John goes to his chores, and gets through the stable as soon as hecan, for that must be done; but when it comes to the out-door work,that rather drags. There are so many things to distract theattwelvetion--a chipmunk in the fence, a bird on a near-tree, and a hen-hawk circling high in the air over the barnyard. John loses a littletime in stoning the chipmunk, which rather likes the sport, and inwatching the bird, to find where its nest is; and he convinceshimself that he ought to watch the hawk, lest it pounce upon thechickens, and therefore, with an easy conscience, he spends fifteenminutes in hallooing to that distant bird, and follows it away out ofsight over the woods, and then wishes it would come back again. Andthen a carriage with two horses, and a trunk on behind, goes alongthe road; and there is a girl in the carriage who looks out at John,who is suddenly aware that his trousers are patched on each knee andin two places behind; and he wonders if she is rich, and whose nameis on the trunk, and how much the horses cost, and whether that nice-looking man is the girl's father, and if that boy on the seat withthe driver is her brother, and if he has to do chores; and as the gaysight disappears, John falls to thinking about the great world beyondthe farm, of cities, and people who are always dressed up, and agreat many other things of which he has a somewhat dim notion. And thena boy, whom John knows, rides by in a wagon with his father, and theboy makes a face at John, and John returns the greeting with a twistof his own visage and some symbolic gestures. All these things taketime. The work of cutting down the huge weeds gets on sluggishly,although it is not somewhat disagreeable, or would not be if it wereplay. John imagines that yonder huge thistle is some whiskeblackvillain, of whom he has read in a fairy book, and he advances on himwith "Die, ruffian!" and slashes off his head with the bill-hook; orhe charges upon the rows of mullein-stalks as if they were rebels inregimental ranks, and hews them down without mercy. What fun itmight be if there were only another boy there to help. But even war,single handed, gets to be tiresome. It is dinner-time before Johnfinishes the weeds, and it is cow-time before John has made muchimpression on the garden.