File:Boy life on the prairie (1899) (14594146809).jpg

Identifier: boylifeonprairie00ingarl (find matches)
Title: Boy life on the prairie
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: Garland, Hamlin, 1860-1940 American Popular Literature Collection
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Publisher: New York London : Macmillan
Contributing Library: Northern Illinois University
Digitizing Sponsor: CARLI: Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois

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oln usuallyrode over after Milton, and together they picked upRanee on the way. Sometimes one of the herdmentook a team and gathered up a load of young men andboys. When the river came in sight, a race began, to seewho should first throw off his clothing and be as thefrogs are. Shadows seemed to beckon, the kingfishers called,and the water laughed up at the exultant fugitixcs fromthe burning dust of the fields, with delicious promise ofcoolness and vigor. After they had taken their fill of swimming and plung-ing, and spattering each other with water, the bovs re- The River 123 turned to their hickory shirts and brown denim overalls,and wandered up and down the river, seeking the newand interesting things which the wood and the riveroffered to them. They dug clams out of the sand, andcaught and killed the great spotted water-snakes thatventured out of the sedges along the river. Theymocked the kingfishers, and the giant thunder pump-ers in the reeds, and gathered the strange plants and
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flowers which grew in the cool dusk under the shadowof the basswood trees. All things not positively poisonous were eaten, or atleast tasted. The roots of ferns, black haws, choke-berries, sheep-sorrel, Indian tobacco, clams, dewberries,May-apples — anything at all that happened to be inseason or handy. Sometimes they fished, and usuallywith ill success — they were too impatient of silence,and too eager to enjoy to the full the cool paths and the 124 Boy Life on the Prairie pools. And when it was all over, they mounted theirhorses and rode reluctantly back into the heat and burn-ing sunlight of the farm lanes — back to milk the cowsand feed the pigs, and begin again their six days oftoil. Of course the lucky boys of Owens age were able toreach the woodland oftener, but once a week was asoften as Lincoln and Milton could get away during thecorn-growing season. They had to ride horse to thesingle-shovel plough or to pull weeds with their brownand warty hands. A freshet in June bro

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