Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-10-10

There are so many bright spots in the life of a
farm-boy, that | sometimes think should ike
10 live the life over again; | should almost be
willing to be girl if it were not for the chores
There is great comfort TO boy in the amount
of work he can get rid OF doing. 1t is sometimes
astonishing how slow he can 20 on an Grand
he who leads the school in race. The world is
new and interesting to him, and there is so
much TO take his attention Off when he is sent
to do anything. Perhaps he couldn't explain
himself why, when he is sent to the neighbours
after yeast, he stops to stone the frogs he is not
exactly cruel, but he wants to see if he can hit
EN-. No other living thing can 20 so slow as a
boy sent on an errand. His legs seem to be
dead, unless he happens to espy woodchuck in
an adjoining lot, when he gives chase to it like a
deer; and II is curious fact about boys that
Two VIII be great deal slower in dong anything
than one, and that the more Won have TO HELM on
piece OF work, the less is accomplished Bows
have power in helping each other do nothing:
and they are so innocent about it, and uncon-
scious. Il went as quick as ever could /" saws
one boy, when his father asks him wbv he didn't
stay all night when he has been absent three
hours on ten-minute errand. The sarcasm has
no effect on the boy
Going after the cows was a serious thinp in
my day. | had to climb up a hill which was
covered with wild Strawberries in the season
Could any boy pass by those ripe berries? And
then in the fragrant hill-pasture there were beds
Of wintergreen, with red berries, tufts of colum.
hlne, roots OF saSsairas 10 be dug, and dozens of
things good to eat or smell, which | could not
resist. 1t sometimes even lay in nv way TO
climb tree TO look for a crows nest, or 10
SWING in the top, or to see if | could see the
steepe of the village church. 1t become very
important, sometimes for me to see the stcepe:
and IN the midst of my investigations the tin
horn would blow q great blast from the farm
house, which would send cold chill down NV
| back in the hottest days. | knew what it meant.
4 IL had a frlghtfully impatient culver in it, not
at all like the sweet notes that called us TO dim
her IRON the hay field 1t said: "Why on
eap rlt aoesn That boy come home? 1t is al
most dark, and the COWS amt milkedP
And that was the time when the COWS had IN
start INTO brisk pace to make up for lost time.
wonder II any boy ever drove the cows home
late, VINO dld not say the cows were at the fnr-
ther end OF the pasture, and that cold Rrindie
was hidden in the woods, and he conIdn't e. NJ
her for ever SO long" The brindle cow is the
| boys scapegoat many a time. 'NN
| No other boy knows how to appreciate boli.
| day as the farm boy does, and bis best ones are
OF peculiar Kind. Going fishing is, of course
! one sort The excitement of rigging nm Inc
tackle, digging the bait, and the anticipation Of
| great luck, these are pure pleasures enioved he
| cause they are rare. Boys who can 90 fishinc
| any time care but little for it, Trampipg nj
| day through brush and brier, fighting flies anC
| mosquitoes, and branches that tangle the line
and snags that break the hook, and returnin.
home late and hungry, with wet feet and strin,
| OF speckled trout on a willow twig, and hav
the family crowd out at the kitchen door to lool
az EN- and say, pretty well done for you, bub
did you catch that one yourselfP This is ais
pure happiness, the like of which the boy vii
never have again; not if he come to be select
man an ana a deacon, and to "keep store"
but the holidaysI recall with delight were tn
TWO Gays 81, IN the spring and fall, when we wen
~ lne distant pasture lands, in neighborin.
town, maybe, to drive tbither tbe yonnO catf
aug colts and drive them back again. Ii was
wiz ana rocky upland, where our great pastur,
was, many miles from home, the road to it run
ming by brawling river, and up a dasbino
brookslde, among the great hills. VIVA
days adventure it wasl 1t was like
journey to Europe. The night before i conlt
scarcely sleep for thinking Of it; and there wa
no trouble about getting me up at sunrise tba
morning. The breakfast was eaten, the lunchao,
was packed in a large basket.
wish the journey would never end; but. n
last, by noon, we reach the pasture, and turn il
the herd; and after making the tour Of the lot
to make sure there are no breaks in the fences
we take our luncheon from the wagon, and ca