"
"How far are we now from the house? We must not be too distant."
"I reckon we are not 150 yards in a straight line, although the road
will, by its turning, make it double the distance."
"Then I think this spot will do very well."
"I'll just mark out the trees which are to stand, Mr. Seagrave, and
those which are to be cut down, so as to leave about four feet of stump
standing."
As soon as they had planned the building, the axes and saw were in full
use, and tree after tree fell one upon the other. They worked hard till
dinner-time, and were not sorry at the prospect of sitting down to a
rich mess of turtle-soup.
"My dear William, and you too, Mr. Seagrave, how very warm you are!"
said Mrs. Seagrave; "you must not work so hard."
"Cutting down trees is very warm work, mother," replied William, "and
hard work will never hurt any one, especially when he dines off
turtle-soup. Why, Tommy, what's the matter with you?"
"Tommy and I are at variance," replied Mrs. Seagrave. "I had my thimble
this morning, and had commenced my sewing, when I was called out by
Juno, and Caroline went with me, and Tommy was left in the house. When
I came back I found him outside, and on going back to my work, there
was no thimble to be found; I asked him if he had touched it, and his
answer was that he would look for it.
Pages:
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202