114 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



pecan shell, which the eater learns so care- 

 fully to avoid. In outward appearance the 

 nut is a pig-nut pure and simple, the reader 

 being supposed to be enough of a country- 

 man to know that pig-nuts, like wild fruits in 

 general, vary interminably in size, shape, and 

 goodness. 



Pretty butter-and-eggs still bloomed be- 

 side the stone wall, and the " folksy may- 

 weed " was plentiful about a barnyard. Out 

 from the midst of it scampered a rabbit as I 

 approached the fence to look over. He dis- 

 appeared in the cornfield, his white tailtip 

 showing last, and I wondered where he be- 

 longed, as there seemed to be neither wood 

 nor shrubbery within convenient distance. 



Just beyond this point (after noticing a 

 downy woodpecker in a Balm-o'-Gilead tree, 

 if the careful compositor will allow me that 

 euphonious Old Colony contraction), I had 

 stopped to pick up a shagbark when five 

 children, the oldest a girl of nine or ten, 

 came down the road together. 



" Out of school, so early? " said I. 



"No," was the instantaneous response ; 

 " we 've got the whooping cough." 



