And READ! w'y, his own mother learnt him how to read
and spell;
And "The Childern of the Abbey"--w'y, he knowed that
book as well
At fifteen as his parents!--and "The Pilgrim's Prog-
ress," too--
Jest knuckled down, the shaver did, and read 'em through
and through.

At eighteen, Mother 'lowed the boy must have a better
chance-
That we ort to educate him, under any circumstance;
And John he j'ined his mother, and they ding-donged and
kep' on,
Tel I sent him off to school in town, half glad that he was
gone.

But--I missed him--w'y, of course I did!--The Fall and
Winter through
I never built the kitchen-fire, er split a stick in two,
Er fed the stock, er butchered, er swung up a gambrel-
pin,
But what I thought o' John, and wished that he was home
ag'in.

He'd come, sometimes--on Sund'ys most--and stay the
Sund'y out;
And on Thanksgivin'-Day he 'peared to like to be about:
But a change was workin' on him--he was stiller than