Beautiful Joe [103]
him to be brought up so that he will love country life. How are
we going to manage it?'
"Your uncle looked at me with a sly twinkle in his eye, and said I was a pretty
fair specimen of a country girl, suppose we brought up Harry the way I'd been
brought up. I knew he was only joking, yet I got quite excited. 'Yes,' I said,
'Do as my father and mother did. Have a farm about twice as large as you can
manage. Don't keep a hired man. Get up at daylight and slave till dark. Never
take a holiday. Have the girls do the housework, and take care of the hens, and
help pick the fruit, and make the boys tend the colts and the calves, and put
all the money they make in the bank. Don't take any papers, or they would waste
their time reading them, and it's too far to go the postoffice oftener than once
a week; and' but I don't remember the rest of what I said. Anyway, your uncle
burst into a roar of laughter. 'Hattie,' he said, 'my farm's too big. I'm going
to sell some of it, and enjoy myself a little more.' That very week he sold
fifty acres, and he hired an extra man, and got me a good girl, and twice a week
he left his work in the afternoon and took me for a drive. Harry held the reins
in his tiny fingers, and John told him that Dolly, the old mare we were driving,
should be called his, and the very next horse he bought should be called his
too, and he should name it and have it for his own; and he would give him five
sheep, and he should have his own bank book and keep his accounts; and Harry
understood, mere baby though he was, and from that day he loved John as his own
father. If my father had had the wisdom that John has, his boys wouldn't be the
one a poor lawyer and the other a poor doctor in two different cities; and our
farm wouldn't be in the hands of strangers. It makes me sick to go there. I
think of my poor mother lying with her red hands crossed out in the churchyard,
and the boys so far away, and my father always hurrying and driving us I can
tell you, Laura, the thing cuts both ways. It isn't all the fault of the boys
that they leave the country."
Mrs. Wood was silent for a little while after she made this long speech, and
Miss Laura said nothing. I took a turn or two up and down the stable, thinking
of many things. No matter how happy human beings seem to be, they always have
something to worry them. I was sorry for Mrs. Wood for her face had lost the
happy look it usually wore. However, she soon forgot her trouble, and said:
"Now, I must go and get the tea. This is Adele's afternoon out."
"I'll come, too," said Miss Laura, "for I promised her I'd make the biscuits for
tea this evening and let you rest." They both sauntered slowly down the plank
walk to the house, and I followed them.
CHAPTER XXXII OUR RETURN HOME
IN October, the most beautiful of all the months, we were obliged to go back to
Fairport. Miss Laura could not bear to leave the farm, and her face got very
sorrowful when any one spoke of her going away. Still, she had gotten well and
strong, and was as brown as a berry, and she said that she knew she ought to go
home, and get back to her lessons.
Mr. Wood called October the golden month. Everything was quiet and still, and at
night and in the morning the sun had a yellow, misty look. The trees in the
orchard were loaded with fruit, and some of the leaves were floating down,
making a soft covering on the ground.
In the garden there were a great many flowers in bloom, in flaming red and
yellow colors. Miss Laura gathered bunches of them every day to put in the
parlor. One day when she was arranging them, she said, regretfully, "They will
soon be gone. I wish it could always be summer."
"You would get tired of it," said Mr. Harry, who had come up softly behind her.
"There's only one place where we could stand perpetual summer, and that's in
heaven."
"Do you suppose that it will always be summer there?" said Miss Laura, turning
around, and looking at him.
"I don't know. I imagine it will
we going to manage it?'
"Your uncle looked at me with a sly twinkle in his eye, and said I was a pretty
fair specimen of a country girl, suppose we brought up Harry the way I'd been
brought up. I knew he was only joking, yet I got quite excited. 'Yes,' I said,
'Do as my father and mother did. Have a farm about twice as large as you can
manage. Don't keep a hired man. Get up at daylight and slave till dark. Never
take a holiday. Have the girls do the housework, and take care of the hens, and
help pick the fruit, and make the boys tend the colts and the calves, and put
all the money they make in the bank. Don't take any papers, or they would waste
their time reading them, and it's too far to go the postoffice oftener than once
a week; and' but I don't remember the rest of what I said. Anyway, your uncle
burst into a roar of laughter. 'Hattie,' he said, 'my farm's too big. I'm going
to sell some of it, and enjoy myself a little more.' That very week he sold
fifty acres, and he hired an extra man, and got me a good girl, and twice a week
he left his work in the afternoon and took me for a drive. Harry held the reins
in his tiny fingers, and John told him that Dolly, the old mare we were driving,
should be called his, and the very next horse he bought should be called his
too, and he should name it and have it for his own; and he would give him five
sheep, and he should have his own bank book and keep his accounts; and Harry
understood, mere baby though he was, and from that day he loved John as his own
father. If my father had had the wisdom that John has, his boys wouldn't be the
one a poor lawyer and the other a poor doctor in two different cities; and our
farm wouldn't be in the hands of strangers. It makes me sick to go there. I
think of my poor mother lying with her red hands crossed out in the churchyard,
and the boys so far away, and my father always hurrying and driving us I can
tell you, Laura, the thing cuts both ways. It isn't all the fault of the boys
that they leave the country."
Mrs. Wood was silent for a little while after she made this long speech, and
Miss Laura said nothing. I took a turn or two up and down the stable, thinking
of many things. No matter how happy human beings seem to be, they always have
something to worry them. I was sorry for Mrs. Wood for her face had lost the
happy look it usually wore. However, she soon forgot her trouble, and said:
"Now, I must go and get the tea. This is Adele's afternoon out."
"I'll come, too," said Miss Laura, "for I promised her I'd make the biscuits for
tea this evening and let you rest." They both sauntered slowly down the plank
walk to the house, and I followed them.
CHAPTER XXXII OUR RETURN HOME
IN October, the most beautiful of all the months, we were obliged to go back to
Fairport. Miss Laura could not bear to leave the farm, and her face got very
sorrowful when any one spoke of her going away. Still, she had gotten well and
strong, and was as brown as a berry, and she said that she knew she ought to go
home, and get back to her lessons.
Mr. Wood called October the golden month. Everything was quiet and still, and at
night and in the morning the sun had a yellow, misty look. The trees in the
orchard were loaded with fruit, and some of the leaves were floating down,
making a soft covering on the ground.
In the garden there were a great many flowers in bloom, in flaming red and
yellow colors. Miss Laura gathered bunches of them every day to put in the
parlor. One day when she was arranging them, she said, regretfully, "They will
soon be gone. I wish it could always be summer."
"You would get tired of it," said Mr. Harry, who had come up softly behind her.
"There's only one place where we could stand perpetual summer, and that's in
heaven."
"Do you suppose that it will always be summer there?" said Miss Laura, turning
around, and looking at him.
"I don't know. I imagine it will