do they want on our ground?"

Then there were a lot of geese there. Patch thought he would have a
bit of fun with the geese one day, so he set off to chase them. There
was a great fluster and spreading of wings, and they waddled off a few
yards; then they turned suddenly and faced him, stretching out their
long necks and hissing, at which Patch turned tail and troubled them
no more.

The village children on their way to and from school would linger on
the common to chase butterflies or run races. Then the boys found it a
capital place for playing at soldiers and leap-frog, and other things.

As it was June the farm people were busy in the hay, so of course
Dorothy and Oliver helped. They raked and tossed and gathered it into
heaps, and then they grew dreadfully hungry, so they sat under the
hedge and ate _bread and cheese_, which they found was quite the
correct lunch for haymakers. Patch sat with them and was having his
share, when he suddenly began sniffing and snorting and scratching
round a haycock. They thought there must be a rat about, but when they
moved the hay they found a poor little creature with a brown plush
coat and _no eyes_! Nurse told them it was a mole, so they put it in a
box lined with cotton-wool and gave it lettuce to eat, but it only
lived four days. I don't think it would like the most luxurious nest
as well as a little hole in the ground.

It would take a long time to tell you about all the children saw and
did during their visit to the Dale Farm: how they rode on the hay,
then came jogging back in the empty cart for more; how they drove with
the farmer in his spring-cart, which was not so very springy; how they