THE COUNTRY BOY 81 



A\ hen he brings them in they're yours. In the 

 meantime, I have twenty cords of wood up in 

 the alley next to my house. If you will go 

 up and saw that twice in two and toss it up 

 into the woodshed, by the time that's done 

 there'll be some boots in." 



Of course I saw the peculiar part of learn- 

 ing the shoemaking trade, but I had told so 

 many people that I had to go. I had been 

 sawing wood about half an hour, just long 

 enough to be thoroughly disgusted with any 

 branch of the shoemaking trade, when I heard 

 a familiar cow bell, looked around, and saw my 

 old father come driving our cows past this very 

 woodpile. There was no way to escape, as 

 they were too close. I thought of many ways 

 of eluding discovery; perhaps the safest of the 

 many would be to bend over and saw wood, 

 knowing that as he had never seen me in that 

 position, he would likely pass on by. 



But the older and shrewder of the three cows 

 recognized me and stopped, perhaps because 

 she saw so much of her milk on my boots. I 

 didn't look up, but kept on sawing, pulled the 

 hat down tighter and felt strange. I also felt 

 Father's hand on my shoulders and dreaded 



