Driven Back to Eden 
 
 B 
 
 E. P. ROE 
 
 Author of "Carriers TZurned 
 "Opening of a Chestnut Burr," etc. 
 
 New York 
 
 International Association of Newspapers and Authors 
 1901 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1885, 
 
 Bv DODD, MEAD, & COMPANY. 
 
 George M. Hill Company 
 
 Printers and Binders 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
PS 
 
 21X1 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 TV /TONTHS since, with much doubt and diffidence, 
 -L*-l- I began this simple history. I had never 
 before written expressly for young people, and I knew 
 that the honest little critics could not be beguiled 
 with words which did not tell an interesting story. 
 How far I have succeeded, the readers of this vol 
 ume, and of the " St. Nicholas " magazine, wherein 
 the tale appeared as a serial, alone can answer. 
 
 I have portrayed no actual experience, but have 
 sought to present one which might be verified in 
 real life. I have tried to avoid all that would be 
 impossible or even improDaDie. The labors per 
 formed by the children in the story were not un 
 known to my own hands, in childhood, nor would 
 they form tasks too severe for many little hands 
 now idle in cities. 
 
 The characters are all imaginary ; the scenes, in 
 the main, are real : and I would gladly lure other 
 families from tenement flats into green pastures. 
 
 E. P. R. 
 
 GOUNWALLrON-HUDSON, AUG. I O, 1885. 
 
 M12483O 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 A PROBLEM 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 f STATE THE CASX 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 NEW PROSPECTS 14 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 A MOMENTOUS EXPEDITION 18 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS IN A CITY FLAT .... 23 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 A BLUFF FRIEND 28 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 MR. JONES SHOWS ME THE PLACE .. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TILLING ABOUT EDEN 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 * BREAKING CAMP* . 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 A THUNDERBOLT . . 222 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 RALLYING FROM THE BLOW 227 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 AUGUST WOP.K AND PLAY 237 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 A TRIP TO THE SEA-SHORE 243 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 A VISIT TO HOUGHTON FARM 252 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 HOARDING FOR WINTER 259 
 
 CHAPTER XLIL 
 AUTUMN WORK AND SPORT ....... 266 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 THANKSGIVING DAY 284 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 WE CAN MAKE A LIVING IN EDEN . . , , 288 
 
DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A PROBLEM. 
 
 WHERE are the children ? " 
 " They can t be far away," replied my wife, 
 looking up from her preparations for supper. " Bob- 
 sey was here a moment ago. As soon as my back s 
 turned he s out and away. I haven t seen Merton 
 since he brought his books from school, and I sup 
 pose Winnie is upstairs with the Daggetts." 
 
 " I wish, my dear, you could keep the children at 
 home more," I said, a little petulantly. 
 
 " I wish you would go and find them for me now, 
 and to-morrow take my place for just one day." 
 
 "Well, well," I said, with a laugh that had no 
 mirth in it ; " only one of your wishes stands much 
 chance of being carried out. I ll find the children 
 now if I can without the aid of the police. Mousie, 
 do you feel stronger to-night ? " 
 
 These words were spoken to a pale girl of four 
 teen, who appeared to be scarcely more than twelve, 
 so diminutive was her frame. 
 
2 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "Yes, papa," she replied, a faint smile flitting like 
 a ray of light across her features. She always said 
 she was better, but never got well. Her quiet 
 ways and tones had led to the household name of 
 "Mousie." 
 
 As I was descending the narrow stairway I was 
 almost overthrown by a torrent of children pouring 
 down from the flats above. In the dim light of a 
 gas-burner I saw that Bobsey was one of the reckless 
 atoms. He had not heard my voice in the uproar, 
 and before I could reach him, he with the others had 
 burst out at the street door and gone tearing toward 
 the nearest corner. It seemed that he had slipped 
 away in order to take part in a race, and I found him 
 "squaring off" at a bigger boy who had tripped him 
 up. Without a word I carried him home, followed 
 by the jeers and laughter of the racers, the girls 
 making their presence known in the early December 
 twilight by the shrillness of their voices and by man 
 ners no gentler than those of the boys. 
 
 I put down the child he was only seven years of 
 age in the middle of our general living-room, and 
 looked at him. His little coat was split out in the 
 back ; one of his stockings, already well-darned at 
 the knees, was past remedy ; his hands were black, 
 and one was bleeding ; his whole little body was 
 throbbing from excitement, anger, and violent exer 
 cise. As I looked at him quietly the defiant expres 
 sion in his eyes began to give place to tears. 
 
 "There is no use in punishing him now," said my 
 wife. " Please leave him to me and find the others." 
 
 "I wasn t going to punish him," I said. 
 
A PROBLEM. 
 
 " What are you going- to do ? What makes you 
 look at him so ? " 
 
 "He s a problem I can t solve with the given 
 conditions." 
 
 " O Robert, you drive me half wild. If the house 
 was on fire you d stop to follow out some train of 
 thought about it all. I m tired to death. Do bring 
 the children home. When we ve 
 put them to bed you can figure 
 on your problem, and I can sit 
 down." 
 
 As I went up to the Dag- 
 getts flat I was dimly conscious 
 of another problem. My wife 
 was growing fretful and ner 
 vous. Our rooms would not 
 have satisfied a Dutch house 
 wife, but if " order is heaven s 
 first law" a little of Paradise 
 was in them as compared to the 
 Daggetts apartments. " Yes," 
 I was told, in response to my 
 inquiries ; " Winnie is in the 
 bed-room with Melissy." 
 
 The door was locked, and 
 after some hesitation the girls 
 opened it. As we were going 
 
 downstairs I caught a glimpse of a newspaper in my 
 girl s pocket. She gave it to me reluctantly, and said 
 " Melissy " had lent it to her. I told her to help her 
 mother prepare supper while I went to find Merton. 
 Opening the paper under a street-lamp I found it to 
 
 MELISSA DAGGETT. 
 
4 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN, 
 
 be a cheap, vile journal, full of the flashy pictures 
 that so often offend the eye on news-stands. With 
 a chill of fear I thought, "Another problem." The 
 Daggett children had had the scarlet fever a few 
 months before. " But here s a worse infection," I 
 reflected. " Thank heaven, Winnie is only a child 
 and can t understand these pictures;" and I tore 
 the paper up and thrust it into its proper place, the 
 gutter. 
 
 " Now," I muttered, " I ve only to find Merton 
 in mischief to make the evening s experience com 
 plete." 
 
 In mischief I did find him, a very harmful kind 
 of mischief, it appeared to me. Merton was little 
 over fifteen, and he and two or three other lads were 
 smoking cigarettes which, to judge by their odor, 
 must certainly have been made from the sweepings 
 of the manufacturer s floor. 
 
 " Can t you find anything better than that to do 
 after school ? " I asked, severely. 
 
 "Well, sir," was the sullen reply, "I d like to 
 know what there is for a boy to do in this street." 
 
 During the walk home I tried to think of an 
 answer to his implied question. What would I do 
 if I were in Merton s place ? I confess that I was 
 puzzled. After sitting in school all day he must 
 do something that the police would permit. There 
 certainly seemed very little range of action for a 
 growing boy. Should I take him out of school and 
 put him into a shop or an office ? If I did this his 
 education would be sadly limited. Moreover he was 
 tall and slender for his age, and upon his face there 
 
A PROBLEM. 5 
 
 was a pallor which I dislike to see in a boy. Long 
 hours of business would be very hard upon him, even 
 if he could endure the strain at all. The problem 
 which had been pressing on me for months almost 
 years grew urgent. 
 
 With clouded brows we sat down to our modest 
 little supper. Winifred, my wife, was hot and 
 flushed from too near acquaintance with the stove, 
 and wearied by a long day of toil in a room that 
 would be the better for a gale of wind. Bobsey, as 
 we called my little namesake, was absorbed now 
 that he was relieved from the fear of punishment 
 by the wish to "punch" the boy who had tripped 
 him up. Winnie was watching me furtively, and 
 wondering what had become of the paper, and what 
 I thought of it. Merton was somewhat sullen, and 
 a little ashamed of himself. I felt that my problem 
 was to give these children something to do that 
 would not harm them, for do something they cer 
 tainly would. They were rapidly attaining that age 
 when the shelter of a narrow city flat would not 
 answer, when the influence of a crowded house and 
 of the street might be greater than any we could 
 bring to bear upon them. 
 
 I looked around upon the little group for whom I 
 was responsible. My will was still law to them. 
 While my wife had positive little ways of her own, 
 she would agree to any decided course that I re 
 solved upon. The children were yet under entire 
 control, so that I sat at the head of the table, com- 
 mander-in-chief of the little band. We called tho 
 narrow flat we lived in "home." The idea! with the 
 
6 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN 
 
 Daggetts above and the Ricketts on the floor be 
 neath. It was not a home, and was scarcely a fit 
 camping-ground for such a family squad as ours. 
 Yet we had stayed on for years in this long, narrow 
 line of rooms, reaching from a crowded street to a 
 little back-yard full of noisy children by day, and 
 noisier cats by night. I had often thought of mov 
 ing, but had failed to find a better shelter that was 
 within my very limited means. The neighborhood 
 was respectable, so far as a densely populated region 
 can be. It was not very distant from my place of 
 business, and my work often kept me so late at the 
 office that we could not live in a suburb. The rent 
 was moderate for New York, and left me some 
 money, after food and clothing were provided, for 
 occasional little outings and pleasures, which I be 
 lieve to be needed by both body and mind. While 
 the children were little so long as they would 
 "stay put" in the cradle or on the floor we did 
 not have much trouble. Fortunately I had good 
 health, and, as my wife said, was " handy with chil 
 dren." Therefore I could help her in the care of 
 them at night, and she had kept much of her youth 
 ful bloom. Heaven had blessed us. We had met 
 with no serious misfortunes, nor had any of our 
 number been often prostrated by prolonged and 
 dangerous illness. But during the last year my wife 
 had been growing thin, and occasionally her voice 
 had a sharpness which was new. Every month 
 Bobsey became more hard to manage. Our living- 
 room was to him like a cage to a wild bird, and slip 
 away he would, to his mother s alarm ; for he was 
 
A PROBLEM. 7 
 
 almost certain to get into mischief or trouble. The 
 effort to perform her household tasks and watch 
 over him was more wearing than it had been to rock 
 him through long hours at night when he was a 
 teething baby. These details seem very homely no 
 cioubt, yet such as these largely make up our lives. 
 Comfort or discomfort, happiness or unhappiness, 
 springs from them. There is no crop in the country 
 so important as that of boys and girls. How could I 
 manage my little home-garden in a flat ? 
 
 I looked thoughtfully from one to another, as with 
 children s appetites they became absorbed in one of 
 the chief events of the day c 
 
 "Well," said my wife, querulously, "how are you 
 getting on with your problem ? " 
 
 "Take this extra bit of steak and I ll tell you after 
 the children are asleep," I said. 
 
 "I can t eat another mouthful," she exclaimed, 
 pushing back her almost untasted supper. "Broil 
 ing the steak was enough for me." 
 
 "You are quite tired out, dear," I said, very 
 gently. 
 
 Her face softened immediately at my tone, and 
 tears came into her eyes. 
 
 " I don t know what is the matter with me," she 
 faltered. " I am so nervous some days that I feel as 
 if I should fly to pieces. I do try to be patient, but 
 I know I m growing cross." 
 
 " Oh now, mamma," spoke up warm-hearted Mer- 
 ton ; " the idea of your being cross ! " 
 
 " She is cross," Bobsey cried ; "she boxed my ears 
 this very day." 
 
8 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "And you deserved it," was Merton s retort. 
 "It s a pity they are not boxed oftener." 
 
 " Yes, Robert, I did," continued my wife, sorrow 
 fully. " Bobsey ran away four times, and vexed me 
 beyond endurance, that is, such endurance as I have 
 left, which doesn t seem to be very much." 
 
 " I understand, dear," I said. " You are a part of 
 my problem, and you must help me solve it." Then 
 I changed the subject decidedly, and soon brought 
 sunshine to our clouded household. Children s minds 
 are easily diverted ; and my wife, whom a few sharp 
 words would have greatly irritated, was soothed, and 
 her curiosity awakened as to the subject of my 
 thoughts. 
 
/ STATE THE CASE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 I STATE THE CASE. 
 
 T PONDERED deeply while my wife and Winnie 
 JL cleared away the dishes and put Bobsey into his 
 little crib. I felt that the time for a decided change 
 had come, and that it should be made before the 
 evils of our lot brought sharp and real trouble. 
 
 How should I care for my household ? If I had 
 been living on a far frontier among hostile Indians 
 I should have known better how to protect them. I 
 could build a house of heavy logs and keep my wife 
 and children always near me while at work. But it 
 seemed to me that Melissa Daggett and her kin with 
 their flashy papers, and the influence of the street for 
 Merton and Bobsey, involved more danger to my 
 little band than all the scalping Modocs that ever 
 whooped. The children could not step outside the 
 door without danger of meeting some one who would 
 do them harm. It is the curse of crowded city life 
 that there is so little of a natural and attractive sort 
 for a child to do, and so much of evil close at hand. 
 
 My wife asked me humorously for the news. She 
 saw that I was not reading my paper, and my frown 
 ing brow and firm lips proved that my problem was 
 
IO DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 not of a trifling nature. She suspected nothing more, 
 however, than that I was thinking of taking rooms 
 in some better locality, and she was wondering how 
 I could do it, for she knew that my income now left 
 but a small surplus above expenses. 
 
 At last Winnie too was ready to go to bed, and I 
 said to her, gravely : " Here is money to pay Melissa 
 for that paper. It was only fit for the gutter, and 
 into the gutter I put it. I wish you to promise me 
 never to look at such pictures again, or you can never 
 hope to grow up to be a lady like mamma." 
 
 The child flushed deeply, and went tearful and 
 penitent to bed. Mousie also retired with a wistful 
 look upon her face, for she saw that something of 
 grave importance occupied my mind. 
 
 No matter how tired my wife might be, she was 
 never satisfied to sit down until the room had been 
 put in order, a green cloth spread upon the supper- 
 table and the student-lamp placed in its centre. 
 
 Merton brought his school-books, my wife took up 
 her mending, and we three sat down within the cir 
 cle of light. 
 
 "Don t do any more work to-night," I said, look 
 ing into my wife s face, and noting for a few moments 
 that it was losing its rounded lines. 
 
 Her hands dropped wearily into her lap, and she 
 began, gratefully : " I m glad you speak so kindly to 
 night, Robert, for I am so nervous and out of sorts 
 that I couldn t have stood one bit of fault-finding, 
 I should have said things, and then have been sorry 
 all day to-morrow. Dear knows, each day brings 
 enough without carrying anything over. Come, 
 
/ STA TE THE CASE. 1 1 
 
 read the paper to me, or tell me what you have been 
 thinking about so deeply, if you don t mind Merton s 
 hearing you. I wish to forget myself, and work, and 
 everything that worries me, for a little while." 
 
 " I ll read the paper first, and then, after Merton 
 has learned his lessons, I will tell you my thoughts 
 my purpose, I may almost say. Merton shall know 
 about it soon, for he is becoming old enough to under 
 stand the why of things. I hope, my boy, that 
 your teacher lays a good deal of stress on the why in 
 all your studies." 
 
 "Oh, yes, after a fashion." 
 
 "Well, so far as I am your teacher, Merton, I wish 
 you always to think why you should do a thing or 
 why you shouldn t, and to try not to be satisfied with 
 any reason but a good one." 
 
 Then I gleaned from the paper such items as I 
 thought would interest my wife. At last we were 
 alone, with no sound in the room but the low roar 
 of the city, a roar so deep as to make one think that 
 the tides of life were breaking waves. 
 
 I was doing some figuring in a note-book when my 
 wife asked : " Robert, what is your problem to-night ? 
 And what part have I in it ? " 
 
 " So important a part that I couldn t solve it with 
 out you," I replied, smiling at her. 
 
 "Oh, come now," she said, laughing slightly for 
 the first time in the evening ; " you always begin to 
 flatter a little when you want to carry a point." 
 
 "Well, then, you are on your guard against my 
 wiles. But believe me, Winifred, the problem on 
 my mind is not like one of my ordinary brown 
 
12 DRIVEN BACK TO ED EAT. 
 
 studies ; in those I often try to get back to the 
 wherefore of things which people usually accept and 
 don t bother about. The question I am considering 
 comes right home to us, and we must meet it. I have 
 felt for some time that we could not put off action 
 much longer, and to-night I am convinced of it." 
 
 Then I told her how I had found three of the chil 
 dren engaged that evening, concluding : " The cir 
 cumstances of their lot are more to blame than they 
 themselves. And why should I find fault with you 
 because you are nervous ? You could no more help 
 being nervous and a little impatient than you could 
 prevent the heat of the lamp from burning you, 
 should you place your finger over it. I know the 
 cause of it all. As for Mousie, she is growing paler 
 and thinner every day. You know what my income 
 is ; we could not change things much for the better 
 by taking other rooms and moving to another part 
 of the city, and we might find that we had changed 
 for the worse. I propose that we go to the country 
 and get our living out of the soil." 
 
 " Why, Robert ! what do you know about farming 
 or gardening?" 
 
 "Not very much, but I am not yet too old to 
 learn, and there would be something for the children 
 to do at once, pure air for them to breathe, and 
 space for them to grow healthfully in body, mind, 
 and soul. You know I have but little money laid 
 by, and am not one of those smart men who can 
 push their way. I don t know much besides book 
 keeping, and my employers think I am not remark 
 ably quick at that. I can t seem !o acquire the 
 
/ STATE THE CASE. 13 
 
 lightning speed with which things are done nowa 
 days ; and while I try to make up by long hours and 
 honesty, I don t believe I could ever earn much 
 more than I am getting now, and you know it doesn t 
 leave much of a margin for sickness or misfortune of 
 any kind. After all, what does my salary give us 
 but food and clothing and shelter, such as it is, with 
 a little to spare in some years ? It sends a cold chill 
 to my heart to think what would become of you and 
 the children if I should be sick or anything should 
 happen to me. Still, it is the present welfare of the 
 children that weighs most on my mind, Winifred. 
 They are no longer little things that you can keep 
 in these rooms and watch over ; there is danger for 
 them just outside that door. It wouldn t be so if 
 beyond the door lay a garden and fields and woods. 
 You, my overtaxed wife, wouldn t worry about them 
 the moment they were out of sight, and my work, 
 instead of being away from them all day, could be 
 with them. All could do something, even down to 
 pale Mousie and little Bobsey. Outdoor life and 
 pure air, instead of that breathed over and over, 
 would bring quiet to your nerves and the roses back 
 to your cheeks. The children would grow sturdy 
 and strong ; much of their work would be like play 
 to them ; they wouldn t be always in contact with 
 other children that we know nothing about. I am 
 aware that the country isn t Eden, as we have im 
 agined it, for I lived there as a boy, but it 
 seems like Eden compared to this place and its sur 
 roundings ; and I feel as if I were being driven back 
 to it by circumstances I can t control. 11 
 
DRIVEN BACK TO & 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 NEW PROSPECTS. 
 
 r I " HERE is no need of dwelling further on the 
 -L reasons for and against the step we proposed. 
 We thought a great deal and talked it over several 
 times. Finally my wife agreed that the change 
 would be wise and best for all. Then the children 
 were taken into our confidence, and they became 
 more delighted every day as the prospect grew 
 clearer to them. 
 
 " We ll all be good soon, won t we?" said my 
 youngest, who had a rather vivid sense of his own 
 shortcomings, and kept them in the minds of others 
 as well. 
 
 "Why so, Bobsey?" 
 
 " Cause mamma says God put the first people in a 
 garden and they was very good, better n any folks 
 afterwards. God oughter know the best place for 
 people." 
 
 Thus Bobsey gave a kind of divine sanction to 
 our project. Of course we had not taken so impor 
 tant a step without asking the Great Father of all to 
 guide us ; for we felt that in the mystery of life we 
 too were but little children who knew not what 
 
NEW PROSPECTS. 15 
 
 should be on the morrow, or how best to provide for 
 it with any certainty. To our sanguine minds there 
 was in Bobsey s words a hint of something more 
 than permission to go up out of Egypt. 
 
 So it was settled that we should leave our narrow- 
 suite of rooms, the Daggetts and Ricketts, and go to 
 the country. To me naturally fell the task of find 
 ing the land flowing with milk and honey to which 
 we should journey in the spring. Meantime we 
 were already emigrants at heart, full of the bustle 
 and excitement of mental preparation. 
 
 I prided myself somewhat on my knowledge of 
 human nature, which, in regard to children, con 
 formed to comparatively simple laws. I knew that 
 the change would involve plenty of hard work, self- 
 denial, and careful managing, which nothing could 
 redeem from prose ; but I aimed to add to our 
 exodus, so far as possible, the elements of adventure 
 and mystery so dear to the hearts of children. The 
 question where we should go was the cause of much 
 discussion, the studying of maps, and the learning of 
 not a little geography. 
 
 Merton s counsel was that we should seek a region 
 abounding in Indians, bears, and "such big game." 
 His advice made clear the nature of some of his 
 recent reading. He proved, however, that he was 
 not wanting in sense by his readiness to give up 
 these attractive features in the choice of locality. 
 
 Mousie s soft black eyes always lighted up at the 
 prospect of a flower-garden that should be as big as 
 our sitting-room. Even in our city apartments, poi 
 soned by gas and devoid of sunlight, she usually 
 
NEW PROSPECTS. \J 
 
 managed to keep a little house-plant in bloom, and 
 the thought of placing seeds in the open ground, 
 where, as she said, " the roots could go down to China 
 if they wanted to," brought the first color I had seen 
 in her face for many a day. 
 
 Winnie was our strongest child, and also the one 
 who gave me the most anxiety. Impulsive, warm 
 hearted, restless, she always made me think of an 
 overfull fountain. Her alert black eyes were as 
 eager to see as was her inquisitive mind to pry into 
 everything. She was sturdily built for a girl, and 
 one of the severest punishments we could inflict was 
 to place her in a chair and tell her not to move for 
 an hour. We were beginning to learn that we could 
 no more keep her in our sitting-room than we could 
 restrain a mountain brook that foams into a rocky 
 basin only to foam out again. Melissa Daggett was 
 of a very different type, I could never see her with 
 out the word " sly " coming into my mind, and her 
 small mysteries awakened Winnie s curiosity. Now 
 that the latter was promised chickens, and rambles 
 in the woods, Melissa and her secrets became insig 
 nificant, and a ready promise to keep aloof from her 
 was given. 
 
 As for Bobsey, he should have a pig which he 
 could name and call his own, and for which he might 
 pull weeds and pick up apples. We soon found that 
 he was communing with that phantom pig in his 
 dreams. 
 
IS DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A MOMENTOUS EXPEDITION. 
 
 BY the time Christmas week began we all had 
 agreed to do without candy, toys, and knick- 
 knacks, and to buy books that would tell us how to 
 live in the country. One happy evening we had an 
 early supper and all went to a well-known agricul 
 tural store and publishing-house on Broadway, each 
 child almost awed by the fact that I had fifteen dol 
 lars in my pocket which should be spent that very 
 night in the purchase of books and papers. To the 
 children the shop seemed like a place where tickets 
 direct to Eden were obtained, while the colored pic 
 tures of fruits and vegetables could portray the prod 
 ucts of Eden only, so different were they in size and 
 beauty from the specimens appearing in our market 
 stalls. Stuffed birds and animals were also on the 
 shelves, and no epicure ever enjoyed the gamy flavor 
 as we did. But when we came to examine the books, 
 their plates exhibiting almost every phase of country 
 work and production, we felt that a long vista lead 
 ing toward our unknown home was opening before 
 us, illumined by alluring pictures. To Winnie was 
 given a book on poultry, and the cuts representing 
 
2O DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 the various birds were even more to her taste than 
 cuts from the fowls themselves at a Christmas 
 dinner. The Nimrod instincts of the race were 
 awakened in Merton, and I soon found that he had 
 set his heart on a book that gave an account of game, 
 fish, birds, and mammals. It was a natural and whole 
 some longing. I myself had felt it keenly when a 
 boy. Such country sport would bring sturdiness to 
 his limbs and the right kind of color into his face. 
 
 "All right, Merton," I said: "you shall have the 
 book and a breech-loading shot-gun also. As for 
 fishing-tackle, you can get along with a pole cut from 
 the woods until you have earned money enough your 
 self to buy what you need." 
 
 The boy was almost overwhelmed. He came to 
 me, and took my hand in both his own. 
 
 " O papa," he faltered, and his eyes were moist, 
 " did you say a gun ? " 
 
 " Yes, a breech-loading shot-gun on one condition, 
 that you ll not smoke till after you are twenty-one 
 A growing boy can t smoke in safety." 
 
 He gave my hand a quick, strong pressure, and 
 was immediately at the farther end of the store, 
 blowing his nose suspiciously. I chuckled to myself : 
 "I want no better promise. A gun will cure him 
 of cigarettes better than a tract would." 
 
 Mousie was quiet, as usual ; but there was again a 
 faint color in her cheeks, a soft lustre in her eyes. 
 I kept near my invalid child most of the time, for 
 fear that she would go beyond her strength. I made 
 her sit by a table, and brought the books that would 
 interest her most. Her sweet, thin face was a study, 
 
A MOMENTOUS EXPEDITION". 21 
 
 and I felt that she was already enjoying the healing 
 caresses of Mother Nature. When we started home 
 ward she carried a book about flowers next to her 
 heart. 
 
 Bobsey taxed his mother s patience and agility, for 
 he seemed all over the store at the same moment, 
 and wanted everything in it, being sure that fifteen 
 dollars would buy all and leave a handsome margin ; 
 but at last he was content with a book illustrated 
 from beginning to end with pigs. 
 
 What pleased me most was to see how my wife 
 enjoyed our little outing. Wrapped up in the chil 
 dren, she reflected their joy in her face, and looked 
 almost girlish in her happiness. I whispered in her 
 ear, "your present shall be the home itself, for I 
 shall have the deed made out in your name, and 
 then you can turn me out-of-doors as often as you 
 please." 
 
 " Which will be every pleasant day after break 
 fast," she said, laughing. " You know you are very 
 safe in giving things to me." 
 
 "Yes, Winifred," I replied, pressing her hand on 
 the sly ; " I have been finding that out ever since I 
 gave myself to you." 
 
 I bought Hendei son s "Gardening for Profit " and 
 some other practical books. I also subscribed for a 
 journal devoted to rural interests and giving simple 
 directions for the work of each month. At last we 
 returned. Never did a jollier little procession march 
 up Broadway. People were going to the opera and 
 evening companies, and carriages rolled by filled 
 with elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen ; but 
 
22 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 my wife remarked, " None of those people are so 
 happy as we are, trudging in this roundabout way 
 to our country home." 
 
 Her words suggested our course of action during 
 the months which must intervene before it would be 
 safe or wise for us to leave the city. Our thoughts, 
 words, and actions were all a roundabout means to 
 our cherished end, and yet the most direct way that 
 we could take under the circumstances. Field and 
 garden were covered with snow, the ground was 
 granite-like from frost, and winter s cold breath 
 chilled our impatience to be gone ; but so far as 
 possible we lived in a country atmosphere, and 
 amused ourselves by trying to conform to country 
 ways m a city flat. Even Winnie declared she 
 heard the cocks crowing at dawn, while Bobsey had 
 a different kind of grunt or squeal for every pig in 
 his book, 
 
4. COUNTRY CHRISTMAS IN A CITY FLAT. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS IN A CITY FLAT. 
 
 ON Christmas morning we all brought out our 
 purchases and arranged them on a table. Mer- 
 ton was almost wild when he found a bright single 
 barrelled gun with accoutrements standing in the 
 corner. Even Mousie exclaimed with delight at the 
 bright-colored papers of flower-seeds on her plate. 
 To Winnie were given half a dozen china eggs with 
 which to lure the prospective biddies to lay in nests 
 easily reached, and she tried to cackle over them in 
 absurd imitation. Little Bobsey had to have some 
 toys and candy, but they all presented to his eyes 
 the natural inmates of the barn-yard. In the num 
 ber of domestic animals he swallowed that day he 
 equalled the little boy in Hawthorne s story of "The 
 House of the Seven Gables," who devoured a ginger 
 bread caravan of camels and elephants purchased at 
 Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon s shop. 
 
 Our Christmas dinner consisted almost wholly of 
 such vegetables as we proposed to raise in the coming 
 summer. Never before were such connoisseurs of 
 carrots, beets, onions, parsnips, and so on, through 
 almost the entire list of such winter stock as was to 
 
24 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 be obtained at our nearest green-grocery. We cele 
 brated the day by nearly a dozen dishes which the 
 children aided my wife in preparing. 
 
 THE CHRISTMAS TABLE. 
 
 Merton figure the cost of 
 each, and we were sur 
 prised at the cheapness 
 of much of country fare, 
 even when retailed in 
 very small quantities. 
 
 This brought up an- 
 other phase of the prob 
 lem. In many respects 
 I was like the children, 
 having almost as much 
 to learn as they, with 
 the advantage, however, 
 of being able to correct 
 
A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS IN A CITY FLAT. 2$ 
 
 kitchen vegetables cost comparatively little, even 
 though (having in our flat no good place for storage) 
 we had found it better to buy what we needed from 
 day to day. It was therefore certain that, at whole 
 sale in the country, they would often be exceedingly 
 cheap. This fact would work both ways : little 
 money would purchase much food of certain kinds, 
 and if we produced these articles of food they would 
 bring us little money. 
 
 I will pass briefly over the period that elapsed be 
 fore it was time for us to depart, assured that the 
 little people who are following this simple history 
 are as eager to get away from the dusty city flat to 
 the sunlight, breezy fields, brooks, and woods as were 
 the children in my story. It is enough to say that, 
 during all my waking hours not devoted to business, 
 I read, thought, and studied on the problem of sup 
 porting my family in the country. I haunted Wash 
 ington Market in the gray dawn, and learned from 
 much inquiry what products found a ready and cer 
 tain sale at some price, and what appeared to yield 
 to the grower the best profits. There was much 
 conflict of opinion, but I noted down and averaged 
 the statements made to me. Many of the market- 
 men had hobbies, and told me how to make a for 
 tune out of one or two articles ; more gave careless, 
 random, or ignorant answers ; but here and there 
 was a plain, honest, sensible fellow who showed me 
 from his books what plain, honest, sensible producers 
 in the country were doing. In a few weeks I dis 
 missed finally the tendency to one blunder. A 
 novice hears or read.s of an. acre of cabbages or 
 
26 DRIVEN BACK TO ED EM 
 
 strawberries producing so much. Then he figures, 
 "if one acre yields so much, two acres will give 
 twice as much," and so on. The experience of others 
 showed me the utter folly of all this ; and I came to 
 the conclusion that I could give my family shelter, 
 plain food, pure air, wholesome work and plav in 
 plenty, and that not very soon could I provide much 
 else with certainty. I tried to stick closely to com- 
 mon-sense ; and the humble circumstances of the 
 vast majority living from the soil proved that there 
 was in these pursuits no easy or speedy road to for 
 tune. Therefore we must part reluctantly with 
 every penny, and let a dollar go for only the essen 
 tials to the modest success now accepted as all we 
 could naturally expect. We had explored the settled 
 States, and even the Territories, in fancy ; we had 
 talked over nearly every industry from cotton and 
 sugar-cane planting to a sheep-ranch. I encouraged 
 all this, for it was so much education out of school- 
 hours ; yet all, even Merton, eventually agreed with 
 me that we had better not go far away, but seek a 
 place near schools, markets, churches, and well in 
 side of civilization. 
 
 " See here, youngsters, you forget the most impor 
 tant crop of all that I must cultivate," I said one 
 evening. 
 
 " What is that ? " they cried in chorus. 
 
 " A crop of boys and girls. You may think that 
 my mind is chiefly on corn and potatoes. Not at all. 
 It is chiefly on you ; and for your sakes mamma and 
 I decided to go to the country." 
 
A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS IN A CITY FLAT. 2? 
 
 At last, in reply to my inquiries and my answers 
 to advertisements, I received the following letter : > 
 
 ifr JL . fad .^^ 
 
 * /V^ c ^iffi 
 
 V?K /* /FT/*** 
 
 fiJHftf p^^ 
 
 I had been to see two or three places that had 
 been " cracked up " so highly that my wife thought 
 it would be better to close a bargain at once before 
 some one else secured the prize, and I had come 
 back disgusted in each instance. 
 
 "The soul of wit" was in John Jones s letter. 
 There was also a downright directness which hit the 
 mark, and I wrote that I would go to Maizeville in 
 the course of the following week. 
 
DRIVEN BACK TO ED EM 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A BLUFF FRIEND. 
 
 T*HE almanac had announced spring; nature 
 JL appeared quite unaware of the fact, but, so far 
 as we were concerned, the almanac was right. Spring 
 was the era of hope, of change, and hope was grow 
 ing in our hearts like "Jack s bean," in spite of 
 lowering wintry skies. We were as eager as rob 
 ins, sojourning in the south, to take our flight north- 
 ward. 
 
 My duties to my employers had ceased on the ist 
 of March : I had secured tenants who would take 
 possession of our rooms as soon as we should leave 
 them ; and now every spare moment was given to 
 studying the problem of country living and to prep 
 arations for departure. I obtained illustrated cata 
 logues from several dealers in seeds, and we pored 
 over them every evening. At first they bewildered 
 us with their long lists of varieties, while the glow 
 ing descriptions of new kinds of vegetables just being 
 introduced awakened in us something of a gambling 
 spirit. 
 
 " How fortunate it is," exclaimed my wife, " that 
 we are going to the country just as the vegetable 
 
A BLUFF FRIEND. 2 
 
 marvels were discovered ! Why, Robert, if half of 
 what is said is true, we shall make our fortunes." 
 
 With us, hitherto, a beet had been a beet, and a 
 cabbage a cabbage ; but here were accounts of beets 
 which, as Merton said, " beat all creation," and pic 
 tures of prodigious cabbage heads which well-nigh 
 turned our own. With a blending of hope and dis 
 trust I carried two of the catalogues to a shrewd 
 old fellow in Washington Market. He was a dealer 
 in country produce who had done business so long 
 at the same stand that among his fellows he was 
 looked upon as a kind of patriarch. During a former 
 interview he had replied to my questions with a blunt 
 honesty that had inspired confidence. 
 
 The day was somewhat mild, and I found him in 
 his shirt-sleeves, smoking his pipe among his piled- 
 up barrels, boxes, and crates, after his eleven o clock 
 dinner. His day s work was practically over; and 
 well it might be, for, like others of his calling, he 
 had begun it long before dawn. Now his old felt hat 
 was pushed well back on his bald head, and his red 
 face, fringed with a grizzled beard, expressed a sort 
 of heavy, placid content. His small gray eyes twin 
 kled as shrewdly as ever. With his pipe he indicated 
 a box on which I might sit while we talked. 
 
 "See here, Mr. Bogart," I began, showing him 
 the seed catalogues, "how is a man to choose wisely 
 what vegetables he will raise from a list as long as 
 your arm ? Perhaps I shouldn t take any of those 
 old-fashioned kinds, but go into these wonderful 
 novelties which promise a new era in horticulture." 
 
 The old man gave a contemptuous grunt ; then. 
 
DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 removing his pipe, he blew out a cloud 
 of smoke that half obscured us both as 
 
 MR. BOGART GIVES SOMB GOOD ADVICE 
 
 he remarked, gruffly, 
 " A fool and his money 
 are soon parted. 
 
 This was about as 
 
 rough as March weather ; but I knew my man, and 
 perhaps proved that J wasn t a fool by not parting 
 with him then and there 
 
A BLUFF FRIEND. 3 1 
 
 "Come now, neighbor," I said, brusquely, "I know 
 some things that you don t, and there are affairs in 
 which I could prove you to b^ as green as I am in 
 this matter. If you came to me I d give you the best 
 advice that I could, and be civil about it into the 
 bargain. I ve come to you because I believe you to 
 be honest and to know what I don t. When I tell 
 you that I have a little family dependent on me, and 
 that I mean if possible to get a living for them out 
 of the soil, I believe you are man enough both to fall 
 in with my plan and to show a little friendly interest. 
 If you are not, I ll go farther and fare better." 
 
 As I fired this broadside he looked at me askance, 
 with the pipe in the corner of his mouth, then 
 reached out his great brown paw, and said, 
 
 "Shake." 
 
 I knew it was all right now, that the giving of 
 his hand ineant not only a treaty of peace but also a 
 friendly alliance. The old fellow discoursed vegeta 
 ble wisdom so steadily for half an hour that his pipe 
 went out. 
 
 "You jest let that new-fangled truck alone," he 
 said, " till you get more forehanded in cash and expe 
 rience. Then you may learn how to make some 
 thing out of them novelties, as they call em, if they 
 are worth growing at all. Now and then a good 
 penny is turned on a new fruit or vegetable ; but 
 how to do it will be one of the last tricks that you ll 
 learn in your new trade. Hand me one of them mis- 
 leadin books, and I ll mark a few solid kinds such as 
 produce ninety-nine hundredths of all that s used or 
 sold. Then you go to What-you-call- em s store, and 
 
32 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 take a line from me, and you ll git the genu/W arti 
 cle at market-gardeners prices." 
 
 " Now, Mr. Bogart, you are treating me like a man 
 and a brother." 
 
 " Oh thunder ! I m treating you like one who, 
 p raps, may deal with me. Do as you please about 
 it, but if you want to take along a lot of my business 
 cards and fasten em to anything you have to sell, 
 I ll give you all they bring, less my commission." 
 
 " I ve no doubt you will, and that s more than I 
 can believe of a good many in your line, if all s true 
 that I hear. You have thrown a broad streak of 
 daylight into my future. So you see the fool didn t 
 part with his money, or with you either, until he got 
 a good deal more than he expected." 
 
 " Well, well, Mr. Durham, you ll have to get used 
 to my rough ways. When I ve anything to say I 
 don t beat about the bush. But you ll always find 
 my checks good for their face." 
 
 "Yes, and the face back of them is that ^\ a 
 friend to me now. We ll shake again. Good-by ; " 
 and I went home feeling as if I had solid ground 
 under my feet. At supper I went over the whole 
 scene, taking off the man in humorous pantomime, 
 not ridicule, and even my wife grew hilarious over 
 her disappointed hopes of the "new-fangled truck." 
 I managed, however, that the children should not 
 lose the lesson that a rough diamond is better than 
 a smooth paste stone, and that people often do 
 themselves an injury when they take offence too 
 easily. 
 
 "I see it all, papa," chuckled Merton; "if you 
 
A BLUFF FRIEND. 33 
 
 had gone off mad when he the same as called you a 
 fool, you would have lost all his good advice." 
 
 " I should have lost much more than that, my boy. 
 I should have lost the services of a good friend and 
 an honest man to whom we can send for its full 
 worth whatever we can t sell to better advantage at 
 home. But don t mistake me, Merton, toadyism 
 never pays, no matter what you may gain by it ; for 
 you give manhood for such gain, and that s a kind of 
 property that one can never part with and make a 
 good bargain. You see the old man didn t mean to 
 be insolent. As he said, it was only his rough, blunt 
 way of saying what was uppermost in his mind." 
 
DRIVEN BACK TO 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MR. JONES SHOWS ME THE PLACE. 
 
 THE next day, according to appointment, I went 
 to Maizeville. John Jones met me at the sta 
 tion, and drove me in his box-sleigh to see the farm 
 he had written of in his laconic note. I looked at 
 him curiously as we jogged along over the melting 
 snow. The day was unclouded for a wonder, and 
 the sun proved its increasing power by turning the 
 sleigh-tracks in the road into gleaming rills. The 
 visage of my new acquaintance formed a decided 
 contrast to the rubicund face of the beef-eating 
 marketman. He was sandy even to his eyebrows 
 and complexion. His scraggy beard suggested pov 
 erty of soil on his lantern jaws. His frame was as 
 gaunt as that of a scare-crow, and his hands and feet 
 were enormous. He had one redeeming feature, 
 however, a pair of blue eyes that looked straight 
 at you and made you feel that there was no "crook 
 edness " behind them. 
 
 His brief letter had led me to expect a man of few 
 words, but I soon found that John Jones was a talker 
 and a good-natured gossip. He knew every one we 
 met, and was usually greeted with a rising infleo 
 tion, like this, " How are YOU, JOHN ? " 
 
MR. JONES SHOWS ME THE PLACE. $$ 
 
 We drove inland for two or three miles. 
 
 "No, I didn t crack up the place, and I ain t 
 a goin to," said my real-estate agent. "As I wrote 
 you, you can see for yourself when we get there, and 
 I ll answer all questions square. I ve got the sellin 
 of the property, and I mean it shall be a good bar 
 gain, good for me and good for him who buys. I 
 don t intend havin any neighbors around blamin me 
 for a fraud ; " and that is all he would say about it. 
 
 On we went, over hills and down dales, surrounded 
 y scenery that seemed to me beautiful beyond all 
 words, even in its wintry aspect. 
 
 " What mountain is that standing off by itself ? " 
 I asked. 
 
 " Schunemunk," he said. "Your place well, I 
 guess it will be yours before plantin -time comes 
 faces that mountain and looks up the valley between 
 it and the main highlands on the left. Vender s the 
 house, on the slope of this big round hill, that ll 
 shelter you from the north winds." 
 
 I shall not describe the place very fully now, pre 
 ferring that it should be seen through the eyes of 
 my wife and children, as well as my own. 
 
 "The dwelling appears old," I said. 
 
 " Yes ; part of it s a good deal more n a hundred 
 years old. It s been added to at both ends. Bat 
 there s timbers in it that will stand another hundred 
 years. I had a fire made in the livin -room this 
 mornin , to take off the chill, and we ll go in and sit 
 down after we ve looked the place over. Then you 
 must come and take pot-luck with us." 
 
 At first I was not at all enthusiastic, b\it the more 
 
36 DRIYEN BACK TO EDEN-. 
 
 I examined the place, and thought it over, the more 
 it grew on my fancy. When I entered the main 
 room of the cottage, and saw the wide, old-fashioned 
 fireplace, with its crackling blaze, I thawed so rapidly 
 that John Jones chuckled. " You re amazin refresh- 
 in for a city chap. I guess I ll crack on another 
 hundred to the price." 
 
 " I thought you were not going to crack up the 
 place at all." 
 
 " Neither be I. Take that old arm-chair, and I ll 
 tell you all about it. The place looks rather run 
 down, as you have seen. Old Mr. and Mrs. Jamison 
 lived here till lately. Last January the old man 
 died, and a good old man he was. His wife has 
 gone to live with a daughter. By the will I was 
 app inted executor and trustee. I ve fixed on a fair 
 price for the property, and I m goin to hold on till I 
 get it. There s twenty acres of ploughable land and 
 orchard, and a five-acre wood-lot, as I told you. The 
 best part of the property is this. Mr. Jamison was 
 a natural fruit-grower. He had a heap of good fruit 
 here and wouldn t grow nothin but the best. He 
 was always a-speerin round, and when he come 
 across something extra he d get a graft, or a root or 
 two. So he gradually came to have the best there 
 was a-goin in these parts. Now I tell you what it 
 is, Mr. Durham, you can buy plenty of new, bare 
 places, but your hair would be gray before you d 
 have the fruit that old man Jamison planted and 
 tended into bearing condition ; and you can buy 
 places with fine shade trees and all that, and a good 
 show of a garden and orchard, but Jamison used to 
 
MR. JONES SHOWS ME THE PLACE. 
 
 37 
 
 say that an apple or cherry was a pretty enough 
 shade tree for him, and he used to say too that a 
 
 tree that bore the big 
 gest and best apples 
 didn t take any more 
 room than one that 
 yielded what was fit 
 only for the cider press. 
 
 "YOU DON T COME TO THE 
 1OUNTRY TO AMUSE YOURSELF, 
 UT TO MAKE A UVIN ." 
 
 Now the p int s just here. You 
 
 don t come to the country to amuse 
 
 yourself by developin a property, like most city chaps 
 
 do, but to make a livin . Well, don t you see ? This 
 
38 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN". 
 
 farm is like a mill. When the sun s another month 
 higher it will start all the machinery in the apple, 
 cherry, and pear trees and the small fruits, and it 
 will turn out a crop the first year you re here that 
 will put money in your pocket." 
 
 Then he named the price, half down and the rest 
 on mortgage, if I so preferred. It was within the 
 limit that my means permitted. 
 
 I got up and went all over the house, which was 
 still plainly furnished in part. A large woodhouse 
 near the back door had been well filled by the provi 
 dent old man. There was ample cellar room, which 
 was also a safeguard against dampness. Then I 
 went out and walked around the house. It.was all 
 so quaint and homely as to make me feel that it 
 would soon become home-like to us. There was 
 nothing smart to be seen, nothing new except a barn 
 that had recently been built near one of the oldest 
 and grayest structures of the kind I had ever seen. 
 The snow-clad mountains lifted themselves about me 
 in a way that promised a glimpse of beauty every 
 time I should raise my eyes from work. Yet after 
 all my gaze lingered longest on the orchard and fruit- 
 trees that surrounded the dwelling. 
 
 That s sensible," remarked Mr. Jones, who fol 
 lowed me with no trace of anxiety or impatience. 
 " Paint, putty, and pine will make a house in a few 
 weeks, but it takes a good slice out of a century to 
 build up an orchard like that." 
 
 "That was just what I was thinking, Mr. Jones." 
 
 " Oh, I knowed that. Well, I ve got just two more 
 things to say, then I m clone and you can take it or 
 
MR. JONES SHOWS ME THE PLACE. 39 
 
 leave it. Don t you see ? The house is on a slope 
 facing the south-east. You get the morning sun 
 and southern breeze. Some people don t know what 
 they re worth, but I, who ve lived here all my life, 
 know they re worth payin for. Again, you see the 
 ground slopes off to the crick yonder. That means 
 good drainage. We don t have any malary here, and 
 that fact is worth as much as the farm, for I wouldn t 
 take a section of the garden of Eden if there was 
 malary around." 
 
 "On your honor now, Mr. Jones, how far is the 
 corner around which they have the malaria ? " 
 
 " Mr. Durham, it ain t a mile away." 
 
 I laughed as I said, " I shall have one neighbor, it 
 seems, to whom I can lend an umbrella." 
 
 "Then you ll take the place ? " 
 
 "Yes, if my wife is as well satisfied as I am. I 
 want you to give me the refusal of it for one week at 
 the price you named." 
 
 "Agreed, and I ll put it in black and white." 
 
 " Now, Mr. Jones," I began, with an apologetic little 
 laugh, "you grow one thing up here in all seasons, I 
 fancy, an appetite. As I feel now, your pot-luck 
 means good luck, no matter what is in it." 
 
 " Now you talk sense. I was a-hankerin myself. 
 I take stock right off in a man or a critter with an 
 appetite. They re always improvin . Yes, sir; 
 Maizeville is the place to grow an appetite, and 
 what s more we can grow plenty to satisfy it." 
 
 Mrs. Jones made a striking contrast to her hus 
 band, for she first impressed me as being short, red, 
 and round; but her friendly, bustling ways and 
 
40 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 hearty welcome soon added other and very pleasant 
 impressions ; and when she placed a great dish of 
 fricasseed chicken on the table she won a good-will 
 which her neighborly kindness has steadily increased. 
 
CELLING ABOUT EDEff. 41 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TELLING ABOUT EDEN. 
 
 NEVER was a traveller from a remote foreign 
 clime listened to with more breathless interest 
 than I as I related my adventures at our late supper 
 after my return. Mousie looked almost feverish in 
 her excitement, and Winnie and Bobsey exploded 
 with merriment over the name of the mountain that 
 would be one of our nearest neighbors. They dubbed 
 the place " Schunemunks " at once. Merton put on 
 serious and sportsman-like airs as he questioned me, 
 and it was evident that he expected to add largely to 
 our income from the game he should kill. I did not 
 take much pains to dispel his illusions, knowing that 
 one day s tramo would do this, and that he would 
 bring back increased health and strength if nothing 
 else. 
 
 No fairy tale had ever absorbed the children like 
 the description of that old house and its surround 
 ings ; and when at last they were induced to retire I 
 said to my wife, after explaining more in practical 
 detail the pros and cons to be considered : " It all 
 depends on you. If you wish I will take you up the 
 first pleasant day, so that you can see for yourself 
 before we decide." 
 
42 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 She laughed as she said, " I decided two minutes 
 after you arrived." 
 
 "How is that?" 
 
 " I saw you had the place in your eyes. La, Rob 
 ert ! I can read you like a book. You give in to 
 me in little things, and that pleases a woman, you 
 know. You must decide a question like this, for it 
 is a question of support for us all, and you can do 
 better on a place that suits you than on one never 
 quite to your mind. It has grown more and more 
 clear to me all the evening that you have fallen in 
 love with the old place, and that settles it." 
 
 " Well, you women have a way of your own of 
 deciding a question." 
 
 My wife was too shrewd not to make a point in 
 her favor, and she remarked, with a complacent nod, 
 "/ have a way of my own, but there are women in 
 the world who would have insisted on a smart new 
 house." 
 
 " Little wife," I said, laughing, "there was another 
 girl that I was a little sweet on before I met you. 
 I m glad you are not the other girl." 
 
 She put her head a little to one sid^ with the old 
 roguish look which used to be so distracting when 
 the question of questions with me was whether pretty 
 Winnie Barlow would give half a dozen young fellows 
 the go-by for my sake, and she said, "Perhaps the 
 other girl is glad too." 
 
 " I ve no doubt she is," I sighed, " for her husband 
 is getting rich. I don t care how glad she is if my 
 girl is not sorry." 
 
 " You do amuse me so, Robert ! You d like to pass 
 
TELLING ABOUT EDEN. 43 
 
 for something of a philosopher, with your brown 
 studies into the hidden causes and reasons for things, 
 yet you don t half know yet that when a woman sets 
 her heart on something, she hasn t much left with 
 which to long for anything else. That is, if she has 
 a heart, which seems to be left out of some women." 
 
 " I think it is, and others get a double allowance. 
 I should be content, for I was rich the moment I won 
 yours." 
 
 " I ve been more than content ; I ve been happy, 
 happy all these years in city flats. Even in my tan 
 trums and bad days I knew I was happy, deep in my 
 heart." 
 
 " I only hope you will remain as blind about your 
 plodding old husband who couldn t make a fortune 
 in the city." 
 
 " I ve seen men who made fortunes, and I ve seen 
 their wives too." 
 
 I thanked God for the look on her face, a look 
 which had been there when she was a bride, and 
 which had survive J many straitened years. 
 
 So we chose our country home. The small patri 
 mony to which we had added but little (indeed we 
 had often denied ourselves in order not to diminish 
 it) was nearly all to be invested in the farm, and a 
 debt to be incurred, besides. While yielding to my 
 fancy I believed that I had at the same time chosen 
 wisely, for, as John Jones said, the mature fruit-trees 
 on the place would begin to bring returns very soon. 
 
DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 "BREAKING CAMP." 
 
 WE were now all eager to get away, and the 
 weather favored our wishes. A warm rain 
 with a high south wind set in, and the ice disappeared 
 from the river like magic. I learned that the after 
 noon boat which touched at Maizeville would begin 
 its trips in the following week. 
 
 I told my wife about the furniture which still re 
 mained in the house, and the prices which John Jones 
 put upon it. We therefore found that we could dis 
 pose of a number of bulky articles in our city* apart 
 ments, and save a goodly sum in cartage and freight. 
 Like soldiers short of ammunition, we had to make 
 every dollar tell, and when by thought and manage 
 ment we could save a little it was talked over as a 
 triumph to be proud of. 
 
 The children entered into the spirit of the thing 
 with great zest. They were all going to be hardy 
 pioneers. One evening I described the landing of 
 the " Mayflower," and some of the New-England win 
 ters that followed, and they wished to come down to 
 Indian meal at once as a steady diet. Indeed, toward 
 the last, we did come down to rather plain fare, for in 
 
"BREAKING CAMP." 45 
 
 packing up one thing after another we at last reached 
 the cooking utensils. 
 
 On the morning of the day preceding the one of 
 our departure I began to use military figures of 
 speech. 
 
 " Now we must get into marching order," I said, 
 "and prepare to break camp. Soldiers, you know, 
 when about to move, dispose of all their heavy bag 
 gage, cook several days provisions, pack up and load 
 on wagons what they mean to take with them, and 
 start. It is a trying time, one that requires the 
 exercise of good soldierly qualities, such as prompt 
 obedience, indifference to hardship and discomfort, 
 and especially courage in meeting whatever happens." 
 
 Thus the children s imaginations were kindled, and 
 our prosaic breaking up was a time of grand excite 
 ment. With grim satisfaction they looked upon 
 the dismantling of the rooms, and with sighs of 
 relief saw carts take away such heavy articles as I 
 had sold. 
 
 Winnie and Bobsey were inclined to take the chil 
 dren of neighbors into their confidence, and to have 
 them around, but I said that this would not do at all, 
 that when soldiers were breaking camp the great 
 point was to do everything as secretly and rapidly as 
 possible. Thenceforward an air of mystery pervaded 
 all our movements. 
 
 Bobsey, however, at last overstepped the bounds 
 of our patience and became unmanageable. The 
 very spirit of mischief seemed to have entered his 
 excited little brain. He untied bundles, placed 
 things where they were in the way, and pestered thfi 
 
4 6 
 
 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 busy mother with so many questions, that I hit upon 
 a decided measure to keep 
 him quiet. I told him 
 about a great commander 
 who, in an important fight, 
 
 COMMANDER GOES TO SUtJ>. 
 
* BREAKING CAMP? 47 
 
 was strapped to a mast, so that he could oversee every 
 thing. Then I tied the little fellow into a chair. At 
 first he was much elated, and chattered like a mag 
 pie, but when he found he was not to be released 
 after a few moments he began to howl for freedom. 
 I then carried him, chair and all, to one of the back 
 rooms. Soon his cries ceased, and tender-hearted 
 Mousie stole after him. Returning she said, with her 
 low laugh, " He ll be good now for a while ; he s 
 sound asleep." 
 
 And so passed the last day in our city rooms. 
 Except as wife and children were there, they had 
 never appeared very homelike to me, and now they 
 looked bare and comfortless indeed. The children 
 gloated over their appearance, for it meant novelty 
 to them. " The old camp is about broken up," Mer- 
 ton remarked, with the air of a veteran. But my 
 wife sighed more than once. 
 
 "What troubles you, Winifred ?" 
 
 "Robert, the children were born here, and here 
 I ve watched over them in sickness and health so 
 many days and nights ! " 
 
 " Well, my dear, the prospects are that in our new 
 home you will not have to watch over them in sick 
 ness very much. Better still, you will not have to 
 be so constantly on your guard against contagions 
 that harm the soul as well as the body. I was told 
 that there are rattlesnakes on Schunemunk, but 
 greater dangers for Winnie and Merton lurk in this 
 street, yes, in this very house ; " and I exulted 
 over the thought that we were about to bid Melissa 
 Daggett a final good-by. 
 
48 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "Oh, I know. I m glad ; but then " 
 " But then a woman s heart takes root in any place 
 where she has loved and suffered. That tendency 
 makes it all the more certain that you ll love your 
 new home." 
 
 " Yes ; we may as well face the truth, Robert. 
 We shall suffer in the new home as surely as in the 
 old. There may be stronger sunshine, but that 
 means deeper shadow." 
 
SCENES ON THE WHARF. 49 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SCENES ON THE WHARF. 
 
 THE last night in the city flat was in truth like 
 camping out, and we looked and felt like emi 
 grants. But the fatigues of the day brought us 
 sound sleep, and in the morning we rose with the 
 dawn, from our shake-downs on the floor, to begin 
 eagerly and hopefully our final preparations for de 
 parture. In response to my letters John Jones had 
 promised to meet us at the Maizeville Landing with 
 his strong covered rockaway, and to have a fire in 
 the old farmhouse. Load after load was despatched 
 to the boat, for I preferred to deal with one trusty 
 truckman. When all had been taken away, we said 
 good-by to our neighbors and took the horse-car to 
 the boat, making our quiet exit in the least costly 
 way. I knew the boat would be warm and comfort 
 able, and proposed that we should eat our lunch 
 there. 
 
 The prospect, however, of seeing the wharves, the 
 boats, and the river destroyed even the children s 
 appetites. We soon reached the crowded dock. 
 The great steamer appeared to be a part of it, lying 
 along its length with several gang-ways, over which 
 
5O DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 boxes, barrels, and packages were being hustled on 
 board with perpetual din. The younger children 
 were a little awed at first by the noise and apparent 
 confusion. Mousie kept close to my side, and even 
 Eobsey clung to his mother s hand. The extended 
 upper cabin had state-rooms opening along its sides, 
 and was as comfortable as a floating parlor with its 
 arm and rocking chairs. Here, not far from a great 
 heater, I established our headquarters. I made the 
 children locate the spot carefully, and said : " From 
 this point we ll make excursions. In the first place, 
 Merton, you come with me and see that all our 
 household effects are together and in good order. 
 You must learn to travel and look after things like 
 a man." 
 
 We spent a little time in arranging our goods so 
 that they would be safer and more compact. Then 
 we went to the captain and laughingly told him we 
 were emigrants to Maizeville, and hoped before long 
 to send a good deal of produce by his boat. We 
 therefore wished him to "lump" us, goods, children, 
 and all, and deliver us safely at the Maizeville wharf 
 for as small a sum as possible. 
 
 He good-naturedly agreed, and I found that the 
 chief stage of our journey would involve less outlay 
 than I had expected. 
 
 Thus far all had gone so well that I began to fear 
 that a change must take place soon, in order that our 
 experience should be more like the common lot of 
 humanity. When at last I took all the children out 
 on the after-deck, to remove the first edge of their 
 curiosity, I saw that there was at least an ominous 
 
SCENES ON THE WHARF. 5T 
 
 change in the weather. The morning had been mild, 
 with a lull in the usual March winds. Now a scud 
 of clouds was drifting swiftly in from the eastward, 
 and chilly, fitful gusts began to moan and sigh about 
 us. A storm was evidently coming, and my hope 
 was that we might reach our haven before it began. 
 I kept my fears to myself, and we watched the long 
 lines of carts converging toward the gang-planks of 
 our own and other steamboats. 
 
 "See, youngsters," I cried, "all this means com 
 merce. These loads and loads of things will soon 
 be at stores and homes up the river, supplying the 
 various needs of people. To-morrow the residents 
 along the river will bring what they have to sell 
 to this same boat, and by daylight next morning 
 carts will be carrying country produce and manu 
 factured articles all over the city. Thus you see 
 commerce is made by people supplying themselves 
 and each other with what they need. Just as soon 
 as we can bring down a crate of berries and send it 
 to Mr. Bogart we shall be adding to the commerce 
 of the world in the best way. We shall become 
 what are called the producers/ and but for this 
 class the world would soon come to an end." 
 
 " Rah!" cried Bobsey, "I m goin to be a p o- 
 ducer." 
 
 He promised, however, to be a consumer for a 
 long time to come, especially of patience. His na 
 tive fearlessness soon asserted itself, and he wanted 
 to go everywhere and see everything, asking ques 
 tions about machinery, navigation, river craft, the 
 contents of every box, bale, or barrel we saw, till 
 
J2 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 I felt that I was being used like a town pump. I 
 pulled him back to the cabin, resolving to stop his 
 mouth for a time at least with the contents of our 
 lunch-basket. 
 
 Winnie was almost as bad, or as good, perhaps 
 I should say ; for, however great the drain and strain 
 on me might be, I knew that these active little brains 
 were expanding to receive a host of new ideas. 
 
 Mousie was quiet as usual, and made no trouble, 
 but I saw with renewed hope that this excursion into 
 the world awakened in her a keen and natural inter 
 est. Ever since the project of country life had beeir 
 decided upon, her listless, weary look had been giv 
 ing place to one of greater animation. The hope of 
 flowers and a garden had fed her life like a deep, hid 
 den spring. 
 
 To Merton I had given larger liberty, and had said : 
 "It is not necessary for you to stay with me all the 
 time. Come and go on the boat and wharf as you 
 wish. Pick up what knowledge you can. All I ask 
 is that you will use good sense in keeping out of 
 trouble and danger." 
 
 I soon observed that he was making acquaintances 
 here and there, and asking questions which would go 
 far to make good his loss of schooling for a time. 
 Finding out about what one sees is, in my belief, one 
 of the best ways of getting an education. The trouble 
 \vith most of us is that we accept what we see, with 
 out inquiry or knowledge. 
 
 The children were much interested in scenes wit 
 nessed from the side of the boat farthest from the 
 wharf. Here in the enclosed water space were sev- 
 
54 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 eral kinds of craft, but the most curious in their 
 eyes was a group of canal-boats, " queer travelling 
 houses " Mousie called them ; for it was evident that 
 each one had a family on board, and the little entrance 
 to the hidden cabin resembled a hole from which 
 men, women, and children came like rabbits out of a 
 burrow. Tough, hardy, barefooted children were 
 everywhere. While we were looking, one frowsy- 
 headed little girl popped up from her burrow in the 
 boat, and, with legs and feet as red as a boiled lob 
 ster, ran along the guards like a squirrel along a 
 fence. 
 
 " O dear ! " sighed Mousie, " I d rather live in a 
 city flat than in such a house." 
 
 " I think it would be splendid," protested Winnie, 
 "to live in a travelling house. You could go all 
 over and still stay at home." 
 
 I was glad on our return to find my wife dozing in 
 her chair. She was determined to spend in rest the 
 hours on the boat, and had said that Mousie also 
 must be quiet much of the afternoon. 
 
 Between three and four the crush on the wharf 
 became very great. Horses and drays were so 
 mixed up that to inexperienced eyes it looked as if 
 they could never be untangled. People of every 
 description, loaded down with parcels, were hurrying 
 on board, and it would seem from our point of view 
 that American women shared with their French sis 
 ters an aptness for trade, for among the passengers 
 were not a few substantial, matronly persons who 
 appeared as if they could look the world in the face 
 and get the better of it. 
 
A VOYAGE UP THE HUDSON. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A VOYAGE UP THE HUDSON. 
 
 AS four P.M. approached, I took the children to a 
 great glass window in the cabin, through which 
 we could see the massive machinery. 
 
 " Now/ said I, " watch the steel giant ; he is 
 motionless, but in a moment or two he will move." 
 
 True enough, he appeared to take a long breath of 
 steam, and then slowly lifted his polished arms, or 
 levers, and the boat that had been like a part of the 
 wharf began to act as if it were alive and were wak 
 ing up. 
 
 "Now," I asked, "shall we go to the after-deck 
 and take our last look at the city, or forward and see 
 the river and whither we are going ? " 
 
 " Forward ! forward ! " cried all in chorus. 
 
 "That s the difference between youth and age," 
 I thought. " With the young it is always forward. 
 But we found that we could not go out on the for 
 ward deck, for the wind would have carried away my 
 light, frail Mousie, like a feather. Indeed it was 
 whistling a wild tune as we stood in a small room 
 with glass windows all round. The waves were 
 crowned with foaming white-caps, and the small craft 
 
*6 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 that had to be out in the gale were bobbing up and 
 down, as if possessed. On the river was a strange 
 and lurid light, which seemed to come more from the 
 dashing water than from the sky, so dark was the 
 latter with skurrying clouds. 
 
 Mousie clung timidly to my side, but I reassured 
 her by saying : " See how steadily, how evenly and 
 boldly, our great craft goes out on the wide river. 
 In the same way we must go forward, and never be 
 afraid. These boats run every day after the ice dis 
 appears, and they are managed by men who know 
 what to do in all sorts of weather." 
 
 She smiled, but whispered, "I think I ll go back 
 and stay with mamma ; " but she soon found much 
 amusement in looking at passing scenes from the 
 windows of the warm after-cabin, scenes that were 
 like pictures set in oval frames. 
 
 The other children appeared fascinated by the 
 scene, especially Winnie, whose bold black eyes 
 flashed with excitement. 
 
 " I want to see everything and know everything," 
 she said. 
 
 "I wish you to see and know about things like 
 these," I replied, "but not such things as Melissa 
 Daggett would show you." 
 
 " Melissy Daggett, indeed ! " cried Winnie. " This 
 beats all her stories. She tried to tell me the other 
 day about a theatre at which a woman killed a 
 man " 
 
 " Horrid ! I hope you didn t listen ? " 
 
 " Only long enough to know the man came to life 
 again, and danced in the next " 
 
58 DR2V&A BACK TO EDFtf 
 
 "That will do. I m not interested in Melissa s 
 vulgar stories. As you say, this, and all like this, is 
 much better, and will never prevent you from becom 
 ing a lady like mamma." 
 
 Winnie s ambition to become a lady promised to 
 be one of my strong levers in uplifting her character. 
 
 I confess that I did not like the looks of the sky 
 or of the snow-flakes that began to whirl in the air, 
 but the strong steamer ploughed her way rapidly past 
 the city and the villa crowned shores beyond. The 
 gloom of the storm and of early coming night was over 
 all, and from the distant western shore the palisades 
 frowned dimly through the obscurity. 
 
 My wife came, and after a brief glance shivered 
 and was turning away, when I said, " You don t like 
 your first glimpse of the country, Winifred ? " 
 
 " It will look differently next June. The children 
 will take cold here. Let them come and watch the 
 machinery." 
 
 This we all did for a time, and then I took them 
 on excursions about the enclosed parts of the boat. 
 The lamps were already lighted, and the piled-up 
 freight stood out in grotesque light and shadow. 
 
 Before very long we were standing by one of the 
 furnace rooms, and a sooty visaged man threw open 
 the iron doors of the furnace. In the glare of light 
 that rushed forth everything near stood out almost 
 as vividly as it would have done in a steady gleam of 
 lightning. The fireman instantly became a star 
 tling silhouette, and the coal that he shovelled into 
 what was like the flaming mouth of a cavern seemed 
 spar U ing black diamonds, The snow-flakes glim- 
 
A VOYAGE UP THE HUD SOU. 
 
 59 
 
 mered as the wind swept them by the wide-open win 
 dow, and in the distance were seen the lights and the 
 dim outline of another boat rushing toward the city. 
 
 Clang ! the iron doors are 
 shut, and all is obscure 
 again. 
 
 " Now the boat has had 
 its supper," said 
 
 Bobsey. " O dear ! I wish we could have a big hot 
 supper. , 
 
 The smoking-room door stood open, and we lingered 
 near it for some moments, attracted first by a picture 
 of a great fat ox, that suggested grassy meadows, 
 
6O DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 ploughing, juicy steaks, and other pleasant things. 
 Then our attention was drawn to a man, evidently 
 a cattle-dealer, who was holding forth to others more 
 or less akin to him in their pursuits. 
 
 "Yes," he was saying, "people in the country eat 
 a mighty lot of cow beef, poor and old at that. I was 
 buying calves out near Shawangunk Mountains last 
 week, and stopped at a small tavern, They brought 
 me a steak and I tried to put my knife in it thought 
 the knife might be dull, but knew my grinders 
 weren t. Jerusalem ! I might have chawed on that 
 steak till now and made no impression. I called the 
 landlord, and said, * See here, stranger, if you serve 
 me old boot-leather for steak again I ll blow on your 
 house. I vow, he said, it s the best I kin get 
 in these diggin s. You fellers from the city buy up 
 every likely critter that s for sale, and we have to 
 take what you leave. You see, he hit me right 
 between the horns, for it s about so. Bless- your soul, 
 if I d took in a lot of cow beef like that to Steers and 
 Pinkham, Washington Market, they d a taken my 
 hide off and hung me up longside of my beef." 
 
 "Grantin* all that," said another man, "folks in 
 the country would be a sight better off if they d eat 
 more cow beef and less pork. You know the sayin 
 about out of the frying-pan into the fire ? Well, 
 in some parts I ve travelled they had better get 
 out of the fryin -pan, no matter where they fetch 
 up." 
 
 We went away laughing, and I said : " Don t you be 
 troubled, Mousie ; we won t go to the frying-pan 
 altogether to find roses for your cheeks. We ll paint 
 
A VOYAGE UP THE HUDSON-. 6 1 
 
 them red with strawberries and raspberries, the color 
 put on from the inside." 
 
 As time passed, the storm increased, and the air 
 became so thick with driving snow that the boat s 
 speed was slackened. Occasionally we "slowed up" 
 for some moments. The passengers shook their 
 heads and remarked, dolefully, " There s no telling 
 when we ll arrive." 
 
 I made up my mind that it would be good economy 
 for us all to have a hearty hot supper, as Bobsey had 
 suggested ; and when, at last, the gong resounded 
 through the boat, we trooped down with the others 
 to the lower cabin, where there were several long 
 tables, with colored waiters in attendance. We had 
 not been in these lower regions before, and the eyes 
 of the children soon wandered from their plates to 
 the berths, or sleeping-bunks, which lined the sides 
 of the cabin. 
 
 "Yes," I replied, in answer to their questions ; "it 
 is a big supper-room now, but by and by it will be a 
 big bedroom, and people will be tucked away in these 
 berths, just as if they were laid on shelves, one over 
 the other." 
 
 The abundant and delicious supper, in which steaks, 
 not from cow beef, were the chief feature, gave each 
 one of us solid comfort and satisfaction. Bobsey ate 
 until the passengers around him were laughing, but he, 
 with superb indifference, attended strictly to business. 
 
 My wife whispered, " You must all eat enough to 
 last a week, for I sha n t have time to cook anything ; " 
 and I was much pleased at the good example which 
 she and Mousie set us. 
 
62 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 Both before and after supper I conducted Bobsey 
 to the wash-room, and he made the people laugh as 
 he stood on a chair and washed his face. But he 
 was a sturdy little fellow, and only laughed back 
 when a man said he looked as though he was going 
 to dive into the basin. 
 
 Mousie at last began to show signs of fatigue ; and 
 learning that it would be several hours still before 
 we could hope to arrive, so severe was the storm, I 
 procured the use of a state-room, and soon Bobsey 
 was snoring in the upper berth, and my invalid girl 
 smiling and talking in soft tones to her mother in 
 the lower couch. Winnie, Merton, and I prowled 
 around, spending the time as best we could. Occa 
 sionally we looked through the windows at the bow, 
 and wondered how the pilot could find his way through 
 the tempest. I confess I had fears lest he might not 
 do this, and felt that I should be grateful indeed when 
 my little band was safe on shore. The people in 
 charge of the boat, however, knew their business. 
 
MARCH EVENING IN EDEN. 63 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A MARCH EVENING IN EDEN. 
 
 AT length we were fast at the Maizeville Landing, 
 although long after the usual hour of arrival. 
 I was anxious indeed to learn whether John Jones 
 would meet us, or whether, believing that we would not 
 come in such a storm, and tired of waiting, he had 
 gone home and left us to find such shelter as we 
 could. 
 
 But there he was, looking in the light of the lan 
 terns as grizzled as old Time himself, with his eye 
 brows and beard full of snow-flakes. He and I hastily 
 carried the three younger children ashore through 
 the driving snow, and put them in a corner of the 
 storehouse, while Merton followed with his mother. 
 
 " Mr. Jones," I exclaimed, "you are a neighbor to 
 be proud of already. Why didn t you go home and 
 leave us to our fate ? " 
 
 "Well," he replied, laughing, " twouldn t take 
 you long to get snowed under to-night. No, no ; 
 when I catch fish I mean to land em. Didn t know 
 but what in such a buster of a storm you might be 
 inclined to stay on the boat and go back to the city. 
 Then where would my bargain be ? " 
 
64 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 " No fear of that. We re in for it now, - have 
 enlisted for the war. What shall we do ? " 
 
 " Well, I vow I hardly know. One thing first, any 
 how, we must get Mrs. Durham and the kids into 
 the warm waiting-room, and then look after your 
 traps." 
 
 The room was already crowded, but we squeezed 
 them in, white from scarcely more than a moment s 
 exposure to the storm. Then we took hold and gave 
 the deck-hands a lift with my baggage, Merton show 
 ing much manly spirit in his readiness to face the 
 weather and the work. My effects were soon piled 
 ur by themselves, and then we held a council. 
 
 "Mrs. Durham ll hardly want to face this storm 
 with the children," began Mr. Jones. 
 
 " Are you going home ? " I asked. 
 
 " Yes, sir. I d rather travel all night for the sake 
 of being home in the morning." 
 
 "To tell the truth I feel in the same way," I con 
 tinued, "but reason must hold the reins. Do you 
 think you could protect Mrs. Durham and the chil 
 dren from the storm ? " 
 
 " Yes, I think we could tuck em in so they d 
 scarcely know it was snowin , and then we could sled 
 your things up in the mornin . Comrnodations on 
 the landin to-night will be pretty crowded." 
 
 " We ll let her decide, then." 
 
 When I explained how things were and what Mr. 
 Jones had said, she exclaimed, "Oh, let us go home." 
 
 How my heart jumped at her use of the word 
 "home" in regard to a place that she had never 
 seen. "But, Winifred," I urged, "do you realize 
 
,i MARCH EVENING IN EDEN. 6$ 
 
 how bad a night it is ? Do you think it would be 
 safe for Mousie ? " 
 
 " It isn t so very cold if one is not exposed to the 
 wind and snow," she replied, "and Mr. Jones says 
 we needn t be exposed. I don t believe we d run 
 as much risk as in going to a little hotel, the best 
 rooms of which are already taken. Since we can do 
 it, it will be so much nicer to go to a place that we 
 feel is our own ! " 
 
 " I must say chat your wishes accord with mine." 
 
 "Oh, I knew that," she replied, laughing. "Mr. 
 Jones," she added, sociably, " this man has a way of 
 telling you what he wishes by his looks before ask 
 ing your opinion." 
 
 "I found that out the day he came up to see the 
 place," chuckled my neighbor, "and I was half a 
 mind to stick him for another hundred for bein so 
 honest. He don t know how to make a bargain any 
 more than one of the children there. Well, I ll go 
 10 the shed and get the bosses, and we ll make a pull 
 for home. I don t believe you ll be sorry when you 
 g-et there." 
 
 Mr. Jones came around to the very door with the 
 rockaway, and we tucked my wife and children under 
 the buffalo robes and blankets till they could hardly 
 breathe. Then we started out into the white, spec 
 tral world, for the wind had coated everything with 
 the soft, wet snow. On we went at a slow walk, for 
 the snow and mud were both deep, and the wheeling 
 was very heavy Even John Jones s loquacity was 
 checked, for every time he opened his mouth the 
 wind half filled it with snow. Some one ahead of 
 
66 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN, 
 
 us, with a lantern, guided our course for a mile or so 
 through the dense obscurity, and then he turned ofl 
 on another road. At first I hailed one and another 
 in the black cavern of the rockaway behind me, and 
 their mufHed voices would answer, "All right." But 
 one after another they ceased to answer me until all 
 were fast asleep except my wife. She insisted that 
 she was only very drowsy, but I knew that she was 
 also very, very tired. Indeed, I felt myself, in a way 
 that frightened me, the strange desire to sleep that 
 overcomes those long exposed to cold and wind. 
 
 I must have been nodding and swaying around 
 rather loosely, when I felt myself going heels over 
 head into the snow. As I picked myself up I heard 
 my wife and children screaming, and John Jones 
 shouting to his horses, "Git up," while at the same 
 time he lashed them with his whip. My face was sc 
 plastered with snow that I could see only a dark ob 
 ject which was evidently being dragged violently out 
 of a ditch, for when the level road was reached, Mr. 
 Jones shouted, " Whoa ! " 
 
 " Robert, are you hurt ? " cried my wife. 
 
 "No. Are you?" 
 
 " Not a bit, but I m frightened to death." 
 
 Then John Jones gave a hearty guffaw, and said, 
 * I bet you our old shanghai rooster that you don t 
 die/ 
 
 "Take you up," answered my wife, half laughing 
 and half crying. 
 
 "Where are we ? " I asked. 
 
 " I m here. Haven t the remotest idea where you 
 foe/ replied Mr. Jones. 
 
A MARCH EVENING JN EDEN. 6/ 
 
 " You are a philosopher," I said, groping my way 
 through the storm toward his voice. 
 
 " I believe I was a big fool for tryin to get home 
 such a night as this ; but now that we ve set about 
 it, we d better get there. That s right. Scramble 
 in and take the reins. He/e s my mittens." 
 
 " What are you going to do ? " 
 
 11 I m going to light and smell out the road. This 
 is equal to any blizzard I ve read of out West." 
 
 " How far have we get to go now ? " 
 
 " Half a mile, as nigh as I can make out ; " and 
 we jogged on again. 
 
 " Are you sure you are not hurt ? " Mousie asked me. 
 
 " Sure ; it was like tumbling into a feather bed." 
 
 "Stop a bit," cried Mr. Jones. "There s a turn 
 in the road here. Let me go on a little and lay out 
 your course." 
 
 " Oh, I wish we had stayed anywhere under 
 shelter," said my wife. 
 
 " Courage," I cried. " When we get home, we ll 
 laugh over this." 
 
 "Now," shouted Mr. Jones, "veer gradually off to 
 the left towards my voice all right;" and we 
 jogged on again, stopping from time to time to let 
 our invisible guide explore the road. 
 
 Once more he cried, "Stop a minute." 
 
 The wind roared and shrieked around us, and it 
 was growing colder. With a chill of fear I thought, 
 " Could John Jones have mistaken the road ? " and 
 I remembered how four people and a pair of horses 
 had been frozen within a few yards of a house in i 
 Western snow-storm. 
 
68 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "Are you cold, children ? " I asked. 
 
 "Yes, I m freezing," sobbed Winnie. "I don t 
 like the country one bit." 
 
 "This is different from the Eden of which we 
 have been dreaming," I thought, grimly. Then I 
 shouted, " How much farther, Mr. Jones ? " 
 
 The howling of the wind was my only answer. I 
 shouted again. The increasing violence of the tem 
 pest was the only response. 
 
 " Robert," cried my wife, " I don t hear Mr. 
 Jones s voice." 
 
 "He has only gone on a little to explore," I re 
 plied, although my teeth chattered with cold and fear. 
 
 " Halloo oo !" I shouted. The answering shriek 
 of the wind in the trees overhead chilled my very 
 heart. 
 
 "What has become of Mr. Jones?" asked my 
 wife, and there was almost anguish in her tone, 
 while Winnie and Bobsey were actually crying aloud. 
 
 "Well, my dear," I tried to say, reassuringly, 
 " even if he were very near to us we could neither 
 see nor hear him." 
 
 Moments passed which seemed like ages, and I 
 scarcely knew what to do. The absence of all signs 
 of Mr. Jones filled me with a nameless and unspeak 
 able dread. Could anything have happened to him ? 
 Could he have lost his way and fallen into some 
 hole or over some steep bank ? If I drove on, we 
 might tumble after him and perish, maimed and 
 frozen, in the wreck of the wagon. One imagines all 
 sorts of horrible things when alone and helpless at 
 night. 
 
A MARCH EVENING IN EDEN. 69 
 
 " Papa," cried Merton, " I ll get out and look for 
 Mr. Jones." 
 
 "You are a good, brave boy," I replied. "No; 
 you hold the reins, and I ll look for him and see 
 what is just before us." 
 
 At that moment there was a glimmer of light off 
 to the left of us. 
 
TO DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RESCUED AND AT HOME. 
 
 ALL that the poets from the beginning of time 
 have written about light could not express my 
 joy as I saw that glimmer approaching on the left. 
 Before it appeared I had been awed by the tempest, 
 benumbed with cold, shivering in my wet clothes, 
 and a prey to many terrible fears and surmises ; but 
 now I cried, "Cheer up ; here comes a light." 
 
 Then in my gladness I shouted the greeting that 
 met Mr. Jones everywhere, " How are YOU, JOHN ? " 
 
 A great guffaw of laughter mingled with the howl 
 of the storm, and my neighbor s voice followed from 
 the obscurity : " That s famous, keepin up your 
 courage like a soldier." 
 
 "Oh, I won t brag about keeping up my courage." 
 
 "Guess you didn t know what had become of 
 me ? " 
 
 "You re rigM, and we didn t know what was to 
 become of us. Now aren t we nearly home ? Fcr 
 we are all half frozen." 
 
 " Just let me spy a bit with the lantern, and 1 11 
 soon tell you everything." He bobbed back and 
 forth for a moment or two like a will-o -the-wisp. 
 "Now turn sharp to the left, and follow the light." 
 
KSSCUED AND AT HOMK. 7 1 
 
 A great hope sprung up in my heart, and I hushed 
 Winnie s and Bobsey s crying by saying, " Listen, and 
 you ll soon hear some good news." 
 
 Our wheels crunched through the deep snow for a 
 few moments, and soon I saw a ruddy light shining 
 from the window of a dwelling, and then Mr. Jones 
 shouted, "Whoa! Light down, neighbors ; you re 
 pt your own door." 
 
 There was a chorus of delighted cries, Merton 
 half tumbled over me in his eagerness to get down. 
 A door opened, and out poured a cheerful glow. Oh 
 "he delicious sense of safety and warmth given by 
 t already! 
 
 I seized Mousie, floundered through the snow up 
 to my knees, and placed her in a big rocking-chair, 
 Mr. Jones followed with Winnie, and Merton came 
 in with Bobsey on his back. The little fellow was 
 under such headway in crying that he couldn t stop 
 at once, although his tears were rapidly giving place 
 to laughter. I rushed back and carried in my wife, 
 and then said, in a voice a little unsteady from deep 
 feeling, "Welcome home, one and all." 
 
 Never did the word mean more to a half-froze* 
 and badly frightened family. At first safety, warmth, 
 and comfort were uppermost in our thoughts, but as 
 wraps were taken off, and my wife and children 
 thawed out, eager-eyed curiosity began to make ex 
 plorations. Taking Mousie on my lap, and chafing 
 her hands, I answered questions and enjoyed to the 
 full the exclamations of pleasure. 
 
 Mr. Jones lingered for a few moments, then gave 
 one of his big guffaws by way of preface, and said: 
 
?2 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 " Well, you do look as if you was at home and meant 
 to stay. This ere scene kinder makes me homesick ; 
 so I ll say good-night, and I ll be over in the mornin . 
 There s some lunch on the table that my wife fixed 
 up for you. I must go, for I hear John junior holler- 
 in for me." 
 
 His only response to our profuse thanks was 
 another laugh, which the wind swept away. 
 
 "Who is John junior?" asked Merton. 
 
 "Mr. Jones s son, a boy of about your age. He 
 was here waiting for us, and keeping the fire up. 
 When we arrived he came out and took the horses, 
 and so you didn t see him. He ll make a good play 
 mate for you. To use his father s own words, He s 
 a fairish boy as boys go, and that from John Jones 
 means that he s a good fellow." 
 
 Oh, what a happy group we were, as we gathered 
 around the great, open fire, on which I piled more 
 wood ! 
 
 " Do you wish to go and look around a little ? " I 
 asked my wife. 
 
 "No," she replied, leaning back in her rocking- 
 chair: "let me take this in first. O Robert, I have 
 such a sense of rest, quiet, comfort, and hominess 
 that I just want to sit still and enjoy it all. The 
 howling of the storm only makes this place seem 
 more like a refuge, and I d rather hear it than the 
 Daggetts tramping overhead and the Ricketts chil 
 dren crying down-stairs. Oh, isn t it nice to be by 
 ourselves in this quaint old room ? Turn the lamp 
 down, Robert, so we can see the firelight flicker over 
 everything. Isn t it splendid? just like a picture 
 in a book." 
 
RESCUED AND AT HOME. 73 
 
 " No picture in a book, Winifred, no artist could 
 paint a picture that would have the charm of this 
 one for me," I replied, leaning my elbow on the end 
 of the mantel-piece, and looking fondly down on the 
 little group. My wife s face looked girlish in the 
 ruddy light, "tfousie gazed into the fire with unspeak 
 able content, and declared she was "too happy to 
 think of taking cold." Winnie and Bobsey were sit 
 ting, Turk-fashion, on the floor, their eyelids drooping. 
 The long cold ride had quenched even their spirit, for 
 after running around a few moments they began to 
 yield to drowsiness. Merton, with a boy s appetite, 
 was casting wistful glances at the lunch on the table, 
 the chief feature of which was a roast chicken. 
 
 There seemed to be no occasion for haste. I 
 wished to let the picture sink deep into my heart. 
 At last my wife sprung up and said : 
 
 " I ve been sentimental long enough. You re not 
 of much account in the house, Robert," with one 
 of her saucy looks, " and I must see to things, or 
 Winnie and Bobsey will be asleep on the floor. I 
 feel as if I could sit here till morning, but I ll come 
 back after the children are in bed. Come, show me 
 my home, or at least enough of it to let me see 
 where we are to sleep." 
 
 "We shall have to camp again to-night. Mrs. 
 Jones has made up the one bed left in the house, 
 and you and Mousie shall have that. We ll fix 
 Winnie and Bobsey on the lounge ; and, youngsters, 
 you can sleep in your clothes, just as soldiers do on 
 the ground. Merton and I will doze in these chairs 
 before the fire. To-rnorrow night we can all be very 
 comfortable." 
 
74 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEtf. 
 
 I took the lamp and led the way, my wife, 
 Mousie, and Merton following, first across a little 
 hall, from which one stairway led to the upper cham. 
 bers and another to the cellar. Opening a door 
 opposite the living-room, I showed Winifred her 
 parlor. Cosey and comfortable it looked, even now. 
 through Mr. and Mrs. Jones s kind offices. A morn 
 ing-glory stove gave out abundant warmth and a 
 rich light which blended genially with the red colors 
 of the carpet. 
 
 " Oh, how pretty I can make this room look ! " 
 exclaimed my wife. 
 
 "Of course you can : you ve only to enter it." 
 
 " You hurt your head when you fell out of tru. 
 wagon, Robert, and are a little daft. There s no 
 place to sleep here." 
 
 " Come to the room over this, warmed by a p pe 
 from this stove." 
 
 "Ah, this is capital," she cried, looking around an 
 apartment which Mrs. Jones had made comfortable. 
 "Wasn t I wise when I decided to come home? It s 
 just as warm as toast. Now let the wind blow*- 
 Why, I don t hear it any more. 
 
 " No, the gale has blown itself out. Finding that 
 we had escaped, it got discouraged and gave u\\ 
 Connected with this room is another for Mousie ai,d 
 Winnie. By leaving the door open much of the 
 time it will be warm enough for them. So you see 
 this end of the house can be heated with but little 
 trouble and expense. The open fire in the living- 
 room is a luxury that we can afford, since theie is 
 plenty of wood on the place. On the other side of 
 
RESCUED AND AT HOME. 75 
 
 the hall there is a room for Merton. Now do me a 
 favor : don t look, or talk, or think, any more to-night. 
 It has been a long, hard day. Indeed " looking at 
 my watch " it is already to-morrow morning, and 
 you know how much we shall have to do. Let us 
 go back and get a little supper, and then take all the 
 rest we can." 
 
 Winifred yielded, and Bobsey and Winnie waked 
 up for a time at the word "supper." Then we knelt 
 around our hearth, and made it an altar to God, for 
 I wished the children never to forget our need of 
 his fatherly care and help. 
 
 "1 will now take the children up-stairs and put 
 them to bed, and then come back, for I cannot leave 
 this wood fire just yet," remarked my wife. 
 
 I burst out laughing, and said, " You have never 
 been at home until this night, when you are camp 
 ing in an old house you never saw before, and I can 
 prove it by one question, When have you taken 
 the children up-stairs to bed before ? " 
 
 " Why why never." 
 
 " Of course you haven t, city flats all your life. 
 But your nature is not perverted. In natural homes 
 for generations mothers have taken their children 
 up-stairs to bed, and, forgetting the habit of your life, 
 you speak according to the inherited instinct of the 
 mother-heart." 
 
 " O Robert, you have so many fine-spun theories ! 
 Yet it is a little queer. It seemed just as natural 
 for me to say up-stairs as " 
 
 "As it was for your mother, grandmother, and 
 great-grandmother." 
 
76 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "Very well. We are in such an old house that I 
 suppose I shall begin to look and act like my great- 
 grandmother. But no more theories to-night, 
 nothing but rest and the wood fire." 
 
 She soon joined me at the hearth again. Merton 
 meanwhile had stretched himself on the rag-carpet, 
 with his overcoat for a pillow, and was in dreamless 
 sleep. My wife s eyes were full of languor. She 
 did not sit down, but stood beside me for a moment. 
 Then, laying her head on my shoulder, she said, 
 softly, " I haven t brains enough for theories and 
 such things, but I will try to make you all happy 
 here." 
 
 "Dear little wife ! " I laughed ; "when has woman 
 hit upon a higher or better wisdom than that of 
 making all happy in her own home ? and you half 
 asleep, too." 
 
 "Then I ll bid you good-night at once, before I 
 say something awfully stupid." 
 
 Soon the old house was quiet. The wind had 
 utterly ceased. I opened the door a moment, and 
 looked on the white, still world without. The stars 
 glittered frostily through rifts in the clouds. Schune- 
 munk Mountain was a shadow along the western 
 horizon, and the eastern highlands banked up and 
 blended with the clouds. Nature has its restless 
 moods, its storm and passion, like human life ; but 
 there are times of tranquillity and peace, even in 
 March. How different was this scene from the 
 aspect of our city street when I had taken my fare 
 well look at a late hour of the previous night ! No 
 grand sweeping outlines there, no deep quiet and 
 
RESCUED AND AT HOME. 77 
 
 peace, sootning and at the same time uplifting the 
 mind. Even at midnight there is an uneasy fretting 
 in city life, some one not at rest, and disturbing 
 the repose of others. 
 
 I stole silently through the house. Here, too, all 
 seemed in accord with nature. The life of a good 
 old man had quietly ceased in this home ; new, hope 
 ful life was beginning. Evil is everywhere in the 
 world, but it seemed to me that we had as safe a 
 nook as could be found. 
 
;S DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SELF-DENIAL AND ITS REWARD. 
 
 I REMEMBER little that followed until I was 
 startled out of my chair by a loud knocking. 
 The sunlight was streaming in at the window, and 
 John Jones s voice was at the door. 
 
 " I think we have all overslept," I said, as I ad 
 mitted him. 
 
 "Not a bit of it. Every wink you ve had after 
 such a day as yesterday is like money put in the 
 bank. But the sleighing is better now than it will 
 be late in the day. The sun ll be pretty powerful 
 by noon, and the snow ll soon be slush. Now s 
 your chance to get your traps up in a hurry. I can 
 have a two-hoss sled ready in half an hour, and if 
 you say so I can hire a big sleigh of a neighbor, and 
 we ll have everything here by dinner-time. After 
 you get things snug, you won t care if the bottom 
 does fall out of the roads for a time. Well, you 
 have had to rough it. Merton might have come and 
 stayed with us." 
 
 " Oh, I m all right," said the boy, rubbing his eyes 
 open as he rose from the floor, at the same time 
 learning from stiff joints that a carpet is not a mat 
 tress. 
 
SELF-DENIAL AND ITS REWARD. 79 
 
 "Nothing would suit me better, Mr. Jones, than 
 your plan of prompt action, and I m the luckiest man 
 in the world in having such a long-headed, fore-handed 
 neighbor to start with. I know you ll make a good 
 bargain for the other team, and before I sleep to- 
 night I wish to square up for everything. I mean 
 at least to begin business in this way at Maizeville." 
 
 "Oh, go slow, go slow!" said Mr. Jones. "The 
 town will mob you if they find you ve got ready 
 money in March. John junior will be over with a 
 pot of coffee and a jug of milk in a few minutes, and 
 we ll be off sharp." 
 
 There was a patter of feet overhead, and soon 
 Bobsey came tearing down, half wild with excite 
 ment over the novelty of everything. He started 
 for the door as if he were going head first into the 
 snow. 
 
 I caught him, and said : " Do you see that chair ? 
 Well, we all have a busy day before us. You can 
 help a good deal, and play a little, but you can t hin 
 der and pester according to your own sweet will 
 one bit. You must either obey orders or else be 
 put under arrest and tied in the chair." 
 
 To go into the chair to-day would be torture in 
 deed, and the little fellow was sobered at once. 
 
 The others soon joined us, eager to see every 
 thing by the broad light of day, and to enter upon 
 the task of getting settled. We had scarcely come 
 together before John junior appeared with the chief 
 features of our breakfast. The children scanned 
 this probable playmate very curiously, and some of 
 us could hardly repress a smile at his appearance. 
 
8O DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN . 
 
 He was even more sandy than his father. Indeed 
 his hair and eyebrows were nearly white, but out of 
 his red and almost full-moon face his mother s black 
 eyes twinkled shrewdly. They now expressed only 
 good-will and bashfulness. Every one of us shook 
 hands with him so cordially that his boy s heart was 
 evidently won. 
 
 Merton, to break the ice more fully, offered to 
 show him his gun, which he had kept within reach 
 ever since we left the boat. It made him feel more 
 like a pioneer, no doubt. As he took it from its 
 stout cloth cover I saw John junior s eyes sparkle. 
 Evidently a deep chord was touched. He said, ex 
 citedly: "To-day s your time to try it. A rabbit 
 can t stir without leaving his tracks, and the snow 
 is so deep and soft that he can t get away. There s 
 rabbits on your own place." 
 
 "O papa," cried my boy, fairly trembling with 
 eagerness, " can t I go ? " 
 
 "I need you very much this morning." 
 
 "But, papa, others will be out before me, and I 
 may lose my chance ; and he was half ready to 
 cry. 
 
 " Yes," I said ; " there is a risk of that. Well, you 
 shall decide in this case," I added, after a moment, 
 seeing a chance to do a little character-building. " It 
 is rarely best to put pleasure before business or pru 
 dence. If you go out into the snow with those 
 boots, you will spoil them, and very probably take a 
 severe cold. Yet you may go if you will. If you 
 help me, we can be back by ten o clock, and I will 
 get you a pair of rubber boots as we return." 
 
SELF-DENIAL AND ITS REWARD. 8 1 
 
 "Will there be any chance after ten o clock?" he 
 asked, quickly. 
 
 "Well," said John junior, in his matter-of-fact 
 way, "that depends. As your pa says, there s a 
 risk." 
 
 The temptation was too strong for the moment. 
 " O dear ! " exclaimed Merton, " I may never have so 
 good a chance again. The snow will soon melt, and 
 there won t be any more till next winter. I ll tie 
 my trousers down about my boots, and I ll help all 
 the rest of the day after I get back." 
 
 Very well," I said, quietly; and he began eating 
 his breakfast the abundant remains of our last 
 night s lunch very rapidly, while John junior 
 started off to get his gun. 
 
 I saw that Merton was ill at ease, but I made a 
 sign to his mother not to interfere. More and more 
 slowly he finished his breakfast, then took his gun 
 and went to the room that would be his, to load and 
 prepare. At last he came down and went out by 
 another door, evidently not wishing to encounter me. 
 John junior met him, and the boys were starting, 
 when John senior drove into the yard and shouted, 
 "John junior, step here a moment." 
 
 The boy returned slowly, Merton following. " You 
 ain t said nothin to me about goin off with that 
 gun," continued Mr. Jones, severely. 
 
 "Well, Merton s pa said he might go if he wanted 
 to, and I had to go along to show him." 
 
 " That first shot wasn t exactly straight, my young 
 friend John. I told Merton that it wasn t best to 
 put pleasure before business, but that he could go if 
 
82 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 he would. I wished to let him choose to do right, 
 instead of making him do right." 
 
 "Oho, that s how the land lays. Well, John jun 
 ior, you can have your choice, too. You may go 
 right on with your gun, but you know the length and 
 weight of that strap at home. Now will you help 
 me ? or go after rabbits ? " 
 
 The boy grinned pleasantly, and replied, " If you 
 had said I couldn t go, I wouldn t ; but if it s choosin 
 between shootin rabbits and a strappin afterwards 
 come along, Merton." 
 
 "Well, go along then," chuckled his father; 
 "you ve made your bargain square, and I ll keep my 
 part of it." 
 
 "Oh, hang the rabbits! You sha n t have any 
 strapping on my account," cried Merton ; and he 
 carried his gun resolutely to his room and locked 
 the door on it. 
 
 John junior quietly went to the old barn, and hid 
 his gun. 
 
 " Guess I ll go with you, pa," he said, joining us. 
 
 "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Mr. Jones. "It was a 
 good bargain to back out of. Come now, let s all 
 be off as quick as we can. Neighbor Rollins down 
 the road will join us as we go along." 
 
 " Merton," I said, " see if there isn t a barrel of 
 apples in the cellar. If you find one, you can fill 
 your pockets." 
 
 He soon returned with bulging pockets and a 
 smiling face, feeling that such virtue as he had shown 
 had soon brought reward. My wife said that while 
 we were gone she and the children would explore the 
 
1 HE COUNTRY HOMIC IN WINTKR. 
 
84 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 house and plan how to arrange everything. We 
 started in good spirits. 
 
 " Here s where you thought you was cast away last 
 night," Mr. Jones remarked, as we passed out of the 
 lane. 
 
 The contrast made by a few short hours was indeed 
 wonderful. Then, in dense obscurity, a tempest had 
 howled and shrieked about us ; now, in the un 
 clouded sunshine, a gemmed and sparkling world 
 revealed beauty everywhere. 
 
 For a long distance our sleighs made the first 
 tracks, and it seemed almost a pity to sully the purity 
 of the white, drift-covered road. 
 
 "What a lot of mud s hid under this snow!" was 
 John Jones s prose over the opening vistas. " What s 
 more, it will show itself before night. We can beat 
 all creation at mud in Maizeville, when once we set 
 about it." 
 
 Merton laughed, and munched his apples, but I saw 
 that he was impressed by winter scenery such as he 
 had never looked upon before. Soon, however, he 
 and John junior were deep in the game question, and 
 I noted that the latter kept a sharp lookout along 
 the roadside. Before long, while passing a thicket, 
 he shouted, "There s tracks," and floundered out into 
 the snow, Merton following. 
 
 " Oh, come back," growled his father. 
 
 "Let the boys have a few moments," I said. 
 " They gave up this morning about as well as you 
 could expect of boys. Would Junior have gone and 
 taken a strapping if Merton hadn t returned ? " 
 
 " Yes indeed he would, and he knows my strappin s 
 
SELF-DENIAL AND ITS REWARD. 85 
 
 arc no make-believe. That boy has no sly, mean 
 tracks to speak of, but he s as tough and obstinate as 
 a mule sometimes, especially about shooting and 
 fishing. See him now a-p intin for that rabbit, like 
 a hound." 
 
 True enough, the boy was showing good woodcraft. 
 Restraining Merton, he cautiously approached the 
 tracks, which by reason of the lightness and depth of 
 the snow were not very distinct. 
 
 " He can t be far away," said Junior, excitedly. 
 " Don t go too fast till I see which way he was a-p int 
 in . We don t want to follow the tracks back, but 
 for ard. See, he came out of that old wall there, he 
 went to these bushes and nibbled some twigs, and 
 here he goes, here he went, here, here, yes, 
 he went into the wall again just here. Now, Merton, 
 watch this hole while I jump over the other side of 
 the fence and see if he comes out again. If he 
 makes a start, grab him." 
 
 John Jones and I were now almost as excited as 
 the boys, and Mr. Rollins, the neighbor who was 
 following us, was standing up in his sleigh to see 
 the sport. It came quickly. As if by some instinct 
 the rabbit believed Junior to be the more dangerous, 
 and made a break from the wall almost at Merton s 
 feet, with such swiftness and power as to dash by him 
 like a shot. The first force of its bound over, it was 
 caught by nature s trap, snow too deep and soft to 
 admit of rapid running. 
 
 John Jones soon proved that Junior came honestly 
 by his passion for hunting. In a moment he was 
 floundering through the bushes with his son and 
 
86 
 
 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN 
 
 Merton. In such pursuit of game my boy had the 
 advantage, for he was as agile as a cat. But a 
 moment or two elapsed before he caught up with the 
 rabbit, and threw himself upon it, then rose, white as 
 a snow-man, shouting triumphantly and holding the 
 little creature aloft by its ears. 
 
 " Never rate Junior for hunting again," I said, laugh 
 ingly, to Mr. Jones. " He s a chip of the old block." 
 
 THE HOME OF THE RABBIT. 
 
 "I rather guess he is." my neighbor acknowledged, 
 with a grin. " I own up I used to be pretty hot on such 
 larkin . We all keep forgettin we was boys once." 
 
 As we rode on, Merton was a picture of exultation, 
 and Junior was on the sharp lookout again. His 
 father turned on him and said : " Now look a* here, 
 enough s as good as a feast. I ll blindfold you if you 
 don t let the tracks alone. Mrs. Durham wants her 
 things, so she can begin to live. Get up there ; " and 
 a crack of the whip ended all further hopes on the 
 part of the boys. But they felt well repaid for com 
 ing, and Merton assured Junior that he deserved half 
 the credit, for only he knew how to manage the hunt 
 

88 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 OUR SUNNY KITCHEN. 
 
 "OEFORE we reached the landing I had invested 
 -LJ a goodly sum in four pairs 01 rubber boots, for I 
 knew how hopeless it would be to try to keep Winnie 
 and Bobsey indoors. As for Mousie, she would have 
 to be prudent until the ground should become dry 
 and warm. 
 
 There is no need of dwelling long on the bringing 
 home of our effects and the getting to rights. We 
 were back soon after ten, and found that Winnie and 
 Bobsey, having exhausted the resources of the house, 
 had been permitted to start at the front door, and, 
 with an old fire-shovel and a piece of board, had well- 
 nigh completed a path to the well, piling up the snow 
 as they advanced, so that their overshoes were a suffi 
 cient protection. 
 
 After we had carried in the things I interceded 
 with Mr. Jones and then told the boys that they 
 could take their guns and be absent two or three 
 hours if they would promise to help faithfully the rest 
 of the day. 
 
 I had bought at Maizeville Landing such pro 
 visions, tools, etc., as I should need immediately. 
 
OUR SUNNY KITCHEN. 89 
 
 Therefore I did not worry because the fickle March 
 sky was clouding up again with the promise of rain. 
 A heavy downpour now with snow upon the ground 
 would cause almost a flood, but I felt that we could 
 shut the door and find the old house a very comfort 
 able ark. 
 
 " A smart warm rain would be the best thing that 
 could happen to yer," said Mr. Jones, as he helped me 
 carry in furniture and put up beds ; " it would take 
 the snow off. Nat rally you want to get out on the 
 bare ground, for there s allus a lot of clearin up to 
 be done in the spring, and old man Jamison was poorly 
 last year, and didn t keep things up to the mark." 
 
 "Yes," I replied, "I am as eager to get to work 
 outdoors as the boys were to go after rabbits. I 
 believe I shall like the work, but that is not the 
 question. I did not come to the country to amuse 
 myself, like so many city people. I don t blame 
 them ; I wish I could afford farming for fun. I came 
 to earn a living for my wife and children, and I am 
 anxious to be about it. I won t ask you for anything 
 except advice. I ve only had a city training, and my 
 theories about farming would perhaps make you 
 smile. But I ve seen enough of you already to feel 
 that you are inclined to be kind and neighborly, and 
 the best way to show this will be in helping me to 
 good, sound, practical, common-sense advice. But 
 you mustn t put on airs, or be impatient with me. 
 Shrewd as you are, I could show you some things in 
 the city." 
 
 "Oh, I d be a sight queerer there than you here. 
 I see your p int, and if you ll come to me I won t let 
 
90 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN". 
 
 you make no blunders I wouldn t make myself. Per 
 haps that ain t saying a great deal, though." 
 
 By this time everything had been brought in 
 and either put in place or stowed out of the way, 
 until my wife could decide where and how she would 
 arrange things. 
 
 "Now," I said, when we had finished, "carry out 
 our agreement." 
 
 Mr. Jones gave me a wink and drove away. 
 
 Our agreement was this, first, that he and Mr. 
 Rollins, the owner of the other team, should be paid 
 in full before night ; and second, that Mrs. Jones 
 should furnish us our dinner, in which the chief dish 
 should be a pot-pie from the rabbit caught by Merton, 
 and that Mr. Jones should bring everything over at 
 one o clock. 
 
 My wife was so absorbed in unpacking her china, 
 kitchen-utensils, and groceries that she was unaware 
 of the flight of time, but at last she suddenly ex 
 claimed, "I declare it s dinner-time!" 
 
 "Not quite yet," I said; "dinner will be ready at 
 one." 
 
 " It will ? Oh, indeed ! since we are in the coun 
 try we are to pick up what we can, like the birds. 
 You intend to invite us all down to the apple barrel, 
 perhaps." 
 
 " Certainly, whenever you wish to go ; but we ll 
 have a hot dinner at one o clock, and a game dinner 
 into the bargain." 
 
 " I ve heard the boys guns occasionally, but I 
 haven t seen the game, and it s after twelve now." 
 
 "Papa has a secret, a surprise for us," cried 
 Mousie : "I can sec it in his eves." 
 
OUR SUNNY KITCHEN. 9 1 
 
 " Now, Robert, I know what you ve been doing. 
 You have asked Mrs. Jones to furnish a dinner. 
 You are extravagant, for I could have picked up 
 something that would have answered." 
 
 " No ; I ve been very prudent in saving your time 
 and strength, and saving these is sometimes the best 
 economy in the world. Mousie is nearer right. 
 The dinner is a secret, and it has been furnished 
 chiefly by one of the family." 
 
 " Well, I m too busy to guess riddles to-day ; but 
 if my appetite is a guide, it is nearly time we had 
 your secret." 
 
 " You would not feel like that after half an hour 
 over a hot stove. Now you will be interrupted, in 
 getting to rights, only long enough to eat your din 
 ner. Then Mousie and Merton and Winnie will 
 clear up everything, and before night you will fee! 
 settled enough to take things easy till to-morrow." 
 
 " I know your thoughtf ulness for me, if not your 
 secret," she said, gratefully, and was again putting 
 things where, from housewifely experience, she knew 
 they would be handy. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Jamison had clung to their old- 
 fashioned ways, and had done their cooking over the 
 open fire, using the swinging crane which is now 
 employed chiefly in pictures. This, for the sake of 
 the picture it made, we proposed to keep as it had 
 been left, although at times it might answer some 
 more prosaic purpose. 
 
 At the eastern end of the house was a single room, 
 added unknown years ago, and designed to be a bed 
 chamber. Of late it had been used as a general stor- 
 
92 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 age and lumber room, and when I first inspected the 
 house, I had found little in this apartment of service 
 to us. So I had asked Mr. Jones to remove all that 
 I did not care for, and to have the room cleansed/ 
 satisfied that it would just suit my wife as a kitchen. 
 It was large, having windows facing the east and 
 south, and therefore it would be light and cheerful, 
 as a kitchen ever should be, especially when the mis 
 tress of the house is cook. There Mr. Jones and I 
 set up the excellent stove that I had brought from 
 New York, one to which my wife was accustomed, 
 and from which she could conjure a rare good dinner 
 when she gave her mind to it. Now as she moved 
 back and forth, in such sunlight as the clouding 
 sky permitted, she appeared the picture of pleased 
 content. 
 
 "It cheers one up to enter a kitchen like this," 
 she said. 
 
 " It is to be your garden for a time also," I explained 
 to Mousie. " I shall soon have by this east window 
 a table with shallow boxes of earth, and in them you 
 can plant some of your flower-seeds. I only ask that 
 I may have two of the boxes for early cabbages, let 
 tuce, tomatoes, etc. You and your plants can take 
 a sun-bath every morning until it is warm enough 
 to go out of doors, and you ll find the plants won t 
 die here as they did in the dark, gas-poisoned city 
 flat." 
 
 " I feel as if I were going to grow faster and 
 stronger than the plants," cried the happy child. 
 
 Junior and Merton now appeared, each carrying a 
 rabbit. My boy s face, however, was clouded, and 
 
OUR SUNNY KITCHEN. 
 
 93 
 
 he said, a little despondently, " I can t shoot straight, 
 missed every time; and Junior shot em after I 
 had fired and missed." 
 
 " Pshaw!" cried 
 Junior; " Merton s 
 got to learn to take 
 a quick, steady 
 sight, like every 
 one else. He gets 
 too excited." 
 
 " That s just it, 
 my boy," I said. 
 " You shall go down 
 by the creek and 
 fire at a mark a 
 few times every 
 day, and you ll soon 
 
 hit it every time. Junior s head is too level to think 
 that anything can be done well without practice. 
 Now, Junior," I added, "run over home and help 
 your father bring us our dinner, and then you stay 
 and help us eat it." 
 
 Father and son soon appeared, well laden. Winnie 
 and Bobsey came in ravenous from their path-mak 
 ing, and all agreed that we had already grown one 
 vigorous rampant Maizeville crop, an appetite. 
 
 The pot-pie was exulted over, and the secret of its 
 existence explained. Even Junior laughed till the 
 tears came as I described him, his father, and Mer- 
 ton, floundering through the deep snow after the 
 rabbit, and we all congratulated Merton as the one 
 who had provided our first country dinner. 
 
 TRYING THE GUN. 
 
94 DRIVER BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MAKING A PLACE FOR CHICKENS. 
 
 [) % EFORE the meal was over, I said, seriously, 
 13 " Now, boys, there must be no more hunting 
 until I find out about the game-laws. They should 
 be obeyed, especially by sportsmen. I don t think 
 that we are forbidden to kill rabbits on our own 
 place, particularly when they threaten to be trouble 
 some ; and the hunt this morning was so unexpected 
 that I did not think of the law, which might be used 
 to make us trouble. You killed the other rabbits on 
 this place, Junior ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir, both of em." 
 
 "Well, hereafter you must look after hawks, and 
 other enemies of poultry. Especially do I hope you 
 will never fire at our useful song-birds. If boys 
 throughout the country would band together to pro 
 tect game when out of season, they would soon have 
 fine sport in the autumn." 
 
 In the afternoon we let Winnie and Bobsey ex 
 pend their energy in making paths and lanes in 
 every direction through the snow, which was melt 
 ing rapidly in the south wind. By three o clock the 
 rain began to fall, and when darkness set in there 
 
MAKING A PLACE FOR CHICKENS. 95 
 
 was a gurgling sound of water on every side. Our 
 crackling fire made the warmth and comfort within 
 seem tenfold more cheery. 
 
 A hearty supper, prepared in our own kitchen, 
 made us feel that our home machinery had fairly 
 started, and we knew that it would run more and 
 more smoothly. March was keeping up its bad name 
 for storm and change. The wind was again roaring, 
 but laden now with rain, and in gusty sheets the 
 heavy drops dashed against the windows. But our 
 old house kept us dry and safe, although it rocked a 
 little in the blasts. They soon proved a lullaby for 
 our second night at home. 
 
 After breakfast the following morning, with Mer- 
 ton, Winnie, and Bobsey, I started out to see if any 
 damage had been done. The sky was still clouded, 
 but the rain had ceased. Our rubber boots served 
 us well, for the earth was like an over-full sponge, 
 while down every little incline and hollow a stream 
 was murmuring. 
 
 The old barn showed the need of a good many 
 nails to be driven here and there, and a deal of mend 
 ing. Then it would answer for corn-stalks and other 
 coarse fodder. The new barn had been fairly built, 
 and the interior was dry. It still contained as much 
 hay as would be needed for the keeping of a horse 
 and cow until the new crop should be harvested. 
 
 "Papa," cried Winnie, "where is the chicken 
 place ? " 
 
 "That is one of the questions we must settle at 
 once," I replied. "As we were coming out I saw an 
 old coop in the orchard. We ll go and look at it" 
 
96 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 It was indeed old and leaky, and had poultry been 
 there the previous night they would have been half 
 drowned on their perches. "This might do for a 
 summer cottage for your chickens, Winnie," I con 
 tinued, "but never for a winter house. Let us go 
 back to the barn, for I think I remember a place that 
 will just suit, with some changes." 
 
 Now the new barn had been built on a hillside, and 
 had an ample basement, from which a room extending 
 well into the bank had been partitioned, thus promis 
 ing all one could desire as a cellar for apples and 
 roots. The entrance to this basement faced the east, 
 and on each side of it was a window. To the right 
 of the entrance were two cow-stalls, and to the left 
 was an open space half full of mouldy corn-stalks and 
 other rubbish. 
 
 " See here, Winnie and Merton," I said, after a 
 little examination, " I think we could clear out this 
 space on the left, partition it off, make a door, and 
 keep the chickens here. After that window is 
 washed, a good deal of sunlight can come in. I ve 
 read that in cold weather poultry need warmth and 
 light, and must be kept dry. Here we can secure 
 all these conditions. Having a home for ourselves, 
 suppose we set to work to make a home for the 
 chickens." 
 
 This idea delighted Winnie, and pleased Merton 
 almost as much as hunting rabbits. " Now," I re 
 sumed, "we will go to the house and get what we 
 need for the work." 
 
 "Winifred," I said to my wife, "can you let Win 
 nie have a small pail of hot water and some old rags?" 
 
MAKING A PLACE FOR CHICKENS. $? 
 
 What are you up to now ? " 
 
 " You know all about cleaning house ; we are go 
 ing to clean barn, and make a place for Winnie s 
 chickens. There is a window in their future bed 
 room roost-room I suppose I should call it that 
 looks as if it had never been washed, and to get off 
 the dust of years will be Winnie s task, while Merton, 
 Bobsey, and I create an interior that should satisfy a 
 knowing hen. We ll make nests, too, children, that 
 will suggest to the biddies that they should proceed 
 at once to business." 
 
 " But where are the chickens to come from ? " my 
 wife asked, as she gave the pan to Merton to carry 
 for his sister. 
 
 " Oh, John Jones will put me in the way of getting 
 them soon ; " and we started out to our morning s 
 work. Mousie looked after us wistfully, but her 
 mother soon found light tasks for her, and she too 
 felt that she was helping. " Remember, Mousie," 
 I said, in parting, "that I have three helpers, and 
 surely mamma needs one ; " and she was content. 
 
 Merton at first was for pitching all the old stalks 
 out into the yard, but I said : " That won t do. We 
 shall need a cow as well as chickens, and these stalks 
 must be kept dry for her bedding. We ll pile them 
 up in the inner empty stall. You can help at that, 
 Bobsey ; " and we set to work. 
 
 Under Winnie s quick hands more and more light 
 came through the window. With a fork I lifted and 
 shook up the stalks, and the boys carried them to the 
 empty stall. At last we came to rubbish that was 
 so damp and decayed that it would be of no service 
 
Cfi OKI TEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 indoors, so we placed it on a barrow, and I wheeled 
 it out to one corner of the yard. At last we came 
 down to a hard earth floor, and with a hoe this was 
 cleared and made smooth. 
 
 " Merton," I said, " I saw an old broom upstairs. 
 Run and get it, and we ll brush down the cobwebs 
 and sweep out, and then we shall be ready to see 
 about the partition." 
 
GOOD BARGAINS AND MAPLE SUGAR. 99 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 GOOD BARGAINS AND MAPLE SUGAR, 
 
 BY eleven o clock we had all the basement cleaned 
 except the one cow-stall that was filled to the 
 ceiling with litter ; and Winnie had washed the win 
 dows. Then John Jones s lank figure darkened the 
 doorway, and he cried, " Hello, neighbor, what ye 
 drivin at ? " 
 
 " Look around and see, and then tell us where to 
 get a lot of chickens/ 
 
 " Well, I declare ! How you ve slicked things up i 
 You re not goin to scrub the dirt floor, are you ? 
 Well, well, this looks like business, just the place 
 for chickens. Wonder old man Jamison didn t keep 
 em here ; but he didn t care for fowls. Now I 
 think of it, there s to be a vandoo the first of the 
 week, and there was a lot o chickens printed on the 
 poster." 
 
 I smiled. 
 
 "Oh, I don t mean that the chickens themselves 
 was on the poster, but a statement that a lot would 
 be sold at auction. I ll bid em in for you if they re 
 a good lot. If you, a city chap, was to bid, some 
 straw-bidder would raise em agin you. I know what 
 
100 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEM 
 
 they re wuth, and everybody there ll know I do, and 
 they ll try no sharp games with me." 
 
 "That will suit me exactly, Mr. Jones. I don t 
 want any game-fowls of that kind." 
 
 " Ha, ha ! I see the p int. Have you looked into 
 the root-cellar ? " 
 
 " Yes ; we opened the door and looked, but it was 
 dark as a pocket." 
 
 " Well, I don t b lieve in matches round a barn, 
 but I ll show you something ; " and he opened the 
 door, struck a match, and, holding it aloft, revealed 
 a heap of turnips, another of carrots, five barrels of 
 potatoes, and three of apples. The children pounced 
 upon the last with appetites sharpened by then 
 morning s work. 
 
 " You see," resumed Mr. Jones, "these were here 
 when old man Jamison died. If I hadn t sold the 
 place I should have taken them out before long, and 
 got rid of what I didn t want. Now you can have 
 the lot at a low figure," which he named. 
 
 " I ll take them," I said, promptly. 
 
 " The carrots make it look like a gold-mine," cried 
 Merton. 
 
 " Well, you re wise," resumed Mr. Jones. " You ll 
 have to get a cow and a horse, and here s fodder for 
 em handy. Perhaps I can pick em out for you, 
 too, at the vandoo. You can go along, and if any 
 thing strikes your fancy I ll bid on it." 
 
 "O papa," cried the children, in chorus, "can we 
 go with you to the vandoo ? " 
 
 "Yes, I think so. When does the sale take 
 place?" 
 
GOOD BARGAINS AND MAPLF, SUGAR.*^ 1C* 
 
 " Next Tuesday. That s a good breed of potatoes. 
 Jamison allus had the best of everything. They ll 
 furnish you with seed, and supply your table till new 
 ones come. I guess you could sell a barrel or so of 
 apples at a rise." 
 
 " I ve found a market for them already. Look at 
 these children ; and I m good for a half-barrel myself 
 if they don t decay too soon. Where could we find 
 better or cheaper food? All the books say that 
 apples are fattening." 
 
 " That s true of man and beast, if the books do 
 say it. They ll keep in this cool, dark cellar longer 
 than you d think, longer than you ll let em, from 
 the way they re disappearin . I guess / // try one." 
 
 "Certainly, a dozen, just as if they were still 
 yours." 
 
 " They wasn t mine, they belonged to the Jami 
 son estate. I ll help myself now quicker n I would 
 before. I might come it over a live man, you know, 
 but not a dead one." 
 
 " I d trust you with either." 
 
 While I was laughing at this phase of honesty, he 
 resumed : "This is the kind of place to keep apples, 
 cool, dry, dark, even temperature. Why, they re 
 as crisp and juicy as if just off the trees. I came 
 over to make a suggestion. There s a lot of sugar- 
 maple trees on your place, down by the brook. Why 
 not tap em, and set a couple of pots b ilin over your 
 open fire ? You d kill two birds with one stone ; the 
 fire d keep you warm, and make a lot of sugar in 
 the bargain. I opinion, too, the children would like 
 the fun." 
 
IO2 /?/?/KiV BACK TO EDEN . 
 
 They were already shouting over the idea, but I 
 said, dubiously, " How about the pails to catch the 
 sap ? " 
 
 "Well," said Mr. Jones, "I ve thought of that, 
 We ve a lot of spare rnilk-pails and pans, that we re 
 not usin\ Junior understands the business ; and, as 
 we re not very busy, he can help you and take his 
 pay in sugar." 
 
 The subject of poultry was forgotten, and the chil 
 dren scampered off to the house to tell of this new 
 prospect. 
 
 Before Mr. Jones and I left the basement, he said : 
 " You don t want any partition here at present, only 
 a few perches for the fowls. There s a fairish shed, 
 you remember, in the upper barn-yard, and when 
 tain t very cold or stormy the cow will do well 
 enough there from this out. The weather ll be grow- 
 in milder most every day, and in rough spells you 
 can put her in here. Chickens won t do her any 
 harm. Law sakes ! when the main conditions is 
 right, what s the use of havin everything jes so? 
 It s more important to save your time and strength 
 and money. You ll find enough to do without one 
 stroke that ain t needful." Thus John Jones fulfilled 
 ais office of mentor. 
 
BUTTERNUTS AND BOBSEY S PERIL. IO3 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 BUTTERNUTS AND BOBSEY S PERIL. 
 
 RESTRAINED the children until after dinner, 
 which my wife hastened. By that time Junior 
 was on hand with a small wagon-load of pails and 
 pans. 
 
 " O dear ! I wanted you to help me this after 
 noon," my wife had said, but, seeing the dismayed 
 look on the children s faces, had added, " Well, there s 
 no hurry, I suppose. We are comfortable, and we 
 shall have stormy days when you can t be out." 
 
 I told her that she was wiser than the queen of 
 Sheba and did not need to go to Solomon. 
 
 The horse was put in the barn, for he would have 
 mired in the long spongy lane and the meadow which 
 we must cross. So we decided to run the light 
 wagon down by hand. 
 
 Junior had an auger with which to bore holes in 
 the trees. " I tapped em last year, as old Mr. 
 Jamison didn t care about doin it," said the boy, 
 " an I b iled the pot of sap down in the grove ; but 
 that was slow, cold work. I saved the little wooden 
 troughs I used last year, and they are in one of the 
 pails. I brought over a big kittle, too, which mother 
 
IO4 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 let me have, and if we can keep this and yours a-go 
 in , we ll soon have some sugar." 
 
 Away we went, down the lane, Junior and Merton 
 in the shafts, playing horses. I pushed in some 
 places, and held back in others, while Winnie and 
 Bobsey picked their way between puddles and quag 
 mires. The snow was so nearly gone that it lay 
 only on northern slopes. We had heard the deep 
 roar of the Moodna Creek all the morning, and had 
 meant to go and see it right after breakfast ; but pro 
 viding a chicken-home had proved a greater attrac 
 tion to the children, and a better investment of time 
 for me. Now from the top of the last hillside we 
 saw a great flood rushing by with a hoarse, surging 
 noise. 
 
 " Winnie, Bobsey, if you go near that water with 
 out me you march straight home," I cried. 
 
 They promised never to go, but I thought Bobsey 
 protested a little too much. Away we went down 
 the hill, skirting what was now a good-sized brook. 
 I knew the trees, from a previous visit ; and the 
 maple, when once known, can be picked out any* 
 where, so genial, mellow, and generous an aspect has 
 it, even when leafless. 
 
 The roar of the creek and the gurgle of the brook 
 made genuine March music, and the children looked 
 and acted as if there were nothing left to be desired. 
 When Junior showed them a tree that appeared to 
 be growing directly out of a flat rock, they expressed 
 a wonder which no museum could have excited. 
 
 But scenery, and even rural marvels, could not 
 keep their attention long. All were intent on sap 
 
BUTTERNUTS AND BOBSEY S PERIL. IO5 
 
 and sugar, and Junior was speedily at work. The 
 moment he broke the brittle, juicy bark, the tree s 
 life-blood began to flow. 
 
 " See," he cried, " they are like cows wanting to 
 be milked." 
 
 As fast as he inserted his little wooden troughs 
 into the trees, we placed pails and pans under them, 
 and began harvesting the first crop from our farm. 
 
 This was rather slow work, and to keep Winnie 
 and Bobsey busy I told them they could gather sticks 
 and leaves, pile them up at the foot of a rock on a 
 dry hillside, and we would Lave a fire. I meanwhile 
 picked up the dead branches that strewed the ground, 
 and with my axe trimmed them for use in summer, 
 when only a quick blaze would be needed to boil the 
 supper-kettle. To city-bred eyes wood seemed a rare 
 luxury, and although there was enough lying about 
 to supply us for a year, I could not get over the feel 
 ing that it must all be cared for. 
 
 To children there are few greater delights than 
 that of building a fire in the woods, and on that 
 cloudy, chilly day our blaze against the rock brought 
 solid comfort to us all, even though the smoke did 
 get into our eyes. Winnie and Bobsey, little bundles 
 of energy that they were, seemed unwearied in feed 
 ing the flames, while Merton sought to hide his excite- 
 ment by imitating Junior s stolid, business-like ways. 
 
 Finding him alone once, I said : " Merton, don t 
 you remember saying to me once, I d like to know 
 what there is for a boy to do in this street ? Don t 
 you think there s something for a boy to do on this 
 farm?" 
 
IO6 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "O papa!" he cried, "I m just trying to hold in 
 So much has happened, and I ve had such a good 
 time, that it seems as if I had been here a month ; 
 then again the hours pass like minutes. See, the 
 sun is low already." 
 
 " It s all new and exciting now, Merton, but there 
 will be long hours, yes, days and weeks, when 
 you ll have to act like a man, and to do work because 
 it ought to be done and must be done." 
 
 "The same would be true if we stayed in town," 
 he said. 
 
 Soon I decided that it was time for the younger 
 children to return, for I meant to give my wife all 
 the help I could before bedtime. We first hauled 
 the wagon back, and then Merton said he would bring 
 what sap had been caught. Junior had to go home 
 for a time to do his evening " chores," but he prom 
 ised to return before dark and help carry in the sap. 
 
 " There ll be frost to-night, and we ll get the big 
 gest run in the morning," was his encouraging re 
 mark, as he made ready to depart. 
 
 Mrs. Jones had been over to see my wife, and they 
 promised to become good friends. I set to work 
 putting things in better shape, and bringing in a 
 good pile of wood. Merton soon appeared with a 
 brimming pail. A kettle was hung on the crane, 
 but before the sap was placed over the fire all must 
 taste it, just as it had been distilled by nature. And 
 all were quickly satisfied. Even Mousie said it was 
 "too watery," and Winnie made a face as she ex 
 claimed, " I declare, Merton, I believe you filled the 
 pails from the brook ! " 
 
BUTTERNUTS AND BOBSEY S PERIL. IO/ 
 
 " Patience, youngsters ; sap, as well as some other 
 things, is better for boiling down." 
 
 " Oh what a remarkable truth ! " said my wife, 
 who never lost a chance to give me a little dig. 
 
 I laughed, and then stood still in the middle of the 
 floor, lost in thought. 
 
 " A brown study ! What theory have you struck 
 now, Robert?" 
 
 " I was thinking how some women kept their hus 
 bands in love with them by being saucy. It s an 
 odd way, and yet it seems effective." 
 
 " It depends upon the kind of sauce, Robert," she 
 said, with a knowing glance and a nod. 
 
 By the time it was dark, we had both the kettles 
 boiling and bubbling over the fire, and fine music they 
 made. With Junior for guest, we enjoyed our supper, 
 which consisted principally of baked apples and milk. 
 
 " Bubble, bubble, 1 
 Toil and no trouble " 
 
 " Yet, worth speaking of," said my wife ; " but it 
 must come, I suppose." 
 
 "We won t go half-way to meet it, Winifred." 
 
 When the meal was over, Junior went out on the 
 porch and returned with a mysterious sack. 
 
 " Butternuts ! " he ejaculated. 
 
 Junior was winning his way truly, and in the chil 
 dren s eyes was already a good genius, as his father 
 was in mine. 
 
 " O papa ! " was the general cry, " can t we crack 
 them on the hearth ? " 
 
 "But you ll singe your verv eyebrows off," I said. 
 
IO8 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "Mine s so white twouldn t matter," said Junior; 
 "nobody d miss em. Give me a hammer, and I ll 
 keep you goin ." 
 
 And he did, on one of the stones of the hearth, 
 with such a lively rat-tat-snap! that it seemed a 
 regular rhythm. 
 
 " Cracked in my life well-nigh on to fifty bushel, I 
 guess," he explained, in answer to our wonder at his 
 skill. 
 
 And so the evening passed, around the genial old 
 fireplace ; and before the children retired they smacked 
 their lips over sirup sweet enough to satisfy them. 
 
 The following morning Saturday I vibrated 
 between the sugar-camp and the barn and other out 
 buildings, giving, however, most of the time to the 
 help of my wife in getting the house more to her 
 mind, and in planning some work that would require 
 a brief visit from a carpenter ; for I felt that I must 
 soon bestow nearly all my attention on the outdoor 
 work. I managed to keep Bobsey under my eye for 
 the most part, and in the afternoon I left him for 
 only a few moments at the sugar-bush while I carried 
 up some sap. A man called to see me on business, 
 and I was detained. Knowing the little fellow s 
 proneness to mischief, and forgetfulness of all com 
 mands, I at last hastened back with a half guilty and 
 worried feeling. 
 
 I reached the brow of the hill just in time to see 
 him throw a stick into the creek, lose his balance, 
 and fall in. 
 
 With an exclamation of terror, his own cry forming 
 a faint echo, I sprung forward frantically, but the 
 Swift current caught and bore him away. 
 
HO DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 JOHN JONES, JUN. 
 
 MY agonized shout as I saw Bobsey swept away 
 by the swollen current of the Moodna Creek 
 was no more prompt than his own shrill scream. It 
 so happened, or else a kind Providence so ordered it, 
 that Junior was farther down the stream, tapping a 
 maple that had been overlooked the previous day. 
 He sprung to his feet, whirled around in the direc 
 tion of the little boy s cry, with the quickness of 
 thought rushed to the bank, and plunged in with a 
 headlong leap, like a Newfoundland dog. I paused, 
 spell-bound, to watch him, knowing that I was much 
 too far away to be of aid, and that all now depended 
 on the hardy country lad. He disappeared for a 
 second beneath the tide, and then his swift strokes 
 proved that he was a good swimmer. In a moment 
 or two he caught up with Bobsey, for the current 
 was too swift to permit the child to sink. Then, 
 with a wisdom resulting from experience, he let the 
 torrent carry him in a long slant toward the shore, 
 for it would have been hopeless to try to stem the 
 tide. Running as I never ran before, I followed, 
 reached the bank where there was an eddy in the 
 
JOHN JONES, JUN. 
 
 Ill 
 
 stream, sprung in up to my waist, seized them both 
 as they approached, and dragged them to solid 
 ground. Merton and Winnie meanwhile stood near 
 with white, scared faces. 
 
 Bobsey was conscious, al 
 though he had swallowed 
 some water, and I was soon 
 able to re 
 store him, 
 so that he 
 could stand 
 on his feet 
 and cry: 
 " I I I 
 w- won t d- 
 do so any 
 any more." 
 
 Instead of punishing him, which he evidently ex 
 pected, I clasped him to my heart with a nervous 
 force that almost made him cry out with pain. 
 
 Junior, meanwhile, had coolly seated himself on a 
 rock, emptied the water out of his shoes, and was 
 tying them on again, at the same time striving with 
 all his might to maintain a stolid composure under 
 Winnie s grateful embraces and Merton s inter 
 rupting hand-shakings. But when, having become 
 assured of Bobsey s safety, I rushed forward and 
 embraced Junior in a transport of gratitude, his lip 
 began to quiver, and two great tears mingled with 
 the water that was dripping from his hair. Suddenly 
 he broke away, took to his heels, and ran toward his 
 home, as if he had been caught in some mischief 
 
112 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 and the constable was after him. I believe that he 
 would rather have had at once all the strappings his 
 father had ever given him than to have cried in our 
 presence. 
 
 I carried Bobsey home, and his mother, with many 
 questionings and exclamations of thanksgiving, un 
 dressed the little fellow, wrapped him in flannel, and 
 put him to bed, where he was soon sleeping as 
 quietly as if nothing had happened. 
 
 Mrs. Jones came over, and we made her rubicund 
 face beam and grow more round, if possible, as we 
 all praised her boy. I returned with her, for I felt 
 that I wished to thank Junior again and again. But 
 he saw me coming, and slipped out at the back door. 
 Indeed, the brave, bashful boy was shy of us for 
 several days. When at last my wife got hold of 
 him, and spoke to him in a manner natural to 
 mothers, he pooh-poohed the whole affair. 
 
 "I ve swurn in that crick so often that it was 
 nothin to me. I only had to keep cool, and that was 
 easy enough in snow water, and the swift current 
 would keep us both up. I wish you wouldn t say 
 anything more about it. It kinder makes me feel 
 I don t know how all over, you know." 
 
 But Junior soon learned that we had adopted him 
 into our inmost hearts, although he compelled us to 
 show our good-will after his own off-hand fashion. 
 
 Sunday was ushered in with another storm, and 
 we spent a long, quiet, restful day, our hearts full of 
 thankfulness that the great sorrow, which might have 
 darkened the beginning of our country life, had been 
 so happily averted. 
 
JOHN JONES, JUN. 113 
 
 On Sunday night the wind veered around to the 
 north, and on Monday morning the sky had a clear 
 metallic hue and the ground was frozen hard. Bob- 
 sey had not taken cold, and was his former self, 
 except that he was somewhat chastened in spirit and 
 his bump of caution was larger. I was resolved that 
 the day should witness a good beginning of our spring 
 work, and told Winnie and Bobsey that they could 
 help me. Junior, although he yet avoided the house, 
 was ready enough to help Merton with the sap. 
 Therefore soon after breakfast we all were busy. 
 
 Around old country places, especially where there 
 has been some degree of neglect, much litter gath 
 ers. This was true of our new home and its surround 
 ings. Ail through the garden were dry, unsightly 
 weeds ; about the house was shrubbery that had 
 become tangled masses of unpruned growth ; in the 
 orchard the ground was strewn with fallen branches, 
 and I could see dead limbs on many of the trees. 
 
 Therefore I said to my two little helpers : " Here 
 in this open space in the garden we will begin our 
 brush-pile, and we will bring to it all the refuse that 
 we wish to burn. You see that we can make an 
 immense heap, for the place is so far away from any 
 buildings that, when the wind goes down, we can set 
 the pile on fire in safety, and the ashes will do the 
 garden good." 
 
 During the whole forenoon I pruned the shrub 
 bery, and raked up the rubbish which the children 
 carried by armfuls to our prospective bonfire. They 
 soon wished to see the blaze, but I told them that 
 the wind was too high, and that I did not propose to 
 
114 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN: 
 
 apply the match until we had a heap half as big as 
 the house ; that it might be several days before we 
 should be ready, for I intended to have a tremendous 
 fire. 
 
 Thus with the lesson of restraint was given the 
 hope of something wonderful. For a long time they 
 were pleased with the novelty of the work, and then 
 they wanted to do something else, but I said : " No, 
 no ; you are gardeners now, and I m head gardener. 
 You must both help me till dinner-time. After that 
 you can do something else, or play if you choose ; but 
 each day, even Bobsey must do some steady work to 
 earn his dinner. We didn t come to the country on 
 a picnic, I can tell you. All must do their best to 
 help make a living ; " and so without scruple I kept 
 my little squad busy, for the work was light, although 
 it had become monotonous. 
 
 Mousie sometimes aided her mother, and again 
 watched us from the window with great interest. I 
 rigged upon the barrow a rack, in which I wheeled 
 the rubbish gathered at a distance ; and by the time 
 my wife s mellow voice called, " Come to dinner " 
 how sweet her voice and summons were after long 
 hours in the keen March wind ! \vc had a pile much 
 higher than my head, and the place began to wear a 
 tidy aspect. 
 
 Such appetites, such red cheeks and rosy noses as 
 the outdoor workers brought to that plain meal ! 
 Mousie was much pleased with the promise that 
 the bonfire should not be lighted until some still, 
 mild day when she could go out and stand with me 
 beside it. 
 
JOHN JONES, JUN. 1 1 5 
 
 Merton. admitted that gathering the sap did not 
 keep him busy more than half the time ; so after 
 dinner I gave him a hatchet, and told him to go on 
 with the trimming out of the fallen branches in our 
 wood lot, a task that I had begun, and to carry 
 all wood heavy enough for our fireplace to a spot 
 where it could be put into a wagon. 
 
 "Your next work, Merton, will be to collect all 
 your refuse trimmings, and the brush lying about, 
 into a few great heaps ; and by and by we ll burn 
 these, too, and gather up the ashes carefully, for I ve 
 read and heard all my life that there is nothing bet 
 ter for fruit than wood-ashes. Some day, I hope, we 
 can begin to put money in the bank ; for I intend to 
 give all a chance to earn money for themselves, after 
 they have done their share toward our general effort 
 to live and thrive. The next best thing to putting 
 money in the bank is the gathering and saving of 
 everything that will make the ground richer. In 
 fact, all the papers and books that I ve read this 
 winter agree that as the farmer s land grows rich he 
 grows rich." 
 
Jl6 DRIVEN BACK TO ED EM 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 RASPBERRY LESSONS. 
 
 IT must be remembered that I had spent all my 
 leisure during the winter in reading and studying 
 the problem of our country life. Therefore I knew 
 that March was the best month for pruning trees, 
 and I had gained a fairly correct idea how to do this 
 work. Until within the last two or three years of 
 his life, old Mr. Jamison had attended to this task 
 quite thoroughly ; and thus little was left for me 
 beyond sawing away the boughs that had recently 
 died, and cutting out the useless sprouts on the larger 
 limbs. Before leaving the city I had provided my 
 self with such tools as I was sure I should need ; 
 and finding a ladder under a shed, I attacked the 
 trees vigorously. The wind had almost died out, 
 and I knew I must make the most of all still days in 
 this gusty month. After playing around for a time s 
 Winnie and Bobsey concluded that gathering and 
 piling up my prunings would be as good fun as any* 
 thing else ; and so I had helpers again. 
 
 By the middle of the afternoon Mr. Jones ap 
 peared, and I was glad to see him, for there were 
 some kinds of work about which I wanted his advice. 
 
RASPBERRY LESSONS. 
 
 At one end of the garden were several rows of black 
 cap raspberry bushes, which had grown into an awful 
 snarl. The old canes that had borne fruit the pre 
 vious season were still standing, ragged and unsight 
 ly ; the new stalks that would bear the coming season 
 sprawled in every direction ; and I had found that 
 many tips of the branches had grown fast in the 
 ground. I took my neighbor to see this briery wil 
 derness, and asked his advice. 
 
 " Have you got a pair of pruning-nippers ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 Before going to the house to get them, I blew a 
 shrill whistle to summon Merton, for I wished him 
 also to hear all that Mr. Jones might say. I carried 
 a little metallic whistle, one blast on which was 
 for Merton, two for Winnie, and three for Bobsey. 
 When they heard this call they, were to come as fast 
 as their feet could carry them. 
 
 Taking the nippers, Mr. Jones snipped off from 
 one-third to one half the length of the branches from 
 one of the bushes and cut out the old dead cane. 
 
 " I raise these berries myself for home use," he 
 said ; " and I can tell you they go nice with milk for 
 a July supper. You see, after taking off so much 
 from these long branches the canes stand straight 
 up, and will be self-supporting, no matter how many 
 berries they bear ; but here and there s a bush that 
 has grown slant-wise, or is broken off. Now, if I 
 was you, I d take a crowbar n make a hole longside 
 these weakly and slantin fellers, put in a stake, and 
 tie em up strong. Then, soon as the frost yields, if 
 you ll get out the grass and weeds that s started 
 
Il8 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 among em, you ll have a dozen bushel or more of 
 marketable berries from this ere wilderness, as you 
 call it. Give Merton a pair of old gloves, and he 
 can do most of the job. Every tip that s fast in 
 the ground is a new plant. If you want to set or.t 
 another patch, I ll show you how later on." 
 
 "I think I know pretty nearly how to do that/ 
 " Yes, yes, I know.- Books are a help, I s pose ; 
 but after you ve seen one plant set out right, you ll 
 know more than if you d a read a month." 
 
 " Well, now that you re here, Mr. Jones, I m going 
 to make the most of you. How about those other 
 raspberries off to the south-east of the house ? " 
 " Those are red ones. Let s take a look at ? em." 
 Having reached the patch, we found almost as bad 
 a tangle as in the black-cap patch, except that the 
 canes were more upright in their growth and less full 
 of spines or briers. 
 
 "It s plain enough," continued Mr. Jones, "that 
 old man Jamison was too poorly to take much care 
 of things last year. You see, these red raspberries 
 grow different from those black ones yonder. Those 
 increase by the tips of the branches takin root ; 
 these by suckers. All these young shoots comin 1 
 up between the rows are suckers, and they ought to 
 be dug out. As I said before, you can set them out 
 somewhere else if you want to. Dig em i?p, you 
 know ; make a trench in some out-of-the-way place, 
 and bury the roots till you want em. Like enough 
 the neighbors will buy some if they know you have 
 em to spare. Only be sure to cut these long canes 
 back to within six inches of the ground." 
 
RASPBERRY LESSONS. 1 19 
 
 "Yes," I said, "that s all just as I have read in 
 the books." 
 
 "So much the better for the books, then. I 
 haven t lived in this fruit-growin region all my life 
 without gettin some ideas as to what s what. I 
 give my mind to farmin ; but Jamison and I were 
 great cronies, and I used to be over here every day 
 or two, and so it s natural to keep comin ." 
 
 " That s my good luck." 
 
 "Well, p raps it ll turn out so. Now Merton s 
 just the right age to help you in all this work. Jam 
 ison, you see, grew these raspberries in a continuous 
 bushy row ; that is, say, three good strong canes 
 every eighteen inches apart in the row, and the rows 
 five feet apart, so he could run a horse-cultivator be 
 tween. Are you catchin on, Merton ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," said the boy, with much interest. 
 
 "Well, all these suckers and extra plants that are 
 swampin the ground are just as bad as weeds. Dig 
 em all out, only don t disturb the roots of the bear- 
 in canes you leave in the rows much." 
 
 " How about trimming these ?" I asked. 
 
 "Well, that depends. If you want early fruit, 
 you ll let em stand as they be ; if you want big ber 
 ries, you ll cut em back one-third. Let me see. 
 Here s five rows of Highland Hardy; miserable poor- 
 tastin kind ; but they come so early that they often 
 pay the best. Let them stand with their whole length 
 of cane, and if you can scatter a good top-dressin of 
 fine manure scraped up from the barn-yard, you ll 
 make the berries larger. Those other rows of Cuth- 
 bert, Reliance, and Turner, cut back the canes one- 
 
I2O DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 third, and you ll get a great deal more fruit than if 
 you left more wood on em. Cuttin back ll make 
 the berries big ; and so they ll bring as much, p raps, 
 as if they were early." 
 
 "Well, Merton, this all accords with what I ve 
 read, only Mr. Jones makes it much clearer. I think 
 we know how to go to work now, and surely there s 
 plenty to do." 
 
 "Yes, indeed," resumed Mr. Jones; "and you ll 
 soon find the work crowdin you. Now come to the 
 big raspberry patch back of the barn, the patch 
 where the canes are all laid down, as I told you. 
 These are Hudson River Antwerps. Most people 
 have gone out of em, but Jamison held on, and he 
 was makin money on em. So may you. They are 
 what we call tender, you see, and in November they 
 must be bent down close to the ground and covered 
 with earth, or else every cane would be dead from 
 frost by spring. About the first week in April, if 
 the weather s mild, you must uncover em, and tie 
 em to stakes durin the month." 
 
 "Now, Mr. Jones, one other good turn and we 
 won t bother you any more to-day. All the front of 
 the house is covered by two big grape -vines that 
 have not been trimmed, and there are a great many 
 other vines on the place. I ve read and read on the 
 subject, but I declare I m afraid to touch them." 
 
 " Now you re beyond my depth. I ve got a lot of 
 vines home, and I trim em in my rough way, but I 
 know I ain t scientific, and we have pretty poor, 
 scraggly bunches. They taste just as good, though, 
 and I don t raise any to sell. There s a clever man 
 
RASPBERRY LESSONS. 121 
 
 down near the landin who has a big vineyard, and 
 he s trimmed it as your vines ought to have been 
 long ago. I d advise you to go and see him, and he 
 can show you all the latest wrinkles in prunin . 
 Now, I ll tell you what I come for, in the first place. 
 You ll remember that I said there d be a vandoo 
 to-morrow. I ve been over and looked at the stock 
 offered. There s a lot of chickens, as I told you ; a 
 likely-looking cow with a calf at her side ; a fairish 
 and quiet old horse that ought to go cheap, but he d 
 answer well the first year. Do you think you ll get 
 more n one horse to start with ? " 
 
 " No ; you said I could hire such heavy ploughing 
 as was needed at a moderate sum, and I think we 
 can get along with one horse for a time. My plan is 
 to go slow, and, I hope, sure." 
 
 "That s the best way, only it ain t common. I ll 
 be around in the mornin for you and such of the 
 children as you ll take." 
 
 " On one condition, Mr. Jones. You must let me 
 pay you for your time and trouble. Unless you ll 
 do this in giving me my start, I ll have to paddle 
 my own canoe, even if I sink it." 
 
 "Oh, I ve no grudge against an honest penny 
 turned in any way that comes handy. You and I can 
 keep square as we go along. You can give me what 
 you think is right, and if I ain t satisfied, I ll say so." 
 
 I soon learned that my neighbor had no foolish 
 sensitiveness. I could pay him what I thought the 
 value of his services, and he pocketed the money 
 without a word. Of course, I could not pay him 
 what his advice was really worth, for his hard com 
 mon-sense stood me in good stead in many ways. 
 
122 DRIVEN BACK TO 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE next morning at about eight o clock Mr. 
 Jones arrived in a long farm-wagon on springs, 
 with one seat in it ; but Junior had half filled its 
 body with straw, and he said to Merton, " I thought 
 that, p raps, if you and the children could go, you d 
 like a straw-ride." 
 
 The solemnity with which Winnie and Bobsey 
 promised to obey orders gave some hope of per 
 formance ; so I tossed them into the straw, and we 
 drove away, a merry party, leaving Mousie consoled 
 with the hope of receiving something from the 
 vendue. 
 
 "There s allers changes and breakin s up in the 
 spring," said Mr. Jones, as we drove along; "and 
 this family s goin out West. Everything is to be 
 sold, in doors and out." 
 
 The farm-house in question was about two miles 
 away. By the time we arrived, all sorts of vehicles 
 were converging to it on the muddy roads, for^the 
 weather had become mild again. Stylish-looking 
 people drove up in top-buggies, and there were many 
 heavy, springless wagons driven by rusty-looking 
 
THE "VANDOO." 1.2} 
 
 countrymen, whose trousers were thrust into the tops 
 of their cowhide boots. I strolled through the house 
 before the sale began, thinking that I might find 
 something there which would please Mousie and my 
 wife. The rooms were already half filled with the 
 housewives from the vicinity ; red-faced Irish women, 
 who stalked about and examined everything with 
 great freedom ; placid, peach-cheeked dames in 
 Quaker bonnets, who softly cooed together, and took 
 every chance they could to say pleasant words to the 
 flurried, nervous family that was being thrust out 
 into the world, as it were, while still at their own 
 hearth. 
 
 I marked with my eye a low, easy sewing-chair for 
 my wife, and a rose geranium, full of bloom, for 
 Mousie, purposing to bid on them. I also observed 
 that Junior was examining several pots of flowers 
 that stood in the large south window. Then giving 
 Merton charge of the children, with directions not to 
 lose sight of them a moment, I went to the barn 
 yard and stable, feeling that the day was a criti 
 cal one in our fortunes. True enough, among the 
 other stock there was a nice-looking cow with a calf, 
 and Mr. Jones said she had Jersey blood in her veins. 
 This meant rich, creamy milk. I thought the animal 
 had a rather ugly eye, but this might be caused by 
 anxiety for her calf, with so many strangers about. 
 We also examined the old bay horse and a market 
 wagon and harness. Then Mr. Jones and I drew 
 apart and agreed upon the limit of his bids, for I pro 
 posed to act solely through him. Every one knew 
 him and was aware that he would not go a cent 
 
124 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 beyond what a thing was worth. H~ had a word and 
 a jest for all, and " How are YOU, JOHN ? " greeted 
 him wherever he went. 
 
 At ten o clock the sale began. The auctioneer 
 was a rustic humorist, who knew the practical value 
 of a joke in his business. Aware of the foibles and 
 characteristics of the people who flocked around and 
 after him, he provoked many a ripple and roar of 
 laughter by his telling hits and droll speeches. I 
 found that my neighbor, Mr. Jones, came in for his 
 full share, but he always sent back as good as he 
 received. The sale, in fact, had the aspect of a 
 country merry-making, at which all sorts and condi 
 tions of people met on common ground, Pat bidding 
 against the best of the landed gentry, while boys 
 and dogs innumerable played around and sometimes 
 verged on serious quarrels. 
 
 Junior, I observed, left his mark before the day 
 was over. He was standing, watching the sale with 
 his usual impassive expression, when a big, hulking 
 fellow leered into his face and cried, 
 
 " Tow-head, white-head, 
 Thick-head, go to bed." 
 
 The last word was scarcely out of his mouth before 
 Junior s fist was between his eyes, and down he went. 
 
 "Want any more?" Junior coolly asked, as the 
 fellow got up. 
 
 Evidently he didn t, for he slunk off, followed by 
 jeers and laughter. 
 
 At noon there was an immense pot of coffee, with 
 
THE 
 
 */R AUCTION SALS- 
 
126 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN". 
 
 crackers and cheese, placed on a table near the 
 kitchen door, and we had a free lunch. To this Bob- 
 sey paid his respects so industriously that a great, 
 gawky mountaineer looked down at him and said, 
 with a grin, " I say, young un, you re gettin out 
 side of more fodder than any critter of your size I 
 ever knowed." 
 
 " Tain t your fodder," replied Bobsey, who had 
 learned, in the streets, to be a little pert. 
 
 The day came to an end at last, and the cow and 
 calf, the old bay horse, the wagon, and the harness 
 were mine. On the whole, Mr. Jones had bought 
 them at reasonable rates. He also bid in for me, at 
 one dollar per pair, two cocks and twenty hens that 
 looked fairly well in their coop. 
 
 For my part, I had secured the chair and blooming 
 geranium. To my surprise, when the rest of the 
 flowers were sold, Junior took part in the bidding for 
 the first time, and, as a result, carried out to the 
 wagon several other pots of house-plants. 
 
 "Why, Junior," I said, "I didn t know you had 
 such an eye for beauty." 
 
 He blushed, but made no reply. 
 
 The chickens and the harness were put into Mr. 
 Jones s conveyance, the wagon I had bought was 
 tied on behind, and we jogged homeward, the children 
 exulting over our new possessions. When I took in 
 the geranium bush and put it on the table by the 
 sunny kitchen window, Junior followed with an arm 
 ful of his plants. 
 
 "They re for Mousie," he said; and before the 
 delighted child could thank him, he darted out. 
 
THE " VANDOO." 12? 
 
 Indeed, it soon became evident that Mousie was 
 Junior s favorite. She never said much to him, but 
 she looked a great deal To the little invalid girl 
 he seemed the embodiment of strength and clever 
 ness, and, perhaps because he was so strong, his 
 sympathies went out toward the feeble child. 
 
 The coop of chickens was carried to the basement 
 that we had made ready, and Winnie declared that 
 she meant to "hear the first crow and get the first 
 
 egg-" 
 
 The next day the horse and the cow and calf were 
 brought over, and we felt that we were fairly launched 
 in our country life. 
 
 " You have a bigger family to look after outdoors 
 than I have indoors," my wife said, laughingly. 
 
 I was not long in learning that some of my out 
 door family were anything but amiable. The two 
 cocks fought and fought until Junior, who had run 
 over before night, showed Merton that by ducking 
 their heads in cold water their belligerent spirit could 
 be partially quenched. Then he proceeded to give 
 me a lesson in milking. The calf was shut up away 
 from the cow, which was driven into a corner, where 
 she stood with signs of impatience while Junior, 
 seated on a three-legged stool, essayed to obtain the 
 nectar we all so dearly loved. At first he did not 
 succeed very well. 
 
 "She won t let it down she s keepin it for the 
 calf," said the boy. But at last she relented, and 
 the white streams flowed. "Now," said Junior to 
 me, "you see how I do it. You try." 
 
 As I took his place, I noted that Brindle turned 
 
12$ DRIVEN- BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 on me a vicious look. No doubt I was awkward and 
 hurt her a little, also ; for the first thing I knew the 
 pail was in the air, I on my back, and Brindle bel 
 lowing around the yard, switching her tail, Junior 
 and Merton meanwhile roaring with laughter. I got 
 up in no amiable mood and said, roughly, to the boys, 
 "Quit that nonsense." 
 
 But they couldn t obey, and at last I had to join in 
 the laugh. 
 
 "Why, she s ugly as sin," said Junior. "I ll tell 
 you what to do. Let her go with her calf now, and 
 in the morning we ll drive her down to one of the 
 stalls in the basement of the barn and fasten her by 
 the head. Then we can milk her without risk. 
 After her calf is gone she ll be a great deal tamer." 
 
 This plan was carried out, and it worked pretty 
 well, although it was evident that, from some cause, 
 the cow was wild and vicious. One of my theories 
 is, that all animals can be subdued by kindness. Mr. 
 Jones advised me to dispose of Brindle, but I deter 
 mined to test my theory first. Several times a day 
 I would go to the barn-yard and give her a carrot or a 
 wisp of hay from my hand, and she gradually became 
 accustomed to me, and would come at my call. A 
 week later I sold her calf to a butcher, and for a 
 few days she lowed and mourned deeply, to Mousie s 
 great distress. But carrots consoled her, and within 
 three weeks she would let me stroke her, and both 
 Merton and I could milk her without trouble. I 
 believe she had been treated harshly by her former 
 owners. 
 
EARLY APRIL GARDENING. 1 29 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 EARLY APRIL GARDENING. 
 
 SPRING was coming on apace, and we all made 
 the most of every pleasant hour. The second 
 day after the auction proved a fine one ; and leaving 
 Winnie and Merton in charge of the house, I took 
 my wife, with Bobsey and Mousie, who was well 
 bundled up, to see the scientific grape-grower, and to 
 do some shopping. At the same time, we assured 
 ourselves that we were having a pleasure-drive ; and 
 it did me good to see how the mother and daughter, 
 who had been kept indoors so long, enjoyed them 
 selves. Mr. Jones was right. I received better and 
 clearer ideas of vine-pruning in half an hour from 
 studying work that had been properly done, and by 
 asking questions of a practical man, than I could 
 ever have obtained by reading. We found that the 
 old bay horse jogged along, at as good a gait as we 
 could expect, over the muddy road, and I was satis 
 fied that he was quiet enough for my wife to drive 
 him after she had learned how, and gained a little 
 confidence. She held the reins as we drove home, 
 and, in our own yard, I gave her some lessons in 
 turning around, backing, etc. 
 
I3O DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "Some day," I said, "you shall have a carriage 
 and a gay young horse." 
 
 When we sat down to supper, I was glad to see 
 that a little color was dawning in Mousie s face. 
 
 The bundles we brought home supplemented our 
 stores of needful articles, and our life began to take 
 on a regular routine. The carpenter came and put up 
 the shelves, and made such changes as my wife de 
 sired ; then he aided me in repairing the out-buildings. 
 I finished pruning the trees, while Merton worked 
 manfully at the raspberries, for we saw that this was 
 a far more pressing task than gathering wood, whicji 
 could be done to better advantage in the late autumn. 
 Every morning Winnie and Bobsey were kept stead 
 ily busy in carrying our trimmings to the brush heap, 
 which now began to assume vast proportions, espe 
 cially as the refuse from the grape-vines and raspberry 
 bushes was added to it. As the ground became 
 settled after the frost was out, I began to set the 
 stakes by the side of such raspberry canes as needed 
 tying up ; and here was a new light task for the two 
 younger children. Bobsey s little arms could go 
 around the canes and hold them close to the stake, 
 while Winnie, a sturdy child, quickly tied them with 
 a coarse, cheap string that I had bought for the pur 
 pose. Even my wife came out occasionally and 
 helped us at this work. By the end of the last week 
 in March I had all the fruit-trees fairly pruned and 
 the grape-vines trimmed and tied up, and had given 
 Merton much help among the raspberries. In shal 
 low boxes of earth on the kitchen table, cabbage, let 
 tuce, and tomato seeds were sprouting beside Mousie s 
 
EARLY APRIL GARDENING. 131 
 
 plants. The little girl hailed with delight every yel 
 lowish green germ that appeared above the soil. 
 
 The hens had spent the first few days in inspect 
 ing their quarters and becoming familiar with them ; 
 but one morning there was a noisy cackle, and Win 
 nie soon came rushing in with three fresh-laid eggs. 
 A week later we had all we could use, and my wife 
 began to put some by for the first brooding biddies 
 to sit upon. 
 
 The first day of April promised to be unusually 
 dry and warm, and I said at the breakfast table : 
 " This is to be a great day. We ll prove that we are 
 not April-fools by beginning our garden. I was 
 satisfied yesterday that a certain warm slope was dry 
 enough to dig and plant with hardy vegetables, and 
 I ve read and studied over and over again which to 
 plant first, and how to plant them. I suppose I shall 
 make mistakes, but I wish you all to see how I do it, 
 and then by next spring we shall have learned from 
 experience how to do better. No doubt, some things 
 might have been planted before, but we ve all been 
 too busy. Now, Merton, you go and harness old Bay 
 to the cart I bought with the place, and I ll get out 
 my treasure of seeds. Mousie, by ten o clock, if the 
 sun keeps out of the clouds, you can put on your 
 rubbers and join us." 
 
 Soon all was bustle and excitement. Among rrn 
 seeds were two quarts of red and two of white onion, 
 sets, or little bits of onions, which I had kept in a 
 cool place, so that they should not sprout before their 
 time. These I took out first. Then with Merton I 
 went to the barn-yard and loaded up the cart with 
 
132 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEJV. 
 
 the finest and most decayed manure we could find, 
 and this was dumped on the highest part of the slope 
 that I meant to plant. 
 
 " Now, Merton, I guess you can get another load, 
 while I spread this heap and begin to dig ; " and he 
 went off with the horse and cart, having an increased 
 idea of his importance. I marked a long strip of the 
 sunny slope, fifteen feet wide, and spread the manure 
 evenly and thickly, for I had read, and my own sense 
 confirmed the view, that a little ground well enriched 
 would yield more than a good deal of poor land. I 
 then dug till my back ached ; and I found that it 
 began to ache pretty soon, for I was not accustomed 
 to such toil. 
 
 "After the first seeds are in," I muttered, "I ll 
 have the rest of the garden ploughed." 
 
 When I had dug down about four feet of the strip, 
 I concluded to rest myself by a change of labor ; so I 
 took the rake and smoothed off the ground, stretched 
 a garden line across it, and, with a sharp-pointed hoe, 
 made a shallow trench, or drill. 
 
 "Now, Winnie and Bobsey," I said, "it is time for 
 you to do your part. Just stick these little onions 
 in the trench about four inches apart ; " and I gave 
 each of them a little stick of the right length to 
 measure the distance ; for they had vague ideas of 
 four inches. " Be sure," I continued, "that you get 
 the bottom of the onion down. This is the top, and 
 this is the bottom. Press the onion in the soil just 
 enough to make it stand firm, so. That s right. Oh, 
 you re learning fast. Now I can rest, you see, while 
 you do the planting." 
 
134 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 In a few moments they had stuck the fifteen feet 
 of shallow trench, or drill, full of onions, which I 
 covered with earth, packing it lightly with my hoe. 
 I then moved the line fourteen inches farther down 
 and made another shallow drill. In khis way we soon 
 had all the onion sets in the ground. Merton came 
 back with his load in time to see how it was done, 
 and nodded his head approvingly. I now felt rested 
 enough to dig awhile, and Merton started off to the 
 barn-yard again. We next sowed, in even shallower 
 drills, the little onion seed that looked like gun 
 powder, for my garden book said that the earlier this 
 was planted the better. We had completed only 
 a few rows when Mr. Jones appeared, and said : 
 " Plantin* onions here ? Why, neighbor, this ground 
 is too dry and light for onions." 
 
 " Is it ? Well, I knew I d make mistakes. I 
 haven t used near all my onion seed yet, however." 
 
 "Oh, well, no great harm s done. You ve made 
 the ground rich, and, if we have a moist season, like 
 enough they ll do well. P raps it s the best thing, 
 after all, specially if you ve put in the seed thick, as 
 most people do. Let em all grow, and you ll have 
 a lot of little onions, or sets, of your own raisin to 
 plant early next spring. Save the rest of your seed 
 until you have some rich, strong, deep soil ready. I 
 came over to say that if this weather holds a day or 
 two longer I ll plough the garden ; and I thought I d 
 tell you, so that you might get ready for me. The 
 sooner you get your early pertaters in the better." 
 
 "Your words almost take the ache out of my 
 back," I said. " I feir we shouldn t have much of a 
 
EARLY APRIL GARDENING. 135 
 
 garden if I had to dig it all, but I thought I d make 
 a beginning with a few early vegetables." 
 
 " That s well enough, but a plough beats a fork all 
 hollow. You ll know what I mean when you see my 
 plough going down to the beam and loosenin the 
 ground from fifteen to twenty inches. So burn your 
 big brush-pile, and get out what manure you re goin 
 to put on the garden, and I ll be ready when you 
 are." 
 
 "All right. Thank you. I ll just plant some 
 radishes, peas, and beans." 
 
 "Not beans yet, Mr. Durham. Don t put those 
 in till the last of the month, and plant them very 
 shallow when you do." 
 
 " How one forgets when there s not much experi 
 ence to fall back upon ! I now remember that my 
 book said that beans, in this latitude, should not be 
 planted until about the 1st of May." 
 
 "And lima beans not till the loth of May," added 
 Mr. Jones. " You might put in a few early beets 
 here, although the ground is rather light for em. 
 You could put your main crop somewhere else. 
 Well, let me know when you are ready. Junior and 
 me are drivin things, too, this mornin ; " and he 
 stalked away, whistling a hymn-tune in rather lively 
 time. 
 
 I said : " Youngsters, I think I ll get my garden 
 book and be sure I m right about sowing the radish 
 and beet seed and the peas. Mr. Jones has rather 
 shaken my confidence." 
 
 When Merton came with the next load I told him 
 that he could put the horse in the stable and help 
 
136 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 us. As a result, we soon had several rows of rad 
 ishes and beets sown, fourteen inches apart. We 
 planted the seed only an inch deep, and packed the 
 ground lightly over it. Mousie, to her great delight, 
 was allowed to drop a few of the seeds. Merton 
 was ambitious to take the fork, but I soon stopped 
 him, and said : " Digging is too heavy work for you, 
 my boy. There is enough that you can do without 
 overtaxing yourself. We must all act like good sol 
 diers. The campaign of work is just opening, and 
 it would be very foolish for any of us to disable our 
 selves at the start. We ll plant only half a dozen 
 rows of these dwarf peas this morning, and then this 
 afternoon we ll have the bonfire and get ready for 
 Mr. Jones s plough." 
 
 At the prospect of the bonfire the younger chil 
 dren set up shouts of exultation, which cheered me 
 on as I turned over the soil with the fork, although 
 often stopping to rest. My back ached, but my 
 heart was light. In my daily work now I had all 
 my children about me, and their smaller hands were 
 helping in the most practical way. Their voices 
 were as joyous as the notes of the robins, song-spar 
 rows, and bluebirds that were singing all about us. 
 A soft haze half obscured the mountains, and mel 
 lowed the sunshine. From the springing grass and 
 fresh-turned soil came odors sweet as those which 
 made Eden fragrant after " a mist went up from the 
 earth and watered the whole face of the ground." 
 
 All the children helped to plant the peas, which 
 we placed carefully and evenly, an inch apart, in the 
 row, and covered with two inches of soil, the rows 
 
EARLY APRIL GARDENING. 1J 
 
 being two feet distant one from another. I had de 
 cided to plant chiefly McLean s Little Gem, because 
 they needed no stakes or brush for support. We 
 were almost through our task when, happening to 
 look toward the house, I saw my wife standing in 
 the doorway, a framed picture. 
 
 "Dinner," she called, in a voice as sweet to me a? 
 that of the robin singing in a cherry-tree over her 
 head. 
 
 The children stampeded for the house, Winnie 
 crying : " Hurry up, mamma, for right after dinner- 
 papa will set the great brush-pile on fire, and we re 
 going to dance round it like Indians. You must 
 come out, too." 
 
138 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A BONFIRE AND A FEAST. 
 
 F amused and interested me to see upon the chil 
 dren s fkces such an eager expectancy as they 
 hurried through our midday meal. Nothing greater 
 than a bonfire was in prospect, yet few costly pleas- 
 ures could have afforded them such excitement. I 
 found myself sharing in their anticipation to a degree 
 that surprised me, and was led to ask myself why it 
 is that outdoor pursuits often take so strong a hold 
 upon the fancy. I recalled traits shown by one of 
 my former employers. He was a gray-headed man, 
 possessing great wealth and an elegant city home, 
 while his mind was occupied by a vast and compli 
 cated business. When he learned that I was going 
 to the country, he would often come to me, and, with 
 kindling eyes and animated tones, talk of his chick 
 ens, cows, fruit-trees, and crops. He proved that 
 the best product of his *arm was the zest it brought 
 into his life, a zest that was failing in his other 
 occupations and interests. What was true of him I 
 knew to be equally so of many others to whom 
 wealth brings no greater luxury than the ability to 
 indulge in expensive farming. A lifetime in the city 
 
A BOiVFIRE AND A FEAST. 139 
 
 does not destroy the primal instinct which leads men 
 to the soil, nor does a handsome dividend from 
 stocks give the unalloyed pleasure awakened by a 
 basket of fresh eggs or fruit. This love of the earth 
 is not earthiness, but has been the characteristic of 
 the best and greatest minds. Washington would 
 turn from the anxieties of a campaign and the bui 
 dens of state to read, with absorbing interest, the 
 reports of the agent who managed his plantation, 
 and to write out the minutest details for the over 
 seer s guidance. 
 
 In my limited way and sphere I was under the 
 influence of the same impulses ; and, as I looked 
 around the table at those so dear to me, I felt that I 
 had far more at stake. I had not come back to 
 Nature merely to amuse myself or to gratify a taste, 
 but to co-work with her in fulfilling the most sacred 
 duties. With the crops of the coming years these 
 children must be nourished and fitted for their part 
 in life, and I felt that all my faculties must be em 
 ployed to produce the best results from my open-air 
 toil. 
 
 Therefore, why should not I also be interested in 
 the prospective bonfire ? It would transmute the 
 unsightly rubbish of the place into fertilizing ashes, 
 and clear the ground for the plough. The mellow 
 soil would produce that which would give brain and 
 muscle life to those whose lives were dear. 
 
 He who spreads his table with food secured by 
 his own hands direct from nature should feel a strong 
 incentive to do his best. The coarse, unvaried diet, 
 common to many farmers homes, is the result of 
 
I4O DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 stolid minds and plodding ways. A better manhood 
 and womanhood will be developed when we act upon 
 the truth that varied and healthful sustenance inv 
 proves blood and brain, and therefore character. 
 
 I was growing abstracted, when my wife remarked, 
 " Robert, will you deign to come back from a remote 
 region of thought and take some rice pudding ? " 
 
 " You may all fare the better for my thoughts/ I 
 replied. 
 
 The children, however, were bolting their pudding 
 at railroad speed, and I perceived that the time 
 demanded action. Winnie and Bobsey wished me 
 to light the fire at once, but I said : " No, not till 
 mamma and Mousie are ready to come out. You 
 must stay and help them clear away the things. 
 When all is ready, you two shall start the blaze." 
 
 Very soon we were all at the brush-pile, which 
 towered above our heads, and I said : " Merton, it 
 will burn better if we climb over it and trample it 
 down a little. It is too loose now. While we do 
 this, Winnie and Bobsey can gather dry grass and 
 weeds that will take fire quickly. Now, which way 
 is the wind ? " 
 
 "There isn t any wind, papa," Merton replied. 
 
 " Let us see. Put your forefingers in your mouths, 
 all of you, then hold them up and note which side 
 feels the coolest." 
 
 "This side ! " cried one and another. 
 
 " Yes ; and this side is toward the west ; there 
 fore, Winnie, put the dry grass here on the western 
 side of the heap, and what air is stirring will carry 
 the blaze through the pile." 
 
142 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 Little hands that trembled with eagerness soon 
 held lighted matches to the dry grass ; there was a 
 yellow flicker in the sunshine, then a blaze, a crackle,, 
 a devouring rush of flames that mounted higher and 
 higher until, with the surrounding column of smoke, 
 there was a conflagration which, at night, would have 
 alarmed the country-side. The children at first 
 gazed with awe upon the scene as they backed far 
 ther away from the increasing heat. Our beacon-fire 
 drew Junior, who came bounding over the fences 
 toward us ; and soon he and Merton began to see 
 how near they could dash in toward the blaze with 
 out being scorched. I soon stopped this. 
 
 " Show your courage, Merton, when there is need 
 of it," I said. " Rash venturing is not bravery, but 
 foolishness, and often costs people dear." 
 
 When the pile sank down into glowing embers, I 
 turned to Bobsey, and added : " I have let you light 
 a fire under my direction. Never think of doing 
 anything of the kind without my permission, for if 
 you do, you will certainly sit in a chair, facing the 
 wall, all day long, with nothing to cheer you but 
 bread and water and a sound whipping. There is 
 one thing which you children must learn from the 
 start, and that is, you can t play with fire except 
 under my eyes." 
 
 At this direful threat Bobsey looked as grave as 
 his round little face permitted, and, with the mem 
 ory of his peril in the creek fresh in mind, was ready 
 enough with the most solemn promises. A circle of 
 unburned brush was left around the embers. This I 
 raked in on the hot coals, and soon all was consumed. 
 
A BONFIRE AND A FEAST. 143 
 
 " Now I have a suggestion," cried my wife. " We ll 
 have some roast potatoes, for here are lots of hot 
 coals and ashes." Away scampered Winnie to the 
 cellar for the tubers. Our bonfire ended in a feast, 
 and then the ashes were spread far and wide. When 
 these exciting events were past, Winnie and Bobsey 
 amused themselves in other ways, Mousie venturing 
 to stay with them while the sun remained high. 
 Merton and I, meanwhile, put the horse to the cart 
 and covered all the ground, especially the upper and 
 poorer portions, with a good dressing from the barn 
 yard. 
 
 In the evening, Junior gave Merton a good hint 
 about angle-worms. " Follow the plough," he said, 
 "and pick em up and put em in a tight box. Then 
 sink the box in a damp place and nearly fill it with 
 fine earth, and you always have bait ready when you 
 want to go a-fishing. After a few more warm days 
 the fish will begin to bite first-rate." 
 
 Early the next morning, Mr. Jones was on hand 
 with his stout team, and, going twice in every fur- 
 row, he sunk his plough to the beam. " When you 
 loosen the soil deep in this style," he said, "ye 
 needn t be afraid of dry weather unless it s an amaz- 
 in long spell. Why, bless you, Mr. Durham, there s 
 farmers around here who don t scratch their ground 
 much deeper than an old hen would, and they re 
 always groanin over droughts. If I can get my 
 plough down eighteen inches, and then find time to 
 stir the surface often in the growin season, I ain t 
 afraid of a month of dry weather." 
 
 We followed Mr. Jones for a few turns around the 
 
144 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEK 
 
 garden, I inhaling the fresh wholesome odors of the 
 soil with pleasure, and Merton and the two younger 
 children picking up angle-worms. 
 
 Our neighbor soon paused, and resumed : " I guess 
 I ll give you a hint that ll add bushels of pertaters to 
 yer crop. After I ve ploughed the garden, I ll furrow 
 out deep a lot of rows, three feet apart. Let Merton 
 take a hoe and scrape up the fine old manure in the 
 barn-yard. Don t use any other kind. Then sprin 
 kle it thickly in the furrows, and draw your hoe 
 through em to mix the fertilizer well with the soil. 
 Drop your seed then, eight inches apart in the row, 
 and cover with four inches of dirt. One can t do 
 this very handy by the acre, but I ve known such 
 treatment to double the crop and size of the pertaters 
 in a garden or small patch." 
 
 I took the hint at once, and set Merton at work, 
 saying that Winnie and Bobsey could gather all the 
 worms he wanted. Then I went for a half-bushel of 
 early potatoes, and Mr. Jones showed me how to cut 
 them so as to leave at least two good "eyes" to each 
 piece. Half an hour later it occurred to me to see 
 how Merton was getting on. I found him perspiring, 
 and almost panting with fatigue, and my conscience 
 smote me. " There, my boy," I said, "this is too 
 hard work for you. Come with me and I ll show 
 you how to cut the potatoes. But first go into the 
 house, and cool off while you drink a glass of milk." 
 
 "Well, papa," he replied, gratefully, "I wouldn t 
 mind a change like that. I didn t want you to think 
 I was shirking, but, to tell the truth, I was getting 
 played out." 
 
A BONFIRE AND A FEAST. 145 
 
 "Worked out, you mean. It s not my wish that 
 you should ever be either played or worked out, nor 
 will you if you take play and work in the right 
 degree. Remember," I added, seriously, "that you 
 are a growing boy, and it s not my intention to put 
 you at anything beyond your strength. If, in my 
 inexperience, I do give you too hard work, tell me at 
 once. There s plenty to do that won t overtax you." 
 
 So we exchanged labors, and by the time the gar 
 den was ploughed and the furrows were made I had 
 scraped up enough fine material in the barn-yard to 
 give my tubers a great start. I varied my labor with 
 lessons in ploughing, for running in my head was an 
 "old saw" to the effect that "he who would thrive 
 must both hold the plough and drive." 
 
 The fine weather lasted long enough for us to 
 plant our early potatoes in the most approved fashion, 
 and then came a series of cold, wet days and frosty 
 nights. Mr. Jones assured us that the vegetable 
 seeds already in the ground would receive no harm. 
 At such times as were suitable for work we finished 
 trimming and tying up the hardy raspberries, clean 
 ing up the barn-yard, and carting all the fertilizers 
 we could find to the land that we meant to cultivate. 
 
146 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 "NO BLIND DRIFTING." 
 
 ONE long, stormy day, I prepared an account- 
 book. On its left-hand pages I entered the 
 cost of the place and all expenses thus far incurred. 
 The right-hand pages were for records of income, as 
 yet small indeed. They consisted only of the pro 
 ceeds from the sale of the calf, the eggs that Winnie 
 gathered, and the milk measured each day, all valued 
 at the market price. I was resolved that there should 
 be no blind drifting toward the breakers of failure, 
 that at the end of the year we should know whether 
 we had made progress, stood still, or gone backward. 
 My system of keeping the accounts was so simple that 
 I easily explained it to my wife, Merton, and Mousie, 
 for I believed that, if they followed the effort at 
 country living understandingly, they would be more 
 willing to practise the self-denial necessary for suc 
 cess. Indeed, I had Merton write out most of the 
 items, even though the record, as a result, was not 
 very neat. I stopped his worrying over blots and 
 errors, by saying, " You are of more account than 
 the account-book, and will learn by practice to be as 
 accurate as any one. * 
 
"NO BLIND DRIFTING." 
 
 My wife and Mousie also started another book of 
 household expenses, that we might always know just 
 where we stood and what our prospects were. 
 
 Weeks would elapse before our place would be 
 food-producing to any great extent. In the mean 
 time, we must draw chiefly on our capital in order to 
 live. Winifred and I resolved to meet this necessity 
 in no careless way, feeling that not a penny should 
 be spent which might be saved. The fact that I had 
 only my family to support was greatly in our favor. 
 There was no kitchen cabinet, that ate much and 
 wasted more, to satisfy. Therefore, our revenue of 
 eggs and milk went a long way toward meeting the 
 problem. We made out a list of cheap, yet whole 
 some, articles of food, and found that we could buy 
 oatmeal at four cents per pound, Indian meal at two 
 and a half cents, rice at eight cents, samp at four, 
 mackerel at nine, pork at twelve, and ham at fifteen 
 cents. The last two articles were used sparingly, 
 and more as relishes and for flavoring than as food. 
 Flour happened to be cheap at the time, the best 
 costing but seven dollars a barrel ; of vegetables, we 
 had secured abundance at slight cost ; and the ap 
 ples still added the wholesome element of fruit. A 
 butcher drove his wagon to our door three times a 
 week and, for cash, would give us, at very reasonable 
 rates, certain cuts of beef and mutton. These my wife 
 conjured into appetizing dishes and delicious soups. 
 
 Thus it can be seen that we had a varied diet at a 
 surprisingly small outlay. Such details may appear 
 to some very homely, yet our health and success 
 depended largely upon thoughtful attention to just 
 
148 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 such prosaic matters. The children were growing 
 plump and ruddy at an expense less than would be 
 incurred by one or two visits from a fashionable 
 physician in the city. 
 
 In the matter of food, I also gave more thought to 
 my wife s time and strength than to the little peo 
 ple s wishes. While we had variety and abundance, 
 we did not have many dishes at any one meal. 
 
 "We shall not permit mamma to be over the hot 
 range any more than is necessary," I said. " She 
 and Mousie must give us, from day to day, what 
 costs little in time as well as money." 
 
 Fortunately, plain, wholesome food does not require 
 much time in preparation. There would be better 
 health in many homes if there was more economy in 
 labor. For instance, the children at first clamored 
 for griddle-cakes, but I said, "Isn t it nicer to have 
 mamma sit down quietly with us at breakfast than to 
 see her running back and forth from the hot stove ? " 
 and even Bobsey, though rather ruefully, voted 
 against cakes, except on rare occasions. 
 
 The wash-tub I forbade utterly, and the services 
 of a stout Irishwoman were secured for one day in 
 the week. Thus, by a little management, my wife 
 was not overtaxed. Indeed, she had so much leisure 
 that she and Mousie began giving Winnie and Bob 
 sey daily lessons, for we had decided that the chil 
 dren should not go to school until the coming 
 autumn. Early in April, therefore, our country life 
 was passing into a quiet routine, not burdensome, at 
 least within doors ; and I justly felt that if all were 
 well in the citadel of home, the chances of the out 
 door campaign were greatly improved. 
 
LESSONS. 
 
 I 49 
 
15O DRIVEN BACK TO EDE& 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 OWLS AND ANTWERPS. 
 
 EACH day at dawn, unless it was stormy, Merton 
 patrolled the place with his gun, looking for 
 hawks and other creatures which at this season he 
 was permitted to shoot. He had quite as serious 
 and important an air as if he were sallying forth to 
 protect us from deadlier foes. For a time he saw 
 nothing to fire at, since he had promised me not to 
 shoot harmless birds. He always indulged himself, 
 however, in one shot at a mark, and was becoming 
 sure in his aim at stationary objects. One evening, 
 however, when we were almost ready to retire, a 
 strange sound startled us. At first it reminded me 
 of the half-whining bark of a young dog, but the 
 deep, guttural trill that followed convinced me that 
 it was a screech-owl, for I remembered having heard 
 these birds when a boy. 
 
 The moment I explained the sound, Merton darted 
 for his gun, and my wife exclaimed : " O clear ! what 
 trouble is coming now? Mother always said that the 
 hooting of an owl near a house was a bad omen." 
 
 I did not share in the superstition, although I dis 
 liked the uncanny sounds, and was under the impret- 
 
OWLS AND ANTWERPS. 
 
 sion that all owls, 
 like hawks, should 
 be destroyed. There- 
 fore, I followed Mer- 
 ton out, hoping that 
 
 the 
 
 moonlight il 
 lumined everything 
 soft, mild 
 and the 
 
 with their 
 tracery of bough and 
 twig, stood out dis 
 tinctly. Before we 
 could discover the 
 creature, it flew with 
 noiseless wing from 
 a maple near the door 
 to another perch up 
 the lane, and again ut 
 tered its weirr] notes. 
 
152 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 Merton was away like a swift shadow, and, screen 
 ing himself behind the fence, stole upon his game. 
 A moment later the report rang out in the still night. 
 It so happened that Merton had fired just as the bird 
 was about to fly, and had only broken a wing. The 
 owl fell to the ground, but led the boy a wild 
 pursuit before he was captured. Merton s hands 
 were bleeding when he brought the creature in. 
 Unless prevented, it would strike savagely with its 
 beak, and the motions of its head were as quick as 
 lightning. It was, indeed, a strange captive, and 
 the children looked at it in wondering and rathef 
 fearful curiosity. My wife, usually tender-hearted, 
 wished the creature, so ill-omened in her eyes, to be 
 killed at once, but I granted Merton s request that 
 he might put it in a box and keep it alive for a while. 
 
 "In the morning," I said, "we will read all about 
 it, and can examine it more carefully." 
 
 My wife yielded, and I am not sure but that she 
 thought we might avert misfortune by showing 
 mercy. 
 
 Among my purchases was a recent work on natural 
 history. But our minds had been engrossed with too 
 many practical questions to give it much attention. 
 Next morning we consulted it, and found our captive 
 variously described as the little red, the mottled, or 
 the screech owl. Then followed an account of its 
 character and habits. We learned that we had made 
 war upon a useful friend, instead of an ill-boding, 
 harmful creature. We were taught that this species 
 is a destroyer of mice, beetles, and vermin, thus ren 
 dering the agriculturist great services, which, how- 
 
OWLS AND ANTWERPS. 153 
 
 , are so little known that the bird is everywhere 
 hunted down without mercy or justice. 
 
 " Surely, this is not true of all owls," I said, and 
 by reading further we learned that the barred, or 
 hoot owl, and the great horned owl, were deserving 
 of a surer aim of Merton s gun. They prey not only 
 upon useful game, but also invade the poultry-yard, 
 the horned species being especially destructive. In 
 stances were given in which these freebooters had 
 killed every chicken upon a farm. As they hunt only 
 at night, they are hard to capture. Their notes and 
 natures are said to be in keeping with their deeds of 
 darkness ; for their cry is wild, harsh, and unearthly, 
 while in temper they are cowardly, savage, and un 
 tamable, showing no affection even for each other. 
 A female has been known to kill and eat the male. 
 
 "The moral of this owl episode," I concluded, "is 
 that we must learn to know our neighbors, be they 
 birds, beasts, or human beings, before we judge them. 
 This book is not only full of knowledge, but of infor 
 mation that is practical and useful. I move that we 
 read up about the creatures in our vicinity. What 
 do you say, Merton ? wouldn t it be well to learn 
 what to shoot, as well as how to shoot ? " 
 
 Protecting his hands with buckskin gloves, the boy 
 applied mutton suet to our wounded owl s wing. It 
 was eventually healed, and the bird was given its 
 liberty. It gradually became sprightly and tame, 
 and sociable in the evening, affording the children 
 and Junior much amusement. 
 
 By the /th of April there was a prospect of warmer 
 and more settled weather, and Mr. Jones told us to 
 
154 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN". 
 
 lose no time in uncovering our Antwerp raspberries. 
 They had been bent down close to the ground the 
 previous winter and covered with earth. To remove 
 this without breaking the canes, required careful and 
 skilful work. We soon acquired the knack, however, 
 of pushing and throwing aside the soil, then lifting 
 the canes gently through what remained, and shak 
 ing them clear. 
 
 " Be careful to level the ground evenly," Mr. Jones 
 warned us, " for it won t do at all to leave hummocks 
 of dirt around the hills ; " and we followed his in 
 structions. 
 
 The canes were left until a heavy shower of rain 
 washed them clean ; then Winnie and Bobsey tied 
 them up. We gave steady and careful attention to 
 the Antwerps, since they would be our main depend 
 ence for income. I also raked in around the hills 
 of one row a liberal dressing of wood ashes, intend 
 ing to note its effect. 
 
COUNTRY SUNDAY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 A COUNTRY SUNDAY. 
 
 TTITHERTO the Sabbaths had been stormy and 
 1 1 the roads bad, and we had given the days to 
 rest and family sociability. But at last there came 
 a mild, sunny morning, and we resolved to find a 
 church-home. I had heard that Dr. Lyman, who 
 preached in the nearest village, had the faculty of 
 keeping young people awake. Therefore we har 
 nessed the old bay-horse to our market-wagon, 
 donned our "go-ter-meetin s," as Junior called his 
 Sunday clothes, and started. Whatever might be the 
 result of the sermon, the drive promised to do us 
 good. The tender young grass by the roadside, and 
 the swelling buds of trees, gave forth delicious odors ; 
 a spring haze softened the outline of the mountains, 
 and made them almost as beautiful as if clothed with 
 foliage ; robins, song-sparrows, and other birds were 
 so tuneful that Mousie said she wished they might 
 form the choir at the church. Indeed, the glad 
 spirit of Spring was abroad, and it found its way into 
 our hearts. We soon learned that it entered largely 
 also into Dr. Lynaan s sermon. We were not treated 
 as strangers and intruders, but welcomed and shown 
 
DRIVEN BACK: TO EDSM 
 
 to a pew in a way that made us feel at home. I dis 
 covered that I, too, should be kept awake and given 
 much to think about. We remained until Sunday- 
 school, which followed the service, was over, and 
 then went home, feeling that life, both here and here 
 after, was something to be thankful for. After din 
 ner, without even taking the precaution of locking 
 the door, we all strolled down the lane and the steeply 
 sloping meadow to our wood lot and the banks of the 
 Moodna Creek. My wife had never seen this portion 
 of our place before, and she was delighted with its 
 wild beauty and seclusion. She shivered and turned 
 a little pale, however, as she saw the stream, st : ll 
 high and swift, that had carried Bobsey away. 
 
 Junior joined us, and led the children to a sunny 
 bank, from which soon came shouts of joy over 
 the first wildflowers of the season. I placed my 
 wife on a rock, and we sat quietly for a time, in 
 haling the fresh woody odors, and listening to the 
 murmurs of the creek and the song of the birds. 
 Then I asked : " Isn t this better than a city flat 
 and a noisy street ? Are not these birds pleasanter 
 neighbors than the Daggetts and the Ricketts ? " 
 
 Her glad smile was more eloquent than words 
 could have been. Mousie came running to us, hold 
 ing in her hand, which trembled from excitement, a 
 little bunch of liverworts and anemones. Tears of 
 happiness actually stood in her eyes, and she could 
 only falter, "O mamma! just look!" and then she 
 hastened away to gather more. 
 
 " That child belongs to nature," I said, " and would 
 always be an exile in the city. How greatly she has 
 improved in health already ! " 
 
A COUNTRY SUNDAY. 1$? 
 
 The air grew damp and chill early, and we soon 
 returned to the house. Monday was again fair, and 
 found us absorbed in our busy life, each one having 
 plenty to do. When it was safe to uncover the rasp 
 berries, Merton and I had not lost a moment in the 
 task. At the time of which I write we put in stakes 
 where they were missing, obtaining not a few of them 
 from the wood lot. We also made our second plant 
 ing of potatoes and other hardy vegetables in the 
 garden. The plants in the kitchen window were 
 thriving, and during mild, still days we carried them 
 to a sheltered place without, that they might become 
 inured to the open air. 
 
 Winnie already had three hens sitting on their 
 nests full of eggs, and she was counting the days 
 until the three weeks of incubation should expire, 
 and the little chicks break their shells. One of the 
 hens proved a fickle biddy, and left her nest, much 
 to the child s anger and disgust. But the others were 
 faithful, and one morning Winnie came bounding in, 
 saying she had heard the first "peep." I told her 
 to be patient and leave the brood until the following 
 day, since I had read that the chicks were stronger 
 for not being taken from the nest too soon. She had 
 treated the mother hens so kindly that they were 
 tame, and permitted her to throw out the empty 
 shells, and exult over each new-comer into a brief 
 existence. 
 
 Our radishes had come up nicely ; but no sooner 
 had the first green leaves expanded than myriads 
 of little flea-like beetles devoured them. A timely 
 article in my horticultural paper explained that if 
 
158 DRIVEN SJACA TO EDEN. 
 
 little chickens were allowed to run in the garden 
 they would soon destroy these and other insects. 
 Therefore I improvised a coop by laying down a bar 
 rel near the radishes and driving stakes in front of 
 it to confine the hen, which otherwise, with the best 
 intentions, would have scratched up all my sprouting 
 seeds. Hither we brought her the following day, 
 with her downy brood of twelve, and they soon 
 began to make themselves useful. Winnie fed them 
 with Indian-meal and mashed potatoes, and watched 
 over them with more than their mother s solicitude, 
 while Merton renewed his vigilance against hawks 
 and other enemies. 
 
 With this new attraction, and wildflowers in the 
 woods, the tying up of raspberries became weary 
 prose to Winnie and Bobsey ; but I kept them at it 
 during most of the forenoon of every pleasant day, 
 and if they performed their task carelessly, I made 
 them do it over. I knew that the time was coming 
 when many kinds of work would cease to be play to 
 us all, and that we might as well face the fact first 
 as last. After the morning duties were over, and 
 the afternoon lessons learned, there was plenty of 
 time for play, and the two little people enjoyed it all 
 the more. 
 
 Merton, also, had two afternoons in the week, and 
 he and Junior began to bring home strings of sweet 
 little sunfish and winfish. Boys often become dis 
 gusted with country life because it is made hard and 
 monotonous for them. 
 
STRAWBERRY VISIONS AND " PERTATERS." I5Q 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 STRAWBERRY VISIONS AND 
 
 I HAD decided that I would not set out any more 
 raspberries until I had learned the comparative 
 value of those already on the place. After I had 
 seen my varieties in bearing, and marketed the crop k 
 I should be better able to make a wise selection. 
 " Why not plant only the best and most profitable ? " 
 I reasoned. At Mr. Jones s suggestion I had put up 
 notices at public resorts, and inserted a brief adver 
 tisement in a local paper, stating that I had plants 
 for sale. As a result, I sold, at a low price, it is 
 ^true, the greater part of the young plants that had 
 been trenched in, and the ready money they brought 
 was very acceptable. 
 
 From the first, my mind had often turned towards 
 strawberries as one of our chief crops. They prom 
 ised well for several reasons, the main one being 
 that they would afford a light and useful form of 
 labor for all the children. Even Bobsey could pick 
 the fruit almost as well as any of us, for he had no 
 long back to ache in getting down to it. The crop, 
 also, could be gathered and sold before the raspberry 
 season began, and this was an important fact. We 
 
160 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 should also have another and earlier source of in- 
 come. I had read a great deal about the cultivation 
 of the strawberry, and I had visited a Maizeville 
 neighbor who grew them on a large scale, and had 
 obtained his views. To make my knowledge more 
 complete, I wrote to my Washington-Market friend, 
 Mr. Bogart, and his prompt letter in reply was 
 encouraging. 
 
 " Don t go into too many kinds," he advised, " and 
 don t set too much ground. A few crates of fine 
 berries will pay you better than bushels of small, 
 soft, worthless trash. Steer clear of high-priced 
 novelties and fancy sorts, and begin with only those 
 known to pay well in your region. Try Wilson s 
 (they re good to sell, if not to eat) and Duchess for 
 early, and Sharpless and Champion for late. Set 
 the last two kinds out side by side, for the Champi 
 ons won t bear alone. A customer of mine runs on 
 these four sorts. He gives them high culture, and 
 gets big crops and big berries, which pay big. When 
 you want crates, I can furnish them, and take my 
 pay out of the sales of your fruit. Don t spend 
 much money for plants. Buy a few of each kind, 
 and set em in moist ground and let em run. By 
 winter you ll have enough plants to cover your 
 farm." 
 
 I found that I could buy these standard varieties 
 in the vicinity ; and having made the lower part of 
 the garden very rich, I procured, one cloudy day, two 
 hundred plants of each kind and set them in rows, 
 six feet apart, so that by a little watchfulness I coulrj. 
 keep them separate. I obtained my whole stock for 
 
STRA WBERR Y VISIONS AND " PER TA TERS? 1 6 1 
 
 five dollars ; therefore, counting our time and every 
 thing, the cost of entering on strawberry culture 
 was slight. A rainy night followed, and every plant 
 started vigorously. 
 
 In spite of occasional frosts and cold rains, the 
 days grew longer and warmer. The cherry, peach, 
 plum, and pear buds were almost ready to burst 
 into bloom, but Mr. Jones shook his head over the 
 orchard. 
 
 "This ain t apple year," he said. "Well, no mat- 
 ter. If you can make it go this season, you will be 
 sure of better luck next year." 
 
 He had come over to aid me in choosing a two- 
 acre plot of ground for corn and potatoes. This we 
 marked out from the upper and eastern slope of a 
 large meadow. The grass was running out and 
 growing weedy. 
 
 "It s time it was turned over," my neighbor re 
 marked ; " and by fall it ll be in good condition for 
 fruit." 
 
 I proposed to extend my fruit area gradually, with 
 good reason, fearing that much hired help would 
 leave small profits. 
 
 That very afternoon Mr. Jones, with his sharp 
 steel plough, began to turn over clean, deep, even 
 furrows ; for we had selected the plot in view of the 
 fact that it was not stony, as was the case with 
 other portions of our little farm. 
 
 When, at last, the ground was ploughed, he said : 
 " I wouldn t harrow the part meant for corn till you 
 are ready to plant it, say about the loth of next 
 month. We d better get the pertater ground ready 
 
1 62 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 and the rows furrowed out right off. Early plantin 
 is the best. How much will ye give to em ? " 
 
 " Half the plot/ I said. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Durham, that s a big plantin for 
 pertaters." 
 
 "Well, I ve a plan, and would like your opinion. 
 If I put Early Rose potatoes right in, when can I 
 harvest them ? " 
 
 " Say the last of July or early August, accordin 
 to the season." 
 
 " If we keep the ground clean and well worked 
 the sod will then be decayed, won t it ? " 
 
 " Yes, nigh enough. Ye want to grow turnips or 
 fodder corn, I s pose ? " 
 
 "No, I want to set out strawberries. I ve read 
 more about this fruit than any other, and, if the 
 books are right, I can set strong plants on enriched 
 ground early in August and get a good crop next 
 June. Won t this pay better than planting next 
 spring and waiting over two years from this time for 
 a crop ? " 
 
 " Of course it will, if you re right. I ain t up on 
 strawberries." 
 
 "Well," I continued, "it looks reasonable. I shall 
 have my young plants growing right here in my own 
 garden. Merton and I can take them up in the cool 
 of the evening and in wet weather, and they won t 
 know they ve been, moved. I propose to get these 
 early potatoes out of the ground as soon as possible, 
 even if I have to sell part of them before they are 
 fully ripe ; then have the ground ploughed deep and 
 marked out for strawberries, put all the fertilizers I 
 
STRAWBERRY VISIONS AND " PERTATERS." 163 
 
 can scrape together in the rows, and set the plants 
 as fast as possible. I ve read again and again that 
 many growers regard this method as one of the 
 best." 
 
 "Well, you re comin on, for a beginner. I m 
 kind o shy of book-plans, though. But try it. I ll 
 come over, as I used to when old man Jamison was 
 here, and sit on the fence and make remarks." 
 
 Planting an acre of potatoes was no light task for 
 us, even after the ground was ploughed and harrowed, 
 and the furrows for the rows were marked out. I 
 also had to make a half -day s journey to the city of 
 Newtown to buy more seed, since the children s 
 appetites had greatly reduced the stock in the root- 
 cellar. For a few days we worked like beavers. Even 
 Winnie helped Merton to drop the seed ; and in 
 the evening we had regular potato-cutting "bees," 
 Junior coming over to aid us, and my wife and Mousie 
 helping also. Songs and stories enlivened these 
 evening hours of labor. Indeed, my wife and Mousie 
 performed, during the day, a large part of this task, 
 and they soon learned to cut the tubers skilfully. I 
 have since known this work to be done so carelessly 
 that some pieces were cut without a single eye upon 
 them. Of course, in such cases there is nothing to 
 grow. 
 
 One Saturday night, the last of April, we exulted 
 over the fact that our acre was planted and the seed 
 well covered. 
 
 Many of the trees about the house, meantime, had 
 clothed themselves with fragrant promises of fruit. 
 All, especially Mousie, had been observant of the 
 
164 DRIVEN BACK TO E&EN. 
 
 beautiful changes, and, busy as we had been, she, 
 Winnie, and Bobsey had been given time to keep 
 our table well supplied with wildflowers. Now that 
 they had come in abundance, they seemed as essential 
 as our daily food. To a limited extent I permitted 
 blooming sprays to be taken from the fruit-trees, 
 thinking, with Mousie, that "cherry blossoms are 
 almost as nice as cherries." Thus Nature graced 
 our frugal board, and suggested that, as she accom 
 panied her useful work with beauty and fragrance, 
 so we also could lift our toilsome lives above the 
 coarse and sordid phase too common in country 
 homes. 
 
CORN, COLOR, AND MUSIC. 1 6$ 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 CORN, COLOR, AND MUSIC. 
 
 IN early May the grass was growing lush and 
 strong, and Brindle was driven down the lane to 
 the meadow, full of thickets, which bordered on the 
 creek. Here she could supply herself with food and 
 water until the late autumn. 
 
 With the first days of the month we planted, on a 
 part of the garden slope, where the soil was dry and 
 warm, very early, dwarf sweet corn, a second early 
 variety, Burr s Mammoth, and Stowell s Evergreen. 
 
 " These several kinds," I said, "will give us a suc 
 cession of boiling ears for weeks together. When 
 this planting is up a few inches high, we will make 
 another, for, by so doing, my garden book says, we 
 may have this delicious vegetable till frost comes." 
 
 After reading and some inquiry during the winter 
 I had decided to buy only McLean s Gem peas for 
 seed. This low-growing kind required no brush and, 
 therefore, far less labor. By putting in a row every 
 ten days till the last of June, we should enjoy green 
 peas of the sweet, wrinkled sort till* tired, if that were 
 possible. We also planted early dwarf wax-beans, 
 covering the seed, as directed, only two inches deep 
 
1 66 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN". 
 
 It was my ambition to raise a large crop of Lima 
 beans, having read that few vegetables yield more 
 food to a small area than they. So, armed with an 
 axe and a hatchet, Merton and I went into some 
 young growth on the edge of our wood lot and cut 
 thirty poles, lopping off the branches so as to leave 
 little crotches on which the vines could rest for sup 
 port. Having sharpened these poles we set them 
 firmly in the garden, four feet apart each way, then 
 dug in some very fine and decayed manure around 
 each pole, and left the soil for a day or two to grow 
 warm and light. My book said that, if the earth was 
 cold, wet, or heavy the beans would decay instead of 
 coming up. The loth of the month being fine and 
 promising, I pressed the eye or germ side of the 
 beans into the soil and covered them only one inch 
 deep. In the evening we set out our cabbage and 
 cauliflower plants where they should be allowed to 
 mature. The tomato plants, being more tender than 
 their companions started in the kitchen window, 
 were set about four inches apart in a sheltered place. 
 We could thus cover them at night and protect them 
 a little from the midday sun for a week or two 
 longer. 
 
 Nor were Mousie s flowering plants forgotten. 
 She had watched over them from the seed with tire 
 less care, and now we made a bed and helped the 
 happy child to put her beloved little nurslings in the 
 open ground where they were to bloom. The apple- 
 trees made the air fragrant, and some of the delicate 
 pink of their blossoms was in Mousie s cheeks. 
 
 " Truly," I thought, as I looked into her sparkling 
 
CORN, COLOR, AND MUSIC. l6/ 
 
 eyes, " if we can but barely live in the country, I am 
 glad we came." 
 
 The next morning Merton and I began our great 
 undertaking, the planting of the other acre of 
 ground, next to the potatoes, with field corn. Mr. 
 Jones had harrowed it comparatively smooth. I had 
 a light plough with which to mark out the furrows 
 four feet apart each way. At the intersection of 
 these furrows the seed was to be dropped. I found I 
 could not drive our old bay straight across the field to 
 save my life, and neighbor Jones laughed till his sides 
 ached at the curves and crooks I first left behind 
 me. 
 
 "Here, Merton," I cried, nothing daunted, "we 
 must work together again. Get a pole and stand it 
 on the farther side of the plot four feet in from the 
 edge of the sod. That s right. Now come here ; 
 take old Bay by the head, and, with your eyes fixed 
 on the pole, lead him steadily toward it." 
 
 A furrow was now made, of which Mr. Jones him 
 self need not have been ashamed ; and he laughed as 
 he said, at parting: "You ll do. I see you ve got 
 enough Yankee in you to try more ways than one." 
 
 We kept at work manfully, although the day was 
 warm, and by noon the plot was furrowed one way. 
 After dinner we took an hour s partial rest in shelling 
 our corn, and then resumed our work, and in the 
 same manner began furrowing at right angles with 
 the first rows. The hills were thus about four feet 
 apart each way. Merton dropped the corn after we 
 had run half a dozen furrows. 
 
 " Drop five kernels," I said ; for Mr. Jones had 
 
1 68 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 told us that four stalks were enough and that three 
 would do, but had added : " I plant five kernels, for 
 some don t come up, and the crows and other var 
 mints take others. If all of em grow, it s easier to 
 pull up one stalk at the first hoeing than to plant 
 over again." 
 
 We found that putting in the corn was a lighter 
 task than planting the potatoes, even though we did 
 our own furrowing ; and by the middle of May we 
 were complacent over the fact that we had succeeded 
 with our general spring work far better than we had 
 hoped, remembering that we were novices who had 
 to take so much counsel from books and from our 
 kind, practical neighbor. 
 
 The foliage of the trees was now out in all its 
 delicately shaded greenery, and midday often gave 
 us a foretaste of summer heat. The slight blaze 
 kindled in the old fireplace, after supper, was more 
 for the sake of good cheer than for needed warmth, 
 and at last it was dispensed with. Thrushes and 
 other birds of richer and fuller song had come, and 
 morning and evening we left the door open that we 
 might enjoy the varied melody. 
 
 Our first plantings of potatoes and early vegetables 
 were now up and looked promising. So a new phase 
 of labor that of cultivation began. New broods 
 of chickens were coming off, and Winnie had many 
 families to look after. Nevertheless, although there 
 was much to attend to, the season was bringing a 
 short breathing-spell, and I resolved to take advan 
 tage of it. So I said one Friday evening : " If to 
 morrow is fair, we ll take a vacation. What do you 
 say to a day s fishing and sailing on the river ? " 
 
CORN, COLOR, AND MUSIC. 1 69 
 
 A jubilant shout greeted this proposal, and when 
 it had subsided, Mousie asked, " Can t Junior go with 
 us ? " 
 
 "Certainly," I replied; "I ll go over right after 
 supper, and make sure that his father consents." 
 
 Mr. Jones said, "Yes," and Merton and Junior 
 were soon busy with their preparations, which were 
 continued until the long twilight deepened into dusk 
 
I7O DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 WE GO A-FISHING. 
 
 THE following day, happily, proved all that we 
 could desire. The children were up with the 
 dawn, and Junior was not long in joining us. By 
 eight o clock we had finished breakfast and the 
 morning work, our lunch-basket was packed, and the 
 market-wagon stood at the door. Mr. Jones had 
 good-naturedly promised to take a look at the prem 
 ises occasionally to see that all was right. I had put 
 but one seat in the wagon for my wife and myself, 
 since the young people decided that a straw-ride to 
 the river would be "more fun than a parlor-car." 
 
 My wife entered into the spirit of this little outing 
 with a zest which gave me deep content. Her face 
 indicated no regretful thoughts turning toward the 
 Egypt of the city ; her mother love was so strong 
 that she was happy with the children. The robins, 
 of which there seemed no end about the house, gave 
 us a tuneful and hilarious send-off ; the grown people 
 and children whom we met smiled and cheered, fol 
 lowing us with envious eyes. Each of the children 
 held a pole aloft, and Merton said that " the wagon 
 looked as if our Lima-bean patch was off on a visit." 
 
172 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 In the village we increased our stock of lines and 
 hooks, and bought a few corks for floats. We soon 
 reached the mouth of the Moodna Creek, where stood 
 a weather-beaten boat-house, with a stable adjoining, 
 in which old Bay could enjoy himself in his quiet, 
 prosaic way. A good-sized boat was hired, and, as 
 the tide was in, we at first decided to go up the creek 
 as far as possible and float down with the ebb. This, 
 to the children, was like a voyage of discovery, and 
 there was a general airing of geography, each little 
 bay, point, and gulf receiving some noted name. At 
 last we reached a deep, shaded pool, which was 
 eventually dubbed " Bobsey s Luck ; " for he nearly 
 fell into it in his eagerness to take off a minnow that 
 had managed to fasten itself to his hook. 
 
 Merton and Junior, being more experienced anglers, 
 went ashore to make some casts on the ripples and 
 rapids of the stream above, and secured several fine 
 "winfish." The rest of us were content to take it 
 easy in the shade and hook an occasional cat and 
 sun fish. At last the younger children wanted 
 variety, so I permitted them to land on the wooded 
 bank, kindle a little fire, and roast some clams that 
 we had bought at the boat-house. The smoke and 
 the tempting odors lured Merton and Junior, who 
 soon proved that boys appetites can always be de 
 pended upon. 
 
 Time passed rapidly, and I at last noticed that the 
 tide had fallen to such a degree as to fill me with 
 alarm. 
 
 " Come, youngsters," I cried, " we must go back 
 at once, or we shall have to stay here till almost 
 night." 
 
WE GO A-FISHING, 173 
 
 They scrambled on board, and we started down- 
 stream, but soon came to shallow water, as was 
 proved by the swift current and the ripples. A mo 
 ment later we were hard aground. In vain we pushed 
 with the oars ; the boat would not budge. Then Jun 
 ior sat down and coolly began to take off shoes and 
 stockings. In a flash Merton followed his example. 
 There was no help for it, and we had no time to lose. 
 Over they splashed, lightening the boat, and taking 
 the "painter," or tie-rope, at the bow, they pulled 
 manfully. Slowly at first, but with increasing prog 
 ress, the keel grated over the stones, and at last we 
 were again afloat. A round of applause greeted the 
 boys as they sprung back into the boat, and away 
 we went, cautiously avoiding shoals and sand-bars, 
 until we reached Plum Point, where we expected to 
 spend the remainder of the day. Here, for a time, 
 we had excellent sport, and pulled up sun fish and 
 white perch of a very fair size. Bobsey caught so 
 large a specimen of the former variety that he had 
 provided himself with a supper equal even to his 
 capacity. 
 
 The day ended in unalloyed pleasure, and never 
 had the old farm-house looked so like home as when 
 it greeted us again in the evening glow of the late 
 spring sun. Merton and Junior divided the finny 
 spoils to their satisfaction, while Winnie and I vis 
 ited the chicken-coops and found that there had been 
 no mishaps during our absence. I told my boy that 
 I would milk the cow while he cleaned the fish for 
 supper, and when at last we sat down we formed a 
 tired, hilarious, and hungry group. Surely, if fish 
 
174 DRIVEN BACK 7V ED EM. 
 
 were created to be eaten, our enjoyment of their 
 browned sweetness must have rounded out their e^- 
 istence completely. 
 
 " O papa ! " exclaimed Merton, at the breakfast- 
 table, on Monday morning ; " we haven t planted 
 any musk and water melons ! " 
 
 "That is true," I replied. "I find that I over- 
 looked melons in making out my list of seeds. In 
 deed, I passed them over, I imagine, as a luxury that 
 we could dispense with the first year." 
 
 " I ll take care of em if you will only let us have 
 some," persisted the boy ; and the other children 
 joined in his request. 
 
 " But the garden is all filled up," I said, thought 
 fully ; " and I fear it is too late to plant now." 
 
 Looks of disappointment led me to think further, 
 and I got one of my seed catalogues. 
 
 " Here are some early kinds named, and perhaps 
 they would mature ; but where shall we put them ? " 
 
 " Seems to me we had better have a little less 
 corn, if room can be made for melons," was Merton s 
 suggestion. 
 
 " I ll tell you what we ll do," I continued. 
 " We ve had such good fortune in accomplishing our 
 early work, and you have helped so nicely, that you 
 shall try your hand at melons. Drive your mother 
 and Mousie down to the village this morning, and 
 get some seeds of the nutmeg musk-melon and Phin- 
 ney s early watermelon. I ll take two rows in the 
 early corn on the warm garden slope, pull up every 
 third hill, and make, in their places, nice, warm, rich 
 beds for the seed which we will plant as soon as you 
 
WE GO A-FISHING. 175 
 
 :ome back. I don t believe the corn will shade the 
 melon vines too much ; and as soon as we have taken 
 off the green ears we, will cut away the stalks. Thus 
 we shall get two crops from the"same ground." 
 
 This plan was carried out, and the melon-seed came 
 up in a very promising way. 
 
DRIVEN BACK TO EDEtf. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 WEEDS AND WORKING FOR DEAfr 
 
 THE beautiful transition period of spring passing 
 into summer would have filled us with delight 
 had we not found a hostile army advancing on us, 
 annual weeds. When we planted the garden, the 
 soil was brown and clean. The early vegetables 
 came up in well-defined green rows, the weeds ap 
 pearing with them, too few and scattered to cause 
 anxiety. Now all was changed. Weeds seemed 
 created by magic in a night. The garden was becom 
 ing evenly green throughout ; and the vegetables, in 
 some cases, could scarcely be distinguished from the 
 ranker growth of crowding, unknown plants among 
 and around them. I also saw that our corn and 
 potato field would soon become, if left alone, as ver 
 dant as the meadow beyond. I began to fear that 
 we could not cope with these myriads of foes, little 
 no\v, but growing while we slept, and stealing a 
 march on us in one part of the place while we de 
 stroyed them in another. 
 
 With something like dismay I called Mr. Jones s 
 attention to these silent forces, invading, not only 
 the garden and fields, but the raspberries and, indeed, 
 all the ground now devoted to fruit. 
 
WEEDS AND WORKING FOR DEAR LIFE. IJJ 
 
 He laughed and said : " The Philistines are on you, 
 sure enough. I m busy whackin them over myself, 
 but I guess I ll have to come and give you a lift, for 
 you must get these weeds well under before hayin 
 and raspberry-pickin time comes. It s warm to-day, 
 and the ground s middlin dry. I ll show you what 
 can be done in short metre. By the way, I ll give 
 you a little wrinkle worth knowin . I ve observed 
 that you didn t bring the children to the country to 
 be like weeds, just ter grow and run ter seed, ye 
 know. It s stonishin how soon weeds, whether 
 they re people or pusley, get seedy. Well, now, call 
 the children and come with me to the garden." 
 
 We were all soon there, including my wife, who 
 shared my solicitude. 
 
 "You see," resumed Mr. Jones, "that these 
 weakly little rows of carrots, beets, and onions would 
 soon be choked by these weeds, not an inch high 
 yet. The same is true of the corn and peas and 
 other sass. The pertaters are strong enough to take 
 care ot themselves for a time, but not long. I see 
 you and Merton have been tryin* to weed and hoe 
 them out at the same time. Well, you can t keep 
 up with the work in that way. Take now this bed 
 of beets ; the weeds are gettin even all over it, and 
 they re thicker if anywhere, right in the row, so 
 that it takes a good eye to see the beets. But here 
 they are, and here they run across the bed Now 
 look at me. One good showin is worth all the tel- 
 lin and readin from now to Christmas. You see, I 
 begin with my two hands, and pull out all the weeds 
 on each side of the little row, and I pull em away 
 
DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. _ 
 
 from the young beets so as not to disturb them, but 
 to leave em standin straight and saucy. Careless 
 hands will half pull out the vegetables at the same 
 time with the weeds. I had to strap Junior once 
 before he learned that fact, and it was amazin how 
 I helped his eyesight and trained his fingers through 
 his back. Well, now, you see, I ve cleared out this 
 row of beets half across the bed and the ground for 
 an inch or two on each side of it. I drop the weeds 
 right down in the spaces between the rows, for the 
 sun will dry em up before dinner-time. Now I ll 
 take another row." 
 
 By this time Merton and I were following his ex 
 ample, and in a few moments a part of three more 
 rows had been treated in the same way. 
 
 "Now," continued Mr. Jones, "the weeds are all 
 out of the rows that we ve done, and for a little space 
 on each side of em. The beets have a chance to 
 grow, unchoked, and to get ahead. These other lit 
 tle green varmints in the ground, between the rows, 
 are too small to do any harm yet. Practically, the 
 beets are cleaned out, and will have all the ground 
 they need to themselves for three or four days ; but 
 these weeds between the rows would soon swamp 
 everything. Now, give me a hoe, and I ll fix them." 
 
 He drew the useful tool carefully and evenly 
 through the spaces between the rows, and our ene 
 mies were lying on their sides ready to wither away 
 in the morning sun. 
 
 "You see after the rows are weeded out how 
 quickly you can hoe the spaces between em," my 
 neighbor concluded. " Now the children can do 
 
WEEDS AND WORKING FOR DEAR LIFE. 
 
 this weedin . Your and Merton s time s too valyble. 
 When weeds are pulled from right in and around 
 vegetables, the rest can stand without harm for a 
 while, till you can get around with the hoe and culti 
 vator. This weedin out business is specially im 
 portant in rainy weather, for it only hurts ground to 
 hoe or work it in wet, showery days, and the weeds 
 don t mind it a bit. Warm, sunny spells, when the 
 soil s a little dry, is the time to kill weeds. But you 
 must be careful in weedin then, or you ll so disturb 
 the young, tender sass that it ll dry up, too. See, 
 I ll pull some weeds carelessly. Now obsarve that 
 the beets are half jerked up also. Of course that 
 won t answer. I ll come over this afternoon with 
 my cultivator, and we ll tackle. the corn and perta- 
 ters, and make such a swath among these green 
 Philistines that you ll sleep better to-night. But 
 ye re goin to come out right, mind, I tell ye so ; and 
 I ve seen more n one city squash come to the coun 
 try with the idee that they were goin to beat r 
 punkins all holler." 
 
 And he left us laughing and hopeful. 
 
 " Come, Winnie and Bobsey, begin here on each 
 side of me. I ll show you this morning, and then I 
 trust you can be left to do the weeding carefully by 
 yourselves to-morrow. Pressing as the work is, you 
 shall have your afternoons until the berries are ripe." 
 
 "Can t I help, too?" asked Mousie. 
 
 I looked into her eager, wistful face, but said, 
 firmly : " Not now, dear. The sun is too hot. To 
 ward night, perhaps, I ll let you do a little. By help 
 ing mamma in the house, you are doing your part." 
 
I SO DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 We made good progress, and the two younger 
 children speedily learned the knack of working care 
 fully, so as not to disturb the little vegetables. I 
 soon found that weeding was back-aching work for 
 me, and therefore " spelled " myself by hoeing out 
 the spaces between the rows. By the time the 
 music of the dinner-bell sounded, hosts of our ene 
 mies were slain. 
 
 Mr. Jones, true to his promise, was on hand at 
 one o clock with his cultivator, and began with the 
 corn, which was now a few inches high. Merton 
 and I followed with hoes, uncovering the tender 
 shoots on which earth had been thrown, and dressing 
 out the soil into clean flat hills. As our neighbor 
 had said, it was astonishing how much work the 
 horse-cultivator performed in a short time. I saw 
 that it would be wise for us, another year, to plant 
 in a way that would permit the use of horse-power. 
 Even in the garden this method should be followed 
 as far as possible. 
 
 Mr. Jones was not a man of half-way measures. 
 He remained helping us, till he had gone through 
 the corn, once each way, twice between the long 
 rows of potatoes, then twice through all the rasp 
 berry rows, giving us two full days of his time alto 
 gether. 
 
 I handed him a dollar in addition to the sum he 
 charged, saying that I had never paid out money 
 with greater satisfaction. 
 
 "Well," he said, with his short, dry laugh, "I ll 
 take it this time, for my work is sufferin at home, 
 but I didn t want you to get discouraged. Now, 
 
WEEDS AND WORKING FOR DEAR LIFE, l8l 
 
 keep the hoes flyin , and you re ahead once morq 
 Junior s at it early and late, I can tell ye." 
 
 "So I supposed, for we ve missed him." 
 
 "Good reason. When I m through with him he i 
 ready enough to crawl into his little bed." 
 
 So were we for a few days, in our winning fight 
 with the weeds. One hot afternoon, about three 
 o clock, I saw that Merton was growing pale, and 
 beginning to lag, and I said, decidedly : " Do you 
 see that tree there ? Go and lie down under it till I 
 call you." 
 
 "I guess I can stand it till night," he began, his 
 pride a little touched. 
 
 " Obey orders ! I am captain." 
 
 In five minutes he was fast asleep. I threw my 
 coat over him, and sat down, proposing to have a 
 half-hour s rest myself. My wife came out with a 
 pitcher of cool butter-milk and nodded her head 
 approvingly at us. 
 
 "Well, my thoughtful Eve," I said, "I find that 
 our modern Eden will cost a great many back-aches." 
 
 "If you will only be prudent like this, you may 
 save me a heart-ache. Robert, you are ambitious, 
 and unused to this kind of work. Please don t ever 
 be so foolish as to forget the comparative value of 
 Vegetables and yourselves. Honestly now" (with 
 one of her saucy looks), " I d rather do with a few 
 bushels less, than do without you and Merton ; " and 
 she sat down and kept me idle for an hour. 
 
 Then Merton got up, saying that he felt as "fresh 
 as if he had had a night s rest," and we accomplished 
 more in the cool of the day than if we had kept 
 doggedly at work. 
 
1 82 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 I found that Winnie and Bobsey required rather 
 different treatment. For a while they got on very 
 well, but one morning I set them at a bed of pars 
 nips about which I was particular. In the middle of 
 the forenoon I went to the garden to see how they 
 were getting on. Shouts of laughter made me fear 
 that all was not well, and I soon discovered that 
 they were throwing lumps of earth at each other. 
 So absorbed were they in their untimely and mis 
 chievous fun that I was not noticed until I found 
 Bobsey sitting plump on the vegetables, and the 
 rows behind both the children very shabbily cleaned, 
 not a few of the little plants having been pulled up 
 with the weeds. 
 
 Without a word I marched them into the house, 
 then said : " Under arrest till night. Winnie, you 
 go to your room. I shall strap Bobsey in his chair, 
 and put him in the parlor by himself." 
 
 The exchange of the hot garden for the cool rooms 
 seemed rather an agreeable punishment at first, al 
 though Winnie felt the disgrace somewhat. When, at 
 dinner, nothing but a cup of water and a piece of dry- 
 bread was taken to them, Bobsey began to howl, and 
 Winnie to look as if the affair was growing serious. 
 Late in the afternoon, when she found that she was 
 not to gather the eggs or feed her beloved chickens, 
 she, too, broke down and sobbed that she " wouldn t 
 do so any more." Bobsey also pleaded so piteously 
 for release, and promised such saint-like behavior, 
 that I said : " Well, I will remit the rest of your 
 punishment and put you on trial. You had no ex 
 cuse for your mischief this morning, for I allow you 
 
WEEDS AND WORKING FOR DEAR LIFE, 183 
 
 to play the greater part of every 
 afternoon, while Merton must 
 stand by me the whole of the 
 week." 
 
 My touch of discipline brought 
 up the morale of my little squad 
 ^effectually for a time. The next 
 
 rr/fAW 
 
184 DRIVEN SAC A TO EDEN. 
 
 afternoon even the memory of trouble was banished 
 by the rinding of the first wild strawberries. Exul 
 tation and universal interest prevailed as clusters of 
 green and red berries were handed around to be 
 smelled and examined. "Truly," my wife remarked, 
 " even roses can scarcely equal the fragrance of the 
 wild strawberry." 
 
 From that day forward, for weeks, it seemed as if 
 we entered on a diet of strawberries and roses. The 
 old-fashioned bushes of the latter, near the house, 
 had been well trimmed, and gave large, fine buds in 
 consequence, while Mousie, Winnie, and Bobsey 
 gleaned every wild berry that could be found, begin 
 ning with the sunny upland slopes and following the 
 aromatic fruit down to the cool, moist borders of 
 the creek. 
 
 " Another year," I said, " I think you will be tired 
 even of strawberries, for we shall have to pick early 
 and late." 
 
MATURE SMILES AND HELPS. 185 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 NATURE SMILES AND HELPS. 
 
 THE Saturday evening which brought us almost 
 to the middle of June was welcomed indeed. 
 The days preceding had been filled with hard, yet 
 successful labor, and the weeds had been slaughtered 
 by the million. The greater part of our crops had 
 come up well and were growing nicely. In hoeing 
 the corn, we had planted over the few missing hills, 
 and now, like soldiers who had won the first great 
 success of the campaign, we were in a mood to enjoy 
 a rest to the utmost. 
 
 This rest seemed all the more delightful when we 
 awoke, on the following morning, to the soft patter 
 of rain. The preceding days had been unusually dry 
 and warm, so that the grass and tender vegetables 
 were beginning to surfer. I was worrying about the 
 raspberries also, which were passing out of blos 
 som. The cultivator had been through them, and 
 Merton and I, only the evening before, had finished 
 hoeing out the sprouting weeds and surplus suckers. 
 I had observed, with dread, that just as the fruit was 
 forming, the earth, especially around the hills, was 
 getting dry. 
 
1 86 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 Now, looking out, I saw that the needful watering 
 was not coming from a passing shower. The clouds 
 were leaden from horizon to horizon ; the rain fell 
 with the gentle steadiness of a quiet summer storm, 
 and had evidently been falling some hours already. 
 The air was so fragrant that I threw wide open the 
 door and windows. It was a true June incense, such 
 as no art could distil, and when, at last, we all sat 
 down to breakfast, of which crisp radishes taken a 
 few moments before from our own garden formed 
 a part, we felt that nature was carrying on our work 
 of the past week in a way that filled our hearts with 
 gratitude. The air was so warm that we did not 
 fear the dampness. The door and windows were 
 left open that we might enjoy the delicious odors 
 and listen to the musical patter of the rain, which 
 fell so softly that the birds were quite as tuneful as 
 on other days. 
 
 The children joined me in the porch, and my wife 
 came out laughing, and put her hand on my shoulder 
 as she said, "You are not through with July and 
 August yet." 
 
 Mousie held her hands out in the warm rain, say 
 ing : " I feel as if it would make me grow, too. 
 Look at the green cherries up there, bobbing as the 
 drops hit them." 
 
 "Rain isn t good for chickens," Winnie remarked, 
 doubtfully. 
 
 "It won t hurt them," I replied, "for I have fed 
 them so well that they needn t go out in the wet for 
 food." 
 
 The clouds gave us a more and more copious 
 
NATURE SMILES AND HELPS. 187 
 
 downfall as the day advanced, and I sat on the porch, 
 resting and observing with conscious gratitude how 
 beautifully nature was furthering all our labor, and 
 fulfilling our hopes. This rain would greatly increase 
 the hay-crops for the old horse and the cow ; it would 
 carry my vegetables rapidly toward maturity ; and, 
 best of all, would soak the raspberry ground so thor 
 oughly that the fruit would be almost safe. What 
 was true of our little plot was equally so of neighbor 
 Jones s farm, and thousands of others. My wife sat 
 with me much of the day, and I truly think that our 
 thoughts were acceptable worship. By four in the 
 afternoon the western horizon lightened, the clouds 
 soon broke away, and the sun shone out briefly in un- 
 diminished splendor, turning the countless raindrops 
 on foliage and grass into gems, literally, of the purest 
 water. The bird-songs seemed almost ecstatic, and 
 the voices of the children, permitted at last to go out 
 of doors, vied with them in gladness. 
 
 " Let July and August yes, and bleak January 
 bring what they may," I said to my wife, " neverthe 
 less, this is Eden." 
 
 In spite of the muddy walks, we picked our way 
 around the garden, exclaiming in pleased wonder at 
 the growth made by our vegetable nurslings in a few 
 brief hours, while, across the field, the corn and 
 potato rows showed green, strong outlines. 
 
 I found that Brindle in the pasture hadn t minded 
 the rain, but only appeared the sleeker for it. When 
 at last I came in to supper, I gave my wife a hand 
 ful of berries, at which she and the children exclaimed. 
 I had permitted a dozen plants of each variety of m^ 
 
1 88 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 garden strawberries to bear, that I might get some 
 idea of the fruit. The blossoms on the other plants 
 had been picked off as soon as they appeared, so 
 that all the strength might go toward forming new 
 plants. I found that a few of the berries of the two 
 early kinds were ripe, also that the robins had been 
 sampling them. In size, at least, they seemed won. 
 derful compared with the wild fruit from the field, 
 and I said : 
 
 " There will be lively times for us when we must 
 get a dozen bushels a day, like these, off to Mr. 
 Bogart." 
 
 The children, then, thought it would be the great 
 est fun in the world. By the time supper was over, 
 Mr. Jones and Junior appeared, and my neighbor 
 said in hearty good-will : 
 
 "You got your cultivatin* done in the nick of 
 time, Mr. Durham. This rain is a good hundred 
 dollars in your pocket and mine, too." 
 
 I soon perceived that our enemies, the weeds, had 
 millions in reserve, and on Monday, the day after 
 the rain, with all the children helping, even Mousie 
 part of the time, we went at the garden again. To 
 Mousie, scarcely an invalid any longer, was given 
 the pleasure of picking the first green peas and shell 
 ing them for dinner. We had long been enjoying 
 the succulent lettuce and the radishes, and now I 
 said to Winnie : " To-morrow you can begin thinning 
 out the beets, leaving the plants three inches apart. 
 What you pull up can be cooked as spinach, or 
 greens/ as country people say. Our garden will 
 soon enable us to live like princes." 
 
NATURE SMILES AND HELPS. 1 89 
 
 As the ground dried after the rain, a light crust 
 formed on the surface, and in the wetter portions it 
 was even inclined to bake or crack. I was surprised 
 at the almost magical effect of breaking up the crust 
 and making the soil loose and mellow by cultivation. 
 The letting in of air and light caused the plants to 
 grow with wonderful vigor. 
 
 On Wednesday morning Merton came running in, 
 exclaiming, "O papa! there s a green worm eating 
 all the leaves off the currant and gooseberry bushes." 
 
 I followed him hastily, and found that considerable 
 mischief had already been done, and I went to one 
 of my fruit books in a hurry to find out how to cope 
 with this new enemy. 
 
 As a result, I said : " Merton, mamma wishes to 
 go to the village. You drive her and Mousie down, 
 and at the drug-store get two pounds of white helle 
 bore, also a pound of Paris green, for I find that the 
 potato bugs are getting too thick to be managed by 
 hand. Remember that these are poisons, the Paris 
 green a deadly one. Have them carefully wrapped 
 up, and keep them from everything else. When you 
 return I ll take charge of them. Also, get a new 
 large watering-can." 
 
 That afternoon I mixed a heaping tablespoonful of 
 the hellebore through the contents of the watering- 
 can, on which I had painted the word " Poison." 
 With this infusion I sprinkled thoroughly every bush 
 on which I could find a worm, and the next morning 
 we had the pleasure of finding most of these ene 
 mies dead. But some escaped or new ones were 
 hatched, and we found that we could save our cur 
 
IQO DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN 1 . 
 
 rants only by constant vigilance. Every evening, 
 until the fruit was nearly ripe, we went over the 
 bushes, and gave the vile little pests a dose wher 
 ever we found them. Our other can I also labelled 
 "Poison," with dashes under it to show that it was 
 to be used for Paris green only. A teaspoonful of 
 this deadly agent was enough, according to my book, 
 for the amount of water held by the ordinary wooden 
 pail. I kept this poison out of Bobsey s reach, and, 
 indeed, where no one but myself could get at it, and, 
 by its aid, destroyed the potato beetles and their 
 larvae also. Whatever may be true in other parts of 
 the world, in our region, certainly, success can be se 
 cured only by prompt, intelligent effort. 
 
CHERRIES, BERRIES, AND BERRY-THIEVES. 19! 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 CHERRIES, BERRIES, AND BERRY-THIEVES. 
 
 AN evening or two after this we were taught that 
 not even in our retired nook had we escaped 
 the dangers of city life. Winnie and Bobsey, in their 
 rambles after strawberries, had met two other chil 
 dren, and, early in the acquaintance, fortunately 
 brought them to the house. The moment I saw the 
 strange girl, I recognized a rural type of Melissa 
 Daggett, while the urchin of Bobsey s age did not 
 scruple to use vile language in my hearing. I doubt 
 whether the poor little savage had any better vernac 
 ular. I told them kindly but firmly that they must 
 not come on the place again without my permission. 
 
 After supper I went over and asked Mr. Jones 
 about these children, and he replied, significantly,, 
 looking around first to make sure that no one heard 
 him: 
 
 " Mr. Durham, steer clear of those people. You 
 know there are certain varmints on a farm to which 
 we give a wide berth and kill em when we can. Of 
 course we can t kill off this family, although a good 
 contribution could be taken up any day to move em 
 a hundred miles away. Still about everybody give? 
 
192 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 em a wide berth, and is civil to their faces. They ll 
 rob you more or less, and you might as well make up 
 your mind to it, and let em alone." 
 
 " Suppose I don t let them alone ? " 
 
 " Well remember, now, this is wholly between 
 ourselves there s been barns burned around here. 
 Everybody s satisfied who sot em afire, but nothin 
 can be proved. Your cow or horse, too, might sud 
 denly die. There s no tellin what accidents would 
 happen if you got their ill-will." 
 
 " I can t take the course you suggest toward this 
 family," I said, after a little thought. " It seems to 
 me wrong on both sides. On one hand, they are 
 treated as outlaws, and that would go far to make 
 them such ; on the other, they are permitted to levy 
 a sort of black-mail and commit crime with impunity. 
 Of course I must keep my children away from them ; 
 but, if the chance offers, I shall show the family kind 
 ness, and if they molest me I shall try to give them 
 the law to the utmost." 
 
 " Well," concluded Mr. Jones, with a shrug, " I ve 
 warned you, if they git down on yer, yer ll find em 
 snakes in the grass." 
 
 Returning home, I said nothing to Winnie and 
 Bobsey against their recent companions, but told 
 them that if they went with them again, or made the 
 acquaintance of other strangers without permission, 
 they would be put on bread and water for an entire 
 day, that all such action was positively forbidden. 
 
 It was evident, however, that the Melissa Daggett 
 element was present in the country, and in an aggra 
 vated form. That it was not next door, or, rather, in 
 
CHERRIES, BERRIES, AND BERRY-THIEVES, 193 
 
 the next room, was the redeeming feature. Residents 
 in the country are usually separated by wide spaces 
 from evil association. 
 
 It must not be thought that my wife and children 
 had no society except that afforded by Mr. Jones s 
 family. They were gradually making pleasant and 
 useful acquaintances, especially among those whom 
 we met at church ; but as these people have no 
 material part in this simple history, they are not men 
 tioned. 
 
 The most important activities of the season were 
 now drawing very near. The cherries were swelling 
 fast ; the currants were growing red, and were al 
 ready pronounced "nice for pies ;" and one morning 
 Merton came rushing in with a red raspberry from 
 the Highland Hardy variety. I was glad the time 
 was at hand when I should begin to receive some 
 thing besides advice from Mr. Bogart ; for, careful as 
 we had been, the drain on my capital had been long 
 and steady, and we were eager for the turn of the 
 tide. 
 
 I had bought a number of old Mr. Jamison s crates, 
 had painted out his name and replaced it with mine. 
 I now wrote to Mr. Bogart for packages best adapted 
 to the shipping of cherries, currants, and raspberries. 
 For the first he sent me baskets that held about 
 a peck. These baskets were so cheap that they 
 could be sold with the fruit. For currants, crates 
 containing twenty-four quart baskets, were forwarded. 
 These, he wrote, would also do for black-caps this 
 season, and for strawberries next year. F<Sr the red 
 raspberries he sent me quite different crates, filled 
 
194 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 with little baskets holding only half a pint of fruit 
 Limited supplies of these packages were sent, for he 
 said that a telegram would bring more the same day. 
 
 The corn and potatoes were becoming weedy 
 again. This time I made use of a light plough, Mer- 
 ton leading old Bay as at first. Then, with our hoes, 
 we gave the rows a final dressing-out. By the time 
 we had finished, some of our grass was fit to cut, 
 the raspberries needed a careful picking over, and the 
 cherries on one tree were ready for market. The 
 children and robins had already feasted, but I was 
 hungry for a check from New York. 
 
 I had long since decided not to attempt to carry 
 on haying alone at this critical season, but had hired 
 a man, too aged to hold his own among the harvest- 
 ers on the neighboring farms. Mr. Jones had said 
 of him : " He s a careful, trusty old fellow, who can 
 clo a good day s work yet if you don t hurry him. 
 Most of your grass is in the meadow, some parts fit 
 to cut before the others. Let the old man begin and 
 mow what he can, every day. Then you won t have 
 to cure and get in a great lot of hay all at once, and 
 perhaps, too, when your raspberries most need pick- 
 
 in . 
 
 So, during the last days of June, old Mr. Jacox, 
 who came at moderate wages, put in his scythe on 
 the uplands. I spread the grass and raked it up 
 when dry, and, with the aid of Merton and a rude, 
 extemporized rack on the market-wagon, got the hay 
 gradually into the barn. This labor took only part 
 of the day ; the rest of the time was employed in the 
 garden and in picking fruit. 
 
CHERRIES, BERRIES, AND BERRY-THIEVES. 195 
 
 On the last day of June we gathered a crate of 
 early raspberries and eight baskets of cherries. In 
 the cool of the afternoon, these were placed in the 
 wagon, and with my wife and the three younger chil 
 dren, I drove to the Maizeville Landing with our first 
 shipment to Mr. Bogart. 
 
 "We are p oducers, at last, as Bobsey said," I 
 cried, joyously. " And I trust that this small begin 
 ning will end in such big loads as will leave us no 
 room for wife and children, but will eventually givo 
 them a carriage to ride in." 
 
196 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 Merton remained on guard to watch our precious 
 ripening fruit. 
 
 After our departure he began a vigilant patrol of 
 the place, feeling much like a sentinel left on guard. 
 About sun-down, he told me, as he was passing 
 through the raspberry field, he thought he caught a 
 glimpse of an old straw hat dodging down behind 
 the bushes. He bounded toward the spot, a moment 
 later confronting three children with tin pails. The 
 two younger proved to be Winnie s objectionable 
 acquaintances that I had told to keep off the place. 
 The eldest was a boy, not far from Merton s age, and 
 had justly won the name of being the worst boy in 
 the region. All were the children of the dangerous 
 neighbor against whom Mr. Jones had warned me. 
 
 The boy at first regarded Merton with a sullen, 
 defiant look, while his brother and sister coolly con 
 tinued to steal the fruit. 
 
 "Clear out," cried Merton. "We ll have you put 
 in jail if you come here again." 
 
 " You shut up and clear out yerself," said the boy, 
 threateningly, "or I ll break yer head. Yer pap s 
 away, and we ain t afraid of you. What s more, 
 we re goin ter have some cherries before " 
 
 Now Merton had a quick temper, and at this mo 
 ment sprung at the fellow who was adding insult to 
 injury, so quickly that he got in a blow that black 
 ened one of the thief s eyes. 
 
 Then they clinched, and, although his antagonist 
 was the heavier, Merton thinks he could have 
 whipped him had not the two younger marauders 
 attacked him tooth and nail, like cats. Finding him- 
 
CHERRIES, BERRIES, AND BERRY-THIEVES. 19? 
 
 self getting the worst of it, he instinctively sent out 
 a cry for his stanch friend Junior. 
 
 Fortunately, this ally was coming along the road 
 toward our house, and he gave an answering halloo. 
 
 The vagrants, apparently, had a wholesome fear of 
 John Jones, junior, for, on hearing his voice, they beat 
 a hurried retreat ; but knowing that no one was at the 
 house, and in the spirit of revengeful mischief, they 
 took their flight in that direction. Seeing Mousie s 
 flower-bed, they ran and jumped upon that, breaking 
 down half the plants, then dashed off through the 
 coops, releasing the hens, and scattering the broods 
 of chickens. Merton and Junior, who for a few mo 
 ments had lost sight of the invaders in the thick 
 raspberry bushes, were now in hot pursuit, and would 
 have caught them again, had they not seen a man 
 coming up the lane, accompanied by a big dog. 
 Junior laid a hand on headlong Merton, whose blood 
 was now at boiling heat, and said, " Stop." 
 
198 DRIVEN BACK TO ED EM 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 GIVEN HIS CHOICE. 
 
 
 
 JUNIOR had good reason for bringing Merton to 
 I a sudden halt in his impetuous and hostile ad 
 vance. The man coming up the lane, with a savage 
 dog, was the father of the ill-nurtured children. He 
 had felt a little uneasy as to the results of their raid 
 upon our fruit, and had walked across the fields to 
 give them the encouragement of his presence, or 
 to cover their retreat, which he now did effectually. 
 
 It took Junior but a moment to explain to my boy 
 that they were no matcu "for the two brutes," as he 
 expressed himself, adding, " The man is worse than 
 the dog." 
 
 Merton, however, was almost reckless from anger 
 and a sense of unprovoked wrong, and he darted 
 into the house for his gun. 
 
 "See here, Merton," said Junior, firmly, "shoot 
 the dog if they set him on us, but never fire at a 
 human being. You d better give me the gun ; I am 
 cooler than you are." 
 
 They had no occasion to use the weapon, however, 
 The man shook his fist at them, while his children 
 indulged in taunts and coarse derision. The dog, 
 
GIVEN HIS CHOICE. 199 
 
 sharing their spirit and not their discretion, started 
 for the boys, but was recalled, and our undesirable 
 neighbors departed leisurely. 
 
 All this was related to me after night-fail, when I 
 returned with my wife and younger children from 
 the Maizeville Landing. I confess that I fully shared 
 Merton s anger, although I listened quietly. 
 
 "You grow white, Robert, when you are angry," 
 said my wife. " I suppose that s the most dangerous 
 kind of heat white-heat. Don t take the matter so 
 to heart. We can t risk getting the ill-will of these 
 ugly people. You know what Mr. Jones said about 
 them." 
 
 "This question shall be settled in twenty-four 
 hours ! " I replied. " That man and his family are 
 the pest of the neighborhood, and every one lives in 
 a sort of abject dread of them. Now, the neighbors 
 must say yes or no* to the question whether we 
 shall have decency, law, and order, or not. Merton, 
 unharness the horse. Junior, come with me ; I m 
 going to see your father." 
 
 I found Mr. Jones sleepy and about to retire, but 
 his blue eyes were soon wide open, with an angry 
 fire in them. 
 
 " You take the matter very quietly, Mr. Durham," 
 he said; "more quietly than I could." 
 
 " I shall not fume about the affair a moment. I 
 prefer to act. The only question for you and the 
 other neighbors to decide is, Will you act with me ? 
 I am going to this man Bagley s house to-morrow, to 
 give him his choice. It s either decency and law- 
 abiding on his part, now, or prosecution before the 
 
200 DRIVEN BACK TO EDE& 
 
 law on mine. You say that you are sure that he has 
 burned barns, and made himself generally the terror 
 of the region. Now, I won t live in a neighborhood 
 infested by people little better than wild Indians. 
 My feelings as a man will not permit me to submit 
 to insult and injury. What s more, it s time the 
 people about here abated this nuisance." 
 
 " You are right, Robert Durham ! " said Mr. Jones, 
 springing up and giving me his hand. "I ve felt 
 mean, and so have others, that we ve allowed our 
 selves to be run over by this rapscallion. If you go 
 to-morrow, I ll go with you, and so will Rollins. His 
 hen-roost was robbed t other night, and he tracked 
 the thieves straight toward Bagley s house. He 
 says his patience has given out. It only needs a 
 leader to rouse t.he neighborhood, but it ain t very 
 creditable to U3 that we let a new-comer like you 
 face the thing first." 
 
 "Very well/ I said, "it s for you and your neigh 
 bors to show now how much grit and manhood you 
 have, I shall start for Bagley s house at nine, to 
 morrow. Of course I shall be glad to have company, 
 and if he sees that the people will not stand any 
 more of his rascality, he ll be more apt to behave 
 himself or else clear out." 
 
 " He ll have to do one or the other," said Mr. Jones, 
 grimly. "I ll go right down to Rollins s. Come, 
 Junior, we rnay want you." 
 
 At eight o clock the next morning, a dozen men, 
 including the constable, were in our yard. My wife 
 whispered, "Do be prudent, Robert." She was 
 much re-assured, however, by the largeness of our 
 force. 
 
GIVEN HIS CHOICE. 2OI 
 
 We soon reached the dilapidated hovel, and were 
 so fortunate as to find Bagley and all his family at 
 home. Although it was the busiest season, he was 
 idle. As I led my force? straight toward his door, it 
 was evident that he was surprised and disconcerted, 
 in spite of his attempt to maintain a sullen and 
 defiant aspect. I saw his evil eye resting on one 
 and another of our group, as if he were storing up 
 grudges to be well paid on future dark nights. His 
 eldest son stood with the dog at the corner of the 
 house, and as I approached, the cur, set on by the 
 boy, came toward me with a stealthy step. I carried 
 a heavy cane, and just as the brute was about to 
 take me by the leg, I struck him a blow on the head 
 that sent him howling away. 
 
 The man, for a moment, acted almost as if he had 
 been struck himself. His bloated visage became in 
 flamed, and he sprung toward me. 
 
 " Stop ! " I thundered. My neighbors closed around 
 me, and he instinctively drew back. 
 
 "Bagley," I cried, "look me in the eye." And 
 he fixed upon me a gaze full of impotent anger. 
 "Now," I resumed, "I wish you and your family 
 to understand that you ve come to the end of your 
 rope. You must become decent, law-abiding people, 
 like the rest of us, or we shall put you where you 
 can t harm us. I, for one, am going to give you 
 a last chance. Your children were stealing my fruit 
 last night, and acting shamefully afterward. You 
 also trespassed, and you threatened these two boys ; 
 you are idle in the busiest time, and think you can 
 live by plunder. Now, you and yours must turn the 
 
2O2 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 sharpest corner you ever saw. Your two eldest chil 
 dren can come and pick berries for me at the usual 
 wages, if they obey my orders and behave them 
 selves. One of the neighbors here says he ll give 
 you work, if you try to do it well. If you accept 
 these terms, I ll let the past go. If you don t, I ll 
 have the constable arrest your boy at once, and I ll 
 see that he gets the heaviest sentence the law allows, 
 while if you or your children make any further trou 
 ble, I ll meet you promptly in every way the law- 
 permits. But, little as you deserve it, I am going to 
 give you and your family one chance to reform, before 
 proceeding against you. Only understand one thing, 
 I am not afraid of you. I ve had my say." 
 
 " I haven t had mine," said Rollins, stepping for 
 ward excitedly. "You, or your scapegrace boy 
 there, robbed my hen-roost the other night, and you ve 
 robbed it before. There isn t a man in this region 
 but believes that it was you who burned the barns and 
 hay-stacks. We won t stand this nonsense another 
 hour. You ve got to come to my hay-fields and work 
 out the price of those chickens, and after that I ll 
 give you fair wages. But if there s any more trouble, 
 we ll clean you out as we would a family of weasels." 
 
 "Yes, neighbor Bagley," added Mr. Jones, in his 
 dry, caustic way, "think soberly. I hope you are 
 sober. I m not one of the threatening barkin sort, 
 but I ve reached the p int where I ll bite. The law 
 will protect us, an , the hull neighborhood has re 
 solved, with Mr. Durham here, that you and your 
 children shall make no more trouble than he and 
 his children. See?" +^. 
 
GIVEN HIS CHOICE. 2O3 
 
 "Look-a-here," began the man, blusteringly, "you 
 needn t come threatenin in this blood-and-thunder 
 style. The law ll protect me as well as " 
 
 Ominous murmurs were arising from all my neigh 
 bors, and Mr. Jones now came out strong. 
 
 "Neighbors," he said, "keep cool. The time to 
 act hasn t come yet. See here, Bagley, it s hayin 
 and harvest. Our time s vallyble, whether yours is 
 or not. You kin have just three minutes to decide 
 whether you ll take your oath to stop your maraudin 
 and that of your children ; " and he pulled out his 
 watch. 
 
 " Let me add my word," said a little man, stepping 
 forward. " I own this house, and the rent is long 
 overdue. Follow neighbor Jones s advice or we ll see 
 that the sheriff puts your traps out in the middle of 
 the road." 
 
 "Oh, of course," began Bagley. "What kin one 
 feller do against a crowd ? " 
 
 " Swar 5 , as I told you," said Mr. Jones, sharply and 
 emphatically. "What do you mean by hangin fire 
 so ? Do you s pose this is child s play and make-be 
 lieve ? Don t ye know that when quiet, peaceable 
 neighbors git riled up to our pitch, they mean what 
 they say ? Swar , as I said, and be mighty sudden 
 about it." 
 
 "Don t be a fool," added his wife, who stood 
 trembling behind him. " Can t you see ?" 
 
 "Very well, I swar it," said the man, in some trep 
 idation. 
 
 "Now, Bagley," said Mr. Jones, putting back his 
 watch, "we want to convert you thoroughly this 
 
2O4 DRIVEN BACK TV EDEN. 
 
 mornin . The first bit of mischief that takes place in 
 this borough will bring the weight of the law on 
 you ; " and, wheeling on his heel, he left the yard, 
 followed by the others. 
 
GIVEN A CHANCE. 3O5 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 GIVEN A CHANCE. 
 
 in, Mr. Bagley," I said, "and bring the 
 children. I want to talk with you all. Mer- 
 ton, you go home with Junior." 
 
 "But, papa " he objected. 
 
 "Do as I bid you," I said, firmly, and I entered 
 the squalid abode. 
 
 The man and the children followed me wonder- 
 ingly. I sat down and looked the man steadily in 
 the eye for a moment. 
 
 "Let us settle one thing first," I began. "Do 
 you think I am afraid of you ? " 
 
 " S pose not, with sich backin as yer got," was the 
 somewhat nervous reply. 
 
 " I told Mr. Jones after I came home last night 
 that I should fight this thing alone if no one stood 
 by me. But you see that your neighbors have reached 
 the limit of forbearance. Now, Mr. Bagley, I didn t 
 remain to threaten you. There has been enough of 
 that, and from very resolute, angry men, too. I wish 
 to give you and yours a chance. You ve come to a 
 place where two roads branch ; you must take one or 
 the other. You can t help yourself. You and you* 
 
206 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 children won t be allowed to steal or prowl about any 
 more. That s settled. If you go away and begin 
 the same wretched life elsewhere, you ll soon reach 
 the same result ; you and your son will be lodged in 
 jail and put at hard labor. Would you not better 
 make up your mind to work for yourself and family, 
 like an honest man ? Look at these children. How 
 are you bringing them up ? Take the road to the 
 right. Do your level best, and I ll help you. I ll let 
 bygones be bygones, and aid you in becoming a re 
 spectable citizen." 
 
 " O Hank, do be a man, now that Mr. Durham 
 gives you a chance," sobbed his wife; "you know 
 we ve been living badly." 
 
 "That s it, Bagley. These are the questions you 
 must decide. If ^ou ll try to be a man, I ll give you 
 my hand to stand by you. My religion, such as it is, 
 requires that I shall not let a man go wrong if I can 
 help it. If you ll take the road to the right and do 
 your level best, there s my hand." 
 
 The man showed his emotion by a slight tremor 
 only, and after a moment s thoughtful hesitation he 
 took my hand and said, in a hoarse, choking voice : 
 " You ve got a claim on me now which all the rest 
 couldn t git, even if they put a rope around my neck. 
 I s pose I have lived like a brute, but I ve been treated 
 like one, too." 
 
 " If you ll do as I say, I ll guarantee that within 
 six months you ll be receiving all the kindness that a 
 self-respecting man wants," I answered. 
 
 Then, turning to his wife, I asked, "What have 
 you in the house to eat ? " 
 
B \GLEY 32CINS A > 2V/ LTFS. 
 
2O8 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 " Next to nothin ," she said, drying her eyes with 
 her apron, and then throwing open their bare cup 
 board. 
 
 " Put on your coat, Bagley, and come with me," I 
 said. 
 
 He and his wife began to be profuse with thanks. 
 
 " No, no ! " I said, firmly. " I m not going to give 
 you a penny s worth of anything while you are able 
 to earn a living. You shall have food at once ; but I 
 shall expect you to pay for it in work. I am going 
 to treat you like a man and a woman, and not like 
 beggars." 
 
 A few minutes later, some of the neighbors were 
 much surprised to see Bagley and myself going up 
 the road together. 
 
 My wife, Merton, and tender-hearted Mousie were 
 at the head of the lane watching for me. Re-assured, 
 as we approached, they returned wonderingly to the 
 house, and met us at the door. 
 
 "This is Mrs. Durham," I said. " My dear, please 
 give Mr. Bagley ten pounds of flour and a piece of 
 pork. After you ve had your dinner, Mr. Bagley, I 
 shall expect you, as we ve agreed. And if you ll 
 chain up that dog of yours, or, better still, knock it 
 on the head with an axe, Mrs. Durham will go down 
 and see your wife about fixing up your children." 
 
 Winifred gave me a pleased, intelligent look, and 
 said, " Come in, Mr. Bagley ; " while Merton and I 
 hastened away to catch up with neglected work. 
 
 "Your husband s been good to me," said the man, 
 abruptly. 
 
 "That s because he believes you are going to be 
 
GIVEN A CHANCE. 2Og 
 
 good to yourself and your family," was her smiling 
 reply. 
 
 " Will you come and see my wife ? " he asked. 
 
 " Certainly, if I don t have to face your dog," re 
 plied Winifred. 
 
 "I ll kill the critter soon s I go home," muttered 
 Bagley. 
 
 " It hardly pays to keep a big, useless dog," was 
 my wife s practical comment. 
 
 In going to the cellar for the meat, she left him 
 alone for a moment or two with Mousie ; and he, 
 under his new impulses, said, " Little gal, ef my chil 
 dren hurt your flowers ag in, let me know, and I ll 
 thrash em ! " 
 
 The child stole to his side and gave him her hand, 
 as she replied, "Try being kind to them." 
 
 Bagley went home with some new ideas under his 
 tattered old hat. At half -past twelve he was on hand, 
 ready for work. 
 
 " That dog that tried to bite ye is dead and bur 
 ied," he said, "and I hope I buried some of my dog 
 natur with im." 
 
 "You ve shown your good sense. But I haven t 
 time to talk now. The old man has mown a good 
 deal of grass. I want you to shake it out, and, as 
 soon as he says it s dry enough, to rake it up. Toward 
 night I ll be out with the wagon, and we ll stow all 
 that s fit into the barn. To-morro\v, I want your two 
 eldest children to come and pick berries." 
 
 "I m in fer it, Mr. Durham. You ve given me 
 your hand, and I ll show yer how that goes furder 
 with me than all the blood-and-thunder talk in Maize- 
 viile," said Baglev, with some feelins:. 
 
2IO DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "Then you ll show that you can be a man like 
 the rest of us," I said, as I hastened to our early 
 dinner. 
 
 My wife beamed and nodded at me. " I m not 
 going to say anything to set you up too much," she 
 said. " You are great on problems, and you are solv 
 ing one even better than I hoped." 
 
 "It isn t solved yet," I replied. "We have only 
 started Bagley and his people on the right road. It 
 will require much patience and good management ta 
 keep them there. I rather think you ll have the 
 hardest part of the problem yet on your hands. I 
 have little time for problems now, however, except 
 that of making the most of this season of rapid growth 
 and harvest. I declare I m almost bewildered when 
 I see how much there is to be done on every side. 
 Children, we all must act like soldiers in the middle 
 of a fight. Every stroke must tell. Now, we ll hold 
 a council of war, so as to make the most of the after 
 noon s work. Merton, how are the raspberries ? " 
 
 " There are more ripe, papa, than I thought there 
 would be." 
 
 "Then, Winnie, you and Bobsey must leave the 
 weeding in the garden and help Merton pick berries 
 this afternoon." 
 
 " As soon as it gets cooler," said my wife, " Mousie 
 and I are going to pick, also." 
 
 "Very well," I agreed. "You can give us rasp 
 berries and milk to-night, and so you will be getting 
 supper at the same time. Until the hay is ready to 
 come in, I shall keep on hoeing in the garden, the 
 weeds grow so rapidly. To-morrow will be a regular 
 
GIVEN A CHANCE. 21 T 
 
 fruit day all around, for there are two more cherry- 
 trees that need picking." 
 
 Our short nooning over, we all went to our several 
 tasks. The children were made to feel that now was 
 the chance to win our bread for months to come, and 
 that there must be no shirking. Mousie promised to 
 clear away the things while my wife, protected by a 
 large sun-shade, walked slowly down to the Bagley 
 cottage. Having seen that Merton and his little 
 squad were filling the baskets with raspberries prop 
 erly, I went to the garden and slaughtered the weeds 
 where they threatened to do the most harm. 
 
 At last I became so hot and wearied that I thought 
 I would visit a distant part of the upland meadow, 
 and see how Bagley was progressing. He was rak 
 ing manfully, and had accomplished a fair amount of 
 work, but it was evident that he was almost ex 
 hausted. He was not accustomed to hard work, 
 and had rendered himself still more unfit for it by 
 dissipation. 
 
 "See here, Bagley," I said, "you are doing well, 
 but you will have to break yourself into harness grad 
 ually. I don t wish to be hard upon you. Lie down 
 under this tree for half an hour, and by that time I 
 shall be out with the wagon." 
 
 " Mr. Durham, you have the feelin s of a man for 
 a feller," said Bagley, gratefully. " I ll make up the 
 time arter it gets cooler." 
 
 Returning to the raspberry patch, I found Bobsey 
 almost asleep, the berries often falling from his nerve 
 less hands. Merton, meanwhile, with something of 
 the spirit of a martinet, was spurring him to his task. 
 
212 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 I remembered that the little fellow had been busy 
 since breakfast, and decided that he also, of my 
 forces, should have a rest. He started up when he 
 saw me coming through the bushes, and tried to pick 
 with vigor again. As I took him up in my arms, he 
 began, apprehensively, "Papa, I will pick faster, but 
 I m so tired ! " 
 
 I re-assured him with a kiss which left a decided 
 raspberry flavor on my lips, carried him into the barn, 
 and, tossing him on a heap of hay, said, " Sleep there, 
 my little man, till you are rested." 
 
 He was soon snoring blissfully, and when I reached 
 the meadow with the wagon, Bagley was ready to 
 help with the loading. 
 
 "Well, well!" he exclaimed, "a little breathin - 
 spell does do a feller good on a hot day." 
 
 " No doubt about it," I said. " So long as you are 
 on the right road, it does no harm to sit down a bit, 
 because when you start again it s in the right direc 
 tion." 
 
 After we had piled on as much of a load as the 
 rude, extemporized rack on my market wagon could 
 hold, I added, "You needn t go to the barn with 
 me, for I can pitch the hay into the mow. Rake up 
 another load, if you feel able." 
 
 " Oh, I m all right now," he protested. 
 
 By the time I had unloaded the hay, I found that 
 my wife and Mousie were among the raspberries, and 
 that the number of full, fragrant little baskets was 
 increasing rapidly. 
 
 " Winifred, isn t this work, with your walk to the 
 Bagley cottage, too much for you ? " 
 
GIVEN A CHANCE. 21 3 
 
 "Oh, no," she replied, lightly. "An afternoon 
 in idleness in a stifling city flat would have been 
 more exhausting. It s growing cool now. What 
 wretched, shiftless people those Bagleys are ! But 
 I have hopes of them. I m glad Bobsey s having a 
 nap." 
 
 "You shall tell me about your visit to-night. We 
 are making good progress. Bagley is doing his best. 
 Winnie," I called, "come here." 
 
 She brought her basket, nearly filled, and I saw 
 that her eyes were heavy with weariness also. 
 
 "You ve done well to-day, my child. Now go 
 and look after your chickens, big and little. Then 
 your day s work is done, and you can do what you 
 please ; " and I started for the meadow again. 
 
 By six o clock, we had in the barn three loads of 
 hay, and Merton had packed four crates of berries 
 ready for market. Bobsey was now running about, 
 as lively as a cricket, and Winnie, with a child s elas 
 ticity, was nearly as sportive. Bagley, after making 
 up his half-hour, came up the lane with a rake, in 
 stead of his ugly dog as on the evening before. A 
 few moments later, he helped me lift the crates into 
 the market wagon ; and then, after a little awkward 
 hesitation, began : 
 
 " I say, Mr. Durham, can t ye give a feller a job 
 yerself ? I declar to you, I want to brace up ; but I 
 know how it ll be down at Rollins s. He ll be sav 
 age as a meat-axe to me, and his men will be a-gibin . 
 Give me a job yerself, and I ll save enough out o my 
 wages to pay for his chickens, or you kin keep nutf 
 back to pay for em." 
 
214 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN-. 
 
 I thought a moment, and then said, promptly : " I ll 
 agree to this if Rollins will. I ll see him to-night." 
 
 " Did yer wife go to see my wife ? " 
 
 "Yes, and she says she has hopes of you all. 
 You ve earned your bread to-day as honestly as I 
 have, and you ve more than paid for what my wife 
 gave you this morning. Here s a quarter to make 
 the day square, and here s a couple of baskets of 
 raspberries left over. Take them to the children." 
 
 "Well, yer bring me right to the mark," he said, 
 emphasizing his words with a slap on his thigh. " I ve 
 got an uphill row to hoe, and it s good ter have some 
 human critters around that ll help a feller a bit." 
 
 I laughed as I clapped him on the shoulder, and 
 said : " You re going to win the fight, Bagley. I ll 
 see Rollins at once, for I find I shall need another 
 man awhile." 
 
 "Give me the job, then," he said, eagerly, "and 
 give me what you think I m wuth ; and he jogged 
 off home with that leaven of all good in his heart, 
 the hope of better things. 
 
WE SHALL ALL EARN OUR SALT? 21$ 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 "WE SHALL ALL EARN OUR SALT." 
 
 ASPBERRIES and milk, with bread and butter 
 -LY and a cup of tea, made a supper that we all 
 relished, and then Merton and I started for the boat- 
 landing. I let the boy drive and deliver the crates 
 to the freight agent, for I wished him to relieve me 
 of this task occasionally. On our way to the landing 
 I saw Rollins, who readily agreed to Bagley s wish, 
 on condition that I guaranteed payment for the chick* 
 ens. Stopping at the man s cottage farther on, I told 
 him this, and he, in his emphatic way, declared, " I 
 vow ter you, Mr. Durham, ye sha n t lose a feather s 
 worth o the chickens." 
 
 Returning home, poor Merton was so tired and 
 drowsy that he nearly fell off the seat. Before long 
 I took the reins from his hands, and he was asleep 
 with his head on my shoulder. Winifred was dozing 
 in her chair, but brightened up as we came in. A 
 little judicious praise and a bowl of bread and milk 
 strengthened the boy wonderfully. He saw the need 
 of especial effort at this time, and also saw that he 
 was not being driven unfeelingly. 
 
 As I sat alone with my wife, resting a few minutes 
 before retiring, I said : " Well, Winifred, it must be 
 
2l6 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 plain to you by this time that the summer cam 
 paign will be a hard one. How are we going to 
 stand it ? " 
 
 " I ll tell you next fall," she replied, with a laugh. 
 "No problems to-night, thank you." 
 
 " I m gathering a queer lot of helpers in my effort 
 to live in the country," I continued. " There s old 
 Mr. Jacox, who is too aged to hold his own in other 
 harvest-fields. Bagley and his tribe " 
 
 " And a city wife and a lot of city children," she 
 added. 
 
 " And a city green-horn of a man at the head of 
 you all," I concluded. 
 
 " Well," she replied, rising with an odd little blend 
 ing of laugh and yawn, " I m not afraid but that we 
 shall all earn our salt." 
 
 Thus came to an end the long, eventful day, which 
 prepared the way for many others of similar charac 
 ter, and suggested many of the conditions of our 
 problem of country living. 
 
 Bagley appeared bright and early the following 
 morning with his two elder children, and I was now 
 confronted with the task of managing them and mak 
 ing them useful. Upon one thing I was certainly 
 resolved, there should be no quixotic sentiment in 
 our relations, and no companionship between his 
 children and mine. 
 
 Therefore, I took him and his girl and boy aside, 
 and said : " I m going to be simple and outspoken 
 with you. Some of my neighbors think I m a fool 
 because I give you work when I can get others. I 
 shall prove that I am not a fool, for the reason that 
 
"WE SHALL ALL EARN OUR SALT." 
 
 I shall not permit any nonsense, and you can show 
 that I am not a fool by doing your work well and 
 quietly. Bagley, I want you to understand that your 
 children do not come here to play with mine. No 
 matter whom I employed, I should keep my children 
 by themselves. Now, do you understand this ? " 
 
 They nodded affirmatively. 
 
 " Are you all willing to take simple, straightforward 
 directions, and do your best ? I m not asking what 
 is unreasonable, for I shall not be more strict with 
 you than with my own children." 
 
 " No use o beatin around the bush, Mr. Durham," 
 said Bagley, good-naturedly ; " we ve come here to 
 arn our livin , and to do as you say." 
 
 " I can get along with you, Bagley, but your chil 
 dren will find it hard to follow my rules, because they 
 are children, and are not used to restraint. Yet 
 they must do it, or there ll be trouble at once. 
 They must work quietly and steadily while they do 
 work, and when I am through with them, they must 
 go straight home. They mustn t lounge about the 
 place. If they will obey, Mrs. Durham and I will 
 be good friends to them, and by fall we will fix them 
 up so that they can go to school." 
 
 The little arabs looked askance at me and made 
 me think of two wild animals that had been caught, 
 and were intelligent enough to understand that they 
 must be tamed. They were submissive, but made no 
 false pretences of enjoying the prospect. 
 
 " I shall keep a gad handy," said their father, with 
 a significant nod at them. 
 
 "Well, youngsters," I concluded, laughing, "per- 
 
2l8 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 haps you ll need it occasionally. I hope not, how. 
 ever. I shall keep no gad, but I shall have an eye 
 on you when you least expect it ; and if you go 
 through the picking-season well, I shall have a nice 
 present for you both. Now, you are to receive so 
 much a basket, if the baskets are properly filled, and 
 therefore it will depend on yourselves how much you 
 earn. You shall be paid every day. So now for a 
 good start toward becoming a man and a woman." 
 
 I led them to one side of the raspberry patch and 
 put them under Merton s charge, saying, " You must 
 pick exactly as he directs." 
 
 Winnie and Bobsey were to pick in another part 
 of the field, Mousie aiding until the sun grew too 
 warm for the delicate child. Bagley was to divide 
 his time between hoeing in the garden and spreading 
 the grass after the scythe of old Mr. Jacox. From 
 my ladder against a cherry-tree, I was able to keep a 
 general outlook over my motley forces, and we all 
 made good progress till dinner, which, like the help 
 we employed, we now had at twelve o clock. Bagley 
 and his children sat down to their lunch under the 
 shade of an apple-tree at some distance, yet in plain 
 view through our open door. Their repast must 
 have been meagre, judging from the time in which 
 it was despatched, and my wife said, " Can t I send 
 them something ? " 
 
 " Certainly ; what have you to send ? " 
 
 "Well, I ve made a cherry pudding; I don t sup 
 pose there is much more than enough for us, though." 
 
 "Children," I cried, "let s take a vote. Shall we 
 share our cherry pudding with the Bagleys ? " 
 
"WE SHALL ALL EARN OUR SAL 7 " 2X9 
 
 "Yes," came the unanimous reply, although Bob- 
 sey s voice was rather faint. 
 
 Merton carried the delicacy to the group under 
 the tree, and it was gratefully and speedily devoured. 
 
 "That is the way to the hearts of those children," 
 said my wife, at the same time slyly slipping her 
 portion of the pudding upon Bobsey s plate. 
 
 I appeared very blind, but asked her to get me 
 something from the kitchen. While she was gone,. 
 I exchanged my plate of pudding, untouched as yet,, 
 for hers, and gave the children a wink. We all had 
 a great laugh over mamma s well-assumed surprise 
 and perplexity. How a little fun will freshen up 
 children, especially when, from necessity, their tasks 
 are long and heavy ! 
 
 We were startled from the table by a low mutter 
 of thunder. Hastening out, I saw an ominous cloud 
 in the west. My first thought was that all should 
 go to the raspberries and pick till the rain drove us 
 in ; but Bagley now proved a useful friend, for he 
 shambled up and said : " If I was you, I d have those 
 cherries picked fust. You ll find that a thunder- 
 shower ll rot em in one night. The wet won t hurt 
 the berries much." 
 
 His words reminded me of what I had seen when 
 a boy, a tree full of split, half-decayed cherries, 
 and I told him to go to picking at once. I also sent 
 his eldest boy and Merton into the trees. Old Jacox 
 was told to get the grass he had cut into as good 
 shape as possible before the shower. My wife and 
 Mousie left the table standing, and, hastening to the 
 raspberry field, helped Winnie and Bobsey and the 
 
22O DRIl E.V BACK TO ED EX. 
 
 other Bagley child to pick the ripest berries. 
 
 all worked like beavers till the vivid flashes and great 
 
 drops drove us to shelter. 
 
 Fortunately, the shower came up slowly, and we 
 nearly stripped the cherry-trees, carrying the fruit 
 into the house, there to be arranged for market in 
 the neat peck-baskets with coarse bagging covers 
 which Mr. Bogart had sent me. The little baskets 
 of raspberries almost covered the barn floor by the 
 time the rain began, but they were safe. At first, 
 the children were almost terrified by the vivid 
 lightning, but this phase of the storm soon passed, 
 and the clouds seemed to settle down for a steady 
 rain. 
 
 " Tisn t goin -to let up," said Bagley, after a while. 
 " We might as well jog home now as any time." 
 
 "But you ll get wet," I objected. 
 
 " It won t be the fust time," answered Bagley. 
 "The children don t mind it any more n ducks." 
 
 "Well, let s settle, then," I said. "You need 
 some money to buy food at once." 
 
 "I reckon I do," was the earnest reply. 
 
 " There s a dollar for your day s work, and here is 
 what your children have earned. Are you satis 
 fied?" Tasked. 
 
 " I be, and I thank you, sir. I ll go down to the 
 store this evenin ," he added. 
 
 "And buy food only," I said, with a meaning 
 look. 
 
 "Flour and pork only, sir. I ve given you my 
 hand on t;" and away they all jogged through the 
 thick-falling drops. 
 
"WE SHALL ALL EARN OUR SALT." 221 
 
 We packed our fruit for market, and looked vainly 
 or clearing skies in the west. 
 
 "There s no help for it," I said. "The sooner I 
 Itart for the landing the better, so that I can return 
 before it becomes very dark." 
 
 My wife exclaimed against this, but I added : 
 " Think a moment, my dear. By good manage 
 ment we have here, safe. and in good order, thirty 
 dollars worth of fruit, at least. Shall I lose it be 
 cause I am afraid of a summer shower ? Facing the 
 weather is a part of my business ; and I d face a 
 storm any day in the year if I could make thirty 
 dollars." 
 
 Merton wished to go also, but I said, " No ; there 
 must be no risks of illness that can possibly be 
 avoided." 
 
 I did not find it a dreary expedition, after all, for 
 I solaced myself with thoughts like these, "Thirty 
 dollars, under my wife s good management, will go 
 far toward providing warm winter clothing, or paying 
 the interest, or something else." 
 
 Then the rain was just what was needed to increase 
 and prolong the yield of the raspberry bushes, on 
 which there were still myriads of immature berries 
 and even blossoms. Abundant moisture would per 
 fect these into plump fruit ; and upon this crop rested 
 our main hope. 
 
222 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 A THUNDERBOLT. 
 
 FROM the experiences just related, it can be seen 
 how largely the stress and strain of the year 
 centred in the month of July. Nearly all our gar 
 den crops needed attention ; the grass of the meadow 
 had to be cured into hay, the currants and cherries 
 to be picked, and fall crops, like winter cabbages, tur 
 nips, and celery, to be put in the ground. Of the 
 latter vegetable, I set out only a few short rows, re 
 garding it as a delicious luxury to which not very 
 much time could be given. 
 
 Mr. Jones and Junior, indeed all our neighbors, 
 were working early and late, like ourselves. Barns 
 were being filled, conical hay-stacks were rising in 
 distant meadows, and every one was busy in gather 
 ing nature s bounty. 
 
 We were not able to make much of the Fourth of 
 July. Bobsey and Winnie had some fire-crackers, 
 and, in the evening, Merton and Junior set off a few 
 rockets, and we all said, "Ah!" appreciatively, as 
 they sped their brief fiery course; but the greater 
 part of the day had to be spent in gathering the 
 ripening black-caps and raspberries. By some man- 
 
A THUNDERBOLT. 22$ 
 
 agement, however, I arranged that Merton and Junior 
 should have a fine swim in the creek, by Brittle Rock, 
 while Mousie, Winnie, and Bobsey waded in sandy 
 shallows, farther down the stream. They all were 
 promised holidays after the fruit season was over, 
 and they submitted to the necessity of almost con 
 stant work with fairly good grace. 
 
 The results of our labor were cheering. Our table 
 was supplied with delicious vegetables, which, in the 
 main, it was Mousie s task to gather and prepare. 
 The children were as brown as little Indians, and we 
 daily thanked God for health. Checks from Mr. Bo- 
 gart came regularly, the fruit bringing a fair price 
 under his good management. The outlook for the 
 future grew brighter with the beginning of each 
 week ; for on Monday he made his returns and sent 
 me the proceeds of the fruit shipped previously. I 
 was able to pay all outstanding accounts for what had 
 been bought to stock the place, and I also induced 
 Mr. Jones to receive the interest in advance on the 
 mortgage he held. Then we began to hoard for 
 winter. 
 
 The Bagleys did as well as we could expect, I sup 
 pose. The children did need the "gad " occasionally, 
 and the father indulged in a few idle, surly, drinking 
 days ; but, convinced that the man was honestly try 
 ing, I found that a little tact and kindness always 
 brought him around to renewed endeavor. To ex 
 pect immediate reform and unvaried well-doing would 
 be asking too much of such human nature as theirs. 
 
 As July drew to a close, my wife and I felt that 
 we were succeeding better than we had had reason 
 
224 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 to expect. In the height of the season we had to 
 employ more children in gathering the raspberries, 
 and I saw that I could increase the yield in coming 
 years, as I learned the secrets of cultivation. I also 
 decided to increase the area of this fruit by a fall- 
 planting of some varieties that ripened earlier and 
 later, thus extending the season and giving me a 
 chance to ship to market for weeks instead of days. 
 My strawb erry plants were sending out a fine lot of 
 new runners, and our hopes for the future were turn 
 ing largely toward the cultivation of this delicious 
 fruit. 
 
 Old Jacox had plodded faithfully over the meadow 
 with his scythe, and the barn was now so well filled 
 that I felt our bay horse and brindle cow were pro 
 vided for during the months when fields are bare or 
 snowy. 
 
 Late one afternoon, he was helping me gather up 
 almost the last load down by the creek, when the 
 heavy roll of thunder warned us to hasten. As we 
 came up to the high ground near the house, we were 
 both impressed by the ominous blackness of a cloud 
 rising in the west. I felt that the only thing to do 
 was to act like the captain of a vessel before a storm, 
 and make everything " snug and tight." The load 
 of hay was run in upon the barn floor, and the old 
 horse led with the harness on him to the stall below. 
 Bagley and the children, with old Jacox, were started 
 off so as to be at home before the shower, doors and 
 windows were fastened, and all was made as secure 
 as possible. 
 
 Then we gathered in our sitting-room, where 
 
A THUNDERBOLT. 
 
 22$ 
 
 Mousie and my wife had prepared supper ; but we all 
 were too oppressed with awe of the coming tempest 
 to sit down quietly, as usual. There was a death-like 
 stillness in the sultry air, broken only at intervals 
 by the heavy rumble of thunder. The strange, dim 
 twilight soon passed into the murkiest gloom, and we 
 had to light the lamp far earlier than our usual hour. 
 I had never seen the children so affected before. 
 Winnie and Bobsey even began to cry with fear, 
 
 while Mousie was pale and trembling. Of course, we 
 laughed at them and tried to cheer them ; but even 
 my wife was nervously apprehensive, and I admit 
 that I felt a disquietude hard to combat. 
 
 Slowly and remorselessly the cloud approached, 
 until it began to pass over us. The thunder and 
 lightning were simply terrific. Supper remained un- 
 tasted on the table, and I said : " Patience and cour 
 age ! A few moments more and the worst will be 
 over ! " 
 
226 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN . 
 
 But my words were scarcely heard, so violent was 
 the gust that burst upon us. For a few moments it 
 seemed as if everything would go down before it, but 
 the old house only shook and rocked a little. 
 
 "Hurrah!" I cried. "The bulk of the gust has 
 gone by, and now we are all right ! " 
 
 At that instant a blinding gleam and an instantane 
 ous crash left us stunned and bewildered. But as I 
 recovered my senses, I saw flames bursting from the 
 roof of our barn. 
 
RALLYING FROM THE BLOW. 22? 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 RALLYING FROM THE BLOW. 
 
 OUR house was far enough from the barn to pre 
 vent the shock of the thunderbolt from dis 
 abling us beyond a moment or two. Merton had 
 fallen off his chair, but was on his feet almost in 
 stantly ; the other children were soon sobbing and 
 clinging to my wife and myself. 
 
 In tones that I sought to render firm and quiet, I 
 said : " No more of this foolish fear. We are in 
 God s hands, and He will take care of us. Winifred, 
 you must rally and soothe the children, while Merton 
 and I go out and save what we can. All danger tc 
 the house is now over, for the worst of the storm 
 has passed." 
 
 In a moment my wife, although very pale, was re 
 assuring the younger children, and Merton and I 
 rushed forth. 
 
 " Lead the horse out of the barn basement, Mer 
 ton," I cried, "and tie him securely behind the 
 house. If he won t go readily, throw a blanket over 
 his eyes." 
 
 I spoke these words as we ran through the tor- 
 rents of rain precipitated by the tremendous concus 
 sion which the lightning had produced 
 
228 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 I opened the barn doors and saw that the hay was 
 on fire. There was not a second to lose, and excite 
 ment doubled my strength. The load of hay on the 
 wagon had not yet caught. Although nearly stifled 
 with sulphurous smoke, I seized the shafts and backed 
 the wagon with its burden out into the rain. Then, 
 seizing a fork, I pushed and tossed off the load so 
 that I could draw our useful market vehicle to a safe 
 distance. There were a number of crates and bas 
 kets in the barn, also some tools, etc. These I had 
 to let go. Hastening to the basement, I found that 
 Merton had succeeded in getting the horse away. 
 There was still time to smash the window of the 
 poultry-room and toss the chickens out of doors. 
 Our cow, fortunately, was in the meadow. 
 
 By this time Mr. Jones and Junior were on the 
 ground, and they were soon followed by Rollins, 
 Bagley, and others. There was nothing to do now, 
 however, but to stand aloof and witness the swift 
 destruction. After the first great gust had passed, 
 there was fortunately but little wind, and the heavy 
 down-pour prevented the flames from spreading. In 
 this we stood, scarcely heeding it in the excitement 
 of the hour. After a few moments I hastened to 
 assure my trembling wife and crying children that 
 the rain made the house perfectly safe, and that they 
 were in no danger at all. Then I called to the neigh 
 bors to come and stand under the porch-roof. 
 
 From this point we could see the great pyramid of 
 fire and smoke ascending into the black sky. The 
 rain-drops glittered like fiery hail in the intense light 
 and the still vivid flashes from the clouds. 
 
RALLYING FROM THE BLOW. 
 
 "This is hard luck, neighbor Durham/ said Mr. 
 Jones, with a long breath. 
 
 " My wife and children are safe," I replied, quietly. 
 
 Then we heard the horse neighing and tugging at 
 his halter. Bagley had the good sense and will to 
 jerk off his coat, tie it arowid the animal s eyes, and 
 lead him to a distance from the fatal fascination of 
 the flames. 
 
 In a very brief space of time the whole structure, 
 with my summer crop of hay, gathered with so much 
 labor, sunk down into glowing, hissing embers. I 
 was glad to have the ordeal over, and to be relieved 
 from fear that the wind would rise again. Now I was 
 assured of the extent of our loss, as well as of its 
 certainty. 
 
 "Well, well," said the warm-hearted and impulsive 
 Rollins, "when you are ready to build again, your 
 neighbors will give you a lift. By converting Bagley 
 into a decent fellow, you ve made all our barns safer, 
 and we owe you a good turn. He was worse than 
 lightning." 
 
 I expressed my thanks, adding, " This isn t as bad 
 as you think ; I m insured." 
 
 "Well, now, that s sensible," said Mr. Jones. "I ll 
 sleep better for that fact, and so will you, Robert 
 Durham. You ll make a go of it here yet." 
 
 " I m not in the least discouraged," I answered ; 
 "far worse things might have happened. I ve no 
 ticed in my paper that a good many barns have been 
 struck this summer, so my experience is not unusual. 
 The only thing to do is to meet such things patiently 
 and make the best of them. As long as the family 
 
230 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEtf. 
 
 is safe and well, outside matters can be remedied. 
 Thank you, Bagiey," I continued, addressing him, as 
 he now led forward the horse. " You had your wits 
 about you. Old Bay will have to stand under the 
 shed to-night." 
 
 " Well, Mr. Durham, the harness is still on him, all 
 cept the head-stall ; and he s quiet now." 
 
 "Yes," I replied, "in our haste we didn t throw 
 off the harness before the shower, and it has turned 
 out very well." 
 
 "Tell ye what it is, neighbors," said practical Mr, 
 Jones ; " tisn t too late for Mr. Durham to sow a big 
 lot of fodder corn, and that s about as good as hay. 
 We ll turn to and help him get some in." 
 
 This was agreed to heartily, and one after another 
 they wrung my hand and departed, Bagiey jogging 
 in a companionable way down the road with Rollins, 
 whose chickens he had stolen, but had already paid 
 for. 
 
 I looked after them and thought : "Thank Heaven 
 I have not lost my barn as some thought I might at 
 one time ! As Rollins suggested, I d rather take 
 my chances with the lightning than with a vicious 
 neighbor. Bagiey acted the part of a good friend 
 to-night." 
 
 Then, seeing that we could do nothing more, Mer- 
 ton and I entered the house. 
 
 I clapped the boy on the shoulder as I said : " You 
 acted like a man in the emergency, and I m proud 
 of you. The bringing out a young fellow strong is 
 almost worth the cost of a barn." 
 
 My wife came and put her arm around my neck 
 
RALLYING FROM THE BLOW. 231 
 
 and said : " You bear up bravely, Robert, but I fear 
 you are discouraged at heart. To think of such a 
 loss, just as we were getting started ! " and there 
 were tears in her eyes. 
 
 "Yes," I replied, "it will be a heavy loss for us, 
 and a great inconvenience, but it might have been 
 so much worse ! All sit down and I ll tell you some 
 thing. You see my training in business led me to 
 think of the importance of insurance, and to know 
 the best companies. As soon as the property be 
 came yours, Winifred, I insured the buildings for 
 nearly all they were worth. The hay and the things 
 in the barn at the time will prove a total loss ; but it 
 is a loss that we can stand and make good largely 
 before winter. I tell you honestly that we have no 
 reason to be discouraged. We shall soon have a 
 better barn than the one lost ; for, by good planning, 
 a. better one can be built for the money that I shall 
 receive. So we will thank God that we are all safe 
 ourselves, and go quietly to sleep." 
 
 With the passing of the storm, the children had 
 become quiet, and soon we lost in slumber all 
 thought of danger and loss. 
 
 In the morning the absence of the barn made a 
 great gap in our familiar outlook, and brought many 
 and serious thoughts ; but with the light came re 
 newed hopefulness. All the scene was flooded with 
 glorious sunlight, and only the blackened ruins made 
 the frightful storm of the previous evening seem 
 possible. Nearly all the chickens came at Winnie s 
 call, looking draggled and forlorn indeed, but practi 
 cally unharmed, and ready to resume their wonted 
 
232 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 cl "^rf ulness after an hour in the sunshine. We 
 fitted up for them the old coop in the orchard, t^A a 
 part of the ancient and dilapidated barn which was 
 to have been used for corn-stalks only. The drench 
 ing rain had saved this and the adjoining shed from 
 destruction, and now in our great emergency they 
 proved useful indeed. 
 
 The trees around the site of the barn were black 
 ened, and their foliage was burnt to a crisp. With 
 in the stone foundations the smoke from the still 
 smouldering debris rose sluggishly. 
 
 I turned away from it all, saying : " Let us worry 
 no more over that spilled milk. Fortunately the 
 greater part of our crates and baskets were under 
 the shed. Take the children, Merton, and pick over 
 the raspberry patches carefully once more, while I 
 go to work in the garden. That has been helped 
 rather than injured by the storm, and, if we will take 
 care of it, will give us plenty of food for winter. 
 Work there will revive my spirits." 
 
 The ground was too wet for the use of the hoe, 
 but there was plenty of weeding to be done, while I 
 answered the questions of neighbors who came to 
 offer their sympathy. I also looked around to see 
 what could be sold, feeling the need of securing 
 every dollar possible. I found much that was hope 
 ful and promising. The Lima-bean vines had covered 
 the poles, and toward their base the pods were filling 
 out. The ears on our early corn were fit to pull ; 
 the beets and onions had attained a good size ; the 
 early peas had given place to turnips, winter cab 
 bages, and celery ; there were plenty of green melons 
 
RALLYING FROM THE BLOW. 233 
 
 cn the vines, and more cucumbers than we could 
 use. The remaining pods on the first planting of 
 bush-beans were too mature for use, and I resolved 
 to let them stand till sufficiently dry to be gathered 
 and spread in the attic. All that we had planted 
 had done, or was doing, fairly well, for the season 
 had been moist enough to insure a good growth. 
 We had been using new potatoes since the first of 
 the month, and now the vines were so yellow that 
 all in the garden could be dug at once and sold. 
 They would bring in some ready money, and I learned 
 from my garden book that strap-leaved turnips, sown 
 on the cleared spaces, would have time to mature. 
 
 After all, my strawberry beds gave me the most 
 hope. There were hundreds of young plants already 
 rooted, and still more lying loosely on the ground ; 
 so I spent the greater part of the morning in 
 weeding these out and pressing the young plants on 
 the ends of the runners into the moist soil, having 
 learned that with such treatment they form roots 
 and become established in a very few days. 
 
 After dinner Mr. Jones appeared with his team 
 and heavy plough, and we selected an acre of upland 
 meadow where the sod was light and thin. 
 
 "This will give a fair growth of young corn- 
 leaves," he said, "by the middle of September. By 
 that time you ll have a new barn up, I s pose ; and 
 after you have cut and dried the corn, you can put a 
 little of it into the mows in place of the hay. The 
 greater part will keep better if stacked outdoors. A 
 horse will thrive on such fodder almost as well as a 
 cow, specially if ye cut it up and mix a little bran. 
 
234 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEM 
 
 meal with it. We ll sow the corn in drills a foot 
 apart, and you can spread a little manure over the 
 top of the ground after the seed is in. This ground 
 is a trifle thin ; a top-dressin will help it mazin ly." 
 
 Merton succeeded in getting several crates of 
 raspberries, but said that two or three more pickings 
 would finish them. Since the time we had begun 
 to go daily to the landing, we had sent the surplus 
 of our vegetables to a village store, with the under 
 standing that we would trade out the proceeds. We 
 thus had accumulated a little balance in our favor, 
 which we could draw against in groceries, etc. 
 
 On the evening of this day I took the crates to 
 the landing, and found a purchaser for my garden 
 potatoes, at a dollar a bushel. I also made arrange 
 ments at a summer boarding-house, whose proprietor 
 agreed to take the largest of our spring chickens, our 
 sweet corn, tomatoes, and some other vegetables, as 
 we had them to spare. Now that our income from 
 raspberries was about to cease, it was essential to 
 make the most of everything else on the place that 
 would bring money, even if we had to deny ourselves. 
 It would not do for us to say, "We can use this or 
 that ourselves." The question to be decided was, 
 whether, if such a thing were sold, the proceeds 
 would not go further toward our support than the 
 things themselves. If this should be true of sweet 
 corn, Lima-beans, and even the melons on which the 
 children had set their hearts, we must be chary of 
 consuming them ourselves. This I explained in 
 such a way that all except Bobsey saw the wisdom 
 of it, or, rather, the necessity. As yet, Bobsey s 
 
RALLYING FROM THE BLOW. 
 
 tendencies were those of a consumer, and not of a 
 producer or saver. 
 
 Rollins and one or two others came the next day, 
 and with Bagley s help the corn was soon in the 
 ground. 
 
 Then I set Bagley to work with the cart spreading 
 upon the soil the barn-yard compost that had accu 
 mulated since spring. There was not enough to 
 cover all the ground, but that I could not help. The 
 large pile of compost that I had made near the poul 
 try-house door could not be spared for this purpose, 
 since it was destined for my August planting of 
 strawberries. 
 
 Perhaps I may as well explain about these compost 
 heaps now as at any other time. I had watched 
 their rapid growth with great satisfaction. Some 
 may dislike such homely details, but since the suc 
 cess of the farm and garden depend on them I shall 
 not pass them over, leaving the fastidious reader to 
 do this for himself. 
 
 It will be remembered that I had sought to pre 
 pare myself for country life by much reading and 
 study during the previous winter. I had early been 
 impressed with the importance of obtaining and sav 
 ing everything that would enrich the soil, and had 
 been shown that increasing the manure-pile was the 
 surest way to add to one s bank account. Therefore 
 all rakings of leaves had been saved. At odd times 
 Merton and I had gone down to the creek with the 
 cart and dug a quantity of rich black earth from 
 near its bank. One pile of this material had been 
 placed near the stable door, and another at the en- 
 
DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 trance to the poultry-room in the basement of our 
 vanished barn. The cleanings of the horse-stable 
 had been spread over a layer of this black soil. 
 When the layer of such cleanings was about a foot 
 thick, spread Oenly, another layer of earth covered 
 all from sun and rain. Thus I had secured a pile of 
 compost which nearly top-dressed an acre for fodder 
 corn. 
 
 In the poultry-room we managed in this fashion. 
 A foot of raked-up leaves and rich earth was placed 
 under the perches of the fowls. Every two or three 
 weeks this layer was shovelled out and mixed thor 
 oughly, and was replaced by a new layer. As a 
 result I had, by the ist of August, a large heap of 
 fertilizer almost as good as guano, and much safer to 
 use, for I had read that unless the latter was care 
 fully managed it would burn vegetation like fire. I 
 believed that this compost-heap by the poultry-room 
 window would give my young strawberry plantation 
 a fine start, and, as has been shown, we were making 
 great calculations on the future fruit. 
 
 I also resolved that the burning of the barn should 
 add to our success in this direction. All the books 
 said that there was nothing better for strawberries 
 than wood ashes, and of these there was a great heap 
 within the foundations of the destroyed building. 
 At one time I proposed to shovel out these ashes 
 and mix them with the compost, but fortunately I 
 first consulted my book on fertilizers, and read there 
 that this would not do at all, that they should b 
 used separately. 
 
AUGUST WORK AND PLAY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 AUGUST WORK AND PLAY. 
 
 I WAS now eager to begin the setting of the 
 strawberry plants in the field where we had put 
 potatoes, but the recent heavy shower had kept the 
 latter still green and growing. During the first 
 week in August, however, I found that the tubers 
 had attained a good size, and I began to dig long 
 rows on the upper side of the patch, selling in the 
 village three or four barrels of potatoes a week for 
 immediate use. 
 
 By this course I soon had space enough cleared for 
 ten rows of strawberries ; and on the 6th of August 
 Mr. Jones came and ploughed the land deeply, going 
 twice in a furrow. Then I harrowed the ground, 
 and, with a corn-plough, marked out the space with 
 shallow furrows three feet, apart. Through five of 
 these furrows Merton sprinkled a good dressing of 
 the poultry compost, and in the remaining five drills 
 we scattered wood ashes. Thus we should learn the 
 comparative value of these fertilizers. Then I made 
 a rude tray with two handles, so that it could be car 
 ried between Merton and myself. When the sun 
 declined, we went to the strawberry bed, and having 
 
23 S DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 selected the Duchess variety to set out first, soaked 
 with water a certain portion of the ground that was 
 thick with plants. Half an hour later, we could dig 
 up these plants with a ball of earth attached to their 
 roots. These were carried carefully on the tray to 
 the field, and set out in the furrows. We levelled 
 the ground first, so that the crown of the plant 
 should be even with the surrounding surface. We 
 set the plants a foot apart in the rows, and by dusk 
 had three rows out. Early the next morning we 
 gave these plants a good soaking in their new start 
 ing-place, and, although the weather was now dry 
 and warm, not a leaf withered, and all began to grow 
 as if they had not been moved. It seemed slow 
 work, but I believed it would pay in the end, espe 
 cially as Merton, Winnie, and I performed nearly all 
 the labor. 
 
 We had now dispensed with Bagley s services, a 
 good word from me having secured him work else 
 where. I found that I could not make arrangements 
 for rebuilding the barn before the last of August, 
 and we now began to take a little much-needed rest. 
 Our noonings were two or three hours long. Mer 
 ton and Junior had time for a good swim every day, 
 while the younger children were never weary of 
 wading in the shallows. I insisted, however, that 
 they should not remain long in the water on any one 
 occasion, and now and then we each took a grain or 
 two of quinine to fortify our systems against any 
 malarial influences that might be lurking around at 
 this season. 
 
 The children were also permitted to make expedi- 
 
AUGUST WORK AND PLAY. 239 
 
 tions to mountain-sides for huckleberries and black 
 berries. As a result, we often had these wholesome 
 fruits on the table, while my wife canned the surplus 
 for winter use. A harvest apple tree also began to 
 be one of the most popular resorts, and delicious 
 pies made the dinner-hour more welcome than ever. 
 The greater part of the apples were sold, however, 
 and this was true also of the Lima-beans, sweet 
 :orn, and melons. We all voted that the smaller 
 ears and melons tasted just as good as if we had 
 picked out the best of everything, and my account- 
 book showed that our income was still running well 
 ahead of our expenses. 
 
 Bobsey and Winnie had to receive another touch 
 of discipline and learn another lesson from experi 
 ence. I had marked with my eye a very large, per 
 fect musk-melon, and had decided that it should be 
 kept for seed. They, too, had marked it ; and one 
 morning, when they thought themselves unobserved, 
 they carried it off to the seclusion of the raspberry 
 bushes, proposing a selfish feast by themselves. 
 
 Merton caught a glimpse of the little marauders, 
 and followed them. They cut the melon in two, and 
 found it green and tasteless as a pumpkin. He made 
 me laugh as he described their dismay and disgust, 
 then their fears and forebodings. The latter were 
 soon realized ; for, seeing me in the distance, he 
 beckoned. As I approached, the children stole out 
 of the bushes, looking very guilty. 
 
 Merton explained, and I said: "Very well, you 
 shall have your melon for dinner, and little else. I 
 intend you shall enjoy this melon fully. So sit down 
 
240 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 under that tree and each of you hold half the melon 
 till I release you. You have already learned that 
 you can feast your eyes only." 
 
 There they were kept, hour after hour, each hold- 
 ing half of the green melon. The dinner-bell rang, 
 and they knew that we had ripe melons and green 
 corn ; while nothing was given them but bread and 
 water. Bobsey howled, and Winnie sobbed, but my 
 wife and I agreed that such tendencies toward dis 
 honesty and selfishness merited a lasting lesson. At 
 supper the two culprits were as hungry as little 
 wolves ; and when I explained that the big melon 
 had been kept for seed, and that if it had been left 
 to ripen they should have had their share, they felt 
 that they had cheated themselves completely. 
 
 "Don t you see, children," I concluded, "that act 
 ing on the square is not only right, but that it is 
 always best for us in the end ? " 
 
 Then I asked, "Merton, what have the Bagley 
 children been doing since they stopped picking rasp 
 berries for us ? " 
 
 " I m told they ve been gathering blackberries and 
 huckleberries in the mountains, and selling them." 
 
 " That s promising. Now I want you to pick out 
 a good-sized water-melon and half a dozen musk- 
 melons, and I ll leave them at Bagley s cottage to 
 morrow night as I go down to the village. In old 
 times they would have stolen our crop ; now they 
 shall share in it." 
 
 When I carried the present on the following even 
 ing, the children indulged in uncouth cries and gam 
 bols over the gift, and Bagley himself was touched. 
 
AUGUST WORK AND PLAY. 241 
 
 " I ll own up ter yer," he said, " that yer melon 
 patch was sore temptin to the young uns, but I tole 
 em that I d thrash em if they teched one. Now 
 yer see, youngsters, ye ve got a man of feelin ter 
 deal with, and yer ve got some melons arter all, and 
 got em squar , too." 
 
 " I hear good accounts of you and your children," 
 I said, " and I m glad of it. Save the seeds of these 
 melons and plant a lot for yourself. See here, Bag- 
 ley, we ll plough your garden for you this fall, and 
 you can put a better fence around it. If you ll do 
 this, I ll share my garden seeds with you next spring, 
 and you can raise enough on that patch of ground 
 to half feed your family." 
 
 " I ll take yer up," cried the man, " and there s my 
 iiand on it ag in." 
 
 " God bless you and Mrs. Durham ! " added his 
 wife. "We re now beginning to live like human 
 critters." 
 
 I resumed my journey to the village, feeling that 
 never before had melons been better invested. 
 
 The Moodna Creek had now become very low, and 
 not more than half its stony bed was covered with 
 water. At many points, light, active feet could find 
 their way across and not be wet. Junior now had a 
 project on hand, of which he and Merton had often 
 spoken lately. A holiday was given to the boys, 
 and they went to work to construct an eel weir and 
 trap. With trousers well rolled up, they selected a 
 point on one side of the creek where the water was 
 deepest, and here they left an open passage-way for 
 the current. On each side of this they began to 
 
242 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 roll large stones, and on these placed smaller ones, 
 raising two long obstructions to the natural flow. 
 These continuous obstructions ran obliquely up 
 stream, directing the main current to the open pas 
 sage, which was only about two feet wide, with a 
 post on either side, narrowing it still more. In this 
 they placed the trap, a long box made of lath, suffi 
 ciently open to let the water run through it, and hav 
 ing a peculiar opening at the upper end where the 
 current began to rush, down the narrow passage-way. 
 The box rested closely on the gravelly bottom, and 
 was fastened to the posts. Short, close-fitting slats 
 from the bottom and top of the box, at its upper end, 
 sloped inward, till they made a narrow opening. All 
 its other parts were eel-tight. The eels coming 
 down with the current which had been directed 
 toward the entrance of the box, as has been explained, 
 passed into it, and there they would remain. They 
 never had the wit to find the narrow aperture by 
 which they had entered. This turned out to be use 
 ful sport, for every morning the boys lifted their trap 
 and took out a goodly number of eels ; and when the 
 squirmers were nicely dressed and browned, they 
 proved delicious morsels. 
 
A TJSJJP TO THE SEA-SHORE. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 A TRIP TO THE SEA-SHORE. 
 
 IN the comparative leisure which the children en 
 joyed during August, they felt amply repaid for 
 the toil of the previous months. We also managed 
 to secure two great gala-days. The first was spent in 
 a trip to the sea-shore ; and this was a momentous 
 event, marred by only one slight drawback. The 
 " Mary Powell," a swift steamer, touched every 
 morning at the Maizeville Landing. I learned that, 
 from its wharf in New York, another steamer started 
 for Coney Island, and came back in time for us to 
 return on the " Powell " at 3.30 P.M. Thus we could 
 secure a delightful sail down the river and bay, and 
 also have several hours on the beach. My wife and 
 I talked over this little outing, and found that if we 
 took our lunch with us, it would be inexpensive. I 
 saw Mr. Jones, and induced him and his wife, with 
 Junior, to join us. Then the children were told of 
 our plan, and their hurrahs made the old house ring. 
 Now that we were in for it, we proposed no half-way 
 measures. Four plump spring chickens were killed 
 and roasted, and to these were added so many ham- 
 sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs, that I declared that 
 
244 
 
 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN 
 
 we were provisioned for a week. My wife nodded at 
 Bobsey, and said, " Wait and see ! " 
 Whom do you think we employed 
 to mount guard during our absence ? 
 No other than Bagley. Mr. Jones 
 said that it was like asking a wolf 
 to guard the flock, for his prejudices 
 yielded slowly ; but I felt sure that 
 this proof of trust would do the man 
 more good than a dozen sermons. 
 
 Indeed, he did seem wonderfully 
 pleased with his task, and said, 
 "Ye ll find I ve arned my dollar 
 when ye git back." 
 
 The children scarcely slept, in 
 their glad anticipation, and were up 
 with the sun. Mr. and Mrs. Jones 
 drove down in their light wagon, 
 while Junior joined our children in 
 another straw-ride, packed in be 
 tween the lunch-baskets. We had 
 ample time after reaching the land 
 ing to put our horses and vehicles in 
 a safe place, and then we watched 
 for the " Powell." Soon we saw her 
 approaching Newtown, four miles 
 above, then speeding toward the 
 wharf, and rounding into it, with 
 the ease and grace of a swan. We 
 scrambled aboard, smiled at by all 
 I suppose we did not form, with our lunch-baskets, 
 a very stylish group, but that was the least of our 
 
THE DECK OF in* "MAR* POWELL." 
 
246 
 
 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 troubles. I am satisfied that 
 none of the elegant people 
 we brushed against were half 
 so happy as we were. 
 
 We stowed away our bas 
 kets and then gave ourselves 
 up to the enjoyment of the 
 lovely Highland scenery, 
 and to watching the various 
 kinds of craft that we were 
 constantly passing. Winnie 
 and Bobsey had been placed 
 under bonds for good be 
 havior, and were given to 
 understand that they must 
 exercise the grace of keep 
 ing moderately still. The 
 sail down the river and bay 
 was a long, grateful rest to 
 us older people, and I saw 
 with pleasure that my wife 
 was enjoying every moment, 
 and that the fresh salt breeze 
 was fanning color into her 
 cheeks. Plump Mrs. Jones 
 dozed and smiled, and won 
 dered at the objects we 
 passed, for she had never 
 been much of a traveller ; 
 while her husband s shrewd 
 eyes took in everything, and 
 he often made us laugh by 
 
A TRIP TO THE SEA-SHORE. 
 
 his quaint remarks. Junior and Merton were as 
 alert as hawks. They early made the acquaintance 
 of deck-hands who good-naturedly answered their 
 numerous questions. I took the younger children on 
 occasional exploring expeditions, but never allowed 
 them to go beyond my reach, for I soon learned that 
 Bobsey s promises sat lightly on his conscience. 
 
 At last we reached the great Iron Pier at Coney 
 Island, which we all traversed with wondering eyes. 
 
 We established ourselves in a large pavilion, fit 
 ted up for just such picnic parties as ours. Beneath 
 us stretched the sandy beach. We elderly people 
 were glad enough to sit down and rest, but the chil 
 dren forgot even the lunch-baskets, so eager were 
 they to run upon the sand in search of shells. 
 
 All went well until an unusually high wave came 
 rolling in. The children scrambled out of its way, 
 with the exception of Bobsey, who was caught and 
 tumbled over, and lay kicking in the white foam. 
 In a moment I sprung down the steps, picked him 
 up, and bore him to his mother. 
 
 He was wet through ; and now what was to be 
 done ? After inquiry and consultation, I found that 
 I could procure for him a little bathing-dress which 
 would answer during the heat of the day, and an old 
 colored woman promised to have his clothing dry in 
 an hour. So the one cloud on our pleasure proved 
 to have a very bright lining, for Bobsey, since he 
 was no longer afraid of the water, could roll in the 
 sand and the gentle surf to his heart s content. 
 
 Having devoured a few sandwiches to keep up 
 our courage, we all procured bathing-dresses, even 
 
248 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 Mrs. Jones having been laughingly compelled by 
 her husband to follow the general example. When 
 we all gathered in the passage-way leading to the 
 water, we were convulsed with laughter at our ridic 
 ulous appearance ; but there were so many others in 
 like plight that we were scarcely noticed. Mrs. 
 Jones s dress was a trifle small, and her husband s 
 immensely large. He remarked that if we could 
 now take a stroll through Maizeville, there wouldn t 
 be a crow left in town. 
 
 Mrs. Jones could not be induced to go beyond a 
 point where the water was a foot or two deep, and 
 the waves rolled her around like an amiable porpoise. 
 Merton and Junior were soon swimming fearlessly, 
 the latter wondering, meanwhile, at the buoyant 
 quality of the salt water. My wife, Mousie, and 
 Winnie allowed me to take them beyond the break 
 ers, and soon grew confident. In fifteen minutes I 
 sounded recall, and we all emerged, lank Mr. Jones 
 now making, in very truth, an ideal scarecrow. Bob- 
 sey s dry garments were brought, and half an hour 
 later we were all clothed, and, as Mr. Jones re 
 marked, " For a wonder, in our right minds." 
 
 The onslaught then made on the lunch-baskets 
 was never surpassed, even at that place of hungry 
 excursionists. In due time we reached home, tired, 
 sleepy, yet content with the fact that we had filled 
 one day with enjoyment and added to our stock of 
 health. 
 
 The next morning proved that Bagley had kept 
 his word. Everything was in order, and the amount 
 of work accomplished in the garden showed that he 
 
A TRIP TO THE SEA-SHORE. 249 
 
 had been on his mettle. Hungry as we had been, 
 we had not emptied our lunch-baskets, and my wife 
 made up a nice little present from what remained, to 
 which was added a package of candy, and all was 
 carried to the Bagley cottage. 
 
 Juvenile experiences had not exactly taught the 
 Bagley children that "the way of the transgressor 
 is hard," they had not gone far enough for that, 
 and it certainly was our duty to add such flowers as 
 we could to the paths of virtue. 
 
 The month of August was now well advanced. 
 We had been steadily digging the potatoes in the 
 field and selling them in their unripened condition, 
 until half the acre had been cleared. The vines in 
 the lower half of the patch were now growing very 
 yellow, and I decided to leave them, until the tubers 
 should thoroughly ripen, for winter use. By the 
 20th of the month we had all the space that had 
 been cleared, that is, half an acre, filled with Duch 
 ess and Wilson strawberries ; and the plants first set 
 were green and vigorous, with renewed running ten 
 dencies. But the runners were promptly cut off, so 
 that the plants might grow strong enough to give a 
 good crop of fruit in the following June. 
 
 I now began to tighten the reins on the children, 
 and we all devoted more hours to work. 
 
 During the month we gathered a few bushels of 
 plums on the place. My wife preserved some, and 
 the rest were sold at the boarding-houses and village 
 stores, for Mr. Bogart had written that when I could 
 find a home market for small quantities of produce, 
 it would pay me better than to send them to the city. 
 
25O DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN, 
 
 I kept myself informed as to city prices, and found 
 that he had given me good and disinterested advice. 
 Therefore, we managed to dispose of our small crop 
 of early pears and peaches as we had done with the 
 plums. Every day convinced me of the wisdom of 
 buying a place already stocked with fruit ; for, al 
 though the first cost was greater, we had immedi 
 ately secured an income which promised to leave a 
 margin of profit after meeting all expenses. 
 
 During the last week of August the potatoes were 
 fully ripe, and Merton, Winnie, Bobsey, and I worked 
 manfully, sorting the large from the small, as they 
 were gathered. The crop turned out very well, es 
 pecially on the lower side of the field, where the 
 ground had been rather richer and moister than in 
 the upper portion. 
 
 I did not permit Merton to dig continuously, as it 
 was hard work for him ; but he seemed to enjoy 
 throwing out the great, smooth, white-coated fellows, 
 and they made a pretty sight as they lay in thick 
 rows behind us, drying, for a brief time, in the sun. 
 They were picked up, put into barrels, drawn to the 
 dry, cool shed, and well covered from the light. Mr. 
 Jones had told me that as soon as potatoes had dried 
 off after digging, they ought to be kept in the dark, 
 since too much light makes them tough and bitter. 
 Now that they were ripe, it was important that they 
 should be dug promptly, for I had read that a warm 
 rain is apt to start the new potatoes to growing, and 
 this spoils them for table use. 
 
 So I said : " We will stick to this task until it is 
 finished, and then we shall have another outing. I 
 
A TRIP TO THE SEA-SHORE. 
 
 am almost ready to begin rebuilding the barn ; but 
 before I do so, I wish to visit Houghton Farm, and 
 shall take you all with me. I may obtain some ideas 
 which will be useful, even in my small outlay of 
 money." 
 
252 DRIVEN BACK TO &D&N. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 A VISIT TO HOUGHTON FARM. 
 
 HOUGHTON FARM, distant a few miles, is a 
 magnificent estate of about one thousand 
 acres, and the outbuildings upon it are princely in 
 comparison with anything I could erect. They had 
 been constructed, however, on practical and scien 
 tific principles, and I hoped that a visit might sug 
 gest to me some useful points. Sound principles 
 might be applied, in a modest way, to even such a 
 structure as would come within my means. At any 
 rate, a visit to such a farm would be full of interest 
 and pleasure. So we dug away at the potatoes, and 
 worked like ants in gathering them, until we had 
 nearly a hundred bushels stored. As they were only 
 fifty cents a bushel, I resolved to keep them until 
 the following winter and spring, when I might need 
 money more than at present, and also get better 
 prices. 
 
 Then, one bright day toward the end of August, 
 we all started, after an early dinner, for the farm, 
 Junior going with us as usual. We had been told 
 that the large-minded and liberal owner of this model 
 farm welcomed visitors, and so we had no doubts as 
 
A VISIT TO HOUGH TON FARM. 253 
 
 to our reception. Nor were we disappointed when, 
 having skirted broad, rich fields for some distance, 
 we turned to the right down a long, wide lane, bor 
 dered by beautiful shrubbery, and leading to the 
 great buildings, which were numbered conspicuously. 
 We were courteously met by Major Alvord, the 
 agent in charge of the entire estate. I explained 
 the object of my visit, and he kindly gave us a few 
 moments, showing us through the different barns 
 and stables. Our eyes grew large with wonder as 
 we saw the complete appliances for carrying on an 
 immense stock-farm. The summer crops had been 
 gathered, and we exclaimed at the hundreds of tons 
 of hay, fodder, and straw stored in the mows. 
 
 "We use a ton of hay daily, after the pasture 
 season is over/ remarked our guide. 
 
 When we came to look at the sleek Jersey cows 
 and calves, with their fawn-like faces, our admiration 
 knew no bounds. We examined the stalls in which 
 could stand thirty-four cows. Over each was the 
 name of the occupant, all blood animals of the 
 purest breed, with a pedigree which might put to 
 shame many newly rich people displaying coats-of- 
 arms. The children went into ecstasies over the 
 pretty, innocent faces of the Jersey calves, and 
 Mousie said they were "nice enough to kiss." Then 
 we were shown the great, thick-necked, black-headed 
 Jersey bull, and could scarcely believe our ears when 
 told that he, his mother, and six brothers represented 
 values amounting to about a hundred thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 We next visited a great Norman mare, as big 1 as 
 
254 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 two ordinary horses, and the large, clumsy colt at 
 her side ; then admired beautiful stallions with fiery 
 eyes and arching necks ; also the superb carriage* 
 horses, and the sleek, strong work animals. Their 
 stalls were finely finished in Georgia pine. Soon 
 afterward, Bobsey went wild over the fat little Essex 
 pigs, black as coals, but making the whitest and 
 sweetest of pork. 
 
 " Possess your soul in patience, Bobsey," I said. 
 " With our barn, I am going to make a sty, and then 
 we will have some pigs." 
 
 I had had no good place for them thus far, and 
 felt that we had attempted enough for beginners. 
 Moreover, I could not endure to keep pigs in the 
 muddy pens in ordinary use, feeling that we could 
 never eat the pork produced under such conditions. 
 
 The milk-house and dairy were examined, and we 
 thought of the oceans of milk that had passed through 
 them. 
 
 A visit to " Crusoe Island " entertained the chil 
 dren more than anything else. A mountain stream 
 had been dammed so as to make an island. On the 
 surrounding waters were fleets of water-fowl, ducks 
 and geese of various breeds, and, chief in interest, a 
 flock of Canada wild-geese, domesticated. Here we 
 could look closely at these great wild migrants that, 
 spring and fall, pass and repass high up in the sky, 
 in flocks, flying in the form of a harrow or the two 
 sides of a triangle, meanwhile sending out cries that, 
 in the distance, sound strange and weird. 
 
 Leaving my wife and children admiring these birds 
 and their rustic houses on the island, I went with 
 
CRUSOE: ISLAND. 
 
 SOME OF THE SIGHTS AT THE GREAT STOCK-FARM. 
 
256 DRIVEN BACK TO ED Eh. 
 
 Major Alvord to his offices, and saw the fine scientific 
 appliances for carrying on agricultural experiments 
 designed to extend the range of accurate and practi 
 cal knowledge. Not only was the great farm planted 
 and reaped, blood stock grown and improved by 
 careful breeding, but, accompanying all this labor, 
 was maintained a careful system of experiments tend 
 ing to develop and establish that supreme science, 
 the successful culture of the soil. Major Alvord 
 evidently deserved his reputation for doing the work 
 thoroughly and intelligently, and I was glad to think 
 that there were men in the land, like the proprietor 
 of Houghton Farm, who are willing to spend thou 
 sands annually in enriching the rural classes by 
 bringing within their reach the knowledge that is 
 power. 
 
 After a visit to the sheep and poultry departments, 
 each occupying a large farm by itself, we felt that we 
 had seen much to think and talk over. 
 
 It was hard to get Winnie away from the poultry 
 houses and yards, where each celebrated breed was 
 kept scrupulously by itself. There were a thousand 
 hens, besides innumerable young chickens. We were 
 also shown incubators, which, in spring, hatch little 
 chickens by hundreds. 
 
 " Think of fifteen hundred eggs at a sitting, Win 
 nie ! " I cried ; " that s quite a contrast to the number 
 that you put under one of your biddies at home." 
 
 "I don t care," replied the child; "we ve raised 
 over a hundred chickens since we began." 
 
 "Yes, indeed," I said. "That for you for you 
 have seen to it all chiefly is a greater success than 
 anything here." 
 
A VISIT TO HOUGHTON FARM. 2$? 
 
 I was thoughtful as we drove home, and at last my 
 wife held out a penny. 
 
 "No," I said, laughing; "my thoughts shall not 
 cost you even that. What I have seen to-day has 
 made clearer what I have believed before. There 
 are two distinct ways of securing success in outdoor 
 work. One is ours, and the other is after the plan 
 of Houghton Farm. Ours is the only one possible 
 for us, that of working a small place and perform 
 ing the labor, as far as possible, ourselves. If I had 
 played boss/ as Bagley sometimes calls me, and 
 hired the labor which we have done ourselves, the 
 children meanwhile idle, we should soon come to a 
 disastrous end in our country experiment. The fact 
 that we have all worked hard, and wisely, too, in the 
 main, and have employed extra help only when there 
 was more than we could do, will explain our account- 
 book ; that is, the balance in our favor. I believe 
 that one of the chief causes of failure on the part of 
 people in our circumstances is, that they employ 
 help to do what they should have done themselves, 
 and that it doesn t and can t pay small farmers and 
 fruit-growers to attempt much beyond what they can 
 take care of, most of the year, with their own hands. 
 Then there s the other method, that of large capi 
 tal carrying things on as we have seen to-day. The 
 farm then becomes like a great factory or mercantile 
 house. There must be at the head of everything a 
 large organizing brain capable of introducing and 
 enforcing thorough system, and of skilfully directing 
 labor and investment, so as to secure the most from 
 the least outlay. A farm such as we have just seen 
 
25 & DKJVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 would be like a bottomless pit for money in bungling, 
 careless hands." 
 
 " I m content with our own little place and modest 
 ways," said my wife. " I never wish our affairs to 
 grow so large that we can t talk them over every 
 night, if so inclined." 
 
 "Well," I replied, "I feel as you do. I never 
 should have made a great merchant in town, and I 
 am content to be a small farmer in the country, sail* 
 ing close to shore in snug canvas, with no danger of 
 sudden wreck keeping me awake nights. The insur 
 ance money will be available in a few days, and we 
 shall begin building at once." 
 
 The next day Merton and I cleared away the rest 
 of the ctibris in and around the foundations of the 
 barn, and before night the first load of lumber 
 arrived from the carpenter who had taken the 
 contract. 
 
 This forerunner of bustling workmen, and all the 
 mystery of fashioning crude material into something 
 looking like the plan over which we had all pored so 
 often, was more interesting to the children than the 
 construction of Solomon s temple. 
 
 "To-morrow the stone-masons come," I said at 
 supper, "and by October we are promised a new 
 barn," 
 
HOARDING FOR WINTER. 259 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 HOARDING FOR WINTER. 
 
 AS was stated early in this simple history the 
 original barn was built on a hillside, the rear 
 facing the south-east ; and since the foundations 
 were still in a fair condition, and the site was con 
 venient, I determined to build on the same spot, 
 somewhat modifying the old plan. I had read of the 
 importance of keeping manure under cover, and now 
 arranged that by a trap door the cleanings of the 
 horse and cow stable should be thrown into the base 
 ment, which, by a solid brick partition, should be so 
 divided as to leave ample room for a dark cellar in 
 which to store roots and apples. Through this trap 
 door in the stable rich earth and muck from the 
 banks of the creek could be thrown down also, cover 
 ing the manure, and all could be worked over and 
 mixed on rainy days. By this method I could make 
 the most of my fertilizers, which may be regarded as 
 the driving-wheel of the farm. 
 
 I had decided that the poultry-house and pigsty 
 should form an extension to the barn, and that both 
 should be built in the side of the bank also. They 
 would thus have an exposure to the south, and at the 
 
260 DRIVEN BACK TO 
 
 same time, being formed in part by an excavation, 
 would be cool in summer. The floor of the sty 
 should have a slight downward slope, and be ce 
 mented. Therefore it could be kept perfectly clean. 
 This residence of Bobsey s future pets should be at 
 the extreme end of the extension, and above it should 
 be a room in which I could store picked-up apples, 
 corn, and other food adapted to their needs, also a 
 conduit by which swill could be poured into the 
 trough below without the necessity of entering the 
 pen. I proposed to keep only two or three pigs at 
 a time, buying them when young from neighboring 
 farmers, and fattening them for our own use according 
 to my own ideas. 
 
 The poultry-house, between the barn and sty, was 
 to be built so that its side, facing the south, should be 
 chiefly of glass. It was so constructed as to secure 
 the greatest amount of light and warmth. Eggs in 
 winter form the most profitable item in poultry keep 
 ing, and these depend on warmth, food, shelter, and 
 cleanliness, with the essential condition that the hens 
 are young. All the pullets of Winnie s early broods 
 therefore had been kept, and only the young cocker 
 els eaten or sold. We had the prospect of wintering 
 about fifty laying hens ; and the small potatoes we 
 had saved would form a large portion of their food. 
 Indeed, for some weeks back, such small tubers, 
 boiled and mashed with meal, had formed the main 
 feed of our growing chickens. 
 
 I learned that Bagley was out of work, and em 
 ployed him to excavate the bank for these new build 
 ings. We saved the surface earth carefully for 
 
HOARDING FOR WINTER. 26 1 
 
 compost purposes, and then struck some clean, nice 
 gravel, which was carted away to a convenient place 
 for our roads and walks. On a hillside near the 
 creek were large stones and rocks in great quantity, 
 and some of these were broken up for the founda 
 tions. Along the edge of the creek we also found 
 some excellent sand, and therefore were saved not a 
 little expense in starting our improvements. 
 
 It did not take the masons long to point up and 
 strengthen the old foundations, and early in Septem 
 ber everything was under full headway, the sound of 
 hammer, saw, and plane resounding all day long. It 
 was Winnie s and Bobsey s task to gather up the 
 shavings and refuse bits of lumber, and carry them 
 to the woodhouse. 
 
 / The ease and quickness with which we can build 
 fires next winter," I said, " is a pleasant thing to 
 think of." 
 
 Meanwhile the garden was not neglected. The 
 early flight of summer-boarders had greatly reduced 
 the demand for vegetables, and now we began to 
 hoard them for our own use. The Lima-beans were 
 allowed to dry on the vines ; the matured pods of the 
 bush-beans were spread in the attic ; thither also the 
 ripened onions were brought and placed in shallow 
 boxes. As far as possible we had saved our own 
 seed, and I had had a box made and covered with 
 tin, so as to be mouse-proof, and in this we placed 
 the different varieties, carefully labelled. Although 
 it was not " apple year," a number of our trees were 
 in bearing. The best of the windfalls were picked 
 up, and, with the tomatoes and such other vegetables 
 
262 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 as were in demand, s^nt to the village twice a week. 
 As fast as crops matured, the ground was cleared, 
 and the refuse, such as contained no injurious seeds, 
 was saved as a winter covering for the strawberry 
 plants. 
 
 Our main labor, however, after digging the rest of 
 the potatoes, was the setting of the remaining half- 
 acre in the later varieties of the strawberry. Al 
 though the early part of September was very dry and 
 warm, we managed to set out, in the manner I have 
 described, two or three rows nearly every afternoon. 
 The nights had now grown so long and cool that one 
 thorough watering seemed to establish the plants. 
 This was due chiefly to the fact that nearly every 
 plant had a ball of earth attached to the roots, and 
 had never been allowed to wilt at all in the transition. 
 About the middle of the month there came a fine 
 rain, and we filled the remainder of the ground in one 
 day, all the children aiding me in the task. The 
 plants first set out were now strong and flourishing 
 Each had a bunch of foliage six inches in diameter. 
 
 Thus, with helping on the new barn and othei 
 work, September saw a renewal of our early-summer 
 activity. 
 
 " The winds in the trees are whispering of winter," 
 I said to the children, " and all thrifty creatures 
 ants, bees, and squirrels are laying up their stores. 
 So must we." 
 
 I had watched our maturing corn with great satis 
 faction. For a long time Merton had been able to 
 walk through it without his straw hat being seen 
 above the nodding tassels. One day, about the 2Oth 
 
HOARDING FOR WINTER. 26$ 
 
 of the month, Mr. Jones came over with some bun 
 dles of long rye straw in his wagon, and said, " Yer 
 can t guess what these are fer." 
 
 " Some useful purpose, or you wouldn t have 
 brought them," I replied. 
 
 "We ll see. Come with me to the corn patch." 
 
 As we started he took a bundle under his arm, and 
 I saw that he had in his hand a tool called a corn- 
 knife. Going through the rows he occasionally 
 stripped down the husks from an ear. 
 
 Finally he said : "Yes, it s ready. Don t yer see 
 that the kernels are plump and glazed ? Junior and 
 I are going to tackle our corn ter-morrow, and says I 
 to myself, If ourn is ready to cut, so is neighbor Dur 
 ham s. The sooner it s cut after it s ready, the bet 
 ter. The stalks are worth more for fodder, and you 
 run no risk from an early frost, which would spile it 
 all. You and Merton pitch in as yer allers do, and 
 this is the way ter do it." 
 
 With his left hand gathering the stalks of a hill 
 together above the ears, he cut them all off with one 
 blow of the corn-knife within six inches of the ground, 
 and then leaned them against the stalks of an uncut 
 hill. This he continued to do until he had made 
 what he called a " stout," or a bunch of stalks as 
 large as he could conveniently reach around, the un 
 cut hill of stalks forming a support in the centre. 
 Then he took a wisp of the rye straw, divided it 
 evenly, and putting the ends together, twisted it 
 speedily into a sort of rope. With this he bound 
 the stout tightly above the ears by a simple method 
 which one showing made plain to me. 
 
264 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "Well, you are a good neighbor ! " I exclaimed. 
 
 " Pshaw ! What does this amount to ? If a man 
 can t do a good turn when it costs as little as this, 
 he s a mighty mean feller. You forget that I ve sold 
 you a lot of rye-straw, and so have the best of yer 
 after all." 
 
 " I don t forget anything, Mr. Jones. As you say, 
 I believe we shall make a go of it here, but we 
 always remember how much we owe to you and 
 Junior. You ve taken my money in a way that saved 
 my self-respect, and made me feel that I could go to 
 you as often as I wished ; but you have never taken 
 advantage of me, and you have kept smart people 
 from doing it. Do you know, Mr. Jones, that in 
 every country village there are keen, weasel-like 
 people who encourage new-comers by bleeding their 
 pocket-books at every chance ? In securing you as a 
 neighbor our battle was half won, for no one needs 
 a good practical friend more than a city man begin 
 ning life in the country." 
 
 " Jerusalem ! how you talk ! I m goin right home 
 and tell my wife to call me Saint Jones. Then I ll 
 get a tin halo and wear it, for my straw hat is about 
 played out ; " and away he went, chuckling over his 
 odd conceits, but pleased, as all men are, when their 
 good-will is appreciated. If there is one kind of 
 meanness that disgusts average human-nature more 
 than another it is a selfish, unthankful reception of 
 kindness, a swinish return for pearls. 
 
 After an early supper I drove to the village with 
 what I had to sell, and returned with two corn-hooks. 
 At dusk of the following clay, Bagley and I had the 
 
HOARDING FOR WINTER. 263 
 
 corn cut and tied up, my helper remarking more than 
 once, " Tell you what it is, Mr. Durham, there hain t 
 a better eared-out patch o corn in Maizeville." 
 
 On the following day I helped Bagley sharpen one 
 of the hooks, and we began to cut the fodder-corn 
 which now stood, green and succulent, averaging two 
 feet in height throughout the field. 
 
266 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEJUf. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 AUTUMN WORK AND SPORT. 
 
 THE barn was now up, and the carpenters were 
 roofing it in, while two days more of work 
 wouki complete the sty and poultry-house. Every 
 stroke of the hammer told rapidly now, and we all 
 exulted over our new and better appliances for carry 
 ing out our plan of country life. Since the work was 
 being done by contract, I contented myself with see 
 ing that it was done thoroughly. Meanwhile Merton 
 was busy with the cart, drawing rich earth from the 
 banks of the creek. I determined that the making 
 of great piles of compost should form no small part 
 of my fall and winter labor. The proper use of fer 
 tilizers during the present season had given such a 
 marked increase to our crops that it became clear 
 that our best prospect of growing rich was in mak 
 ing the land rich. 
 
 During the last week of September the nights 
 were so cool as to suggest frost, and I said to Mousie : 
 " I think we had better take up your geraniums and 
 other window plants, and put them in pots or boxes. 
 We can then stand them under a tree which would 
 shelter them from a slight frost. Should there be 
 
AUTUMN WORK AND SPORT. 
 
 267 
 
 serious danger it would take us only a few minutes 
 to bring them into the house. You have taken such 
 good care of -them all summer that I do not intend 
 that you shall lose them now. Take your flower book 
 and read what kind of soil they grow best in during 
 the winter, and then Merton can help you get it." 
 The child was all solicitude about her pets, and 
 
 after dinner she and Merton, the latter trundling a 
 wheelbarrow, went down to the creek and obtained 
 a lot of fine sand and some leaf-mould from under the 
 trees in the woods. These ingredients we carefully 
 mixed with rich soil from the flower-bed and put the 
 compound in the pots and boxes around the roots of 
 as many plants as there was room for on the table 
 by the sunny kitchen window. Having watered 
 them thoroughly, we stood them under a tree, there 
 
268 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEtf. 
 
 to remain until a certain sharpness in the air should 
 warn us to carry them to their winter quarters. 
 
 The Lima-beans, as fast as the pods grew dry, or 
 even yellow, were picked and spread in the attic. 
 They could be shelled at our leisure on stormy winter 
 days. 
 
 Early in September my wife had begun to give 
 Mousie, Winnie, and Bobsey their lessons again. 
 Since we were at some distance from a school- 
 house we decided to continue this arrangement for 
 the winter with the three younger children. I felt 
 that Merton should go to school as soon as possible, 
 but he pleaded hard for a reprieve until the last of 
 October, saying that he did not wish to begin before 
 Junior. As we still had a great deal to do, and as 
 the boy had set his heart on some fall shooting, I 
 yielded, he promising to study all the harder when 
 he began. 
 
 I added, however : " The evenings have grown so 
 long that you can write for half an hour after supper, 
 and then we will review your arithmetic together. 
 It will do me good as well as you." 
 
 During the ensuing weeks we carried out this plan 
 partially, but after a busy day in the open air we were 
 apt to nod over our tasks. We were both taught the 
 soundness of the principle that brain-work should 
 precede physical exercise. 
 
 The ist day of October was bright, clear, and mild, 
 and we welcomed the true beginning of fall in our 
 latitude most gladly. This month competes with 
 May in its fitness for ideal country life. The chil 
 dren voted it superior to all other months, feeling 
 
AUTUMX WORK AND SPORT. 269 
 
 that a vista of unalloyed delights was opening before 
 them. Already the butternuts were falling from 
 several large trees on the place, and the burrs on the 
 chestnuts were plump with their well-shielded treas 
 ures. Winnie and Bobsey began to gather these 
 burrs from the lower limbs of an immense tree, 
 eighteen feet in circumference, and to stamp out the 
 half-brown nuts within. 
 
 " One or two frosts will ripen them and open the 
 burrs," I said, and then the children began to long 
 for the frost which I dreaded. 
 
 While I still kept the younger children busy for a 
 few hours every clear morning in the garden, and 
 especially at clipping the runners from the strawberry 
 plants in the field, they were given ample time to 
 gather their winter hoards of nuts. This pursuit 
 afforded them endless items .for talk, Bobsey mod 
 estly assuring us that he alone would gather about a 
 million bushels of butternuts, and almost as many 
 chestnuts and walnuts. 
 
 " What will the squirrels do then ? " I asked. 
 
 " They must do as I do," he cried ; " pick up and 
 carry off as fast as they can. They ll have a better 
 chance than me, too, for they can work all day long. 
 The little scamps are already taking the nuts off the 
 trees I ve seen em, and I wish Merton would shoot 
 em all." 
 
 " Well, Merton," said I, laughing, " I suppose that 
 squirrels are proper game for you ; but I hope that 
 you and Junior won t shoot robins. They are too 
 useful a bird to kill, and I feel grateful for all the 
 music they ve given us during the past summer. I 
 
2/0 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEtf. 
 
 know the law permits you to shoot them now, but 
 you and Junior should be more civilized than such a 
 law." 
 
 " If we don t get em, everybody else will, and we 
 might as well have our share," he replied. 
 
 I knew that there was no use in drawing the reins 
 too tight, and so I said : " I have a proposition to 
 make to you and Junior. I d like you both to prom 
 ise not to shoot robins except on the wing. That 
 will teach you to be expert and quick-eyed. A true 
 sportsman is not one who tries to kill as much game 
 as possible, but to kill scientifically, skilfully. There 
 is more pleasure in giving your game a chance, and 
 in bringing it down with a fine long shot, than in 
 slaughtering the poor creatures like chickens in a 
 coop. Anybody can shoot a robin, sitting on a 
 bough a few yards off, but to bring one down when 
 in rapid flight is the work of a sportsman. Never 
 allow yourself to be known as a mere pot-hunter. 
 For my part, I had rather live on pork than on robins 
 or any useful birds." 
 
 He readily agreed not to fire at robins except when 
 flying, and to induce Junior to do likewise. I was 
 satisfied that not many of my little favorites would 
 suffer. 
 
 "Very well," I said, "I ll coax Mr. Jones to let 
 Junior off to-morrow, and you can have the entire 
 day to get your hands in. This evening you can go 
 down to the village and buy a stock of ammunition." 
 
 The boy went to his work happy and contented. 
 
 " Papa, where can we dry our butternuts ? " Win* 
 nie asked. 
 
2/2 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "I ll fix a place on the roof of the shed right 
 away," I said. " Its slope is very gradual, and if I 
 nail some slats on the lower side you can spread the 
 millions of bushels that you and Bobsey will gather. * 
 
 Now Bobsey had a little wagon, and, having fin 
 ished his morning stint of work, he, with Mousie and 
 Winnie, started off to the nearest butternut-tree ; 
 and during the remainder of the day, with the ex 
 ception of the time devoted to lessons, loads came 
 often to the shed, against which I had left a ladder. 
 By night they had at least one of the million bushels 
 spread and drying. 
 
 As they brought in their last load about five o clock 
 in the afternoon I said to them, " Come and see what 
 I ve got." 
 
 I led the way to the sty, and there were grunting 
 three half-grown pigs. Now that the pen was ready 
 I had waited no longer, and, having learned from 
 Rollins that he was willing to sell some of his stock, 
 had bought three sufficiently large to make good pork 
 by the ist of December. 
 
 The children welcomed the new-comers with 
 shouts ; but I said : " That won t do. You ll fright 
 en them so that they ll try to jump out of the pen. 
 Run now and pick up a load of apples in your wagon 
 and throw them to the pigs. They ll understand and 
 like such a welcoming better;" and so it proved. 
 
 At supper I said : " Children, picking up apples, 
 which was such fun this evening, will hereafter be 
 part of your morning work, for a while. In the 
 room over the sty is a bin which must be filled 
 with the fallen apples before any nuts can be 
 gathered." 
 
AUTUMN WORK AND SPORT. 2/3 
 
 Even Bobsey laughed at the idea that this was 
 work ; but I knew that it would soon become so. 
 Then Mousie exclaimed, "Papa, do you know that 
 the red squirrels are helping us to gather nuts ? " 
 
 " If so, certainly without meaning it. How ? " 
 
 " Well, as we were coming near one of the trees 
 we saw a squirrel among the branches, and we hid 
 behind a bush to watch him. We soon found that 
 he was tumbling down the nuts, for he would go to 
 the end of a limb and bite cluster after cluster. The 
 thought that we would get the nuts so tickled Bobsey 
 that he began to laugh aloud, and then the squirrel 
 ran barking away." 
 
 "You needn t crow so loud, Bobsey," I said. 
 "The squirrel will fill many a hole in hollow trees 
 before winter, in spite of you." 
 
 "I ll settle his business before he steals many 
 more of our nuts," spoke up Merton. 
 
 " You know the squirrel wasn t stealing, my boy. 
 The nuts grew for him as truly as for you youngsters. 
 At the same time I suppose he will forr part of a 
 pot-pie before long." 
 
 " I hate to think that such pretty little creatures 
 should be killed," said Mousie. 
 
 "I feel much the same," I admitted; "and yet 
 Merton will say we cannot indulge in too much sen 
 timent. You know that we read that red squirrels 
 are mischievous in the main. They tumble little 
 birds out of their nests, carry off corn, and I have 
 seen them gnawing apples for the sake of the 
 seeds. It wouldn t do for them to become too plen 
 tiful. Moreover, game should have its proper place 
 
274 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 as food, and as a means of recreation. We raise 
 chickens and kill them. Under wise laws, well 
 enforced, nature would fill the woods, fields, and 
 mountains with partridges, quail, rabbits, and other 
 wholesome food. Remember what an old and thick 
 ly settled land England is, yet the country is alive 
 with game. There it is protected on great estates, 
 but here the people must agree to protect it for 
 themselves." 
 
 "Junior says," Merton explained, "that the par. 
 tridges and rabbits in the mountains are killed off by 
 foxes and wild-cats and wood-choppers who catch 
 them in traps and snares." 
 
 " I fancy the wood-choppers do the most harm. If 
 I had my way, there would be a big bounty for the 
 destruction of foxes, and a heavy fine for all trappers 
 of game. The country would be tenfold more inter 
 esting if it were full of wild, harmless, useful crea 
 tures. I hope the time will come when our streams 
 will be again thoroughly stocked with fish, and our 
 wild lands with game. If hawks, foxes, trappers, 
 and other nuisances could be abolished, there would 
 be space on yonder mountains for partridges to flour 
 ish by the million. I hope, as the country grows 
 older, that the people will intelligently co-work with 
 nature in preserving and increasing all useful wild 
 life. Every stream, lake, and pond could be crowded 
 with fish, and every grove and forest afford a shelter 
 and feeding-ground for game. There should be a 
 wise guardianship of wild life, such as we maintain 
 over our poultry-yards, and skill exercised in increas 
 ing it. Then nature would supplement our labors, 
 
AUTUMN WORK AND SPORT. 2/5 
 
 and furnish a large amount of delicious food at little 
 cost." 
 
 "Well, papa, I fear I shall be gray before your 
 fine ideas are carried out. From what Junior says, 
 I guess that Bagley and his children, and others like 
 them, will get more game this winter than we will, 
 and without firing a shot. They are almost as wild 
 as the game itself, and know just where to set their 
 snares for it. I can t afford to wait until it s all 
 killed off, or till that good time comes of which you 
 speak, either. I hope to shoot enough for a pot-pie 
 at least to-morrow, and to have very good sport while 
 about it." 
 
 " I have good news about the Bagley children," 
 said my wife. " I was down there to-day, and all the 
 children begin school next Monday. Between clothes 
 which our children have outgrown, and what Mrs. 
 Bagley has been able to buy and make, all three of 
 the young Bagleys make a very respectable appear 
 ance. I took it upon myself to tell the children that 
 if they went to school regularly we would make them 
 nice Christmas presents." 
 
 "And I confirm the bargain heartily," I cried. 
 "Merton, look out for yourself, or the Bagley boy 
 will get ahead of you at school." 
 
 He laughed and, with Junior, started for the vil 
 lage, to get their powder and shot. 
 
 The next morning after preparing a good lot of 
 cartridges before breakfast, the two boys started, 
 and, having all day before them, took their lunches 
 with the intention of exploring Schunemunk Moun 
 tain. The squirrels, birds, and rabbits near home 
 
2/6 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 were reserved for odd times when the lads could slip 
 away for a few hours only. 
 
 Our new barn, now about completed, gave my wife 
 and me as much pleasure as the nuts and game af 
 forded the children. I went through it, adding here 
 and there some finishing- touches and little conven 
 iences, a painter meanwhile giving it a final coat of 
 dark, cheap wash. 
 
 Our poultry-house was now ready for use, and I 
 said to Winnie, " To-night we will catch the chickens 
 and put them in it." 
 
 The old horse had already been established in the 
 stable, and I resolved that the cow should come in 
 from this time. In the afternoon I began turning 
 over the fodder corn, and saw that a very few more 
 days would cure it. Although I decided not to be 
 gin the main husking until after the middle of the 
 month, I gathered enough ears to start the pigs on 
 the fattening process. Towards night I examined 
 the apples, and determined to adopt old Mr. Jamison s 
 plan of picking the largest and ripest at once, leav 
 ing the smaller and greener fruit to mature until the 
 last of the month. The dark cellar was already half 
 filled with potatoes, but the space left for such apples 
 as we should pick was ready. From time to time 
 when returning from the village I had brought up 
 empty barrels ; and in some of these, earlier kinds, 
 like fall pippins and greenings, had been packed and 
 shipped to Mr. Bogart. By his advice I had resolved 
 to store the later varieties and those which would 
 keep well, disposing of them gradually to the best 
 advantage. I made up my mind that the morrow 
 
AUTUMN" WORK AND SPORT. 277 
 
 should see the beginning of our chief labor in the 
 orchard. I had sold a number of barrels of wind 
 falls, but they brought a price that barely repaid us. 
 My examination of the trees now convinced me that 
 there should be no more delay in taking off the large 
 and fine-looking fruit. t 
 
 With the setting sun Merton and Junior arrived, 
 scarcely able to drag their weary feet down the lane. 
 Nevertheless their fatigue was caused by efforts en 
 tirely after their own hearts, and they declared that 
 they had had a " splendid time." Then they emp 
 tied their game-bags. Each of the boys had a par 
 tridge, Merton one rabbit, and Junior two. Merton 
 kept up his prestige by showing two gray squirrels 
 to Junior s one. Red squirrels abounded, and a few 
 robins, brought down on the wing as the boys had 
 promised. 
 
 I was most interested in the rattles of the deadly 
 snake which Junior had nearly stepped on and then 
 shot. 
 
 " Schunemunk is full of rattlers," Junior said. 
 
 " Please don t hunt there any more then," I re 
 plied. 
 
 "No, we ll go into the main Highlands to the 
 east ard next time." 
 
 Merton had also brought down a chicken hawk ; 
 and the game, spread out on the kitchen table, sug 
 gested much interesting wild life, about which I said 
 we should read during the coming winter, adding: 
 " Well, boys, you have more than earned your salt in 
 your sport to-day, for each of you has supplied two 
 game dinners. We shall live like aldermen now, I 
 suppose." 
 
2/8 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "Yes," cried Merton, "whether you call me pot 
 hunter* or not, I mean my gun to pay its way." 
 
 "I ve no objections to that," was my laughing 
 answer, " as long as you shoot like a sportsman, and 
 not like a butcher. Your guns, boys, will pay best, 
 however, in making you strong, and in giving you 
 some well-deserved fun after your busy summer. I 
 feel that you have both earned the right to a good 
 deal of play this month, and that you will study all 
 the harder for it by and by." 
 
 "I hope you ll talk father into that doctrine," 
 said Junior, as he sat down to supper with us. 
 
 The boys were drowsy as soon as they had satisfied 
 their keen appetites, and Mousie laughed at them, 
 saying that she had been reading how the boa-con 
 strictor gorged himself and then went to sleep, and 
 that they reminded her of the snake. 
 
 " I guess I ll go home after that," said Junior. 
 
 " Now you know I was only poking a little fun," 
 said Mousie, ruefully, as she ran into the kitchen 
 and gathered up his game for him, looking into his 
 face so archly and coaxingly that he burst out : " You 
 beat all the game in the country. I ll shoot a blue 
 jay, and give you its wings for your hat, see if I 
 don t ; " and with this compliment and promise he 
 left the child happy. 
 
 Merton was allowed to sleep late the next morn- 
 ing, and was then set to work in the orchard, I di 
 viding my time between aiding in picking the apples 
 and turning over the fodder corn. 
 
 "You can climb like a squirrel, Merton, and I 
 must depend on you chiefly for gathering the apples. 
 
280 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 Handle them like eggs, so as not to bruise them, and 
 then they will keep better. After we have gone over 
 the trees once and have stacked the fodder corn you 
 shall have a good time with your gun." 
 
 For the next few days we worked hard, and nearly 
 finished the first picking of the apples, also getting 
 into shocks the greater part of the corn. Then came 
 a storm of wind and rain, and the best of the apples 
 on one tree, which we had neglected, were soon lying 
 on the ground, bruised and unfit for winter keeping. 
 
 "You see, Merton," I said, "that we must manage 
 to attend to the trees earlier next year. Live and 
 learn." 
 
 The wind came out of the north the day after the 
 storm, and Mr. Jones shouted, as he passed down 
 the road, " Hard frost to-night ! " 
 
 Then indeed we bustled around. Mousie s flowers 
 were carried in, the Lima-bean poles, still hanging full 
 of green pods more or less filled out, were pulled up 
 and stacked together under a tree, some tomato-vines, 
 with their green and partially ripe fruit, were taken 
 up by the roots and hung under the shed, while over 
 some other vines a covering was thrown towards 
 night. 
 
 "We may thus, keep a supply of this wholesome 
 vegetable some weeks longer," I said. 
 
 Everything that we could protect was looked after ; 
 but our main task was the gathering of all the grapes 
 except those hanging against the sides of the house. 
 These I believed would be so sheltered as to escape 
 injury. We had been enjoying this delicious fruit 
 for some time, carrying out our plan, however, of re- 
 
AUTUMN WORK AND SPORT. 28 1 
 
 serving the best for the market. The berries on the 
 small clusters were just as sweet and luscious, and 
 the children were content. 
 
 Sure enough, on the following morning white hoar 
 frost covered the grass and leaves. 
 
 " No matter," cried Winnie, at the breakfast-table ; 
 "the chestnut burrs are opening." 
 
 By frequent stirring the rest of the corn-fodder 
 was soon dried again, and was stacked like the rest. 
 Then we took up the beets and carrots, and stored 
 them also in the root cellar. 
 
 We had frost now nearly every night, and many 
 trees were gorgeous in their various hues, while oth 
 ers, like the butternuts, were already losing their 
 foliage. 
 
 The days were filled with delight for the children. 
 The younger ones were up with the sun to gather 
 the nuts that had fallen during the night, Merton 
 accompanying them with his gun, bringing in squir 
 rels daily, and now and then a robin shot while flying. 
 His chief exploit however was the bagging of half a 
 dozen quails that unwarily chose the lower part of 
 our meadow as a resort. Then he and Junior took 
 several long outings in the Highlands, with fair suc 
 cess ; for the boys had become decidedly expert. 
 
 "If we only had a dog," said Merton, "we could 
 do wonders." 
 
 " Both of you save your money next summer, and 
 buy one," I replied ; "I ll give you a chance, Merton." 
 
 By the middle of the month the weather became 
 dry and warm, and the mountains were almost hidden 
 in an Indian summer haze. 
 
282 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 "Now for the corn-husking," I said, "and the 
 planting of the ground in raspberries, and then we 
 shall be through with our chief labors for the year." 
 
 Merton helped me at the husking, but I allowed 
 him to keep his gun near, and he obtained an occa 
 sional shot which enlivened his toil. Two great bins 
 over the sty and poultry-house received the yellow 
 ears, the longest and fairest being stored in one, and 
 in the other the "nubbin s," speedily to be trans 
 formed into pork. Part of the stalks were tied up 
 and put in the old "corn-stalk barn," as we called it, 
 and the remainder were stacked near. Our cow cer 
 tainly was provided for. 
 
 Brindle now gave too little milk for our purpose, 
 whereas a farmer with plenty of fodder could keep 
 her over the winter to advantage. I traded her off to 
 a neighboring farmer for a new milch cow, and paid 
 twenty dollars to boot. We were all great milk- 
 topers, while the cream nearly supplied us with 
 butter. 
 
 Having removed the corn, Mr. Jones ploughed the 
 field deeply, and then Merton and I set out the vari 
 eties of raspberries which promised best in our lo 
 cality, making the hills four feet apart in the row, 
 and the rows five feet from one another. I followed 
 the instructions of my fruit book closely, and cut 
 back the canes of the plants to six inches, and sunk 
 the roots so deep as to leave about four inches of 
 soil above them, putting two or three plants in the 
 hill. Then over and about the hills we put on the 
 surface of the ground two shovelfuls of compost, 
 finally covering the plants beneath a slight mound of 
 
AUTUMN WORK AND SPORT. 28* 
 
 earth. This would protect them from the severe 
 frost of winter. 
 
 These labors and the final picking of the apples 
 brought us to the last week of the month. Of the 
 smaller fruit, kept clean and sound for the purpose, 
 we reserved enough to make two barrels of cider, of 
 which one should go into vinegar, and the other be 
 kept sweet, for our nut-crackings around the winter 
 fire. Bobsey s dream of " millions of bushels " of 
 nuts had not been realized, yet enough had been 
 dried and stored away to satisfy even his eyes. Not 
 far away an old cider-mill was running steadily, and 
 we soon had the barrels of russet nectar in our cellar. 
 Then came Saturday, and Merton and Junior were 
 given one more day s outing in the mountains with 
 their guns. On the following Monday they trudged 
 off to the nearest public school, feeling that they had 
 been treated liberally, and that brain-work must now 
 begin in earnest. Indeed from this time forth, for 
 months to come, school and lessons took precedence 
 of everything else, and the proper growing of boys 
 and girls was the uppermost thought. 
 
284 DRIVEN BACK TO DEJV. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 THANKSGIVING DAY. 
 
 "X TOVEMBER weather was occasionally so blus- 
 1 ^1 tering and stormy that I turned schoolmaster 
 in part, to relieve my wife. During the month, how. 
 ever, were bright, genial days, and others softened 
 by a smoky haze, which gave me opportunity to 
 gather and store a large crop of turnips, to trench in 
 my celery on a dry Knoll, and to bury, with their 
 heads downward, all the cabbages for which I could 
 not find a good market. The children still gave me 
 some assistance, but, lessons over, they were usually 
 permitted to amuse themselves in their own way. 
 Winnie, however, did not lose her interest in the 
 poultry, and Merton regularly aided in the care of 
 the stock and in looking after the evening supply of 
 fire-wood. I also spent a part of my time in the 
 wood lot, but the main labor there was reserved 
 (or December. The chief task of the month was 
 the laying down and covering of the tender rasp 
 berries ; and in this labor Bagley again gave me 
 his aid. 
 
 Thanksgiving Day was celebrated with due observ 
 ance. In the morning we all heard Dr. Lyman 
 
THANKSGIVING DAY. 285 
 
 preach, and came home with the feeling that we and 
 the country at large were prosperous. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Jones, with Junior, dined with us in great state, and 
 we had our first four-course dinner since arriving in 
 Maizeville, and at the fashionable hour of six in the 
 evening. I had protested against my wife s purpose 
 of staying at home in the morning, saying we would 
 "browse around during the day and get up appetites, 
 while in the afternoon we could all turn cooks and 
 help her." Merton was except ed, and, after devour 
 ing a hasty cold lunch, he and Junior were off with 
 their guns. As for Bobsey, he appeared to browse 
 steadily after church, but seemed in no wise to have 
 exhausted his capacity when at last he attacked his 
 soup, turkey drum-stick, and the climax of a pud 
 ding. Our feast was a very informal affair, seasoned 
 with mirth and sauced with hunger. The viands, 
 however, under my wife s skill, would compare with 
 any eaten in the great city, which we never once had 
 regretted leaving. Winifred looked after the trans 
 fers from the kitchen at critical moments, while 
 Mousie and Winnie were our waitresses. A royal 
 blaze crackled in the open fireplace, and seemed to 
 share in the sparkle of our rustic wit and unforced 
 mirth, which kept plump Mrs. Jones in a perpetual 
 quiver, like a form of jelly. 
 
 Her husband came out strong in his comical r- 
 sumt of the past year s experience, concluding : 
 "Well, we owe you and Mrs. Durham a vote of 
 thanks for reforming the Bagley tribe. That ap 
 pears to me an orthodox case of convarsion. First 
 we gave him the terrors of the law. Tell yer what 
 
2S6 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN- 
 
 it is, we was a-smokin in wrath around him that 
 mornin , like Mount Sinai, and you had the sense to 
 bring, in the nick of time, the gospel of givin a 
 feller a chance. It s the best gospel there is, I 
 reckon." 
 
 "Well," I replied, becoming thoughtful for a mo 
 ment with boyish memories, "my good old mother 
 taught me that it was God s plan to give us a chance, 
 and help us make the most of it." 
 
 "I remembered the Bagleys to-day," Mrs. Jones 
 remarked, nodding to my wife. " We felt they ought 
 to be encouraged." 
 
 "So did we," my wife replied, sotto voce. 
 
 We afterwards learned that the Bagleys had been 
 provisioned for nearly a month by the good-will of 
 neighbors, who, a short time since, had been ready 
 to take up arms against them. 
 
 By eight o clock everything was cleared away, 
 Mrs. Jones assisting my wife, and showing that she 
 would be hurt if not permitted to do so. Then we 
 all gathered around the glowing hearth, Junior s rat- 
 a-tat-snap ! proving that our final course of nuts and 
 cider would be provided in the usual way. 
 
 How homely it all was ! how free from any attempt 
 at display of style ! yet equally free from any trace 
 of vulgarity or ill-natured gossip. Mousie had added 
 grace to the banquet with her blooming plants and 
 dried grasses ; and, although the dishes had been set 
 on the table by my wife s and children s hands, they 
 were daintily ornamented and inviting. All had 
 been within our means and accomplished by our- 
 
THANKSGIVING 
 
 selves ; and the following morning brought no re 
 gretful thoughts. Our helpful friends went home* 
 feeling that they had not bestowed their kindness on 
 unthankful people whose scheme of life was to get 
 and take, but not to return. 
 
288 DRIVEN BACK TO 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 WE CAN MAKE A LIVING IN EDEN. 
 
 WELL, our first year was drawing to a close. 
 The ist of December was celebrated by an 
 event no less momentous than the killing of our pigs, 
 to Winnie s and Bobsey s intense excitement. In 
 this affair my wife and I were almost helpless, but 
 Mr. Jones and Bagley were on hand, and proved 
 themselves veterans, while Mrs. Jones stood by my 
 wife until the dressed animals were transformed into 
 souse, head-cheese, sausage, and well salted pork. 
 The children feasted and exulted through all the pro 
 cesses, especially enjoying some sweet spareribs. 
 
 I next gave all my attention, when the weather 
 permitted, to the proper winter covering of all the 
 strawberries, and to the cutting and carting home of 
 old and dying trees from the wood lot. 
 
 The increasing cold brought new and welcome 
 pleasures to the children. There was ice on the 
 neighboring ponds, and skates were bought as pre 
 mature Christmas presents. The same was true of 
 sleds after the first fall of snow. This white cover 
 ing of the earth enabled Merton and Junior to track 
 some rabbits in the vicinity, which thus far had 
 eluded their search. 
 
WE CAN MAKE A LIVING IN EDEN. 289 
 
 By the middle of the month we realized that win 
 ter had begun in all -its rather stern reality ; but we 
 were sheltered and provided for. We had so far imi 
 tated the ants that we had abundant stores until the 
 earth should again yield its bounty. 
 
 Christmas brought us more than its wonted joy, 
 and a better fulfilment of the hopes and anticipa 
 tions which we had cherished on the same day of 
 the previous year. We were far from regretting our 
 flight to the country, although it had involved us in 
 hard toil and many anxieties. My wife was greatly 
 pleased by my many hours of rest at the fireside in 
 her companionship, caused by days too cold and 
 wintry for outdoor work ; but our deepest and most 
 abiding content was expressed one evening as we sat 
 alone after the children were asleep. 
 
 " You have solved the problem, Robert, that was 
 worrying you. There is space here for the children 
 to grow, and the Daggetts and the Ricketts and all 
 their kind are not so near as to make them grow 
 wrong, almost in spite of us. A year ago we felt 
 that we were virtually being driven to the country. 
 I now feel as if we had been led by a kindly and 
 divine hand." 
 
 I had given much attention to my account-book of 
 late, and had said, " On New Year s morning I will 
 tell you all the result of our first year s effort." 
 
 At breakfast, after our greetings and good wishes 
 ior the New Year, all looked expectantly at me as I 
 opened our financial record. Carefully and clearly 
 as possible, so that even Winnie might understand 
 in part, I went over the different items, and the ex- 
 
290 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN. 
 
 pense and proceeds of the different crops, so far as I 
 was able to separate them. Bobsey s attention soon 
 wandered, for he had an abiding faith that breakfast, 
 dinner, and supper would follow the sun, and that 
 was enough for him. But the other children were 
 pleased with my confidence, and tried to understand 
 me. 
 
 "To sum up everything," I said, finally, "we have 
 do^ne, by working all together, what I alone should 
 probably have accomplished in the city, we have 
 made our living. I have also taken an inventory or 
 an account of stock on hand and paid for ; that is, I 
 have here a list on which are named the horse, wagon, 
 harness, cow, crates and baskets, tools, poultry, and 
 pigs. These things are paid for, and we are so much 
 ahead. Now, children, which is better, a living in 
 the city, I earning it for you all? or a living in 
 the country toward which even Bobsey can do his 
 share?" 
 
 "A living in the country," was the prompt chorus. 
 " There is something here for a fellow to do without 
 being nagged by a policeman," Merton added. 
 
 "Well, children, mamma and I agree with you. 
 What s more, there wasn t much chance for me to 
 get ahead in the city, or earn a large salary. Here, 
 by pulling all together, there is almost a certainty of 
 our earning more than a bare living, and of laying 
 up something for a rainy day. The chief item of 
 profit from our farm, however, is not down in my 
 account-book, but we see it in your sturdier forms 
 and in Mousie s red cheeks. More than all, we be- 
 
WE CAN MAKE A LIVING IN EDEN. 29 1 
 
 lieve that you are better and healthier at heart than 
 you were a year ago. 
 
 " Now for the New Year. Let us make the best 
 and most of it, and ask God to help us." 
 
 And so my simple history ends in glad content 
 and hope. 
 
. 
 
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