"It will be a rich country some day when I'm an old, old woman," she
said to Henry.
"It's a rich country now," replied he proudly, "and it will be a long,
long time before you are an old woman."
They began now to plow the ground cleared the autumn before--"new
ground" they called it--for the spring planting of maize. This, often
termed "Indian corn" but more generally known by the simple name corn,
was to be their chief crop, and the labor of preparation, in which Henry
had his full share, was not light. Their plows were rude, made by
themselves, and finished with a single iron point, and the ground, which
had supported the forest so lately, was full of roots and stumps. So the
passage of the plow back and forth was a trial to both the muscles and
the spirit. Henry's body became sore from head to foot, and by and by,
as the spring advanced and the sun grew hotter, he looked longingly at
the shade of the forest which yet lay so near, and thought of the deep,
cool pools and the silver fish leaping up, until their scales shone like
gold in the sunshine, and of the stags with mighty antlers coming down
to drink.
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