Jonas on a Farm in Winter | Page 4

bushes and trees were of course bare of leaves, excepting the evergreens, and they were loaded down with the snow. Some were bent over so that the tops nearly touched the ground.
The brook itself, too, was almost buried and concealed in the snow. In the still places, it had frozen over; and so the snow had been supported by the ice, and thus it concealed both ice and water. At the little cascades and waterfalls, however, which occurred here and there, the water had not frozen. Water does not freeze easily where it runs with great velocity. At these places, therefore, the boys could see the water, and hear it bubbling and gurgling as it fell, and disappeared under the ice which had formed below.
At last, they came to the wood lot. The wood which they were going to haul had been cut before, and it had been piled up in long piles, extending here and there under the trees which had been left. These piles were now, however, partly covered with the snow, which lay light and unsullied all over the surface of the ground.
The sticks of wood in these piles were of different sizes, though they were all of the same length. Some had been cut from the tops of the trees, or from the branches, and were, consequently, small in diameter; others were from the trunks, which would, of course, make large logs. These logs had, however, been split into quarters by a beetle and wedges, when the wood had been prepared, so that there were very few sticks or logs so large, but that Jonas could pretty easily get them on to the sled.
Jonas drove his team up near to one end of the pile, while Josey and Oliver went to the other, where the wood was generally small. While Jonas was loading, he heard a conversation something like this between the other boys:--
"Let's put some good large logs on our sled," said Josey.
"Well," said Oliver, "as large as we can; only we'd better put this small wood on first."
"I wish you'd go around to the other side, Oliver," said Josey again; "you're in my way."
"No," said Oliver, "I can't work on that side very well."
"Then I mean to move the old General round a little."
"No," said Oliver, "the sled stands just right now; only you get up on the top of the pile, and I'll stay here." "No," said Josey, "I'd rather stand here myself."
So the boys continued at work a few minutes longer, each being in the other's way.
At length, Josey said again,--
"O, here is a large log, and I mean to get it out, and put it upon our sled."
The log was covered with smaller wood, so that Josey could only get hold of the end of it. He clasped his hands together under this end, and began to lift it up, endeavoring to get it free from the other wood. He succeeded in raising it a little, but it soon got wedged in again, worse than before.
"Come, Oliver," said Josey, "help me get out this log. It is rock maple."
"No," said Oliver, "I'm busy."
"Jonas," said Josey, calling out aloud, "Jonas, here's a stick of wood, which I can't get out. I wish you'd come and help me."
In answer to this request, Jonas only called both the boys to come to him.
They accordingly left the old General standing in the snow, with his sled partly loaded, and came to the end of the pile, where Jonas was at work.
"I see you don't get along very well," said Jonas.
"Why, you see," said Josey, "that Oliver wouldn't help me put on a great log."
"The difficulty is," said Jonas, "that you both want to be master. Whereas, when two people are working together, one must be master, and the other servant."
"I don't want to be servant," said Josey.
"It's better to be servant on some accounts," said Jonas; "then you have no responsibility."
"Responsibility?" repeated Josey.
"Yes," said Jonas. "Power and responsibility always go together;--or at least they ought to. But come, boys, be helping me load, while we are settling this difficulty, so as not to lose our time."
So the boys began to put wood upon Jonas's sled, while the conversation continued as follows:--
"Can't two persons work together, unless one is master, and the other servant?" asked Josey.
"At least," replied Jonas, "one must take the lead, and the other follow, in order to work to advantage. There must be subordination. For you see that, in all sorts of work, there are a great many little questions coming up, which are of no great consequence, only they ought to be decided, one way or the other, quick, or else the work won't go on. You act, in your work, like Jack and Jerry, when they ran against the horse-block."
"Why,