ought to get more for all that. It's all first-class. But I suppose I'd
better let it go and get back."
So Uncle John unhitched the horses and backed the wagon up to the
sidewalk. Then he took the bridles off the horses' heads and took the
buckets of oats from under the wagon; and he put the pails on boxes at
the horses' heads, one for each horse, and the horses began to eat the
oats.
[Illustration]
Then a man came out of the market, wheeling a truck--a kind of a little
cart with iron wheels--and he helped the market-man take the barrels out
of the wagon, and the squashes and turnips and the kegs of cider and
the bags of meal and the butter and the other things. And they put them
on the truck, a part at a time, and he wheeled them into the market.
Then, when that was all done, the market-man took some money from his
pocket and counted twenty dollars and handed it to Uncle John. And then
the horses had finished eating the oats, and Uncle John took the pails
and hung them under the wagon again and put the bridles on the horses'
heads.
Then Uncle John climbed up on the high seat beside little John and took
the reins in his hands and said "Get up"; and the horses started and
went across the open place to a great stone that was hollowed out and
was full of water. And the horses each took a great drink of water and
then they lifted up their heads and started along the streets.
And pretty soon Uncle John stopped them at a shop, and he went in and
bought some things that Aunt Deborah wanted, and he paid the shop-man
some of the money the market-man had given him. Then they went to
another shop and Uncle John bought some more things. And after that they
didn't stop at any shops, but the horses trotted along through the
streets until they were out of the city and going along the road in the
country that led to the farm-house.
By and by they came to a steep hill and the horses stopped trotting and
walked, for they were tired. And Uncle John fastened the reins and took
the bundle from under the seat and undid it, and in it were bread and
butter and hard eggs and gingerbread and a bottle of nice milk. And
Uncle John and little John ate the nice things and liked them, for they
were both very hungry.
Then they got to the top of the hill and Uncle John took up the reins
again and said "Get up," and the horses trotted along for a long time
until they came to the farm-house; and they turned in at the wide gate
and went up to the kitchen door and there they stopped. And Uncle John
got down and took little John down. Little John was glad to get off the
high seat, for he had been there a long time and he was very tired.
So he went into the house and Uncle John unhitched the horses from the
wagon and put the wagon in the shed. And he took the horses to the barn
and took off their harness and put them in their stalls, and they went
to sleep.
And that's all.
X.
THE MAPLE-SUGAR STORY
Once upon a time there was a farm-house, and it was painted white and
had green blinds; and it stood not far from the road. In the fence was a
wide gate to let the wagons through to the barn. And the wagons, going
through, had made a track that led up past the kitchen door and past the
shed and past the barn and past the orchard to the wheat-field; and
through the wheat-field to the maple-sugar woods.
One day, when the winter was almost over and it was beginning to get
warmer, Uncle John got out the old oxen. And they came out and put their
heads down and he put the yoke over and the bows under, and he hooked
the tongue of the sled to the yoke; for the snow was not all melted, and
enough was on the ground for the sled to go on.
Then he put on the sled his axe and Uncle Solomon's, and a lot of
buckets and a lot of wooden spouts he had made, and the big saw. Then he
put little John on the sled and said "Gee up there," and Uncle Solomon
came too, and they walked along beside the sled. And the old oxen walked
slowly along the track past the barn and past the orchard to the wide
gate that led into the wheat-field, and there they stopped. And Uncle
John took down the bars and the oxen went through the gate and across
the wheat-field, and stopped at the wide gate on the other side of the
field. Then Uncle John took down those bars and the old oxen started and
walked through and along the little road in the maple-sugar woods until
they came to a little house beside the road, and there they stopped.
Then Uncle John opened the door of the little house; and inside, it was
about as big as a little room that a little boy sleeps in. And in one
corner was a chimney, and in front of the chimney was a great enormous
iron kettle, set up on a little low brick wall that was just like a part
of the chimney turned along the ground. In the front was a hole in the
low wall, so that wood could be put in, and at the back, under the
kettle, there was a hole into the chimney, so that the smoke would go up
the chimney and out at the top. And in one corner of the little house
were some square iron pans.
Then Uncle John put two of the buckets down in the house, and the big
saw; and he shut the door and the oxen started and walked along until
they came where were some maple-sugar trees, and there they stopped.
Then Uncle John and Uncle Solomon took their axes and went to the trees
and they made little notches in the trees, low down, so that there was
room to put a bucket under. And they drove a spout in each notch and put
a bucket under each spout. And then they went to other trees and made a
notch in each tree and drove in a spout and put a bucket under and so
they did until they had used up all their buckets.
[Illustration]
Then the old oxen walked along until they came to a pile of wood that
was cut up all ready to burn; and there they stopped and Uncle Solomon
and Uncle John put the wood on the sled. Then they said: "Gee up," and
the oxen walked back to the little house, and they took the wood off
the sled. And the wood was in great long sticks, too long to put in the
place under the kettle. So Uncle John got the big saw from the little
house and he and Uncle Solomon sawed the wood into small sticks and
piled it up nicely.
Then they put the saw on the sled and shut the door of the little house
and the old oxen started walking back along the little road, dragging
the sled, with the saw and the axes and little John. And they went
through the gate into the wheat-field and Uncle John put the bars back;
and they went across the wheat-field and through the gate at the other
side, and Uncle John put those bars back. And they walked along past the
orchard and past the barn to the shed.
And Uncle John unhooked the tongue of the sled and took off the yoke,
and the old oxen went into the barn and went to sleep.
The next morning, Uncle John and little John started along the little
road, past the shed and past the barn and past the orchard; and they
climbed over the bars into the wheat-field, and went through the
wheat-field and climbed over the bars into the maple-sugar woods. Then
they walked along until they came to the little house, and Uncle John
opened the door of the house and took out the two buckets he had left
there.
Then they went to some of the maple-sugar trees where they had put
buckets the day before, and the sap was dripping slowly into the
buckets--drip--drop--drip--drop--and the buckets were nearly half full.
So Uncle John poured the sap from those buckets into the empty buckets
and went along to some other trees and poured the sap from those buckets
in with the other, and the buckets he carried were full. So he took them
back to the little house and emptied them into the big kettle.
Then he went to other trees and filled the two buckets again with the
sap that had dripped, and emptied that into the kettle. And so he did
until he had taken all the sap that had dripped.
[Illustration]
Then he put wood under the big kettle and lighted it, and the fire
burned and the sap got hot and after a while it began to boil. And while
it was boiling, Uncle John stirred the sap once in a while with a
wooden stirring thing he had made. And when it had boiled a long time,
he dipped out a little with the stirrer and went to the door and dropped
it in the snow, so that when it got cool he could see whether it was
boiled enough. But it wasn't done enough, and he let it boil longer,
and then he dropped some more in the snow; and this time he thought it
was about right for maple-syrup.
So he dipped sap out of the kettle into a keg that was in the little
house, until the keg was full. And then he put the bung into the
bung-hole and set the keg in the corner.
Then Uncle John put more wood on the fire and the sap boiled a long
time. And at last he thought it was done enough for maple-sugar; and he
dipped some out with the stirrer and went to the door and dropped it in
the snow. And when it got cold, he saw that it was hard, and was just
right for maple-sugar. So he took the little square pans that were in
the corner of the house and he dipped the boiled sap from the kettle
into the pans and set them in the snow outside. Then he let the fire go
out, and when the sugar in the pans was hard, he brought it into the
house, and shut the door and started along the little road, and little
John after. They walked along through the maple-sugar woods and climbed
the bars into the wheat-field, and walked across the wheat-field and
climbed the bars at the other side, and walked along past the orchard
and past the barn and past the shed to the kitchen door, and there they
went in.
The next morning, Uncle John and little John went to the maple-sugar
woods again, and Uncle John got some more sap and boiled it and made
maple-syrup and maple-sugar. And so they did every day until they had
taken all the sap that the trees ought to give.
Then Uncle John got out the old oxen and they put their heads down and
he put the yoke over and the bows under, and he hooked the tongue of the
sled to the yoke. Then he said "Gee up there," and the oxen started
walking along past the barn and past the orchard, and Uncle John took
down the bars at the wheat-field and they went through and across the
field, and he took down the bars at the other side and they walked
through and along the road in the maple-sugar woods until they came to
the little house.
There they stopped, and Uncle John opened the door and put the kegs on
the sled, and all the little squares of maple-sugar and all the buckets
and all the spouts that he had pulled out of the trees. And he shut the
door of the little house, and the oxen started and walked back along
the road through the maple-sugar woods into the wheat-field, and Uncle
John put up the bars. And they walked across the wheat-field and through
the gate at the other side, and Uncle John put up those bars; and they
walked along past the orchard and past the barn, and little John came
after.
Then the old oxen dragged the sled to the place where they kept the
things that were to go to market, and Uncle John took off the
maple-syrup and the maple-sugar and put them in that place. But some of
the maple-syrup and some of the maple-sugar he put in the cellar for
themselves to use; for little Charles and little John and little Sam
liked maple-sugar and they liked maple-syrup on bread. And there was
enough maple-syrup and maple-sugar to last them a long time and a lot to
go to market besides.
Then Uncle John unhooked the tongue of the sled from the yoke and put
the sled in the shed; and he took off the yoke and the old oxen went
into the barn and went to sleep.
And that's all.
XI.
THE RAIL FENCE STORY
Once upon a time there was a farm-house, and it was painted white and
had green blinds; and it stood not far from the road. In the fence was a
wide gate to let the wagons through to the barn. And the wagons, going
through, had made a track that led up past the kitchen door and past the
shed and past the barn and past the orchard to the wheat-field; and
through the wheat-field to the maple-sugar woods.
All about were other fields; and one of them was a great enormous field
where Uncle John used to let the horses and cows go to eat the grass,
after he had got the hay in. This field was so big that Uncle John
thought it would be better if it was made into two fields. He couldn't
put a stone wall across it, because all the stones in the field had been
made into the wall that went around the outside. So he thought an easy
way would be to put a rail fence across.
So, one day, when it was winter and snow was on the ground, Uncle John
and Uncle Solomon took their axes and walked along the little track,
past the barn and past the orchard, and climbed over the bars into the
wheat-field. Then they walked across the wheat-field and climbed over
the bars into the maple-sugar woods; and they walked along the road in
the woods until they came to a place where were some trees that were
just the right size to make rails and posts. They were not maple-sugar
trees, but a different kind.
[Illustration]
Then they cut down enough of these trees to make all the rails and all
the posts they wanted; and they cut off all the branches and they cut
some of the trees into logs that were just long enough for rails, and
they cut the other trees into logs that were just long enough for posts.
Then they took the rail logs and with their axes they split each one all
along from one end to the other, until it was in six pieces. Each piece
was a rail. But the post logs they didn't split.
Then they left the logs and the rails lying there and walked back, and
climbed over into the wheat-field, and went across the wheat-field and
climbed over at the other side, and walked past the orchard and past the
barn and past the shed and went in at the kitchen door.
The next morning, Uncle John got out the old oxen, and they put their
heads down low, and he put the yoke over and the bows under, and hooked
the tongue of the sled to the yoke. Then he said: "Gee up there," and
they started walking slowly along, past the barn and past the orchard to
the wheat-field; and Uncle John took down the bars and they walked
across the wheat-field, and he took down the bars at the other side.
Then the old oxen walked through the gate and along the road to the
place where the post logs and the rails were; and Uncle Solomon had come
too, and little John. But they didn't let little John come when they cut
the trees down, because they were afraid he might get hurt.
Then Uncle Solomon and Uncle John piled the rails on the sled, and the
post logs on top, and the old oxen started and walked along the road and
through into the wheat-field and across the field, and Uncle John put
the bars up after the oxen had gone through the gates. Then they
dragged the sled along past the orchard and past the barn to the shed.
There they stopped and Uncle John and Uncle Solomon took off the logs
and the rails. The rails were piled up under the shed, to dry; but the
logs they had to make square, and holes had to be bored in them before
they would be posts. Then Uncle John unhooked the tongue of the sled
from the yoke and took off the yoke, and the old oxen went into the
barn.
The next day, Uncle John took an axe that was a queer shape, and he made
the post logs square. Then he bored the holes in the logs for the rails
to go in, and piled the posts up under the shed. They were all ready to
set into the ground, but the ground was frozen hard, and they couldn't
be set until the winter was over and the ground was soft.
After the winter was over and it was getting warm, the ground melted out
and got soft. Then Uncle John and Uncle Solomon took a crowbar--a great,
heavy iron bar with a sharp end--and a shovel, and they went to the
great enormous field. Then they saw where they wanted the fence to be,
and they dug a lot of holes in the ground, all in a row, to put the
posts in.
[Illustration]
Then they went back and Uncle John got out the oxen and put the yoke
over and the bows under and hooked the tongue of the cart to the yoke.
On the cart they piled the posts, and there were so many they had to
come back for another load. Then the oxen started and walked down the
little track and out through the wide gate into the road, and along the
road to the great enormous field where the holes were all dug for the
posts. Then Uncle Solomon and Uncle John put the posts in the holes and
pounded the dirt down hard.
Then the oxen walked back along the road to the farm-house and in at the
gate and up to the shed. And Uncle John put the rails on the cart and
the oxen walked back to the field again and in beside the row of posts.
And Uncle John took the rails off the cart and put them in the holes in
the posts, so that they went across from one post to the next. And in
each post were four holes, and four rails went across.
Then the oxen went a little farther and the rails were put in between
the next posts, and so on until the rails reached all the way across the
field, and the fence was done. And when Uncle John wanted the cows or
the horses to go through, he could take down the rails at any part of
the fence.
Then the old oxen started walking back out of the field into the road
and along the road to the farm-house. And they went in at the wide gate
and up the track past the kitchen door to the shed, and there they
stopped.
And Uncle John unhooked the tongue of the cart from the yoke and put the
cart in the shed. And he took off the yoke and the old oxen went into
the barn and went to sleep.
And that's all.
XII.
THE COW STORY
Once upon a time there was a farm-house, and it was painted white and
had green blinds; and it stood not far from the road. In the fence was a
wide gate to let the wagons through to the barn. And the wagons, going
through, had made a track that led up past the kitchen door and past the
shed and past the barn and past the orchard to the wheat-field.
[Illustration]
One morning, the old rooster crowed very early, as soon as it began to
be light. And that waked Uncle John and Aunt Deborah, and Uncle Solomon
and Aunt Phyllis. And they all got up and put on their clothes and came
down-stairs. Then Aunt Deborah and Aunt Phyllis went about their work in
the kitchen, getting things for breakfast and fixing the fire; and
Uncle Solomon and Uncle John went out to the barn. Uncle Solomon looked
after the horses and gave them their breakfast, and Uncle John looked
after the cows.
Between the two great doors of the barn there was a great open place so
that the wagons could go right through; and that was where they threshed
the wheat. And on one side were the stalls for the horses and the places
for the oxen, and on the other side were the places for the cows. In the
corner of the barn next to the horses was the harness-room, and in the
corner next to the cows was the milk-room.
There were two big horses and two big oxen and six cows. The horses were
in stalls, but the cows didn't have stalls. They stood in a row on a
kind of a low platform, with their heads toward the open place in the
middle of the barn. Each cow had her head through a kind of frame made
of two boards that went up from the floor, so that when the boards were
fastened at the top she couldn't get her head out, but she could move it
up and down all she wanted to. And when they wanted to let the cows out,
they unfastened one of the boards and let it down. But Uncle John didn't
like the frames for the cows, so he never fastened the boards at all,
but he put a chain around the neck of each cow and hooked the other end
to a post.
In front of each cow was a little low wall, about as high as her neck,
and just behind the wall was a trough that they call a manger, where
they could put hay or meal or other things for the cow to eat, so that
she could reach it. Just over the manger of each cow was a hole in the
floor of the loft where the hay was, so that they could put hay through
and it would fall right into the manger, in front of the cow. In winter
the cows had hay, but in summer they didn't have hay, because they could
eat the grass, and that was better.
So, when Uncle John went to look after the cows, he didn't climb up to
the loft and pitch some hay down through the holes, as he would do in
winter, but he took a wooden measure and went to a big box that they
call a bin. It stood in the corner next to the milk-room, and it was
full of meal that was ground up from corn at the mill. And he gave each
cow a measureful of meal and put it in the manger so that she could eat
it.
Then he went to the milk-room and got the big milk pails and his
milking-stool. The milking-stool was a little stool that had three legs,
and one of the legs was shorter than the other two, so that it sloped.
Then Uncle John put the milking-stool down by a cow, and the pail was
between his knees, resting on the end of the stool. And he milked the
cow and the milk spurted into the pail. And when she had given all the
milk she had, the pail was about half full.
Then Uncle John went to the next cow and milked her, and when that pail
was full, he took the other pail. And so he milked all the cows, one
after the other, and when both the pails were full, he took them to the
milk-room and poured the milk through a strainer into a big can. And the
cows were eating their meal all the time they were being milked.
At the side of the barn, behind the cows, was a door that opened into
the cow-yard. A sloping place led down from the barn to the ground, so
that the cows could walk down into the yard. In the winter, the cows
stayed in the cow-yard while they were out of the barn, because it was
sunny and warm, and there was no grass in the field for them to eat. A
high fence was all around the yard, and in one corner was a tub made of
a hogshead cut in two, and a pump was beside it. And the tub was always
full of water, so that the cows could drink whenever they were thirsty.
So, when Uncle John had milked all the cows, he opened the door into the
cow-yard, and he unhooked the chains from the necks of the cows, one
after another. And the cows turned around and walked through the door
and down the sloping place into the cow-yard, the leader first, and
every cow took a drink from the tub in the corner of the yard. Then they
stood by the gate, waiting for little John to come.
When a lot of cows are together, one of the cows is always the leader,
and she always goes first, wherever they go. If any other cow tries to
go first, the leader butts that one and makes her go behind. Or if the
other cow doesn't want to go behind, they put their horns together and
push, and the one that pushes harder is the leader.
[Illustration]
So the cows waited at the gate, and little John had come down-stairs and
Aunt Deborah had given him a piece of johnny-cake, because breakfast
wasn't ready and little boys are always hungry. Then little John came to
the gate to the cow-yard, and opened the gate, and the cows hurried to
go through the gate, the leader first, and the others following after.
And they went along the little track and through the gate into the road,
and along the road to the great enormous field. And there they stopped,
for the bars were up and they had to wait for little John to come along
and let them down, so that they could go through.
And little John came running along, eating his piece of johnny-cake, and
kicking up the dirt with his bare feet, for in the summer-time he didn't
wear any shoes or stockings. And he came to the gate and he let the bars
down at one end, and the cows stepped over the bars carefully, the
leader first, and went into the field. And little John put the bars up
again, so that the cows couldn't get out, and he turned around and ran
back to the farm-house to get his breakfast.
When the cows were all in the field, they began to eat the grass; and
they walked slowly about, eating the grass, until they had had all they
wanted. Then they went over to the corner of the field, where there was
a stream of water running along, and each cow took a drink of water. In
the middle of the field was a big tree with long branches and a great
many leaves, so that under the tree it was shady and cool. By the time
the cows had eaten all the grass they wanted, it was hot out in the sun,
and they all walked over to the big tree and got in the cool shade.
Some of them lay down and some of them stood still, and they switched
their tails about to keep the flies off, and they chewed their cuds. For
a cow has two kinds of stomach. When she bites off the grass, she
swallows it down quickly, and it goes into the first stomach; and after
awhile, when she has eaten all the grass she wants, she goes and lies
down, or stands still and some of the grass comes back into her mouth in
a bunch and she chews it all up fine and swallows it again, so that it
goes down into her real stomach. Then another bunch comes up and she
chews that and swallows it, and so she does until all the grass is
chewed up fine. That is what they call chewing the cud.