course of a week or so he became a fair proficient, so that his
father even allowed him to try Vixen, a cow who had received this
name from the uncertainty of her temper. She had more than once
upset the pail with a spiteful kick when it was nearly full. One
morning she upset not only the pail, but Frank, who looked
foolish enough as he got up covered with milk.

Frank also commenced reading the Plowman, a weekly agricultural
paper which his father had taken for years. Until now he had
confined his readings in it to the selected story on the fourth
page. Now, with an object in view, he read carefully other parts
of the paper. He did this not merely in the first flush of
enthusiasm, but with the steady purpose of qualifying himself to
take his father's place.

"Frank is an uncommon boy," said Mr. Frost to his wife, not
without feelings of pride, one night, when our hero had retired
to bed. "I would trust him with the farm sooner than many who are
half a dozen years older."



CHAPTER VII. LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

"Well, father, I've got some news for you," said John Haynes, as
he entered his father's presence, two or three days later.

"What is it, John?" inquired the squire, laying down a copy of
the New York Herald, which he had been reading.