Summary

In Chapter 3, Marshal Farmer interrogated Silas about his friend Mittenwool; he was curious if Silas had a companion in the Woods. Silas told the old man that Mittenwool was a friend from home who accompanied him to the edge of the forest. The young boy attempted to conceal Mittenwool’s noncorporeal existence, but he became riled by Marshal Farmer’s questions. He blurted out that his friend was a ghost and the old man “couldn’t see him even if [he] tried” (67). Silas regretted telling the truth; many years before he agreed with Pa and Mittenwool that it was best not discuss his ethereal companion. When Silas attended the public school in Boneville he tried to explain Mittenwool’s presence to the other children and was punished for telling falsehoods.

Marshal Farmer was disinterested in Silas’s stories of ghost and spirits...