +was closed. Addison at length decided that he must have got in by way of +the cellar drain, on the back side of the house. + +It was contrary to all the homely traditions at the farm to kill or +maltreat a toad. Not less than seven times was that toad carefully +carried away into the garden, or down the lane. + +At last Gram's patience was exhausted. Her ire rose. "I'll see if you +come back into my cellar again, old fellow," she exclaimed, before +breakfast one morning after the recusant batrachian had been transported +the night before. This time the old lady seized the tongs herself, and +marched out into the yard, holding toady with no gentle pinch on his +rotund body. + +"Ellen, you bring me a quart of that brine out of the beef barrel," she +called back to the kitchen. + +Then having put the toad down in the cart road leading out into the +fields, she dashed him with brine, and as he hopped away pursued him +with further douches. + +It is not likely that the brine injured the reptile very much, but for +some reason it never came back. + +For a long time thereafter the Old Squire was accustomed to touch up +Gram's conscience now and then, by making sly allusion to her +hard-heartedness and cruelty in "pickling toads." The Old Squire, too, +had his bucolic enemies as well as Gram. + +Wheet-wh-wh-wh-wh-wheedle! was a note we now began to hear daily about +the stone walls and in the fields of new clover. + +"Oh, those wood-chucks!" the old gentleman would exclaim. "They are +making shocking work over in that new piece. Boys, I'll give you five +cents a head for every wood-chuck you will kill off." + +Amidst the now rapidly blossoming red clover we could see the fresh +earth of numbers of their burrows, and almost every day a new one would +be espied beside a rock or stone heap. June is the happy month for +wood-chucks, in New England; they riot in the farmer's clover, and +tunnel the soft hillsides with their holes. June is the month, too, when +mother wood-chuck is leading out her four or five chubby little chucks, +teaching them the fear of dogs and man, which constitutes the wisdom of +a wood-chuck's life, and giving them their first lesson in that shrill, +yet guttural note peculiar to wood-chuckdom, which country boys call +"whistling." + +It is remarkable how many wood-chucks will not only get a living, but +wax fat on an old farm where the farmer himself has difficulty in making +year's ends meet. Addison estimated that at one time there were seventy +wood-chucks on the Old Squire's homestead, all prosperous and laying by +something, metaphorically speaking, for a rainy day. + +Despite all the evil that is said of the wood-chuck, too, he does in +reality a much smaller amount of damage to man than one would imagine +from the outcry against him. Occasionally, it is true, a chuck will +begin nibbling at early pease, or beans, and do real, measurable harm, +but the injury which he inflicts on the farmer in the hay-fields is +generally much exaggerated. In the "south field" that year, there were +two acres of red clover, where not less than seven or eight wood-chucks +dug new holes and threw out mounds of yellow earth, which in some places +crushed down the crop. Then, too, in feeding and running about, they +trampled on plats of the thick clover, particularly where it had +"lodged" from its own rank growth. There were, in all, five or six +square rods of the grass which it was not deemed worth while to attempt +to mow at all, and the loss of which was due in part, but not wholly, to +the wood-chucks. The hired men scolded about it, and Gramp himself, who +had a farmer's natural aversion to wood-chucks, fretted over it. We +boys, too, magnified the damage and discussed ingenious plans for +exterminating them. But after all, I do not believe that we really got +two hundred weight of hay less in the field, in consequence of +wood-chucks; and certainly the clover as it stood was not worth sixty +cents a hundred. A dollar and twenty cents would probably have made good +the entire loss; and I suspect that one-half of the damage from +trampling on the clover was done by us boys, in pursuit of the chucks, +rather than by the chucks themselves. At least, I still remember running +through the grass in a very reckless manner on several occasions. + +I am keenly aware that to write anything in defense of the wood-chuck +will prove unpopular with farmers and farmers' boys. Still, I venture to +ask whether we are not, perhaps, a little too much inclined to deem the +earth and everything that grows out of it our own particular property. +The wood-chuck is undoubtedly an older resident on this continent than +men, certainly a far older resident than white men, who came here less +than three hundred years ago. Moreover, he is a quiet, inoffensive +resident, never becomes a pauper, never gets intoxicated, nor creates +any disturbance, minds his own business, and only "whistles" when +astonished or suddenly attacked by man and his dogs. May it not be +possible that he is honestly entitled to a few stalks of clover which +grow in the country which he and his ancestors had inhabited for +centuries before white men knew there was any such place as America? + +The writer now owns a farm in Maine, or at least holds a deed of it, +given him, for a consideration, by another man who in turn had bought it +of a previous incumbent who had seized it from the Indians, wood-chucks, +hares, foxes and other original proprietors, without, as I hear, making +them any return whatever; who, in fact, ejected them without ceremony. +For some years whenever the wood-chucks ate anything that grew on the +land, particularly if it were anything which I had sown or planted, I +attacked them with guns, traps and dogs and killed them when I could. + +But one day it occurred to me that perhaps my deed did not fairly +authorize me to behave in just that way towards them, and that I was +playing the role of a small, but very cruel, self-conceited tyrant over +a conquered species whose blood cried out against me from the ground. I +ceased my persecutions and massacres. Twenty or thirty wood-chucks now +live on the premises with me, unmolested, for the most part. They take +about what they want and dig a hole whenever they want a new one. They +are really very peaceable neighbors, and it is rarely that we have a +difference of opinion in the matter of garden truck,--for I still draw +the line at early pease and beans in the garden. + +It is, indeed, quite surprising how little they take, or destroy. I do +not believe that in all that time they have done me damages which any +two fair-minded referees would allow me five dollars for. I am sure I +spent more than that for ammunition, to say nothing of time, traps, +dog-food, etc., during the year or two that I was playing the despot and +trying to exterminate them. Now that I have rid my mind of the barbarous +propensity to kill them, I really enjoy seeing them sitting up by their +holes, or peeping at me over the heads of clover. + +But a boy naturally likes to use his trap and his gun, especially on any +animal, or bird, which his seniors represent to him as an outlaw. When +the Old Squire set a bounty of five cents upon wood-chuck scalps, the +desire to go on the war-path against the proscribed rodents at once took +possession of us. A number of rusty fox-traps and mink-traps were +brought forth from the wagon-house chamber, to be set at the entrances +of the wood-chucks' holes. We covered the trenchers of the traps +carefully over with loose dirt and attached the chain to stakes, driven +into the ground a little to one side of the hole. In this way five +chucks were trapped in the south field during the week. + +Halstead and I were in partnership trapping them, but Addison preferred +to rely on the gun. It is next to impossible to kill a wood-chuck with +shot so quickly that he will not, after being hit, succeed in running +into his hole, and thus defeat the evidence that he is a dead +wood-chuck. Addison, however, hit upon a stratagem for shooting them at +short range. He could imitate their peculiar "whistle" quite cleverly, +and having observed that when one wood-chuck whistles, all the others +within hearing are apt to exhibit some little curiosity as to what is +going on, he turned the circumstance to account. Going cautiously to a +burrow, he would crouch down, and placing the muzzle of the gun so as to +shoot into the hole, "whistle," as if some neighboring chuck had come +along to prospect the premises. In almost every instance, when there was +a chuck in the hole, it would immediately come up in sight, probably to +greet, or repel its visitor. The instant it appeared, Addison would fire +and nearly always kill the animal; for although often he could not +secure it, he would carefully close up the hole with stones and earth, +and if, after three days, the chuck did not dig out past the +obstruction, he laid claim to the bounty. A roster, which he kept in +notches on the garden gate, showed that he had shot fourteen +wood-chucks. + +I remember that Theodora had something to say several times about our +cruelty to the poor creatures; but we justified it on account of the +damage which the wood-chucks were alleged to do to the grain, grass and +beans. + +"Oh, Doad would let the wood-chucks eat up everything we plant!" Halse +would say, sarcastically. "'Let them have it,' she would say. 'Don't +hurt the poor little things!' That's just like girls. They don't have to +plant and hoe, so they are very merciful and tender-hearted. But if they +had to plough and work and plant and sow and hoe in the hot sun all day, +to raise a crop, they'd sing a different tune when the plaguey +wood-chucks came around and ate it up!" + +We thought Addison's stratagem a very bright one. That he could +"whistle" the chuck out of his hole, and fetch him up to the very muzzle +of the gun, was considered remarkably clever. But an incident which +occurred a few days later rendered it forever unpopular. + +Catherine Edwards had come over to go raspberrying, and Theodora, Ellen +and Wealthy set off with her after school for the south field. They had +to go around the clover piece, and as they passed it, Kate espied a +wood-chuck, which, when it heard them, instead of disappearing in its +burrow hard by, ran around in so peculiar a manner that they all stopped +to watch it. + +"It's crazy," cried Catherine; and at first they were afraid the animal +would attack them; it ran to and fro in what seemed an aimless sort of +manner. At length, they concluded that it had lost its hole and was +trying to find it. They saw that its head was bare of hair in front, and +presently decided that the poor creature was blind, for its eyes +appeared to be gone, or covered over with an incrustation. + +The explanation of its singular appearance and behavior then suddenly +occurred to Ellen. "I know!" she cried. "It's one of those wood-chucks +that Ad has shot in the face and eyes, as they peep out of their holes +when he 'whistles' to them!" + +"Oh, the poor, abused thing!" exclaimed Catherine. "I never heard of +anything so hatefully cruel!" + +The wood-chuck, although so dreadfully wounded and with its eyes +destroyed by the powder, had yet, after several days, mustered +sufficient strength to come out and feed. But it was totally blind, and +once having lost its course, could not find the way back to its burrow, +but dashed about in terror amidst the clover. Finally it took refuge +beneath some of the lodged grass beside a stone; and meantime those +sympathetic girls held an indignation meeting. Their pity for the poor +creature knew no bounds, and Ellen was despatched to call us boys to the +spot, that the full enormity of our act might be exhibited before our +eyes. + +We were just finishing hoeing the corn, the second time, that afternoon, +and had only a few rows more. With an air of one who has a mission and a +duty to perform, Ellen approached where we were at work and said, "We +want you to come down to the south field this minute!" + +"What for?" asked Addison. + +"A good reason," replied Ellen, with an accent of suppressed scorn. +"Kate and Doad sent me." + +"What is it?" persisted Addison. + +"Some of your fine works," said Ellen. "And you just come straight along +and see it." + +"We won't go unless you tell," replied Halse. + +"Oh, you won't!" exclaimed Ellen severely. "Great wood-chuck hunters you +are!" At the word _wood-chuck_ we began to feel interested, and at +length so far obeyed Ellen's iterated summons as to follow after her to +the south field. + +"Well, what's wanted?" demanded Addison, addressing himself to Theodora, +as we drew near. + +"I want you to see just what a cruel boy you are!" she replied. "There's +one of the wood-chucks that you pretend to shoot so cutely. Go look at +him, right under the clover there by that stone. Look at his poor little +eyes all burned out, you cruel fellow!" + +Not a little dumbfounded by this blast of indignation, thus suddenly let +loose upon us, we drew near and examined the crouching chuck. It was +really a rueful spectacle,--the disabled and trembling creature trying +in vain to see where its enemies were gathered about it. + +"I didn't think you were such a cruel boy!" exclaimed Catherine, +sarcastically. "Alf Batchelder might do such a thing. He is hateful +enough always. But I didn't think it of you." + +"Well, I shot at him," exclaimed Addison. "I thought I had killed him, +you know." + +"Oh yes, you did think, did you!" cried Catherine. "How would you like +to have some one come along to your door or your chamber window, and +speak to you to come out; and then when you stepped to the door to see +what was wanted, to have them fire powder in your face and burn your +eyes out! How would you like that?" + +"I don't think I would like it," replied Addison, laughing. + +"Now I wouldn't laugh," said Theodora, whose feelings, indeed, had been +wrought upon to the point of tears as she watched the blinded creature. +"You ought not to have such a hard heart. I didn't think you had, once," +she added reproachfully. + +"Oh, he is just like all the rest of the boys," exclaimed Kate. "No, he +isn't," said Theodora, wiping her eyes. + +"They are all alike," persisted Kate. "Always killing and torturing +something." + +"And all the girls are little saints," mimicked Halse. + +"Oh, I'm not speaking to you!" cried Kate. "You're the Alf Batchelder +sort. But I'm ashamed of Addison, to treat any creature in that way!" + +In short, those girls read us a dreadful lecture; they berated us hot +and heavy. If we attempted to reply and defend ourselves, they only +lashed us the harder. + +"Well, well," said Addison at length, picking up a club. "I'll put the +creature out of its misery, so that at least it will not be caught and +worried by dogs." + +"You sha'n't! You sha'n't kill the poor thing!" cried Ellen; and then +finding that Addison was about to do so, they all turned and ran away, +without looking back. + +Halstead was inclined to make light of the matter, and ridiculed the +girls, but Addison did not say much about it. I think he felt +conscience-smitten, and I never knew him to attempt to shoot a +wood-chuck in that way afterwards. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HAYING TIME + + +It was the custom at the Old Squire's to begin "haying" on Monday after +the Fourth of July. What hot and sweaty memories are linked with that +word, _haying!_ + +But haying in and of itself is a clean and pleasant kind of farm work, +if only the farmers would not rush it so relentlessly. As soon as haying +begins, a demon of haste to finish in a given number of days seems, or +once seemed, to take possession of the American farmer. Thunder showers +goad him on; the fact that he has to pay two or even three dollars per +day for his hired help stimulates him to even greater exertions; and the +net result is, that haying time every year is a fiery ordeal from which +the husbandman and his boys emerge sunburnt, brown as bacon scraps and +lean as the camels of Sahara, often with blood perniciously altered from +excessive perspiration and too copious water drinking. An erroneous idea +has prevailed that "sweating" is good for a man. Sometimes it is good, +in case of colds or fevers. While unduly exerting himself beneath a +scorching sun, the farmer would no doubt perish if he did not perspire. +None the less, such copious sudation is an evil that wastefully saps +vitality. Few farmers go through twenty haying seasons without +practically breaking down. + +The hired man, too, has come to know that haying is the hardest work of +the year and demands nearly double the wages that he expected to receive +for hoeing potatoes--far more disagreeable work--the week before. + +As a result of many inquiries, I learn that farmers' boys dread haying +most of all farm work, chiefly on account of the long hours, the hurry +beneath the fervid July sun, and the heat of the close lofts and mows +where they have to stow away the hay. How many a lad, half-suffocated by +hay in these same hot mows and lofts, has made the resolve then and +there never to be a farmer--and kept it! + +Is it not a serious mistake to harvest the hay crop on the +hurry-and-rush principle? Why not take a little more time for it? It is +better to let a load of hay get wet than drive one's self and one's +helpers to the brink of sunstroke. It is better to begin a week earlier +than try to do two weeks' work in one. A day's work in haying should and +can be so planned as to give two hours' nooning in the hottest part of +the day. + +Gramp was an old-fashioned farmer, but he had seen the folly of undue +haste exemplified too many times not to have changed his earlier methods +of work considerably; so much so, that he now enjoyed the reputation of +being an "easy man to work for." For several years he had employed the +same help. + +On this bright Monday morning of July, the hay-fields smiled, luxuriant, +blooming with clover, herdsgrass, buttercup, daisy and timothy. There +was the house field, the west field, the south field, the middle field +and the east field, besides the young orchard, the old orchard, the Aunt +Hannah lot and the Aunt Hannah meadow, which was left till the last, +sixty-five acres or more, altogether. What an expanse it looked to me! +It was my first experience, but Addison and Halse had forewarned me that +we would have it hot in haying. I had already grown a little inured to +the sun during June, however; and in point of fact, I never afterwards +suffered so much from the sun rays as during those first attempts to +hoe corn at the old farm in June. + +One of the hired men was no less a personage than Elder Witham, who +preached at the Chapel every second week, and who, like the great +apostle of the Gentiles, was not above working with his hands, to piece +out his small salary. He came Sunday evening, and I did not suppose that +he had come to work with us till the next morning, when, after prayers, +he quietly fetched his scythe and snath down from the wagon-house +chamber, and called on Halstead to turn the grindstone for him. I then +learned that he had worked at haying for us three summers. The Elder was +fifty years old or more, and, though well-tanned, had yet a +semi-clerical appearance. He was austere in religious matters, and the +hired men were very careful what they said before him. + +The other two men, who came after breakfast, were brothers, named James +and Asa Doane, or Jim and Ase, as they were familiarly addressed. + +I was reckoned too young to mow with a scythe, though Halse and Addison +mowed for an hour or two in the forenoon. I had plenty to do, however, +raking, spreading, and stowing the hay in the barn. + +In haying time we boys were called at half-past four o'clock every +morning, with the hired men. It was our business to milk and do the barn +chores before breakfast. Often, too, there would be a load of hay, drawn +in the previous evening, to stow away, in addition to the chores. + +Mowing machines and horse-rakes had not then come into general use. All +the mowing was done with scythes, and the raking with hand rakes and +"loafer" rakes. Generally, all hands would be busy for three hours every +bright afternoon, raking the grass which had been cut down in the +forenoon. The Old Squire and the Elder commonly raked side by side, and +often fell into argument on the subject of man's free moral agency, on +which they held somewhat diverse views. Upon the second afternoon, Asa +Doane maneuvered to get them both into a yellow-backed bumble-bees' +nest, which was under an old stump in the hay. + +The Elder was just saying, "I tell you, Squire, man was designed for--" +when a yellow-back stung him on his neck, and he finished his sentence +with a rather funny exclamation! Another insect punched Gramp at almost +the same moment, and they had a lively time of it, brandishing their +rakes, and throwing the hay about. The others raked on, laughing +inwardly without seeming to notice their trouble. + +But that night after supper, while we were grinding scythes, the Elder +called Gramp out behind the barn, and I overheard him very gravely ask, +in an undertone, "Squire, when we were amongst those bumble-bees, this +afternoon, I hope I didn't say anything unbecoming a minister. I was a +reckless young man once, Squire; and even now, when anything comes +acrost me sudden, like those bumble-bees, the old words are a-dancing at +my tongue's end before I know they are there. + +"Because, if I did make a mistake," he continued, "I want to make public +confession of it before these young men." + +But the Squire had been too busy with his own bumble-bees to remember. +So the matter passed, by default of evidence; but the Elder felt uneasy +about it, and watched our faces pretty sharply for a day or two. + +The heat troubled me not a little, and I then knew no better than to +drink inordinately of cold water. I would drink every five minutes when +I could get where there was water, even after the Old Squire had pointed +out to me the ill effects that follow such indulgence. But it seemed to +me that I must drink, and the more I drank the more I wanted, till by +Friday of that first week I was taken ill. Sharp pain is a severe yet +often useful teacher. I was obliged to desist from frequent potations, +and Gram gave me some bits of snake-root to hold in my mouth and chew. + +Both the Doanes were great jokers. There was something in the way of fun +going on, nearly all the time; either there was racing, while mowing, or +raking the heels of the boys ahead of them. They were brimming over with +hay-makers' tricks, and I well remember what a prank they played on me +during the second week. + +It befell while we were getting the south field, which was mostly in +clover that summer. We drew in the hay with both oxen and horses. When +the former were employed, they were yoked to a "rack," set midway on the +axle of two large wheels. The rack would carry a ton or more of hay. +During the first week, they had several times set me to tread down the +hay in the rack, but I made a very bad job of loading it; for I did not +know how to "lay the corners" of the load. + +At length one afternoon, the Old Squire, observing my faults, climbed on +the cart, and taking the fork, showed me patiently how to begin at +first, and how to lay the hay out at the sides and ends of the rack, +keeping the ends higher than the middle all the way up. He made it so +plain to me that I took a liking to that part of the work. I could not +of course handle the hay as well as a man, but I contrived to stow it +quite well, for I had grasped the principle of loading and managed to +lay a fairly presentable load. As a result I grew a little +over-confident, and was inclined to boast of my skill and make somewhat +rash statements as to the size of loads which I could lay. The others +probably saw that I needed discipline. I must have been dull, or I +should have been on my guard for set-backs from Halse, Addison, or the +mischievous Doanes. When a boy's head begins to grow large and his +self-conceit to sprout, he is sometimes singularly blind to +consequences. + +But to proceed, we had thirty-one "tumbles" of dry clover to get in +after supper that day, from the south field. The Elder and the Old +Squire did not go out with us. + +"You will have to make two loads of it," the latter remarked as we set +off. "Put it in the 'west barn.' You need not hurry. The Elder and I +will grind the scythes to-night." + +I climbed into the rack and rode out to the field, Asa driving and +Addison coming on behind, to rake after the cart. Jim and Halstead had +gone on ahead, to rick up the hay. + +"Two loads, wal, they won't be very large ones," Asa remarked. + +"What's the use to go twice?" I said. "I can load that hay all on at +once." + +Asa looked round at me, as I afterwards remembered, in a somewhat +peculiar manner, and I now imagine that both he and Addison at once +began plotting my abasement, and passed the "wink" to the others. + +"You couldn't do it," said Asa. + +I studied the amount of hay on the ground carefully for a moment or two, +reflected on the number of "tumbles" I had previously loaded, and then +foolishly offered to bet that, if they would pitch it slowly, I could +stow every straw of it on the rack at one load and ride the load into +the barn. I had forgotten that our orders were to put the hay in the +west barn, and that the great doors of that barn were not as large as +those of the south barn, the top-piece over them being but twelve feet +high. I did not once think of that! + +The others saw the trap which I was setting for myself, but kept quiet +and laid wagers against me. The more they wagered, the more eager I +became to try it, if they would not hurry me. + +Asa began slowly pitching on the hay to me. I laid the load broad and +long, and without any very great difficulty stowed the thirty-one +"tumbles." It was a large load but a shapely one. I was not a little +elated, and chaffed the Doanes considerably. They kept ominously quiet. + +We started for the barn, I riding in triumph on the load, and I did not +see the danger before me till we were close to the great doors. Asa did +not stop. + +"Haw, Buck! Huh, Line, up there!" he shouted, and drove fast. The +top-piece over the doors struck the load fully three feet down from the +top, scraping off about half a ton of hay and myself along with it. I +landed on the ground behind the cart outside of the doors, with all that +hay over me! The rest of the load went in, amidst shouts of laughter +from the others. + +I lay still under the hay, to hear what they would say. Then they all +came around and began to call to me. I kept quiet. Finding that I did +not move nor answer, they grew alarmed. The Old Squire and Elder were +seen coming. "Boys," says Asa, "I dunno but it's broke his neck!" With +that he and Jim seized their forks and began to dig for me so vigorously +that I was glad to shout, to keep from being impaled on the fork-tines. + +I crept out and rose to my feet a good deal rumpled, bareheaded and +shamefaced. + +The Doanes, Addison and Halse had been so frightened that they did not +now laugh much. The Elder looked at me with a curious expression; and +the Old Squire, who had begun to say something pretty sharp to Asa and +James (who certainly deserved a reprimand), regarded me at first with +some anxiety, which, however, rapidly gave place to a grim smile. +"Well, well, my son," said he, "you must live and learn." + +One afternoon later in the month, while we were getting the hay in the +Aunt Hannah meadow, a somewhat exciting incident occurred. Asa was +pitching on a load of the meadow hay and I loading, for I still kept my +liking for that part of the work and was allowed to do it, although it +was in reality too hard for me. The Old Squire was raking after the +cart, and the others were raking hay into windrows a little way off. As +we were putting on the last "tumble," or the last but one, a peculiar +kind of large fly, or bee, of which cattle are strangely afraid, came +buzzing about old Line, the off ox. The instant the ox heard that bee, +he snorted, uttered a bellow and started to run. The very sound of the +bee's hum seemed to render the oxen quite frantic. Almost at the outset +they ran the offwheel over a rick of logs, nearly throwing me headlong +from the load. I thrust my fork down deep and held to that, and away +went the load down the meadow, both oxen going at full speed, with Asa +vainly endeavoring to outrun them, and Gramp shouting, "Whoa-hish!" at +the top of his voice. We went on over stumps and through water-holes, +while the rest ran across lots, to head off the runaways. At one time I +was tumbling in the hay, then jounced high above it; and such a whooping +and shouting as rose on all sides had never before disturbed that +peaceful meadow, at least within historic times. + +Coming to a place where the brook made a broad bend partly across the +meadow, the oxen rushed blindly off the turfy bank, and landed, load and +all, in two or three feet of water and mud. When the load struck in the +brook, I went off, heels over head, and fell on the nigh ox's back. The +oxen were mired, and so was the load. We were obliged to get the horses +to haul the cattle out, and both the oxen and horses were required to +haul out the cart. Altogether, it was a very muddy episode; and though +rather startling while it lasted, we yet laughed a great deal over it +afterwards. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +APPLE-HOARDS + + +We heard a great deal concerning "Reconstruction" of the Union that +summer. The Old Squire was painfully concerned about it; he feared that +Congress had made mistakes which would nullify the results gained by the +Civil War. The low character of the men, sent to the South to administer +the government, revolted him. He used to bring his newspaper to the +table nearly every meal and would sometimes fling it down indignantly, +crying, "Wrong! wrong! all wrong!" Then he and Addison would discuss +current politics, while the rest of us listened, Theodora gravely, +Halstead scoffing, and I often very absently, for as a boy I had other +more trivial interests chiefly in mind. I recall that the old gentleman +used frequently to exclaim, "You boys must begin to read the +Constitution. Next after the Bible, the Constitution ought to be read in +every family in our land." + +I have to confess that at this particular time I was much less +interested in the Constitution than in the luscious fall apples out in +the orchard, and the rivalry to secure them. + +"Have you got a hoard?" was the question which, at about this time, +began to be whispered among us. + +At first the query was a novelty to me; my thoughts went back to a story +which I had once read concerning a horde of robbers on the steppes of +Central Asia. In this case, however, the thing referred to was a hoard +of early apples. I had gone to the Edwardses on some domestic errand; it +was directly after breakfast, and Thomas, who was putting a new tooth +in the "loafer rake," had set a fine, mellow "wine-sap," from which he +had taken a bite, on the shed sill beside him. "Got a pile of those +fellows in my hoard," he remarked, with a boastful wink. "Have you got a +hoard down at your house?" + +"Tom is always bragging about his hoard," said Catherine, who had come +to the kitchen door, to hear any news which I might have to impart. "He +thinks nobody can have a hoard but himself." + +"She's got one," Tom whispered to me, as Catherine turned away. "She's +awful sly about it, for fear I'll find it, and I think I know where it +is. I'll bet she has gone to it now," he added, taking another bite; and +jumping up, he peeped into the kitchen. "She _has_" he whispered to me. +"Come on, _still_; don't say a word and we will catch her." + +I remember feeling a certain faint sense of repugnance to engaging in a +hunt for Catherine's apple preserve; but I followed Tom around the +wood-shed, past a corn-crib, and then around to the north side of the +barn. + +"Now sneak along beside the stone wall here," said Tom. "Keep down. +Don't get in sight." + +We crawled along in cover of the stone wall and came down opposite the +garden and orchard. Tom then peeped stealthily over. + +"There she is!" he whispered, "right out there by the Isabella grape +trellis; keep still now, she's going back to the house. We'll find her +hoard." + +We searched about the grape trellis and over the entire garden for ten +minutes or more, but found no secret preserve of apples. + +As we returned to the wood-shed, Kate came out, smiling disdainfully. + +"Found it?" she asked us,--a question which I felt to be an embarrassing +one. With an air of triumph, she then displayed a fine yellow Sweet +Harvey. "Oh, don't you think you are cunning?" muttered Tom. "But I'll +find your hoard all the same." + +"Let me know when you do," replied Kate, with a provoking laugh. + +"Oh, you'll know when I find it," said Tom. "I'll take what there is in +it. That was all a blind--her going out to the grape-vine," he remarked +to me, as Kate turned away about her work. "She went down there on +purpose to fool us, and get us to hunt there for nothing." + +I went home quite fully informed in regard to the ethics of +apple-hoards. The code was simple; it consisted in keeping one's own +hoard undiscovered, and in finding and robbing those of others. + +"Have you got an apple-hoard?" I asked Addison, as soon as I reached +home. + +For all reply, he winked his left eye to me. + +"Doad's got one, too," he said, after I had had time to comprehend his +stealth. + +"You didn't tell me," I remarked. + +Addison laughed. "That would be great strategy!" he observed, +derisively, "to tell of it! But I only made mine day before yesterday. I +thought the early apples were beginning to get good enough to have a +hoard. I want to get a big stock on hand for September town-meeting," he +added. "I mean to carry a bushel or two, and peddle them out for a cent +apiece. The Old Squire put me up to that last year, and I made two +dollars and ninety cents. That's better than nothing." + +"Are you really contented here? Are you homesick, ever?" I asked him. + +"Well," replied Ad, judicially, after weighing my question a little, "it +isn't, of course, as it would have been with me if it had not been for +the War, and father had lived. I should be at school now and getting +ahead fast. But it is of no use to think of that; father and mother are +both in their graves, and here I am, same as you and Doad are. We have +got to make our way along somehow and get what education we can. It is +of no use to be discontented. We are lucky to have so good a place to go +to. I like here pretty well, for I like to be in the country better, on +the whole, than in the city. Things are sort of good and solid here. The +only drawback is that there isn't much chance to go to school; but after +this year, I hope to go to the Academy, down at the village, ten or +twelve weeks every season." + +"Then you mean to try to get an education?" I asked, for it looked to me +to be a vast undertaking. + +"I do," replied Addison, hopefully. "Father meant for me to go to +college, and I mean to go, even if I get to be twenty before I am fitted +to enter. I will not grow up an ignoramus. A man without education is a +nobody nowadays. But with a good education, a man can do almost +anything." + +"Halse doesn't talk that way," said I. + +"I presume to say he doesn't," replied Addison. "He and I do not think +alike." + +"But Theodora says that she means to go to school and study a great +deal, so as to do something which she has in mind, one of these days," I +went on to say. "Do you know what it is?" + +"Cannot say that I do," Addison replied, rather indifferently, as I +thought. + +"Oh, I suppose it is a good thing for girls to study and get educated," +Addison continued. "But I do not think it amounts to so much for them as +it does for boys." + +This, indeed, was an opinion far more common in 1866 than at the present +time. + +"Perhaps it is to be a teacher?" I conjectured. + +"Maybe," said Addison. + +But I was thinking of apple-hoards. There was a delightful proprietary +sense in the idea of owning one. It stimulated some latent propensity +to secretiveness, as also the inclination to play the freebooter in a +small way. + +This was the first time that I had ever had access to an orchard of +ripening fruit, and those "early trees" are well fixed in my youthful +recollections. Several of them stood immediately below the garden, along +the upper side of the orchard. First there was the "August Pippin" tree, +a great crotched tree, with a trunk as large round as a barrel. Somehow +such trees do not grow nowadays. + +The August Pippins began to ripen early in August. These apples were as +large as a teacup, bright canary yellow in color, mellow, a trifle tart, +and wonderfully fragrant. When the wind was right, I could smell those +pippins over in the corn-field, fifty rods distant from the orchard. I +even used to think that I could tell by the smell when an apple had +dropped off from the tree! + +Then there were the "August Sweets," which grew on four grafts, set into +an old "drying apple" tree. They were pale yellow apples, larger even +than the August Pippins, sweet, juicy and mellow. The old people called +them "Pear Sweets." + +Next were the "Sour Harvey," the "Sweet Harvey," and the "Mealy Sweet" +trees. The "Mealy Sweet" was not of much account; it was too dry, but +the Harveys were excellent. Some of the Sweet Harveys were almost as +sweet as honey; at least, I thought so then. + +Then there were the "Noyes Apple" and the "Hobbs Apple." The Noyes was a +deep-red, pleasant-sour apple, which ripened in the latter part of +August; the Hobbs was striped red and green, flattened in shape, but of +a fine, spicy flavor. + +The "sops-in-wines," as, I believe, the fruit men term them, but which +we called "wine-saps," were a pleasant-flavored apple, scarcely sweet, +yet hardly sour. A little later came the "Porters" and "Sweet +Greenings," also the "Nodheads" and the "Minute Apples," the +"Georgianas" and the "Gravensteins," and so on until the winter apples, +the principal product of the orchard, were reached. + +We began eating those early apples by the first of August, in spite of +all the terrible stories of colic which Gram told, in order to dissuade +us from making ourselves ill. As the Pippins and August Sweets began to +get mellow and palatable, we rivalled each other in the haste with which +we tumbled out of doors early in the morning, so as to capture, each for +himself or herself, the apples which had dropped from the trees +overnight. Every one of us soon had a private hoard in which to secrete +those apples which we did not eat at the time. There were numerous +contests in rapid dressing and in reckless racing down-stairs and out +into the orchard. + +Little Wealthy, on account of her youth, was, to some degree, exempted +from this ruthless looting. We all knew where her hoard was, but spared +it for a long time. She believed that she had placed it in a wonderfully +secret place, and because none of us seemed to discover it, she boasted +so much that Ellen and I plundered it one morning, before she was awake, +to give her a wholesome lesson in humility. + +A little later, just before the breakfast hour, Wealthy stole out to her +preserve--to find it empty. I never saw a child more mortified. She felt +so badly that she could scarcely eat breakfast, and her lip kept +quivering. The others laughed at her, and soon she left the table, and +no doubt shed tears in secret over her loss. + +After breakfast Ellen and I sought her out, and offered to give back the +apples that we had taken. The child was too proud, however, to obtain +them in such a way, and refused to touch one of them. + +No such clemency as had been shown to Wealthy was practised by any +one toward the others; no quarter was given or taken in the matter of +robbing hoards. For a month this looting went on, and was a great +contest of wits. + +[Illustration: THE EARLY APPLES.] + +Theodora's was the only hoard that escaped detection during the entire +summer and autumn. She had her apples hidden in an empty bee-hive, which +stood out in the garden under the "bee-shed" about midway in the row of +thirteen hives. The most of us were a little afraid of the bees, but +Theodora was one of those persons whom bees seem never to sting. She was +accustomed to care for them, and thus to be about the hives a great +deal. Not one of us happened to think of that empty bee-hive. The shed +and some lilac shrubs concealed the place from the house; and Doad went +unsuspected to and from the hive, which she kept filled with apples. We +spent hours in searching for her hoard, but did not learn where she had +concealed it until she told us herself, two years afterwards. + +Ellen had the worst fortune of us all. We found her hoard regularly +every few days. At first she hid it in the wagon-house, then up garret, +and afterward in the wood-shed; but no sooner would she accumulate a +little stock of apples than some one of us, who had spied on her goings +and comings, would rob her. Even Wealthy found Nell's hoard once, and +robbed it of nearly a half-bushel of apples. Nell always bore her losses +good-denature, and obtained satisfaction occasionally by plundering +Halse and me. + +I remember that my first hoard was placed in the very high, thick +"double" wall of the orchard. I loosened and removed a stone from the +orchard side of the wall, and then took out the small inside stones from +behind it until I had made a cavity sufficient to hold nearly a bushel. +Into this cavity I put my apples, and then fitted the outer stone back +into its place, thus making the wall look as if it had not been +disturbed. This device protected my apples for nearly a fortnight; but +at length Ellen, who was on my track, observed me disappear suspiciously +behind the wall one day, and an hour or two later took occasion to +reconnoiter the place where I had disappeared. + +She passed the hidden cavity several times, and would not have +discovered it, if she had not happened to smell the mellow August +Pippins of my hoard. Guided by the fragrance which they emitted, she +examined the wall more closely, and finally found the loose stone. When +I went to my preserve, after we had milked the cows that evening, I +found only the empty hole in the wall. + +I next essayed to conceal my hoard in the ground. In the side of a +knoll, screened from the house by the orchard wall and a thick nursery +of little apple trees, I secretly dug a hole which I lined with new +cedar shingles. For a lid to the orifice leading into it, I fitted a +sod. A little wild gooseberry bush overhung the spot, and I fancied that +I had my apples safely hidden. + +But never was self-confidence worse misplaced! It was a cloudy, wet +afternoon in which I had thus employed myself. Halse had gone fishing; +but Addison chanced to be up garret, reading over a pile of old +magazines, as was his habit on wet days. From the attic window he espied +the top of my straw hat bobbing up and down beyond the wall, and as he +read, he marked my operations. + +With cool, calculating shrewdness he remained quiet for three or four +days, till I had my new hoard well stocked with "Sweet Harveys," then +made a descent upon it and cleared it out. Next morning, when, with +great stealth and caution, I had stolen to the place, I found my +miniature cavern empty except for a bit of paper, on which, with a +lead-pencil, had been hastily inscribed the following tantalizing bit of +doggerel: + + "He hid his hoard in the ground + And thought it couldn't be found; + But forgot, as indeed he should not, + That the attic window overlooked the spot." + +For about three minutes I felt very angry, then I managed to summon a +grin, along with a resolve to get even with Addison--for I recognized +his handwriting--by plundering his hoard, if by any amount of searching +it were possible to find it. Addison was supposed to have the best and +biggest hoard of all, and thus far none of us had got even an inkling as +to where it was hidden. + +I watched him as a cat might watch a mouse for two days, and made pretty +sure that he did not go to his hoard in the daytime. Then I bethought +myself that he always had a pocketful of apples every morning, and +concluded that he must visit his preserve sometime "between days," most +likely directly after he appeared to retire to his room at night. + +So on the following night I lay awake and listened. After about half an +hour of silence, I heard the door of his room open softly. With equal +softness I stole out, and followed Addison through the open chamber of +the ell, down a flight of stairs into the wagon-house, and then down +another flight into the carriage-house cellar. + +He had a lamp in his hand. When he entered the cellar the door closed +after him, so that I did not dare go farther. I went back into the +chamber, concealing myself, and waited to observe his return. He soon +made his appearance, eating an apple; there was a smile on his face, and +his pockets were protuberant. + +Next day I proceeded to search the wagon-house cellar, but for some time +my search was in vain. + +There was in the cellar a large box-stove, into which I had often +looked, but had seen only a mass of old brown paper and corn-husks. On +this day I went to the stove and pulled out the rubbish, when lo! in +the farther end I saw three salt boxes, all full of Pippins and August +Sweetings. + +I was not long in emptying those boxes, but I wanted to leave in the +place of the apples a particularly exasperating bit of rhyme. I studied +and rhymed all that forenoon, and at last, with much mental travail, I +got out the following skit, which I left in the topmost box: + + "He was a cunning cove + Who hid his hoard in the stove; + And he was so awful bright + That he went to it only by night. + But there was still another fellow + Whose head was not always on his pillow." + +I knew by the sickly grin on Ad's face when we went out to milk the cows +next morning that my first effort at poetry had nauseated him; he could +not hold his head up all day, to look me in the face, without the same, +sheepish, sick look. + +Where to put my next hoard was a question over which I pondered long. I +tried the hay-mow and several old sleighs set away for the summer, but +Addison was now on my trail and speedily relieved me of my savings. + +There were many obstacles to the successful concealment of apples. If I +were to choose an unfrequented spot, the others, who were always on the +lookout, would be sure to spy out my goings to and fro. It was +necessary, I found, that the hoard should be placed where I could visit +it as I went about my ordinary business, without exciting suspicion. + +We had often to go into the granary after oats and meal, and the place +that I at last hit on was a large bin of oats. I put my apples in a bag, +and buried them to a depth of over two feet in the oats in one corner of +the bin. I knew that Addison and Halse would look among the oats, but I +did not believe that they would dig deeply enough to find the apples, +and my confidence was justified. + +It was a considerable task to get at my hoard to put apples into it, or +to get them out; but the sense of exultation which I felt, as days and +weeks passed and my hoard remained safe, amply repaid me. I was +particularly pleased when I saw from the appearance of the oats that +they had been repeatedly dug over. + +As I had to go to the granary every night and morning for corn, or oats, +I had an opportunity to visit my store without roundabout journeys or +suspicious trips, which my numerous and vigilant enemies would have been +certain to note. + +The hay-mow was Halse's hoarding-place throughout the season, and +although I was never but once able to find his preserve, Addison could +always discover it whenever he deemed it worth while to make the search. + +To ensure fair play with the early apples, the Old Squire had made a +rule that none of us should shake the trees, or knock off apples with +poles or clubs. So we all had equal chances to secure those apples which +fell off, and the prospect of finding them beneath the trees was a great +premium on early rising in the months of August and September. + +I will go on in advance of my story proper to relate a queer incident +which happened in connection with those early apples and our rivalry to +get them, the following year. The August Sweeting tree stood apart from +the other trees, near the wall between the orchard and the field, so +that fully half of the apples that dropped from it fell into the field +instead of into the orchard. + +We began to notice early in August that no apples seemed to drop off in +the night on the field side of the wall. + +For a long time every one of us supposed that some of the others had +got out ahead of the rest and picked them up. But one morning Addison +mentioned the circumstance at the breakfast table, as being rather +singular; and when we came to compare notes, it transpired that none of +us had been getting any apples, mornings, on the field side of the wall. + +"Somebody's hooking those apples, then!" exclaimed Addison. "Now who can +it be?" For we all knew that a good many apples must fall into the +field. + +"I'll bet it's Alf Batchelder!" Halse exclaimed. But it did not seem +likely that Alfred would come a mile, in the night, to "hook" a few +August Sweets, when he had plenty of apples at home. + +Nor could we think of any one among our young neighbors who would be +likely to come constantly to take the apples, although any one of them +in passing might help himself, for fall apples were regarded much as +common property in our neighborhood. + +Yet every morning, while there would be a peck or more of Sweetings on +the orchard side of the wall, scarcely an apple would be found in the +field. + +Addison confessed that he could not understand the matter; Theodora also +thought it a very mysterious thing. The oddity of the circumstance +seemed to make a great impression on her mind. At last she declared that +she was determined to know what became of those Sweets, and asked me to +sit up with her one night and watch, as she thought it would be too dark +and lonesome an undertaking to watch alone. + +I agreed to get up at two o'clock on the following morning, if she would +call me, for we wisely concluded that the pilferer came early in the +morning, rather than early in the night, else many apples would have +fallen off into the field after his visit, and have been found by us in +our early visits. + +I did not half believe that Theodora would wake in time to carry out +our plan, but at half-past two she knocked softly at the door of my +room. I hastily dressed, and each of us put on an old Army over-coat, +for the morning was foggy and chilly. It was still very dark. We went +out into the garden, felt our way along to a point near the August +Sweeting tree, and sat down on two old squash-bug boxes under the +trellis of a Concord grape-vine, which made a thick shelter and a +complete hiding-place. + +For a mortal long while we sat there and watched and listened in +silence, not wishing to talk, lest the rogue whom we were trying to +surprise should overhear us. At intervals Theodora gave me a pinch, to +make sure that I was not asleep. An hour passed, but it was still dark +when suddenly we heard, on the other side of the wall, a slight noise +resembling the sound of footsteps. + +Instantly Doad shook my arm. "Sh!" she breathed. "Some one's come! Creep +along and peep over." + +I stole to the wall, and then, rising, slowly parted the vine leaves, +and tried to see what it was there. Presently I discerned one, then +another dim object on the ground beyond the wall. They were creeping +about, and I could plainly hear them munch the apples. + +Then Theodora peeped. "It's two little bears, I believe," she breathed +in my ear, with her lightest whisper, yet in considerable excitement. +"What shall we do?" + +I peeped again. If bears, they were very little ones. + +I mustered my courage. As a weapon I had brought an old pitchfork +handle. Scrambling suddenly over the wall, I uttered a shout, and the +dark objects scudded away across the field, making a great scurry over +the stubble of the wheat-field, but they were not very fleet. I came up +with one of them after a hundred yards' chase, when it suddenly turned +and faced me with a strange loud squeak! Drawing back, I belabored it +with my fork handle until the creature lay helpless, quite dead, in +fact. + +Theodora came after me in alarm. "Oh, my, you have killed it!" she +exclaimed. "What can it be?" + +I put my hand cautiously down upon its hair, which was coarser than +bristles and sharp-pointed. Turning the body over with the fork handle, +I found that it was really heavy. + +We could not, in the darkness, even guess what the animal was, and went +back to the house much mystified. The Old Squire had just arisen, and we +told him the story of our early vigil. "Wood-chucks, I guess," was his +comment, but we knew that they were not wood-chucks. Addison was then +called up, to get his opinion, and when told of the animal's exceedingly +coarse, sharp-pointed hair, he exclaimed, "I know what it is! It's a +hedgehog!" + +He bustled around, got on his boots, and went out into the field with +me. It was now light, and he had no sooner bent down over it than he +pronounced it to be a hedgehog fast enough, or rather a Canada +porcupine. Its weight was over thirty pounds, and some of the quills on +its back were four or five inches in length, with needle-like, finely +barbed points. + +The other hedgehog escaped to the woods, and did not again trouble us. +The next summer the August Sweetings that fell into the field from the +same tree were quite as mysteriously taken at night by a cosset sheep, +which for more than a fortnight escaped nightly from the farm-yard, and +returned thither of its own accord after it had stolen the apples. Again +Theodora and I watched for the pilferer, and captured the cunning +creature in the act. + +During that first year at the farm, the old folks did not pay much +attention to our apple-hoards, but by the time our contests were under +way the second season, they, too, caught the contagion of it, from +hearing us talk so much about it at the breakfast table. At first the +Old Squire merely dropped some remarks to the effect that, when he was a +boy, he could have hidden a hoard where nobody could find it. + +"Well, sir, we would like to see you do it!" cried Halse. + +The old gentleman did not say at the time that he would, or would not, +attempt such an exploit. Moved by Ellen's serio-comic lamentations over +her losses, Gram also insinuated that she knew of places in the house in +which she could make a hoard that would be hard for us to find; but the +girls declared that they would like to see her try to hide a hoard away +from them. + +Not many days after these conversations had occurred, the Old Squire +rather ostentatiously took a very fine August Pippin from his pocket, as +we were gathering round the breakfast table, and, after thumbing it +approvingly, set it beside his plate, remarking, incidentally, that if +one wanted his apples to ripen well, and have just the right flavor, it +was necessary that he should place his hoard in some dry, clean, +perfectly sweet place. + +Of course we were not long in taking so broad a hint as that. Several +sly nudges and winks went around the table. + +"He's got one!" Addison whispered to me, as Gram poured the coffee, and +from that time the Old Squire, in all his goings and comings, was a +marked man. He had thrown down a challenge to us, and we were determined +to prove that we were as smart as he had been in his youthful days. But +for more than a week we were unable to gain the slightest hint as to +where his preserve was situated. Meantime Gram had also begun to place a +nice August Sweet beside her own plate every morning, as she glanced +with a twinkle in her eye over to the Old Squire. + +We rummaged everywhere that week, and even forgot to carry on mutual +injury and reprisal, in our desire to humble the pride of our elders. +We even bethought ourselves of the words "perfectly sweet," which the +old gentleman had used in connection with hoards, and looked in the +sugar barrel, but quite in vain. Yet all the while we were daily going +by the place where the Old Squire's hoard was concealed; passing so near +it that we might have laid hands on it without stepping out of our way, +for it was in the wood-house beside the walk which led past the tiered +up stove wood into the wagon-house and stable. + +Ten or twelve cords of wood, sawed short and split, had been piled +loosely into the back part of the wood-house, but in front of this loose +pile, and next the plank walk, the wood had been tiered up evenly and +closely to a height of ten feet. The Old Squire managed to pull from +this tier, at a height of about four feet, a good-sized block, and then, +reaching in behind it, had made a considerable cavity. Here he deposited +his apples, replacing the block, which fitted to its place in the tier +so well that the woodpile appeared as if it had not been disturbed. +Shrewdly mindful of the fact that our keen nostrils might smell out his +preserve, he cunningly set an old pan with a few refuse pippins in it on +a bench close beside the place. + +Gram's hoard was hidden, with equal cunning, in the "yarn cupboard," +where were kept the woollen balls and yarn hanks, used in darning and +knitting,--a small, high cupboard, with a little panel door, set in the +wall of the sitting-room next to the fireplace and chimney. The bottom +of this cupboard was formed of one broad piece of pine board, which +seemed to be nailed down hard and fast; but the old lady, who knew that +this board was loose, had raised it and kept her apples in a yarn-ball +basket beneath it. + +She often had occasion to go to the cupboard to get or replace her +knitting, and for a long time none of the girls suspected her +hiding-place. The plain fact was that those girls, as a rule, steered +clear of the yarn cupboard, for they none of them very much liked to +knit or darn. But at last Ellen happened to go to it one day for a +darning-needle, and smelled the apples. Even then she could not discover +the hoard, but she went in search of Theodora, who penetrated the secret +of the loose bottom board. + +They came with great glee to tell us of their discovery, and we were +thereby stimulated to renewed efforts to unearth the Old Squire's +preserve. The girls promised to say nothing of their discovery for a day +or two, and at Ellen's suggestion we agreed that if we could find +Gramp's hoard, we would rob both hoarding-places at once and have the +laugh on them both at the same time. + +We had watched the Old Squire closely, and felt sure that he did not go +to his hoard at any time during the day. As he was an early riser, it +seemed probable to us that he did his apple-hoarding before we were +astir. Addison and I accordingly agreed to get up at three o'clock the +following morning and secretly watch all his movements. By a great +effort we rose long before light, and dressing, stole out through the +wood-house chamber and down the wagon-house stairs into the stable. Here +I concealed myself behind an old sleigh, while Addison went back into +the wood-house and posted himself on the high tier of wood that fronted +on the passageway, lying there in such a posture that he could get a +peep of the long walk. + +It had hardly begun to grow light, when we heard the old gentleman astir +in the kitchen. Presently he came out through the stable and fed the +horses, then returned. As he went back through the wood-house, he +stopped on the walk beside the high tier of wood on which Addison lay. +After listening and looking about him, he removed the block of wood, +took out a fine pippin from his hoard, and carefully replaced the +block. + +This amused Ad so greatly that he nearly shook the tier of wood down in +his efforts to repress laughter, and after the old gentleman had gone +into the house, he came tiptoeing out into the stable to tell me, with +much elation, what he had seen. + +During the forenoon we examined the hoard and told the girls about it. +We arranged to rob both the old folks' hoards late that evening, and +fill our own with the plunder. To emphasize the exploit, we agreed to +take some of the largest apples to the breakfast-table next morning. We +fancied that when the old folks saw those apples, and found out where we +got them, they would think there were young people living nearly as +bright as those of fifty years ago. + +Theodora did not really promise that she would assist in the scheme, but +she laughed a good deal over it, and seemed to concur with the rest of +us. + +That evening as soon as the old folks had retired and the house had +become quiet, Addison and I cleared out the Old Squire's preserve; and, +meantime, Ellen and Theodora had slipped down-stairs into the +sitting-room and emptied Gram's hoard in the yarn cupboard. We met out +in the garden and divided the spoils; then not liking to trust each +other to go directly to our respective hoards, we deposited our shares +of the plunder in three different boxes in the wagon-house, and looked +forward with no little zest to the fun next morning at the +breakfast-table. + +But on visiting the boxes next morning, they were all empty! Some one +had made a clean sweep. Not an apple was left in them! Addison and I +were astounded when we compared notes a few minutes before breakfast. +"Who on earth could have done it?" he whispered, after he found out that +I was not the traitor. + +We hurried to the wood-house and peeped into the Old Squire's +hoarding-place. It was brimful of apples! A light began to dawn upon us. +Had the old gentleman watched our performance on the previous evening +and outwitted us all? It looked so, for on going in to breakfast, there +beside the plates of each of the old folks stood a great nappy dish, +heaped full of choice Pippins and Sweets! Addison stole a look around +and then dropped his eyes; I did the same, while Ellen looked equally +amazed and disconcerted. Theodora, too, remained very quiet. + +We concluded that our elders had completely outdone us, and that they +were enjoying their victory in a manner intended to convey their +ironical appreciation of our small effort to rob them. The more we +considered the matter, the more sheepish we felt. + +"These are charming good pippins, aren't they, Ruth?" said the old +gentleman to Gram. + +"Charming," answered she. + +Addison gave me a punch under the table, as if to say, "Now they are +giving us the laugh." + +"And I'm sure we're much obliged for them," the Old Squire continued. + +"Indeed, we are obliged," said Gram. + +Their remarks seemed to me a little odd, but I didn't look up. + +Not another word was spoken at the table, but afterwards Addison and +Ellen and I got together in the garden and mutually agreed that we had +been badly beaten at our own game. + +"They are too old and long-headed for us to meddle with," said Addison. +"I cannot even imagine how they did it. I guess we had better let their +hoards alone in the future." None the less we could not help thinking +that there had been something a little queer about our defeat. + +It was nearly two years later before the truth about that night's frolic +came to light. Theodora did it. She could not bear to have the old folks +beaten and humiliated by us, for whom they were doing so much. After we +had robbed their hoarding-places, she sallied forth again and took all +of our shares as well as her own, and then having replenished the looted +hoarding-places, she filled the two nappy dishes from her own hoard and +set them beside their plates. + +The best part of the joke was that the Old Squire and Gram never knew +that they had been robbed, and thought only that we had made them a +present of some excellent apples. When Theodora saw how chagrined the +rest of us were, she kept the whole matter a secret. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +DOG DAYS, GRAIN HARVEST, AND A TRULY LUCRETIAN TEMPEST + + +After haying came grain harvest. There were three acres of wheat, four +of oats, an acre of barley, an acre of buckwheat and an acre and +three-fourths of rye to get in. The rye, however, had been harvested +during the last week of haying. It ripened early, for it was the Old +Squire's custom to sow his rye very early in the spring. The first work +which we did on the land, after the snow melted, was to plough and +harrow for rye. With the rye we always sowed clover and herdsgrass seed +for a hay crop the following year. This we termed "seeding down;" and +the Old Squire liked rye the best of all grain crops for this purpose. +"Grass seed 'catches' better with rye than oats, or barley, or even +wheat," he was accustomed to say. + +When we harvested the grain, he would be seen peering into the stubble +with an observant eye, and would then be heard to say, "A pretty good +'catch' this year," or, "It hasn't 'caught' worth a cent." + +It was not on more than half the years that we secured a fair wheat +crop. Maine is not a State wholly favorable for wheat; yet the Old +Squire persisted in sowing it, year by year, although Addison often +demonstrated to him that oats were more profitable and could be +exchanged for flour. "But a farmer ought to raise his bread-stuff," the +old gentleman would rejoin stoutly. "How do we know, too, that some +calamity may not cut off the Western wheat crop; then where should we +be?" + +It is a pity, perhaps, that Eastern farmers do not generally display the +same independent spirit. + +But the Old Squire himself finally gave up wheat raising. Gram and the +girls found fault with our Maine grown wheat flour, because the bread +from it was not very white and did not "rise" well. The neighbors had +Western flour and their bread was white and light, while ours was darker +colored and sometimes heavy, in spite of their best efforts. + +No farmer can hold out long against such indoor repinings, but the Old +Squire never came to look with favor on Western flour; he admitted that +it made whiter bread, but he always declared that it was not as +wholesome! The fact was that it seemed to him to be an unfarmerlike +proceeding, to buy his flour. For the same reason he would never buy +Western corn for his cattle. + +"When I cannot raise fodder enough for my stock, I'll quit farming," he +would exclaim, when his neighbors told him of the corn they were buying. +As a matter of fact, the old gentleman lived to see a good many of his +neighbors' farms under mortgage, and held a number of these papers +himself. It was not a wholly propitious day for New England farmers when +they began buying Western corn, on the theory that they could buy it +cheaper than they could raise it themselves. The net result has been +that their profits have often gone West, or into the pockets of the +railway companies which draw the corn to them. + +Another drawback to wheat raising in Maine is the uncertain weather at +harvest time. Despite our shrewdest inspection of the weather signs, the +wheat as well as the other grain would often get wet in the field, and +sometimes it would lie wet so long as to sprout. Sprouted wheat flour +makes a kind of bread which drives the housewife to despair. + +"Oh, this dog-days weather!" the Old Squire would exclaim, as the grain +lay wet in the field, day after day, or when an August shower came +rumbling over the mountains just as we were raking it up into windrows +and tumbles. + +I had never heard of "dog days" before and was curious to know what sort +of days they were. "They set in," the Old Squire informed me, "on the +twenty-fifth of July and last till the fifth of September. Then is when +the Dog-star rages, and it is apt to be 'catching' weather. Dogs are +more liable to run mad at this time of year, and snakes are most +venomous then." Such is the olden lore, and I gained an impression that +those forty-two days were after a manner unhealthy for man and beast. + +Near the middle of August that summer there came the most terrific +thunder shower which I had ever witnessed. Halse, Addison and Asa Doane +had mowed the acre of barley that morning, and after dinner we three +boys went out into the field to turn the swaths, for the sun had been +very hot all day. It was while thus employed that we saw the shower +rising over the mountains to the westward and soon heard the thunder. It +rose rapidly, and the clouds took on, as they rolled upward, a peculiar +black, greenish tint. + +It was such a tempest as Lucretius describes when he says,-- + +"So dire and terrible is the aspect of Heaven, that one might think all +the Darkness had left Acheron, to be poured out across the sky, as the +drear gloom of the storm collects and the Tempest, forging loud +thunderbolts, bends down its black face of terror over the affrighted +earth." + +Gramp called us in, to carry a few cocks of late-made hay into the barn +from the orchard, and then bade us shut all the barn doors and make +things snug. "For there's a tremendous shower coming, boys," he said. +"There's hail in those clouds." + +We ran to do as he advised, and had no more than taken these +precautions when the shower struck. Such awful thunder and such bright, +vengeful lightning had, the people of the vicinity declared, never been +observed in that town, previously. A bolt came down one of the large +Balm o' Gilead trees near the house, and the thunder peal was absolutely +deafening. Wealthy hid herself in the parlor clothes-closet, and Gram +sat with her hands folded in the middle of the sitting-room. Just before +the clouds burst, it was so dark in the house that we could scarcely see +each others' faces. A moment later the lightning struck a large +butternut tree near the calf-pasture wall, across the south field, +shivering it so completely that nearly all the top fell; the trunk, too, +was split open from the heart. + +In fact, the terrific flashes and peals indicated that the lightning was +descending to the earth all about us. Two barns were struck and burned +in the school district adjoining ours. Rain then fell in sheets, and +also hail, which cut the garden vegetables to strings and broke a number +of windows. This tempest lasted for nearly an hour, and prostrated the +corn and standing grain very badly. An apple tree was also up-rooted, +for there was violent wind as well as lightning and thunder. + +Next morning we were obliged to leave our farm work and repair the roads +throughout that highway district, for the shower had gullied the hills +almost beyond belief. Altogether it had done a great amount of damage on +every hand. + +At supper that night, after returning from work on the highway, the Old +Squire suddenly asked whether any of us had seen the colts, in the +pasture beyond the west field, that day. + +No one remembered having seen them since the shower, though we generally +noticed them running around the pasture every day. There were three of +them, two bays and a black one. The two former were the property of men +in the village, but Black Hawk, as we called him, belonged to us. + +"After supper, you had better go see where they are," the Old Squire +said to us. + +Addison and I set off accordingly. The pasture was partly cleared, with +here and there a pine stub left standing, and was of about twenty acres +extent. We went up across it to the top of the hill, but could not find +the colts. Then we walked around by the farther fence, but discovered no +breach in it and no traces where truant hoofs had jumped over it. It was +growing dark, and we at length went home to report our ill-success. + +"Strange!" the Old Squire said. "We must look them up." But no further +search was made that night. + +"Is that a hawk?" Halstead said to me, while he and I were out milking a +little before sunrise next morning. "Don't you see it? Sailing round +over the colt pasture. Too big for a hawk, isn't it?" + +A large bird was wheeling slowly above the pasture, moving in lofty +circles, on motionless wings. + +"I'll bet that's an eagle!" Halse cried. "Can't be a hawk. We couldn't +see a hawk so far off." + +Suddenly the bird seemed to pause on wing a moment, then descended +through the air and disappeared just over the crest of the ridge. +Perhaps it was fancy, but we thought we heard the roar of its wings. + +"Came down by that high stub!" exclaimed Halstead. "Pounced upon +something there! I'll run in and get the shotgun. The folks aren't up +yet. We'll go over. Perhaps we can get a shot at it." + +Addison had gone on an errand to the Corners that morning. Halstead got +the gun, and setting down our milk pails, we ran across the field, and +so onward to the pasture. "'Twas near that stub," whispered Halse, as we +began to see the top of it over the crest of the ridge. We peeped over. +Down in the hollow at the foot of the stub was the great bird, flapping +and tugging at something--one, two, three animals, lying stretched out +on the ground! The sight gave us a sudden shock. + +"The colts!" exclaimed Halse, forgetting the eagle. "Dead!" + +The big bird raised its head, then rose into the air with mighty flaps +and sailed away. We watched it glide off along the ridge, and saw it +alight in an oak, the branches of which bent and swayed beneath its +weight. + +"All dead!" cried Halstead, gazing around. "Isn't that hard!" + +The eagle had been tearing at their tongues, which protruded as they lay +on the ground. There was a strong odor from the carcasses. + +"Been dead some time," Halse exclaimed. "What killed them?" + +We examined them attentively. Not the slightest mark, nor wound, could +be detected. But a lot of fresh splinters lay at the foot of the pine +stub, close by them. + +"Must have been lightning," I said, glancing up. "That's just what it +was! They were struck during that big shower." + +We went to the house with the unwelcome tidings. At first the folks +would scarcely believe our account. Then there were rueful looks. + +"Ah, those pine stubs ought to have been cut down," exclaimed the Old +Squire. "Dangerous things to be left standing in pastures!" + +Later in the day we took shovels and went to the pasture, with Asa +Doane, to bury the dead animals. While this was going on, the eagle came +back and sailed about, high overhead. + +"Leave one carcass above ground," said Asa. "That old chap will light +here again. You can shoot him then, or catch him in a trap." + +So we left Black Hawk unburied, and bringing over an old fox-trap, +fastened a large stick of wood to it and set it near. During the day we +saw the eagle hovering about the spot, also a great flock of crows, +cawing noisily, and next morning when we went over to see if any of them +had got into the trap, both trap and stick were gone. + +"Must have been the eagle," said Addison. "A crow could never have +carried off that trap!" But as neither trap nor eagle was anywhere in +sight, we concluded that we had lost the game. + +Several days passed, when one morning we heard a pow-wow of crows down +in the valley beyond the Little Sea. A flock of them were circling about +a tree-top, charging into it. + +"Owl, or else a raccoon, I guess," said Addison. "Crows are always +hectoring owls and 'coons whenever they happen to spy one out by day." + +Thinking that perhaps we might get a 'coon, we took the gun and went +down there. But on coming near, instead of a raccoon, lo! there was our +lost eagle, perched in the tree-top, with a hundred crows scolding and +flapping him. He saw us, and started up as if to fly off, but fell back, +and we heard a chain clank. + +"Hard and fast in that trap!" exclaimed Addison. The stick and trap had +caught among the branches. The big bird was a prisoner. We wished to +take him alive, but to climb a tall basswood, and bring down an eagle +strong enough to carry off a twelve-pound clog and trap, was not a feat +to be rashly undertaken. Addison was obliged to shoot the bird before +climbing after him. It was a fine, fierce-looking eagle, measuring +nearly six feet from tip to tip of its wings. Its beak was hooked and +very strong, and its claws an inch and a half long, curved and +exceedingly sharp. + +Addison deemed it a great prize, for it was not a common bald eagle, +but a much darker bird. After reading his Audubon, he pronounced it a +Golden Eagle and wrote a letter describing its capture, which was +published in several New York papers. Gramp gave him all the following +day to "mount" the eagle as a specimen. In point of fact, he was nearer +three days preparing it. It looked very well when he had it done. I +remember only that its legs were feathered down to the feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +CEDAR BROOMS AND A NOBLE STRING OF TROUT + + +It was a part of Gram's household creed, that the wood-house and +carriage-house could be properly swept only with a cedar broom. Brooms +made of cedar boughs, bound to a broom-stick with a gray tow string, +were the kind in use when she and Gramp began life together; and +although she had accepted corn brooms in due course, for house work, the +cedar broom still held a warm corner in her heart. "A nice new cedar +broom is the best thing in the world to take up all the dust and to +brush out all the nooks and corners," she used to say to Theodora and +Ellen; and when, at stated intervals, it became necessary, in her +opinion, to clean the wood-house and other out-buildings, or the cellar, +she would generally preface the announcement by saying to them at the +breakfast table, "You must get me some broom-stuff, to-day, some of that +green cedar down in the swamp below the pasture. I want enough for two +or three brooms. Sprig off a good lot of it and get the sprigs of a size +to tie on good." + +The girls liked the trip, for it gave them an opportunity to gather +checkerberries, pull "young ivies," search for "twin sisters" and see +the woods, birds and squirrels, with a chance of espying an owl in the +swamp, or a hawk's nest in some big tree; or perhaps a rabbit, or a mink +along the brook. + +If they could contrive to get word of their trip to Catherine Edwards +and she could find time to accompany them, so much the more pleasant; +for Catherine was better acquainted with the woods and possessed that +practical knowledge of all rural matters which only a bright girl, bred +in the country with a taste for rambling about, ever acquires. + +A morning proclamation to gather broom-stuff having been issued at about +this time, the three girls set off an hour or two after dinner for the +east pasture; Mrs. Edwards, who was a very kind, easy-going woman, +nearly always allowed Catherine to accompany our girls. Kate, in fact, +did about as she liked at home, not from indulgence on the part of her +mother so much as from being a leading spirit in the household. She was +very quick at work; and her mother, instead of having to prompt her, +generally found her going ahead, hurrying about to get everything done +early in the day. Then, too, she was quick-witted and knew how to take +care of herself when out from home. Mrs. Edwards always appeared to +treat Kate more as an equal than a daughter. There are children who are +spoiled if allowed to have their own way, and others who can be trusted +to take their own way without the least danger of injury, and whom it is +but an ill-natured exercise of authority to restrict to rules. + +The Old Squire was breaking greensward in the south field that afternoon +with Addison and Halse driving the team which consisted of a yoke of +oxen and two yokes of steers, the latter not as yet very well "broken" +to work. My inexperienced services were not required; but to keep me out +of hurtful idleness, the old gentleman bade me pick up four heaps of +stones on a stubble field near the east pasture wall. It was a kind of +work which I did not enjoy very well, and I therefore set about it with +a will to get it done as soon as possible. + +I had nearly completed the fourth not very large stone pile, when I +heard one of the girls calling me from down in the pasture, below the +field. It was Ellen. She came hurriedly up nearer the wall. "Run to the +house and get Addison's fish-hook and line and something for bait!" she +exclaimed. "For there is the greatest lot of trout over at the Foy +mill-pond you ever saw! There's more than fifty of them. Such great +ones!" + +"Why, how came you to go over there?" said I; for the Foy mill-pond was +fully a mile distant, in a lonely place where formerly a saw-mill had +stood, and where an old stone dam still held back a pond of perhaps four +acres in extent. The ruins of the mill with several broken wheels and +other gear were lying on the ledges below the dam; and two curiously +gnarled trees overhung the bed of the hollow-gurgling stream. Alders had +now grown up around the pond; and there were said to be some very large +water snakes living in the chinks of the old dam. It was one of those +ponds the shores of which are much infested by dragon-flies, or "devil's +darn-needles," as they are called by country boys,--the legend being +that with their long stiff bodies, used as darning needles, they have a +mission, to sew up the mouths of those who tell falsehoods. + +"Oh, Kate wanted to go," replied Ellen. "We went by the old logging road +through the woods from the cedar swamp. She thought we would see a +turtle on that sand bank across from the old dam, if we sat down quietly +and waited awhile. The turtles sometimes come out on that sand bank to +sun themselves, she said. So we went over and sat down, very still, in +the little path at the top of the dam wall. The sun shone down into the +water. We could see the bottom of the pond for a long way out. Kate was +watching the sand bank: and so was I; but after a minute or two, +Theodora whispered, 'Only see those big fish!' Then we looked down into +the water and saw them, great lovely fish with spots of red on their +sides, swimming slowly along, all together, circling around the foot of +the pond as if they were exploring. Oh, how pretty they looked as they +turned; for they kept together and then swam off up the pond again. + +"Kate whispered that they were trout. 'But I never saw so many,' she +said, 'nor such large ones before; and I never heard Tom nor any of the +boys say there were trout here.' + +"We thought they had gone perhaps and would not come again," Ellen +continued. "But in about ten minutes they all came circling back down +the other shore of the pond, keeping in a school together just as when +we first saw them. We sat and watched them till they came around the +third time, and then Kate said, 'One of us must run home and tell the +boys to come with their hooks.' I said that I would go, and I've run +almost all the way. Now hurry. I'll rest here till you come. Then we +will scamper back." + +In a corner of the vegetable garden where I had dug horse-radish a few +mornings before, I had seen some exceedingly plethoric angle-worms; and +after running to the wood-house and securing a fish-hook, pole and line +which Addison kept there, ready strung, I seized an old tin quart, and +going to the garden, with a few deep thrusts of the shovel, turned out a +score or two of those great pale-purple, wriggling worms. These I as +hastily hustled into the quart along with a pint or more of the dirt, +then snatching up my pole, ran down to the field where Nell was waiting +for me, seated on one of my lately piled stone heaps. + +"Come, hurry now," said she; and away we went over the wall and through +brakes and bushes, down into the swamp, and then along the old road in +the woods, till we came out at the high conical knoll, covered with +sapling pines, to the left of the old mill dam. There we espied Kate and +Theodora sitting quietly on a log. + +"Oh, we thought that you never would come," said the former in a low +tone. "But creep along here. Don't make a noise. They've come around six +times, Ellen, since you went away. I never saw trout do so before. I +believe they are lost and are exploring, or looking for some way out of +this pond. I guess they came down out of North Pond along the Foy Brook; +for they are too large for brook trout. They will be back here in a few +minutes, again. Now bait the hook and drop in before they come back. +Then sit still, and when they come, just move the bait a little and I +think you'll get a bite." + +I followed this advice and sat for some minutes, dangling a big +angle-worm out in the deep water, off the inner wall of the dam, while +my three companions watched the water. Presently Theodora whispered that +they were coming again; and then I saw what was, indeed, from a +piscatorial point of view, a rare spectacle. First the water waved deep +down, near the bottom, and seemed filled with dark moving objects, +showing here and there the sheen of light brown and a glimmer of +flashing red specks, as the sunlight fell in among them. For an instant +I was so intent on the sight, that I quite forgot my hook. "Bob it now," +whispered Kate, excitedly. + +I had scarcely given my hook a bob up and down when, with a grand rush +and snap, a big trout grabbed worm, hook and all. Instinctively I gave a +great yank and swung him heavily out of the water, my pole bending half +double. The trout was securely hooked, or I should have lost him, for he +fell first on some drift logs and slid down betwixt them into the water +again. Seizing the line in my hands, since the pole was too light for +the fish, I contrived to lift him up and land him high and dry on the +dam, close at the feet of the girls. + +"Well done!" Theodora whispered. "Oh, isn't he a noble great one, and +how like sport he jumps about! Too bad to take his life when he's so +handsome and was having such a good time among his mates!" + +"Unhook him quick and throw in again!" cried Kate. "Be careful he don't +snap your fingers. He's got sharp teeth. Don't let him leap into the +water. That's good! We'll keep him behind this log. Now bait again with +a good new worm." + +"But they've gone," said Theodora. "They darted away when you pulled +this one out. It scared them." + +I had experienced some difficulty in disengaging my hook from the +trout's jaw, but at length put on another worm and dropped in again, not +a little excited over my catch. + +"I'm afraid they will not come around again," said Ellen. Kate, too, +thought it doubtful whether we would see anything more of the school. "I +guess they will beat a retreat up to North Pond," said she. + +We sat quietly waiting for eight or ten minutes and were losing hope +fast, when lo! there they all came again--swimming evenly around the +foot of the pond in the deep part, as before, winnowing the water slowly +with their fins. + +Again I waited till my hook was in the midst of the school; and this +time I had scarcely moved it, when another snapped it. I had resolved +not to jerk quite so hard this time; but in my excitement I pulled much +harder than was necessary to hook the trout and again swung it out and +against the wall of the dam. With a vigorous squirm the fish threw +himself clean off the hook; but by chance I grabbed him in my hands, as +he did so, and threw him over the dam among the raspberry briars--safe. + +"Well done again," said Theodora. + +In a trice I had rebaited my hook and dropped in a third time; but as +before the vagrant school had moved on. They had seemed alarmed for the +moment by the commotion, and darted off with accelerated speed. But we +now had more confidence that they would return and again settled +ourselves to wait. + +"Oh, I want to catch one!" exclaimed Ellen. + +"I wish we had more hooks," said Kate. "We would fish at different +points around the pond." + +After about the same interval of time and in the same odd, migratory +manner, the beautiful school came around four times more in succession; +and every time I swung out a handsome one. Kate then took the pole and +caught one. Then Ellen caught one; and afterwards Theodora took her turn +and succeeded in landing a fine fellow which flopped off the dam once, +but was finally secured. In the scramble to save this last one, however, +I rolled a loose stone off the dam into the water; and either owing to +the splash made by the stone, or because the trout had completed their +survey of the pond, they did not return. We saw nothing more of the +school although we had not caught a fifth part of them. + +After waiting fifteen or twenty minutes we went along the shore on both +sides of the pond but could not discern them anywheres. It is likely +that they had gone back to the larger pond, two miles distant. + +At that time, the very odd circumstances attending the capture of these +trout did not greatly surprise me; for I knew almost nothing of fishing. +But within a considerable experience since, I have never seen anything +like it. + +We laid the nine large trout in a row on the dam, side by side, and then +strung them on a forked maple branch. They were indeed beauties! The +largest was found that night to weigh three pounds and three quarters; +and the smallest two pounds and an ounce. The whole string weighed over +twenty-two pounds. Going homeward, we first took turns carrying them, +then hung them on a pole for two to carry. + +Our folks were at supper when we arrived at the house door with our +cedar and our fish. When they saw those trout, they all jumped up from +the table. Addison and Halse had never caught anything which could +compare with them for size; both of the boys stared in astonishment. + +"Where in the world did you catch those whopping trout?" was then the +question which we had to answer in detail. + +Kate carried three of them home with her; and we had six for our share. +The Old Squire dressed two of the largest; and grandmother rolled them +in meal and fried them with pork for our supper. I thought at the time +that I had never tasted anything one half as good in my life! + +Next morning Addison got up at half past four and having hastily milked +his two cows, went over to the old mill-pond, to try his own hand at +fishing there. He found Tom Edwards there already; but neither of them +caught a trout, nor saw one. Addison went again a day or two after; and +the story having got abroad, more than twenty persons fished there +during the next fortnight, but caught no trout. + +Evidently it was a transient school. I never caught a trout in the +mill-pond, afterwards; although the following year Addison made a great +catch in a branch of the Foy stream below the dam under somewhat +peculiar circumstances. + +At the far end of the dam, a hundred feet from the flume, there was an +"apron," beneath a waste-way, where formerly the overflow of water went +out and found its way for a hundred and fifty yards, perhaps, by another +channel along the foot of a steep bank; then, issuing through a dense +willow thicket, it joined the main stream from the flume. + +Water rarely flowed here now, except in time of freshets, or during the +spring and fall rains; and there was such a prodigious tangle of alder, +willow, clematis and other vines that for years no one had penetrated +it. From a fisherman's point of view there seemed no inducement to do +so, since this secondary channel appeared to be dry for most of the +time. + +In point of fact, however, and unknown to us, there was a very deep hole +at the foot of the high bank where the channel was obstructed by a +ledge. The hole thus formed was thirty or forty feet in length, and at +the deepest place under the bank the water was six or seven feet in +depth; but such was the tangle of brush above, below and all about it +that one would never have suspected its existence. + +An experienced and observing fisherman would have noted, however, that +always, even in midsummer, there was a tiny rill of water issuing +through the willows to join the main stream; and that, too, when not a +drop of water was running over the waste-way of the dam. He would have +noted also that this was unusually clear, cold water, like water from a +spring. There was, in fact, a copious spring at the foot of the bank +near the deep hole; and this hole was maintained by the spring, and not +by the water from above the dam. + +Addison was a born observer, a naturalist by nature; and on one of these +hopeful trips to the mill-pond, he had searched out and found that +hidden hole on the old waste-way channel, below the dam. When he had +forced his way through the tangled mass of willows, alders and vines and +discovered the pool, he found eighteen or nineteen splendid speckled +trout in it. + +Either these trout had come over the waste-way of the dam in time of +freshet, and had been unable to get out through the rick of small drift +stuff at the foot of the hole; or else perhaps they were trout that had +come in there as small fry and had been there for years, till they had +grown to their present size. Certain it is that they were now two-and +three-pound trout. + +Did Addison come home in haste to tell us of his discovery? Not at all. +He did not even allow himself to catch one of the trout at that time, +for he knew that Halstead and I had seen him set off for the old +mill-pond. He came home without a fish, and remarked at the +dinner-table that it was of no use to fish for trout in that old +pond--which was true enough. + +The next wet day, however, he said at breakfast to the Old Squire, "If +you don't want me, sir, for an hour or two this morning, I guess I'll go +down the Horr Brook and see if I can catch a few trout." + +Gramp nodded, and we saw Addison dig his worms and set off. The Horr +Brook was on the west side of the farm, while the old mill-pond lay to +the southeast. What Addison did was to fish down the Horr Brook for +about a mile, to the meadows where the lake woods began. He then made a +rapid detour around through the woods to the Foy Brook, and caught four +trout out of the hidden preserve below the old dam. Afterwards he went +back as he had come to the Horr Brook, then strolled leisurely home with +eight pounds of trout. + +Of course there was astonishment and questions. "You never caught those +trout in the Horr Brook!" Halstead exclaimed. But Addison only laughed. + +"Ad, did you get those beauties out of the old mill-pond?" demanded +Ellen. + +"No," said Addison, but he would answer no more questions. + +About two weeks after that he set off fishing to the Horr Brook again, +and again returned with two big trout. Nobody else who fished there had +caught anything weighing more than half a pound; and in the lake, at +that time, there was nothing except pickerel. But all that Addison would +say was that he did not have any trouble in catching such trout. + +The mystery of those trout puzzled us deeply. Not only Halstead and I, +but Thomas Edwards, Edgar Wilbur and the Murch boys all did our best to +find out where and how Addison fished, but quite without success. + +Cold weather was now at hand and the fishing over; Addison astonished +us, however, by bringing home two noble trout for Thanksgiving day. + +[Illustration: THOSE BIG TROUT.] + +The next spring, about May 1st, he went off fishing, unobserved, and +brought home two more big trout. After that if he so much as took down +his fish-pole, the rumor of it went round, and more than one boy made +ready to follow him. For we were all persuaded that he had discovered +some wonderful new brook or trout preserve. + +Not even the girls could endure the grin of superior skill which Addison +wore when he came home with those big trout. Theodora and Ellen also +began to watch him; and the two girls, with Catherine Edwards, hatched a +scheme for tracking him. Thomas had a little half-bred cocker spaniel +puppy, called Tyro, which had a great notion of running after members of +the family by scent. If Thomas had gone out, and Kate wished to discover +his whereabouts, she would show him one of Thomas's shoes and say, "Go +find him!" Tyro would go coursing around till he took Thomas's track, +then race away till he came upon him. + +The girls saved up one of Addison's socks, and on a lowery day in June, +when they made pretty sure that he had stolen off fishing, Ellen ran +over for Kate and Tyro. Thomas was with them when they came back, and +Halstead and I joined in the hunt. The sock was brought out for Tyro to +scent; then away he ran till he struck Addison's trail, and dashed out +through the west field and down into the valley of the Horr Brook. + +All six of us followed in great glee, but kept as quiet as possible. It +proved a long, hot chase; for when Tyro had gone along the brook as far +as the lake woods, he suddenly tacked and ran on an almost straight +course through the woods and across the bushy pasture-lands, stopping +only now and then for us to catch up. When we came out on the Foy Brook +at a distance below the old dam, the dog ran directly up the stream +till he came to the place where the little rill from the hidden hole +joined it; then he scrambled in among the thick willows. + +We were a little way behind, and knowing that the dog would soon come +out at the mill-pond, we climbed up the bank among the low pines on the +hither side of the brook. + +Tyro was not a noisy dog, but a few moments after he entered the thicket +we heard him give one little bark, as if of joy. + +"He's found him!" whispered Kate. "Let's keep still!" + +Nothing happened for some minutes; then we saw Addison's head appear +among the brush, as if to look around. For some time he stood there, +still as a mouse, peering about and listening. Evidently he suspected +that some one was with the dog, most likely Thomas, and that he had gone +to the mill-pond to fish; but we were not more than fifty feet away, +lying up in the thick pine brush. + +After looking and listening for a long while, Addison drew back into the +thicket, but soon reappeared with two large trout, and was hurrying away +down the brook when we all shouted, "Oho!" + +Addison stopped, looking both sheepish and wrathful; but we pounced on +him, laughing so much that he was compelled to own up that he was +beaten. He showed us the hole--after we had crept into the thicket--and +the ledge where he had sat so many times to fish. "But there are only +four more big trout," he said. "I meant to leave them here, and put in +twenty smaller ones to grow up." + +The girls thought it best to do so, and Halstead and I agreed to the +plan; but three or four days later, when Theodora, Ellen and Addison +went over to see the hole again, we found that the four large trout had +disappeared. We always suspected that Thomas caught them, or that he +told the Murch boys or Alfred Batchelder of the hole. Yet an otter may +possibly have found it. In May, two years afterward, Halstead and I +caught six very pretty half-pound trout there, but no one since has ever +found such a school of beauties as Addison discovered. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +TOM'S FORT + + +During the next week there was what is termed by Congregationalists a +"Conference Meeting," at the town of Hebron, distant fifteen miles from +the Old Squire's. Gram and he made it a rule to attend these meetings; +and on this occasion they set off on Monday afternoon with old Sol and +the light driving wagon, in Sunday attire, and did not return till the +following Monday. Wealthy went with them; but the rest of us young folks +were left, with many instructions, to keep house and look after things +at the farm. + +Haying was now over; and the wheat and barley were in; but an acre more +of late-sown oats still remained to be harvested, also an acre of +buckwheat. There was not a little solicitude felt for this acre of +buckwheat. With it were connected visions of future buckwheat cakes and +maple sirup. I was assured by Ellen and the others who had come to the +farm in advance of me, that the maple molasses and candy "flapjacks," +made on pans of hard snow, during the previous spring, had been +something to smack one's mouth for. + +The Old Squire had bidden Addison, who was practically in charge, to mow +the oats on Tuesday, and the buckwheat on Thursday, if the weather +continued good. Asa Doane was coming to assist us. The oats were to be +turned on Wednesday and drawn in on Friday. The buckwheat would need to +lie in the swath till the next week and be turned once or twice, in +order to cure properly. + +We had also a half acre of weeds to pull, in a part of the potato field +which had thus far been hoed but once; and an acre of stubble to clear +of stones, preparatory to ploughing. The Old Squire did not believe that +abundant leisure is good for boys, left alone under such circumstances. + +"If you get the loose stones all off the stubble and have time, you can +begin to draw off the stone heaps from the piece which we are going to +break up in the south field," he said finally, as he got into the wagon +and took the reins to drive away. But he laughed when he said it; and +Addison laughed, too; for we thought that he had already laid out a long +stint for us. Halstead was grumbling about it to himself. "Wonder if he +thinks we can do a whole season's work in a week," he exclaimed, +spitefully. "Never saw such a man to lay off work! Wants a week to play +in, himself, but expects us to stay at home and dig like slaves!" + +"Oh, he doesn't want us to hurt ourselves," said Addison. "He will be +satisfied if we manage the grain, the weeds and the stones on the +stubble. It really isn't so very much for four of us. We could do it in +one half the time, by working smart, and have the rest of the time to +play in." + +Gram had left corresponding work for the girls, indoors, besides +cooking, getting the three daily meals and caring for the dairy. + +We set to work that afternoon and pulled the weeds, finishing this task +before five o'clock. Ellen had found time to make a brief call on Kate +Edwards; and at supper, she informed us that Tom had invited us all to +come to his "fort," that evening. "He is going to have a fire there and +roast some of his early Pine Knot corn," continued Ellen. "He says he +has got a whole basketful of ears, all nice in the milk and ready to +roast." + +"Where is his 'fort?'" I inquired, for this was the first that I had +heard of such a fortification, although the others appeared to know +something about it. + +"Oh, Tom thinks he has got a great fort over there!" said Halse. "It's +no more a fort, like some I've seen, than our sheep pen!" + +"Oh, but it is," replied Ellen. "It is a terribly rocky place. Nobody +can get into it, if Tom hasn't a mind to let them." + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Halse. "One little six pound cannon would knock it all +down over his head." + +"I don't think so," persisted Ellen. + +"What do you know about cannon?" cried Halse. + +"Well, I don't know much about them," replied Ellen. "But I do not +believe that a small cannon would knock down rocks as big as this +house." + +This argument increased my curiosity, and Addison now told me something +about the so-called fortress. "It is a queer sort of place," said he; "a +kind of knoll, with four or five prodigious great rocks around it. I +guess we never have been over there since you came, though we passed in +sight of it the day we went to dig out the foxes. It is on the line +between Mr. Edwards' south field on one side, and the woods of our +pasture where those big yellow birches and rock maples are, on the +other. Those great rocks lie close together there, on that little knoll, +just as if they had been dropped down there like so many big kernels of +corn in a hill. + +"From what I have read about geology," continued Addison, reflectively, +"I think it is likely that some mighty glacier, in long past ages, piled +them there. One could imagine that a giant had placed them there, or had +dropped them, accidentally out of his big leather apron, as he strode +across the continent, in early times." + +"Oh, hear him!" cried Halse. "Ad will be out giving lectures on geology +next!" + +"No," said Addison, laughing, "I don't want to give lectures. I don't +know how the rocks got there, but they got there somehow, for there they +are. Two of them, as Nell says, are almost as large as a house; and they +all stand around, irregularly, enclosing a sort of little space inside +them, as large as--how big is it, Doad?" + +"Oh, I should think that it was as large as our sitting-room," she +replied. + +"It is bigger than that," said Ellen. "It is as big as the sitting-room +and parlor together." + +"Perhaps it is," assented Theodora. "But it isn't like rooms at all; it +is an odd place and there are nooks like little side rooms running back +between where the sides of the great rocks approach each other. It is a +real pleasant place, sort of gigantic and rustic. I don't wonder that +Thomas and Kate like to go there." + +"None of these big rocks quite touch together," continued Addison, "but +Tom has built up between them with stones, all around, except one narrow +place which he calls the fort gate. He has built up all the open places, +six or seven feet high, so that it is really like a fort: and he has +made a stone fireplace against one of the rocks inside, with a little +chimney of flat stones running up the side of the rock, so that he can +have a fire there without being plagued by the smoke." + +"And he's got a woodpile in there," said Ellen, "and seats to sit on, +round his fireplace. It is a cozy place, I tell you; the wind doesn't +strike you at all in there; and the knoll is quite a good deal higher +than the ground about it. You climb up a little path and turn the corner +of one big rock, and then go in between that one and another, for +fifteen or twenty feet, till you come to the open place inside, where +the fireplace is. Tom and Kate gave a little party there last fall. Tom +was a number of days building the fireplace and the wall and getting +ready. We all went there one evening and Kate and I played there one +afternoon, a week after that. But I guess they haven't been there at +all this spring and summer. I haven't heard them say anything about it +for a long time, till this afternoon. 'Tell the boys and Doad to come +over here this evening,' Tom said, as I was coming away. 'I'm going to +roast corn down at my fort to-night.'" + +"Let's all go over after it gets dark and storm his fort!" exclaimed +Halse. "We can take sods and pitch them over the rocks into his fort +after he gets in there and is roasting corn!" + +"I don't think that would be a very polite way of accepting his +invitation," said Theodora. + +"That would be contrary to all the laws of war, to storm a neighboring +nation's fort, before war was declared!" said Addison, laughing. "That +would be a sad piece of international treachery." + +"Oh, dear, only hear the big words roll out!" cried Halse. "Ad's a +walking dictionary." + +"Well, dictionaries are always handy to have about," said Theodora, +smoothing away the rudeness of this ill-natured remark. Addison did not +mind, however; it was only occasionally that Halse's flings disturbed +him. + +"Yes, let's all go," said he. "We will get our milking off early and our +chores done. Then we will take a lantern and start; for it will be nine +o'clock before we get back home, and we shall have to go through the +little piece of woods between here and the Aunt Hannah lot." + +The girls had prepared a nice supper. Ellen had been making pop-overs, +and Theodora had fried a great panful of crispy doughnuts. They cut a +sage cheese to go with these; and rather unwisely Ellen made a pot of +fresh coffee. It tasted much better than that which we ordinarily had at +breakfast; for she roasted the coffee, then ground it smoking hot from +the oven, and poured it into the pot before it had time to lose its +delicate aroma. They set on a brimming pitcherful of cream to put in it; +and we each had two cupfuls, at table, in consequence of which we all +felt very bright and jolly throughout the evening. But this was not a +wise procedure, from a hygienic point of view; I scarcely slept at all +that night. + +In the twilight we loaded our pockets with early apples, then went +across the fields, through the pasture and over the hill, toward the +fort. The great trees in the Aunt Hannah lot pasture favored a covert +approach, and we drew near, very quietly, to surprise our friends. It +was now dusk, and halting under a great beech, we reconnoitered the +rocks on the knoll for some moments. Smoke was rising from out the fort; +at least we could smell it; and presently a pale gleam of firelight +shone up into the leafy top of a great black cherry tree which stood +within the space enclosed by the rocks. But not a word could we hear +spoken inside, or about the fort. + +"Perhaps Kate hasn't come down from the house yet," Ellen said. "Let's +steal up softly till we are at the foot of the knoll; then you boys rush +up the path and surprise Tom. Shout 'Surrender, your fort is ours!' as +you rush in." + +We approached, apparently without being discovered, and then emerging +suddenly from under the shadow of the great trees, ran up the path and +around the corner of the rock at the gateway with tumultuous cheers! + +But we soon found that instead of surprising the fort, we had been +beguiled into a trap, ourselves. Kate and Tom had guessed our tactics, +in advance, and were watching us all the while. We rushed into the +narrow passage, but found our progress arrested there by four or five +stout bars; and then bang! went Tom's gun, from the rocks over our +heads. He and Kate were both up there in a strong position; and Tom's +only response to our shouts was, "Throw down your arms or we will open +fire on you with grape and canister!" + +"We may as well surrender," said Addison, laughing. "Nell, you proved a +very bad general. You've lost your whole army before striking a single +blow." + +"So I see," replied Ellen. "I'm disgraced and shall be superseded at +once." + +In 1866 the circumstance of superseding one general by another was still +very familiar in the minds of every one, old and young, in the United +States. + +We were now admitted to the fort. To me, at that time, Tom's fort was a +great novelty. I present a photograph of it, as the knoll and rocks now +appear; but the walls have mostly fallen down. I believe that the place +was stormed once by a party of boys who broke down much of the light +stone wall, in imitation of sieges, in ancient warfare. But that evening +it was all new to me and made a lasting impression on my boyish fancy. +They had a fire burning; and a row of short Pine Knot corn ears stood +roasting in front of it. There were two long seats consisting each of a +board placed on piles of flat stones with another board for the back, +held in its place by short stakes, driven into the ground. The light +shone on the great rough sides of the schistose rocks and on the trunks +of the cherry tree and two white birch trees inside the enclosed space. +It was so much shut in as to seem like a room in a house; yet overhead +the stars could be seen shining. Sufficient warmth was radiated from the +fire to make us all quite comfortable as we sat around. + +Kate had brought down a large ball of butter and half a dozen +case-knives. We buttered our corn and feasted on it, then finished off +on Early Sweet Bough, Sweet Harvey and August Pippin apples. After every +few minutes, Tom would ascend, by stone steps which he had built up, to +the top of the largest rock of the group, to see if any "enemies" were +about, as he said. It was possible that Alfred Batchelder, or the Murch +boys, or Ned Wilbur, might come around and scale the wall. + +As we sat by the fire, regaling ourselves, we talked after the manner of +the young to whom everything under the sun looks possible of +achievement, to whom life looks long enough for every plan that tickles +the fancy and to whom as yet the hard experiences of life have +administered few rebuffs. + +Oh, for that splendid courage of youth again! that joyous confidence +that everything can be done! It is the heritage of young hearts. It is +given us but once; and it was then ours. + +"I would like to command a strong, big fort on the frontier of the +country," exclaimed Tom. "The enemy wouldn't surprise me. I would be +ready for them. If they attacked me they would get it hot, I tell you! + +"I mean to study and try to get an appointment to West Point," he +continued, enthusiastically. "Then I may command a fort somewheres. I +tell you, West Point is the place to go! Don't you say so, Ad?" + +"It is a good place to get a military education," replied Addison. "And +a military education is a great thing to have, if there is a war. But +there may never be another war, Tom; most of folks hope there will not +be; but I shouldn't much wonder if there were another, before many +years." + +"Oh, I hope not," exclaimed Theodora, fervently. In fact, the Civil War +with its sad afflictions was still too fresh in the minds of all in our +family to be spoken of without a sense of bereavement. + +"But I don't think that I should like a military life altogether," +continued Addison. "Promotion is dreadfully slow, unless there's war; +and even after you are a general, there is no money in it. I want to go +into something that will give me all the money I want; and I want a lot +of it." + +"I had rather have fame than money," exclaimed Tom. "Nothing makes +anybody feel so good, as to know that folks are saying, 'He did a big +thing. Nobody else could have done it.'" + +"Tom, you want to be a hero," said Theodora. + +"Well, I do," replied Tom. "I don't want to be such a hero as there are +in novels. But I want to do something that will put me right up in the +world." + +I remember that I felt much like that myself, but did not quite like to +say so outright. + +"The trouble is that in common every-day life there do not seem to be +many chances to do great things," remarked Addison, thoughtfully. "There +are always a few distinguished men, like General Grant, General Sherman +and President Lincoln, but only a few. There couldn't be a thousand +famous men in a nation at once. We couldn't think of so many, even if +they all had done great deeds. We could not even remember the names of +so many heroes. So it is pretty plain that only a few, five or six, +perhaps, of the millions of boys and girls in the country, can be really +famous. All the rest have got to take a lower place and make the best of +it. But if a fellow can plan and carry out enterprises to make lots of +money, he can do a great deal with it in the world." + +"I don't care just for money!" cried Tom again; "I want to _do_ +something!" + +"Tom, you ought to be an explorer," said Theodora; "a discoverer, like +Livingstone, or Sir John Franklin, or Dr. Kane. If you could discover +the North Pole, or a new race of people in Africa, you would be famous." + +"I should like that," exclaimed Tom. "I should like to make a voyage up +north. I can stand any amount of cold; and I never saw the sun so hot +yet that I couldn't work, or run a mile, under it. Those folks that get +sun-struck must be sort of sick, pindling fellows, I guess." + +"Tom, I think that you would make a real go-ahead explorer," said Ellen. +"I hope you will stick to it." + +"Well, it takes money to fit out exploring expeditions," said Addison. +"But there are other discoveries fully as important as those in the far +north, or in Africa; discoveries in science bring the best kind of fame, +like those of Franklin, Morse, Tyndall, Darwin and Pasteur. There is no +end to the discoveries that can be made in science. It is the great +field for explorers, I think. Grand new discoveries will be made right +along now, and the more there are made the more there will be made; for +one scientific discovery always seems to open the way to another." + +"Oh, but I don't know anything about science," exclaimed Tom. "I don't +believe I ever shall." + +"No one does without hard study," replied Addison. "But any one can +afford to study if by doing so some splendid new invention can be +brought about." + +"Dora, what are we girls going to do?" said Kate, laughing. "It makes me +feel lonesome to hear the boys talk of the great exploits they mean to +perform." + +"There doesn't seem to be so much that girls can do," replied Theodora, +with a sigh. "Still, I know of one thing I wish to do very much," she +continued with a glance at Addison. + +"What is it?" said Tom. "What are you going to astonish the world with?" + +"Oh, I haven't the courage to talk about it," replied Theodora. "And it +looks so hard to me and I shall need to study so long to get prepared, +that I sometimes think I never shall do it." + +"Well, girls can all make school-mistresses," said Addison. + +"Kate is going to make something besides a school-mistress," said Ellen. +"Kate means to study chemistry and be a chemist." + +"She said last winter that she meant to learn how to telegraph and be a +telegraph operator," said Halse, laughing. + +"Yes, I did," replied Kate, coldly. "But I have changed my mind. I +don't know much about chemistry yet, but I think I like it. I mean to +study it and I mean to learn all about drugs, too, and have a pharmacy +in some large pleasant town. I'll make as much money as Addison; for I +think money is a great thing." + +"Shall you have a soda-fountain in your drug store and sell soda with a +'stick' in it?" asked Halse. + +"I don't think so," replied Kate. "But if I do, I shall hire somebody +like you to tend the 'stick' part of it." + +Halse had sat poking fun at all the others, while they talked of their +plans, pretending to be on the point of fainting away, when Addison, Tom +and Theodora discussed different pursuits in life; and this retort from +Kate hit him hard; he was angry. "I would not work for anyone with a +tongue like yours," he exclaimed. + +"Never mind," replied Kate. "We will not quarrel about that now. It is +rather too far ahead. It will take you years and years to get education +enough to tend a soda-fountain," she added, mischievously. "Perhaps you +know enough already about putting the 'stick' in it, as you call it; I'm +rather afraid you do from what I heard your friend Alfred Batchelder say +a few days ago. It doesn't sound well for little boys like you to talk +about 'sticks' in soda." + +Halse usually fared ill when he attempted jokes at Kate's expense. It +seemed odd to the rest of us that he did not learn to avoid such +efforts; but he never did; he was always worsted, promptly, and always +got angry. "Tom, if I had such a sister as you've got, I'd tie a hot +potato in her mouth," he exclaimed. + +"She is a terrible girl," said Tom, with a wink. "Her tongue is just +like a new whalebone whip with a silk snapper on it. Takes the skin +right off. But as she is all the sister I've got, I try to put up with +her. + +"She is a pretty good sister," he added, going across where Kate sat and +sitting down beside her. "I don't know what I should do without her." + +"Thank you, Tommy dear," said Kate. "I know now that you want me to coax +father to let you take 'White-foot' (their colt) to the Fair. Perhaps I +will; but it will not amount to anything. You will not get a premium on +White-foot, if you take him. He isn't big and handsome enough. You've +looked at him till your eyes think he is, but he isn't. I shall not tell +father that I think he will take a premium, because I want father to +respect my judgment more than that." + +"Kate, you don't know anything about colts!" cried Tom. "That's the best +colt in this town!" + +"O my! O my!" groaned Kate. "Once let a boy begin to dote on a colt, +particularly if he calls it _his_ colt, and he can soon see beauty, +size, speed, everything else in it, in matchless perfection. It's a kind +of disease, a horse-disease that gets into his eye. Tom's got it badly. +Please excuse his boasting! + +"Here, Tom, pass this nice buttered ear of corn over to Halse, and tell +him that I didn't mean to hurt his feelings--quite so badly," she added. +"I only meant to hurt them a little." + +This was like Kate; she would always talk like that; but she rarely said +more than was true and never treasured up ill-feeling, nor wished others +to do so. + +But Halse would not accept her peace-offering. + +"Ah, well," sighed Ellen, "I really am afraid that there is nothing I +shall ever be able to do that will bring me either fame or money. I +cannot think of a thing that I am good for." + +"Oh, yes, there is!" cried Addison. "You have a sure hand on pop-overs, +Nell, pop-overs and cookies." + +"Right, Ad, I can make pop-overs," replied Ellen, laughing. "Perhaps I +can get a living, cooking." + +"Well, that is a pretty important thing, I think," remarked Thomas, +candidly. "Somebody must know how to cook, and I like to have victuals +taste good." + +"I do not think those who cook get much credit for their labors," said +Kate. "Mother and I are cooking every day and our men folks come in, sit +down at table and swallow it all, with never a word of praise when we +cook well; but if we make a mistake, and bread, or cake, or pie does not +taste quite right, then they will growl and look at us as surly as if we +had never cooked well in all our lives. I think that is rather hard +usage and poor thanks for long service. Mother does not mind it. 'Oh, +that is something you must get used to, Kate,' she says to me. 'Men +folks always behave so. We never get much praise for our cooking.' But I +do mind it. When I've made a nice batch of tea rolls, or cakes, I want +them to know it and to act as if they appreciated it." + +"That is just the way it is at our house," said Ellen. + +"Yes," remarked Theodora. "The only way our boys ever show that they +appreciate our good biscuit, or cake, is by eating about twice as much +of it, which of course makes it all the harder for us to cook more. When +we get a poor batch of bread it will last twice as long as good;--that's +one comfort." + +"Why, Doad, I never heard you talk like that before," said Halse, with a +look of surprise. + +"No more did I," remarked Addison. "Theodora, I am scandalized." + +"I know it is horrid," she replied. "But I have thought it, if I never +have said it, many and many a time, when I've nearly roasted myself over +the hot stove, this summer, and thought I had enough cooked to last two +days, at least; and then in would march you three hungry boys, to table, +and eat it all up, eat my whole panful of doughnuts and finish off with +eight or ten cookies apiece, just because they were good, or a little +better than usual. If they had been a little poorer they would have +lasted two days, surely." + +"Doad, you are getting positively wicked," said Addison. "I don't see +what has come over you. You are not yourself." + +"She is only telling the cold truth," exclaimed Kate. "Boys all seem to +think that victuals grow ready cooked in the house somewheres, and that +the more they can eat the better it ought to suit us. Here's Tom, a +pretty good sort of boy generally, but he will come into the pantry, +after he has been racing about out-of-doors, and commit ravages that it +will take me hours of hot, hateful work to repair. Oh, he is a perfect +pantry scourge, a doughnut-and-cooky terror! Why, I have had what I knew +must be half a big panful of doughnuts, or cookies, enough for supper +and breakfast, certainly; and then about three or four o'clock of a hot +August afternoon, I would hear Tom's boots clumpering in the pantry, and +by the time I would get there, he would be just sneaking out, grinning +like a Chessy-cat, with his old mouth full and his pockets bulging out. +I will look in my pan and there will not be enough left to put on a +plate once! Then I know I have got to build a fire, get on my old floury +apron and go at it again, when I've just got cool and comfortable, after +my day's work! + +"When he does that, I sometimes think I don't know whether I love him +well enough to cook for him, or not. For when he is hungry and comes +tearing in like that, he will carry off more than he can eat. His eyes +want all he sees. He will carry off lots more than he can possibly eat; +I've found it, time and again, laid up out in the wood-shed; and once I +found eight of my doughnuts hid in a hole in the garden wall. He thought +that he could eat the whole panful, but found that he couldn't." + +"Oh, that was only laying up a store against days of famine," said Tom, +calmly. "Some days the pantry is awfully bare; and Kate, too, has a +caper of hiding the victuals. I call that a plaguey mean trick--when a +fellow's hungry! I clear the pan when I do find it, to get square with +her." + +"Well," Addison remarked, "the girls have presented their side of the +work pretty strongly; but I rather guess the boys could say something on +their side;--how they have to work in the hot sun, all day long, to +plough and harrow and sow and plant and hoe the crops, to get the bread +stuff to cook into food. The girls want cooked victuals, too, as well as +we. The hot, hard work isn't all on one side." + +"That's so!" echoed Tom and Halse, fervently. + +"I often come in tired, hot and sweaty after a drink of water, in the +sweltering summer afternoons, and find our girls in the cool +sitting-room, rocking by the windows, looking as comfortable as you +please, reading novels," continued Addison. + +"That's so!" we boys exclaimed. + +"Not that I grudge them their comfort," Addison went on, laughing. "I +don't. I like to see them comfortable. Besides girls ought not to work +so hard and long as boys; they are not so strong, nor so well able to +work in the heat. But I think that a great deal of the hardship that +Kate and Doad and Nell complain of, about cooking over the hot stove, is +due to a bad method which all the women hereabouts seem to follow. They +cook twice every day. Fact, they seem to be cooking all the time. They +all do their cooking in stoves, with small ovens that will not hold more +than three or four pies, or a couple of loaves of bread at once. By the +next day they have to bake again, and so on. In summer, particularly, +their faces are red from bending over the hot stove about half the +time." + +"But what would you do, Addison?" asked Theodora. + +"I'll tell you what I would do," replied Addison. "I would do just what +I suggested to Gram last spring. The old lady was getting down to peep +into the stove oven and hopping up again about every two minutes. She +looked tired and her face was as red as a peony. 'Gram,' said I, 'I'll +tell you what I'll do, if you want me to. I'll take the oxen and cart +and go over to the Aunt Hannah lot, and draw home some brick there are +in an old chimney over there; and then we will get a cask of lime and +some sand for mortar, and have a mason come half a day and build you a +good big brick oven, beside the wash-room chimney. It can be seven or +eight feet long by four or five wide, big enough to bake all the pies, +bread, pork and beans and most of the meat you want to cook for us, in a +week. Then after you have baked, Saturday afternoon, you no need to have +much more cooking to do till the next Saturday. All you need do over the +stove will be to make coffee and tea, boil eggs and potatoes once in a +while and warm up the food.' 'There's an oven that goes with the +sitting-room chimney,' said she; 'I used always to bake in it; but +somehow I have got out of the way of it, since we began to use stoves.' +I couldn't get her to say that she wanted an oven, so I did nothing +about it. But I know it would be a great deal easier, after she got the +habit of it again." + +"But how could you have hot tea-rolls every night and morning, Addison, +with an oven like that?" asked Ellen. + +"I should not want them, myself," replied Addison. "They nearly always +smell so strongly of soda that I do not like them; and I do not think +they are wholesome. For my own part I like bread better, or bread made +into toast." + +"Well, Ad, I think that sounds like a pretty good plan," said Kate. +"Mother has an oven, too; but we never use it now, except to smoke bacon +in. I think it would save us a great deal of hard work, if we baked in +it once a week." + +"Hark," said Tom, suddenly. + +Far aloft, overhead, a faint "quark-quock" was heard. + +"'Tis a flock of wild geese, going over," said Addison. "It's early in +the season for them to be on their way to the south." + +"Gram says that's a sign of an early winter," said Ellen. + +We sat listening to the occasional quiet note of the flock gander for +some moments till they passed out of hearing toward the lake. Addison +then lighted our lantern; and after accompanying Tom and Kate a part of +the way to the Edwards place, across the fields, we bade them good night +and made our own way home. + +Neighbor Wilbur had called at the door, during the evening, and left our +mail on the doorstep. There was a letter for me from my mother, and also +a circular from some swindling fellow in "Gotham," informing me most +positively that for the sum of one dollar, a powder would be forwarded +to me by mail, which, when dissolved and applied to my upper lip, would +produce a moustache in the course of three or four weeks. I laid it +away, thinking that I was perhaps not quite old enough for so ambitious +an effort, but that it might be of importance to me, later. + +We went to "Tom's fort" again on Wednesday evening; and I remember that +one of the stones in the fireplace exploded that night. It burst in +several pieces with a sharp report like that of a pistol. One of these +hit Halse, scorching his wrist somewhat. At first we thought that +someone had mischievously put powder in the fireplace; but after +examining the pieces of stone carefully, Addison decided that it had +burst from some unequal expansion of its substance, or of moisture in +it, due to the heat. + +That night, too, those long-delayed ambrotypes came home from artist +Lockett. Lockett sent them up to us by Mr. Edwards, who had driven to +the village that day. + +In the sitting-room, that evening, after returning from the "fort," we +examined them with great interest, each anxious to see what the result +had been to us, personally. Halstead, I recollect, was wofully +disappointed in his. Truth to say, the picture was far from good; and it +is supposed that he destroyed it, later, in a fit of pique, for it +mysteriously disappeared. + +Indeed, the history of that day's little crop of ambrotypes is rather +tragic. The Old Squire's and Gram's, alas, were lost in the farmhouse +fire (1883). Addison's and Theodora's shared the same fate. Ellen lent +hers to her first sweetheart, a college student named Cobb, at Colby +University. He was unfortunately drowned a few months later; and for +some cause the ambrotype was not returned. Little Wealthy's alone has +survived the vicissitudes of time. + +The pictures in this book are mainly from photographs taken +subsequently. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HIGH TIMES + + +Truth to say, we had a pretty "high time" that week. When not at Tom's +fort evenings, our youthful neighbors came to our house. Sweet corn was +in the "milk;" and early apples, pears and plums were ripe. We roasted +corn ears and played hide-and-seek by moonlight, over the house, +wagon-house, wood-shed, granary and both barns. + +I am inclined to believe that the Old Squire did not leave work enough +to keep us properly out of that idleness which leads to mischief. For on +the afternoon of the fourth day, we broke one wheel of the ox cart and +hay rack, while "coasting" in it. There was a long slope in the east +field; and we coasted there, all getting into the cart and letting it +run down backwards, dragging the "tongue" on the ground behind it: not +the proper manner of using a heavy cart. + +After we had coasted down, we hauled the cart back with the oxen which +we yoked for the purpose. The wheel was broken on account of the cart +running off diagonally and striking a large stone. + +We were obliged to own up to the matter on the Old Squire's return. He +said little; but after considering the matter over night, he held a +species of moot court in the sitting-room, heard all the evidence and +then, good-humoredly, "sentenced" Addison, Halstead and myself to work +on the highway that fall till we had earned enough to repair the wheel, +six dollars; and speaking for myself, it was the most salutary bit of +correction which I ever received; it led me to feel my personal +responsibility for damage done foolishly. + +But it is not of the broken cart wheel, or hide-and-seek by moonlight, +that I wish to speak here, but of another diversion next day, and of a +mysterious stranger who arrived at nick of time to participate in it. + +Generally speaking, Theodora did not excel as a cook. She was much more +fond of reading than of housework and domestic duties, although at the +farm she always did her share conscientiously. Ellen had a greater +natural bent toward cookery. + +But there was one article of food which Theodora could prepare to +perfection and that was fried pies. Such at least was the name we had +for them; and we boys thought that if "Doad" had known how to do nothing +else in the world but fry pies, she would still be a shining success in +life. We esteemed her gift all the more highly for the reason that it +was extra-hazardous. Making fried pies is nearly as dangerous as working +in a powder-mill; those who have made them will understand what this +means. I know a housewife who lost the sight of one of her eyes from a +fried pie explosion. In another instance fully half the kitchen ceiling +was literally coated with smoking hot fat, from the frying-pan, thrown +up by the bursting of a pie. + +Let not a novice like myself, however, presume to descant on the subject +of fried pies to the thousands who doubtless know all the details of +their manufacture. Theodora first prepared her dough, sweetened and +mixed like ordinary doughnut dough, rolled it like a thick pie crust and +then enclosed the "filling," consisting of mince-meat, or stewed apple, +or gooseberry, or plum, or blackberry; or perhaps peach, raspberry, or +preserved cherries. Only such fruits must be cooked and the pits or +stones of plums or peaches carefully removed. The edges of the dough +were wet and dexterously crimped together, so that the pie would not +open in frying. + +Then when the big pan of fat on the stove was just beginning to get +smoking hot, the pies were launched gently in at one side and allowed to +sink and rise. And about that time it was well to be watchful; for there +was no telling just when a swelling, hot pie might take a fancy to enact +the role of a bomb-shell and blow the blistering hot fat on all sides. + +After suffering from a bad burn on one of her wrists the previous +winter, Theodora had learned not to take chances with fried pies. She +had a face mask which Addison had made for her, from pink pasteboard, +and a pair of blue goggles for the eyes, which some member of the family +had once made use of for snow blindness. The mask as I remember wore an +irresistible grin. + +When ready to begin frying two dozen pies, Theodora donned the mask and +goggles and put on a pair of old kid gloves. Then if spatters of hot fat +flew, she was none the worse;--but it was quite a sight to see her +rigged for the occasion. The goggles were of portentous size, and we +boys used to clap and cheer when she made her appearance. + +As an article of diet, perhaps, fried pies could hardly be commended for +invalids; but to a boy who had been working hard, or racing about for +hours in the fresh air out of doors, they were simply delicious and went +exactly to the right spot. Few articles of food are more appetizing to +the eye than the rich doughnut brown of a fine fried pie. + +That forenoon we coaxed Theodora and Ellen to fry a batch of three +dozen, and two "Jonahs;" and the girls, with some misgivings as to what +Gram would say to them for making such inroads on "pie timber," set +about it by ten o'clock. Be it said, however, that "closeness" in the +matter of daily food was not one of Gram's faults. She always laid in a +large supply of "pie timber" and was not much concerned for fear of a +shortage. + +They filled half a dozen with mince-meat, half a dozen with stewed +gooseberry, and then half a dozen each, of crab apple jelly, plum, peach +and blackberry. They would not let us see what they filled the "Jonahs" +with, but we knew that it was a fearful load. Generally it was with +something shockingly sour, or bitter. The "Jonahs" looked precisely like +the others and were mixed with the others on the platter which was +passed at table, for each one to take his or her choice. And the rule +was that whoever got the "Jonah pie" must either eat it, or crawl under +the table for a foot-stool for the others during the rest of the meal! + +What they actually put in the two "Jonahs," this time, was wheat bran +mixed with cayenne pepper--an awful dose such as no mortal mouth could +possibly bear up under! It is needless to say that the girls usually +kept an eye on the Jonah pie or placed some slight private mark on it, +so as not to get it themselves. + +When we were alone and had something particularly good on the table, +Addison and Theodora had a habit of making up rhymes about it, before +passing it around, and sometimes the rest of us attempted to join in the +recreation, generally with indifferent success. Kate Edwards had come in +that day, and being invited to remain to our feast of fried pies, was +contributing her wit to the rhyming contest, when chancing to glance out +of the window, Ellen espied a gray horse and buggy with the top turned +back, standing in the yard, and in the buggy a large elderly, +dark-complexioned man, a stranger to all of us, who sat regarding the +premises with a smile of shrewd and pleasant contemplation. + +"Now who in the world can that be?" exclaimed Ellen in low tones. "I do +believe he has overheard some of those awful verses you have been making +up." + +"But someone must go to the door," Theodora whispered. "Addison, you go +out and see what he has come for." + +"He doesn't look just like a minister," said Halstead. + +"Nor just like a doctor," Kate whispered. "But he is somebody of +consequence, I know, he looks so sort of dignified and experienced." + +"And what a good, old, broad, distinguished face," said Ellen. + +Thus their sharp young eyes took an inventory of our caller, who, I may +as well say here, was Hannibal Hamlin, recently Vice-President of the +United States and one of the most famous anti-slavery leaders of the +Republican party before the Civil War. + +The old Hamlin homestead, where Hannibal Hamlin passed his boyhood, was +at Paris Hill, Maine, eight or ten miles to the eastward of the Old +Squire's farm; he and the Old Squire had been young men together, and at +one time quite close friends and classmates at Hebron Academy. + +In strict point of fact, Mr. Hamlin's term of office as Vice-President +with Abraham Lincoln, had expired; and at this time he had not entered +on his long tenure of the Senatorship from Maine. Meantime he was +Collector of Customs for the Port of Boston, but a few days previously +had resigned this lucrative office, being unwilling longer to endorse +the erratic administrative policy of President Andrew Johnson by holding +an appointment from him. + +In the interim he was making a brief visit to the scenes of his boyhood +home, and had taken a fancy to drive over to call on the Old Squire. But +we of the younger and lately-arriving generation, did not even know +"Uncle Hannibal" by sight and had not the slightest idea who he was. +Addison went out, however, and asked if he should take his horse. + +"Why, Joseph S---- still lives here, does he not?" queried Mr. Hamlin, +regarding Addison's youthful countenance inquiringly. + +"Yes, sir," replied Addison. "I am his grandson." + +"Ah, I thought you were rather young for one of his sons," Mr. Hamlin +remarked. "I heard, too, that he had lost all his sons in the War." + +"Yes, sir," Addison replied soberly. + +Mr. Hamlin regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. "I used to know your +grandfather," he said. "Is he at home?" + +Addison explained the absence of Gramp and Gram. "I am very sorry they +are away," he added. + +"I am sorry, too," said Mr. Hamlin, "I wanted to see them and say a few +words to them." He began to turn his horse as if to drive away, but +Theodora, who was always exceedingly hospitable, had gone out and now +addressed our caller with greater cordiality. + +"Will you not come in, sir?" she exclaimed. "Grandfather will be very +sorry! Do please stop a little while and let the boys feed your horse." + +Mr. Hamlin regarded her with a paternal smile. "I will get out and walk +around a bit, to rest my legs," he replied. + +Once he was out of the buggy, Addison and I took his horse to the +stable; and Theodora having first shown him the garden and the long row +of bee hives, led the way to the cool sitting-room, and domesticated him +in an easy chair. We heard her relating recent events of our family +history to him, and answering his questions. + +Meantime the fried pies were waiting and getting cold; and when Addison +and I had returned from the stable, we all began to feel a little +impatient. Ellen and Kate set the pies in the oven, to keep them warm; +we did not like to begin eating them with company in the sitting-room, +and so lingered hungrily about, awaiting developments. "How long s'pose +he will stay!" Halse exclaimed crossly; and Addison began brushing up a +little, in order to go in and help do the honors of the house with +Theodora. + +"He is a pretty nice old fellow," Addison remarked to Kate. "Have you +any idea who he is?" + +But Kate, though born in the county, had never seen him. Just then the +sitting-room door opened, and we heard "Doad" saying, "We haven't much +for luncheon to-day, but fried pies, but we shall all be glad to have +you sit down with us." + +"What an awful fib!" whispered Ellen behind her hand to Kate; and truth +to say, his coming had rather upset our anticipated pleasure; but Mr. +Hamlin had taken a great fancy to Theodora and was accepting her +invitation, with vast good-nature. + +What a great dark man he looked, as he followed Theodora out to the +table. + +"These are my cousins that I have told you of," she was saying, and then +mentioned all our names to him and afterwards Kate's, although Mr. +Hamlin had not seen fit to tell us his own; we supposed that he was +merely some pleasant old acquaintance of Gramp's early years. + +He was seated in Gramp's place at table and, after a brief flurry in the +kitchen, the big platterful of fried pies was brought in. What Ellen and +Theodora had done was, carefully to pick out the two "Jonahs" and lay +them aside. We were now all gathered around. Addison and Theodora +exchanged glances and there was a little pause of interrogation, in case +our caller might possibly be a clergyman, after all, and might wish to +say grace. + +He evinced no disposition to do so, however; and laughing a little in +spite of herself, Doad raised the platter and assayed to pass it to our +guest. + +"And are these the 'fried pies?'" he asked with the broadest of smiles. +"They resemble huge doughnuts. But I now remember that my mother used to +fry something like this, when I was a boy at home, over at Paris Hill; +and my recollection is that they were very good." + +"Yes, the most of them are very good," said Addison, by way of making +conversation, "unless you happen to get the 'Jonah.'" + +"And what's the 'Jonah?'" asked our visitor. + +Amidst much laughter, this was explained to him--also the penalty. Mr. +Hamlin burst forth in a great shout of laughter, which led us to surmise +that he enjoyed fun. + +"But we have taken the 'Jonahs' out of these," Theodora made haste to +reassure him. + +"What for?" he exclaimed. + +"Why--why--because we have company," stammered Doad, much confused. + +"And spoil the sport?" cried our visitor. "Young lady, I want those +'Jonahs' put back." + +"Oh, but they are awful 'Jonahs!'" pleaded Theodora. + +"I want those 'Jonahs' put back," insisted Mr. Hamlin. "I shall have to +decline to lunch here, unless the 'Jonahs' are in their proper places. +Fetch in the 'Jonahs.'" + +Very shamefaced, Ellen brought them in. + +"No hokus-pokus now," cried our visitor, and nothing would answer, but +that we should all turn our backs and shut our eyes, while Kate put them +among the others in the platter. + +It was then passed and all chose one. "Each take a good, deep mouthful," +cried Mr. Hamlin, entering mirthfully into the spirit of the game. +"Altogether--now!" + +We all bit, eight bites at once; as it chanced no one got a "Jonah," and +the eight fried pies rapidly disappeared. + +"But these are good!" cried our visitor, "Mine was gooseberry." Then +turning to Theodora, "How many times can a fellow try for a 'Jonah' +here?" + +"Five times!" replied Doad, laughing and not a little pleased with the +praise. + +The platter was passed again, and again no one got bran and cayenne. + +But at the third passing, I saw Kate start visibly when our visitor +chose his pie. "All ready. Bite!" he cried; and we bit! but at the first +taste he stopped short, rolled his eyes around and shook his head with +his capacious mouth full. + +"Oh, but you need not eat it, sir!" cried Theodora, rushing round to +him. "You need not do anything!" + +But without a word our bulky visitor had sunk slowly out of his chair +and pushing it back, disappeared under the long table. + +For a moment we all sat, scandalized, then shouted in spite of +ourselves. In the midst of our confused hilarity, the table began to +oscillate; it rose slowly several inches, then moved off, rattling, +toward the sitting-room door! Our jolly visitor had it on his back and +was crawling ponderously but carefully away with it on his hands and +knees;--and the rest of us were getting ourselves and our chairs out of +the way! In fact, the remainder of that luncheon was a perfect gale of +laughter. The table _walked_ clean around the room and came very +carefully back to its original position. + +After the hilarity had subsided, the girls served some very nice large, +sweet blackberries, which our visitor appeared to relish greatly. He +told us of his boyhood at Paris Hill; of his fishing for trout in the +brooks thereabouts, of the time he broke his arm and of the doctor who +set it so unskilfully that it had to be broken again and re-set; of the +beautiful tourmaline crystals which he and his brother found at Mt. +Mica; and of his school-days at Hebron Academy; and all with such +feeling and such a relish, that for an hour we were rapt listeners. + +[Illustration: FRIED PIES.] + +When at length he declared that he positively must be going on his way, +we begged him to remain over night, and brought out his horse with great +reluctance. + +Before getting into the buggy, he took us each by the hand and saluted +the girls, particularly "Doad," in a truly paternal manner. + +"I've had a good time!" said he. "I am glad to see you all here at this +old farm in my dear native state; but (and we saw the moisture start in +his great black eyes) it touches my heart more than I can tell you, to +know of the sad reason for your coming here. You have my heartiest +sympathy. + +"Tell your grandparents, that I should have been very glad to see them," +he added, as he got in the buggy and took the reins from Addison. + +"But, sir," said Theodora, earnestly, for we were all crowding up to the +buggy, "grandfather will ask who it was that called." + +"Oh, well, you can describe me to him!" cried Mr. Hamlin, laughing (for +he knew how cut up we should feel if he told us who he really was). "And +if he cannot make me out, you may tell him that it was an old fellow he +once knew, named Hamlin. Good-by." And he drove away. The name signified +little to us at the time. + +"Well, whoever he is, he's an old brick!" said Halse, as the gray horse +and buggy passed between the high gate-posts, at the foot of the lane. + +"I think he is just splendid!" exclaimed Kate, enthusiastically. + +"And he has such a great, kind heart!" said Theodora. + +When Gramp and Gram came home, we were not slow in telling them that a +most remarkable elderly man, named Hamlin, had called to see them, and +stopped to lunch with us. + +"Hamlin, Hamlin," repeated the Old Squire, absently. "What sort of +looking man?" + +Theodora and Ellen described him, with much zest. + +"Why, Joseph, it must have been Hannibal!" cried Gram. + +"So it was!" exclaimed Gramp. "Too bad we were not at home!" + +"What! Not Hannibal Hamlin that was Vice-President of the United +States!" Addison almost shouted. + +"Yes, Vice-President Hamlin," said the Old Squire. + +And about that time, it would have required nothing much heavier than a +turkey's feather to bowl us all over. Addison looked at "Doad" and she +looked at Ellen and me. Halse whistled. + +"Why, what did you say, or do, that makes you look so queer!" cried +Gram, with uneasiness. "I hope you behaved well to him. Did anything +happen?" + +"Oh, no, nothing much," said Ellen, laughing nervously. "Only he got the +'Jonah' pie and--and--we've had the Vice-President of the United States +under the table to put our feet on!" + +Gram turned very red and was much disturbed. She wanted to have a letter +written that night, and try to apologize for us. But the Old Squire only +laughed. "I have known Mr. Hamlin ever since he was a boy," said he. "He +enjoyed that pie as well as any of them; no apology is needed." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE THRASHERS COME + + +Truth to say, farm work is never done, particularly on a New England +farm where a little of everything has to be undertaken and all kinds of +crops are raised, and where sheep, cattle, calves, colts, horses and +poultry have to be tended and provided with winter food, indoors. A +thrifty farmer has always a score of small jobs awaiting his hands. + +There were now brakes to cut and dry for "bedding" at the barn, bushes +and briars to clear up along the fences and walls, and stone-heaps to +draw off, preparatory to "breaking up" several acres more of greensward. +The Old Squire's custom was to break up three or four acres, every +August, so that the turf would rot during the autumn. Potatoes were then +usually planted on it the ensuing spring, to be followed the next year +by corn and the next by wheat, or some other grain, when it was again +seeded down in grass. + +About this time, too, the beans had to be pulled and stacked; and there +were always early apples to be gathered, for sale at the village stores. +Sometimes, too, the corn would be ripe enough to cut up and shock by the +5th or 6th of September; and immediately after came potato-digging, +always a heavy, dirty piece of farm work. + +Not far from this time, "the thrashers" would make their appearance, +with "horse-power," "beater" and "separator," which were set up in the +west barn floor. These dusty itinerants usually remained with us for two +days and threshed the grain on shares: one bushel for every ten of +wheat, rye and barley and one for every twelve of oats. There were +always two of them; and for five or six years the same pair came to our +barn every fall: a sturdy old man, named Dennett, and his son-in-law, +Amos Moss. Dennett, himself, "tended beater" and Moss measured and +"stricted" the grain as it came from the separator;--and it was hinted +about among the farmers, that "Moss would bear watching." + +We were kept very busy during those two days; Halse, I remember, was +first set to "shake down" the wheat off a high scaffold, for Dennett to +feed into the beater; while Addison and I got away the straw. I deemed +it great fun at first, to see the horses travel up the lags of the +horse-power incline, and hear the machine in action; but I soon found +that it was suffocatingly dusty work; our nostrils and throats as well +as our hair and clothing were much choked and loaded with dust. + +We had been at work an hour or two, when suddenly an unusual snapping +noise issued from the beater; and Dennett abruptly stopped the machine. +After examining the teeth, he looked up where Halse stood on the +scaffold, shaking down, and said, "Look here, young man, I want you to +be more careful what you shake down here; we don't want to thrash +clubs!" + +"I didn't shake down clubs," said Halse. + +"A pretty big stick went through anyway," remarked Dennett. "I haven't +said you did it a-purpose. But I asked you to be more careful." + +They went on again, for half or three-quarters of an hour, when there +was another odd noise, and Dennett again stopped and looked up sharply +at Halse. "Can't you see clubs as big as that?" said he. "Why, that's an +old tooth out of a loafer rake. You must mind what you are about." + +Halse pretended that he had seen nothing in the grain; and the machine +was started again; but Addison and I could see Halse at times from the +place where we were at work, and noticed that he looked mischievous. +Addison shook his head at him, vehemently. + +Nothing further happened that forenoon; but we had not been at work for +more than an hour, after dinner, when a shrill _thrip_ resounded from +the beater, followed by a jingling noise, and one of the short iron +teeth from it flew into the roof of the barn. Again Dennett stopped the +machine, hastily. + +"What kind of a feller do you call yerself!" he exclaimed, looking very +hard up at Halse. "You threw that stone into the beater, you know you +did." + +"I didn't!" protested Halse. "You can't prove I did, either." + +"I'd tan your jacket for ye, ef you was my boy," muttered Dennett, +wrathfully. He and Moss got wrenches from their tool-box and replaced +the broken tooth with a new one. The Old Squire, who had been looking to +the grain in the granary, came in and asked what the trouble was. + +"Squire," said Dennett, "I want another man to shake down here for me. +That's a queer Dick you've put up there." + +The Old Squire spoke to Addison to get up and shake out the grain and +bade Halse come down and assist me with the straw. Halse climbed down, +muttering to himself. "I want to get a drink of water," he said; and as +he went out past the beater, he made a saucy remark to Dennett; +whereupon the latter seized a whip-stock and aimed a blow at him. Halse +dodged it and ran. Dennett chased him out of the barn; and Halse took +refuge in the wood-shed. + +The Old Squire was at first inclined to reprove Dennett for this +apparently unwarranted act; he considered that he had no right to +chastise Halse. "I will attend to that part of the business, myself," he +said, somewhat sharply. + +"All right, Squire," said Dennett. "But I want you to understand you've +got a bad boy there. Throwing stones into a beater is rough business. He +might kill somebody." + +Halse did not come back to help me, at once; and at length Gramp went to +the house, in search of him. Ellen subsequently told me, that Halse had +at first refused to come out, on the pretext that Dennett would injure +him. The Old Squire assured him that he should not be hurt. Still he +refused to go. Thereupon the old gentleman went in search of a +horsewhip, himself; and as a net result of the proceedings, Halse made +his appearance beside me, sniffing. + +"I wish it had stove his old machine all to flinders and him with it," +he said to me, revengefully. + +"Did you throw the stone into the beater?" I asked. The machine made so +much noise that I did not distinctly hear what Halse replied, but I +thought that he denied doing it; and whether he actually did it, or +whether the stone slid down with the grain owing to his carelessness, I +never knew. Addison shook down till night; and the next day Asa Doane +came to help us; for the Old Squire deemed it too hard for boys of our +age to handle the grain and straw, unassisted. + +In May, before I came to the farm, Addison and Halse had planted a large +melon bed, in the corn field, on a spot where a heap of barnyard +dressing had stood. There were both watermelons and musk-melons. These +had ripened slowly during August and, by the time of the September +town-meeting, were fit for eating. + +The election for governor, with other State and county officers, was +held on the second Monday of September in Maine. + +In order to raise a little pocket money, Addison and Halstead carried +their melons, also several bushels of good eating apples and pears, to +the town-house at the village, early on election day, and rigged a +little "booth" for selling from. They set off by sunrise, with old Nancy +harnessed in the express wagon. + +As I had no part in the planting of the melons, I was not a partner in +the sales, although Gramp allowed me to go to the town-meeting with him, +later in the forenoon. The distance was seven miles from the farm. + +The boys sold thirty melons at ten cents apiece and disposed of the most +of the apples at two for a cent and pears at a cent apiece; so that the +combined profits amounted to rather over seven dollars. Sales were so +good, that they had disposed of their entire stock by three o'clock in +the afternoon. + +The polls were not closed, however, till sunset, that is to say voting +could legally continue till that time. Halse had called on Addison for a +division of the money, at about three o'clock, and received his share; +he then told Addison that he was going home. Addison preferred to +remain, to learn how the town had voted; for he was much interested in a +"temperance movement" which was agitating that portion of the State that +year. + +The Old Squire had returned home, shortly after noon, and gone into the +field to see to the digging of the potatoes. When we came in to supper, +at six o'clock, Addison was just coming up the lane, on his way home. + +"No doubt Williams is elected!" were his first words. + +Williams was the Republican and Temperance candidate for representative +to the State legislature. Addison was much elated; and after we sat down +to supper, he began telling Theodora about the town-meeting; for some +moments none of us noticed that one chair was empty. Then Gram said, +"Where's Halstead?" + +"I don't know," said the Old Squire, suddenly glancing at the vacant +seat. "Didn't he come home with you, Addison?" + +"No, sir," replied Ad. "He went home afoot, a little while after you +left; at any rate he said that he was going home. I haven't seen him +since." + +"I don't think he has come home," said Theodora. "I haven't seen him at +the house." + +"Well, he said he was coming home, and I gave him his part of the melon +and apple money," replied Addison. "That's all I know about it." + +We thought it likely that he would come during the evening, but he did +not, and we all, particularly Theodora, felt much disturbed about him. + +Late in the night (it seemed to me that it must be nearly morning) I was +wakened by Halse coming into our room. He crept in stealthily and +undressed very quietly; but sleepy as I was, I heard him first muttering +and then whistling softly to himself, in what appeared to me a rather +curious manner. But I did not speak to him and soon dropped asleep +again. + +He was sleeping heavily when I got up in the morning. I did not wake +him; and I noticed that his clothes and boots were very muddy and wet, +for it had rained during the latter part of the night. + +When we sat down to breakfast, he had not come down-stairs; and the Old +Squire went up to our room. What he learned, or what he said to Halse, +we did not ascertain. At noon Gram said that Halse was not well; but he +was at the supper table that night. + +As I had heard about the melon money I asked him that evening, after we +had gone up-stairs, if he could let me have the money which I had +borrowed of Theodora and Ellen, for him. I said nothing about my own +loan to him, although I wanted the money. He made me no reply; two or +three nights afterwards I mentioned the matter again; for I felt +responsible, after a manner, for the girls' money. + +"I hain't got no money!" he snapped out, with very ungrammatical +shortness. + +"Oh, I thought you had three dollars and a half," I observed. + +"Well, I hain't," he said, angrily. + +I said no more; but after awhile, he told me that he had set off to come +home from the town-house, but stopped to play at "pitching cents" with +some boys at the Corners, and that while there, he had either lost the +money out of his pocket, or else it had been stolen from him. + +I was less inclined to doubt this story than the one about the seed +corn; for I had heard rumors of gambling, in a small way, at the +Corners, by a certain clique of loafers there. It was said, too, that +despite the stringent "liquor law," the hustling parties were provided +with intoxicants. I had little doubt that Halstead had parted with his +money in some such way. I recollected how odd his behavior had been +after coming home that night; and although I could scarcely believe such +a thing at first, I yet began to surmise that he had been induced to +drink liquor of some kind. + +A few nights after town-meeting, we lost five or six boxes of honey; +some rogue, or rogues, came into the garden and drew the boxes out of +the hives. The only clue to the theft was boot tracks in the soft earth +and these were not sufficiently distinct to avail as evidence. In a +general way we attributed it to the bibulous set at the Corners. The Old +Squire and Addison had incurred the displeasure of Tibbetts and his +cronies, from their avowed sentiments upon the Temperance question. I do +not think that Halse knew anything of the honey robbery. I asked him the +next day, whether he supposed the honey boxes had gone in search of his +three dollars and a half. He saw that I suspected him, and flatly denied +all knowledge of it; but he added, that if Gramp and Addison did not +have less to say about rum-sellers, they might find themselves watching +a big fire some night! + +I asked him if he thought that Tibbetts and his crew were bad enough to +set barns on fire. + +"Well, isn't the old gent and Ad trying to break up Tibbetts' business, +all the time!" retorted Halse. + +"But do you stand up for them?" said I. + +"I stand up for minding my own business and letting other folks alone!" +exclaimed Halse. "And that's what the old man and Ad had better do." + +"Maybe," said I, for I was not altogether clear in my mind on that +point. "But they are a bad lot, out there at Tibbetts'; you say so, +yourself." + +"I didn't say so!" Halse exclaimed. + +"Why, you told me that you thought they took your money, didn't you?" I +urged. + +"I said perhaps I lost it there," replied Halse in a reticent tone. + +Addison believed that if Gramp would get a search warrant, a part of the +honey might be found in one of two houses, at the Corners; but the Old +Squire would not set the law in motion for a few boxes of honey. We +young folks, however, were much exasperated over the loss of the sweets. + +Two cosset lambs were also missing from our pasture at about this time; +and as Addison and I drove past the Corners, on our way to the mill with +another grist of corn, the day after the lambs were missed, we saw +Tibbetts' dog gnawing a bone beside the road. + +"Take the reins, a minute!" exclaimed Addison, pulling up. He then +leaped out of the wagon with the whip, so suddenly, that the dog left +the bone and ran off. Addison picked it up and examined it attentively. +"It's a mutton bone, fast enough," said he. "It is one of the leg bones; +the hoof is on it and there's enough of the hide to show that it was +smut-legged, like ours. But of course we cannot prove much from it," he +added, throwing the bone after the dog and getting into the wagon. + +On our return, we called at the Post Office which was at Tibbetts' +grocery. The semi-weekly mail had come that afternoon, and quite a +number of people were standing about. I went in to inquire for our +folks' papers and letters; and as I came out, I saw the grocer emerging +from the grocery portion of the store. + +"How d'ye do, Mr. Tibbetts," cried Addison. "I'm afraid your dog has +been killing two of our lambs." + +"Ye don't say!" said Tibbetts. "What makes ye think so?" + +"Why, I thought it might be he; I saw him gnawing the bone of a +smut-legged lamb like ours," replied Addison, with every appearance of +extreme candor. "Cannot say certain of course, but I feel quite sure +'twas from one of ours." + +Tibbetts looked at Addison a moment, then replied, "Wal, now, if ye can +prove 'twas my dog killed 'em, I'll settle with the Squire." + +"I'm afraid we cannot prove it," replied Addison and drove off.--"I +thought that I would blame it all on the dog," he said, laughing. + +Two or three days after that, Theodora, Ellen and Kate Edwards went out +to the Corners to purchase something at the store and, instead of +returning by the road, came home across lots, following the brook up +through the meadows. They often took that route to and from the Corners; +both enjoyed going through the half-cleared land along the brook. + +Beside an old log in the meadow, where evidently someone had recently +sat, they picked up and brought home with them, the bottom and about +half the side of one of our lost honey-boxes; bits of fresh comb were +still sticking to it. The rogues who took it had manifestly sat on that +log while they regaled themselves. + +After dark that evening, Addison and I carried the fragment out to +Tibbetts' grocery and stuck it up on his platform. Addison also wrote on +it with a blunt lead pencil, "To whom it may concern. This honey box was +picked up on a direct line between the hives from which it was stolen +and this place." + +"Even if we cannot prove anything," he said, "I want to let them know +that we've got a good idea who did it." + +We thought that we had done a rather smart thing; but when the Old +Squire heard of it, he told us that we had done a foolish one. + +"Better let all that sort of thing alone, boys," he said. "Never hint, +or insinuate charges against anybody. Never make charges at all, unless +you have good proof to back you up. Tibbetts and his cronies are too old +birds to care for any such small shot as that. They will only laugh at +you. The less you have to say to them the better." + +As Addison and I were talking over this piece of advice, later in the +day, I asked him whether he believed that Tibbetts or any of his crew +would set our barns afire, if the Old Squire took steps to enforce the +liquor law against them. + +"I guess they wouldn't dare do that," said Addison. + +I then mentioned what Halse had said. Addison was greatly irritated, not +so much from the covert threat implied, as to think that Halse sided +against the Temperance movement. + +"Now you see," said Addison, "if we do make a move against Tibbetts, +Halse will be a traitor and carry word to him ahead. We shall have to +watch him and never drop a word about our plans before him." He then +told me, confidentially, that the Temperance sentiment had grown so +strong, that its advocates hoped to be able to get Tibbetts indicted +that fall and so close up his "grocery." + +Addison and Theodora, as well as the Old Squire, thought that if the +Corners clique could be broken up, Halstead would be a far better boy. +Liquor was the only bond which held the clique together there. If the +illicit sale of liquor could be stopped at Tibbetts', not only Hannis, +but several others would leave the place; and probably Tibbetts himself +would move away. + +I do not think that it occurred to either Addison or Theodora that there +was anything in the least reprehensible in conspiring to drive grocer +Tibbetts out of town. I am sure that I then deemed it a good idea to +drive him away, by almost any means, fair or foul. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +GOING TO THE CATTLE SHOW + + +About this time we began to hear raccoons, in the early part of the +night. There were numbers of these animals in the woods about the farm; +they had their retreats in hollow trees and sometimes came into the corn +fields. I first heard one while coming home from the Edwardses one +evening; the strange, quavering cry frightened me; for I imagined that +it was the cry of a "lucivee," concerning which the boys were talking a +good deal at this time. One was said to have attacked a farmer on the +highway a little beyond the Batchelder place. The animal leaped into the +back part of the man's wagon and fought savagely for possession of a +quarter of beef. Repeated blows from a whip-stock failed to dislodge it, +till it had ridden for ten or fifteen rods, when it leaped off the +wagon, but followed, growling, for some distance. As nearly as this man +could judge, in the dim light of evening, the animal was as large as a +good-sized dog. The "lucivee," or _loup-cervier_, is the lynx +Canadensis, which ordinarily attains a weight of no more than +twenty-five pounds, but occasionally grows larger and displays great +fierceness and courage. + +I made haste home and calling Addison out, asked him whether that +strange cry which still issued at intervals from the woodland, over +towards the Aunt Hannah lot, was made by the much dreaded "lucivee." He +laughed and was disposed to play on my fears for a while, but at length +told me that it was nothing more savage than a 'coon. The wild note had +struck a singularly responsive fiber within me; and to this day I never +hear a raccoon's hollow cry at night, without a sudden recurrence of the +same eerie sensation. + +About this time we all became much interested in the approaching Cattle +Show, which was to be held at the Fair Grounds, near the village, during +the last week of September. Thomas bantered me strongly to raise two +dollars and go into partnership with him in an old horse which he knew +of and which he desired to buy and enter for the "slow race." The horse +could be purchased for three or four dollars and was so very stiff in +the knees as to be almost certain of winning the "slow race," thereby +securing a "purse" of ten dollars. + +What with Thomas' enthusiasm, this looked to me, at the time, to be a +very alluring investment. Tom had also another scheme for winning the +"purse" of the "scrub race," where every kind of animal took the track +at one and the same time. The Harland boys--where we went to mill--owned +a large mongrel dog that had been taught to haul a little cart. He was +known to be a fast runner; and Tom had intelligence that he was in the +market, at a price of two dollars. If we could secure him, there was +little doubt that the scrub-race purse would easily drop into our hats. +I had to confess to doubts whether the Old Squire would consent to my +embarking in such speculations. + +"But you needn't show in it," said Tom quietly. "I'll do all the trading +and keep them over at our barn." The way being thus opened to a silent +partnership, I began a canvass of all my assets. + +Thomas was also intending to enter a colt and a yoke of yearling steers +for the premiums on those classes of animals. Addison intended to enter +one of the Old Squire's yokes of steers; and Tom acknowledged to me that +his own chance was slim on steers, since ours were the larger and +better-matched. + +Gram usually sent in one or more firkins of butter, several cheeses and +even loaves of bread and cake. The Old Squire exhibited several head of +cattle and sometimes his entire herd; also sheep, hogs and poultry. Then +there was always an extensive exhibit of apples, pears and grapes, +arranged on plates, as also seed-corn, wheat, barley, buckwheat, oats +and garden vegetables. We were occupied for fully a fortnight, that +season, gathering and preparing our various exhibits. + +In addition, Halstead and Addison expected to do a flourishing business +selling apples, pears and grapes; they also talked of opening an eating +booth on the Fair Grounds, with baked beans, cakes, pies and hot coffee; +and they had agreed with Theodora and Ellen to prepare the food +beforehand, and take a share in the profits. The previous fall they had +sold cider (moderately sweet) and done very well; but Addison had become +so rigid a temperance reformer, during the year, that he would not now +deal in cider. + +This being my first season at the farm, I was not included as a partner +in these lucrative privileges, but expected to be admitted to them all +the following year. Meantime I intended to learn about it, and expected +to derive a great deal of pleasure from attending the coming exhibition. +There were to be numerous "attractions," besides the slow race, and the +scrub race, which was for any kind of animal that had legs and could run +except horses. I had finally raised two dollars to invest with Tom in +the old horse, named "Ponkus," previously alluded to, and by a hard +strain on my resources also became interested to the extent of another +dollar with him in "Tige," the cart dog, for the scrub race. + +The Fair Grounds were located near the neighboring village, about seven +miles distant from the Old Squire's, and consisted of a large wooden +building and a high fence, enclosing about thirty acres of land. The +admission fee was fifteen cents. The Fair continued three days: Tuesday, +Wednesday and Thursday, of the last week of September. + +We set off at four o'clock of the opening day, Addison, Halse, Thomas +and I driving three ox-carts, loaded with farm products. We had also to +lead "Ponkus" and a two-year-old Hereford bull behind the carts, and +manage a yoke of Durham steers for the "town team;" our progress was +therefore slow and it was nine o'clock in the forenoon before we arrived +at the Grounds and had made a disposition of our various charges. + +A great crowd of people was pouring through the gate of the enclosure. +Fully four thousand people were already on the grounds; and a gaudy +array of "side shows" at once attracted our attention. There were +counters and carts for cider, gingerbread and confectionery. Loud-voiced +auctioneers were selling "patent medicines" and knickknacks of all +sorts. + +Close at hand, a snare drum and fife, inside a tent, drew attention to +"a rare and wonderful show of wild animals," which the fakir at the door +declared to consist of "a pair of bald eagles, two panther cubs, a +prairie wolf and Hindoo seal," and sometimes he said "prairie wolf and +Bengal tiger." + +Then there were rather disreputable fellows with "whirl-boards" at "ten +cents a whirl;" with "ring-boards" at "five cents a pitch," and ten +cents made when you lodged the rings on the points. There was also a +blind-fold professor of phrenology, who examined heads at fifteen cents +_per cranium_. + +In the crowd, too, were even less reputable fellows, who sought to +entrap rural youths into "betting on cards," and making "rare bargains" +in delusive watches. Altogether it was an animated scene, for young +eyes. Addison, Halse and Theodora were occupied with their "booth." +Ellen and Wealthy were with Gram in the Fair building, where the fruit +and dairy products had to be watched and presided over. The Old Squire +was a member of numerous committees on stock and other farm exhibits. We +hardly caught sight of him during the day. For my own part I kept with +Thomas and "Tige," whose little wagon for racing we had brought down in +one of the ox-carts. We avoided the sharpers, for the good reason that +we had very little money in our pockets. We were cheated but once, by a +youthful Philistine who had "tumblers to break," suspended in a row by a +string. + +We paid him ten cents, and standing off at a distance of forty feet, +threw a nicely-whittled club at the row of suspended glasses. If we +broke one, we were to receive twenty-five cents. The safety of the +tumblers lay in the extreme lightness of the clubs, which were of dry +pine wood, much lighter than their size indicated. Tom and I each threw +the clubs twice. Not a tumbler was injured. The proprietor called it a +"game of skill;" but it was nearer a game of swindling. + +But the slow race and scrub race were the features that interested us +most. In explanation I may say that a "slow race" is not an uncommon +attraction at a county fair. Usually the object in racing horses is to +exhibit speed; but the "slow race" is for the slowest horse--the one +which is longest in hobbling a mile. To prevent cheating, no one is +allowed to drive his own horse; if he enters for the race he must drive +a horse that has been entered by another person. Of course, under such +conditions each man drives over the track as quickly as he can, since it +is for his interest to do so. The "purse," or prize, at the Fair that +fall was ten dollars; that is to say, the man who entered the slowest +old skeleton of a horse, received ten dollars, together with the cheers +and jeers of the crowd. Public sentiment is now more humane and +wholesome. + +What Thomas and I had in view was the ten dollars; and we did not +believe there was a horse in the county that could beat our old +"Ponkus" at going slow. + +There were no restrictions in the race. Anybody who had a horse was at +liberty to enter him for it. The time set for the race was four o'clock +in the afternoon. A little before that hour, Thomas drove Ponkus on to +the track, in an old "thoroughbrace" wagon. + +We found that as many as twelve different horses (or wrecks of horses) +had been entered for the race. It was an odd and venerable-looking troop +that drew up near the judge's stand, which was to be the starting point. + +There was one horse with the "spring halt" in both hind legs, and he +lifted his feet nearly a yard high at every step. There was another with +three "spavins" and a "ring-bone" on the remaining leg. Still another +had the "heaves" so badly that its breathing could be heard twenty rods +away. In fact, every one had some ailment or defect. The agents of the +Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had not yet made their +way into our locality. + +The owners surveyed the rival nags with a critical eye. The bystanders +laughed and made bets. The horse with the "spring halt," that lifted +both hind legs so high, was the popular favorite at first. But soon a +fresh roar from the crowd told of the approach of another "racer." + +A tin-peddler, with his cart and great bags of paper-rags on top, came +in. The first glimpse of the peddler's horse sent dismay to the rest of +us. Besides being utterly stiff-kneed and knock-kneed, it was really +nothing but a moving skeleton. Its hair looked as dead as that on a +South American cow-hide, and nearly every bone in its frame might have +been counted. + +The crowd shouted, "Room! Room there! Room for old Rack-o'-bones! Don't +breathe or he'll tumble down! Is he balky? Will he kick? Check him up!" + +The peddler had been passing the Fair Grounds on his way through the +county, when some wag had hailed him and induced him to enter his horse +for the race. He was a little wiry man forty or fifty years old, dressed +in a soiled tweed coat and a boy's cloth cap. + +He wanted to drive his horse, harnessed as it was in the tin-cart; but +the rest of us cried out against it; he therefore took the cart off the +forward wheels, and strapped a salt-box to the axle, to sit on. It was a +queer sort of "sulky." There was not much to choose, however; all the +horses were in rickety wagons, or battered gigs. + +The drivers "changed over." They then got the animals as nearly in line +at the bar as possible, ready for the word "Go." Just then it was +discovered that one of the horses had a sharp stone adroitly inserted in +his shoe, so as to press up against the "frog" of his foot, and still +further cripple the poor beast. The judges promptly excluded this horse, +and reprimanded his owner. + +"Go!" was then shouted. And they went. The crowd whooped and cheered and +whistled. Such a strident chorus of "Get-daps," "Geh-langs," "Hud-dups!" +and such frantic efforts to get those horses into a trot were never +before seen or heard in those parts! Each jostled and ran against others +in his wild efforts to get past his neighbors and rivals. One gig broke +down, and the driver had to mount on horseback; but he went the better +for that, and got past all the rest. Altogether, it was the noisiest, +dustiest, most harum-scarum race that can be imagined! They got around +at last, the most of them, and began to look about. The peddler's horse +was not to be seen. + +"Where's Rack-o'-bones?" we asked each other. The shouts and +gesticulations of the spectators soon told us as to his whereabouts. The +peddler's horse had not yet got _half way round_! A snail could have +crawled almost as fast. The animal could not step more than six inches +at once, to save its life. + +The most amusing part of it to the crowd was that the little peddler did +not understand about the race, and thought that instead of winning he +was hopelessly beaten. It took the judges some minutes to make him +comprehend that he had won the race. His small, greedy, gray eyes shone +when he was given the ten dollars. + +"Don't envy him, boys," said one of the judges. "The man is entitled to +the pity of the entire assemblage for owning or using such a horse." + +The slow race came off the first day; but our folks attended the Fair, +not only upon the following day, which was the principal day, but on the +third day also. We did not reach home at night till eight or nine +o'clock, and were astir and off again by five o'clock next morning; for +we had our stock at the Fair Grounds to look after. Gram had hired Aunt +Olive Witham to stay at the farm that week and keep house; and she not +only kept house, but kept the barn as well, and did all the milking for +us. + +On the second day came the _bona fide_ horse trots, of great interest to +all owning horses troubled with that dangerous disease--speed. + +On the third and last day, a young fellow with a cageful of dancing +turkeys divided public attention about equally with a white-haired and +long-bearded man from Newfoundland who "ate glass tumblers," biting off +and chewing up great mouthfuls of glass, as if it were a crust of bread. +Afterwards this same old Blue-nose fought with his own large +Newfoundland dog, using only his mouth, growling and snapping in such a +frightful way that it was hard telling which brute was the dog. But the +final and most exciting feature of the day, was the "scrub race," which +came off at four o'clock in the afternoon. + +In this race any and every animal was allowed to take part, except +horses. Men, boys, dogs harnessed into carts and carrying their owners, +cows, steers and goats, anything on four legs or two, could compete +except the genus _equus_. The prize was ten dollars to the winner, +meaning he, she or it, that first reached the judge's stand. An extra +rail had been put up in the fence enclosing the race-course, to keep the +contestants on the track and out of the crowd. + +Among the competitors were three men and about a dozen boys. The +interest of the spectators, however, centered on the four-footed +"racers." Among these was a little black and white Canadian cow, with +fawn-colored legs and slim black-tipped horns. This creature was the +property of a Frenchman, who could speak scarcely a word of English. She +was harnessed, like a horse, and dragged an old pair of wheels. +_Jinnay_, as her owner called her, galloped over the track at an +astonishing speed. + +Then there was a boy with a stub-tailed, brindled bulldog. The dog was +harnessed into a little four-wheeled wagon, just big enough for the +driver to sit in. Another lad, in a two-wheeled cart, drove a great, +curly, shaggy Newfoundland dog. And still another boy drove a small, +stocky, reddish-yellow dog, of no particular breed. This latter dog had +erect, prick ears, and a very surly expression of countenance. His tail +was apparently as straight and stiff as a file. He answered to the name +of Gub, and his master to that of Jimmy Stirks. + +Then there was an old man with a large, mouse-colored jackass, and +another man with a mule. The mule, however, was ruled out by the judges, +on the ground that he had "horse-blood" in him. + +All in good time Tom drove in with our "Tige." + +At the word "Go" from the judges, there was a mad scratch for it. Men, +boys, dogs, cows and donkey started over the course, in most laughable +confusion. Tige barked from pure delight at the uproar, as he dashed +on, swinging his great bushy tail. + +The Frenchman with his cow was the popular favorite. Above all the din +of the race, the voice of the little Canadian could be heard screaming, +"_Mush daw! Mush daw!_" as he plied his stick, and sometimes, "_Herret, +Jinnay! Herret, twa sacre petite broot!_" In the height of the +confusion, the jackass brayed. That was the final touch of fun for the +crowd. + +Tige might have won, if he had attended to his business; but his delight +seemed to be in barking, and chasing Jinnay. The little yellow "chunked" +dog, with the prick ears, on the contrary, never turned to right or +left, but shot like an arrow straight for his mark. How those little +cart-wheels did buzz! And he won the race by eight or ten rods, leaving +men, boys, and Jinnay behind. His owner was a proud boy that afternoon, +and a "great man" among his fellows; but Tom and I were somewhat +depressed. + +Addison took a premium with his yoke of yearling Durham steers, much to +the chagrin of Alfred Batchelder who had also entered a pair for the +prize. Alfred so far lost his temper as to talk outrageously to Addison +upon their way home, on the evening of the third day of the Fair, after +the awards had been announced. He alleged that the Old Squire, being on +the stock "committees," had given Addison the premium, unjustly. For he +thought (although no one else did) that his steers were the best on the +grounds. The charge was a baseless one; for the Old Squire was not a +member of the committee on steers that year, but only on oxen and +horses. + +A ridiculous accident happened as the people were coming home from the +Fair that third night. There was a great deal to be drawn home; and +consequently a very long procession of carts and wagons was tailing +along the road, toward nightfall; also the cows and other cattle which +had been on exhibition. The Edwards family, the Wilburs, as also the +Sylvesters and the Batchelders, were well represented; and not only +those from our immediate neighborhood, but others from various places +more remote. All were journeying homeward along the highway beside the +lake; not less than forty teams all told, loaded with every variety of +farm produce, also the farmers' wives and children. + +It was very dusty, and horse teams were constantly driving past the +slower ox-carts, for some of the young fellows and a few of the older +ones were quite ready to show off the paces of their nags. After this +manner they went on, with here and there two or three teams cutting in +ahead of the slower ones, till the forward teams reached "Wilkins Hill," +a long, and in some places, quite steep ascent in the road about two +miles from the Old Squire's. + +Near the top of the hill Roscoe Batchelder--an older brother of +Alfred--who owned a "fast horse" and had been driving past most of the +other teams on the way home, overtook Willis Murch with his ox-team, +consisting of a yoke of oxen and a yoke of two-year-old steers. Willis +had started quite early from the Fair Grounds and hence, although +driving slowly, had secured a long start of the others. Just at the top +of the hill, Roscoe, with a cigar in his mouth, whipped up to drive past +Willis, and feeling fine from some cause or other, cracked his whip at +the steers and gave a wild yell as he dashed past! + +This startled the steers, unused to the excitements of the road; they +sprang forward with a jerk which somehow threw out or broke the pin +through the "sword" at the forward end of the cart body. With that the +cart tipped up, dumping the entire load into the road behind. Among +other farm produce in the cart were eight or ten huge yellow pumpkins. +At the Murch farm they always raised fine pumpkins and generally carried +a few large ones to the Fair. They cultivated a kind of cheese-shaped +pumpkins which often grew two feet in diameter, yellow as old gold. + +When these great pumpkins were tipped out they began to roll down the +hill. Immediately there arose a shout of trouble and dismay from the +teamsters below. Something very much like a stampede ensued; for the +pumpkins came bounding under the horses and oxen. One cart ran into the +ditch and upset. Alfred Batchelder's prize steers ran away and caught +the hook of a chain which they were dragging, into the wheel of a wagon +belonging to the Sylvesters, and upset it. There was a wreck of all the +jelly and other prepared fruits and preserves in it, Mrs. Sylvester +being somewhat noted for her skill in these particulars. It was said +that the greatly grieved woman shed bitter tears, then and there. + +Addison was driving our wagon home and had Gram and all the girls in it. +He was pretty well down toward the foot of the hill and hearing the +outcry farther up, jumped out and seized old Sol by the head, to keep +him from bolting. In consequence of this prudent manoeuver our folks +came through the tumult uninjured and without damage. One pumpkin came +rolling directly down toward Addison; but by a dextrous kick he turned +it aside. + +Halstead and I, who were driving oxen and carts, did not fare quite as +well; for the team in advance, belonging to the Edwardses, backed down +into us, and our cattle, running out into the ditch, spilled a part of +our loads, including our exhibits of apples and vegetables. Our case, +however, was not as bad as many of our neighbors, some of whom met with +considerable loss. We were occupied an hour or two gathering up the +spilled loads. + +So much for a youngster with a cigar in his mouth and a glass or two of +beer inside him. If an indignant community could have laid hands on +Roscoe Batchelder that night, he would have fared badly. + +Addison and Halse had done a tolerable business with their cake, coffee +and fruit stand. They cleared about seven dollars each above expenses; +and Theodora and Ellen received four dollars apiece for their services +as cooks. I was about the only one in the family who had not received +something in the way of premiums and profits. Both my ventures, in the +"slow race" and the "scrub race," had collapsed. The Old Squire laughed +at me when he heard of my efforts to capture prizes, and advised me to +try more creditable schemes in future. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE WILD ROSE SWEETING + + +Still another memory goes with that first Cattle Show in Maine--the Wild +Rose Sweeting. + +Afterwards I came to know that delicious apple well; but it was at the +Fair that I first made its acquaintance. Willis Murch was peddling them, +and made the place resound, not unmusically, with cries of "Wild Rose +Sweetings! Straight from the Garden of Eden! The best apple that ever +grew! Only a few left!"--and he was actually asking (and getting) four +cents apiece for them. + +In some astonishment I drew up to him to see what it could be in the way +of an apple to command such a price and be in such evident demand. They +were truly lovely apples to look at, but noticing that I was still +skeptical as to their exceeding merits, Willis kindly gave me one--by +way of removing all doubts. Truth to say, those doubts were at once +removed. + +The Wild Rose Sweeting, indeed, is really worthy of a biography, its +history was so romantic, its fate so sad. Let me try to be its humble +biographer. + +As a rule apple-trees that come up wild, bear fruit that is either sour +or else bitter-sweet. All such trees need to be budded, or grafted and +cultivated, to be of value to man. It is only once in a million times +that a really good apple comes up as natural fruit. + +The value to the world of such a choice apple may be enormous. The +Baldwin, for example, which first appeared growing wild in a +Massachusetts town, could hardly be reckoned to-day as worth less than a +hundred millions of dollars. We can bud, graft, cultivate and do much +to improve existent apples; but it is only by chance that we propagate a +new one that is really good. + +The Wild Rose Sweeting was named by Miss Alice Linderman, a young lady +from Philadelphia, who had come to our northern hill country several +years previously in the vain hope of recovery from advanced pulmonary +disease. She named it from the wild-rose tint on one cheek of the apple. + +The tree was discovered by Willis, who kept the secret of it to himself +as long as he could, for his own behoof. He was sufficiently generous to +give some of the apples to Miss Linderman, but he demanded a cent apiece +from others. He even asked four cents apiece after the fame of the +apples spread abroad. + +The year after he discovered the tree Willis carried a bushel to the +county fair, and began peddling them at a cent apiece. Nearly every one +who bought an apple came back for more. Willis raised the price to three +and four cents. Presently a gentleman who had bought two came back and +took the last ten in the basket at a dollar! + +This fact shows better than any description could what a really luscious +apple it was. There was that in the flavor of it that impelled people to +get more. + +The Wild Rose Sweeting more nearly resembled the Sweet Harvey than any +other apple to which I can liken it. The flavor was like that of the +Sweet Harvey thrice refined, perhaps rather more like the August or Pear +Sweeting; and it melted on the palate like a spoonful of ice-cream. + +It will not seem strange to those who know something of the "apple-belt" +of New England that apple-trees, even good ones, should be discovered +growing wild in back pastures and secluded openings in the woods. + +Oxford County, Maine, abounds in wild apple-trees. By looking about a +little, the farmer there can readily pick up enough young trees, growing +wild, to set an orchard. They spring up everywhere. For this is one of +the world's natural apple regions. North and northeast of the Old +Squire's farm rose wooded hills; and extending back among them was a +valley, down which ran a brook, abounding in trout-holes at the foot of +ledges and large rocks. + +At one time the land here was cleared, but being stony and rough it had +been used for pasture, and was partly overgrown with bushes. There were +thousands of young wild apple-trees here, scrubby and thorny, where +cattle had browsed them. + +The boys often went fishing in this brook, spring, summer and fall. Far +up the valley, at a point where the brook flowed over a ledge, there was +a well-known hole. Willis Murch was fishing here one afternoon in the +latter part of August, when he saw a red squirrel carrying an apple in +its mouth by the stem, and coming out from some thick young hemlocks +that grew along the west bank of the brook. He was sitting so still that +the squirrel ran close up to him; but when he suddenly thrust out his +hand, the animal dropped the apple and scudded away with a shrill +_chicker_. + +The apple rolled close to Willis's feet, and he picked it up. Apples +were common enough, but this one looked so good that he rubbed it on his +sleeve and bit it. Then his eyes opened in surprise, for this was no +sour cider-apple, but far and away the best apple he had ever tasted. + +"It must grow near here," he said to himself, looking curiously around. +"That squirrel didn't bring it far. The stem is fresh, too. He has just +gnawed it off the tree." + +Thereupon Willis began searching. He crept into the hemlocks on hands +and knees. Presently he came upon several other gnawed apples; but even +with this clue, he was half an hour finding the tree. There were four +or five huge rocks back from the brook among the thick hemlocks. At last +he crawled in past two of these that stood close together, and came upon +the apple-tree, in a little sheltered amphitheater. It was at the foot +of another large rock, twelve or fifteen feet high. A tiny spring oozed +out at the foot of the rock; and here this apple-tree had grown up, +unwatched and undiscovered save by the squirrels and birds. The tree was +a thrifty one. The trunk had attained a diameter of six inches; and when +Willis found it, there were, he says, four or five bushels of those +delicious Sweetings, now just beginning to ripen. Willis first ate all +he desired, then took off his coat, made a bag of it, and shook down the +ripest of the apples to carry home to his family and the neighboring +boys and girls. + +"Won't they smack their lips!" he said to himself. "Won't they be up +here for more!" + +But on the way he took second thought, and craft entered his heart. "I +won't tell them where it is," he said to himself. "Let them hunt. They +never will find it." For the place was a mile and a half or two miles +from the nearest farm. + +Willis as yet had not thought of selling the apples or making a profit +from his discovery; that idea came into his mind later, after he found +how fond every one was of them. But that night when asked where this +tree grew, Willis laughed and said darkly, "Oh, I know!" + +Such secretiveness was deemed piggish, and was resented. Several +declared that they could and would find that tree and get every apple on +it. Willis laughed and said, "Let me know when you do." + +That was the beginning of the long search for "Willis Murch's good +tree." First and last, hours, days and, altogether, weeks of time were +spent scouring the pastures, fields and clearings. Willis was watched +constantly, in the hope of tracking him. + +Alfred Batchelder lay in wait for days together on a hill overlooking +the Murch farm, expecting to see Willis set out for the tree. At one +time Alfred and another boy, named Charles Cross, had thoughts of +waylaying Willis, and extorting the secret from him by threats or +torture! + +Willis steered clear of them, however, and remained close-mouthed. He +had grown very crafty, and went to the tree by night only, or sometimes +early on Sunday mornings, before other people were astir. + +During the August moon of the second season after discovering the tree, +he brought home a bushel of the apples on three different occasions by +night; and he now began canvassing among the farmers who had orchards, +to sell scions, to be delivered in May of the following spring. After +eating the apples, not a few signed for them at fifty cents a graft. + +It required a fair share of courage on the part of a boy of fifteen to +go to the tree by night, for the distance from Willis's home was fully +two miles; and at that time bears and lynxes frequented the "great +pasture." + +Willis afterward told the other boys that a bear came out in the path +directly ahead of him one night, as he was hurrying home with a bushel +of Wild Rose Sweetings on his shoulder. The creature sniffed, and Willis +shouted to frighten it. He was on the point of throwing down his apples, +to climb a tree in haste, when the bear shambled away. + +Willis seems now to have had great designs of selling scions to +orchardists and nurserymen over the whole country. Only a tiny twig, +three inches long, is requisite for a scion for grafting into other +trees. The Wild Rose Sweeting tree would produce thousands of such +scions. Willis, who was a Yankee lad by ancestry, resolved to preserve +the secret of the tree at all hazards. He appears to have had dreams of +making a fortune from it. + +Thus far no one had been able to find the tree, as much from nature's +own precaution in hiding it as from Willis's craft. By the middle of +September that autumn he had gathered most of the apples, when the same +chance which had first led his steps to the tree revealed it to the eyes +of his enemies. + +For about that time Alfred Batchelder and Charles Cross's brother, +Newman, went fishing up the brook, and in due course arrived at the +trout-hole where Willis had sat when he saw the squirrel. They crept up +to the hole, baited and cast in together. + +There were no bites immediately; but as they sat there they heard a red +squirrel _chirr_! up among the thick hemlocks, and presently caught the +sound of a low thud on the ground, soon followed by another and another. + +"He's gnawing off apples," said Alfred. "There's an apple-tree among +those hemlocks." + +Then the two cronies glanced at each other, and the same thought +occurred to both. "Who knows!" exclaimed Newman. "Who knows but what +that may be the tree?" + +They stopped fishing and began searching. They could still hear the +squirrel in the apple-tree, and the sounds guided them to the little +dell among the rocks. There were a few apples remaining on the tree; and +they no sooner saw them than they knew that Willis Murch's famous tree +was found at last. + +They were so greatly pleased that they hurrahed and whooped for joy. +Then they secured what apples there were left, ate all they wanted, and +filled their pockets with the rest. No more fishing for them that day. +They had found the famous tree, and now were intent on thinking how they +could most humiliate Willis. + +Neither of them knew of his grand scheme to sell scions; but it had long +provoked their envy to see him peddling Wild Rose Sweetings at the Fair +for four cents apiece. They would find him now and thrust a +pink-cheeked apple under his nose! + +But that would not be half satisfaction enough. They wanted to cut him +off from his tree forever, to put it out of his power ever to get +another apple from it. Nothing less would appease the grudge they bore +him. + +And what those two malicious youths did was to take their jack-knives +and girdle that Wild Rose Sweeting tree close to the ground. They went +clear round the tree, cutting away the bark into the sap-wood; and not +content with girdling it once, they went round it three times in +different places. + +That done, they went home in great glee, thrust the apples in Willis's +face, and bade him look to his good tree. + +"We have found your tree, old Cuffy!" they cried to him. "You never will +get any more apples off that tree!" + +Beyond doubt Willis was chagrined. He did not know that they had girdled +the tree, but he thought it not worth the while to go up there again +that fall, since there were no more apples. Yet even if Alfred and +Newman had found it, and even if they got the apples next season, he +supposed that he would still be able to cut scions from the tree. Late +in March, directly after the sap started, he went up there with knife +and saw to secure them. + +Not till then did he discover that the tree had been cruelly girdled, +and that the spring sap had not flowed to the limbs. He cut a bundle of +scions, some of which were afterward set as grafts; but none of them +lived. The tree was killed. It never bore again. Nor can I learn that +sprouts ever came up about the root. It was quite dead when I first +visited the place. + +Thus perished, untimely, the Wild Rose Sweeting. Ignorance and small +malice robbed the world of an apple that might have given delight and +benefit to millions of people for centuries to come. + +I have sometimes thought that an inscription of the nature of an epitaph +should be cut on the great rock at the foot of which the tree stood. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE OLD SQUIRE ALLOWS US FOUR DAYS FOR CAMPING OUT + + +So occupied were our minds with the Fair and its incidents, that not one +of us had thought to go or send to the post office during that entire +week. We had even passed near it, without thinking to call. + +But on Sunday morning the Old Squire suddenly bethought himself of his +religious newspaper, _The Independent_, which he commonly read for an +hour after breakfast. He called me aside and, after remarking that he +did not make a practice of going, or sending, to the post office on the +Sabbath, said that I might make a trip to the Corners and bring home the +mail. As the post office was at the residence of the postmaster, letters +and papers could be taken from the office on any day or hour of the +week. + +I went to the Corners, accordingly, and at the door of the post office +met Catherine Edwards who had also come there on a similar errand. + +She looked very bright and smart that morning and laughed when she saw +me. + +"Your folks forgot the mail, too," said she. "Father told me to go down +across the meadow, so that the Old Squire's folks needn't see me, going +to the post office; for you know father stands in great awe of your +grandpa's opinions. I shall tell him when I get home that he needn't +have been so cautious." + +Kate did not hasten away; and I summoned courage to say, "Please wait +for me," although it cost me a great effort. + +"All right," she replied. "I'll go on slow." + +The postmaster had again to look up his glasses and was, I thought, a +long while peering at the letters and papers. At length he handed out my +package and I hurried away. Kate had not proceeded very far, however, +and I soon overtook her. But she was obliged to take the lead in +conversation. + +"Our school doesn't begin this winter till after Thanksgiving," she +remarked. "Have your folks heard who the schoolmaster is going to be?" + +We had not. + +"Well then, it is a young man, named Samuel Lurvy," said Kate. "He lives +at Lurvy's Mills; and they say that his father, who owns the mills, has +sent him for three terms to the Academy. Mr. Batchelder is our district +school agent, you know; and his wife is a relative of the Lurvys; that's +the reason, father says, that he came to hire Sam. Our folks are a +little surprised and so are the Wilburs; for this Sam isn't more than +nineteen or twenty years old; and mother says that she doesn't believe +that he can be a very good scholar, for his parents are very ignorant. + +"I was in hopes that they would have a good teacher this winter; for I +want to make a start in Algebra," Kate continued. "I suppose you are +nicely along in your studies. They must have better schools at +Philadelphia than we do, away back here in the country." + +It appeared, however, that whatever advantages I might have had in this +respect, I was yet not as far advanced in Arithmetic as Kate; nor yet in +any other branch. I had barely reached Compound Interest, while Kate had +finished her Practical Arithmetic the previous winter. + +"I could do all the examples in it when school was done last winter," +she said. "I reviewed it once this summer, under Miss Emmons; I think +like as not I might trip on some of them now. But I know that Theodora +can do them all. She is a little older than I am; and she is a real good +scholar, though I don't think that she is quite so good as Addison. He +is different, somehow; he knows lots about everything and can talk real +interesting with the teachers, in the classes. I know he is hoping we +will have a good teacher, so he can finish up all his common school +studies. You tell him that we are going to have Sam Lurvy, and see what +he thinks about it. + +"But it will be a long time before school begins," Kate continued, +"nearly two months. We only have about nineteen weeks of school in a +year here." + +By this time we had reached the meadow where the bridge spanned the +meadow brook. + +"Go easy on the bridge and look off the lower end of it," Kate advised. +"We may see a big trout." + +We did so and saw several trout, swimming away, but not very large ones. + +"Well, I guess I shall go up the meadow and across the fields home," +remarked Kate. "It is nearer for me; and it is a little nearer for you; +but perhaps you would rather go by the road, seeing it is Sunday." + +"I had rather go with you up the meadow," I said, but I felt somewhat +abashed; and it seemed to me very bold to take such a long walk through +meadow, pasture and fields, with a girl, alone, of about my own age, and +not a cousin. + +We proceeded up the meadow, following the meanderings of the brook, past +numerous bush clumps. At length, we drew near a large bend where the +brook looked to be both wide and deep. "This is the best trout hole on +the meadow," Kate told me in a low tone. "Just wait a moment and keep +back out of sight, while I catch a grasshopper." She hunted about in the +dry grass, alternately stealing forward on tip-toe, then making a quick +dash and pressing her hand suddenly on the grass. "I've got two," she +said, coming cautiously forward. "Now creep up still to that little +bunch of basswood bushes, on the edge of the bank. Get down low and +crawl and don't jar the ground. I'm going to throw in a grasshopper. Oh +dear me, look at the 'molasses' the nasty thing has put on my hand!" + +Kate threw the grasshopper into the pool at the bend; and it seemed to +me that it had barely touched the water, when _flop_ rose a fine trout +and snatched it. + +"Oh, if it wasn't Sunday and we had a hook here to put this other +grasshopper on," said Kate eagerly, "wouldn't it be fun to haul that +trout out here! + +"I caught ten here one day last June," she continued. "Oh, I _do_ love +to fish!--Do you think it is very horrid for girls to fish?" she asked +suddenly. + +"Girls don't fish as much as boys, but I didn't know there was any harm +in it," I said. + +"I'm glad you don't think it isn't nice," said Kate. "Tom is always +hectoring me about it. I sometimes catch more than he does; and I think +that is the reason he wants to plague me." + +"But we must go away from here!" Kate exclaimed. "For I don't think it +is quite right to want to fish so badly, on Sunday. I think it is as bad +to want to catch a fish as to catch one, or almost as bad." + +This being our moral condition, we veered off from the brook a little; +and Kate pointed out to me a bank of choke-cherry bushes, from which we +gathered a few cherries, not very good ones. + +"It isn't a good cherry year," said Kate. "Last year was. We got +splendid ones off these same bushes, last September." + +Kate also pointed out to me some small bird pear trees, growing beside +an old hedge fence across the upper end of the meadow, where we climbed +over and going through a tract of sparse woodland entered the pasture +below the Old Squire's south field. + +"Oh, I do love to be out in the woods and pastures on a bright pleasant +day like this!" exclaimed Kate, with a long breath of enjoyment. "I +wish I could camp out and be out of doors all the fall. That makes me +think, has Addison or Dora said anything to you about our making a trip +to the 'great woods' this fall, after the apples are picked?" + +"I have heard Addison say that he would like to go," said I. "And +Theodora said that they had talked of making a camping trip once. But I +haven't heard anything about it lately." + +"Oh dear, I'm afraid they will all give it up," said Kate. "There is a +place away up in the woods where there is a nice chance to camp. Tom was +up there once. It is quite a good ways. We should have to camp out over +night. Wouldn't that be fun? There's a brook up there full of fish, they +say; and there are partridges and lots of game. My folks will let Tom +and me go, if Theodora and Ellen and Addison go. Mother thinks Dora is +the nicest girl there ever was about here; she holds her up as a pattern +for me, regularly. But I happen to know that Dora enjoys having a good +time, as much as I do. + +"Now you put them up to go," Kate added, as we came to the west field +bars, where our ways homeward diverged. "Good-by. I've had a real nice +walk." + +It was certainly very polite for her to say that; for she had been +obliged to do nearly all the talking. + +Addison and Theodora were standing out near the bee hives and saw me +coming across the field to the house. A great and embarrassing fear fell +upon me, as I saw them observing my approach. Even now, Catherine was +still in sight, at a distance, crossing Mr. Edwards' field. My two +cousins had been waiting about for me to bring _The Portland Transcript_ +and _The Boston Weekly Journal_, which they read very constantly in +those days. + +"Aha! aha!" exclaimed Addison, significantly. "Seems to me that you have +been gone a long time after the mail!" + +"And who is that young lady we saw you taking leave of, over at the +bars?" put in Theodora. + +A very small hole would have sufficed for me to creep into at about that +time! + +"See how red he is," hectored Addison. "We've found him out. I had no +idea he was any such boy as this!" + +"Dear me, no," said Theodora, pretending to be vastly scandalized. "Just +see how bold he behaves! I never would have thought it of him!" Thus +they tormented me, winking confidentially to each other; and an eel +being skinned alive for the frying-pan would not have suffered more than +I did from their gibes. + +For a number of days after the Fair, we found it difficult to settle +down to farm work, so greatly had it interrupted the ordinary course of +events. When we did get to work again, our first task was to pick the +winter apples, the Baldwins and Greenings, and barrel them, for market. +Gramp did not allow these apples to be shaken off the trees; they must +all be hand-picked, then carefully sorted up and the first layers placed +in the barrels in rows around the bottom. Baldwins and Greenings, thus +barrelled, will keep sound till the following March; but if care be not +used and apples which have fallen from the trees be put in, the barrel +of fruit may wholly decay before February. + +It was pleasant, but tiresome work, climbing to the top of the great +trees, holding on with one hand and picking apples with the other. We +were well provided with "horses," ladders and hooks, however, and in +four days, picked and put up one hundred and thirty barrels. Lest some +farmer's son well versed in this kind of work, be inclined to think my +story large, I may explain that there were six of us, including the two +Doanes and the Old Squire; and I must also add that the girls helped us +at the sorting and barrelling. + +The fact was, that we were all working with good will; for Addison had +taken opportunity to ask the Old Squire and Gram about making that +excursion to the "great woods;" and although the latter had not yet +consented to allow Theodora and Ellen to go, Gramp had said that we boys +might have four days, after the apples were picked. Addison had told me +about it, but had said nothing to Halstead, for he had expressly +stipulated with the old gentleman, that Halse should not be allowed to +accompany us. + +Addison's plan to exclude Halse disturbed Theodora, however; she thought +it was wrong to treat him in that manner, even if we did not like his +ways. Addison, however, declared that we would be sure to have trouble, +if Halstead went, he was so headstrong and bad-tempered. We had several +very earnest private discussions of the matter. Addison would not yield +the point; he would as lief not go, he said, as to go with Halse. + +Thomas and Catherine Edwards, and Willis Murch, had been advised of the +proposed expedition and asked to go. We should thus make a party of +seven, Addison urged, and would have a fine time; for the Edwards young +folks and Willis were good-tempered and intelligent, with tastes much +like our own. Ned Wilbur had been invited, but declined, having to +choose between this trip and a long promised visit to some friends, in +another county. + +The matter was pending all the time we were gathering apples. Theodora +even argued for Halstead with Gramp; but Addison stood in well with the +old gentleman; he declared that he wished and needed to take a gun with +us, and that he, for one, did not dare go out with Halse, if the latter +had a gun; nor did he believe that any of us would be safe, if Halse had +the handling of one. + +Unfortunately there was only too much truth in this latter argument. +Theodora then urged that Halse might be allowed to go and made to +promise in advance not to take up the gun at all while we were gone. +Addison retorted that those might trust his promises who wished, but +that he would not. + +Wealthy, whom grandmother judged too young to go, at length told +Halstead of the proposed trip and informed him that he, at least, would +have to stay at home with her. Thereupon Halstead began to question me +in our room at night about the trip. I told him bluntly that Gramp did +not think it prudent for him to go, lest he should make trouble. + +"So I've got to stay at home and work!" he exclaimed bitterly. + +"Well, you might behave better when you are out, then," I said. "It's +your own fault." + +"What have I done?" he exclaimed. + +"Picked a quarrel with 'Enoch' on Fourth o' July," said I, to refresh +his memory. + +"I don't care; he stoned me!" Halse exclaimed. + +"But you began the fuss," I put in. + +"Oh, you say that because Ad does. You and he are about alike!" cried +Halse, angrily. + +"Then there was town-meeting night," I went on to say. "I think you came +home intoxicated that night; I think you had been gambling, too." + +"You say that again and I'll thrash you!" exclaimed Halse, now very hot. + +"Well, I think so, or I shouldn't say it," I repeated. + +In an instant Halse was upon me, as I sat on the side of our bed, and +there was an unseemly scuffle. Halse was the larger, and I think that I +would have gotten the worst of the squabble, but at this juncture, +Addison, hearing the racket, rushed in from his room and pulled us +apart. + +"Who began this row?" quoth our separator. + +"I did, and I'll thrash him!" shouted Halse. "He said I was drunk +town-meeting night." + +"Well, you were," said Addison. "We all know that." + +Halse then tried to throw a boot at Addison who set him down violently +in a chair. + +"Do you know what I would do with you, if I were in the Old Squire's +place?" cried Addison. "I would put you at the Reform School, you little +rowdy!" + +Up jumped Halse to seize the other boot to throw, but was set down +again, this time so hard that the whole room shook. He sat panting a +moment, then began to whimper. Theodora came to the door. + +"Oh, boys," said she in a low voice, "please don't. Do try not to +disturb Gramp to-night; he is very tired and has just gone to bed." + +I suppose that we all felt ashamed of ourselves. I did; for I knew that +I had been somewhat to blame, to provoke Halstead so far. We fell asleep +in anything but a kindly mood toward each other; I had remained awake +till Halse was snoring, being a little afraid of him, to tell the truth. +Even after he was asleep, he kept starting and muttering, he had become +so much excited. + +But for this incident I think that Theodora would have won her way, and +Halse would have been invited to go; she was very persevering, to carry +her point, when she thought a thing was right. + +But now we were so embittered that Halstead declared next morning he +would not go with us, if we asked him. + +"But you will all be sorry for this before you get back!" he blurted +out;--words which made me feel uneasy, for they seemed to imply a threat +of some sort. I said nothing about it, however, not believing that he +really would do anything. + +That afternoon we finished picking the apples; and the Old Squire said +that the hired men could gather up those on the ground, for home use, +subsequently. Since we were going on a trip, he thought that we had +better go at once, before the weather turned colder. The fact was, that +Ad had succeeded in interesting Gramp in the trip. The old gentleman +owned a number of lots of wild land, up in the "great woods." There had +been stories that there was silver in some of the mountains there; +Addison often talked about finding mines; and as he already knew quite a +good deal about the different kinds of rocks and ores, the Old Squire +thought that he might possibly discover something of value. + +That evening we were busy with our preparations for the trip; and I do +not remember seeing Halstead at all; Catherine and Tom Edwards came +over, and Willis Murch a little later, to ask about taking his gun. +Addison thought that one gun would be enough to carry; for we found out, +as every camping party does, that our luggage would prove burdensome and +must be reduced to the least possible weight. We wanted to take, in +addition to four "comforters" and two blankets, only what things we +could pack in two common bushel baskets which are convenient to carry, +either on one's shoulder, or for two persons where one lends a hand at +either ear of the basket. In one basket we packed our tinware, +frying-pan, tin dippers, plates, etc., along with four or five loaves of +bread, sugar, coffee, salt, pepper, etc., and four dozen eggs. In the +other was stowed potatoes, pork, a little bag of coarse corn meal for +mush, butter and a score other little articles that are often forgotten +at the start and sadly missed later on. Finally on top of each basket +was strapped the comforters and blankets. + +It being past the middle of October, when frosty nights might be +expected, we all wore thick winter clothing and strong boots. + +Gram had at last consented to allow Ellen and Theodora to go, although +it must be said that such a jaunt was not at all to the dear old lady's +taste, and violated many of her traditions of what girls should do. + +There were none too many hours passed in sleep by any of us that night, +I feel sure; for we did not finish our preparations and packing, till +towards midnight; and Addison waked us promptly at five o'clock. When he +came to my door to call me, Halse waked up and lay scowling, as I +dressed by the light of a candle. "You feel mighty smart, don't ye?" he +said at length. I did not blame him much for being out of sorts, and so +did not reply. + +"I hope it will rain every day you are gone!" he exclaimed. "I hope the +'Cannucks' will rob ye!" + +There were rumors concerning parties of Canadian outlaws that were +thought to infest the "great woods," or at least to pass through it and +rendezvous somewhere in its recesses, on their way to and from Canada. +Hence the name of Cannucks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +AT THE OLD SLAVE'S FARM + + +We had breakfast at six; and then Asa Doane hitched up old Sol and Nancy +to the farm wagon on which we loaded our outfit and set off to take up +our friends, Thomas and Kate, also Willis Murch. We were to have four +days, five, including Sunday (for this was Thursday); Gramp expressly +stipulated, however, that we should remain quiet in our camp over the +Sabbath. + +"Now, boys," said the old gentleman, coming out to see us off, "be +prudent and careful, avoid rash encounters with man or beast. + +"Addison," he continued in a lower voice, "I shall expect you to see +that everything goes right." + +Gram's instructions to the girls had been given already and many times +repeated. We drove off in high spirits; and the old folks stood looking +after us. Happening to cast a glance to the upper windows of the house, +I saw Halstead's face, with so black a frown on it, that I experienced a +sudden foreboding. + +But the beauty of the early autumnal morning, and the exaltation which +we all felt at starting out for a holiday, soon dispelled other +thoughts. + +We had, as I now think, done wrong to exclude Halse; but it was a choice +of evils. His disposition was so peculiar, that we should most likely +have had trouble, if he had gone with us; and yet in leaving him behind, +we were prompting him to some bad act on account of the slight. + +Thomas and Kate were waiting for us by the roadside and, after a joyous +greeting, climbed into the wagon; we then drove on to take up Willis, +whom we found equally on the alert. Each made contributions to the +common stock of provisions and outfit. + +Half a mile above the Murch farm, the road entered the borders of the +"great woods," and immediately became little better than a trail, rather +rough and bushy; yet a well-marked track extended for five miles into +the forest, as far as Clear Pond from the shores of which pine lumber +had been drawn out two years previously. From the pond a less well +trodden trail led on over a high ridge of forest land, to the northwest, +for three miles, then descended into a heavily timbered valley, to an +old log structure known as "the skedaddlers' fort." + +From "the skedaddlers' fort," there was still the faint trace of a path +through the woods, for two miles further, to the banks of Lurvy's +Stream. + +Thence the path continued along the bank of this large brook, for four +or five miles, then crossed it at a sandy ford, to a large opening in +the forest, partly natural meadow and partly cleared, called "the old +slave's farm," where there were two deserted log cabins. + +Years before, a negro, said to have been a slave who had escaped from +one of the Southern States and was fleeing to Canada, settled in the +woods here by the stream, thinking perhaps that he had reached Canada +already. He cleared land, subsisted somehow, and made for himself a +considerable farm upon the naturally open intervale. He lived here alone +for many years, seen at times by passing lumbermen, or hunters. Some +ludicrous stories are told of the fright which the sight of a jet black +man gave inexperienced whites who chanced to stumble upon him suddenly +and alone in the woods! There were certain ignorant persons who always +considered this poor, lonely outcast as being a near relative of "old +Nick." + +During the Civil War he disappeared from his "farm" and may have +returned to the South, being no longer in fear of bondage. A little +cabin of hewn logs had sufficed him for a house and a few yards distant +another cabin gave shelter to his poultry and cow. These cabins having +stood unoccupied for many years in snow and rain, had bleached +themselves into cleanliness, and were not unfit to camp in for a few +days. It was here that we had decided to make our headquarters, while +exploring the streams and forest adjacent. + +We had taken an ax as well as a gun; and by stopping to clear an +occasional windfall from the old road and going slowly over the logs, +stones and holes, the horses took us up to Clear Pond in about two +hours. + +The deciduous trees were now nearly bare, save here and there a beech or +a deep purple ash. The golden red foliage of the sugar maples and the +yellow birches lay rustling under foot. + +The woods looked light and open since the leaves had fallen. Only the +hemlocks and spruces retained their somber density, with a few firs in +the swamps and here and there a lofty pine on the mountain sides. All +the summer birds had gone already; but a few red-headed woodpeckers were +still tapping decayed tree trunks; and numerous jays made the woodland +resound to their varied outcries, first shrill and obstreperous, then +plaintive. Far up a hillside of poplar, a horde of crows were clamoring +over some corvine scandal, perhaps. + +It was a sylvan, but wholly lonely scene, save for the partridges +rising, after every few rods, from the path in rapid whirring flight, or +standing still for a moment with sharply nodding heads and a quick, +short note of alarm, ere taking wing. + +Willis, walking ahead with his gun, soon startled us with its near +report, adding a fine speckled cock to our prospective larder; erelong +he shot another and still another. These fine birds were very plenty in +the borders of the "great woods." + +On reaching Clear Pond, we were obliged to say good-by to our team. The +wagon could go no further; for here the more recent lumber road +terminated, the trail beyond being older and much obstructed by fallen +trees. + +Then began the real labor of carrying our baskets. Addison and I led off +with one basket and the ax; while Tom and Willis followed with the +other. The girls came on at leisure, in the rear; they were seeing a +great deal that was novel in the woods; and having but light loads, they +could enjoy it better than we boys who were carrying the bushel baskets. + +Going up the side of the wooded ridge, a pine marten was espied in full +chase after a red squirrel, up and down the trunk of a spruce. + +"What a specimen he would make to mount!" Addison exclaimed, and +dropping his "ear" of our basket, unslung his gun and ran forward to get +a shot; but the shy creature vanished in time to save its life, through +the thick tops of the adjacent trees. Near the top of the ridge, he +fired at a red-tailed hawk which had alighted on the top of a pine stub; +the distance was too great, however, and the hawk sailed away placidly. + +After crossing the ridge, the path led us through denser, darker woods. +A large animal which Willis thought to be a bear, but Addison and Thomas +deemed more likely to be a deer, was heard to run away through a copse +of cedar, a little in advance of us. We passed some very large swamp +elms here and several basswoods fully four feet in diameter. + +At length, a few minutes before twelve o'clock, by the old silver watch +(which Kate had brought from home to keep time for us during the trip) +we came out at the "skedaddlers' fort," where we had planned to stop +for lunch and make a pot of coffee. This was the first time I had heard +of this old structure, thus singularly named. But Willis, Thomas and +Kate knew its history; Addison and our girls had also heard accounts of +it. + +It stood in the midst of a little opening--now overgrown again--made by +felling the great bass, hemlock, and spruce trees, of which its log +walls were built. In length, it may have been forty feet, by about +twenty-five in width. It was substantially roofed with logs and "splits" +covered with gravel. There were little ports, six or eight inches +square, at intervals in the walls, at a height of six or seven feet from +the ground, and one heavy door, or gate, of hewn plank, five or six +inches thick. The little brook in the valley flows beneath one corner of +the building, ensuring water to those who may have dwelt within. + +This log structure, suggestive both of warfare and refugee life, was a +great puzzle to a party of city young men who not many years ago +penetrated these forest solitudes, on a hunting excursion. They +concluded that it was built at a time when defense against the Indians +was necessary. A writer for a New York magazine, who seems to have +stumbled on this old "block-house," as he calls it, also came to the +conclusion that it was a relic of early border warfare. + +It is nothing of the sort, however, and instead of being a hundred years +old, it is less than fifty. The city visitors did not make proper +allowance for the rapidity with which, in a damp, dense forest, +everything made of wood becomes moss-grown and decays. + +During the Civil War, there was a class of so-called "skedaddlers;" +fellows undeserving the name of citizens, who, when the Republic called +for their services, ran away to Canada, or, gaining some remote covert +in the forest, defied the few officials who could be spared from the +front, to enforce law at home. But to the honor of our people it can be +truthfully said, that these weak-hearts were comparatively few in +number. Such there were, however; and to a party of them the +"skedaddlers' fort" owes its existence. It was built at about the time +the first "draft" of men was ordered in 1862. There were two or three +leading spirits, and altogether a gang of eighteen or twenty men banded +together in that vicinity to elude the enrollment. They "skedaddled" one +night--that was the time this ugly word originated--and took refuge in +the woods with their guns; and not long after, it is supposed, they +built this log fortalice in the depths of the wilderness. + +In the dubious state of public feeling at that time, the people of the +county did not say much, directly, about the skedaddlers. No one, not of +the gang, knew who or how many were at the fort. At one time it was +rumored that there were a hundred armed men in the woods, probably an +exaggeration. Several farmers lost young cattle, which it was supposed +were stolen to supply food for the fort. One story was, that a number of +cows had been driven into the woods, to furnish a supply of milk. It is +hardly probable that these men could have been so ignorant as to think +that they would be able to resist the power of the government, if +official action were taken against them, although the fact of their +building a fort gave color to such a supposition. The wildest boasts +were made, indirectly, through sympathizers with them. Ten thousand +troops, it was asserted, could not drive them out of the woods! The +skedaddlers, it was said, were about to set up a new State there in the +wild lands and declare themselves free of the United States! Another +threat was that they would get "set off" and join Canada. If a Federal +soldier showed his blue coat in those woods (so rumor said), he would +suddenly meet a fate so strange that nobody could describe it! + +Some months passed, when a boy named Samuel Murch--an older brother of +Willis and Ben--who trapped in the woods every fall, discovered the fort +one day and reconnoitered it. He had followed a cow's tracks up from the +cleared land. Several men were seen by him about the stockade, and there +was a large camp-fire burning outside, with kettles hanging from a pole +over it. + +Every two or three days thereafter, Sam Murch, as he trapped, would go +around for a sly peep at the "fort;" and he kept people informed as to +appearances there. + +It chanced that in October, that fall, a young volunteer, named Adney +Deering, came home on a furlough. He had been wounded slightly in the +leg, by a fragment of shell. + +Adney, who was a bright, handsome young fellow, then in his twentieth +year, looked very spruce in his blue uniform. He was brimful of +patriotism and gave graphic accounts of battles, with warlike ardor. +When he heard of the "skedaddlers" and their fort, he expressed the +greatest indignation and contempt for them. At a husking party one +evening, several of the young men proposed that Adney should go with +them on a deer hunt in the "great woods," before he went back to his +regiment. Someone then remarked that, if he went, he had better not wear +his uniform, as threats had been made of shooting the first soldier who +showed his head in the woods. This aroused Adney's ire. "Let them +shoot!" he exclaimed. "I will wear my uniform anywhere I choose to go! I +will go all through those woods and walk right up to the door of their +'fort!'" + +Several of the older men then advised him not to go near the "fort." + +"Pooh!" cried Adney. "I used to know many of those fellows. They are a +set of cowards. Ten to one, they wouldn't dare fire at a soldier!" + +Others who were present thought they would dare; and Adney became +excited. "It is a disgrace," he exclaimed, "that those skulkers are +allowed to harbor there!" And he offered to wager that he could take six +soldiers and drive them out, without firing a single cartridge. + +One or two of his friends laughed at this boast, which so exasperated +Adney that he instantly declared that he could drive them out alone. All +laughed still more heartily at that. The laughter only stimulated Adney +to make good his rather loud boast, if possible; and the result was, +that he hit on the following stratagem for routing the "skedaddlers." +There was no lack of drums in the neighborhood, for in those days the +boys, who were not old enough to volunteer, had fond dreams of going to +the War as drummer-boys. Adney went about privately next morning with +Sam Murch and induced three or four young fellows to take drums and go +with him into the woods that afternoon. Under Sam's lead the little +party arrived in the vicinity of the "fort," shortly before nightfall. +Adney then stationed one of the boys with his drum at a point to the +northeast of the log fortress, at a distance of about half a mile from +it, in the thick woods. Another was posted farther around to the north; +and still another to the northwest. + +Adney's orders to them all were to keep quiet at their posts until they +heard him fire a gun. Then all three were to beat the "long roll," then +a quickstep; in fact, they were to make all the drum-racket they could, +as if a number of companies, or regiments, were advancing on the fort +from all quarters, except the south. + +Adney himself went down near the fort, just at dusk, and contrived to +give the inmates a glimpse of his figure in his army blue--as if he were +a spy, reconnoitering the place. He then withdrew, and ten or fifteen +minutes later, fired off his gun, when at once from three different +points, in the darkening forest, there burst forth the roll of drums, +Adney calling out in military accents, "_Steady! Close up! Forward! +Forward!_" + +The result showed that the young soldier's estimate of the valor of the +skedaddlers was a perfectly correct one. For no sooner did they hear the +roll of drums, than, fancying that they were being surrounded by a force +of soldiers, they deserted their fort and skedaddled again, out through +the woods on the south side. From the stories they afterward told, it is +pretty clear that they did some remarkable running that night, and were +about as badly frightened as they could be. Six or seven of them kept to +the woods and made their way into Canada, where they lived till after +the close of the War. One, the "Lieutenant" of the gang, ran home--as +his wife told the story--and hid under a pile of old straw in the back +yard. Several others were known by their neighbors to be lurking at +their homes, keeping in cellars and chambers, during the following week. +In short, this well-planned "attack" of Adney's broke up their +rendezvous in the "great woods," and the fort was never occupied +afterwards. The young soldier, who had approached near enough to witness +the stampede, bivouacked his small drum-corps there that night very +comfortably, and marched home in triumph next morning. The affair +created much merriment and many jokes; and the moral would seem to be, +that a fellow who will sneak off when his country calls for his +services, is never a person to be feared as a warrior. + +It was not a very pleasant place to linger in; and directly after we had +taken our luncheon, we resumed our journey along the old trail, having a +hard jaunt before us (as Addison well knew) to reach the "old slave's +farm" before nightfall. There were a great many windfalls across the +trail from the "fort," to the stream; we were an hour at least making +the two miles, and the path along the bank was even worse, for freshets +had lodged great quantities of drift stuff on the flats, so that, at +last, we abandoned the trail altogether and took to the less obstructed +woods, a little back from the banks. + +The stream is a pretty one, being here not above forty or fifty feet in +width, running over a sandy bed, sometimes pebbles, and again bending +around in a deep pool where there are trout of good size, or at least +were then. + +It seemed a very long way to the opening; the girls were becoming tired; +and we boys with the baskets had quite enough of it, long before we +reached the ford which Addison and Thomas, who had been here before, +remembered to be near two very tall pines. Several times we feared that +we must have passed it; but finally, at about four o'clock, the great +bushy opening on the other side of the stream came in view. Immediately +then Addison saw the pines, and taking off our boots and stockings, we +all walked across on a sandy bar over which the water ran in a shallow, +being nowhere over a foot deep. It was quite cold, however, so that we +were glad to replace socks and boots, after crossing. + +The old slave's cabins stood about two hundred yards from the brook and, +as above described, were situated some twenty yards apart. The land +about them had been cleared at one time and put into grass, or corn. But +low clumps of hazel-nut bushes were now growing around the cabins. About +a year previously a party of deer hunters had camped here for a few days +and, thinking the cabins snug and pleasant, had cleared them out nicely +and built bunks in them to sleep in. We found the remains of their old +couches of fir boughs still in the bunks. Their camp-fire had been made +in the open space, midway between the two cabins; and they had +constructed a species of stone fireplace for setting their kettles in. + +"Here we are!" Addison exclaimed, as we set down our baskets. "What say +to this for a camping-place, girls!" + +"Oh, this is jolly!" cried Kate. "And won't it be nice, Doad, we girls +can have a whole cabin all to ourselves! Now which one can we have?" + +"You are privileged to take your choice," replied Addison. "Take the one +you like best." + +The girls went peeping into each, to examine them well, and were in +doubt for some moments. In fact, there was not much to choose betwixt +the two. + +At length, Kate announced that they would have the one "the old slave" +lived in, himself. + +"No doubt he spent many a lonesome hour there," said Theodora. "I should +like to know his history." + +"That's what nobody can find out," said Tom. "But I am glad he lived +here and left his hut for us to camp in." + +We sat on the grassy sward of the old yard and rested for some minutes, +then began our preparations for supper. + +"Now we must all fall to with a will," said Addison. "It is a job to get +things fixed up nice for night." + +"Addison, you be captain and tell us each what to do," suggested Kate. +"We will all obey and work like good soldiers;--for we all want some +supper, I guess." + +"Well, then," said Addison, "what do you want for your supper?" + +"Poached eggs on toast!" cried Ellen. + +"I think some of those partridges would go well," said Kate. + +"Would it take long to fricassee them?" Addison asked. + +"Oh, not very long," said Theodora. + +"I can dress them off in ten minutes," said Willis, "if you don't insist +on their being picked and will let me skin them instead; for I can take +their skins off, feathers and all, in just one minute apiece." + +"Go ahead," exclaimed Addison; "Tom, get dry wood from that drift-heap +down by the brook and build a nice camp-fire; and Kate, you and Doad +unpack the baskets and get the coffee-pot, tin kettle and frying-pan +ready. While you are doing that, the rest of us can throw out those old +yellow boughs from the bunks, then cut new ones and make the bunks all +up sweet and fresh for night; and after that we will drag up a lot of +wood for our camp-fire, through the evening." + +"Shall we not keep a camp-fire burning all night?" Theodora asked. + +"Oh, yes! let's not let the fire go out!" cried Ellen. "We're a dreadful +ways from home, up here in the great woods! How many miles have we come, +Ad?" + +"About seventeen miles, all told." + +"Yes; do let's have a good roaring fire all night," said Kate. + +It quite frightened the girls to think how far they were from home, in +the forest, now that the sun began to sink behind the tree tops. + +"All right!" laughed Addison. "Gather lots of wood. It will take piles +of it to burn all night." + +But Theodora made a discovery which gave them a good deal of comfort. + +"We've got a door to our cabin!" she called out from inside it. "Quite a +good door. See," she said, swinging it. "We can shut our cabin up, just +like any house, and fasten it, too. Here's a great button on the +door-post. Nothing can get in to hurt us after we shut and button our +door. Have you got any door to your cabin?" + +Investigation of our cabin disclosed no door. There was a _button_ on +the door-post; but the door had been removed. + +The girls laughed at us. "A fine house you've got!" said Kate. "No door! +You will be carried off before morning by a panther." + +"Never mind us," replied Addison. "Fasten up your own door, snug and +tight." + +"When we get ready to go to bed," said Willis, "we will _turn our +button_; I guess that will answer for us. + +"But I've got the partridges all dressed," he continued, "and I'm going +to cut them up and put them into the tin kettle, to parboil, and then, +when they are partly cooked, you can put them into the frying-pan, if +you like." + +"Can't you thicken up some kind of a flour and butter gravy to go with +those partridges, Kate?" said Tom. + +"Why, bless you, Thomas, there's no flour!" replied his sister. + +"I think I could use Indian meal instead of flour," said Theodora, +"though I wouldn't promise it would be as good, since it might taste a +little coarse." + +"Well, try it, anyway," said Tom; "for I like that kind of a gravy first +rate." + +"Oh, it just makes me laugh to hear boys talk about cooking," exclaimed +Kate. "They do have such droll ideas!" + +"Well, I know what I like," said Tom; "and I wouldn't give much for a +girl that cannot make a gravy." + +"Oh, the nice, agreeable boy! So he should have his gravy on his +partridge," teased Kate. + +"I've too much regard for the reputation of our family to quarrel with +my sister before folks," laughed Thomas. "She's an awful provoking +thing, though!" + +"Oh, the dear boy!" retorted Kate. + +"Somebody give me some cold water to hold in my mouth," groaned Tom. +"She must have the last word, anyway." + +That was quite a common kind of encounter between Tom and his sister +Kate; yet I never saw brother and sister more attached to each other. +Only about a year and a half younger than her brother, Kate was a match +for him in about everything and rather more than a match in repartee. + +Meantime Theodora was toasting some squares of bread to put in the +partridge fricassee, and looking about for a dish to manufacture Tom's +butter and meal gravy in. + +There was a copse of little firs, standing about a low, wet piece of +ground, a few hundred feet away. To these we had recourse for the +material to fill the bunks. + +Thomas having collected a woodpile of good proportions, proceeded to put +on fourteen potatoes to boil, reckoning two for each member of the +party; and as the partridges were boiling briskly, fast progressing to +the cooked condition, Catherine made coffee. It was agreed, however, +that after that evening, we were to take coffee but once per day; and +everybody voted to have it in the morning. + +Addison now busied himself devising a "table;" and in this matter he was +assisted by the labors of the previous party of deer-hunters who had +left a large board behind them, to be set on forked stakes, driven into +the ground; there were also two rough benches for seats. + +It was not till after dusk had fairly settled over the wilderness that +our supper was pronounced ready by the many cooks who had taken a hand +in its preparation. The camp-fire was replenished, so that a genial glow +and plenty of light was diffused about; and then our meal began. We had +the three partridges quite well cooked; and Thomas had his dear gravy. +There were boiled potatoes and some pork, fried crisp, to suit Willis; +also boiled eggs for all and plenty of toasted bread with butter. Kate +had also brought a lot of "cookies," which went well with coffee. + +Addison sat at one end of the table and dished out the partridges. +Theodora presided over the coffee; and Ellen and Kate looked after the +toast. The long jaunt had given us fine appetites and we cleared the +rude board of the eatables, enjoying it as only a hungry party of +campers, who have had their own supper to get and have waited an hour or +two for it to cook, can enjoy such a meal. + +Dishes had then to be picked up, and water brought and heated; for +dishes must needs be washed. + +"Oh dear!" sighed Ellen. "I did hope I could get to a place once where +there were no dishes to be washed. I always have it to do at home." + +"You've got to that place!" exclaimed Thomas. "I'll wash them, if you +girls will agree to eat off them next meal and find no fault." + +"I'll wipe them if Tom'll wash them!" cried Willis. "'Tis tough for +girls always to have to wash dishes." + +"I agree to find no fault for one," said Ellen. + +"We might do as they are said to do in the lumbering camps," remarked +Addison; "that is to eat off the same plates without washing, till we +forget what we ate off them last." + +"I object to such a plan as that!" cried Theodora. "I would rather wash +them all, myself." + +Tom and Willis washed the dishes that night, however; and the girls sat +back on their bench and smiled and pinched each other, to see the +performance. + +By the time the dishes question was disposed of and everything had been +tidied up and the fire once more attended to, the darkness of an October +night had fallen. Everything outside the circle of our firelight was +veiled in obscurity. There was no moon and it was a little cloudy, at +least, the stars did not seem to show much. Very soon as we sat on our +benches in front of the girls' cabin, we began to hear various wild +notes from the great somber forest about us. + +"What is that kind of plaintive cry that I hear now and then near the +stream?" Theodora asked. "It's like the word _seet_! I have heard it +several times since dark, once or twice back of the cabins, and now out +there by the two pines." + +"That? Oh, that is the night note of a little mouse-catching owl," said +Addison. "Some term it the saw-whet owl, I believe. There are numbers of +these little fellows about at night, in these woods. They catch lots of +woods mice and such small birds as chickadees." + +"But hark! what was that strange, lonesome, hollow cry?" said Ellen, as +an outcry at a distance, came wafted on the still air. + +"Oh, that's a raccoon," said Tom. "He's trying to attract the notice of +some other 'coon. You'll hear him for fifteen or twenty minutes now, +every minute or so." + +"They came into our corn-field last year," said Willis. "We heard them +every night, calling to each other. I set a trap, but never could get +any of them into it." + +Willis went on to relate several raccoon stories which his older +brothers had told him. "Hullo!" he suddenly interrupted himself. "Hear +that? away off up there by the foot of the mountain?" + +"I know what that was," said Tom. "That was a screamer." + +"What is a 'screamer?'" Theodora asked. + +"Oh, it's a kind of wild-cat," replied Thomas. "You tell her, Addison." + +"If it is a wild-cat, it is the same as the 'lucivee,' or loup-cervier," +replied Addison. "But I have never heard one cry out at night; so I +cannot say for certain." + +"Oh, I have," said Willis. "They have little tassels on the top of their +ears and are about as big as a fair-sized dog. But they never come near +a camp; they are so shy that you never can get sight of one, though the +lumbermen tell stories of having fights with them. They've got long +claws and could scratch like sin, if they were cornered up anywheres." + +"Sometimes they will follow after anybody for a long ways," said Thomas. +"Father told me that, when he was a boy, the mill stream at the village +got so low one fall that they could not grind wheat or corn there. So +grandpa sent him over to Pride's grist mill, in Willowford, with the +horse and wagon and a load of corn. There were a lot of grists in ahead +of him; and before the miller got around to grind out father's corn, it +was dark, and he had to drive home, thirteen miles, in the evening. It +was woods nearly all the way then; and after he had gone a mile, or two, +and it had come on very dark, so dark he could hardly see his hand +before him, he heard a snarling noise behind him. Turning round, he saw +two bright spots just behind the wagon. It scared him; he started the +horse up, but those spots came right close along after him. Every time +he looked around, he would see them, and he could hear the creature's +feet _pat_ in the road, too, as it ran after the wagon. He kept the +horse trotting along pretty fast and held the butt of his whip all ready +to strike, if the creature jumped into the wagon. It didn't jump in, but +kept near the hind end of the wagon; and it followed father for as much +as two miles, till he met a man with an ox team. He was so taken up +watching for those eyes, back there in the dark, that he came near +running into the ox team; but the man shouted to him to pull up. He told +the man that something had been chasing him; but the eyes had +disappeared; and he saw nothing more of them. Father thinks now that it +was a 'screamer,' though it might have been a panther. There were lots +of panthers in the woods, in those days." + +"Are there any now?" asked Theodora, looking a little uncomfortable. + +"No," said Addison. "I don't think there are." + +"Well, I'm not so sure of that," said Thomas. "There may be one passing +through here, once in a while. Did you ever hear the Old Squire tell the +story of the panther that he and my grandfather killed, when they were +boys?" + +"No," said Addison. "The old gentleman never talks much of his early +exploits." + +Ellen said that she had heard Gram speak of it once. + +"Tell the story, Tom," said I. + +"Oh, you get the old gentleman to tell it to you, sometime," replied +Tom. "I can't tell it good. But 'twas real _scarey_ and interesting. +Something about a cow. The panther killed my grandfather's father's cow, +I believe. The men were all away. It was in the winter time; and those +two boys followed the panther's track away up into the great woods here +somewheres and shot it. It's a real interesting story. You get the old +gentleman to tell it to you some evening." + +"We will," said Theodora. "I'll ask him the first night after we go +home." + +"My! Did you hear what an awful noise _that_ was, just now?" exclaimed +Kate. + +We had all heard it--a singular yell, not wholly unlike the human voice, +yet of ugly, wild intonation. Addison and Thomas exchanged glances. + +"Queer what a noise a screech owl will make," the former remarked, after +a moment's silence. + +"Dear me, was that a screech owl?" said Theodora. + +"Oh, I guess so," replied Addison carelessly. "They make an awful outcry +sometimes." + +Tom did not say anything, but he told me next day that it was a bear +which had made that cry, only a little ways from the camp; and that he +had winked to Addison not to tell the girls, for they were looking +nervously about them, after hearing the "screamer" story. + +It was not a cold night, for October; yet as the evening advanced the +fire felt very comfortable. + +As we sat talking, several striped squirrels came out in sight into the +firelight. There were hundreds of these little fellows there in the +clearing, gathering the hazel nuts for their winter store. The hazel +nuts were very large, nearly the size of those sold as filberts. The +squirrels made their winter burrows in the ground about the old stumps. +Kate had gathered a pint dipper full of the nuts before dark; and as we +sat talking, we cracked them with round stones from the stream. Once we +heard a great rushing and running, as of large animals through the +bushes, at no great distance away. + +"Hear the deer go!" Willis exclaimed. + +Tom laughed. "We will pop over some of them to-morrow," said he. But he +whispered to me a few minutes later, that he expected two bears were +having a squabble over there in the brush. By and by we heard them +running again; and this time they passed around to the south of our +camping place, and we heard them go, splashing, through the stream and +away into the woods on the other side. Willis jumped up and gave a loud +_so-ho!_ which resounded far across the darkened wilderness; and then +for a time all the wild denizens of the forest seemed to remain quiet, +as if listening to this unusual shout. + +"Oh, don't, Willis!" cried Ellen. "It seems as if you were telling all +these wild creatures where we are!" + +"So I am," said Willis; "if they want to call on us, they will find a +load of buckshot all ready for them." + +"What time is it, Kate?" Addison at length asked. + +"Twenty-five minutes to ten," she replied. + +"Well, we want to get an early start to-morrow morning," said Addison. +"So I guess we had better go to bed and try to get as much sleep as we +can. I'm for one." + +"So am I," said Theodora. "But I don't believe I shall sleep much." + +"Oh, you need not be the least bit afraid," said Addison. + +"We'll look out for you, girls," said Thomas. "I will kindle up a good +fire, so that it will shine right into your cabin; and you can close and +button your door. You need not be one bit afraid to go to sleep. Nothing +will come near this fire." + +"You are going to keep the camp-fire burning all night, Addison, aren't +you now?" said Theodora. + +"Oh, yes," replied he, cheerily. "If I don't get too soundly asleep," he +added, in a lower voice, at which Tom and Willis laughed, well knowing +that it is one thing for a tired party to talk of tending a fire all +night, but quite another thing to actually do so, as the morning's cold +ashes generally show. + +"If I don't miss of it," said Tom, "I'm going to have a rare dish for +breakfast. I hope I sha'n't over-sleep." + +"What is it?" Ellen asked. + +"Oh, you will find out at breakfast," he replied. + +"Well, good-night, boys," said Kate. "I hope you will all sleep well, +but not so well as to forget the camp-fire." + +"No, please now do not let that go out," added Theodora. + +"We will look out for it," said Willis--"in the morning!" + +Good-nights were interchanged; the girls then went into their cabin and +not very long after shut and fastened their door. + +We boys, in the doorless cabin, soon spread up our own bunks; we were +all tired, and novel as the situation was to me, I think I had not been +lying down over ten or fifteen minutes, when I fell soundly asleep. + +As a rule, healthy young folks, from twelve to fifteen years of age, do +not lie awake much in the night, under any circumstances. Once asleep, +they are not apt to wake, till well rested. The normal condition of a +boy of that age, is to be in the open air all day, actively employed, +either in play, or work, which keenly interests him, and to have all the +good food he wants, at suitable hours. To a boy thus engaged, the period +from the time he falls asleep in the evening till next morning, is apt +to be one of utter oblivion. That is the way to sleep. Older persons, +troubled by insomnia and its usual cause, bad digestion, would do well +to return to these simple and health-giving modes of life, best seen in +an active boy, or girl. + +Somebody shook me. I thought I had but that moment fallen asleep. It was +Thomas. "Wake up," he whispered. "Let's you and I go catch some trout +for breakfast. They say this brook is full of them. I brought along my +hooks. Come on." + +The word _trout_ is a good one to get a sleepy boy's eyes open with; I +rose at once. + +"Let's go out still," whispered Tom, "so as not to wake the girls. I +don't want them to see us start off, for we may not have any luck, you +know; and it's a thing I never could stand, to come back from fishing, +with no fish, and have folks asking me where my fish are." + +Addison was awake and lay regarding us, sleepily; but Willis had already +got up and gone out with the gun. It was quite light and nearing +sunrise; there was a slight frost on the crisp grass about the cabins. +The fire had gone out, hours before; not even a smoldering ember or a +wreath of smoke, remained of it. The squirrels had already begun to +"chicker" in the hazel copses; and a large pileated woodpecker was +calling out loudly from the top of a tall pine stub, off in the opening. + +We had nothing for bait, except a bit of white, fat pork. First we went +down to the ford. "Look there," said Tom, pointing to our tracks of +yesterday in the sand and some more recent impressions, nearly or quite +as large. "See those bear tracks! Some bear has been smelling about +here, during the night! Oh, this is quite a place for game. But don't +talk _bear_ much before the girls, or we shall get them so skittish that +we cannot stir. They'll feel quite courageous this morning, when they +wake up and find nothing has carried them off, if they don't see these +bear tracks." Thomas proceeded to scuff the tracks over with his boot. + +We then cut two hazel fishing rods, tied a line and hook to each, baited +the hooks with a scred of the pork, and then going down the stream, till +we came to a pool at a bend, crept carefully up to the verge of the bank +and gently dropped in our hooks. + +"Shake 'em just a little easy," whispered Tom; for as yet my education +in the art of trout fishing had been neglected. "Shake the bait easy, +and kind o' bob it up and down; and if you get a bite don't yank very +hard, just a little pull, and then swing him out on to the bank." + +His words were hardly out, before I felt a vigorous tug at my hook, and +quite forgetful of advice, gave a tremendous jerk and flung a half pound +trout clean over our heads and into the hazel bushes! + +"Gracious! you've scared every fish in this hole!" exclaimed Tom. "But +that's a good trout. Pick him up and string him. I guess I'll go up +stream now, and you fish on down stream. When we each get a dozen, we +will go to the camp; but don't stay too long, anyway." + +Tom was a little disgusted, I suppose, with the way I yanked out that +trout, and thought that I had better fish by myself. He went off up the +brook. I determined to catch a dozen as quickly as he did. So I strung +my half-pound fish on a hazel twig, and scud along to the next bend of +the brook. I had no more than looked to my bait and dropped in there, +when I had a bite and (this time more carefully) swung out a thumping +big trout that would have weighed near a pound! His sides were well +specked with red; he was a beauty! + +Taking him off the hook, after some trouble with him in a bunch of +brush, I strung him, dropped in again, and had a third one +out--smaller--in less than half a minute. The brook was plainly well +stocked with trout. Baiting again, I tossed in and caught a fourth in +less time than it had taken me to cut off the scred of pork. I got a +fifth and a sixth, both good-sized, and had my seventh bite, when, +jerking, I lost him, and the hook, catching on a dry pine branch which +stuck out from a pile of drift, was broken. It was the only one I had, +and I stamped the ground with vexation. Tom would beat me now; and as it +would do no good to linger after the hook was gone, I took my string of +half a dozen--weighing fully three pounds--and went back to camp as fast +as I could, in order to show good time on the half dozen. + +I was in a few minutes ahead of Thomas. But he brought a dozen nice +ones, though some of his were smaller than mine. He had one larger than +my largest, however. The eighteen, as we laid them out on the grass, +were a pretty lot to look at, with the sunshine playing on their spotted +sides. + +Meantime, I had heard Willis's gun several times, and Tom said that he +had heard it, too. "He's shooting partridges, or else gray squirrels, I +guess," Tom remarked. "Gray squirrels, where they have fed on hazel nuts +for a month or two, make a luscious good stew." + +Addison had just come out and kindled a fire; and before we had our +trout dressed, ready to fry, Willis came in with a string of four +partridges, but no squirrels. + +"Are the partridges plenty?" Ad asked. + +"Well, there's some. They seem a little shy, though," replied Willis, +taking the cap off the tube of the gun, which had a percussion lock. "I +shouldn't wonder if some hunter had been firing among them, by the way +they fly," he added. "But we can get all we shall want." + +"Aren't the girls up yet?" said Thomas. "Wonder what they would say if +they knew the fire all went out by eleven o'clock! There's lots of bears +round here, too." + +"That's so," said Willis. "I've seen bear sign out here in the opening +this morning in more'n a dozen places." + +"Well, keep quiet about it," said Thomas. "We'll call it _deer_. When +any of us speak of _deer_, we boys will know that it's bear. It's of no +use to scare the girls; and the bears won't touch us this time of year +anyway." + +We began getting breakfast. Potatoes were put to roast in the embers; +but the chief dish was to be trout. Thomas began frying them in butter +and meal and set a big tin platter down by the fire to keep them hot, +after he had taken them from the pan. Willis tended the fire and kept +the embers banked over the potatoes; and Addison got on water for +coffee. About this time the door of the girls' cabin was heard to creak; +and we saw Catherine and Theodora peeping out. + +"What lazy things girls are!" Addison exclaimed, derisively. "Here it is +nigh seven o'clock and you sluggards are not out yet." + +"Oh, we've been awake and up a long time," said Kate. "It was fun to lie +and hear you boys pottering about, trying to get breakfast, and to hear +you talk, too. I suppose we shall all be obliged to go down to the brook +to wash our faces," she added. "I don't believe any of you boys have +thought of washing your faces yet! Tom looks frowzy; I won't say +anything about the others." + +"No," said Addison. "We don't think of such a thing as washing our faces +up here!" + +"Well, then, you had better, if you are going to take breakfast with us; +hadn't they, Theodora?" + +"Indeed, they had!" cried Theodora. "I decline to sit down to breakfast +with any fellow who hasn't washed his face." + +Thereupon the three girls set off for the ford, with combs, soap and +towels. + +"You will see a lot of _deer_ tracks down there in the sand," Thomas +called after them, with a wink to the rest of us. + +Our breakfast was nearly ready, and with everything keeping warm by the +fire, we now ran down to the ford, to perform our own rather tardy +ablutions. The girls, looking fresh as pinks, had finished theirs and +were gathering more hazel nuts, and Theodora and Kate had crossed the +ford to gather a few bunches of high-bush cranberry fruit, which they +espied hanging temptingly out over the stream, on that side. These +cranberries make a nice relish for meat, or fish. + +"Come on, girls!" Tom called out, as soon as we had doused our faces and +ran a comb through our locks. "Come on now, lively! Breakfast is all +ready and I've got something nice, I assure ye." + +We went back to the cabins together. + +"I didn't know that deer made such big tracks as those down there in the +sand," said Theodora. "I thought deer made little tracks more like sheep +tracks." + +"Oh, caribou deer make tremendous tracks, as big as a man's almost, +because they step down upon their fetlocks and their feet are hairy," +said Thomas, with a wondrous wise look to the rest of us. + +"But are there caribou deer in Maine?" Theodora asked. + +"Oh, a good many," replied Addison. + +"Don't ask them any more questions, Doad," said Kate. "They are +deceiving us about something, I don't know what, exactly. But let them +enjoy it, if they find so much sport in it." + +We sat down to breakfast at once, and the trout were delicious, at least +we all thought so; and so were the baked potatoes, eggs and toast. + +"Now," said Addison after we had finished, "my program for to-day is to +climb the mountain over on the other side of the stream, and search for +some mineral ledges which I have heard of there. I don't want the others +to go with me, unless they want to, and would rather do that than +anything else. There are plenty of nice trips to make. Those who wish +can go to dig spruce gum upon the side of that dark-looking mountain on +the far side of the opening here; or they can go fishing, or hunting, or +go out here and collect hazel nuts for winter. For we can carry home a +bushel of nuts with us if we choose." + +"We might get ten bushels," said Thomas, "if we could only dig out the +hoards of these squirrels that have been at work all the fall." + +"Then there is another trip that I want to make," said Addison. "They +say there is a mountain side, about five miles up here to the northeast +of us, that is covered with balm o' Gilead trees, thousands of them. I +want to find out if that is really so, and if the trees are easy to +reach. For I have heard that druggists, in Boston and New York, pay four +dollars a pound for the buds of this tree, when gathered at the proper +season, in the early spring, to use for liniments and other medicines. +If that is so, and there are great numbers of the trees, I want to make +a trip up here about the first of May, next spring, and gather two +bushel baskets full. I don't see why a small party might not earn a +couple of hundred dollars in a few days." + +"Good idea!" exclaimed Catherine. "And will you include us girls in your +money-making party?" + +"Of course," said Addison, "If you will go and help gather the buds, it +shall be share and share alike." + +"Then Addison," said Kate, laughing, "I guess I will join your +expedition to-day. For you seem to be a pretty good business man, and I +like folks that look out for making money." + +"My sister Kate is a great girl for money," said Thomas. + +"That is so," replied Kate. "I think that money is a great institution. +I would like to get lots of it." + +"I know that we all want to go on each and all of these trips," said +Theodora. "I do, at any rate. So why not all go with Addison to-day, +then go to look for the balm o' Gileads to-morrow; and then all go after +spruce gum the next day." + +"Next day is Sunday!" exclaimed Ellen. + +"Well, then, Monday," said Theodora. + +"But Monday we have to go home," said Willis. "My father told me to get +back Monday and no mistake about it." + +"Well then, we shall have to make a short trip after gum and go +hazel-nutting and fishing all in one day," said Addison. "I don't see +but that Tom and Willis will have to make the exploring trip up to the +balm o' Gilead place to-day, if they are willing." + +"All right," said Thomas. + +"Why not make the trip this forenoon," said Willis, "and so come around +to join you at this mountain over across where you are going for +minerals." + +"That will suit me," said Addison. + +Our plans for the day were laid accordingly; and half an hour later, +Addison and I, with the three girls, set off on our excursion to the +mountain side; while Tom and Willis took the gun and went up the brook, +in the direction of the balm o' Gilead hill. + +"We shall get around where you are by noon," said Thomas. "You will hear +us shouting for you." + +Our party of five had first to ford the brook, then make a trip of two +miles or more through the forest. We took a lunch of bread and cheese, +and a dipper along with us, as it was doubtful whether we should return +till late in the day. The forest on the intervale between the stream and +the mountain was mainly of spruce, basswood, yellow birch and a few +firs. The balsam blisters on the leaden gray trunks of the latter were +now plump and full, and when punctured, yielded each a few drops of +balsam, as clear as crystal--the same "Canada balsam" which +microscopists make so much use for preserving their "slides" of +specimens. The French Canadians call the tree _epinette blanche_; it is +very abundant in the swamps of the eastern provinces. + +The yellow birches were large trees of very solid wood, displaying +trunks shaggy with curling bark and moss. Many of the basswoods, too, +were very large; the trunks of these when old had furrowed bark not +wholly unlike sugar maples, but rather less rugged, and more regularly +grooved. The great white ash trees, too, presented similar furrowed +bark, but of lighter gray tint. + +The spruces which were here most numerous, varied from a foot to two +feet in diameter, being such as are ordinarily cut for lumber throughout +Maine and Canada. These are the trees which afford the chewing gum, sold +in the larger towns and cities. Kate was not long discovering some fine +great lumps of it which studded a seam in a large spruce. "Lend me your +knife, Addison," she exclaimed. "I want to dig some gum. Come here, +girls." + +Enough was dug in a few minutes to keep our whole party chewing all that +day and at intervals for many subsequent days. It is a rather bootless +kind of effort, at best, though it may tend to develop the muscles of +one's jaws. + +In the course of an hour we reached the foot of the mountain, then began +climbing up the side of it, which was quite steep and rough. Boulders +of all sizes obstructed the way and we soon came to high ledges of bare +gray rock which Addison declared to be mostly of granite. Through these +rocks and ledges, however, there ran a great many veins of white quartz. +Some of these veins were narrow, only an inch, or a few inches, thick; +but others were wider and we presently found one of lovely tinted rose +quartz not less than a yard thick. + +"Oh, how beautiful!" Theodora exclaimed; she and Kate sat down by it, +admiring the fine rosy tint. They wished to break off pieces to carry +home; but we had brought no sledge, or other stone mason's tools. By +searching about at the foot of the ledge below, however, Addison found a +number of rosy fragments which had broken off in the lapse of time and +fallen down the hillside. Such specimens are attractive to gather up, +but heavy to carry home. + +The girls having grown somewhat fatigued by this time, Addison and I +left them at the rose quartz ledges, and went on more rapidly, to search +for other minerals. We climbed higher up the mountain side, then went +back and forth for nearly an hour. At last we came to the place he was +in search of, a long crevice extending up and down the rough face of a +ledge which rose almost perpendicularly to a height of forty feet. + +The crevice was only wide enough to thrust in one's fingers and seemed +to be lined with large, hexagonal crystals, as clear as water. The +points of these crystals, which had beautiful facets, jutted out past +each other in many places, and seemed to match together like teeth in +opposed jaws. Still higher up in the same ledges, there were scores of +quartz veins, converging and crossing each other in a network; and in +some of this white quartz there were minute, bright, yellow specks which +Ad said was gold. He thought that there was both gold and silver in this +ledge, and that if the top were blasted off, the quartz beneath would be +found still richer in these precious metals;--that being the theory of +mining engineers, as he had heard his father explain it. + +After we had looked it over for a time, I went back to conduct the girls +to the place; and with half an hour of hard climbing, they arrived at +the foot of the crag. + +Immediately then we discovered Addison, laboriously at work, attempting +to break out fragments containing the crystals, by beating on the +adjacent rock with a large stone. He had already succeeded in crushing +off some of the crystals; but he ruined far more of the handsome points +than he secured whole. + +"Oh, aren't they beautiful!" was Theodora's first exclamation. "Do let's +get a lot of them!" + +"Is this what the hunters call the 'diamond ledge?'" Catherine asked. + +"Yes," replied Addison, "but of course these crystals are only of quartz +and by no means very valuable, save to put in collections of minerals. +They are nothing but quartz rock." + +"But they are very pretty," said Kate. "I would like to get a lot of +them to set around our front doorstep." + +"If only we had drills and a hammer, with a few pounds of gunpowder, we +could throw out handsome specimens!" exclaimed Addison. "Sometime, let's +get some tools and come up here. Who knows what lovely ones there may be +deeper down in the crevice!" + +As he was speaking, we heard a distant halloo, away to the north of us. +"That's Tom and Willis," said I. "They're coming round this way." + +We answered their shouts and soon heard another halloo. + +"They'll find us now," said Addison. + +"Let's spread our luncheon down here in the shadow of the crag," said +Theodora. + +There was no water at hand, so I took the little pail in which the lunch +had been brought, and set off down the mountain in quest of some. +Descending into a little hollow, I found a spring issuing from beneath a +large rock. It was very cold water; the spring was shallow, yet with the +dipper, I was able slowly to dip up a three quart pail nearly full. It +was a delicate task to carry it up the steep mountain side, without +spilling it. When at length I rejoined the party, at the foot of the +crag, Tom and Willis were coming up from another direction. + +"Hullo, Ad!" exclaimed Tom. "Seen any game?" I thought from the way he +spoke that he and Willis had seen something in that line. + +"No," said Addison, "we have been looking for something different. Have +you seen any?" + +"Yes, sir-ee!" said Tom. + +"What was it?" inquired Kate. + +"_Deer_," said Tom with a knowing look at the rest of us boys. + +"You don't say so!" exclaimed Addison. "Really _deer_! How snug did you +get to a _deer_?" + +"Snug enough to put our hands on him!" said Willis, with a chuckle. + +"What, have you killed a _deer_?" asked Addison, incredulously. + +"Really and truly we have!" said Tom, with a ring of exultation in his +voice. "'Twasn't a very big one, though," he added. + +"No," said Willis, "it was only a yearling _deer_. We came upon him +behind a tree root. He only ran a few steps and then turned round to +snuff at us. Tom let him have a load of heavy shot and knocked him stiff +as a mitten." + +"We shot two hedgehogs, too, up there at the balm o' Gilead hill," said +Tom. + +"Did you skin that _deer_?" Addison inquired, laughing. + +"Yes; and we've got ten or twelve pounds of the meat, wrapped up in the +skin." + +"But where is the skin?" I asked. + +"Oh, we left the skin, with the meat wrapped up in it, back here a few +steps by a rock," replied Thomas. "I thought," he added with a knowing +glance at us boys, "that I wouldn't bring such a thing as a green hide +right up here where you had your luncheon spread out." + +"Thomas," said Kate, looking sharply at him, "you are telling some kind +of crooked story." + +"Willis," said Thomas carelessly, "go get that _deer_ hide." + +Willis hesitated an instant, then went off through the bushes and in a +few moments returned with a gory skin, rolled up, with the _hair_ side +carefully turned in. + +"Want to examine it, Kate?" said he, holding it towards her. + +"No, no," said Catherine and Theodora both in a breath. "Do take the +dreadful thing away! But there's something wrong about your story all +the same, Tom," Kate added with a searching look at him. "I can tell +when you are fibbing just as well as need be; and I shall find out what +you boys are looking so funny at each other for, yet." + +"You are a very knowing girl, Kate," said Tom. "But let's have some +luncheon and change the subject." + +"Not till you go down to the spring and wash your hands," said +Catherine, "after handling that dreadful thing." + +Peace having been restored by the washing of hands, luncheon was eaten. + +"Yes," said Willis, "and we saw two minks and a fish-cat, as we went up +the stream; but they all three got out of sight before Tom could draw a +bead on them." + +"Wise minks," said Ellen. + +"And Willis thinks that he caught a glimpse of a 'screamer,' just as we +were going through a little fir thicket," Tom remarked. + +"I'm almost sure it was one," corroborated Willis. "Oh, I wish we had a +lot of traps and could stay up here a fortnight. I should like two dozen +mink traps and a couple of big traps." + +"What do you want of such big traps?" said Kate carelessly. "To catch +_deer_ in?" + +"Of course not," said Willis. "No hunter around here ever sets traps for +deer." + +"I was thinking I had never heard of such a thing," replied Catherine, +demurely. + +"But how about the balm o' Gileads?" Addison asked suddenly. + +"Oh, there's quite a growth of them!" replied Tom. "On the slope of the +mountain, there are twenty or thirty old trees and no end of young ones +coming up. I should think there was fifty acres of them altogether, +shouldn't you, Willis?" + +"I should," said Willis. "There would be buds enough there, though I +should think it would be a stint to gather them." + +"Oh, I don't think it would be such a very bad job," said Tom. "We could +bend down the tops of the young trees and pick the buds off fast. I +believe I could pick five or six pounds a day, anyhow." + +"Five pounds would be twenty dollars, according to Addison's reckoning," +said Theodora. + +"Very fair wages for us!" said Kate. "I would even work for less." + +"None of your jokes!" exclaimed Addison. + +"I think that I could get a living, digging spruce gum up here," Kate +went on. "Spruce gum is said to bring a dollar per pound, when nice and +clean; I could dig gum days, and scrape it clean evenings, and live in +the 'old slave's cabin;' that is, I could if the '_deer_' didn't scare +me away," she added, with a significant glance at us boys which made us +feel rather foolish. + +"Kate, you are almost as knowing as your grandma!" exclaimed Tom, +derisively; "and you're not a quarter as old yet. Fact, you are almost +too knowing for your age." + +"Don't think other folks are too knowing because you are a little +backward yourself, Thomas!" cried Kate. "Your _deer_ stories are not +quite right; there is something weak in them." + +"Take a swallow of cold water in your mouth, Tom," said Addison, +laughing. + +Luncheon being disposed of, we gathered up our specimen crystals and the +fragments of rose quartz, packed the crystals in moss, in the pail, and +then tied up the rose quartz in one of our jackets. The latter made a +rather heavy pack and, together with the pail, proved quite a load down +the mountain and back through the woods to the opening. Willis took the +_deer_ skin; and Tom carried the _deer_ meat. We returned across the +wooded intervale, seeing no game but a partridge, which Willis shot, and +reached the ford and the cabins at about four o'clock in the afternoon. + +All of us were somewhat tired and sat down on the grass, or the benches, +to rest awhile. The sun had already sunk near the tree-tops again; for +by October 20th the afternoons are short in Maine. It was chilly, too. + +"There will be a harder frost to-night than there was last night," +Addison remarked. + +Thomas brought wood and kindled a fire. "We must be stirring," he said. +"It takes a long time to get dinner." + +"What are we going to have to-day for dinner?" Ellen asked. + +"_Deer_ steak, I suppose," said Catherine, laughing. + +"We must have those partridges that Willis shot this morning," said +Addison. + +"I can catch more trout," said Thomas. + +"No; let's have the trout for breakfast," remarked Theodora. "They are +splendid, fresh caught, for breakfast." + +Willis went to get the partridges which he had hung up in a clump of +hazels, a little way back of the cabins, but immediately returned, +saying that they were missing. "Some creature has smelled them and +pulled them down, I guess," said he. + +"Suppose it was a _deer_?" asked Kate. + +"Keep quiet," said Tom. "You've said enough about _deer_." + +"If she says _deer_ again, let's tie that green deer hide over her head, +Tom!" exclaimed Willis. + +"You will not hear me say anything more, but I shall go on thinking, all +the same," replied Catherine. + +Theodora had gone into their cabin, to fetch our tin ware and +frying-pan. + +"Why!" she exclaimed, coming hastily out, in some fluster, "almost all +our bread is gone!" + +"Then somebody's been here," said Addison, "while we were away." + +"Everything in the baskets has been pulled over," said Theodora. + +We went to examine and found the baskets had really been disturbed, but +nothing save bread had been removed. + +"Some hungry hunter, I guess," said Addison. "Well, I hope it did him +good." + +"I reckon there's where the partridges went," said Tom. + +"Well, he wasn't a very bad visitor," said Willis, "or he might have +stolen a good deal more." + +"Indeed, he might," said Theodora. + +"But I wish he had left our bread and butter alone," exclaimed Ellen. +"Who knows how dirty his hands were!" + +"This raid cuts our dinner down a little,--losing those partridges," +said Tom. "So let's have our _venison_ and some eggs fried with it." + +But on looking into the basket, all the eggs were found to have +disappeared, save eight! + +"Worse and worse!" Addison exclaimed. "We shall have to fall back on +potatoes, and do some good hunting and fishing during the rest of our +stay here." + +Tom was already slicing up the rather odd-looking venison, getting it +ready to fry. Addison brought water and put on potatoes to boil; and +Kate declared that she was going to make a dish of Indian meal mush, and +have some of it to fry for breakfast, next morning. + +Willis took the gun and slipped away, intending to knock over a few more +partridges, to go with the one he had just shot, across the stream. + +Ellen, too, went out to gather hazel nuts. + +A dark bank of clouds had risen in the west, and the wind began to blow +a little; it was not quite as pleasant as on the previous evening. + +In the course of an hour our dinner was ready. Ellen had gathered a +quart of nuts, and Willis came in with another partridge. It was not a +good night for shooting, he said; and when he went inside our cabin to +set aside the gun, he privately told Addison and me, that he had heard a +dog bark off in the woods, to the west of the opening. Somehow it made +us feel uneasy to think that some person, or persons, might be hanging +about the place, though they had not shown themselves very evilly +disposed toward us, having merely taken a loaf or two of bread and some +eggs. Still there was no knowing who they were, or what their intentions +might be. + +The table was rigged up and we sat down to it as before. The fried +_venison_ was good and went well with our potatoes; and we had an egg +apiece. But Kate's corn meal mush was the best dish, for we had plenty +of butter and sugar to garnish it; and we also toasted some cheese. + +The sky had grown wholly overcast; and by the time we had finished our +dinner, night came on. We had still to collect wood for a camp-fire; and +all four of us boys set about this task at once and also carried armfuls +of dry pine from a stub, a little way off, into our cabin to have in the +morning for our fire, in case of rain. The wind was blowing and the air +felt chilly and raw. There was not much pleasure in sitting out of +doors, even before a fire; so we at length carried our benches into the +girls' cabin and placed them around, just inside the open door, where +the firelight shone in pleasantly. It was much more comfortable there +than out in the wind. The smoke also drifted into our own cabin a good +deal, but here we were quite out of it. + +Nell produced her pailful of hazel nuts, and with this rather late +dessert for our dinner, we whiled away an hour or more, Thomas or +Addison going out now and then to tend the fire and keep it blazing +brightly. + +"What shall it be to-morrow," Theodora at length said; "fishing, or +hazel-nutting?" + +"Fishing in the morning and hazel-nutting in the afternoon will be a +good plan, I guess," Addison remarked,--when, as he spoke, we heard a +rather strange sound off in the woods. It was the first wild note of any +kind which had come to our ears during the evening; the inhabitants of +the forest seemed not to be musically inclined that night. + +"I would like to know what made that noise," Tom said. "That wasn't a +bear, nor a 'screamer.'" + +We sat listening and pretty soon heard it again, a peculiar, +long-drawn-out, hollow note. + +"It doesn't sound like an animal's cry," said Addison. "It is more like +a noise I have heard made by blowing through some big sea-shell." + +"Not very likely to be sea-shells up here in the woods," remarked +Theodora. + +"Are there really any Indians in the 'great woods?'" I asked. + +"I think not," said Addison. + +Just then we heard the noise again. It seemed to be nearer and appeared +to have moved around towards the stream. + +"Well, that beats me all out for a noise!" exclaimed Willis. "I can't +even guess what makes it." + +"Nor I," said Tom. "Never heard anything like it." + +To hear a mysterious sound like that, off in the wilderness, at night, +will disturb almost anyone. Addison kept laughing and trying to talk of +other things. Thomas stepped out as if to fix up the fire, but slipped +into the other cabin and got the gun. He came out to one side, however, +so that the girls did not see him from where they sat, and stood the gun +against their cabin. All the while Addison was talking on, telling the +girls how the Indians cooked hedgehogs by coating them all over with +clay, then roasting them under their camp-fires. The girls were not very +good listeners, however, for we kept hearing that same hollow, moaning +noise, and it did not seem to be very far off. We were all pretty sure +that it was not an animal, and concluded that it must be a man, or a +number of men; but why they were making such a strange noise as that, we +could not understand. + +Suddenly the sound burst forth close at hand, apparently near the +stream. It startled us all badly, and Thomas reached for the gun. + +"I think, boys," said Kate quite calmly, yet with a curious little +flutter in her voice, "that we had better all get inside the cabin here +and shut the door." + +"Perhaps we had," said Addison. "For if it is anybody who means +mischief, it is foolish for us to sit in the light here where we can be +seen so plainly." + +Thereupon we all beat a retreat inside the cabin, shut the door and +buttoned it; the firelight shone in, however, both through cracks in the +door and chinks betwixt the logs. Tom drew the partridge charge from his +gun and put in another heavier one, with five or six buckshot, mixed +with the bird shot. + +A moment or two after, we heard the noise again; and this time it seemed +to be just in the rear of the other cabin. Addison stood with an eye at +a crack, looking out. + +"It's human beings, fast enough," he said in a low voice. + +The girls were of course a good deal alarmed. We made the door fast with +a prop in case an attack should be made. + +Suddenly a large stone fell on the roof with a tremendous bump and +clatter! It caused the girls to cry out in affright! + +"Ad, this is somebody trying to scare us!" Tom muttered. + +"Or murder us!" cried Ellen. + +"You don't suppose it is Halse, do you?" I asked. "He threatened us with +something or other!" + +"Maybe," said Addison, doubtfully. "No; I don't believe he would dare +come up here alone in the night," he added, after a moment's thought. +"Halse is a great coward in the dark." + +On the whole it did not seem likely that Halstead would be so many miles +from home, in the woods, at that time of night. + +Another stone struck on the roof, and soon a third struck the door! Then +several seemed to fall on the roof at once, which led us to surmise that +there was more than one person concerned in the attack. + +Both Addison and Tom kept their eyes at the cracks, looking out to see +if any of our assailants showed themselves. + +"They are standing out there in that hazel clump, just beyond the other +cabin," Addison muttered. "I can see the bushes move there, every time a +stone is thrown." + +Just then a tremendous thump came against the door! + +"I'll let them know they can't pelt us like that!" exclaimed Tom, taking +up the gun. "Open the door just a crack, Ad, so I can push the muzzle +out." + +"I would not fire right at the bush," said Addison. "But fire high to +let them know we are armed." + +Tom thrust out the gun--and next instant we were all nearly deafened by +the report! + +Immediately following the report, too, there came a loud cry, a cry that +thrilled me through and through, for I thought that I recognized the +voice. Theodora cried out, "Oh, that's Halse! You've shot him! You've +shot him!" + +"That did sound a little like Halse!" cried Willis. + +We were terror-stricken, yet uncertain. Addison cautiously opened the +door and stepped out. Tom and I followed him. Willis, however, caught up +the gun and began hastily to reload it. + +"Halse!" Addison at length called out. "Are you there, Halse?" + +Theodora followed us out and also Kate. "Oh, I'm so afraid he's killed!" +Theodora cried out, almost sobbing. + +Several of us called out; but there was no reply; and we could now hear +no movement in the hazels. + +"Do let's go and see," implored Theodora; and then Addison and Thomas +took brands from the camp-fire and, waving these about, went out +cautiously towards the bush clumps. We kept close behind them, Willis +with the gun loaded; he was afraid that this was some trick to draw us +into an ambush. + +But on reaching the hazels, there was nothing to be found, save three +round stones as big as a man's fist or bigger, evidently brought there +from the bed of the stream, to throw at the cabin. + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Theodora. "I suppose he has dragged himself away +somewheres. I know he was hit by the way he cried out." + +"I did not aim right at the bush," said Tom; "but I suppose the gun may +have scattered." + +"Plague take him!" exclaimed Willis. "I don't much care if he is hit." + +"Oh, don't talk so!" cried Ellen. + +"No; don't talk so," said Catherine. "If he is hit and has crept away, +we must find him if we can." + +"Of course," said Addison who was peering about on the ground, "we will +do all we can to find him and care for him, if it really was he." + +"Halse! Halse!" Tom shouted, as loudly as he could. "Answer, Halse, if +you are hurt! We will take care of you!" + +There was no reply. + +"He may be dead by this time!" lamented Theodora. + +Then we began searching in earnest; we rekindled the fire, and taking +brands, looked the ground all over for twenty rods or more from the +cabins, in that direction. Not a trace could be discovered. + +"I guess he wasn't hurt much," Willis said privately to me. + +But that wild outcry had taken a dreadful hold on Theodora's fancies. +With the tears starting constantly to her eyes, she searched and +implored the rest of us to keep looking about. I half expected we might +come upon Halse in the bushes; for I knew that if one of those heavy +shot had struck him, it might cause a fatal wound. + +Tom, too, felt very badly and very nervous; so did Kate. + +At last we went back to the cabin, for it seemed of no use to search +longer. Theodora was so wrought up, that she even wanted to start off +for home in the darkness, to notify the Old Squire. Nothing could +persuade her that Halse was not wounded or killed. + +But Addison said at once that we could not think of making such a trip +in the night; that we would wait till morning and see what could be +discovered then; and he advised the girls to go to sleep and get as good +a night's rest as they could. + +"It will do no good to cry, or keep awake, Doad," he said. "We can do +nothing till daylight." + +Accordingly we went to our own cabin and left the girls to shut +themselves into theirs and sleep if they could. We all felt very much +disturbed; yet I, for one, fell asleep and slept through the rest of the +night quite soundly. I doubt whether Theodora slept, however. She was +awake and out with Addison long before I roused up. Catherine and Ellen, +too, were astir, and they had all four been searching, ever since it had +grown light enough. + +Willis had gone to fish for trout; he came back with a fine string of +them, just as I was waking up. As he sat dressing them to fry for +breakfast, he declared again that he was not at all afraid that Halse +was much injured. + +But all the rest of us had our fears, and not much interest was felt in +breakfast or anything else, save to get ready to start for home, as +quickly as possible. For Addison had decided that the best thing to do, +under the circumstances, was to go home and see what could be learned +there of Halse's movements. + +We therefore ate a breakfast of such food as could be most quickly +prepared, then packed up our luggage, and began our long trip back home, +through the woods. It was far from being a pleasant walk. The zest and +anticipation of our outing had departed. We plodded drearily on and +reached Clear Pond at about one o'clock. Here, after a hasty lunch, +Addison ran on ahead, to reach home and come back with the team. The +entire burden of the baskets, guns, etc., now fell on Tom, Willis and +me; the girls were tired, and we got on slowly. + +At last, after two or three hours, we heard Addison coming along the +winter road with the horses and wagon, while still at a considerable +distance. The girls sat down to wait for him to come near enough to +speak. Theodora, in particular, feared the worst. + +But as soon as Addison came in sight, where we were sitting on a log by +the side of the trail, he swung his hat, and shouted, "All right!" + +"Thank Providence!" burst from Theodora's lips; and we all jumped up and +shouted for joy. + +"But was it Halse?" exclaimed Tom and Kate and I, all in a breath. + +"Yes, it was," replied Addison with a touch of scorn in his voice. "He +and Alf Batchelder." + +"And he isn't hurt?" Theodora asked. + +"Well, no, not by _us_," said Addison dryly. "The Old Squire has held a +private interview with him out at the west barn. Halse may not be quite +as comfortable now as he might be." + +"Good enough!" shouted Willis, Tom and Kate in chorus; and I am afraid +that Ellen and I joined in the sentiment. Theodora only looked unhappy. + +"Halse has confessed," Addison continued, after we were all in the +wagon, jogging on homeward. "The Old Squire made him tell everything and +disciplined him afterwards. It was like this. After dinner yesterday, +Halse pretended that he was sick and went up-stairs. Gram followed him +up there with the Vermifuge bottle. She found him in bed. He wouldn't +say what ailed him. After she went down-stairs, he got out on the ell +roof and ran away, over to Batchelder's. Alf and he then put their heads +together and started for the old slave's farm, intending to play they +were Cannucks and frighten us nearly to death. That was old Hewey's +moose-horn that they were _booing_ through; they borrowed it of the old +man, on their way up, pretending they were going moose-hunting." + +"Then Halse wasn't hit after all," said Kate. + +"No; it was Alf. We were all wrong about that voice. One of Tom's little +partridge shot struck Alf on his wrist. It did not injure him much, but +drew blood and frightened him. + +"They then cut sticks for home; and Halse tried to get into his room +over the ell roof at about three o'clock this morning. But our folks had +already discovered that he had run away. The Old Squire heard him on the +roof and nabbed him just as he was crawling in at the window. + +"He was quite a subdued, tearful-eyed, peaceable-looking boy, when I saw +him an hour ago," Addison concluded, with a curl of his lip. + +"But let's not say a word to plague him any further," said Theodora. + +"Oh, I shall not speak of it," replied Addison. + +"Nor I," said Willis. "But I would like to have had hold of the Old +Squire's whip a spell." + +And thus, in this miserable way, our first camping trip terminated. It +was raining the following morning and continued very wet for several +days; we were not able to return to "the old slave's farm" that fall. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE OLD SQUIRE'S PANTHER STORY + + +It seemed good, even after only three days' camping out, to sit down in +the house again and see the supper table nicely set and Gram at the head +of it. She welcomed us home as warmly as if we had been absent for +weeks; the Old Squire was still a little disturbed, from his recent +"interview" with Halstead. + +Halse, himself, did not come to supper; and nobody mentioned his name +during the entire evening. + +Little Wealthy was plainly overjoyed to see us back and, despite the +pout which she had worn when we went off without her, talked very fast +to us and told us of all the occurrences during our absence. + +"Aunt Olive" was with us for a week; she and Gram and Wealthy had begun +to dry apples; and after supper, Aunt Olive brought in three bushel +basketfuls of bruised Baldwins and Greenings, along with some natural +fruit; she also produced the old paring machine, coring knives and a +hank of stringing twine and needle, and in short made ready for a busy +evening. + +"Now, young folks," quoth she, "you've been off and had a fine time; and +I s'pose you're all ready to make the apples fly! It will not take us +long to do up these three bushels to-night, if you all work smart." + +It was an invitation not to be refused, under the circumstances, though +Theodora and Ellen made wry faces. They disliked to cut apples, it is +such dirty, sticky work and blackens one's hands so badly. Addison took +up the paring machine, good-naturedly. + +"Here's my old friend of last year," said he, screwing it to the leaf of +the kitchen table. "I pared bushels with it last fall, and I guess I'll +pare them now, while the rest of you trim and core and string them. We +must have dried apples, I suppose, for pies and sauce; at least, Gram +says we must." + +He fixed an apple on the fork of the machine and then in a moment had +whirled the skin off it, in a long, thin ribbon which descended into the +basket set beneath the table. I thought it looked to be fun;--but that +was before I understood the business as well as I subsequently came to +do. + +Finding that we had mustered in good force to cut the apples, Gram got +out her basket of socks to darn and presently summoned Theodora to +assist her. The Old Squire sat at the other side of the table and began +to read his _Maine Farmer_, which had come that night from the post +office; but he stopped reading often to hear what Addison had to tell of +our trip. Ellen and I trimmed and halved the apples, as Addison pared +them; "Aunt Olive" cored and Wealthy strung the cored halves. + +At length, when Gramp seemed to have looked his paper pretty nearly +through, Theodora said that we had a particular favor to ask of him that +evening. + +"Ah!" said the old gentleman, looking over the top of his glasses. "What +can Theodora want?" + +"But I want you to promise to grant it before I tell what it is," +replied Theodora. + +The Old Squire laughed. "That's asking quite a good deal," he remarked. +"But I hope I am not running much risk." + +"Well, then, grandfather," said Theodora, "we all want you to tell us +the story of the panther that you and Mr. Edwards shot up in the great +woods when you were boys. Thomas and Catherine have been telling us +about it; and we want to hear the story." + +"Yes, sir," said Addison. "Please tell us about that." + +The old gentleman hedged a little. "Oh, that is not much of a story," +said he. + +"Come, Squire, I've heard tell o' that 'ere catamount that you and Zeke +Edwards killed; but I never could get the particulars," said Aunt Olive. +"Jest give us the particulars." + +Gramp tried to put us off. "I'm no great hand at stories," he said. "You +must get Hewey Glinds to tell you bear and catamount stories." + +"But you promised me, Gramp," Theodora reminded him. + +At length, after some further excuses, the Old Squire was induced to +make a beginning, and having begun, told us the following story which I +give in words as nearly like his own as I can now remember. + +"It was in the year 1812. I was little more than a boy at that time, and +the country was quite new here. We had a clearing of about fifty acres +and had not yet built our present buildings; and our only neighbors, +nearer than the settlement in the lower part of the township, where the +village now stands, were the Edwardses. Old Jeremy Edwards came here at +about the same time that my father came. + +"Eighteen-twelve was the time of our second war with England. Soldiers +for it did not volunteer then; troops had to be raised by draft. Father +and neighbor Edwards were both drafted. I well remember the night they +were summoned. Mother and Mrs. Edwards cried all night. But there was no +help for it. There were no such things as substitutes then. They had to +go the next morning, and leave us to take care of ourselves the best we +could. + +"Little Ezekiel Edwards--Thomas's and Kate's grandfather--was just about +my age; and the men being away, everything depended on us. Those were +hard times; we had a great deal to do. We used to change works, as we +called it, so as to be together as much as we could; for it was rather +lonesome, planting and hoeing off in the stumpy, sprouted clearings. +That was a long, anxious summer! We heard from father only once. He was +somewhere near Lake Champlain. + +"We were getting things fixed up to pass the winter as well as we could, +when one night, about the first of November, Ezekiel came running over +to ask if we had seen anything of old Brindle, their cow. It had been a +bright, Indian-summer day, and they had turned her out to feed; but she +had not come up as usual, and was nowhere in sight. It was dusk already, +but I took our gun and, starting out together, we searched both +clearings. Brindle was not in the cleared land. + +"'We shall have to give her up to-night, Zeke,' said I; 'but I will go +with you in the morning. She's lost or hedged up somewhere among +windfalls.' We heard 'lucivees' snarling, and as we went back along, saw +a bear digging ground-nuts beside a great rock. These were common enough +sounds and sights in those days; still, we did not care to go off into +the forest after dark. + +"Several inches of snow came during the night and the next morning was +cloudy and lowering. Zeke came over early. Brindle had not come in. He +brought his gun and had taken Skip, their dog; and we now started off +for a thorough search in the woods. Everything looked very odd that +morning, on account of the freshly fallen snow. The snow had lodged upon +all the trees, especially the evergreens, bending down the branches; and +every stump and bush was wreathed in white. + +"As the cows used frequently to follow up the valley--where the road now +is--to the northward, we entered it and kept on to where it opens out +upon Clear Pond, at the foot of the crags which you probably noticed as +you passed. There is just a footpath between the crags and the pond, +which is very deep on that side. About the pond and the crag the trees +were mostly spruce. This morning they looked like multitudes of white +tents, lined with black. And this appearance, with the ground all white, +and the not yet frozen water looking black as ink, made everything +appear so strange, that although we had several times been there before, +we now scarcely knew the place. + +"As yet we had seen no traces of Brindle. But just as we came out on the +pond, at the foot of the crag, we heard a fox bark, quite near at first, +then at a distance. Skip sprang ahead among the snowy spruces, but came +back in a few moments, and, looking up in our faces, whined, then ran on +again. + +"'He's found something!' exclaimed Zeke. + +"We hurried forward on his track, and a few rods further, saw him +standing still, whining; and there, under a thin covering of snow, near +the water, lay old Brindle, torn and mangled, and partially eaten. + +"A feeling of awe crept over us at the sight. + +"'Dead!' whispered Zeke. + +"'Something's killed her!' I whispered back. + +"There were fresh fox tracks all around, and the carcass had been +recently gnawed in several places. Some transient little fox had been +improving the chance to steal a breakfast. But what savage beast had +throttled resolute old Brindle? + +"With strange sensations we gazed around. Not a breath of air stirred +the snow-laden boughs; and the wild, gray face of the precipice, +towering above us, seemed to grow awesome in the stillness. + +"Looking more closely, we now discerned, partially obscured by the more +recent snowflakes, some broad footprints, as large as old Brindle's +hoofs, leading off along the narrow path between the crag and the pond. +After examining our priming, we followed slowly on these tracks, Skip +keeping close to us, and glancing up earnestly in our faces. + +"Very soon, however, the tracks stopped. Beyond a certain point there +were no footprints. Skip whined, almost getting under our feet in his +efforts to keep near us. Suddenly then a piercing scream broke the +stillness, and on a jutting rock, fully twenty feet above us, and in the +very attitude of springing, we saw a large gray creature, its claws +protruding on the ledge, its ears laid back and its long tail switching +to and fro! It screamed again, then leaped down. Zeke and I started to +run back along the path, but both stumbled on the snowy rocks. Next +moment we heard a yell from Skip, then a loud growl. The panther had +seized him; and then we saw it go bounding back up the rocks, grappling +and gathering up the dog in its mouth, at every leap. Climbing still +higher, it gained a projecting ledge, along which it ran to a great +cleft, or fissure, seventy or eighty feet above the path. There it +disappeared. + +"Its onslaught had been so sudden, that for some moments we stood +bewildered. Then, remembering our danger, we turned to run again, but +had taken only a few steps when another scream rooted us to the path! +The panther had come out in sight and was running to the place where it +had climbed up. + +"Frightened as we were, we knew that it was of little use to run and +both pulled up. As long as we stood still, the animal crouched, watching +us; but the moment we stirred, it would rise and poise itself as if to +spring. We were afraid if we ran that the animal would bound down and +chase us. + +"How long we stood there, I don't know, but it seemed very long. We grew +desperate. 'Let's fire,' Zeke whispered; and we raised our old +flint-locks. They were well charged with buckshot, if they would only +go off. The panther growled, seeing the movement, and started up; but we +pulled the triggers. Both guns were discharged. We then sprang away down +the path, but glancing back, beheld the panther struggling and clinging +to one of the lower ledges to which it had jumped, or fallen, from the +rocks above. + +"'We hit him!' exclaimed Zeke. 'Hold up,'--and we both turned. + +"For a long time the beast clung there, writhing and falling back. +Screech after screech echoed from the mountain side across the pond. We +could see blood trickling down the rock. + +"The animal grew weaker, at length, and by and by fell down to another +rock, where, after fainter struggles and cries, it finally lay still. We +loaded and fired again, and the fur flew up, but there was no further +movement. Skip and Brindle were avenged, as much as they could be; but +it was a long time before the Edwards family ceased to lament their +loss. + +"We went to the place twice afterwards during the winter. A mass of gray +fur was still lying on the rock, thirty or forty feet above the path. +And for years after, we could see some of the panther's bones there." + +To us young folks who had so recently been camping in the "great woods" +and had passed along the foot of this very crag where the panther had +been shot, the Old Squire's story was intensely interesting. We could +vividly imagine the scene and the fears of the two pioneer boys, on that +snowy November forenoon, more than fifty years ago. + +When I went up to bed that night, I found Halse soundly asleep. He did +not wake and I did not disturb him; but he was astir and dressing, when +I waked next morning, and before we went down, he began to laugh and to +ridicule us, on account of the fright we were in at the cabin when those +stones were tumbling on the roof. "And I broke up your camping trip, +anyway," he added, exultantly. "You were the scaredest lot of chickens +I ever saw! Shut yourselves up in your shanty and fastened the door with +props!" + +I did not much blame him for wanting to crow a bit, after all that had +happened. + +On the whole it was fortunate that we came home when we did. The storm +continued; all next day it poured and drove furiously; but apple-cutting +went on blithely indoors. What was rare for him, Addison had a bad cold +with a very sore throat; and we all retired early that night, not having +as yet caught up all arrears of broken sleep from the camping trip. + +But it was not to be a night of rest; and I for one was destined to have +an exciting experience before morning. Shortly after midnight there came +an obstreperous knocking and thumping at the outer door, so loud that it +waked us in our beds up-stairs. It was repeated twice; and then I heard +the Old Squire below call out, "Who's there?" + +"It's me," replied a troubled voice. + +"Well, but who's 'me?'" + +"Bobbie Sylvester. And please, sir, my folks want you to send one of the +boys after the doctor, quick!" + +There was a sudden exclamation of wrath and indignation from Addison in +his room, with a chain of comments, which it is not necessary to +remember. + +"Why, what's the matter?" we heard the Old Squire call out. But just +then we distinguished the murmur of Gram's voice, and a moment later +heard her coming up the stairs to speak to us. + +"Boys," said she, "one of you must ride to the village after the doctor +for Mrs. Sylvester." + +"But, Gram, it's a terrible night," Ad expostulated. + +"I know it, boys," said she. "It's a bad night, but somebody must go." + +"Let Sylvester go himself, then!" cried Addison, angrily. + +"Well, but you know he hasn't any horse, and has rheumatism," said the +old lady. + +Then began to dawn on me what I came to know full well later, that +whenever certain of our poorer neighbors were taken ill, or an +additional small member was about to be added to their families, they +were very prone to come hurrying to our door at dead of night, +beseeching some of us to ride seven miles to the village for the doctor. + +Addison was really unfit to go. No doubt he felt unusually irritable. +"By the holy smoke!" he exclaimed. "I wish there wasn't a baby under the +Canopy!"--and while I was trying to puzzle out and piece together all +these darkling hints and inferences, the Old Squire came up stairs and +after a word with Addison and Gram, told me that I would have to rig up, +get on old Sol's back and take my first turn riding for Dr. Cummings. +That settled it. + +Thereupon I began dressing in haste, Halstead lying at his ease and +crowing over me as I did so; and I am sorry to add that I was in a mood +so un-cousinly that I at length gave him a swipe with my thick jacket as +I put it on to hasten down stairs. + +It was still raining fiercely; but they rigged me up as best they could +for the trip--buttoned me into an old buffalo coat (it was a huge fit +for a boy, thirteen), tied a woollen comforter around my neck, and +another one over the top of my cap, to hold that on my head and keep my +ears warm. Wool socks, a pair of large boots, and some heavy mittens +completed my outfit. + +Gram herself went to the stable and looked to the saddle. I mounted; +Gramp pulled the great door of the stable open, and I rode forth into +the rain and darkness. + +After a few moments outside, I could see objects, in outline. So much +rain had fallen that the road was completely saturated. I got on pretty +well, however, until I came to the meadow a mile from home, where the +road crossed low ground and a large brook. There was a plank-bridge here +twenty feet long. The brook was now very high--a good deal higher, in +fact, than any of us had anticipated. It had risen several feet since +nightfall. + +The moment I came to the meadow I found that there was water all over +it, and also in the road, extending back two hundred yards from the +bridge to the foot of the hill. I could not see how it looked, and, of +course, did not fully realize how high and rapid the stream had grown. +Old Sol splashed through the water till we came near the bridge. There +the water was up to my feet, in the road. On pulling up, I could hear it +rushing and swirling along over the bridge. I supposed the bridge was +undisturbed, for there were stones laid on the planks at each end, I +could see nothing save a black expanse all round me. Hesitating a +moment, I summoned my courage and dug my heels into old Sol's sides. He +went forward till his feet touched the first planks. There he stopped +and snorted. I gave him the spur. He leaped forward and seemed to strike +his feet on planks. But, as was afterwards ascertained, some of them +were washed out, and all of them were afloat. At his next spring his +legs went down among them. Then the full force of the current struck +him, he rolled over sidewise, and horse and boy went off the lower end +of the bridge, in eight feet of swift water. + +It is needless to say that I was holding to the horse's mane for dear +life. As we rolled over the "stringer" of the bridge, I was partly under +the horse. We went down and I distinctly touched bottom with my left +foot, but clutched the horse's mane with both hands and hugged the +saddle with both legs. It seemed to me that we rolled over before we +came to the surface. Then we went under again, but a moment later, the +horse got foothold in shallower water, and floundered out on the further +side of the brook. + +If I had let go of him I would certainly have been drowned; for the +skirts of the buffalo coat had been driven by the current over my head, +and with all those water-soaked clothes on, not even a powerful swimmer +could have got out. I felt as if I weighed a ton. My cap was gone, and +with it, my comforters. + +I wasn't very much frightened, I hadn't had time to be, though I +remember thinking when we rolled off the end of the bridge, that no +doctor would get to the Sylvesters' that night. + +The horse waded off the meadow to a set of bars, and we got back into +the road; and on coming to the foot of the hill I dismounted and partly +wrung some of my clothes, though it still rained heavily. If I had not +been on the further side of the stream, I'm sure I would have gone home, +for I felt awfully cold and homesick. + +The road was badly gullied, and I had still another brook to cross; but +the stream there was not so rapid, and after reconnoitering the bridge +as well as I could in the dark, I ventured upon it, and found that I +could pass. + +I do not think that I was more than an hour and a half reaching the +village. It was so dark that I had difficulty in finding the doctor's +house, though I knew the place. A moment later I dismounted, and knocked +at his door. After a while a window was raised, and Dr. Cummings asked +what was wanted. I told him, and I can safely assert that he did not +seem overjoyed. + +"How are the roads?" he asked, after some hesitation. + +"Pretty bad." + +"Hum! And the bridges?" + +I replied that I thought one of them had been washed away. + +"Washed away? How did you get over then?" + +"My horse swam." + +"Well, I'll tell you," said the doctor. "I'm about used up, and have +just come in from a hard ride. You call Dr. Green. He's a young man, +just settled here. I don't want to be hoggish with him. Call Dr. Green." + +Dr. Green was a young homoeopathist who had come to the village the +year before. It was said that Dr. Cummings did not like him, also that +Dr. Green reciprocated the sentiment. + +"Shall I tell Dr. Green that you sent me for him?" I asked, as I got on +my horse. + +Dr. Cummings did not reply. + +I then went to Dr. Green's door, and did my errand there. "Have you been +for Dr. Cummings?" was his first question. + +"Yes," said I, "and he sent me to you." + +"He's a shirk," said the young doctor, "but I'll go." + +He came out directly, saddled his own horse and set off with me, asking +no questions about the road. It still rained, and the wind was in our +faces. I led the way. The doctor followed. He kept up pretty well. He +had on a suit of yellow oil-skin, and I could see that some ways back. + +When we got to the hill near the meadow, I pulled up and told him about +the bridge. "You can try it," said I, "if you want to, but I am going to +wait till it gets light before I try it again." + +"You are a pretty fellow," said he. "Why didn't you tell me of that +before?" + +"I was afraid you might not come," said I, "and it was my business to +get a doctor." + +"Go ahead, then," said he, grittily. "Let's try it." + +"No, thank you," said I. "Once in that brook is enough for me, in one +night." + +"Well, then," said he, "do you know any other bridge or ford?" + +I knew of a bridge two miles above. The road was like porridge, but we +reached it, tried it carefully, and at length got across without +swimming. The remainder of the way was comparatively uneventful; and we +reached the Sylvesters' just as day began to dawn. Four old ladies were +there, including Gram. They greeted the doctor with great glee. He was +late--but all was well. + +Nevertheless, that was a good trip for young Dr. Green. The folks +thereabouts said that he must be a staunch young fellow to turn out on +such a night. I always felt that they might have added a word for me, +too. + +The doctor told me a while ago that that ride was worth a thousand +dollars to him. + +"Well, then, doctor, suppose we divide that thousand," I said. + +"Why?" said he. "What for?" + +"Well, I went after you that night, and piloted you up there," said I. + +"That's true," said he, "but you must collect your fee of the patients, +as I do." + +"Little there's left for me when you are done with them," said I. + +I found my cap and comforters about a fortnight after that, in the top +of some choke-cherry bushes below the bridge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE OUTLAW DOGS + + +Not a little farm work still remained to be done;--our farm work, in +fact, was never done. For a fortnight after our return from the camping +trip, we were busy, ploughing stubble ground, drawing off loose stones +and building a piece of "double wall" along the side of the north field. +There was also a field of winter rye to be got in. The Old Squire was, +moreover, preparing to re-embark in the lumbering business at certain +lots of timber land which he owned up in the "great woods." Loggers +would be hired for this work, however, for Addison, Halstead and I +expected to attend the district school which was announced to begin on +the Monday after Thanksgiving. + +It was mostly dull, hard work now, all day long, and often we were +obliged to husk corn, or dry apples, during the evening. The only +amusement for a time was one or two husking parties, and an "apple bee" +at the Murches'. + +On the morning of the 30th of October we waked to find the ground white +with snow; several inches had fallen; but it went off, after a day or +two; the weather had grown quite cold, however. Ice formed nearly every +night. The cattle were now at the barns, but the sheep were still +running about the pastures and fields. On the night of the 5th of +November the upper part of the lake froze over, as well as the smaller +ponds in the vicinity. I found that the boys thereabouts knew how to +skate, and was not long in buying a pair of skates, myself. I had much +difficulty in learning to use them for several days; at length, I caught +the knack of it, and felt well repaid for a good many hard falls, when +at last I could glide away and keep up with Halse, Addison and Thomas +Edwards, who skated well. Even Theodora and Ellen could skate. + +For a week that fall Lake Pennesseewassee was grand skating ground. +Parties of boys from a distance came there every evening and built +bonfires on the shore to enliven the scene. + +I think that it was the third day before Thanksgiving that eight of us +went to the lake, at about four in the afternoon, to have an hour of +skating before dark. We found Alfred Batchelder there in advance of us. +As Alfred did not now speak to our boys, he kept a little aloof from us. + +Near the head of the lake is an island and above it a bog. We had skated +around the head of the lake, and keeping to the east side of the island, +circled about it, and were coming down on the west side along an arm, +some two hundred yards wide, where there was known to be deep water. We +thought the ice perfectly firm and safe there, since that on the east +side of the island, over which we had just skated, had proved so. All of +us were at full racing speed, and Alfred was keeping six or eight rods +further out, but parallel with us. Suddenly we heard a crash and saw +Alfred go down. The water gushed up around him. + +There was no premonitory cracking or yielding. The ice broke on the +instant; and so rapidly was he moving that a hole twelve or fifteen feet +long was torn by the sheer force with which he went against it. As he +fell through, he went under once, but luckily came up in the hole he had +made, and got his hands and arms on the edges of the ice, which, +however, kept bending down and breaking off. The breaking and his fall +were so sudden that he had not even time to cry out till he came up and +caught hold of the ice. + +Instinctively we all sheered off toward the west shore at first. Then +came the impulse to save him. A peeled hemlock log lay stranded on the +shore upon rocks, with about four feet of its length frozen in the ice. +I remember rushing to this, to get it up and slide it out to him. +Finding I could not wrench it loose with my hands, I kicked it with +first one foot and then the other, and broke both my skates; but the ice +held it like a vise. Then I started on my broken skates to find a pole; +two or three of the other boys were also running for poles, shouting +excitedly. + +All the while Alfred was calling despairingly to us; every time the ice +broke, he would nearly disappear under the water, which was deadly cold. + +Addison who had first pulled off his skates, then thought of green alder +poles. Running to the nearest clump, he bent down and hurriedly cut off +two, each as large as a pump-brake. Before I was done kicking the peeled +hemlock log, or Halse was back from his pole hunt, Addison had shoved +one of the long alders out to Alf, who managed to clutch hold of it. + +Addison had hold of the butt end, and Willis Murch, nearer the shore, +had reached out the top of the second alder to Addison. The ice yielded +somewhat and the water came up; but they all held fast. By this time the +rest of us had cut more alders, one of which was thrust out to Willis; +and then by main strength we hauled Alfred out and back where the ice +was firmer. + +It is doubtful whether we should have got him out of the lake but for +this expedient; for the water was so cold and the wind so bitterly +sharp, that he could not long have supported himself by those bending +ice edges. His teeth chattered noisily when at length we hauled him +ashore; Addison's, too! Both were wet through. We started and ran as +hard as we could towards home. Two of us had to drag Alf at the start; +but he ran better after the first hundred yards; and we were all very +warm by the time we got him home. + +It is often difficult to determine why the ice on some portions of a +pond should be thin and treacherous, as in the above instance, while on +other portions it is quite safe. Indeed, there is no way of determining +except by cautious inspection. + +I must do Alfred the justice to record that he came around quite +handsomely to thank Addison, and then asked his pardon for the hard +words that he had used at Fair time. + +The morning following is marked forever in my memory by an unexpected +trip up to the "great woods"--the result of certain disturbing rumors +which had been in circulation throughout the autumn, but of which I have +not previously spoken, since they were confined mainly to a school +district two miles to the east of the Old Squire's farm. + +On that morning a party of not less than thirty men and boys, with +hounds, was made up to go in pursuit of a pack of outlaw dogs which had +been killing sheep and calves in that town and vicinity. As yet the +flocks in our own neighborhood had not been molested, but there was no +saying how soon the marauders might pay us a visit; and a public effort +had been inaugurated to hunt the pack down and destroy it. + +The history of these dog outlaws was a singular one and parallels in +canine life the famous story of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." The fact that +dogs do occasionally lead double lives--one that of a docile house-dog +by day, and the other that of a wild, dangerous beast by night--is well +established. In this case a trusted dog had become not only an outlaw +himself, but drew others about him and was the leader of a dangerous +band. + +A farmer named Frost, three miles from us, began to lose sheep from a +flock of seventy which he owned and which were kept in a pasture that +included a high hill and sloped northward over rough, bushy land to the +great woods. It was not the custom there to enclose the sheep in pens or +shelters, at night. They wandered at will in the pasture, and were +rarely visited oftener than once a week, and that usually on Sunday +morning. Then either the farmer or one of his boys would go to the +pasture to give the sheep salt and count them. This was the custom among +the farmers in that locality, nearly all of whom owned flocks sometimes +as small as twenty, but rarely larger than seventy-five, since sheep in +New England do not thrive when kept in large flocks. + +Farmer Frost was not the only one who had lost sheep at this time. Six +other flocks were invaded, but his loss occurred first. His son Rufus, +going to the pasture to salt and count the sheep on a Sunday morning, +found that two ewes and a grown lamb were missing. Later in the day the +partially devoured remains of the sheep were found in the pasture not +far from a brook. + +"Bear's work," the farmer and his neighbors said, although an old hunter +who visited the spot pronounced against the theory. But a bear had been +seen recently in the vicinity; and Monday morning the Frost boys loaded +their guns for a thorough hunt. Two traps were also set near the +carcasses, which were left as found, to lure the destroyer back. + +The destroyer did not return; the traps remained as they were set; and +the youthful hunters were unsuccessful in rousing a bear in the woods. +But on the following Wednesday night a farmer named Needham, living a +mile and a half from Frost, lost two sheep, the bodies of which were +found in his pasture, partly eaten. + +It chanced that Farmer Needham, or his son Emerson, owned a dog which +was greatly prized. They called him Bender. Bender was said to be a +half-breed, Newfoundland and mastiff, but had, I think, a strain of more +common blood in his ancestry, for there was a tawny crescent mark +beneath each of his eyes. Bender was the pink of propriety and a dog of +unblemished reputation. + +On this occasion Bender went with the farmer and his boys to the sheep +pasture, and smelled the dead sheep with every appearance of surprise +and horror. The hair on his shoulders bristled with indignation. He +coursed around, seeking for bear tracks, and ran barking about the +pasture. In short, he did everything that a properly grieved dog should +do under the circumstances, and so far from touching or eating any of +the torn mutton, he plainly scorned such a thing. + +The boys took Bender with them to hunt bears, as their main reliance and +ally, and Bender hunted assiduously. Three or four other dogs, belonging +at farms in the vicinity, were also taken on these hunts. One was a +collie, another a mongrel bulldog, and a third a large brindled dog of +no known pedigree. Still another half-bred St. Bernard dog set off with +the others, but on reaching the sheep pasture, where they went first to +get the trail and make a start, this latter dog behaved oddly, left the +others and slunk away home. + +Some of the boys attributed this to cowardice, and he was hooted; others +suspected Roke, for that was his name, of having killed the sheep. +Suspicion against him so increased that his master kept him chained at +home. + +No bears were tracked to their dens, and none were caught in the traps, +which were also set in the Needham pasture; but less than a week later +another farmer, this time the owner of the mongrel bulldog, lost three +sheep in one night. As previously, the sheep were found dead and partly +eaten. + +If Roke's _alibi_ had not had a tangible chain at one end of it that +night, his character would have been as good as lost; for his refusal to +hunt with the other dogs and the manner in which he behaved while near +the dead sheep, had rendered him a public "suspect." When near the +carcasses he had growled morosely, and shown his teeth. When barked at +by the other dogs, he had taken himself off. + +A few nights afterward Farmer Frost lost two more sheep from his flock +in the pasture, and the following night Rufus watched in the pasture +with a loaded gun, quite without results. + +About that time two or three others watched in their pastures. Some shut +up their sheep. But the losses continued to occur. Within a radius of +three or four miles as many as twenty-four sheep were killed in the +course of three weeks. + +None of the watchers by night or the hunters by day had, as yet, +obtained so much as a trace or a clue to the animal which had done the +killing. They came to think that it was quite useless to watch by night; +the marauding creature, whether bear, wild-cat, or dog, was apparently +too wily, or too keen-scented, to enter a pasture and approach a flock +where a man was concealed. + +Rufus Frost, who had watched repeatedly, then hit on a stratagem. First +he cut off about a foot from the barrel of a shotgun, to shorten it, and +then made a kind of bag, or sack, by sewing two sheep-pelts together. +Thus equipped, he repaired to the pasture after dark, and joined himself +to the flock, not as a watcher, _but as a sheep_. That is to say, he +crept into the sheepskin bag, which was also capacious enough to contain +the short gun, and lay down on the outskirts of the flock, a little +aloof. + +The sheep were lying in a group, ruminating, as is their habit, by +night. Rufus drew a tangle of wool over his head, and otherwise +contrived to pose as a sheep lying down. He assumed that when thus +bagged up in fresh sheepskin, the odor of a sheep would be diffused, and +the appearance of one so well counterfeited as to deceive even a bear. +His gun he had charged heavily with buckshot; and altogether the ruse +was ingenious, if nothing more. + +Nothing disturbed the flock on the first night that he spent in the +pasture, nor on the second; but he resolved to persevere. It was no very +bad way to pass an autumn night; the weather was pleasant and warm, and +there was a bright moon nearing its full. + +He had kept awake during the first night, listening and watching for the +most of the time; but he caught naps the second, and on the third was +sleeping comfortably at about two in the morning, when he was suddenly +set upon, tooth and nail, by what he believed, on first waking, to be a +whole family of bears. One had him by the leg, through the bag, shaking +him. Another was dragging at the back of the bag, while the teeth of a +third were snapping at his face. Still other teeth were chewing upon his +arm, and the growling was something frightful! + +This was an alarming manner in which to be wakened from a sound nap, and +it is little wonder that Rufus, although a plucky youngster, rolled over +and over and yelled with the full power of his lungs. + +His shouts produced an effect. First one and then another of his +assailants let go and drew back; and getting the wool out of his eyes, +Rufus saw that the creatures were not bears, but four astonished dogs, +standing a few feet away, regarding him with doubt and disgust. + +To all appearance he had been a sheep, lying a little apart from the +others, and they had fallen upon him as one; but his shouts led them to +think that he was not mutton, after all, and they did not know what to +make of it! + +Rufus, almost equally astonished, now lay quite still, staring at them. +The dogs looked at each other, licked the wool from their mouths, and +sat down to contemplate him further. + +Rufus, on his part, waxed even more amazed as he looked, for by the +bright moonlight he at once identified the four dogs. They were, alas! +the highly respectable, exemplary old Bender, the collie, Tige, the +brindle, and the mongrel bulldog--all loved and trusted members of +society. Rufus was so astonished that he did not think of using his +blunderbuss; he simply whistled. + +That whistle appeared to resolve the doubts of the dogs instantly. They +growled menacingly and sprang away like the wind. Rufus saw them run +across the pasture to the woods, and afterward, for some minutes, heard +them washing themselves in the brook, as roguish, sheep-killing dogs +always do before returning home. + +But in this case the dogs appeared to know that they had been detected, +and that so far as their characters as good and virtuous dogs went, the +game was up. Not one of them returned home. All four took to the woods, +and thereafter lived predatory lives. They were aware of the gravity of +their offenses. + +During October and early November they were heard of as a pack of bad +sheep-killers, time and again; but they now followed their evil +practices at a distance from their former homes, where, indeed, the +farmers took the precaution of carefully guarding their sheep. On one +night of October they killed three calves in a farmer's field, four +miles from the Frost farm. Several parties set off to hunt them, but +they escaped and lived as outlaws, subsisting from nocturnal forays +until snow came, when they were tracked to a den beneath a high crag, +called the "Overset," up in the great woods. + +It was Rufus Frost and Emerson Needham, the former owner of Bender, who +tracked the band to their retreat. Finding it impossible to call or +drive the criminals out, they blocked the entrance of the den with large +stones, and then came home to devise some way of destroying them--since +it is a pretty well-established fact that when once a dog has relapsed +into the savage habits of his wild ancestry he can never be reclaimed. + +Someone had suggested suffocating the dogs with brimstone fumes; and so, +early the following morning, Rufus and Emerson, heading a party of +fifteen men and boys, came to the Edwards farm and the Old Squire's to +get brimstone rolls, which we had on account of our bees. Their coming, +on such an errand, carried a wave of excitement with it. Old Hewey +Glinds, the trapper, was sent for and joined the party, in spite of his +rheumatism. Every boy in the neighborhood begged earnestly to go; and +the most of us, on one plea and another, obtained permission to do so. + +All told, I believe, there were thirty-one in the party, not counting +dogs. Entering the woods we proceeded first to Stoss Pond, then through +Black Ash Swamp, and thence over a mountainous wooded ridge to Overset +Pond. + +In fact we seemed to be going to the remote depths of the wilderness; +and what a savage aspect the snowy evergreen forest wore that morning! +At last, we came out on the pond. Very black it looked, for it was what +is called a "warm pond." Ice had not yet formed over it. The snow-clad +crag where the cave was, on the farther side, loomed up, ghostly white +by contrast. + +Rufus and Emerson had gone ahead and were there in advance of us; they +shouted across to us that the dogs had not escaped. We then all hurried +on over snowy stones and logs to reach the place. + +It was a gruesome sort of den, back under an overhang of rocks fully +seventy feet high. Near the dark aperture which the boys had blocked, +numbers of freshly gnawed bones lay in the snow, which presented a very +sinister appearance. + +Those in advance had already kindled a fire of drift-stuff not far away +on the shore. The hounds and dogs which had come with the party, +scenting the outlaw dogs in the cave, were barking noisily; and from +within could be heard a muffled but savage bay of defiance. + +"That's old Bender!" exclaimed Emerson. "And he knows right well, too, +that his time's come!" + +"Suppose they will show fight?" several asked. + +"Fight! Yes!" cried old Hewey, who had now hobbled up. "They'll fight +wuss than any wild critters!" + +One of the older boys, Ransom Frost, declared that he was not afraid to +take a club and go into the cave. + +"Don't you think of such a thing!" exclaimed old Hewey. "Tham's +desperate dogs! They'd pitch onto you like tigers! Tham dogs know +there's no hope for them, and they're going to fight--if they get the +chance!" + +It was a difficult place to approach, and several different plans of +attack were proposed. When the two hounds and three dogs which had come +up with us barked and scratched at the heavy, flat stones which Rufus +and Emerson had piled in the mouth of the cave, old Bender and Tige +would rush forward on their side of the obstruction, with savage growls. +Yet when Rufus or any of the others attempted to steal up with their +guns, to shoot through the chinks, the outlaws drew back out of sight, +in the gloom. There was a fierceness in their growling such as I never +have heard from other dogs. + +The owner of Watch, the collie, now crept up close and called to his +former pet. "I think I can call my dog out," said he. + +He called long and endearingly, "Come, Watch! Come, good fellow! You +know me, Watch! Come out! Come, Watch, come!" + +But the outlawed Watch gave not a sign of recognition or affection; he +stood with the band. + +Tige's former master then tried the same thing, but elicited only a deep +growl of hostility. + +"Oh, you can whistle and call, but you won't get tham dogs to go back on +one another!" chuckled old Hewey. "Tham dogs have taken an oath +together. They won't trust ye and I swan I wouldn't either, if I was in +their places! They know you are Judases!" + +It was decided that the brimstone should be used. Live embers from the +fire were put in the kettle. Green, thick boughs were cut from fir-trees +hard by; and then, while the older members of the party stood in line in +front of the hole beneath the rocks, to strike down the dogs if they +succeeded in getting out, Rufus and Emerson removed a part of the +stones, and with some difficulty introduced the kettle inside, amidst a +chorus of ugly growls from the beleaguered outlaws. The brimstone was +then put into the kettle, more fire applied, and the hole covered +quickly with boughs. And now even we younger boys were allowed to bear a +hand, scraping up snow and piling it over the boughs, the better to keep +in the smoke and fumes. + +The splutter of the burning sulphur could plainly be heard through the +barrier, and also the loud, defiant bark of old Bender and the growls of +Tige. + +Very soon the barking ceased, and there was a great commotion, during +which we heard the kettle rattle. This was succeeded presently by a +fierce, throaty snarling of such pent-up rage that chills ran down the +backs of some of us as we listened. After a few minutes this, too, +ceased. For a little space there was complete silence; then began the +strangest sound I ever heard. + +It was like the sad moaning of the stormy wind, as we sometimes hear it +in the loose window casements of a deserted house. Hardly audible at +first, it rose fitfully, moaning, moaning, then sank and rose again. It +was not a whine, as for pity or mercy, but a kind of canine farewell to +life: the death-song of the outlaws. This, too, ceased after a time; but +old Hewey did not advise taking away the boughs for fifteen or twenty +minutes. "Make a sure job on't," he said. + +Choking fumes issued from the cave for some time after it was opened and +the stones pulled away. Bender was then discovered lying only a few feet +back from the entrance. He appeared to have dashed the kettle aside, as +if seeking to quench the fire and smoke. Tige was close behind him, +Watch farther back. Very stark and grim all four looked when finally +they were hauled out with a pole and hook and given a finishing shot. + +It was thought best to burn the bodies of the outlaws. The fire on the +shore was replenished with a great quantity of drift-wood, fir boughs +and other dry stuff which we gathered, and the four carcasses heaved up +on the pile. It was a calm day, but thick, dark clouds had by this time +again overspread the sky, causing the pond to look still blacker. The +blaze gained headway; and a dense column of smoke and sparks rose +straight upward to a great height. Owing to the snow and the darkening +heavens, the fire wore a very ruddy aspect, and I vividly recall how its +melancholy crackling was borne along the white shore, as we turned away +and retraced our steps homeward. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +A HEARTFELT THANKSGIVING AND A MERRY YOUNG MUSE THAT VISITED US +UNINVITED + + +Thanksgiving was always a holiday at the old farm. Gram and the girls +made extensive preparations for it and intended to have a fine dinner. +Besides the turkey and chickens there were "spareribs" and great +frying-panfuls of fresh pork which, at this cold season of the year, was +greatly relished by us. On this present Thanksgiving-day, two of Gram's +nephews and their wives were expected to visit us, as also several +cousins of whom I had heard but vaguely. + +It chanced, too, that on this occasion we had especially good reason to +be thankful that we were alive to eat a Thanksgiving dinner of any kind, +as I will attempt to relate. Up to the day before Thanksgiving the +weather, with the exception of two light snow storms, had been bright +and pleasant, and the snow had speedily gone off. On that day there came +a change. The Indian-summer mildness disappeared. The air was very +still, but a cold, dull-gray haze mounted into the sky and deepened and +darkened. All warmth went out from beneath it. There was a kind of +stone-cold chill in the air which made us shiver. + +"Boys, there's a 'snow bank' rising," the Old Squire remarked at dinner. +"The ground will close for the winter. Glad we put those boughs round +the house yesterday and banked up the out-buildings." + +The sky continued to darken as the vast, dim pall of leaden-gray cloud +overspread it, and cold, raw gusts of wind began to sigh ominously from +the northeast. Gramp at length came out where we were wheeling in the +last of the stove-wood. "Have you seen the sheep to-day?" he asked +Addison. "There is a heavy snow storm coming on. The flock must be +driven to the barn." + +None of us had seen the sheep for several days; the flock had been +ranging about; and Halse ran over to the Edwardses to learn whether they +were there, but immediately returned, with Thomas who told us that he +had seen our sheep in the upper pasture, early that morning, and theirs +with them. + +Immediately then we four boys rigged up in our thickest old coats and +mittens, and set off--with salt dish--to get the sheep home. The storm +had already obscured the distant mountains to eastward when we started; +and never have I seen Mt. Washington and the whole Presidential Range so +blackly silhouetted against the westerly sky as on that afternoon, from +the uplands of the sheep pasture. + +The pasture was a large one, containing nearly a hundred acres, and was +partially covered by low copses of fir. Seeing nothing of the sheep +there, we followed the fences around, then looked in several openings +which, like bays, or fiords, extended up into the southerly border of +the "great woods." And all the while Tom, who was bred on a farm and +habituated to the local dialect concerning sheep, was calling, "Co'day, +co'day, co'nanny, co'nan." But no answering ba-a-a was heard. + +"They are not here," Addison exclaimed at length. "The whole flock has +gone off somewheres." + +"Most likely to 'Dunham's open,'" said Tom, "and that's two miles; but I +know the way. Come on. We've got to get them." + +We set off at a run, following Thomas along a trail through the forest +across the upper valley of the Robbins Brook, but had not gone more than +a mile when the storm came on, not large snowflakes, but thick and +fine, driven by wind. It came with a sudden darkening of the woods and +a strange deep sound, not the roar of a shower, but like a vast +elemental sigh from all the surrounding hills and mountains. The wind +rumbled in the high, bare tree-tops and the icy pellets sifted down +through the bare branches and rattled inclemently on the great beds of +dry leaves. + +"Shall we go back?" exclaimed Halse. + +"No, no; come on!" Thomas exclaimed. "We've got to get those sheep in +to-night." + +We ran on; but the forest grew dim and obscure. "I think we have gone +wrong," Addison said. "I 'most think we have," Thomas admitted. "I ought +to have taken that other path, away back there." He turned and ran back, +and we followed to where another forest path branched easterly; and +here, making a fresh start, we hastened on again for fifteen or twenty +minutes. + +"Oughtn't we to be pretty near Dunham's open?" demanded Addison. + +"Oh, I guess we will come to it," replied Tom. "It is quite a good bit +to go." + +Thereupon we ran on again for some time, and crossed two brooks. By this +time the storm had grown so blindingly thick that we could see but a few +yards in any direction. Still we ran on; but not long after, we came +suddenly on the brink of a deep gorge which opened out to the left on a +wide, white, frozen pond. Below us a large brook was plunging down the +"apron" of a log dam. + +Thomas now pulled up short, in bewilderment. Addison laughed. "Do you +know where you are?" said he. "Tom, that is Stoss Pond and Stoss Pond +stream. There's the log dam and the old camp where Adger's gang cut +spruce last winter. I know it by those three tall pine stubs over +yonder." + +Tom looked utterly confused. "Then we are five miles from home," he +said, at length. + +"We had better go back, too, as quick as we can!" Halse exclaimed, +shivering. "It's growing dark! The ground is covered with snow, now!" + +Addison glanced around in the stormy gloom and shook his head. "Tom," +said he, "I don't believe we can find our way back. In fifteen minutes +more we couldn't see anything in the woods. We had better get inside +that camp and build a fire in the old cook-stove." + +"I don't know but that we had," Tom assented. "It's an awful night. Only +hear the wind howl in the woods!" + +We scrambled down the steep side of the gorge to the log camp, found the +old door ajar and pushed in out of the storm. There was a strange smell +inside, a kind of animal odor. By good fortune Addison had a few matches +in the pocket of the old coat which he had worn, when we went on the +camping-trip to the "old slave's farm." He struck one and we found some +dry stuff and kindled a fire in the rusted stove. There were several +logger's axes in the camp; and Tom cut up a dry log for fuel; we then +sat around the stove and warmed ourselves. + +"I expect that the folks will worry about us," Thomas said soberly. + +"Well, it cannot be helped," replied Addison. + +"But we haven't a morsel to eat here," said Halse. "I'm awfully hungry, +too." + +Thereupon Tom jumped up and began rummaging, looking in two pork +barrels, a flour barrel and several boxes. "Not a scrap of meat and no +flour," he exclaimed. "But here are a few quarts of white beans in the +bottom of this flour barrel; and we have got the sheep salt. What say to +boiling some beans? Here's an old kettle." + +"Let's do it!" cried Halse. + +A kettle of beans was put on and the fire kept up, as we sat around, for +two or three hours. Meantime the storm outside was getting worse. Fine +snow was sifting into the old camp at all the cracks and crevices. The +cold, too, was increasing; the roaring of the forest was at times +awe-inspiring. On peeping out at the door, nothing could be discerned; +snow like a dense white powder filled the air. Already a foot of snow +had banked against the door; the one little window was whitened. +Occasionally, above the roar in the tree-tops, could be heard a distant, +muffled crash, and Tom would exclaim, "There went a tree!" + +We got our beans boiled passably soft, after awhile, and being very +hungry were able to eat a part of them, well salted. Boiled beans can be +eaten, but they can never rank as a table luxury. + +While chewing our beans, toward the end of the repast, an odd sound +began to be heard, as of some animal digging at the door, also +snuffling, whimpering sounds. We listened for some moments. + +"Boys, you don't suppose that's Tyro, do you?" cried Tom at length. +"I'll bet it is! He has taken my track and followed us away up +here!"--and jumping up, Tom ran to the door. "Tyro" was a small dog +owned at the Edwards homestead. + +When, however, he opened the door a little, there crept in, whimpering, +not Tyro, but a small, dark-colored animal, which the faint light given +out from the stove scarcely enabled us to identify. The creature ran +behind the barrels; and Tom clapped the door to. Addison lighted a +splinter and we tried to see what it was; but it had run under the long +bunk where the loggers once slept. After a flurry, we drove it out in +sight again, when Tom shouted that it was a little "beezling" of a bear! + +"Yes, sir-ee, that's a little runt of a bear cub," he cried. "He's been +in this old camp before. That's what made it smell so when we came in." + +Addison imagined that this cub had run out when he heard us coming to +the camp, but that the severity of the storm had driven it back to +shelter. It was truly a poor little titman of a bear. At length we +caught it and shut it under a barrel, placing a stone on the top head. + +[Illustration: THE BEEZLING BEAR.] + +After our efforts cooking beans and the fracas with the "beezling bear," +it must have been eleven o'clock or past, before we lay down in the +bunk. The wind was still roaring fearfully, and the fine snow sifting +down through the roof on our faces. In fact, the gale increased till +past midnight. Addison said that he would sit by the stove and keep +fire. Tom, Halse and I lay as snug as we could in the bunk, with our +feet to the stove and presently fell asleep. + +But soon a loud _crack_ waked us, so harsh, so thrilling, that we +started up. Addison had sprung to his feet with an exclamation of alarm. +One of those great pine tree-stubs up the bank-side, above the camp, had +broken short off in the gale. In falling, it swept down a large fir tree +with it. Next instant they both struck with so tremendous a crash, one +on each side of the camp, that the very earth trembled beneath the +shock! The stove funnel came rattling down. We had to replace it as best +we could. + +It was not till daylight, however, that we fully realized how narrowly +we had escaped death. A great tree trunk had fallen on each side of the +camp, so near as to brush the eaves of the low roof. Dry stubs of +branches were driven deep into the frozen earth. Either trunk would have +crushed the old camp like an eggshell! The pine stub was splintered and +split by its fall. There was barely the width of the camp between the +two trunks, as they lay there prone and grim, in the drifted snow. + +The gale slackened shortly after sunrise and the storm cleared in part; +although snow still spit spitefully till as late as ten o'clock. + +"What a Thanksgiving-day!" grumbled Halse. + +After a time we started for home, leaving the little bear shut up. As +much as two feet of snow had fallen on a level and the drifts in the +hollows were much deeper. It was my first experience of the great snow +storms of Maine; my legs soon ached with wallowing, and my feet were +distressingly cold. + +Our homeward progress was slow; none the less, Tom and Addison decided +to go to Dunham's open, which was nearly a mile off our direct course, +to look for the sheep. Now that it was light, they knew the way. Halse +refused to go; and as my legs ached badly, he and I remained under a +large fir tree beside the path, the fan-shaped branches of which, like +all the other evergreens, were encrusted and loaded down by a white +canopy. + +Addison and Thomas set off and were gone for more than an hour, but had +a large story to tell when they rejoined us. Not only had they found the +flock, snowbound, in Dunham's open, but had seen two deer which had +joined the sheep during the storm. The whole flock was in a copse of +firs, in the lee of the woods; and two loup-cerviers were sneaking about +near by. Thomas declared that their tracks were as large as his hand; +and Addison said that they had trodden a path in a semicircle around the +flock. + +We resumed our wallowing way home, but erelong heard a distant shout. +Addison replied and immediately we saw two men a long way off in the +sheep pasture, advancing to meet us. + +"I expect that one of them is my good dad," Thomas remarked dryly. "If I +know my mother, she has been worrying about this cub of hers all night." + +It proved to be farmer Edwards, as Tom had surmised, and with him the +Old Squire, himself. + +"Well, well, well, boys, where have you been all night?" was their first +salutation to us. + +Addison gave a brief account of our adventure; we then proceeded +homeward together, and were in time for Gram's Thanksgiving dinner at +three o'clock, for which it is needless to say that we brought large +appetites. But I recall that the pleasures of the table for me were +somewhat marred by my feet which continued to ache and burn painfully +for two or three hours. + +There was a snowdrift six feet in depth before the farmhouse piazza. The +drifts indeed had so changed the appearance of things around the house +and yard that everything looked quite strange to me. + +None of the guests, whom we had expected to dinner, came, on account of +the storm; but a rumor of our adventure at the logging-camp had spread +through the neighborhood; and at night, after the road had been "broken" +with oxen, sled and harrow, Ned Wilbur and his sisters, the Murch boys, +and also Tom and Catherine, called to pass the evening. + +Perhaps the snow storm with its bewildering whiteness had turned our +heads a little. That, or something else, started us off, making rhymes. +After great efforts, amidst much laughter and profound knitting of +brows, we produced what, in the innocence of youth, we called a +poem!--an epic, on our adventure. I still preserve the old scrawl of it, +in several different youthful hands, on crumpled sheets of yellowed +paper. It has little value as poesy, but I would not part with it for +autograph copies of the masterpieces of Kipling, or Aldrich. + +It must have been akin to snow-madness, for I remember that Thomas who +never attempted a line of poetry before, nor since, led off with the +following stanzas:-- + + "Four boys went off to look for sheep, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + And the trouble they had would make you weep, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + + "They searched the pasture high and low, + Then to Dunham's Open they tried to go. + But the sky was dark and the wind did blow + And the woods was dim with whirling snow. + + "They lost their way and got turned round, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny co'nan. + It's a wonder now they ever were found. + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + + "The storm howled round them wild and drear. + Stoss Pond did then by chance appear. + They all declared 'twas 'mazing queer. + 'We're lost,' said Captain Ad, 'I fear.'" + +Then either Kate or Ellen put forth a fifth and sixth stanza:-- + + "But Halse espied an old log camp, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + And into it they all did tramp, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + + "'Here's beans,' said Tom. 'Here's salt,' said Ad. + 'Boiled beans don't go so very bad, + When nothing else is to be had. + Let's eat our beans and not be sad.'" + +I cannot say, certainly, who was responsible for these next stanzas, but +the handwriting is a little like my own at that age. + + "They ate their beans and sang a song, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + And wished the night was not so long, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + + "Said Ad, 'What makes that whining noise?' + 'By jinks!' cried Tom, 'That's Tyro, boys!' + But when he looked, without a care, + In crawled a little beezling bear!" + +There is a great deal more, not less than twenty stanzas; but a few will +suffice. Besides, too, I shrink from presenting the more faulty ones. To +strangers they will be merely the immature efforts of nameless young +folks; but for me a halo of memories glorifies each halting versicle. +The one where the tree fell runs as follows. It was Addison's; and in +his now distant home, he will anathematize me for exposing his youthful +bad grammar. + + "But the night grew wild and wilder still, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + The forest roared like an old grist-mill, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + + "At last there came a fearful crack! + A big pine tree had broke its back. + Down it fell, with a frightful smack! + And missed the camp by just a snack!" + +Theodora alone made a stanza or two more in keeping with that finer +sentiment which the occasion might have inspired in us. + + "And we who sat and watched at home, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan; + And wondered why they did not come, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + What dread was ours through that long night, + That they had perished was our fear, + Scarce could we check the anxious tear, + Nor slept at all till morning light. + + "But safe from storm and falling tree, + Co'day, co'day, co'nanny, co'nan. + Their faces dear again we see, + Co'day, co'day co'nanny, co'nan. + They slept mid perils all unseen, + Some Guardian Hand protecting well; + E'en though the mighty tree trunks fell, + The little camp stood safe between." + +After dinner, Mr. Edwards with Asa Doane went after the sheep, and by +tramping a path in advance of the flock, drove them home to the barns. + +Next day Asa and Halse took a bushel basket, with a bran sack to tie +over it, and went to Adger's camp, to liberate and fetch home the little +"beezling bear," but found that bruin junior had upset the barrel and +made his escape. + +THE END OF BOOK FIRST. + + + + +---------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note | + | | + | Page 191 murk changed to Murch | + | Page 344 defence changed to defense | + | Page 405 offences changed to offenses | + +---------------------------------------+ + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of When Life Was Young, by C. 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