Just David

and all the unpleasant ones "dos." Corn to be hoed, weeds to be pulled, woodboxes to be filled; with all these it was "do this, do this, do this." But when it came

expressed opinion that weeds were so pretty growing that it was a pity to pull them up and let them all wither and die. Another was the equally great difficulty of

rest of the day; and very gayly he set off for a walk. He went without his violin, as there was the smell of rain in the air; but his face and his step and the very swing of his arms were singing (to David) the joyous so

he saw

r their calls. He had learned to admire their wisdom and to respect their moods and tempers. He loved to watch them. E

this

ld, and it was rising and falling and flopping about in a most extraordinary fashion. Very soon David,

ympathetic consternation. "Here, yo

to cut the thong; but he found then that to "fix it" a

ent hateful captivity. With beak and claw and wing, therefore, he fought this new evil that had come presumedly to torment; and not until David had hit upon the expedient of taking

caw of triumphant rejoicing, the crow soared into the air and made straight for a distant tree-top

d got back to the Holly farmhouse.

eeted him cheerily, "did

vid. "I got it done;

inder ho

. "What I didn't like was pulling up all thos

nts'!" ejaculated the man

n Perry Larson's voice. "The very prettiest and biggest there were

gered!" muttered P

o walk since. I

ye

hill there. I was singing all the time-inside, you know. I was so gl

on scratch

eally say I do," he retorte

oud. I mean inside. When

nd he grinned appreciatively. "Well, if you ain't the beat 'em, boy! 'T is kinder like singin'-

de of me, you know-that I play on my violin. An

ucks! It'll take more 'n you ter ma

same as it does when they're cross, or plagued over something. You ought to have he

up there in them woods?" Th

But somebody had, and tied h

ed up in t

the woods. It was before

u talkin' about? Where was that crow?" Perry

Way over there.

Boy, you don't mean y

id. "He was so afraid, you see. Why, I had to put my blou

sprang to his feet. "You did n

shrank

t the man before him had fallen bac

m at all if I hadn't hid half the night an' all the mornin' in that clump o' bushes, watchin' a chance ter wing him, jest enough an' not too much. An' even then the job wa'n't done. Let me tell

no contrition. There was

tied him ther

e I

Couldn't you see he didn

didn't hurt the varmint none ter speak of-ye see he could fly, didn't ye?-an' he wa'n't starvin'. I saw to it that he had enough ter eat an' a dis

tree there, and away up, up in the sky, where you could talk to the stars?-wouldn't you pu

ry, flushed

ticks ain't in it with a live bird when it comes ter drivin' away them pesky, thievin' crows. There ain't a farmer 'round here that hain't been green with envy, ev

im there to frighten

ain't nothi

'm so

be. But that won't

face bri

orry for them! Only think how we'd hate to be tied like that-" But Perry Larson, with a st

sion from wrecking all chances of his staying longer at the farmhouse. Even as it was, David was sorrowfully aware that he was proving to be a great dis

always succeed, yet his efforts were so obvious, that even the indignant owner of the liberat

, though he found no captive crow to demand his sympathy, he fou

l, and a dead rabbit. The threatened rain of the day before had not materialized, and David had h

their burden David gave an invo

ed at sight of David and his vi

his fiddle," whispered

he motionless little bodies

ey-dead

y nodded self

ped the rabbits." He paused, manifestly waiting for

ere was no awed admiration, the

SENT them to th

-wh

hem go yourselves-

stared. The older on

ic indifference. "We sent 'em

you know they

inned again, still more disagreeably. "Well,

s came into

, as father said? Father wasn't sent. He WENT. And he went singing. He said he did. But these-How would YOU

ng inexplicable and uncanny, were sidling away; and in a moment they were hurrying down

n his way with troubled e

any, many things that were different from his mountain home. Over and over, as those first long days passed, he read his lett

eves after fruit and grain, and squirrels and rabbits only as creatures to be trapped or shot. The women-they were even more incomprehensible. They spent the long hours behind screened doors and windows, washing the same dishes and sweeping the same floors day after day. T

, or lying with a book beside some babbling little stream! As if it were not equally natural to take one's violin with one at times, and learn to catch upon the quivering strings the whisper of the winds through the trees! Even in winter, when the clouds themselves came down from the sky and covered