More Jonathan PapersHoughton Mifflin, 1915 - 216 pages |
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Page 50 - The Pasture I'm going out to clean the pasture spring; I'll only stop to rake the leaves away (And wait to watch the water clear, I may): I shan't be gone long. — You come too. I'm going out to fetch the little calf That's standing by the mother. It's so young, It totters when she licks it with her tongue. I sha'n't be gone long. — You come too.
Page 30 - II run and when it won't," said Hiram peacefully, as he tramped off to the barn. In a few minutes I was outdoors. Sure enough, Hiram had everything full — old boilers, feed-pails, water-pails. But we found some three-gallon milk cans and used them. A farm is like a city. There are always things enough in it for all purposes. It is only a question of using its resources. Then, in the clear April sunshine, I went out and surveyed the row of maples. How they did drip ! Some of them almost ran. I felt...
Page 9 - It isn't there," and I am always saying, •• Please look again." Though everything in the house seems to be in a conspiracy against him, it is perhaps with the fishing-tackle that he has most constant difficulties. " My dear, have you any idea where my rod is ? No, don't get up — I'll look if you'll just tell me where — " '• Probably in the corner behind the chest in the orchard room.
Page 29 - 'twas enough, 'twould serve." I collected firewood, and there I was, ready for my pan, and the afternoon was yet young, and the sap was drip-drip-dripping from all the spouts. I could begin to boil next day. I felt that I was being borne along on the providential wave that so often floats the inexperienced to success. That night I emptied all my vessels into the boiler and set them out once more. A neighbor drove by and pulled up to comment benevolently on my work. " Will it run to-night ?" I asked...
Page 29 - ... right away. Yes, Hiram would call for it in the afternoon. I felt better. And now for a fireplace ! Oh, Jonathan ! Why did you have to be away ! For Jonathan loves a stone and knows how to put stones together, as witness the stone " Eyrie " and the stile in the lane. However, there Jonathan wasn't. So I went out into the swampy orchard behind the house and looked about — no lack of stones, at any rate. I began to collect material, and Hiram, seeing my purpose, helped with the big stones. Somehow...
Page 28 - ... pails. Pails, did I say ? Pails by courtesy. There were, indeed, a few real pails — berry-pails, lard-pails, and water-pails — but for the most part the sap fell into pitchers, or tin saucepans, stewkettles of aluminum or agate ware, blue and gray and white and mottled, or big yellow earth enware bowls. It was a strange collection of receptacles that lined the roadside when we had finished our progress. As I looked along the row, I laughed, and even Hiram smiled. But what next ? Every utensil...
Page 44 - We'll know soon." said Jonathan, with his usual composure. We hung over him. " Now you beat it,'' I said. But he was already beating. "Get some cold water to set it in," he commanded. We brought the dishpan with water from the well, where ice still floated. '• Maybe you oughtn't to stir so much — do you think ?" I suggested, helpfully. •' Beat it more — up, you know." '• More the way you would eggs," said Janet. •• I'll show you." I lunged at the spoon. •' Go away ' This isn't eggs,"...
Page 36 - It couldn't have 1" gasped Janet. " It couldn't — but it has !" I said. It was a matter for tears, or rage, or laughter. And laughter won. When we recovered a little we took up the black shell of carbon that had once been syrup-froth : we laid it gently beside the oven, for a keepsake. Then we poured water in the pan, and steam rose hissing to the stars. " Does it leak ?
Page 14 - I said, this is not a personal matter, it is a world matter. Let us grant, then, a certain allowance for those who hunt in woman-made haystacks. But what about pockets? Is not a man lord over his own pockets ? And are they not nevertheless as so many haystacks piled high for his confusion? Certain it is that Jonathan has nearly as much trouble with his pockets as he does with the corners and cupboards and shelves and drawers of his house. It usually happens over our late supper, after his day in...
Page 13 - it was in a saucer just behind the cushion." "You said cushion." "I know. It's all right." "Now, if you had said simply 'bureau,' I'd have looked in other places on it." "Yes, you'd have looked in other places!" I could not forbear responding. There is, I grant, another side to this question. One evening when I went upstairs I found a partial presentation of it, in the form of a little newspaper clipping, pinned on my cushion. It read as follows: "My dear," said she, "please run and bring me the...