Jonas on a Farm in Winter | Page 2

he took down a lantern, which hung by the side of the fire. The lantern was made of tin, with holes punched through it on all sides, so as to allow the light to shine through; and yet the holes were not large enough to admit the wind, to blow out the light.
Jonas opened the lantern, and took out a short candle from the socket within. Just as he was lighting it, the door opened, and Amos came in.
"Ah, Jonas," said he, "you are before me, as usual."
"Why, the youngest hand makes the fire, of course," said Jonas.
"Then it ought to be Oliver," said Amos,--"or else Josey."
"There! I promised to wake Oliver up," said Jonas.
"O, he's awake; and he and Josey are coming down. They have found out that there is snow on the ground."
"Is there much snow?" asked Jonas.
"I don't know," said Amos; "the ground seems pretty well covered. If there is enough to make sledding, you are going after wood to-day."
"And what are you going to do?" said Jonas.
"I am going up among the pines to get out the barn frame, I believe."
Here a door opened, and Oliver came in, followed by Josey shivering with the cold, and in great haste to get to the fire.
"Didn't your father say," said Amos to Oliver, "that he was going with me to-day, to get out the timber for the barn frame?"
"Yes," said Oliver, "he is going to build a great barn next summer. But I'm going up into the woods with Jonas, to haul wood. There's plenty of snow."
"I'd go too," said Josey, "if it wasn't so cold."
"It won't be cold in the woods," said Jonas. "There's no wind in the woods."
While they had been talking thus, Jonas had got his lantern ready, and had gone to the door, and stood there a minute, ready to go out.
"Jonas," said Josey, "are you going out into the barn?"
"Yes," said Jonas.
"Wait a minute, then, for me, just till I put on my other boot."
Jonas waited a minute, according to Josey's request, and then they all went out together.
They found the snow pretty deep, all over the yard, but they waded through it to the barn. They had to go through a gate, which led them into the barn-yard. From the barn-yard they entered the barn itself, by a small door near one corner.
There were two great doors in the middle of the barn, made so large that, when they were opened, there was space enough for a large load of hay to go in. Opposite these doors there was a space floored over with plank, pretty wide, and extending through the barn to the back side. This was called the barn floor. On one side was a place divided off for stables for the horses, and on the other side was the tie-up, a place for the oxen and cows. There was also the bay, and the lofts for hay and grain; and at the end of the tie-up there was a door leading into a calf-pen, and thence, by a passage behind the calf-pen, to a work-shop and shed. The small door where the boys came in, led to a long and narrow passage, between the tie-up and the bay.
They walked along, Jonas going before with his lantern in his hand. The cattle which had lain down, began to get up, and the horses neighed in their stalls; for the shining of the lantern in the barn was the well-known signal which called them to breakfast.
Jonas clambered up by a long ladder to the hay-loft, to pitch down some hay, and Josey and Oliver followed him; while Amos remained below to "feed out" the hay, as he called it, as fast as they pitched it down. It was pretty dark upon the loft, although the lantern shed a feeble light upon the rafters above.
"Boys," said Jonas, "it is dangerous for you to be up here; I'd rather you'd go down."
"Well," said Oliver, and he began to descend.
"Why?" said Josey; "I don't think there's any danger."
"Yes," said Jonas, "a pitchfork wound is worse than almost any other. It is what they call a punctured wound."
"What kind of a wound is that?" said Josey.
"I'll tell you some other time," said Jonas. "But don't stay up here. You don't obey so well as Oliver. Go down and give the old General some hay."
The old General was the name of a large white horse, quite old and steady, but of great strength. When he was younger, he belonged to a general, who used to ride him upon the parade, and this was the origin of his name.
Josey, at this proposal, made haste down the ladder, and began to put some hay over into the old General's crib. He then went round into the General's stall,