here had been flower beds in front; but Uncle Jeptha had
allowed the grass to overrun them. It was a month too early to think of
planting many flowers; but Hiram had bought some seeds, and he showed
Sister how to prepare boxes for them in the sunny kitchen windows, along
with the other plant boxes; and around the front porch he spaded up a
strip, enriched it well, and almost the first seeds put into the ground
on the farm were the sweet peas around this porch. Mother Atterson was
very fond of these flowers and had always managed to coax some of them
to grow even in the boarding-house back yard.

At the side porch she proposed to have morning-glories and moon-flowers,
while the beds in front would be filled with those old-fashioned flowers
which everybody loves.

"But if we can't make our own flower-beds, we can go without them, Hi,"
said the bustling old lady. "We mustn't take you from your other work
to spade beds for us. Every cat's got to catch mice on this place, now I
tell ye!"

And Hiram certainly was busy enough these days. The early seeds were all
in, however, and he had run the seed-harrow over the potato rows again,
lengthwise, to keep the weeds out until the young plants should get a
start.

Despite the raw winds and frosts at night, the potatoes had come up well
and, with the steadily warming wind and sun, would now begin to grow.
Other farmers' potatoes in the vicinity were not yet breaking the
ground.

Early on Monday morning Henry Pollock appeared with bush-axe and
grubbing hoe, and Hiram shouldered similar tools and they started for
the river bottom. It was so far from the house that Mrs. Atterson agreed
to send their dinner to them.

"Father says he remembers seeing corn growing on this bottom," said
Henry, as they set to work, "so high that the ears were as high up as a
tall man. It's splendid corn land--if it don't get flooded out."

"And does the river often over-ran its banks?" queried Hiram, anxiously.

"Pretty frequent. It hasn't yet this year; there wasn't much snow last
winter, you see, and the early spring floods weren't very high. But
if we have a long wet spell, as we do have sometimes as late as July,
you'll see water here."

"That's not very encouraging," said Hiram. "Not for corn prospects, at
least."

"Well, corn's our staple crop. You see, if you raise corn enough you're
sure of feed for your team. That's the main point."

"But people with bigger farms than they have around