r ma sittin' in the corner, sewin',
or peelin' apples maybe; and you saw your pa goin' out of a door, and
your sister came up to you and looked clost to see when you was goin' to
wake up. And supposin' after a bit you sat up and rubbed your eyes, and
looked around and you was in a room, and the room was in your ma's
house, and your ma sat there, sure enough, and your pa was goin' out of
the door, and your sister was lookin' at you. And supposin' then you
went out-doors and there was a yard and you saw the house from the
outside, and there was a house near and other houses, and a fence in
front, and wagons goin' by and people. And then supposin' by and by you
found out that a railroad ran right by the side fence, and a great big
black thing makin' a noise and blowin' out smoke came close to the fence
sometimes, and a man would be ridin' in a little house on top of this
big black thing, who talked to you, and laughed when you showed him a
pipe made out of a cork and a match, and a cherry-seed put in a
hollowed-out place of the cork for tobacco.

And then supposin' other children came around, and finally you went out
on to a sidewalk and saw lots of houses, and by and by ran away and saw
stores all around a lovely square and a great court house in the center.
And supposin' you found out that there was a river just under the hills
you could see beyond the railroad, and by and by you heard your folks
say Petersburg; and by and by you knew that was the name of this town.
And sometimes you could see more of the town, because your grandpa and
grandma came with a carriage and drove clear through the town so as to
get to the country and out to the farm where they lived.

And then supposin' one day all the things in the house was loaded on a
wagon and you rode with your ma up the hill to a better house and a
bigger yard with oak trees, and the things were put in the house and
you began to live here, and saw different houses around, and different
children came to play; and supposin' there was a girl named Cooster
McCoy that used to come to the fence and make faces and say awful words
which your ma told you was wicked and would make God punish you if you
said 'em: and then supposin' you began to hear your pa and ma talk of
Mr. Miller and what a wonderful man he was, and Mrs. Miller and what a
good woman she was, and about the Miller girls, how funny and smart they
was, and about Mitch Miller, the wonderfulest boy in town. And suppos