were deftly scraping Montravers's sides, while the third sponged his mouth and legs. Then the youthful band fell to with rubbing-cloths, backed by terrible energy, on the body of the big horse.
“The fathers of this village all have to be helped,” said Mr. Smead; “they're so busy with one thing or another, mostly another. Ye can't be a Dan'l Webster an' do anything else.”
This matter of “helpin' father” seemed to me to be rather arduous. As the horse grew dry the boys grew wet. Perspiration had begun to roll down their faces.
“The trottin'-hoss is the natural ally of the orator an' the conversationalist,” said Mr. Smead. “He stimulates the mind an' furnishes food for thought. A man who has owned a trotter is capable of any feat of the imagination, an' some of our deepest thinkers have graduated from the grand stand an' the sulky. Everybody goes in for trotters here.
“John Griggs an' Colonel Sile an' Horace Brooks an' Bill Warner, all have their trotters. If a farmer gets some money ahead he buys a trotter an' begins to train for speed an' bankruptcy. It helps him to a sense o' grandeur an' distinction. If there's anything else that can be done with money, he don't know it. His boys look like beggars, an' his hoss looks like a prince; just like mine. I told ye I'd show ye a fool, an' here I am—a direct descendant of Thankful Smead by Remember Baker. But I really have a prize in this animal. I expect to sell him for big money.”
Soon we heard the voice of Mrs. Smead at the back door.
“Boys, where are you?” she called.
“Helpin' father,” answered Daniel, the eldest of them.
“Well, breakfast is waiting,” said she, with a touch of impatience in her tone. “You must be getting ready for school.”
“He'll do now,” said Smead. “Put on the coolin' sheet an' walk him for ten minutes.”
A big, spotless sheet blanket was thrown over the shiny, silken coat of the horse, and Rufus began to walk him up and down the yard while the rest of us went in to breakfast.
There was a pathetic contrast which I did not fail to observe, young as I was, between the silken
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