I am a little boy eleven years old, and live on a farm in the town
of Stoddard. I have a dog, and call him Jack, two nice calves, a
very pretty lamb, four doves, and some hens. I like to attend to my
father's stock. He keeps horses, oxen, cows, sheep, hogs, and some
young stock. I let out the cattle to water, and tie them up again.
When my father is away in the summer-time, Jack and I go after the
cows. Sometimes Jack trees a woodchuck, and then he and I have a
grand time digging him out. He and I caught twenty-one last year.
Jack is a splendid dog. You ought to see him drive up the cows;
they have to go home when he says so, and they will start when they
see him coming.
I have been making sugar for myself this spring. My father let me
have twenty buckets, and my mother let me take her large brass
kettle and two pots. I hung them up by a large rock, and tapped
fourteen trees, and have made forty pounds of sugar, which I sold
at ten cents per pound. I have bought me a pair of boots and some
books, and have almost enough left to pay for YOUNG PEOPLE next
year. I start to school next week.