ods, and then wishes it
would come back again. And then a carriage with two horses, and a trunk
on behind, goes along the road; and there is a girl in the carriage who
looks out at John, who is suddenly aware that his trousers are patched
on each knee and in two places behind; and he wonders if she is rich,
and whose name is on the trunk, and how much the horses cost, and
whether that nice-looking man is the girl's father, and if that boy on
the seat with the driver is her brother, and if he has to do chores;
and as the gay sight disappears, John falls to thinking about the great
world beyond the farm, of cities, and people who are always dressed up,
and a great many other things of which he has a very dim notion. And
then a boy, whom John knows, rides by in a wagon with his father, and
the boy makes a face at John, and John returns the greeting with a twist
of his own visage and some symbolic gestures. All these things take
time. The work of cutting down the big weeds gets on slowly, although it
is not very disagreeable, or would not be if it were play. John imagines
that yonder big thistle is some whiskered villain, of whom he has read
in a fairy book, and he advances on him with "Die, ruffian!" and
slashes off his head with the bill-hook; or he charges upon the rows of
mullein-stalks as if they were rebels in regimental ranks, and hews them
down without mercy. What fun it might be if there were only another boy
there to help. But even war, single handed, gets to be tiresome. It is
dinner-time before John finishes the weeds, and it is cow-time before
John has made much impression on the garden.

This garden John has no fondness for. He would rather hoe corn all day
than work in it. Father seems to think that it is easy work that John
can do, because it is near the house! John's continual plan in this life
is to go fishing. When there comes a rainy day, he attempts to carry it
out. But ten chances to one his father has different views. As it rains
so that work cannot be done out-doors, it is a good time to work in
the garden. He can run into the house between the heavy showers. John
accordingly detests the garden; and the only time he works briskly in it
is when he has a stent set, to do so much weeding before the Fourth of
July. If he is spry, he can make an extra holiday the Fourth and the
day after. Two days of gunpowder and ball-playing! When I was a boy, I
supposed there was some connection between such and such an