St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1915-05-12

| do that. If 1 tell you where the wa
termelons are you wouldn't have to
have me along to show you what to
do to them, would you?"
mot on your lifeY' they all exclaimed
at once and laughed.
wont that be fine?' said Joe Wat
son, his mouth watering at the thought
of the berries and the melons.
Say, though, SAM" Fred Martin
spoke up suddenly, you don't think
we're going to come out there and loaf
around and have a good time while
you are at work, do you?"
''WeIl, don't see anything wrong in
it,
Maybe not, but we'iI not do that
way, just the same. I'll tell you what
Wen do. Any time that you have
work on hand when we come out
Wen help you out so that you can take
half day Off"
''That's the idea,' seconded Andrew.
eff we come out Saturday morning,
| say, and work till noon you could take
the afternoon off, couldn't you?"
''Well, should think l could,'' said
Sam. But 1 wouldn't like to have
you work for me for nothing"
"Oh, don't worry" said Joe. "We1l
get paid. Wen take it out in water
melons"
81 didn't know that you liked to
work so WELL" said Sam. ''You might
as well go out with me next Saturday.
We're not going to move until next
spring, but 1 must mend the fences
and get the ground in shape"
"Sure, We'll co." they all said.
'Where'n we find you and what time
shall we start?'
"I1l be at home" Sam told them.
"Come about Z o'clock, and We'll drive
out in the spring wagon"
Before Saturday came round Sam
could not refrain from hunting up his
new friend, the government agent, to
tell him that he was going out on the
little farm for that year at least.
The agent, Mr.. Burns, was delighted
at the news.
"Well," he said, '1'm glad to hear
that. Miles Pagan is, as they say,
from Missouri. He must be shown.
It's just a waste of breath to talk to
him. He won't listen to anything. 1
tried to get him to plant just one acre
and cultivate it according to our meth
DDS. But he said he didn't have time
for any such foolishness. He'd been
farming long enough, he said, to know
something about it.
Il tried to persuade him to allow his
son, Bob, to join the Boys Corn club
and plant an acre of corn to be cult
waited under my direction. But he
wouldn't do that either, and, in fact, he
talked rather insultingly to me. OF
course if it was just himself that was
concerned I wouldn't bother any more
with him. A man like that doesn't
deserve much. But we can't afford to
resent such talk from anybody, Sam.
We just consider that it is because he
doesn't understand and let it go. Be
sides, it's the welfare of the whole
country that we are looking after. We
want to make better farmers out Of the
boys. We want Bob Pagan to be a
more successful farmer than his ia
Their has been, and, you see, we can't
do that without convincing his father
so that he will let us teach Bob.
''Now, your farm and Fagan's join,
don't theyY'
eyes, SIR" Sam replied; there's just
a fence between his field and ours"
do you know what he is going to
plant next to your field?"
ooh, yes. He always plants corn |
there. Hasn't had anything else there |
for five years."
''The very thing!" exclaimed Me.
Burns. 'Now, 1 want you to come
down to the courthouse next Monday |
morning. We are going to have a
meeting of the Boys Corn club then,
and l want you to join. You know,
there is 5000 to be given in prizes in
this county. There is a chance for
you to win about $3.50 on contest acre
of corn"
"'That is a whole lot of money" said
Sam, "and 1 am going to try hard to
win the first prize, though my land is
pretty well run down."
"YOu can fix that all right" Mr..
Burns assured him. 'Of course you
may not get the whole field as well
fortified as it should be, but you can
5cI IuS dClS LUZ COIu III SOOu |
And want you to lay off that acre
just across the fence from Fagan's.
Well certainly show him something
this year about growing corn"
''That's the poorest land on the place.
said Sam.
$50 much the better Mr.. Burns as
sured him. Pagan can't say then that
your crop is due to better land'
ooh, no, he can't say that, for his
and is much richer than mine! Mine
has been neglected so long! I'll sure
have to go to work on it if I'm going to
make a good showing this year"
Eyes, that's right. Get it fortified
and plOwed deep as soon as you can.
This is January. 1t should have been
DlOwed three months ago. How much
and have you?"
Twenty acres. but five of it are in
pasture. I'm going to hire a man to
,I,rrr I'll /