"Good morning," he greeted the visitors politely. "Out seeing the sights? But didn't you forget your hats?" Warren wore an immense straw hat that shaded the back of his neck as effectively as his face. "Oh, we don't want to bother with hats," said Rosemary carelessly. "Aren't those onions you're weeding?" "They're onions," answered Warren, "but I'm not weeding them; I'm thinning them. If you stayed in one place in the sun as long as I do, a hat would feel pretty good." Sarah asked why he was "thinning" the onions and he explained that he pulled out some to give those left more room to grow. "This the first time you've been on a farm?" he asked her. "The first time I ever stayed on a farm," said Sarah with precision. "I've been to different farms with Hugh--that's my brother; but we only stayed a little while. I think, when I grow up, I'll have a farm and be an animal doctor." "Sarah loves animals," Rosemary explained. "We've seen the horses in the barn and the chickens and the pigs; but we didn't see a cow yet." "Rich turns them into the lane as soon as he finishes milking," said Warren, rising from the onion row. "I'll go down and let them into the pasture now and you can come and see them, if you like." "Well--you're sure it won't be a trouble?" hesitated Rosemary. "Mother says we mustn't bother you," added Shirley primly, speaking for the first time. "You can't bother me," said the boy so heartily that he reminded Rosemary of Jack Welles. "Then don't you have to work, only when you want to?" suggested Sarah who unconsciously then and there outlined her ideals of labor. Warren, leading the way out of the vegetable garden, laughed. "Sure I have to work," he said good-naturedly. "If you knew Mr. Hildreth, you wouldn't ask a question like that; he does two men's work every day of his life and encourages everyone else to follow his example. But you see, I can talk and work, too; it's all right to talk, if you don't stop work to do it." "Is it?" queried Sarah doubtfully. "Not a question about it," declared Warren, taking down two bars for the girls to go through into a green lane fenced in on either side with a heavy wire fence. "Talk and work, mixed, are all right, but all talk and no work makes Jack a poor hired man--haven't you ever heard that proverb?" Sarah puzzled over this until they came up with the cows and then she forgot it promptly. There were ten of the sleek, cream-colored bossies, gentle, affectionate creatures who pressed their deep noses trustingly into Warren's hands and begged him to open the wide gate that kept them from the shady pasture. He swung the gate back and they moved slowly forward, beginning to crop the grass before they were half way through. "There's a brook," cried Shirley, catching sight of the water. "I want to go wading--come on!"