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Page 2
"But what do you do in town, Samuel," asked John, "when it is too warm
to go out?"
"It is very hot only in the middle of the day," replied his cousin, "and
then, you know, we are at school. In the afternoons, I sometimes rode
out with father, or went on the steamboat. Last week a balloon went up,
from the other side of the river. We had a fine view of it from the roof
of our house. Two men were in it, and when they had risen so high that
the balloon appeared quite small, they threw out a little machine,
called a parachute. It looked something like an umbrella, and had a dog
to it. The balloon sailed a great distance through the air, and came
down safely."
It was now six o'clock, and Mr. Harvey told the boys that they might go
to supper, which he had ordered to be ready earlier than usual.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER II.
THE EVENING WALK.
After supper, Samuel and his cousins took a walk in the meadow, toward
the mill pond. The air was now cool and pleasant, and as the boys moved
through the narrow path, among the low grass, thousands of grasshoppers,
and other insects, filled the air with their cheerful hum. Thomas, with
his companions, passed round the mill, and then climbed a fence which
led through a field of corn. The corn was not very high, so that they
had to be careful not to tread upon it. When they reached the other
side, Samuel saw that the fence was covered with raspberry vines, from
one end to the other. He asked what they did with so many. "All that
father wishes to use, or to eat," replied Thomas, "he gathers out of the
garden; but these he leaves for two or three poor families, who live not
far off, and who take them to town to sell. It helps them to pay their
rent."
"And does he give away blackberries, too?" asked Samuel.
"Yes, and many other kinds of fruit," replied his cousin. "He has such
large fields and orchards, that he can afford to give away great
quantities of apples, peaches, currants, grain, and vegetables."
[Illustration: THE OLD SOLDIER'S HOUSE.]
The boys roamed about the fields, talking in this manner, until after
sunset, when Thomas said it was time to return. They crossed into a bye
path, and walked toward the house through a field in which wheat had
been growing. Among the short straw, left by the reapers, Samuel saw
many birds' nests, and deep holes that had been dug by rabbits, field
mice, and other small animals. In a short time they passed a very old
house, whose sides appeared as if they would fall every moment. The roof
was covered with moss and grass, and the boards had crumbled and
separated from each other; a number of bats and swallows were flying
about it, and Thomas said that dozens of these little animals, beside
rats and mice, lived inside. Samuel asked him if any body lived there.
"No," said his cousin; "but father remembers very well when an old
soldier, that the farmers called Jack, did live in this house. His
leg had been shot off in battles with the Indians. After it healed he
moved to this place, and lived on the vegetables he could raise in a
little garden, besides what people gave him. Every night he came out and
sat on the log by the door, playing on an old fiddle. Then the school
children would collect around him, and give him pennies, or fruit, and
such things. Sometimes he told them stories; for he had travelled in
many lands, and knew a great deal about them. In the summer nights,
father says, he often heard poor old Jack singing the songs that he had
learned when he was a boy; and sometimes he could be seen hobbling down
this lane, on his crutches, or sitting by the water catching some fish
for his supper. One day he was missed, and folks thought he was sick;
but they waited till the next morning, and then a great crowd collected
round the house, and called him. No one answered; so some one lifted the
latch and went in. Old Jack was not there, and the people began to get
frightened. They hunted for him all that day, and many days afterward;
but he was never found. Some think that he was drowned; others that he
went away with strangers, and a few are foolish enough to believe, that
he is still living, and will one day come back. Since that time, no one
has ever lived in his house, and in a few years it will tumble down with
old age."
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