Rosemary sat up and regarded her sister sleepily.
"Did you hear the violin?" she asked.
"What violin?" Sarah's surprise was an answer in itself.
While she dressed, hurried by the impatient younger girls, for Shirley soon joined Sarah, Rosemary told of the music she had heard the night before.
"Mother heard it, too; we both saw the old man," she asserted when they were inclined to be skeptical1 and scoffed2 that she had been dreaming.
Winnie had evidently risen "with the larks3" as she was fond of declaring (though when pressed by Sarah, intent on the habits and traits of larks, she had been forced to admit that she had never seen one) for the windows on the first floor were unlocked and open to the fresh morning air and the upper half of the Dutch door folded back to let in a flood of sunshine.
"Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes," Winnie greeted the girls. "Ten minutes, no more, no less; and you're not to set foot out of the house until you've eaten, because I don't intend to spend my time fishing Sarah out of the well and pulling Shirley from under a hay stack while the muffins are getting cold."
Mrs. Willis, coming downstairs, cool and sweet in a blue linen4 gown, laughed at this arraignment5 but she, too, insisted that the farm should be seen after breakfast.
"And do be careful about hindering Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth," she cautioned them as they sat down at the table. "They are very busy folk, I know, and you mustn't expect them to answer too many questions. Richard and Warren will have their work laid out for them and can't be distracted—you will have weeks to explore Rainbow Hill and I don't want you to feel that you must be shown everything in one day."
"I'll help you, Mother," promised Rosemary. "Sarah and Shirley can go out and play, but I'll help you and Winnie unpack6."
However, when Sarah and Shirley dashed out of the house a few minutes later, Rosemary was with them. Mrs. Willis had explained that her eldest7 daughter could help her more by "looking after" the impetuous Shirley and that unknown quantity, Sarah, than by remaining in the house to open the trunks and boxes.
"I am going to do just as much as I can and then stop," the mother said, smilingly. "I promised Hugh and Winnie to be temperate8 and not tire myself needlessly. Hugh will probably call up this morning and I want to be here when he does. You run along with Sarah and Shirley, Rosemary—Mother feels safe about them when she knows you are with them."
Rosemary flushed with pleasure and resolved to be worthy9 of the confidence. She would be more patient than she had ever been before.
"It's just like Rosemary, to offer to stay in and help," said Winnie, watching the three girls cut across the lawn in the direction of the barns, "you could see plain she was crazy to go out and look around, but she never grabs what she wants—that child was born unselfish."
Rainbow Hill was what, in the farming parlance10, is known as "an all around" place. That meant the owner, Mr. Hammond, believed in general farming as distinguished11 from the specialized12 type such as truck farming or dairying. Some oats and wheat were grown at Rainbow Hill, several acres of tomatoes raised yearly for the cannery, a good crop of hay harvested; there would be one "field crop" raised for marketing13, generally potatoes or cabbage. The milk from a small herd14 of cows was sold at the local creamery and all food for the animals on the place was grown on the farm. How much hard work was bound up in the tilling of the well-ordered fields, the cultivation15 of the thrifty16 orchard17 and the healthy aspect presented by the live stock was something the three Willis girls could not be expected to grasp at once. Everything was beautifully neat, from the freshly swept barn floor to the white-washed chicken houses; not a weed showed its head in the large vegetable garden and a town-bred girl might easily make the mistake of thinking that this state of affairs was always to be found on every farm—something to be taken for granted, like fresh eggs or new milk.
It was in the vegetable garden that they found Warren Baker18. He was dressed in a clean blue shirt and dark blue overalls19 and he was on his knees beside a long row of thin green spikes20.
"Good morning," he greeted the visitors politely. "Out seeing the sights? But didn't you forget your hats?"
Warren wore an immense straw hat that shaded the back of his neck as effectively as his face.
"Oh, we don't want to bother with hats," said Rosemary carelessly. "Aren't those onions you're weeding?"
"They're onions," answered Warren, "but I'm not weeding them; I'm thinning them. If you stayed in one place in the sun as long as I do, a hat would feel pretty good."
Sarah asked why he was "thinning" the onions and he explained that he pulled out some to give those left more room to grow.
"This the first time you've been on a farm?" he asked her.
"The first time I ever stayed on a farm," said Sarah with precision. "I've been to different farms with Hugh—that's my brother; but we only stayed a little while. I think, when I grow up, I'll have a farm and be an animal doctor."
"Sarah loves animals," Rosemary explained. "We've seen the horses in the barn and the chickens and the pigs; but we didn't see a cow yet."
"Rich turns them into the lane as soon as he finishes milking," said Warren, rising from the onion row. "I'll go down and let them into the pasture now and you can come and see them, if you like."
"Well—you're sure it won't be a trouble?" hesitated Rosemary.
"Then don't you have to work, only when you want to?" suggested Sarah who unconsciously then and there outlined her ideals of labor24.
Warren, leading the way out of the vegetable garden, laughed.
"Sure I have to work," he said good-naturedly. "If you knew Mr. Hildreth, you wouldn't ask a question like that; he does two men's work every day of his life and encourages everyone else to follow his example. But you see, I can talk and work, too; it's all right to talk, if you don't stop work to do it."
"Not a question about it," declared Warren, taking down two bars for the girls to go through into a green lane fenced in on either side with a heavy wire fence. "Talk and work, mixed, are all right, but all talk and no work makes Jack a poor hired man—haven't you ever heard that proverb?"
Sarah puzzled over this until they came up with the cows and then she forgot it promptly26. There were ten of the sleek27, cream-colored bossies, gentle, affectionate creatures who pressed their deep noses trustingly into Warren's hands and begged him to open the wide gate that kept them from the shady pasture.
He swung the gate back and they moved slowly forward, beginning to crop the grass before they were half way through.
"Not now," said Rosemary, catching Shirley by her frock as though she feared that small girl might plunge29 into the stream head-first, "after lunch, dear, if Mother is willing."
"We want to do a lot of other things first," Sarah reminded her. "We haven't been up to the top of the windmill yet."
Warren turned and looked at her, a twinkle in his eyes.
"You wouldn't like it if you got up there and your sash caught on the wheel," he told her. "Think how you would look going round and round like a pinwheel. Folks would come to look at you instead of the circus."
"I wouldn't catch my sash," said Sarah positively30. "There's a little platform up there and I could stand on that. And I saw the little iron stairs that go up inside like a lighthouse."
"There are just two places on this farm from which you are barred," he said, his glance including the attentive32 three before him. "One is the windmill; the door is usually locked and I don't know how it came to be left open this morning. But locked or not, keep out of it—it is no place for anyone unless a mechanic wants to oil or repair the machinery33.
"The other place is the tool house. Mr. Hildreth has a bunch of fine tools and they're the apple of his eye—apples, would be more accurate, perhaps. The tool house is usually locked, too, and there are only three keys; but if you do find it unlocked some fine morning, take my advice and stay outside. Or, if you must go in, don't touch a tool. The rest of the farm is open to you and the four winds—with reasonable restrictions34, I ought to add."
Three pairs of eyes stared at him so solemnly, that he felt uncomfortable.
"I'm not laying down the law in my own name," he said earnestly. "Mr. Hildreth is mighty35 particular about how things are run at Rainbow Hill and I thought I could save you future trouble by warning you. Of course I only work for him—'hired man' is my title—and very much at your service."
There was so much boyish honesty in the speech, so much genuine good will and an utter absence of attempt to strike a pose, not unmixed with worth-while pride and a desire that his position should be clear to them from the start, that even Sarah, who was quick to resent real or fancied efforts to "boss" her, answered his smile with her own characteristic grin.
"Of course we won't go where we shouldn't," said Rosemary warmly. "At least not now, when there is no excuse for not knowing."
But Warren, noting that Sarah became absorbed in the antics of a beetle36 crossing her shoe, registered a resolve to see that the windmill door was kept locked.
"There's your brother," said Shirley, pointing to a figure coming down the lane.
"Rich isn't my brother—he's my pal," replied Warren. "And Mr. Hildreth is with him, so you'll have a chance to meet a real farmer and a good one."
"Then I can ask him about the insides of cats," was Sarah's rather disconcerting response.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
skeptical
|
|
| adj.怀疑的，多疑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
scoffed
|
|
| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
larks
|
|
| n.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的名词复数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的第三人称单数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
linen
|
|
| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
arraignment
|
|
| n.提问，传讯，责难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
unpack
|
|
| vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
eldest
|
|
| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
temperate
|
|
| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
parlance
|
|
| n.说法；语调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
specialized
|
|
| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
marketing
|
|
| n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
herd
|
|
| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
cultivation
|
|
| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
thrifty
|
|
| adj.节俭的；兴旺的；健壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
orchard
|
|
| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
baker
|
|
| n.面包师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
overalls
|
|
| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
spikes
|
|
| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
primly
|
|
| adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
heartily
|
|
| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
jack
|
|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
queried
|
|
| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
sleek
|
|
| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
catching
|
|
| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
plunge
|
|
| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
attentive
|
|
| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
machinery
|
|
| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
restrictions
|
|
| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
beetle
|
|
| n.甲虫，近视眼的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |