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When they got to the other end of the barn, they found a door leading out into a shed; and there was Farmer Cropwell, with one of his men and a pretty large boy, getting out some ploughs. “Good morning, Mr. Cropwell,” said Rollo’s father; “what! are you going to ploughing?” “Why, it is about time to overhaul the ploughs, and see that they are in order. I think we shall have an early season.”
The Gray Garden. At last, Rollo’s mother recommended that they should carry the sand out to a corner of the yard, where the chips used to be, and spread it out there, and stick their flowers up in it for a garden. The boys liked this plan very much. “We can make walks and beds, beautifully, in the sand,” said Rollo. “But, mother, do you think the flowers will grow?”
After it was all done, Rollo got permission of his father to go back with George to take the wagon home; and George proposed to take Rollo’s wheelbarrow too. He had never seen such a pretty little wheelbarrow, and was very much pleased with it. So George ran on before, trundling the wheelbarrow, and Rollo came after, drawing the wagon.
Elkin walked slowly up to the basket, and put his nose in it. He found that there were some oats in it; and Rollo’s father poured them out on the grass, and then stood by, patting Elky’s head and neck while he ate them. Rollo thought his head looked beautifully; he wondered how he could have been afraid of it.
They succeeded at last in finding some playthings that they liked, and Jonas bought a variety of useful things for Georgie. On their way home, the carryall stopped at the house where Lucy lived and Rollo’s mother left him and James there, to show Lucy their playthings. One of the things they bought was a little boat with two sails, and they went down behind the house to sail it.
They used to put a little cricket in, upon the bottom of the chaise, for Rollo to sit upon; but this was not very convenient, and so one day Rollo’s father said that, now Rollo had become so pleasant a boy to ride with them, he would have a little seat made on purpose for him. “In fact,” said he, “I will take the chaise down to the corporal’s to-night, and see if he cannot do it for me.”
The boys explained how they could not go around the quagmire with their loaded wheelbarrows, and so had to pick their way through it the best way they could; and thus they got their shoes muddy a little; but they said they were as careful as they could be. When they came to the sand-garden, Rollo’s father smiled to see the beds and walks, and the rows of flowers stuck up in the sand.
Cropwell said that he would give Rollo a plenty of strawberry-plants, and, as to George’s helping him set them out, he said that they might exchange works. If Rollo would come and help George gather his meadow-russets, George might go and help him make his strawberry-bed. That evening, George went and told Rollo of this plan, and Rollo’s father approved of it.
The colt and the horse had been feeding together in the field, and Rollo’s father had caught the horse, for he wanted to take a ride. Rollo’s father had a little basket in his hand, and when he saw the colt coming towards him, he held it up and called him, “Elky, Elky, Elky, Elky,” for the colt’s name was Elkin, though they often called him Elky.
This, I say, was the real trouble; and Rollo’s father knew, when he set his little boy about it, that he would soon get very tired of it, and, not being accustomed to any thing but play, would not persevere. And so it was.
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