goin' to fall backward, and I can't remember things like I used to
do; I don't take any interest in my work, and I can't git to sleep at
night for a long time, and I wake up at two o'clock and stay awake
till daylight, and jest as I'm droppin' off, it's time to git up and
cook breakfast, and I'm so tired that sometimes I wish the end of the
world would come and put a stop to everything. But I don't want to go
to the Asylum. Don't let Miles send me there.' And the doctor says,
'Don't you be afraid of that. Miles will never send you to an asylum
while I'm alive to protect you. But you must tell me what it is you
want. There's some little thing,' says he, 'that'll make you well, and
you know what it is better than I do.' Well, Hannah held back like a
child that's afraid of a whippin', but finally she says, 'You know
that pasture at the back o' the house. I can see it from the kitchen
window. Miles sowed it in clover last year, and the clover's come up
since the rain and it's bloomin' now, and there's two or three big oak
trees in the middle o' the field and the cows come up and lie down in
the shade o' the trees; and every time I look out o' the window while
I'm washin' dishes and makin' up bread, I think if I could jest lie
down in the shade of the trees and look up at the sky all day and know
there was somebody up here in the kitchen doin' my work, I'd get well
and strong again.' And the doctor's eyes filled up with tears, and he
patted Hannah on the back and says he, 'Poor child! Poor child!' And
then he turned around to Miles, and says he, 'Miles, do you hear that?
There's nothing in the world the matter with Hannah, except that
she's worked to death.' Says he, 'Go down to that pasture at once and
turn the cows into some other field. Hannah shall have her wish before
I leave this house.' Miles was an older man than the doctor, honey,
but he minded the same as if he'd been his son; and while he was
turnin' the cows out, we got some old comforts and a piller, and all
of us went down to the pasture and spread the quilt under the tree.
The doctor made Hannah lay down, and says he, 'Now, shut your eyes and
let the sun and the wind take care of you. They're the best nurses in
the world;' and says he, 'I'll drop by again in an hour or so to see
how you're getting on, and Miles will come down every little while to
bring you a glass of water and something to eat. You must stay here
until the sun goes down, and then come up to the