go home and
tell the old gent that I did it!" he added bitterly. "If you had let the
reins alone, I should have got along all right."

Addison did not reply to this accusation, except to say that he was
thankful our necks were not broken. As we drove into the carriage house,
Gramp came out and seeing the rope in so odd a position, asked what was
the matter.

"The transient bolt broke, coming down the Sylvester hill," Addison
replied. "It was badly worn, I see. If you think it best, sir, I will
take it to the blacksmith's shop after work, to-morrow."

"Very well," Gramp assented; and that was all there was said about the
accident.

It had been a long day, but my new experiences were far from being over.
A boy can live a great deal during one long May day. After supper I went
out to assist the boys with the farm chores, and took my first lesson,
milking a cow and feeding the calves. The latter were kept tied in the
long, now empty hay-bay of the east barn. I had already been there to
see them; there were ten of them, tied with ropes and neck-straps along
the sides of the bay to keep them apart.

Weaned, or unweaned, they were fed but twice a day, and from six o'clock
in the morning to six at night is a very long time for a young and
rapidly growing calf to wait between meals. As early as four o'clock in
the afternoon those calves would begin to bawl for their supper; by half
past five one could hardly make himself heard in the barn, unless there
chanced to fall a moment's silence, while the hungry little fellows were
all catching breath to bleat again. Then they would all peal forth
together on ten different keys.

How those old bare walls and high beams would resound! Blar-r-rt!
Blaw-ar-ar-ah-ahrt! Blah-ah-aht! Bul-ar-ah-ahrt! There were eager little
altos, soaring sopranos, high and importunate tenors that rose to the
roof and drowned the twitter of the happy barn-swallows.

Addison, Halstead, Theodora and Ellen, who had come to the farm before
me, knew all the calves by sight and had named them. There was Little
Star, Phil Sheridan, Black Betty, Hooker, Nut, Little Dagon, Andy
Johnson and Babe. I do not recollect the others, but have particular
reason to remember Little Dagon.

At the time I made the acquaintance of this broad-headed Hereford calf
he was five weeks old, and the soft buds of his horns were beginning to
show in the curly hair of his forehead. His color was dark red, except
for a milk-white fac