sight over the woods, and then wishes it would come back again. And
then a carriage with two horses, and a trunk on behind, goes along
the road; and there is a girl in the carriage who looks out at John,
who is suddenly aware that his trousers are patched on each knee and
in two places behind; and he wonders if she is rich, and whose name
is on the trunk, and how much the horses cost, and whether that nice-
looking man is the girl's father, and if that boy on the seat with
the driver is her brother, and if he has to do chores; and as the gay
sight disappears, John falls to thinking about the great world beyond
the farm, of cities, and people who are always dressed up, and a
great many other things of which he has a very dim notion. And then
a boy, whom John knows, rides by in a wagon with his father, and the
boy makes a face at John, and John returns the greeting with a twist
of his own visage and some symbolic gestures. All these things take
time. The work of cutting down the big weeds gets on slowly,
although it is not very disagreeable, or would not be if it were
play. John imagines that yonder big thistle is some whiskered
villain, of whom he has read in a fairy book, and he advances on him
with "Die, ruffian!" and slashes off his head with the bill-hook; or
he charges upon the rows of mullein-stalks as if they were rebels in
regimental ranks, and hews them down without mercy. What fun it
might be if there were only another boy there to help. But even war,
single handed, gets to be tiresome. It is dinner-time before John
finishes the weeds, and it is cow-time before John has made much
impression on the garden.

This garden John has no fondness for. He would rather hoe corn all
day than work in it. Father seems to think that it is easy work that
John can do, because it is near the house! John's continual plan in
this life is to go fishing. When there comes a rainy day, he