Summary

Mr. Tanner, the circuit rider, makes his way around the frontier lands, bringing news and the word of God to the settlers. He hardly ever relaxes, but one of the places at which he does is the Woodlawn’s supper table. He also is from Boston, and the Saturday feast of beans and brown bread is a taste of home. He wonders when Caddie will become a young lady, but John Woodlawn explains when their daughter Mary died soon after arriving from Boston, he begged his wife to allow the next daughter, Caddie, to run free in the rough-and-tumble frontier woods. He hoped this would lead Caddie to health, and it seems to be working. Mr. Tanner produces a broken clock made in Boston — an old friend from home — and Mr. Woodlawn accepts the task of fixing it, as he has fixed so many others. Mr...