This volume is lovingly dedicated to “Johnnie.”...

Months since, with much doubt and diffidence, I began this simple story. I had never before written expressly for young people, and I knew that the honest little critics could not be beguiled with wor...

“Where are the children?” “They can’t be far away,” replied my wife, looking up from her preparations for supper. “Bobsey was here a moment ago. As soon as my back’s turned he’s out and away. I haven’...

I pondered deeply while my wife and Winnie cleared away the dishes and put Bobsey into his little crib. I felt that the time for a decided change had come, and that it should be made before the evils ...

There is no need of dwelling further on the reasons for or against the step we proposed. We thought a great deal and talked it over several times. Finally my wife agreed that the change would be wise ...

By the time Christmas week began we all had agreed to do without candy, toys, and knickknacks, and to buy books that would tell us how to live in the country. One happy evening we had an early supper ...

On Christmas morning we all brought out our purchases and arranged them on a table. Merton was almost wild when he found a bright single-barreled gun with accoutrements standing in the corner. Even Mo...

The almanac had announced spring; nature appeared quite unaware of the fact, but, so far as we were concerned, the almanac was right. Spring was the era of hope, of change, and hope was growing in our...

The next day, according to appointment, I went to Maizeville. John Jones met me at the station, and drove me in his box sleigh to see the farm he had written of in his laconic note. I looked at him cu...

Never was a traveller from a remote foreign clime listened to with more breathless interest than I as I related my adventures at our late supper after my return. Mousie looked almost feverish in her e...

We were now all eager to get away, and the weather favored our wishes. A warm rain with a high south wind set in, and the ice disappeared from the river like magic. I learned that the afternoon boat w...

The last night in the city flat was in truth like camping out, the fatigues of the day brought us sound sleep, and we looked and felt like emigrants. But in the morning we rose with the dawn, from our...

As four p.m. approached, I took the children to a great glass window in the cabin, through which we could see the massive machinery. “Now,” said I, “watch the steel giant; he is motionless, but in a m...

At length we were fast at the Maizeville Landing, although long after the usual hour of arrival. I was anxious indeed to learn whether John Jones would meet us, or whether, believing that we would not...

All that the poets from the beginning of time have written about light could not express my joy as I saw that glimmer approaching on the left. Before it appeared I had been awed by the tempest, benumb...

I remember little that followed until I was startled out of my chair by a loud knocking. The sunlight was streaming in at the window and John Jones’s voice was at the door. “I think we have all oversl...

Before we reached the landing I had invested a goodly sum in four pairs of rubber boots, for I knew how hopeless it would be to try to keep Winnie and Bobsey indoors. As for Mousie, she would have to ...

Before the meal was over, I said, seriously, “Now, boys, there must be no more hunting until I find out about the game laws. They should be obeyed, especially by sportsmen. I don’t think that we are f...

By eleven o’clock we had all the basement cleaned except the one cow stall that was filled to the ceiling with litter; and Winnie had washed the windows. Then John Jones’s lank figure darkened the doo...

I restrained the children until after dinner, which my wife hastened. By that time Junior was on hand with a small wagonload of pails and pans. “Oh, dear, I wanted you to help me this afternoon,” my w...

My agonized shout as I saw Bobsey swept away by the swollen current of the Moodna Creek was no more prompt than his own shrill scream. It so happened, or else a kind Providence so ordered it, that Jun...

It must be remembered that I had spent all my leisure during the winter in reading and studying the problem of our country life. Therefore I knew that March was the best month for pruning trees, and I...

The next morning at about eight o’clock Mr. Jones arrived in a long farm wagon on springs, with one seat in it; but Junior had half filled its body with straw, and he said to Merton, “I thought that p...

Spring was coming on apace, and we all made the most of every pleasant hour. The second day after the auction proved a fine one; and leaving Winnie and Merton in charge of the house, I took my wife, w...

It amused and interested me to see upon the children’s faces such an eager expectancy as they hurried through our midday meal. Nothing greater than a bonfire was in prospect, yet few costly pleasures ...

One long, stormy day I prepared an account book. On its left-hand pages I entered the cost of the place and all expenses thus far incurred. The right-hand pages were for records of income, as yet smal...

Each day at dawn, unless it was stormy, Merton patrolled the place with his gun, looking for hawks and other creatures which at this season he was permitted to shoot. He had quite as serious and impor...

Hitherto the Sabbaths had been stormy and the roads bad, and we had given the days to rest and family sociability. But at last there came a mild, sunny morning, and we resolved to find a church home. ...

I had decided that I would not set out any more raspberries until I had learned the comparative value of those already on the place. After I had seen my varieties in bearing and marketed the crop, I s...

In early May the grass was growing lush and strong, and Brindle was driven down the lane to the meadow, full of thickets, which bordered on the creek. Here she could supply herself with food and water...

The following day, happily, proved all that we could desire. The children were up with the dawn, and Junior was not long in joining us. By eight o’clock we had finished breakfast and the morning work,...

The beautiful transition period of spring passing into summer would have filled us with delight had we not found a hostile army advancing on us⁠—annual weeds. When we planted the garden, the soil was ...

The Saturday evening which brought us almost to the middle of June was welcomed indeed. The days preceding had been filled with hard, yet successful labor, and the weeds had been slaughtered by the mi...

An evening or two after this we were taught that not even in our retired nook had we escaped the dangers of city life. Winnie and Bobsey, in their rambles after strawberries, had met two other childre...

Junior had good reason for bringing Merton to a sudden halt in his impetuous and hostile advance. The man coming up the lane, with a savage dog, was the father of the ill-nurtured children. He had fel...

“Come in, Mr. Bagley,” I said, “and bring the children. I want to talk with you all. Merton, you go home with Junior.” “But, papa⁠—” he objected. “Do as I bid you,” I said, firmly, and I entered the s...

Raspberries and milk, with bread and butter and a cup of tea, made a supper that we all relished, and then Merton and I started for the boat landing. I let the boy drive and deliver the crates to the ...

From the experiences just related, it can be seen how largely the stress and strain of the year centred in the month of July. Nearly all our garden crops needed attention; the grass of the meadow had ...

Our house was far enough from the barn to prevent the shock of the thunderbolt from disabling us beyond a moment or two. Merton had fallen off his chair, but was on his feet almost instantly; the othe...

I was now eager to begin the setting of the strawberry plants in the field where we had put potatoes, but the recent heavy shower had kept the latter still green and growing. During the first week in ...

In the comparative leisure which the children enjoyed during August, they felt amply repaid for the toil of the previous months. We also managed to secure two great gala days. The first was spent in a...

Houghton Farm, distant a few miles, is a magnificent estate of about one thousand acres, and the outbuildings upon it are princely in comparison with anything I could erect. They had been constructed,...

As was stated early in this simple history the original barn was built on a hillside, the rear facing the southeast; and since the foundations were still in a fair condition, and the site was convenie...

The barn was now up, and the carpenters were roofing it in, while two days more of work would complete the sty and poultry house. Every stroke of the hammer told rapidly now, and we all exulted over o...

November weather was occasionally so blustering and stormy that I turned schoolmaster in part, to relieve my wife. During the month, however, were bright, genial days, and others softened by a smoky h...

Well, our first year was drawing to a close. The 1st of December was celebrated by an event no less momentous than the killing of our pigs, to Winnie’s and Bobsey’s intense excitement. In this affair ...