X. THE HOMESTEAD ON THE KNOLL 99 XI. SCHOOL LIFE 107 XII. CHORES AND ALMANACS 116 XIII. BOY LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE 125 XIV. WHEAT AND THE HARVEST 144 XV. HARRIET GOES AWAY 161 XVI. WE MOVE TO TOWN 173 XVII. A TASTE OF VILLAGE LIFE 189 XVIII. BACK TO THE FARM 204 XIX. END OF SCHOOL DAYS 221 XX. THE LAND OF THE DAKOTAS 234 XXI. THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE ANT 248 XXII. WE DISCOVER NEW ENGLAND 267 XXIII. COASTING DOWN MT. WASHINGTON 279 XXIV. TRAMPING, NEW YORK, WASHINGTON, AND CHICAGO 287 XXV. THE LAND OF THE STRADDLE-BUG 301 XXVI. ON TO BOSTON 318 XXVII. ENTER A FRIEND 333 XXVIII. A VISIT TO THE WEST 353 XXIX. I JOIN THE ANTI-POVERTY BRIGADE 375 XXX. MY MOTHER IS STRICKEN 396 XXXI. MAIN TRAVELLED ROADS 410 XXXII. THE SPIRIT OF REVOLT 421 XXXIII. THE END OF THE SUNSET TRAIL 433 XXXIV. WE GO TO CALIFORNIA 440 XXXV. THE HOMESTEAD IN THE VALLEY 455 A SON OF THE MIDDLE BORDER [Illustration] A Son of the Middle Border CHAPTER I Home from the War All of this universe known to me in the year 1864 was bounded by the wooded hills of a little Wisconsin coulee, and its center was the cottage in which my mother was living alone--my father was in the war. As I project myself back into that mystical age, half lights cover most of the valley. The road before our doorstone begins and ends in vague obscurity--and Granma Green's house at the fork of the trail stands on the very edge of the world in a sinister region peopled with bears and other menacing creatures. Beyond this point all is darkness and terror.