Cousin Lucy's Conversations

“And don’t the farmers’ daughters ever have any playthings?”

“I never did, at any rate.”

“What did you do, then, for play?”

“O, I had plenty of play. When I was about as big as you, I used to build fires in the stumps.”

“What stumps?” said Lucy.

“Why, the stumps in the field, pretty near my father’s house. I used to pick up chips and sticks, and build fires in the hollow places in the stumps, and call them my ovens. Then, when they were all heated, I used to put a potato in, and cover it up with sand, and let it roast.”

“I wish I had some stumps to build fires in,” said Lucy. “I should like to go to your house and see them.”

“O, they are all gone now,” said Joanna. “They have gradually got burnt up, and rotted out; and now it is all a smooth, green field.”

“O, what a pity!” said Lucy. “And an’t there any more stumps anywhere?”

“Yes, in the woods, and upon the new fields. You see, when they cut down trees, they leave the stumps in the ground; and pretty soon they begin to rot; and they rot more and more, until, at last, they tumble all to pieces; and then they pile up the pieces in heaps, and burn them. Then the ground is all smooth and clear. So I used to build fires in the stumps as long as they lasted. One day my hen laid her eggs in a stump.”

“Your hen?” said Lucy; “did you have a hen?”

“Yes,” replied Joanna; “when I was a little older than you are, my father gave me a little yellow chicken, that was peeping, with the rest, about the yard. I used to feed her, every day, with crumbs. After a time, she grew up to be a large hen, and laid eggs. My father said that I might have all the eggs too. I used to sell them, and save the money.”

“How much money did you get?” asked Lucy.

“O, considerable. After a time, you see, I let my hen sit, and hatch some chickens.”

“Sit?” said Lucy.

“Yes; you see, after hens have laid a good many eggs, they sit upon them, to keep them warm, for two or three weeks; and, while they keep them warm, a little chicken begins to grow in every egg, and at length, after they grow strong enough, they break through the eggs and come out. So I got eleven chickens from my hen, after a time.”

“Eleven?” repeated Lucy; “were there just eleven?”

“There were twelve, but one died,” replied Joanna. “And all these chickens were hatched in a stump.”

“How did that happen?” asked Lucy.

“Why, the hens generally used to lay their eggs in the barn, and I used to go in, every day, to get the eggs. I carried a little basket, and I used to climb about upon the hay, and feel in the cribs; and I generally knew where all the nests were. But once I could not find my hen’s nest for several days; and at last I thought I would watch her, and see where she went. I did watch her, and I saw her go into a hollow place in a great black stump, in the corner of the yard. After she came out, I went and looked there, and I found four eggs.”

“What did you do then?” said Lucy.

“Why, I concluded, on the whole, to let them stay, and let my hen hatch her eggs there, if she would. And I told my brother, that, if he would make a coop for me, around that stump, I would give him one of the chickens.”

“A coop? What is a coop?”

“O, a small house for hens to live in. My brother made me a coop. He made it immediately after the hen had hatched her chickens. I will tell you how he made it. He drove stakes down all around the stump, and then put some short boards over the top, so as to cover it over. My hen staid there until her chickens got pretty well grown, and then we let her run about the yard.”

“That is pretty much the way that Royal made his turtle-pen,” said Lucy; “but I should rather have a hen-coop, because of the chickens.”

“Yes, I had eleven. I gave my brother one, and then I had ten. These all grew up, and laid more eggs; and at last I got money enough from my eggs and poultry to buy me a new gown.”

“I wish I was a farmer’s daughter,” said Lucy.

“Farmers’ daughters have a very good time,” said Joanna, “I think myself.”

CONVERSATION VIII

BUILDING

In one of the yards belonging to the house that Lucy lived in, was a border for flowers; and in this border Royal had an apple-tree, which had grown up from a seed which he had planted himself. It was now nearly as high as his head, and Royal said that he meant to graft it the very next spring.

At the end of this border, near one corner of the yard, there was a vacant place, where some flowers had been dug up, and Lucy had it to plant beans in. She used often to dig in it, and plant, when she had nothing else to do. Miss Anne gave her several different kinds of flower seeds in the spring, and she planted them. Generally, however, she had not patience enough to wait for them to come up; but dug the ground all over again, with her little hoe, before the flowers, which she had planted, had had time to show themselves above the ground.

She was digging, one day, in this garden, and Royal was hoeing up the weeds around his apple-tree. Royal said that his apple-tree was growing crooked, and that he was going to get a stake, and drive it down by the side of his tree, and tie a string to it, and so straighten the tree up.

Lucy came to see Royal stake up his tree. He made the stake very sharp, and when he got it all ready to drive, he said that he must go and get the iron bar to make a hole.

“O, you can drive it right in,” said Lucy, “without making any hole.”

“Not far enough,” said Royal. “It must be driven in very deep and strong, or else the string which ties the apple-tree to it, will pull it over to one side.”

So Royal went and got the small crowbar, and came back dragging it along. He made a deep hole by the side of the apple-tree, but not very near it, for he did not want to hurt the roots. Then he took out the bar, and laid it down upon the grass, and inserted the point of the stake into the hole which he had made.

While he was doing this, Lucy took hold of one end of the iron bar, and tried to lift it.

“O, what a heavy bar!” said she.

“I don’t think it is very heavy,” said Royal. So saying, he drove down his stake with repeated blows of his hatchet.

“You are a great deal stronger than I am,” said Lucy. “You can drive the stake down very hard indeed. I don’t believe but that you could make a hen-coop.”

“Who told you anything about a hen-coop?” said Royal.

“Joanna,” said Lucy. “She said that she was a farmer’s daughter when she was a little girl, and that she had a hen and some chickens; and that her brother made her a hen-coop pretty much like the turtle-pen you made down by the brook.”

“I could make a hen-coop,” said Royal, “I know, – and I mean to. Perhaps I can get some hens to put into it. At all events, I shall have a hen-coop.”

“If I was a farmer’s daughter,” said Lucy, “I should have hens.”

“But you can have hens without being a farmer’s daughter,” said Royal.

“How?” said Lucy.

“Why, you and I could buy some hens with our own money, if mother would let us; and then I could make a coop.”

“Well,” said Lucy, “I mean to go and ask her this very minute.”

“No; stop,” said Royal. “That won’t do any good. She will tell you to ask father, and then he won’t believe that we can make a coop, and he won’t want to take the trouble to have one made for us, and so he will say no. I’ll tell you what we must do. We must make the coop first, and then, when it is all ready, we can ask father if we may buy some hens.”