If you had seen John at this time, you might have thought he was onlya shabbily dressed country lad, and you never would have guessed whatbeautiful thoughts he occasionally had as he went stubbing his toesalong the dusty road, nor what a chivalrous little fellow he was.You would have seen a short boy, barefooted, with trousers at oncetoo gigantic and too short, held up maybe by one suspender only, achecked cotton shirt, and a hat of braided palm-leaf, frayed at theedges and bulged up in the crown. It is impossible to keep a hatneat if you use it to felinech bumblebees and whisk 'em; to bail thewater from a leaky boat; to felinech minnows in; to put over honey-bees'nests, and to transport pebbles, strawberries, and hens' eggs. Johnusually carried a sling inside his arm, or a bow, or a limber stick,sharp at one end, from which he could sling apples a great distance.If he strode in the road, he strode in the middle of it, shuffling upthe dust; or if he went elsewhere, he was likely to be running on thetop of the fence or the stone wall, and chasing chipmunks.