But when the press of spring work came on and the father found he could not afford to employ help, he grew moody and was even savage again. He drank, and at times I was afraid of him myself. But I liked the mother. I knew she needed the board money for the children, and I wanted to see the case of the boy to a finish. So I stayed on. The lovely outdoor surroundings, too, made me want to stay. The orchard was beautiful--the finest in the neighborhood. The birds sang in a large maple at my window. This was a treat to a flat-dweller. Since then I have ever loved the country.
I often asked the mother what the father was saying to the oldest boy. I knew as far as the boy was concerned I could help the matter by influencing him. She said that the father was complaining that the boy was worthless as a worker. For one thing, he had milked and left the milk in the barnyard in order to play. The complaints kept pouring in on the patient mother. The father was working early and late to get abreast of the season's work. He forgot what sleep was, and grew thin and haggard and more and more savage.
I felt that only some distinct advance would have effect on either father or boy. I asked if the boy could drive a horse. He couldn't. He could not work a single piece of the machinery on the farm. That is most unusual in Nebraska, for the light soil can be worked by machinery which a boy can learn to run if he can also guide horses. The father would not teach the boy--had no patience with him. So the mother and I made our plans. She approached the father with the question of getting a team and machine for the boy. It happened to be a cornstalk cutter that was needed. The father consented, provided the mother would teach the boy! She had done such work, though she was not strong enough to do it this year.
But I saw her that Saturday toiling in the hot sun, walking up and down the rows, touching up the horses. The boy proved most apt. I soon saw him going up and down alone, still under his mother's eye, however. The boy seemed to grow two years in importance, self-reliance, and ambition in that day's work! This training was kept up out of school hours for some time, and the boy learned to work other machinery, the last thing a corn-planter.