[Illustration:  Fanny in the pigeon house.]

All the various occupations of the neighboring farmers were observed by these children with great attention; because they were desirous of gaining information by their own observation.  The ploughing of the ground in the spring, and the breaking of it up with the harrow, to prepare it for receiving grain, such as barley, rye, and wheat, were operations which interested them very much, as well as the sowing of the wheat, and harrowing it so as to cover the seed.

[Illustration:  Hoeing corn.]

Then, again, the culture of Indian corn, or maize, was another curious operation.  They saw the farmer, after ploughing up the ground, making it into little hillocks with his hoe; each hillock, or hill, as he called it, received a shovel full of manure, before the corn was dropped in, which last operation, Frank and Fanny sometimes assisted their neighbor, Farmer Baldwin, to perform.  Afterwards they saw the farmer hoe the corn, loosening the soil round the plant, and cutting up the weeds with his hoe.  In summer, they often enjoyed a feast of green corn, roasted or boiled, and when it was gathered, in autumn, they assisted the farmer in husking it.

[Illustration:  Sheep washing.]

Farmer Baldwin’s sheep were objects of great interest to the children, and the little lambs they very justly regarded as types of purity and innocence.  When the season of sheep washing and shearing came, they went over to the farmer’s, and witnessed these amusing operations with great delight.

[Illustration:  Sheep shearing]

Very sorrowful were they when they heard of the disaster which happened to the good farmer’s flock, by the great snow storm.  The sheep were in a pasture quite distant from the village, late in autumn, when just before night there came up a sudden and violent storm of snow, and Farmer Baldwin and his hired men got the flock home with some difficulty, losing several lambs in the snow.

[Illustration:  Farmer Baldwin’s disaster.]

When the season for harvesting the grain arrived, the children’s services were sometimes required by the farmer, to carry the dinner to the reapers, out in the field where they were reaping the wheat with sickles, and binding it into sheaves.  An expedition of this kind was quite delightful to Frank, who always felt proud of being useful, and never neglected an opportunity of rendering good service to the farmer.  His good conduct in this respect, not only gained him the respect and good will of Farmer Baldwin, but it was well requited, when the apples and pears were gathered, when the potatoe crop came in; and when the festive occasions of Thanksgiving day, Christmas, and the New Year, served to remind the worthy farmer, that a brace of fowls, or a turkey, might be acceptable to Frank’s grandmother.  Very light was Frank’s step when he carried the reapers their dinner.  Sometimes he was accompanied by his sister on this useful errand, but he went oftener alone.  But before he returned home, he made a point of picking up a few dry sticks for kindling wood, which he brought home on his shoulder.