again, and then they walked about and ate some more of the grass and
drank some more water out of the little stream. And by that time it was
in the afternoon and almost time for little John to come to drive them
home.
So they all stood looking at the gate and waiting for little John. And
by and by little John came running along, and he let down the bars at
one end, and he called "Co-o-ow! Co-o-ow!" and the cows all started
hurrying along to the gate. And they stepped over the bars carefully,
the leader first, and walked along the road, for they knew the way to
go. And little John came running after.
When the cows came to the farm-house, they turned in at the gate and
went up the little track to the cow-yard. And they went in at the gate
of the cow-yard, and up the sloping place into the barn. And each cow
knew where she ought to go, and she went there, and Uncle John fastened
the chains around their necks; and little John shut the gate of the
cow-yard and went into the house.
Then Uncle John put a measureful of meal in the manger in front of each
cow, and he got his milking-stool and the milk pails and he milked all
the cows. And while the cows were being milked, they ate the meal and
chewed their cuds.
When the cows were all milked, Uncle John poured the milk through the
strainer into the big cans and took it out to the spring-house to set
it, so that the cream would come on it. But some of the milk he took
into the house for their supper.
Then he shut the big doors of the barn and fastened them, and the cows
lay down and went to sleep.
And that's all.
XIII.
THE HAY 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 little track that led up past the kitchen door and
past the shed and past the barn and past the orchard to the wheat-field.
All about were other fields. One of them was a great enormous field,
and in this field was growing grass that would be made into hay.
One day, when the summer was nearly half over, Uncle John saw that the
little tassels at the tops of the stems of the grass were getting
yellow, and he knew that the grass was ripe enough to cut for hay; and
the grass was as high as little John's head. So, very early the next
morning, Uncle Solomon and Uncle John took their scythes and their
whetstones and went over to the great enormous field, and two other men
came to help. When the grass that these other men had was ready to cut,
then Uncle Solomon and Uncle John would go and help them cut it.
And they had a jug, and in it was water, with some molasses and a
little vinegar mixed with it. This was for them to drink when they got
very hot and thirsty, mowing, and they put it down by the stone wall,
where it was cool.
[Illustration]
Then the men all took their whetstones and sharpened their scythes, and
Uncle Solomon started first, at the corner of the field, and he swung
his scythe back and forth, and every time he swung the scythe it cut
down some grass and made a noise, "Swish." And then he took a little
step ahead and swung the scythe again, and he walked very slowly along,
cutting the grass. And when Uncle Solomon had got a little way along,
so that the next scythe wouldn't cut him, Uncle John began next to the
place where Uncle Solomon had begun, and he swung his scythe and walked
slowly along, cutting the grass. Then one of the other men began at the
next place, when Uncle John had got a little way along, and then the
last man. So all the men were walking slowly along, swinging their
scythes together, and cutting the grass, and the grass fell down in
four long rows. And they mowed this way all the morning, and cut down
all the grass in the field.
[Illustration]
And just when they had finished, and all the grass was cut down, they
heard the horn that Aunt Deborah was blowing. That meant that dinner was
ready. They had a horn to blow for dinner because the men had to work in
fields that were far from the house, where they couldn't hear a
dinner-bell. But they could hear the horn. So the horn hung on a hook
beside the kitchen door; and when dinner was ready, Aunt Deborah took
the horn from the hook and blew it.
When the men heard the horn, they took their coats and their scythes and
their whetstones and the jug, and they went back along the road to the
farm-house and left the grass lying there, just as it fell down. And
the sun shone on the grass and dried it, so that it was changing to hay.
Then, the next morning, Uncle Solomon and Uncle John took their
pitchforks and went over to the field and spread the grass out evenly,
so that it would dry better; and they left it until the afternoon.
In the afternoon, Uncle John and Uncle Solomon took two great wide
wooden rakes, and little John took a little rake, and they went to the
field. Then Uncle Solomon and Uncle John each held one of the great wide
rakes so that it trailed behind, and they walked along and the rakes
rolled the grass up into long rows. Then they walked along the other
way, trailing the rakes, and the grass rolled up into piles, and little
John raked after. They call the piles of hay haycocks, and they were as
high as little John's head. Then they went away and left the hay there
all night.
In the morning, when the sun had shone on the haycocks long enough to
dry off the dew, 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 hay-cart to the yoke. Then he put little John up in
the cart and took the pitchforks, and gave little John his little rake.
And the old oxen started walking slowly along, out into the road and
along the road to the great enormous field, and in at the gate. And they
walked along beside one of the haycocks, and there they stopped.
Then Uncle John lifted little John out of the cart, and Uncle Solomon
and Uncle John both stuck their pitchforks into the haycock and lifted
it right up and pitched it over the side of the cart, so that it fell
into the cart. Then they went along to the next haycock and pitched that
in the same way, and little John raked after, raking up the hay that had
dropped from the pitchforks. So they went along to the other haycocks
and pitched them into the cart, and when the hay was nearly up to the
top of the side of the cart, Uncle John climbed in, and he made the hay
even in the cart, with his fork. Uncle Solomon pitched the hay up into
the cart, and Uncle John made it even in the cart, so it couldn't fall
out, and they piled the hay up in the cart until it was a great
enormous load, higher than the room. And little John raked after.
[Illustration]
When they had made the load as high as they could, the old oxen started
and turned around, and walked back through the gate and along the road
to the farm house, and in at the gate and up the track past the kitchen
door and past the shed, and in at the big door of the barn. And they
went along in the open place in the barn and stopped in the middle, so
that the load of hay was beside the floor of the loft where the hay was
kept, and the top of the load was higher than the floor of the loft.
Then Uncle Solomon climbed up the ladder to the loft, and Uncle John
pitched the hay from the cart to the loft. And Uncle Solomon took his
fork and pitched the hay back against the wall and packed it tight, so
that they could get more in when they brought it, and fill the loft as
full as it would hold.
When all the hay was out of the cart, Uncle Solomon came down from the
loft, and the oxen started walking along, out of the other big door and
around the barn and back to the hay-field. Then they filled the cart
again, the same way that they did the first time, and put that hay in
the barn. And they had to go back three times after the first time
before they had all the hay that was in the field. And when it was all
in the barn, there was hay enough for the horses and the oxen and the
cows to eat all winter.
Then the old oxen walked out through the other door of the barn, and
around the barn to the shed. And Uncle John unhooked the tongue of the
cart and put the cart in the shed, and he took off the yoke and the oxen
went into the barn and went to sleep.
And that's all.
XIV.
THE FIREPLACE 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.
In the kitchen there wasn't any stove, because they didn't have stoves
then, but there was a great enormous fireplace, so big that great long
sticks of wood could be put in it to burn. And Uncle John or Uncle
Solomon had to cut the wood that was to be burned in the fireplace, and
pile it up in a great pile near the kitchen door.
[Illustration]
In the fireplace was a long iron stick that went along near the top, and
at the side of the fireplace it bent down like an elbow and went into
some hinges that were in the wall of the fireplace. And at the end of
this long iron stick was a hook, so that a kettle would hang on it over
the fire. This iron stick they call a crane; and it would swing out on
the hinges, away from the fire, so that they could hang something on
without burning their hands, and then they could swing it back again.
And every night, before she went to bed, Aunt Deborah took the shovel
and put ashes all over the fire, so that it wouldn't blaze and burn the
wood all up, but wouldn't go out, either. For there wasn't any furnace,
and if the fire went out, the house would get very cold, and there
weren't any matches then, so that it was hard to light the fire.
At that farm-house were a great many chickens, and in the summer-time
they liked to fly up into the trees, and sit on the branches to sleep.
And in the morning, as soon as it began to get light, the old rooster
would wake up and flap his wings and crow very loud. So, one morning,
the old rooster crowed very early and waked Uncle John and Aunt Deborah,
and Uncle Solomon and Aunt Phyllis.
And they all got up and put on their clothes and went down-stairs. Uncle
Solomon and Uncle John went to the barn to look after the horses and the
cows and the oxen, and Aunt Deborah and Aunt Phyllis began to fix the
fire and get breakfast ready.
Aunt Phyllis went to the spring-house for the milk and the butter, and
to the buttery for some other things. Then she went to the hen-house to
find some eggs.
[Illustration]
Aunt Deborah raked all the ashes off the fire and put on some sticks of
wood that Uncle John had brought in, and then she took the blower and
blew the fire with it until it began to blaze. Then she took the iron
kettle and filled it with water at the well, and she pulled the crane
out away from the fire, with an iron hook, and hung the kettle on the
hook of the crane, and swung it back over the fire. And the fire blazed,
and the water in the kettle got hot, and after a while it began to
boil.
While the water in the kettle was getting hot, Aunt Deborah took some
corn-meal and some flour and some salt and some sugar, and mixed them
together in a big yellow bowl, and she mixed in some soda and some
cream-o'-tartar. They are fine white powders that would make the
johnny-cake light and nice when it was baked; for she was making
johnny-cake. Then she took the milk that Aunt Phyllis had brought from
the spring-house, and she poured some of it into the bowl and stirred it
all in. And when she had poured in all the milk that she wanted, she
took some of the eggs that Aunt Phyllis had brought, and she broke the
shells and let the inside of the eggs drop into a littler bowl, and
then she beat them all up together until they were all foamy. Then she
poured them into the big yellow bowl and stirred them all in. When all
the things were stirred up together, Aunt Deborah took a pan that had a
cover, and she put butter all over the pan, and poured in the things
from the yellow bowl. Then she put on the cover, and she took a kind of
rake and she raked some of the blazing fire away, and with a long iron
fork she put the pan down on the hot coals. Then she raked the fire on
top of the pan again and left it.
When the johnny-cake was in the fire, getting baked, Aunt Deborah got
some tea out of the jar that they called a caddy, and she put it in the
teapot. Then she pulled the crane away from the fire, with the hook,
and she poured some boiling water in on the tea and set the teapot down
in front of the fire. Then she put some eggs in the kettle and swung it
back over the fire.
While Aunt Deborah was making the johnny-cake and the tea, Aunt Phyllis
had put the plates on the table, and the mugs, and the cups and saucers,
and the knives and forks, and all the other things, and she had put some
butter on the table, on a plate, and some milk in a white pitcher. Then
she went to the buttery and took down a ham that hung on a hook, and she
cut some thin slices and put them on a plate and put that plate on the
table. And by that time the johnny-cake was done and the eggs, and the
tea. And Aunt Deborah swung the crane off the fire and took the eggs
out with a ladle that had little holes in it for the water to go
through. Then she poured cold water on the eggs, so that they wouldn't
cook any more, and she put them in a bowl and put them on the table.
Then she raked the fire off the top of the pan, and took the pan out
with the long iron fork. And she took the cover off, and the johnny-cake
was nice and brown, and just right and smoking hot. And she cut it into
little squares and put it in a dish, and Aunt Phyllis put all the rest
of the things on the table while Aunt Deborah went to the door and took
down the horn and blew it.
Then Uncle Solomon and Uncle John came in from the barn, and little
Charles and little John came in from driving the cows, and little Sam
came down-stairs. And they all sat down at the table and ate their
breakfast, and it was very nice.
And that's all.
XV.
THE BAKING 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 little track that led up past the kitchen door and
past the shed and past the barn and past the orchard to the wheat-field.
One morning the old rooster had crowed very early, and Uncle Solomon and
Uncle John and Aunt Phyllis and Aunt Deborah had come down-stairs and
done their work. It was Saturday morning, and that was baking day; so,
when they had all finished breakfast, and Aunt Deborah and Aunt Phyllis
had cleared up the things and washed the dishes, they got ready for the
baking.
The chimney was a great enormous chimney that went all across the end of
the kitchen. And beside the big fireplace was an iron door that opened
into the oven. For the oven was a big hole in the chimney, beside the
fireplace; and right in the middle of the chimney, behind the fireplace,
was a great big hole, as big as a closet, and at the back was a little
door that was just big enough for people to go in. In this closet in the
chimney they used to build a fire sometimes, and hang hams and fish
over it in the smoke.
When they were ready to begin, Aunt Deborah opened the door to the oven,
and she took some wood that Uncle John had brought in, and she built a
fire right in the oven. Then she took up some coals from the fireplace
and lighted the fire in the oven and shut the door. And the fire burned
and the oven got hot. And once in awhile Aunt Deborah opened the door
and put in some more wood.
Then, while the fire was burning in the oven and getting the oven hot,
Aunt Deborah and Aunt Phyllis took flour and butter and lard and water,
and they mixed them together just the right way, and made some dough.
And they rolled the dough out thin, with a long wooden roller, and they
folded it over and rolled it out again, and did that over and over until
they thought it was right. Then they spread the thin dough out on the
bottom of some plates that were middle-sized deep.
And Aunt Deborah had some apples all ready, with the skin cut off and
the cores cut out, and the nice part of the apples cut up into slices.
And some of the apples she had stewed in water until they were all soft,
and some she hadn't.
First she put some of the stewed apples in the plates on top of the thin
dough, and put in a little sugar and some cinnamon and some nutmeg on
top of some; and on some she didn't put any cinnamon or any nutmeg. Then
she laid another thin piece of dough over the top of the apples, and
she made little marks with a fork all around the edge, and she cut holes
in the top with a knife.
Then, in other plates she put the apples that were not stewed, and a lot
of sugar, and thin dough on top, the same way. Those were apple pies,
and they were three kinds.
[Illustration]
Then Aunt Deborah made some squash pies, and put in on the dough that
was on the bottom of the plates some of the inside of squashes that she
had cooked over the fire. The very inside of squashes is soft and full
of seeds, and that part isn't good to eat; but just next to the seeds is
the part that is good. And spices and a lot of things were mixed with
the squash to make it taste better. There wasn't any thin dough put
over the top of the squash pies, but just a thin strip around the edge.
And there were other kinds of pies besides the apple and the squash, and
when they were made, there were so many that they covered the tops of
both the tables, for Uncle Solomon and Uncle John liked pies.
Then Aunt Deborah thought the oven was hot enough, and she opened the
door of the oven, and with a long rake she pulled the fire out into a
big pan and put it into the fireplace. Then she put into the oven all
the pies it would hold, and she shut the door; and the pies were baking
in the oven, it was so hot, though there wasn't any fire in it. And when
those pies had been in the oven for awhile, they were all done, and
Aunt Deborah pulled them out with a kind of shovel and set them down in
front of the fire, and she put other pies in; and so she did until all
the pies were baked.
[Illustration]
Then she put coals in the oven again, and a little wood, to get the oven
hotter, for it had cooled, baking so many pies.
When she first came down that morning, Aunt Deborah had mixed some
bread, and had set it in a big pan near the fire, to rise; and now it
had risen enough, and she took it out of the big pan. And while the oven
was getting hot again, she put the bread on a smooth board and rolled
it around and pushed it with her hands. That is what they call kneading.
Then she took some square pans that were deep, and she put some of the
bread in each pan and set them down by the fire again. And pretty soon
the oven was hot enough, and the fire was raked out, and the bread was
put in. By that time it was time to get dinner ready, and Aunt Deborah
left the bread in the oven while she got dinner. For the oven was
getting cooler all the time, and the bread would not get burned.
So, when the bread was done, Aunt Deborah took it out and wrapped it in
a cloth until it was cool. And Aunt Phyllis put all the pies in the
buttery. Then they had enough pies and enough bread to last them all a
whole week, and they would not bake any more until the next Saturday.
And that's all.
XVI.
THE SWIMMING 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.
In that farm-house lived Uncle Solomon and Uncle John, and little John
and little Charles and their mother, Aunt Deborah, and little Sam and
his mother, Aunt Phyllis.
One day in summer it was very hot. Little Charles was about nine years
old, and little John was about seven, and little Charles said to little
John: "John, let's go in swimming."
And little John said: "All right."
So they went very quietly away from the kitchen door, where they were
playing, and went toward the barn, as though they were going to look for
eggs. But they sneaked around the barn and down close to the house on
the other side, where Aunt Deborah wouldn't see them, and over the fence
into the road. And they went along the road until they came to the field
that they used to go through to get water from the river. Then they
turned into that field and went down to the river, and along the bank of
the river until they came to a great big tree that grew close by the
edge of the river, at the end of a stone wall.
[Illustration]
When they came to that big tree, they stopped and took off all their
clothes and went into the water. And they stayed in the water a long
time and swam around and chased each other, and they ran along in the
water where it wasn't very deep, and splashed and had a fine time. And
when they had been in long enough and were all cool, they went back to
the place where they had left their clothes, and they took their shirts
and got themselves dry with their shirts as well as they could. Then
they spread their shirts out in the sunshine to dry, and they ran about
on the bank. And when their shirts were dry, they put their clothes on.
Then they went back along the road and over the fence and around the
barn, the way they had come, and began to play near the shed as though
they hadn't been away at all.
Pretty soon Aunt Deborah came to the kitchen door and she called to
little Charles. "Charles, I want you to get me some eggs."
And when Charles turned around to go, Aunt Deborah looked at him very
hard, and she called: "Charles, come here to me." But Charles didn't
want to come very near, so he came only a little way.
And Aunt Deborah said: "Charles, I want you to come right here to me."
So Charles came slowly beside his mother, and she took off his hat and
looked at his hair. His hair was a little wet, for he couldn't get it
quite dry with his shirt.
And Aunt Deborah said: "Charles, you've been in swimming."
And Charles dug up the dirt with his bare feet and said, "Yes'm." For
little Charles and little John never said things that were not true,
although they sometimes did things they ought not to do.
Then Aunt Deborah said: "Charles, if you do that again I'll tell your
father."
And Charles said, "Yes'm." Then he ran away quickly to find the eggs.
Then Aunt Deborah said: "John, come here to me."
So little John came beside his mother, and she took off his hat and saw
that his hair was wet.
And she said: "John, you've been swimming, too." And little John looked
at his mother and grinned and said, "Yes'm."
And Aunt Deborah said, "You mustn't do that, John. You're too little.
Don't do it again, and I'll ask Uncle Solomon to take you and Charles
in his boat." So little John ran off after little Charles.
The next morning Uncle Solomon called to all the little boys: "Who wants
to go out in the boat with me?"
And little Charles and little John and little Sam all said at the same
time, "I do."
So Uncle Solomon said, "Come on, boys."
Then he walked along the track and into the road and along the road, and
the little boys ran ahead; for they knew where he was going. And by and
by they came to the pond. It was a great big pond, and Uncle Solomon's
boat was on the bank under some trees. Uncle Solomon had built that boat
himself, for he had been a sailor, and knew all about boats. So he
pushed the boat off into the water, and the little boys all got in and
sat still. For Uncle Solomon wouldn't let them jump around in the boat
because that might tip it over.
So Uncle Solomon rowed the little boys over to a nice place where it was
shady, and where the water was not very deep; and he rowed cross-handed,
because he thought that was easier. When they had got to the place, the
little boys all took off their clothes, and Uncle Solomon took up each
boy and threw him over into the water. They were not afraid, because he
had taught them how to swim, and he was right there, to see that nothing
happened to harm them. And they swam around and had a fine time.
[Illustration]
And when Uncle Solomon thought they had been in the water long enough,
he made them swim near the boat, and he reached over and pulled them
into the boat, one at a time. Then they dried themselves with a towel he
had brought, and they put on their clothes, and Uncle Solomon rowed the
boat back to the place where he kept it.