if it had been wept on.

A woman cannot stay long away from
her home on a farm at planting time, even
if it is a case of life and death. Mrs. Dundy
had to go home, and Annie crept about
her work with the wailing baby in her arms.
The house was often disorderly now; but
it could not be helped. The baby had to
be cared for. It fretted so much that Jim
slept apart in the mow of the barn, that his
sleep might not be disturbed. It was a
pleasant, dim place, full of sweet scents, and
he liked to be there alone. Though he had
always been an unusual worker, he worked
now more like a man who was fighting off
fate, than a mere toiler for bread.

The corn came up beautifully, and far as
the eye could reach around their home it
tossed its broad green leaves with an ocean-
like swelling of sibilant sound. Jim loved
it with a sort of passion. Annie loved it,
too. Sometimes, at night, when her fatigue
was unbearable, and her irritation wearing
out both body and soul, she took her little
one in her arms and walked among the
corn, letting its rustling soothe the baby to
sleep.