Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-08-03
CHAPTER II.
My Farmer Comes.

sor Grey of the college botanical de-
partment assigned his chief assistant
at the gardens to my case. He took
me to Boston, and in one day spent eX-
actly S641 Of my precious savings.
while I gasped, helpless in my igno-
rance. He bought, it appeared to me,
barrels Of seeds, tons of fertilizers,
thousands Of wheel hoes for horse and
man, millions Of pruning saws and
spraying machines, hotbed frames and
sashes, tomato trellises, and l knew
not what other nameless implements
| and impedimenta.
This was rather disconcerting. But
the die was cast, and I came to a sud-
den realization that seven years of
teaching the young idea how to punctu-
ate isn't the best possible training for
running farm, and if l were to get
out of my experiment with a whole
skin l had got to turn to and be my
own chief laborer, and hereafter my
own purchaser as we'll.
All that night packed and planned,
and the next morning I left college
forever, l slipped away quietly, before
the chapel bell had begun to ring,
avoiding all ,ender good-bys. I had a
stack of experimentation bulletins in
my grip, and during the four hours I
spent on the train my eyes never left
thei. pages. Four hours is not enough
to make a man a qualified agricul-
turist, but it is sufficient to make him
humble. l landed at Bentford station,
aired a hack, and drove at once to my
farm, and my first thought on alight-
ing was this: Good Lord, | never
realized the frightful condition of that
orchard! 1t will take me a solid week
to save any Of it, and I suppose I'll
nave to set out lot Of new trees be
sides. More expenser'
ITS a dollar up here" said the
driver of the hack, in a mildly insidi-
| Gus voice.
I paid him brusquely and he drove
away. I stood in the middle Of the
| road, my suitcase beside me, the long
| afternoon shadows coming down
through my dilapidated orchard, and
surveyed the scene. N[ilt Noble had
| gone. So had my enthusiasm. The
house was bare and desolate. It hadn't
been painted for twenty years, at least,
l decided. My trunks, which | had
sent ahead by express, were standing
disconsolately on the kitchen porch.
Behind me [ heard my horse stamping
In the stable, and saw my two COWS
feeding in the pasture. A postcard
from one Bert Temple, my nearest
neighbor up the Slab City road, had in
formed me that he was milking them
for me-and, [ gathered, for the milk.
Well, if he didn't, goodness knew who
would! 1 never felt so lonely, SO help
less, so hopeless, in my life.
Then an odd fancy struck me. George
Meredith made his living, too, by read
ing manuscripts for a publisher! The
picture Of George Meredith trying to
though they had been Drowned by
smoke and time to a dirt color.
NOW l want these two rooms made
into one" said l. 81 want one Of the
| doors into the hall closed up, and
glass door cut out of the south side to
a pergola veranda. Can you do it?'
Hard examined the partition. He
climbed on box which we dragged in,
and ripped away plaster and wood
work ruthlessly, both at the top and at
places on the sides, all without speak
ing a word
yep" he said finally, "et yer don't
mind a big cross-beam shown. She's
solid oak. Yer door, though, II have
to be double, with a beam in the
middle"
'Finep' I cried. zone to go in by,
| one to go out. Guests please keep to
the rightp'
"Hev ter alter yer chimney" he
added, cor yer'H hev two fireplaces."
Fine again. cried I. "a long
room with two f1replaces, and double
faced bookcase coming out at right
angles between them, with two settles
below 1t, one for each fireplace! Bet
ter than I'd dreamedT'
"Suit yerself," said Hard.
My front doorway had once been
thing Of beauty, with two little panel
windows at the sides, and above all,
on the outside a heavy, hand-carved
broken pediment, like the top Of Gov
ernor Winthrop highboy. Hard looked
at it with admiration cleaning in his
eyes. I'D ruther restore this than ali
the rest O. the job he said, and his
ugly, rum-soaked little face positively
ShOne with enthusiasm
"GO ahead" said 1; "only want the
new steps of brick, widely spaced, with
a lot Of cement showing between. I'm
going to terrace it here in front, too
a grass terrace for ten feet out"
"Thet's right, thet's right" he ex-
claimed. "Now I'll 60 order the lum-
Der an bring yer the estimate ter
morrer."
Seems to me the usual proceeding
would be the other way around!'
gasped
well, yer want me ter do the job,
don't yer? Or don't yer?'' he said
brusquely.
"Of course, Of coursew I amended
hastily. go aheadr'
Hard climbed into a broken-down
wagon, and disappeared. Don't you
worry" said Bert. ''I'll see he treats
yer right
1T isn't that" I said sadly. ITS
that I've just remembered I forgot to