CHAPTER XI 



LEAFING 



0, you never went "leafing" 

 not unless you are simon- 

 pure country-bred. You do 

 not know what the word 

 means. You cannot find it 

 in the unabridged diction- 

 arynot in the sense in which I am using it. But 

 there are many good words we country people use 

 that are not, perhaps, in the dictionary. 



And what do I mean by " leafing " ? Get down 

 that bundle of meal sacks, hitch into the one-horse 

 hay-rig, throw in the rakes, and come. We are going 

 into the woods for pig-bedding, for leaves to keep 

 the pigs dry and warm this winter! 



You never went after leaves for the pigs ? Perhaps 

 you never even had a pig. But a pig is worth having, 

 if only to see the comfort he takes in the big bed of 

 dry leaves you give him in the sunny corner of his 

 pen. And if leafing had no other reward, the thought 

 of the snoozing, snoring pig buried to his winking 

 snout in the bed, would give joy and zest enough to 

 the labor. 



But leafing, like every other humble labor, has its 



