babies, by loss of sleep, and overwork in the house, that she was no
help whatever to George in getting in the fall crops and preparing for
spring. She had lost none of her ambition, but there was a limit to
her capacity.

In the spring the babies were big and lusty, eating her up, and crying
with hunger, until she was forced to resort to artificial feeding in
part, which did not agree with either of them. As a saving of time and
trouble she decided to nurse one and feed the other. It was without
thought on her part, almost by chance, yet the chance was that she
nursed Adam and fed Polly. Then the babies began teething, so that she
was rushed to find time to prepare three regular meals a day, and as
for the garden and poultry she had planned, George did what he pleased
about them, which was little, if anything.

He would raise so much to keep from being hungry, he would grow so many
roots, and so much cabbage for winter, he would tend enough corn for a
team and to fatten pork; right there he stopped and went fishing, while
the flask was in evidence on the pantry shelf only two days. Kate
talked crop rotation, new seed, fertilization, until she was weary;
George heartily agreed with her, but put nothing of it all into
practice.

"As soon as the babies are old enough to be taken out," she said,
"things will be better. I just can't do justice to them and my work,
too. Three pairs! My poor mother! And she's alive yet! I marvel at
it."

So they lived, and had enough to eat, and were clothed, but not one
step did they advance toward Kate's ideals of progression, economy,
accumulation. George always had a little money, more than she could
see how he got from the farming. There were a few calves and pigs to
sell occasionally; she thought possibly he saved his share from them.

For four years, Kate struggled valiantly to keep pace with what her
mother always had done, and had required of her at home; but she
learned long before she quit struggling that farming with George was
hopeless. So at last she became so discouraged she began to drift into
his way of doing merely what would sustain them, and then reading,
fishing, or sleeping the remainder of the time. She began teaching her
children while very small, and daily they had their lessons after
dinner, while their father slept.

Kate thought often of what was happening to her; she hated it, she
fought it; but with George Holt for a partner she could not es