20 



THE COUNTRY BOY 



the first excuse of daylight, I was up and off 

 to the neighbors and relatives to tell them the 

 news. It had stopped raining, and was as 

 clear and beautiful as could be. I stood up on 



a rail fence and looked all over the country for 

 miles around as far as the eye could reach, over 

 the landscape I knew so well ; in fact, the only 

 one I knew. I could hear the bell on the 

 engine at Salem twelve miles awaj'', so clear 

 was the atmosphere. Although early in the 



