told him before bedtime that he had better rest a day or two, and
mother said that would be a good idea.
He talked so much we couldn't do our lessons or spell very well, but it
was Friday and we'd have another chance Saturday, so it didn't make so
much difference. Father said the traveller must be tired and sleepy
and Leon should take a light and show him to bed. He stayed so long
father went to the foot of the stairway, and asked him why he didn't
come down and he said he was in bed too. The next morning he was
sleepy at breakfast and Laddie said it was no wonder, because Leon and
the traveller were talking when he went upstairs. The man turned to
father and said: "That's a mighty smart boy, Mr. Stanton." Father
frowned and said: "Praise to the face is open disgrace. I hope he
will be smart enough not to disgrace us, anyway."
The traveller said he was sure he would be, and we could see that he
had taken a liking to Leon, for he went with him to the barn to help do
the morning feeding. They stayed so long mother sent me to call them,
and when I got there, the man was telling Leon how foolish it was for
boys to live on a farm; how they never would amount to anything unless
they went to cities, and about all the fun there was there, and how
nice it was to travel, even along the roads, because every one fed you,
and gave you a good bed. He forgot that walking had made his foot
lame, and I couldn't see, to save me, why he was going to spend his
money to buy a farm, if he thought a town the only place where it was
fit to live.
He stayed all Saturday, and father said Sunday was no suitable time to
start on a journey again, and the man's foot was bad when father was
around, so it would be better to wait until Monday. The traveller
tagged Leon and told him what a fine fellow he was, how smart he was,
and to prove it, Leon boasted about everything he knew, and showed the
man all over the farm.
I even saw them pass the Station in the orchard, and heard Leon brag
how father had been an agent for the Governor; but of course he didn't
really show him the place, and probably it would have made no
difference if he had, for all the money must have been spent on Sally's
wedding. Of course father might have put some there he had got since,
or that money might never have been his at all, but it seemed as if it
would be, because it was on his land.
Sunday evening all of us attended church, but the traveller was too
tired, so when Leon said he'd stay with him, father thought it was all
right. I could see no one wanted to leave the man alone in the house.
He said they'd go to bed early, and we came in quite late. The lamp
was turned low, the door unlocked, and everything in place. Laddie
went to bed without a candle, and said he'd undress and slip in easy so
as not to waken them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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