e a decent word. Small farmin' ain't cal'lated to
fetch out the best traits of human nature--an' keep 'em out--an' it
seems to me sometimes that when the old man wa'n't cuffin' my ears he
was lickin' me with a rawhide or a strap. Fur 's that was concerned, all
his boys used to ketch it putty reg'lar till they got too big. One on
'em up an' licked him one night, an' lit out next day. I s'pose the old
man's disposition was sp'iled by what some feller said farmin' was,
'workin' all day, an' doin' chores all night,' an' larrupin' me an' all
the rest on us was about all the enjoyment he got. My brothers an'
sisters--'ceptin' of Polly--was putty nigh as bad in respect of cuffs
an' such like; an' my step-marm was, on the hull, the wust of all. She
hadn't no childern o' her own, an' it appeared 's if I was jest pizen to
her. 'T wa'n't so much slappin' an' cuffin' with her as 't was tongue.
She c'd say things that 'd jest raise a blister like pizen ivy. I s'pose
I _was_ about as ord'nary, no-account-lookin', red-headed, freckled
little cuss as you ever see, an' slinkin' in my manners. The air of our
home circle wa'n't cal'lated to raise heroes in.

"I got three four years' schoolin', an' made out to read an' write an'
cipher up to long division 'fore I got through, but after I got to be
six year old, school or no school, I had to work reg'lar at anything I
had strength fer, an' more too. Chores before school an' after school,
an' a two-mile walk to git there. As fur 's clo'es was concerned, any
old thing that 'd hang together was good enough fer me; but by the time
the older boys had outgrowed their duds, an' they was passed on to me,
the' wa'n't much left on 'em. A pair of old cowhide boots that leaked
in more snow an' water 'n they kept out, an' a couple pairs of woolen
socks that was putty much all darns, was expected to see me through the
winter, an' I went barefoot f'm the time the snow was off the ground
till it flew agin in the fall. The' wa'n't but two seasons o' the year
with me--them of chilblains an' stun-bruises."

The speaker paused and stared for a moment into the comfortable glow of
the fire, and then discovering to his apparent surprise that his cigar
had gone out, lighted it from a coal picked out with the tongs.

"Farmin' 's a hard life," remarked Mrs. Cullom with an air of being
expected to make some contribution to the conversation.

"An' yit, as it seems to me as I look back on't," David resumed
pensively