father is away at his work"; and she handed him a small covered basket.
Then the wagon containing their few belongings moved away from the place
that for nearly five years they had called their home.

As they wended their way along the thoroughfare, they saw men at work in
the fields. Some were shucking corn and tossing the bright golden ears
into wagons that were placed between the rows for that purpose, while
others were hauling the grain to their barns to store it away for the
winter's use. The broad corn leaves rustling in the wind seemed to
whisper, "Winter is coming with his cold, bleak storms to rob the earth
of her summer splendor; but he will bring his beautiful coverlet of snow
to protect her fields and to prepare them for the coming year."

The foliage on the small bushes that were scattered here and there
was fading; but the air was still soft and mild. Near the willows
might still be seen the bending goldenrods, asters, and sunflowers.
And occasionally blue smoke could be seen curling up from some
sod-house chimney.

It was evening when the father and his son drove up to the door of their
long-desolate home; the sun was sinking lower and lower in the west. A
few soft glimmers of its mellow light lingered timidly about the doorway
as if to bid the home-comers welcome, and then they were gone. A rabbit,
hopping boldly about in the neglected doorway, stopped suddenly as if
to ask why these people had come to a place that she had chosen for her
home; and some prairie dogs that had formed a colony close by anxiously
watched from the entrance of their underground homes to see what was
going on.

John and his father, each absorbed with his own thoughts, sprang from