There were two great doors in the middle of the barn, made so large that, when they were opened, there was space enough for a large load of hay to go in.  Opposite these doors there was a space floored over with plank, pretty wide, and extending through the barn to the back side.  This was called the barn floor.  On one side was a place divided off for stables for the horses, and on the other side was the tie-up, a place for the oxen and cows.  There was also the bay, and the lofts for hay and grain; and at the end of the tie-up there was a door leading into a calf-pen, and thence, by a passage behind the calf-pen, to a work-shop and shed.  The small door where the boys came in, led to a long and narrow passage, between the tie-up and the bay.

They walked along, Jonas going before with his lantern in his hand.  The cattle which had lain down, began to get up, and the horses neighed in their stalls; for the shining of the lantern in the barn was the well-known signal which called them to breakfast.

Jonas clambered up by a long ladder to the hay-loft, to pitch down some hay, and Josey and Oliver followed him; while Amos remained below to “feed out” the hay, as he called it, as fast as they pitched it down.  It was pretty dark upon the loft, although the lantern shed a feeble light upon the rafters above.

“Boys,” said Jonas, “it is dangerous for you to be up here; I’d rather you’d go down.”

“Well,” said Oliver, and he began to descend.

“Why?” said Josey; “I don’t think there’s any danger.”

“Yes,” said Jonas, “a pitchfork wound is worse than almost any other.  It is what they call a punctured wound.”

“What kind of a wound is that?” said Josey.

“I’ll tell you some other time,” said Jonas.  “But don’t stay up here.  You don’t obey so well as Oliver.  Go down and give the old General some hay.”

The old General was the name of a large white horse, quite old and steady, but of great strength.  When he was younger, he belonged to a general, who used to ride him upon the parade, and this was the origin of his name.

Josey, at this proposal, made haste down the ladder, and began to put some hay over into the old General’s crib.  He then went round into the General’s stall, and, patting him upon the neck, he asked him if his breakfast was good.

In the mean time, Oliver opened the great barn doors, and, taking a shovel, he began to clear away the snow from before them.  The sky in the east was by this time beginning to be quite bright; and a considerable degree of light from the sky, and from the new-fallen snow, came into the barn.  Josey got a shovel, and went out to help Oliver.  After they had shoveled away the snow from the great barn doors, they went to the house, and began to clear the steps before the doors, and to make paths in the yards.  They worked in this way for half an hour, and then, just as the sun began first to show its bright, glittering rays above the horizon, they went into the house.  They found that the great fire which Jonas had built, was burnt half down; the breakfast-table was set, and the breakfast itself was nearly ready.