280 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



of the field, I spied Miles Overfield coming towards me. 

 " Straight as an arrow, active as a sparrow, tough to the 

 marrow," so he described himself, and, altliough over 

 seventy, it is true of him. Miles has always lived in 

 the neighborhood; can turn his hand to anything in the 

 way of farm-work ; spends as few days at labor as pos- 

 sible, and always has just enough for his very few wants. 

 He knows everybody living, and knows of tlieir parents 

 and grandparents, unless they are recent comers ; and 

 these he cares nothing about. That a farm should go 

 out of the possession of the descendants of the original 

 settlers he looked upon as half criminal, and bemoaned 

 the number of such instances that had occurred in his 

 time. "The world was just about right when I was 

 young ; why couldn't it stand still V This was a com- 

 mon remark with him, and I always replied " Why not ?" 

 to please him. 



Miles Overfield was usually looked upon as a bore by 

 my neighbors ; but this was because they were strangers 

 in the land, as he looked upon them, and, of course, did 

 not sympathize with him. I was not; and so became 

 the chosen one to whom he would talk by the half-day, 

 provided I was willing. It was never necessary to ask 

 any questions. But give him a hint and he took up the 

 subject without any preliminaries; always carrying his 

 hearer from the present to the past, to " when he was 

 young," and the world perfect. 



"Eatin' old-barn apples, eh?" Miles remarked as he 

 came to where I sat, and, without waiting for any reply, 

 continued : " Powerful sorry the old barn's gone ; miss it 

 more than any one thing about here. You see, nigh sixty 



