ut everybody knew he liked to go for his own pleasure
too. So Harry would bring Grandpa his cane and hat, and away they
would go down the crooked path through the field. When they got to the
draw-bars, Harry took them down for his Grandpa to pass through, and
then put them carefully up again, so that the cows should not get out
of the pasture. And, when this was done, there they were at the
oak-tree.

This was a very large tree, indeed, and its branches extended over the
road quite to the opposite side. Right at the foot of the tree was a
clear, cold spring, from which a little brook trickled, and lost
itself in the grass. A dipper was fastened to a projecting root above
the spring, that thirsty travellers might drink. The road by the side
of which the oak stood was a very public one, for it led to a city
twenty miles away. So a great many persons passed the tree, and
stopped at the spring to drink. And that was the reason why little
Harry and his Grandpa were so fond of going there. It was really quite
a lively place. Carriages would bowl along, all glittering with plate
and glass, and with drivers in livery; market wagons would rattle by
with geese squawking, ducks quacking, and pigs squealing; horsemen
would gallop past on splendid horses; hay wagons would creak slowly
by, drawn by great oxen; and, best of all, the stage would dash
furiously up, with the horses in a swinging trot, and the driver
cracking his whip, and the bright red stage swaying from side to side.

It generally happened that somebody in the stage wanted a drink from
the spring, and Harry would take the cup handed out of the window, and
dip it full of the cold, sparkling water, and then there would be a
few minutes of friendly chat.

But the most of the talk was with the foot-passengers. The old man sat
on a bench in the cool shade, and the child would run about and play
until some one came along. Then he would march up to the tree and
stand with his hands in his pockets to hear what was said, very often
having a good deal to say himself. Sometimes these people would stay a
long time under the shade of the tree, and there were so many
different people, and they had so many different kinds of things to
say, that Harry thought it was like hearing a book read, only a great
deal better.

At one time it would be a soldier, who had wonderful things to tell of
the battles he had fought. Another day it would be a sailor, who,
while smoking his pipe, wou