es, while Joseph and I plant
the sweet corn."

It was necessary for her to speak twice before Master Plummer realised
she was addressing him, so unfamiliar did the name sound, and when he
finally became aware of the fact, he asked, in a careless tone, as if
planting potatoes were work with which he was thoroughly conversant:

"How many hills do you want, aunt Dorcas, an' how big do they generally
run out this way?"

"Put in four rows, and there is no need of making them very large until
after the plants are up."

Then aunt Dorcas went with Joe to the opposite side of the garden, and,
intent on having the corn planted after a certain peculiar fashion of
her own, gave no heed to what Plums was doing, for ten minutes or more;
but when she did observe that young gentleman's method of working, a cry
of surprise and disapproval burst from her lips.

"Whatever are you doing, George?"

"Makin' these hills, of course," Plums replied, quietly, without ceasing
his work of shovelling the soft earth up into huge mounds, each of which
was twelve or fifteen times as large as it should have been.

"Well, bless the boy, he don't even know how to plant potatoes!" and the
little woman regarded the results of Master Plummer's labour in dismay.
"Weren't you ever on a farm, George?"

"I never was so far in the country as this before in my life," and Plums
wiped the perspiration from his flushed face; for, strange as it may
seem, he had, during these few moments, been working quite
industriously.

[Illustration: "'WELL, BLESS THE BOY, HE DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO PLANT
POTATOES!'"]

"You need a hoe instead of a shovel, and the hills should be made
something like these," aunt Dorcas said, as she pointed to where Joe,
thanks to her minute instructions, was performing his part of the task
in almost a workmanlike manner.

Plums would have grumbled when the little woman insisted on his
demolishing the grotesque mounds which had cost him so much labour, but
that he remembered how dependent he was upon aunt Dorcas for food and
shelter, and held his peace.

The remainder of the work done on this afternoon was performed under
aunt Dorcas's personal supervision, for she soon came to understand that
her assistants were absolutely ignorant of such tasks, and, if left to
their own devices, even for a few moments at a time, would succeed only
in making blunders.

Thanks to her patience and Joe's willingness, however, the garden was
planted b