There are so many things to distract the
attention--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
little time in stoning the chipmunk, which rather likes the sport, and
in watching the bird, to find where its nest is; and he convinces
himself that he ought to watch the hawk, lest it pounce upon the
chickens, and therefore, with an easy conscience, he spends fifteen
minutes in hallooing to that distant bird, and follows it away out of
sight over the woods, and then wishes it would come back again. And
then a carriage with two horses, and a trunk on behind, goes along the
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 and in
two places behind; and he wonders if she is rich, and whose name is 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 with the driver
is her brother, and if he has to do chores; and as the gay sight
disappears, John falls to thinking about the great world beyond the
farm, of cities, and people who are always dressed up, and a great
many other things of which he has a very dim notion.
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