A Daughter of the Land

They all stopped in passing; some of them had sharp words to say,

which Kate instantly answered in such a way that this was seldom

tried twice. In two months the place was fresh, clean,

convenient, and in good taste. All of them had sufficient

suitable clothing, while the farm work had not been neglected

enough to hurt the value of the crops.

In the division of labour, Adam and the hired man took the barn

and field work, Mrs. Bates and Polly the house, while Kate threw

all her splendid strength wherever it was most needed. If a horse

was sick, she went to the barn and doctored it. If the hay was

going to get wet, she pitched hay. If the men had not time for

the garden she attended it, and hoed the potatoes. For a change,

everything went right. Mrs. Bates was happier than she ever had

been before, taking the greatest interest in the children. They

had lived for three years in such a manner that they would never

forget it. They were old enough to appreciate what changes had

come to them, and to be very keen about their new home and life.

Kate threw herself into the dream of her heart with all the zest

of her being. Always she had loved and wanted land. Now she had

it. She knew how to handle it. She could make it pay as well as

any Bates man, for she had man strength, and all her life she had

heard men discuss, and helped men apply man methods.

There was a strong strain of her father's spirit of driving in

Kate's blood; but her mother was so tired of it that whenever Kate

had gone just so far the older woman had merely to caution: "Now,

now, Katie!" to make Kate realized what she was doing and take a

slower pace. All of them were well, happy, and working hard; but

they also played at proper times, and in convenient places. Kate

and her mother went with the children when they fished in the

meadow brook, or hunted wild flowers in the woods for Polly's bed

in the shade of the pear tree beside the garden. There were

flowers in the garden now, as well as vegetables. There was no

work done on Sunday. The children always went to Sunday-school

and the full term of the District School at Bates Corners. They

were respected, they were prosperous, they were finding a joy in

life they never before had known, while life had taught them how

to appreciate its good things as they achieved them.

The first Christmas Mrs. Bates and Kate made a Christmas tree from

a small savine in the dooryard that stood where Kate wanted to set

a flowering shrub she had found in the woods. Guided by the

former year, and with a few dollars they decided to spend, these

women made a real Christmas tree, with gifts and ornaments, over

which Mrs. Bates was much more excited than the children. Indeed,

such is the perversity of children that Kate's eyes widened and

her mouth sagged when she heard Adam say in a half-whisper to

Polly: "This is mighty pretty, but gee, Polly, there'll never be

another tree as pretty as ours last year!"