Joey at the fair

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Scheme 1

II. A Mishap 18

Chapter I. The Scheme

“ There’s no mistake but that Joey’s calf promises to make as likely a heifer as has been seen in this town for many a day,” Deacon Jonas Crawford said as he brought into the house two full pails of milk, giving them into the hands of his wife with an air of pride, much as if believing he, not the cows, should be credited with such a bountiful supply.

“ But poor little Joey had to do a deal of coaxin’ before you’d consent to his raisin’ the calf, ” his wife replied as she made ready to strain the milk into tin pans which shone bright as silver, for Aunt Jane Crawford was noted far and wide, and justly, too, for being the neatest, most industrious housewife to be found in the village of Baldwin.

“ I know it, mother, I know it, for if there’s 1

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anything ’round a farm that will keep things littered up, an’ try a man’s temper ’way down to the breaking point, it’s a calf. But Joey has stuck to his end of the bargain straight as a string, an’ he’s got the best lookin’ yearlin’ I’ve seen since Abel Harkins heat us all out at the Topsham fair.”

Then Deacon Crawford seated himself on the broad stone doorstep, under the shade of the maple tree, that he might rest from the fatigue of the August day. The deacon had much for which to he thankful, although he ever kept in mind the old proverb that “ Heaven helps those who help themselves ; ” he owned one of the best farms in the county, and people declared that he had been “ monstrous lucky, for it was worn out when he took it.” The deacon and his wife believed in hard work rather than luck, and by dint of much labor had made of Hillside farm a property in which one might well take pride.

Joey, the elder of the two children, was thirteen years of age that very August, and the calf of which the deacon had spoken in praise, was his birthday present twelve months before. As his father had dealt by the “ worn-out farm,” so Joey had dealt by the first animal he ever owned, and even as the deacon was speaking, he stood in

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one corner of the south pasture, grooming his pet whose red coat shone like silk under the rays of the setting sun.

Sadie, Joey’s sister, who was nearly two years younger than her brother, had been learning to 44 turn the heel” of a stocking, during the leisure time after supper, and, as a matter of course, heard all that her father and mother had to say about the calf.

It seemed useless to sit there with the knitting in her hands while her mother was taking care of the milk, for she knew by past experience that a full half-hour would he required for the task, and, slipping softly down from her chair, she laid the yarn and needles on the shelf which had been put up especially for her belongings. Then she went out of the wide door, stopping an instant to pat her father’s brown cheek and hear him call her his 44 blessing,” after which her little pug nose was turned in the direction of the south pasture, she knowing full well Joey would be there petting the calf.

“What do you think?” she cried, breathless from having run so fast. 44 Father says you’ve got the best calf he’s seen for many a day ! ”

44 An’ that’s only the truth,” Joey cried as he pressed his cheek against the animal’s damp nose.

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“ She’s not only the best, but the handsomest that can be found in this town ! ”

“ That’s what father said, or, if he didn’t use the very words, it meant the same thing. He told mother she was the best looking yearling he had seen since Mr. Harkins took so many prizes at tlieTopsham fair,” and Sadie leaned over the bars to pat Betty’s sleek neck.

“ Did he really say that, Sarah Crawford ? ” Joey cried, showing more excitement than seemed warranted by the statement she had made.

“ Of course he did, else I wouldn’t have come out here. I knew you’d be glad to hear what he thought about Betty, so ran off while mother was straining the milk.”

Joey stood as if in deep thought for a moment, and then cried suddenly, in the tone of one who has settled some grave question in his own mind :

“ Do you know what I’m goin’ to do, Sadie? I’ve fixed it with myself to enter Betty for a prize at the Topsham fair ! ”

Betty at the fair ? ” Sadie cried in astonishment.

“Why not? If father says she’s the best lookin’ yearlin’ he’s seen since Mr. Harkins took so many prizes, why shouldn’t she go ? ”

“I don’t suppose there is any reason, only it seems such a great thing to expect of Betty, that she should win a prize.”

“Well, you see, she hasn’t got to take it if she can’t ; but I don’t know of any calf around here that can beat her.”

“But at the Topsharn fair they bring cattle from all over the county, and most likely there are a great many calves that you haven’t seen,” Sadie said in a tone which sounded much like one of apology for having even hinted that Betty might not receive the prize.

“That’s a fact ; but everybody praises her, an’ if she’s handsome to the people ’round here who know what good cattle are, then there’s a chance other folks might think the same thing,” and Joey brushed energetically at the tuft of hair between the lumps on Betty’s head where horns would soon begin to show themselves.

Sadie was so nearly overwhelmed with astonishment at the idea of sending the pet away, with the possibility of having her pronounced the best in the county by those who are supposed to know all the good as well as the bad points of a cow, that she really could not discuss the matter, and, after brushing imaginary specks of dust here or there from Betty’s coat, Joey clambered over the bars, as he said :

JOEY AT THE FAIR.

“ We’ll go straight to father, an’ find out what he thinks of sendin’ her to the fair.”

“Perhaps he’ll be willing to put her with the oxen he said he is going to send there,” Sadie said half to herself as she walked by the side of her brother, finding it difficult to keep pace with him because of his eagerness to get his father’s opinion of the scheme.

“ But that’s what I don’t want ! ” Joey cried sharply. “ If Betty goes to Topsham, it’ll be all by herself, an’ not with any of father’s stock ! ”

“ Why not ? ” and Sadie looked up in surprise.

“Folks say that Deacon Crawford always has the best stock in Baldwin, an’ they might give her the prize only because she belonged to him. If Betty is good enough for them to say she’s the best, I want her to earn all she gets, an’ not slip through with father’s oxen.”

Then Joey quickened his pace until Sadie was really forced to run in order to keep step with him, and when the two arrived at the farmhouse Deacon Crawford was yet on the stone step resting.

“Father, would you be willin’ for me to take Betty to Topsham fair ? ” Joey asked abruptly, and his father said with a smile :

“Do you know, son, I was thinkin’ this very minute that she was good enough to go there ! ”

“Were you?” Joey cried in delight. “Then you’d be willin’ for me to enter her ? ”

“ Wouldn’t you care to have her go in with the oxen ? ” the deacon asked thoughtfully.

“ I’d rather she went alone, an’ under my name. Then if she did take the prize, it wouldn’t be because of what you might have there,” Joey said decidedly, and Aunt Jane, who had come to the door in time to hear the conversation, added approvingly :

“He’s right, father. The calf is his, an’ should be sent under his name.”

“ Do you know what it’ll cost, Joey, to get her in, figurin’ on everything that’ll be needed ? ”

“ Do you have to pay for sendin’ things to the fair? ” Joey asked in surprise.

“You must spend some money to make her look her best, an’ then there’s the matter of feed. I can’t say jest how much it would amount to ; but at a rough guess, reckonin’ for three days there, it wouldn’t fall short of two dollars.”

Joey was silent for a moment, as if making some mental calculation, and then he said :

“It’s worth it to let folks see what can be done with a calf if you treat her right. I’ll spend that much on Betty out of the money I was savin’ for our trip to the city ! ”

JOEY AT THE FAIR.

“ Very well, son, I’ve got nothin’ to say against it. You earn every cent of the two dollars a month I pay you for workin’ on the farm, an’ if you’re willin’ to put it out on the calf, it’s your business. I’ll have to be there pretty much all the time, if I enter the oxen, an’ had kind’er made up my mind that it wouldn’t do any harm if I took the whole family all three days, so you won’t be bothered ’bout gettin’ there to look after her.”

There is no necessity of saying that Sadie and her mother were considerably excited by the prospect of having so many holidays, for in the years that were past Deacon Crawford had seemingly believed it' a waste of time to spend more than one day at the county fair, and Mrs. Crawford was quite as eager as the children to make plans for the unusual event, even though it was nearly two weeks in the future.

“ If you learn how to turn a heel, as little girls of your age did in my day, an’ take very great pains with the knittin’, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t put in a pair of stockin’s. It would be fine to walk through the big hall an’ see a card sayin’, 4 To Sarah Crawford ; best specimen of knittin’ by a child eleven years old. First award.’ ”

“ And do you really think I might do it?”

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Sadie, asked eagerly, while Joey wondered how it was his mother and sister could think of such ordinary things as stockings, when Betty was going to Topsham as a probable prize-winner.

“ There is no reason why you shouldn’t, Sarah,” Aunt Jane replied, giving the child her full name because she did not approve of contracting it to “ Sadie,” although why she did not rule the same in regard to Joey, and call him “ Joseph, ” no one could say. “ You knit very well now — ”

“ Father is willing to wear the stockings I make,” Sadie interrupted, and the deacon said with a laugh, as he pulled the child’s face down until it rested against his rough cheek :

“Indeed I am, sweetheart, an’ right glad to get ’em.”

“I do think, father, that it is wrong to give such names to a girl eleven years old,” Aunt Jane said, trying in vain to summon a severe expression to her placid face.

‘ ‘ Nonsense, mother, she always has been my sweetheart, an’ I hope she’ll never be ashamed to hear her father call her so.”

“Indeed I shan’t,” Sadie whispered, as she rubbed her face against the deacon’s rough chin until one cheek was flaming red, and then she sat up very primly as the sound of wheels in the

JOEY AT THE FAIR .

distance told that some one was coming along the dusty road which wound like a yellow ribbon to the railroad station, and thence to Topsham.

“It’s Jeddiah Wilkins, I reckon,” Deacon Crawford said in a low tone. “ He went by an hour or more ago, an’ allowed he might stop at the post-office.”

“ Hello, deacon ! ” came a voice from the road which, near the gate of the Crawford home, was partially hidden by trees. “ I’ve got a letter here for you, an’ ’cordin’ to the looks of it I should say it was sent by some of your folks in the city. It smells a good deal like the hair oil ’Liakum Byard is so fond of usin’

Deacon Crawford went to the gate, where he remained several moments talking with Mr. Wilkins, and meanwhile Aunt Jane and the two children were literally burning with curiosity to know who had sent a letter with such a peculiar odor.

“ It isn’t very often we idle time away as we’ve been doin’ this evenin’, an’ it does seem as if your father might gossip with the neighbors when we ain’t visitin’ with him, so to speak,” Mrs. Crawford said mildly, and before either of the children could reply the deacon came up the walk, holding

THE SCHEME. H

very gingerly in the tips of his fingers a letter which gave forth the odor of perfume.

4 ‘It’s from Maryann — or Mariee, as she calls herself since John made a lot of money,” Deacon Crawford said with a laugh, as he gave the letter to his wife and then lifted Sadie to his knee. “ Let’s hear what has come over her. It must be nigh to three years since she showed any signs of rememberin’ that we were alive, an’ then pretty much all she wrote was about my foolishness in takin’ up with such a worn-out farm as this. I wonder what she’d think of it now % ”

“ Jonas Crawford, you ought to be ashamed of speakin’ so about your only sister, an’ that right before your own children ! ”

“I have always made it a rule never to say anything that my own children can’t hear,” the deacon replied cheerily. “When Maryann got the idee that her mother’s name wasn’t good enough for her, an’ must be changed to Mariee, I came to believe she shouldn’t be held up as an example to my little sweetheart.”

“ I do wish you wouldn’t talk that way,” Aunt Jane said with a very thin sigh which seemed ashamed of itself for having come from such a contented-looking face. “ Your sister hasn’t written much of a letter ; but just enough to let

JOEY AT THE FAIR.

us know that she an’ her boy Rupert are cornin’ down to make us a visit, an’ — an’ — Bless my heart ! Let me see. To-day’s Tuesday— Why, Jonas Crawford, she’ll be here Thursday mornin,’ an’ me with only one day to get ready for her ! ”

“Now see here, mother,” the deacon said soothingly, “there ain’t the least little reason why you should get flustered over Maryann’s cornin’. I’ve never seen the time since I was married, when my home didn’t look fit for the King of England to walk into, an’ I’ll venture to say John Stockbridge can’t tell the same story, for Maryann never was a great hand at sprucin’ up, except when company was cornin’, though she may have changed her ways the same time she did her name, hut I misdoubt it. If she wants to come an’ see us, I’ll be glad to have her ; but you shan’t fetch an’ carry from now till she gets here, tryin’ to find dirt where there hasn’t been any since the children were old enough to keep out of the mud.”

It is doubtful if Aunt Jane heard half the deacon said, so intent was she on running over in her mind the work which it seemed necessary should be done before Mrs. Stockbridge arrived, and Joey whispered to Sadie :

“ Rupert ! I wonder if the boys call him Roop ? ”

“Why, Joey, they wouldn’t call him that, because it sounds too much like the name of the sickness that killed off so many of the chickens last spring,” Sadie said with a warning shake of her head, as she slipped down from her father’s arms.

“ There was a city boy over to Mr. Wilkins’ farm last summer, that was worse on the chickens than any case of roup you ever heard tell about, an’ this one may be as bad,” Joey replied gloomily.

“ Why, he’s your very own cousin, and how can you say such things about him ? ”

“Well, I wish he wasn’t cornin’, that’s what I wish. I’ll need to spend a lot of time on Betty, if she’s goin’ to Topsham in two weeks, an’ as likely as not he’ll want me to go all over the neighborhood with him.”

“Of course he will, Joseph Crawford, and you will be just as polite to him as you know how, because he’s your cousin. I’ll see that you have time enough to attend to Betty.”

“How’ll you fix it?” Joey asked, still disposed to look upon the coming of Master Rupert as something unpleasant.

“I can take him out to walk once in a while, or show him the pigeons, and the chickens. How do you know but he’ll be glad to help you with Betty ? When he sees what a handsome calf she

JOEY AT THE FAIR.

is, he can’t prevent himself from liking her almost as much as we do.”

This was a view of the case which had not presented itself to Joey ; but now that Sadie had suggested it, he believed there was no question but that Master Rupert would immediately fall in love with Betty, for how could he do otherwise ?

With this matter settled so satisfactorily in their own minds, the children turned their attention to the conversation of their parents relative to that which must be done on the morrow, and of a verity Aunt Jane was mapping out an enormous day’s work.

“ You’d better kill three or four chickens the first thing in the mornin’, father, so that I can dress them as soon as breakfast is over. Sadie ought to be able to sweep and dust the fore room, while I’m settin’ the spare chamber to rights, an’ Joey can clean the knives an’ forks ; it hasn’t been done properly for more than a week — ”

“ I was countin’ on takin’ Joey into the west field ; that onion bed is almost the same as cryin’ to be ’tended to. It’ll be all right ’bout the chickens ; but I’ve laid out quite a heft of work for to-morrow, an’ it must be done. If we’re goin’ to whiffle away three whole days at the fair, it behooves us to be up an’ doin’ till then.”

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“ But this is your own sister who’s comm’ to make us a visit, Jonas Crawford, an’ it’s the first time in her life she was ever here, so the farm work must be put off till she gets settled down, so to speak,” and Aunt Jane’s tone was most decided.

“ Well, well, mother, if you’re so set on it, I reckon it’ll have to be as you say, though it does seem a pity to be whifflin’ ’round the house when there’s so much that’s almost reg’larly achin’ to be done.”

Aunt Jane made no reply ; she was so deeply engrossed with her plans as to how a full week’s work could be done in one day, that it is doubtful if she heard what the deacon said.

Under ordinary circumstances Joey would have been really excited by the prospect of showing the farm and all it contained, to a cousin whom he had never seen ; but the thought of sending Betty to the fair, and the possibility that she might bring home as a prize the blue ribbon, was so entrancing that he speedily dismissed from his mind everything which did not have a direct bearing upon the matter.

Deacon Crawford was speculating upon the possibility of hiring at least one more man to work on the farm during such time as it might

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be necessary for him to take some part in entertaining the expected guests, while Sadie was wondering if it would be really possible for her to knit a pair of stockings sufficiently well to warrant their being shown at the fair, and therefore it was that Aunt Jane almost startled her family as she said abruptly :

“ It’s time every one of us was in bed ! If we count on settin’ this house to rights in one day, we must be stirrin’ early, an’ we’ll need all the rest that can be had.”

“I reckon we’d best scurry off, youngsters, seein’s your mother has set her heart on scrubbin’ an’ cleanin’ when there’s nothin’ to be done,” the deacon said laughingly as he rose to his feet. “ It ain’t likely your Aunt Mariee will stay any very great while, ’cause it won’t be lively enough here to suit her, an’ the visit needn’t make any change in our plans for the fair, unless we spend too much of our time tryin’ to amuse her.”

“ I’ll have to look after Betty pretty snug, if she’s goin’ to Topsham, so Roop mustn’t think I’m bound to tag ’round after him all the time,” Joey said half to himself as he followed Sadie into the house, and his sister, understanding much of what was in his mind, stopped to whisper :

“ Don’t worry, Joey. Betty shan’t be neg-

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lected, no matter how much company we have, for I’ll spend all my spare time helping you make her look fine, and if brushing and combing are all that’s needed for her to win the blue ribbon, you shall bring it home from Topsliam.”

Chapter II. A Mishap

The sun had given no hint of rising, next morning, when Aunt Jane called the members of the household, and there was that in her tones which told Joey very plainly it would not be well for him to linger in bed even for a moment.

“ Why, you must have stayed up all night ! ” he said as he entered the kitchen to find breakfast already on the table, and his mother replied as she plunged her hands into a huge pan of flour :

“ I’m so worried for fear things won’t look just as they should, Joey, that I couldn’t sleep after midnight. Take right hold an’ eat, son, for I want to get the breakfast things cleared away as early as I can.”

“ Ain’t you goin’ to sit down?” Joey asked, feeling in a certain sense bewildered by the manner in which his mother darted from one thing to another, as if trying to crowd the work of ten minutes into two.

A MISHAP.

“ Your father an’ I had breakfast half an hour ago ; he’s out in the barn now, an’ I expect he’ll be back before I’m anywhere near ready to take care of the milk.”

“Why didn’t you waken me before?” Joey asked reproachfully, as he plunged his head into a basin of cool water. “ I don’t like for him to do my share of the work, an’ he’ll have to feed the stock before he can milk.”

“You are up early enough, son, an’ perhaps I was foolish to rouse your father so soon ; but there is so much work to be done, with such a little while in which to do it ! ”

By this time Sadie had made her appearance, and from that moment, until very late in the evening, the Crawford family were as busy as bees, hardly stopping, as the deacon said, “to draw a long breath.”

Then, for a moment before retiring, they gathered, as was their custom, on the broad stone step, and the deacon said as he looked anxiously toward Aunt Jane :

“You must be all tired out, mother, for I don’t believe you’ve sat down once to-day — not even when you had your meals.”

“ I’ve been too busy to think whether I was tired or not,” Aunt Jane replied as if her thoughts

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were elsewhere. “I only wish I knew if everything was all right.”

“Well, I can tell you now an’ here that there wasn’t a speck of dirt to be seen when you began, an’ I’m certain there isn’t even the shadow of one now. I only wish the onion bed was in as good shape as this house is. Have you had a chance to see Betty to-day, son ? ”

“ Indeed I have, for from now on I must look after her sharp. If she don’t bring away the blue ribbon it’ll be my fault, an’ I won’t take any chances on that. I’ve been wonderin’ whether it wouldn’t be a good idea to keep her in the barn half of every day, so I can give her a little grain ? ”

“It wouldn’t be a bad plan to bring her in nights, an’ turn her out about noon,” the deacon replied thoughtfully, and then it appeared much as if he was ready to give Joey the benefit of his experience in fitting cattle for the fair ; but Aunt Jane put an end to anything of the kind, by insisting that the family retire without further loss of time.

Quite by accident, when he read the evening lesson, the deacon opened the Bible at that chapter in which Isaiah admonishes Hezekiah to set his house in order, and Joey was not certain that his

A MISHAP.

father did not emphasize the words a trifle more than was absolutely necessary, but he had little time in which to speculate upon it, for within a very few minutes after getting into bed, he began to dream of a series of mishaps which prevented Betty from winning the blue ribbon to which she was clearly entitled.

It was necessary Aunt Jane call more than once next morning, before her family was awakened, and, as on the day previous, breakfast was eaten by candle-light, a fact that caused Deacon Crawford to say with a sly wink at Sadie, that it would have saved time had they partaken of the meal before going to bed.

Joey, whose first thought on awakening was of Betty, hastened to the pasture at the first leisure moment, and brought the possible blue-ribbon winner into the stable, where he gave her a bed of clean straw, a generous feed of barley, and a careful combing from the tip of her brown nose to the end of her tail.

Then he hurried back to the house to dress himself in his best suit of clothes, for, according to the program Aunt Jane had mapped out, both he and his father were to meet the guests at the station.

Simon, the plow-horse, had already been

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harnessed into the double-seated wagon, and was standing near the kitchen door, nibbling here and there at the clover leaves which grew on the borders of the flower-beds, while Deacon Crawford was struggling with a particularly stiff collar which obstinately refused to be buttoned, when a drove of pigs came down the road driven by half a dozen boys.

Never since his first birthday, twenty or more years before, had Simon been known to show fear of anything, and although the pig-drivers made noise enough to have frightened five or six ordinary horses, no member of the Crawford family gave any heed to him, for it seemed as improbable the old fellow would run away as that the stone hitching-post could have danced a jig.

The deacon was still struggling with his collar ; Joey was putting an extra polish on the heels of his shoes, which had been neglected when he applied the first coat of blacking, while Aunt Jane and Sadie were in the parlor making certain no speck of dust had escaped them, when three or four of the pigs rushed into the yard grunting and squealing, and ran directly between Simon’s legs.

The old horse pricked up his ears and stepped about uneasily ; yet might have remained where

A MISHAP . .

he was but for the boys, three or four of whom ran into the yard, brandishing long sticks and yelling at the full strength of their lungs at the frightened pigs.

Then it was that Simon forgot how old and stiff in the joints he was. With a snort of fear he turned suddenly around as if to go back to the stable, and, as a matter of course, overturning the wagon, just as the boys came toward him swiftly with their long sticks held high in the air. Nothing more was needed to plunge him into a panic, and before one could have counted five, he was galloping up the road at a pace which he probably never equalled even in his coltish days.

“ Jonas! Jonas Crawford! That horse is runnin’ away ! ” Aunt Jane cried from the parlor as Simon went past the window, head and tail up, the front wheels of the wagon rising and falling with every frantic leap.