reapers of men.
Some came singing "John Brown," or "Hail, Columbia." Everywhere was a
voiced excitement which told how tremendous the occasion seemed. In
every wagon hid in cool deeps of fresh-cut grass, were unimaginable
quantities of good things which the boys never for a moment forgot even
in their great excitement.

On the procession moved, with gay flags and flashing banners. The dust
rolled up, the cattle stared across the fences, the colts ran snorting
away, tails waving like flags, and unlucky toilers in the fields
stopped to wave their hats and gaze wistfully till the caravan passed.
The men shouted jovial words to them, and the boys waved their hats in
ready sympathy.

At ten o'clock they entered the magnificent grove of oaks, where a
speaker's stand had been erected, and where enterprising salesmen from
Rock River had erected soda water and candy stands, with an eye to
business.

There was already a stupendous crowd, at least so it seemed to the
farmers' boys. Two or three bands were whanging away somewhere in the
grove; children were shouting and laughing, and boys were racing to and
fro, playing ball or wrestling; babies were screaming, and the marshals
were shouting directions to the entering teams, in voices that rang
through the vaulted foliage with thrilling effect, and the harsh bray
of the ice cream and candy sellers completed the confusion.

Bradley's skill as a horseman came out as he swung into the narrow
winding road which led through threatening stumps into the heart of the
wood past the speaker's stand. Councill furled his great flag and
trailed it over the heads of those behind, and Flora and Ceres, and all
the other deities of the grange upheld the staff with smiling
good-will. And so they drew up to the grand stand, the most imposing
turn-out of the day. They sprang out and mingled with the merry crowd,
while Bradley drove away. After he had taken care of the team he came
back towards the grand stand and wandered about alone. He was not a
native of the country and knew very few of the people. He stood about
with a timid expression on his face that made him seem more awkward
than he really was. He was tall, and strong, and graceful when not
conscious of himself as he was now. He felt a little bitter at being
ignored--that is, he felt it in a vague and wordless way.

Lovers passed him in pairs, eating peanuts or hot candy which they bit
off from a huge triangular mass still hot from the k