BREAKING THE TENTH COMMANDMENT
Sunday morning was generally observed with an hour’s more sleep and a
leisurely breakfast. Because it was not a work day, there was no sense
of hurry to accomplish a task. But the Sunday following the arrival of
the cow and calf at Green Hill Farm was an exceptional one for the
farmer-scouts.
They were too eager to try a hand at milking Sue to stay in bed and
allow Sam or Rachel the same pleasure. And then there was Susy, who
was too cute for anything when she was being led so docilely to and
from the back lawn. Had she not skipped obediently in Sam’s footsteps
last night when she was taken to the new shed.
Consequently, the whole household was astir at dawn this Sunday
morning, and Sam had the entire family to escort him to the barn for
Sue and the calf.
“Shall we milk the cow in the stall or out of doors?” asked Sam, as
they neared the barn yard.
“Every one milks the cow in the yard,” said Natalie from having seen
the Ames’ follow that custom.
“All right; I’ll bring her out of the stall and you kin show me where
to stan’ her. Then we’ll start her on her breakfast to keep her quiet
until she’s milked,” agreed Sam.
The girls chose a shady spot quite close to the pig pen, and here Sam
was told to bring Sue. The bright new pans attracted the curious
attention of the three little pigs, and the large brown beast which
now came across the barn yard made them tremble with apprehension, for
they had never remembered seeing such a big creature before.
Sue followed Sam until she reached a given point and then she balked.
For no apparent reason whatever, she refused to budge. She was
standing in the sunshine with no nearby shade where the girls could
stand while watching the process of milking.
All Sam’s coaxings and threats failed to move Sue one step. There she
stood, blank-eyed and calmly chewing her cud, but with no intention of
being moved. Sam pulled, and he pulled, then he went behind and pushed
with might and main. Suddenly, without warning, Sue kicked out with a
left hind heel and Sam caught the hoof in his stomach. It doubled him
up on the ground so that in holding himself with both hands he let go
the leading rope that was tied to the cow’s head.
Sue seemed to think she had accomplished the purpose for which she had
balked, and now she scampered across the barn yard and turned to face
her corporate owners. Her tail switched nervously against the frail
fence of the pig pen, and her rear heels acted as if they stood on red
coals—they twitched and jumped in turn.
Sam was helped to his feet again by Rachel and Mrs. James but he
entertained no resentment against Sue. He merely remarked: “Dat’s the
way wid cows!”
He chirped sweetly to Sue and held out his hand as if to assure her
that he held a feast in his palm. In this manner he again approached
the cow. But he was facing her this time, and his courage rose
accordingly. He knew she could not kick with her forefeet, and before
she could wheel to lift her hind foot again he could get out of the
way.
Sue watched with lowered head as Sam came up to her and then with a
fearful kick of the hind feet she jumped and ran back to the barn. But
she left dire results of that kick against the fence of the pig pen. A
large break gaped at the girls, but they failed to see it then, as
their entire powers of concentration were centered in events about to
transpire at the barn.
Sam hurried after Sue and the girls hurried after Sam, leaving the
three curious pigs to follow their own sweet wills. Just as Sam came
forth again, leading Sue after him, the pigs crept out of the break in
the fence and stood watching this new approach.
This time the cow did not balk about walking over to the shady place,
because Janet held the pail of tempting breakfast right under her nose
and she followed after. But the pigs ran in different directions to
prevent a wholesale capture by their owners.
Sam was walking backwards while leading Sue, to give himself ample
time to escape if she ran for him, so he did not see a pig running
blindly toward him. The shouts and shrill warnings of the girls came
too late! The pig went head first into Sam’s legs and toppled him over
backward. This gave the leading rope a sudden yank that Sue resented.
Mrs. James, Rachel and the five girls now gave chase to the pigs who
had not yet found a way out of the barn yard. Consequently two of them
were captured and thrust back inside the shed, but the third one was
still at large.
Janet called advices to her companions: “You all form a circle about
Seizer and we will close in gradually. When we get him in a close ring
we will pounce on him and hold him until we carry him back to the
pen.”
Because the pig had displayed such wisdom and diplomacy in other
battles with his brethren and his owners, and also managed to seize
the best of all the feed given the three of them, he had been named
Seizer. While Janet was issuing these orders Seizer stood innocently
staring from one scout to another. Finally he saw the circle closing
in about him.
He seemed to ponder which might be the right spot to attack—for a
chain is no stronger than its weakest link. Then he made a determined
dash for Natalie.
Now Natalie had been watching Sam’s heroic efforts to calm the cow,
and her eyes were not all for Seizer, so she was taken unawares. The
pig ran head down right into her shins and she went down upon her
knees, but the wily creature dodged the fall and doubled back to dash
quickly against Janet.
But the stock scout was ready for the onslaught. She had braced her
legs and planted her feet firmly apart when Seizer made his dive. She
was stooping slightly forward in order to grasp his lean body. But the
pig swerved when he was almost within reach of her fingers, and ran
blindly for Mrs. James.
He met with the folds of a long skirt that were unfamiliar to him, so
he gave that lady no opportunity to catch him but flew back at Janet
again. These turns had all been so unexpected and sudden that the
scouts forgot to close in as they had been told to do. But when the
pig ran between Janet’s ankles hoping to run out that way, the scout
spasmodically closed her feet together and caught Seizer. In another
moment he would be away again, but in that moment four girls threw
themselves upon him and the little pig was captured. He wriggled to no
good, and he was soon penned in with his brothers.
During this by-play, Rachel tried to assist her nephew. But the cow
thought otherwise. She broke loose and started running down the lane
that led to the house.
“The cow’s gone! The cow’s running away!” shouted Natalie, who stood
gently rubbing her shins while her companions took Seizer to the pen.
This dire news started every one flying like leaves on a March wind,
down the lane after Sue. But the cow had no evil plan in mind. She
remembered the sweet luscious grass on the front lawn and when she
arrived there she stopped of her own free will and began grazing.
No one was willing to go near enough to tether her to the steel pin,
but Rachel came puffing up at the end of the race and wailed: “Oh, dat
milk! She ain’t been milked yet and runnin’ like dat is enough to
churn butter of dat ten quarts!”
It took the united courage and daring of eight people to tie the rope
to the stake, and then the breakfast pail was held before Sue’s nose
again, and Sam sidled along with the stool and milk-pail until he
dared sit down and begin the work.
Being an amateur at the art of milking a cow, Sam forgot to strip the
teats as any self-respecting cow is accustomed to, so Sue expressed
her displeasure at such slighting in a sound whack of her heavy tail
across Sam’s face.
The slap was so unlooked for and so stinging to his cheek that Sam
yelled and went promptly over backwards on the three-legged stool. But
Sue continued munching her feed as if no one had insulted her. Mrs.
James now summoned all her courage to say:
“If the cow is to be milked this morning, I fear I am the one who has
to do it.”
The girls held their breath and stood at a safe distance watching for
developments. But Mrs. James patted Sue on the head and “cooed” softly
to her, then she began slapping her back gently. Then she moved her
persuading hands along the side of the cow until she reached the
belly.
Now she sat upon the stool and stood the pail upright again. Very soon
she began stripping in an experienced way and Sue waved her tail
thankfully, for she had been nervous and restive because the milk had
not been drained the previous night. Rachel had only milked out the
quantity that flowed readily and left more than a quart still in the
udder. This always causes a cow to feel uncomfortable and irritable.
When the milking was over and Sue had been left to her own devices
Mrs. James carried the pail to the kitchen. The milk was measured and
to every one’s surprise and delight there was more than Miss Jipson
had guaranteed.
After the milk was strained Sam was told to take it down to the cellar
and place it on the floor to cool. The pans were carefully covered
with wire fly-protectors and left.
Breakfast was unusually late that morning, but none the less welcome
when it did appear. Rich heavy cream was served with fruit, cereals
and everything that could afford an excuse for it, because the milk of
the previous night’s milking had produced the richest of cream in the
morning.
“Well, we didn’t get the worst of that cow bargain, did we, Jimmy?”
said Natalie, sipping the cream from her spoon.
“No, Miss Jipson was honest with us, but I feel angry every time I
think of that trader Folsom,” replied Mrs. James.
“All the same, Susy is a darling,” remarked Norma.
Janet suspended her spoon in mid-air and gasped: “We forgot Susy was
on earth in the thrills the cow gave us. I wonder if Sam gave her any
breakfast?”
“Didn’t you feed her?” was Mrs. James’ question.
“I forgot it,” was Janet’s meek confession.
“I’m glad the calf is not incorporated with Sue in our stock company,”
laughed Belle.
“I’ll go at once and attend to her breakfast—poor little Susy,” Janet
declared, so she excused herself from the breakfast table and ran out
of the house.
Sam was enjoying his breakfast of waffles and cream when Janet went
through the kitchen. He admitted that he had also forgotten the calf
in the trouble caused by Sue. So Janet went on to the barn yard to
open the door of the little shed where Susy had been kept for the
night, and let her come out to gambol about in her yard while she,
Janet, was mixing the breakfast for her.
Susy had become so impatient at the enforced confinement that she not
only showed her joy at being released, but she took it into her woolly
little calf head to attempt to jump the bars of the pen built
especially for her the night before.
Janet had hardly opened the door to place Susy’s breakfast before her
when she was startled to see the little calf leap clear of the fence
and land on the other side into the open barn yard. Away went Susy,
bounding gayly over the privet hedges, across the flower beds and down
the road that led to the woods.
And away sped Janet after her, shouting wildly to her friends at the
house to follow and help in the capture. Before Susy had reached the
cross path that went to Natalie’s garden, the girls who had just
finished breakfast, ran out and joined in the chase.
The calf had no idea of where she was heading, but Janet feared lest
the little creature run headlong into the stream and drown. She raced
after the flying heels but she was too far behind to divert the calf’s
direction. Then Susy changed her mind and the direction she was
taking, and turned to the left to plunge across Natalie’s garden beds.
“Oh, oh! Drive her away from there!” screamed Natalie, when she
thought of the havoc four hoofs can make.
Before any one could reach the garden to chase Susy away from it, the
calf found the direct pathway to the kitchen. This she chose and came
pattering clumsily up to the stoop steps. She had sniffed the milk for
her belated breakfast waiting on the steps.
The line of scouts ran nimbly after her, and formed a circle to
prevent her going in any other direction other than up into the
kitchen, or remain where she was to be harnessed. She chose the latter
as being the least doubtful.
“There now! Both bovine scouts are captured for the day and we can sit
down and remember it is Sunday,” said Natalie.
“Rather a tardy beginning of the Sabbath,” laughed Norma.
“‘Better late than never,’” quoth Belle.
“Janet, I fixed the warm milk fer Susy’s brekfus’ so you’d better give
it to her now,” called Rachel from the kitchen.
“Is this it in the deep pan?” asked Janet.
It was, so Janet lifted the dish while Natalie and the other girls led
Susy by the tether-rope to a shady spot under the apple tree to eat
her breakfast. But the calf sniffed at the warm milk only. She refused
to taste a drop of it.
“She isn’t hungry, yet. We’ll leave it here for her to drink when she
wants it,” said Janet.
So Susy was tethered on the grass back of the house and the pan of
milk was left nearby under the tree so she could lap it if she wanted
to. As the girls gathered about Mrs. James who was sitting on the
porch with an open Bible upon her lap, Janet smiled.
“We haven’t made this Sunday a day of rest, thus far.”
“I was just looking over the Ten Commandments,” added Mrs. James, “and
I wondered if it made any difference if you work because of necessity,
or only for gain.”
“And we worked ‘our maid-servant and our man-servant, and the
strangers within our gates,’ as well as the cattle, didn’t we,” said
Janet.
Rachel appeared in the doorway from the dining room and said:
“Natalie, you forgot to pull dat lettuce last evenin’. I tole you we
diden’ have no salad fer Sunday ’cause you want to make us buy your
lettuce.”
“I’ll go now and gather enough for dinner and supper, as long as I
have sinned, already, on Sunday,” said Natalie, running away before
any one could object to the plan.
Enough garden lettuce was gathered to last for three days at the rate
of three meals per day, but Rachel kept that secret to herself. Then
just as Natalie had bathed her warm face and seated herself once more
on the breezy porch, Hester Tompkins ran in at the side gate and
called to Mrs. James and the girls.
“Mother sent me post-haste to tell you that a great swarm of bees was
found down the road about a quarter of a mile from us. No one knows
whose it is, and there it hangs. If we delay much longer in hiving it
it will wander away and be lost.”
The girls were up and dancing about in a moment, and Mrs. James said:
“What does your mother want us to do about it?”
“Well, she thought that if you scouts wanted the swarm, it is a dandy
one to start a colony with as it is so large and compact. If we can
get home again in a few moments and carry Mother and Father to the
spot, with a hive, we can capture it for you.”
“If it’s a lost swarm, it won’t cost us anything to buy,” ventured
Janet.
No one had thought of that but now they were more eager than before to
secure the swarm. So Frances had the car out of the barn in a jiffy,
and the girls stood waiting to jump in. Just as the automobile was
slowing beside the porch, the scouts from camp ran up and wanted to
know where they were going on a Sunday?
“Jump in, jump in!” ordered Janet, waving her hands.
“We’ll tell you on the way there!” exclaimed Natalie.
So the scouts jumped—some inside the automobile, some on the running
board where they clung for dear life while Frances tore out of the
yard, turning the corner of the fence on two wheels and just missing
the gate-post by the width of a hair. On down the road sped the
machine, completely enveloped in the dust it raised.
Frances was so used to the road by this time that she knew every rut,
every rock, and every obstacle in the way from Green Hill Farm to Four
Corners store. So, in spite of the blinding dust that choked the
others, the driver of the car kept right on, steering by instinct as
she raced for the swarm of bees—the prize.
But no one had known that the constable of the township had ordered
extra deputies to watch the roads on Sundays and arrest any one found
breaking the speed laws. Thus it happened that the dust blinded the
occupants of the car so that they did not see the officer who was
waiting for them to come close enough to hold up.
He called without having any result. Then he shouted but the car was
almost opposite him now. In another moment it had flown past and he
had but one thing to do—to shoot at the tires. So he aimed and plugged
a hind tire.
The girls heard the report of the pistol and the sound of the air
escaping from the tire but Frances never slowed up. In a few moments
the car was bumping on a flat tire but a swarm of bees had to be
hived, and tires were a secondary consideration.
By the time the car reached Si Tompkins’ house the occupants were glad
enough to get out. The way they were jolted and jammed during the
latter end of that race was too much for human endurance. But Mrs.
Tompkins was waiting with the hive, and now stood wondering why every
one jumped out.
“Ma,” explained Hester, “you and a few of the scouts go on with the
hive, while me and the rest of the girls will hitch up Spark to the
surrey and drive over to the swarm.”
That was agreed upon, and the two elder Tompkins with a large hive got
into the automobile with Mrs. James and Miss Mason. Frances drove, and
they were safely out of the way before the deputy rode up on his
motorcycle and asked the scouts, who were waiting for Hester and the
surrey:
“Did you gals see a speed demon flyin’ past here a few minutes ago?”
“We never thought to look out for him. Which way did he come?” said
Janet, innocently. The girls never dreamed that the officer was
looking for their own car and party.
“It don’t matter what way he come but I wants to know which way he
went!” snapped the man. Had he been more polite he might have
discovered that these girls had just come the way he came and he would
have found that they were his quarry.
Hester now drove Spark out of the barn yard lane and called to her
friends: “Hurry up girls, or we’ll miss the swarm.”
While the scouts were crowding into the three-seated surrey Hester
said “How-de-do” to the man she knew, and then they drove away,
leaving the officer baffled to find that the car with a flat tire had
escaped him.
When the surrey came near the place where they heard a “rat-tat-tat”
upon a tin pan, Hester slowed up and guided Spark over to a fence rail
where she planned to tie him. Then the girls jumped out and followed
Hester noiselessly over to the place where the adults in the party
were standing.
The hive was placed right under an enormous swarm of bees, and Mr.
Tompkins, encased in wire-mask and rubber gloves with long gauntlets,
and a wire mesh armor covering his neck and upper body, was beating
the pan regularly to call the bees to attention.
But imitation of Nature did not complete that hiving of a swarm
because a genuine thunder storm now came up suddenly, and the rolling
vibrations above caused the bees to break and seek madly for shelter.
The queen was soon inside the convenient hive, and in a short time
thereafter, every bee in the swarm had sought refuge from the
threatening electrical storm.
“Isn’t that a wonderful sight! I wouldn’t have missed it for
anything,” exclaimed Janet, when the last vagrant bee alighted upon
the running board and sought entrance to the hive.
“We can thank that thunder for this quick work. Some times a swarm of
that size takes an hour or more to collect inside the hive,” remarked
Mr. Tompkins removing the wire mask and the gloves.
“That thunder storm won’t touch us, either. It is already passing
overhead,” said Mrs. Tompkins, gazing upward.
“I’ve only felt a drop or two of rain,” added Miss Mason.
“But it did a good job for us,” laughed Mr. Tompkins.
“If a farmer is entitled to claim a swarm of bees he has to hive, can
the real owner of the runaway swarm demand payment in any way?” asked
Mrs. James.
“There have been disputes over that claim but the usual rule is that
when a farmer cannot find the owner of the swarm in time to save it,
and he does the work himself, the owner must reimburse the finder the
value of the swarm, or let him keep it.”
“Well, then, if there is no claim for this vagrant swarm, Mr.
Tompkins, we propose to pay you the full value of it for your time and
work,” said Mrs. James.
“I wasn’t thinking of that, at all, Mrs. James,” remonstrated Mr.
Tompkins. “I was thinking of the fun the scouts would have in watching
it hived and in carrying it home.”
“We know that was your sole intention, but we also want to show our
appreciation of your thoughtfulness. If we were not here to want a
swarm of bees you could keep this one yourself.”
They were still discussing the point of recompense when the car drove
up beside the store door. Frances turned to ask Mr. Tompkins if he
knew of a garage at Four Corners where the tire could be repaired
before they started for Green Hill Farm.
“Why, Frances, I’ll do it myself. You never took me for such a poor
farmer as all that, did you,” laughed Mr. Tompkins.
“You are a store keeper, but even so, I never knew a farmer could mend
a tire tube.”
“A farmer has to know how to do pretty much anything, gal. He can’t
send, whenever he likes, to a plumber, a mechanic or the different
trades needed to keep places in order. If a farmer had to lose a whole
day of farm work while waitin’ for a machinist to come from town to
mend his plough or harvester, what profit would he have at the end of
the year?” laughed Mr. Tompkins, kindly.
“Well, you’re right! We’ll drive in the side gate and stop in the back
yard and repair the tire and put in a new tube,” answered Frances,
impressed by the realization that farmers were, of necessity, very
clever men.
By the time the surrey with the girls arrived at the store, the tire
was almost repaired. Shortly after that, Frances backed the car out to
the road again and the adults in the party were invited to get in and
drive to Green Hill to establish the colony of bees. Hester was to
drive Spark and the surrey with the girls crowded in it.
Frances had to drive slowly on the return trip as the hive of bees
stood in the back of the car, well covered with a dark lap robe. This
precaution was taken to prevent any startled bee from coming out
during the drive. If one did venture forth on to the running board of
the hive, and find how dark it was, it would believe it to be night
and would hurry back inside to wait for morning.
The two vehicles passed the officer on the way back, and Hester called
out: “Hello, Mr. Babcock—did you catch the speeders?”
“No, I didn’t! I don’t see how they got away so quick!”
Then as the surrey followed the automobile in through the side gate of
Green Hill, Frances said: “What was that you asked the officer?”
When she heard of the search for the speeders who had an exploded
tire, she suddenly gasped. Then she bent double and laughed: “Girls!
I’ll wager you this car that we were the speeders with the shot tire!
That spot is just about where the tire burst on our way to Four
Corners.”
The more they pondered it the more convinced were they that Frances
was right. But Mrs. James said: “No use confessing at this late hour.
We were really speeding out of necessity.”
The hive was firmly placed in a desirable spot under the trees and
then the new bee-farmers walked slowly back to the house. The
Tompkinses were persuaded to remain to Sunday dinner, and then the
topic of recompense was argued again.
“S’pose we leave the subject for a week day,” said Mrs. Tompkins. “I
feel sinful enough after doin’ all this hivin’, to do a little Bible
readin’ now to pay for my back-slidin’.”
The rest of that Sabbath day was kept as it is commanded in Exodus.
But it was the zeal of keeping the Commandment that made Janet forget
to inquire why Susy had not tasted the milk left for her that morning.
It was Rachel who found the milk sour and curdled and never touched by
the calf. Then she poured it out and tried fresh milk to tempt Susy,
but the calf backed away when Rachel thrust the liquid at her nose.
That afternoon, when it was time to milk Sue, Mrs. Tompkins offered to
teach a few of the scouts how to do it properly. So Janet, Natalie and
Norma tried the milking that time but they found it hard on the
fingers. They soon tired and gave place to another of the group.
Finally, Mrs. James finished the task to the great relief of the cow.