CHAPTER VIII.
GOING NUTTING.
As they drove along "the plank road," farther and farther awayfrom the city, Dotty saw more clearly than ever the wide differencebetween Indiana and Maine.
"Why, papa," said she, "did you ever breathe such a dust? It seems likesnuff."
"It makes us almost as invisible as the 'tarn cap' we read of in Germanfairy tales," said Mrs. Clifford, tucking her brown veil under her chin.
She and Mr. Parlin both encouraged Dotty to talk; for they liked to hearher exclamations of wonder at things which to them seemed common-placeenough.
"What did you call this road, Aunt 'Ria? Didn't you say it was made ofboards? I don't see any boards."
"The planks were put down so long ago, Dotty, that they are overlaidwith earth."
"But what did they put them down for?"
"You musser ask so many kestions, Dotty," said Flyaway, severely; "yousay 'what' too many times."
"The planks were laid down, Dotty, on account of the depth of the mud."
"Mud, Aunt 'Ria?"
"Yes, dear, dusty as it is now, at some seasons of the year the roadsare so muddy that you might lose off your overshoes if it were not forthe large beams which bridge over the crossings."
"That reminds me," said Mr. Parlin, "of the man who was seen sinking inthe mud, and, when some one offered to help him out, he replied,cheerfully, 'O, I shall get through; I have a horse under me.'"
"Why, was the horse 'way down out of sight, papa?"
"Where was the hossy, Uncle Eddard?"
"It was only a story, children. If the man said there was a horse underhim, it was a figure of speech, which we call hyperbole; he only meantto state in a funny way that the mud was excessively deep."
"Is it right to tell hyperblees, papa? Because Jennie Vance tells them agreat deal. I didn't know the name of them before."
"No, Alice, it is not right to tell untrue things expecting to bebelieved--of course not."
"Well, _she_ isn't believed. Nobody s'poses her mamma made a bushel ofcurrant wine last summer, unless it's a baby, that doesn't know anybetter."
"_I_ knows better. I'se a goorl, and can walk," said little Katie,bridling.
"I didn't say you _were_ a baby, you precious Flyaway! Who's cunning?"
"_I'm_ is," replied the child, settling back upon the seat with a sighof relief. She was very sensitive on the point of age, and, like Dotty,could not abide the idea of being thought young.
"How far are we going?" asked Mr. Parlin.
"I do not know exactly," replied Mrs. Clifford; "but I will tell you howfar Mr. Skeels, one of our oldest natives, calls it. He says 'he reckonsit is three screeches.'"
"How far is a 'screech,' pray?"
"The distance a human voice can be heard, I presume."
"Let us try it," said Dotty Dimple; and she instantly set up a scream soloud that the birds in the trees took to their wings in alarm. Katiechimed in with a succession of little shrieks about as powerful as thepeep of a little chicken.
"I have heard that they once measured distances by 'shoots,'" said Mrs.Clifford, laughing; "but I hope it will not be necessary to illustrate_them_ by firing a gun."
They next passed on old and weatherworn graveyard.
"This," said Mrs. Clifford, "was once known, in the choice language ofthe backwoodsmen, as a 'briar-patch;' and when people died, it was saidthey 'winked out.'"
"'Winked out,' Aunt 'Ria? how dreadful!"
"Wing tout," echoed Katie; "how defful!"
"O, what beautiful, beautiful grass we're riding by, auntie! When thewind blows it, it _winks_ so softly! Why, it looks like a green riverrunning ever so fast."
"That is a sort of prairie land, dear, and very rich. Look on the otherside of the road, and tell me what you think of those trees."
"O, Aunt 'Ria, I couldn't climb up there, nor a boy either! It wouldtake a pretty spry squirrel--wouldn't it, though?"
"A pitty sp'y squirrel, I fink," remarked Katie, who did not considerany of Dotty's sentences complete until she herself had added afinishing touch.
"They are larger than our trees, Alice."
"O, yes, papa. They look as if they grew, and grew, and forgot to stop."
"Velly long trees, tenny rate," said Katie, throwing up her arms inimitation of branches, and jumping so high that her mother was obligedto take her in her lap in order to keep her in the carriage.
"And, O, papa, it is so smooth between the trees, we can peep like aspy-glass, right through! Why, it seems like a church."
"_I_ don't see um," said Katie, stretching her neck and looking in vainfor a church.
"'The groves were God's first temples,'" repeated Mr. Parlin,reverently. "These trees have no undergrowth of shrubs, like our NewEngland trees."
"But, O, look! look, papa! What is that long green _dangle_, drippingdown from up high? No, swinging up from down low?'
"Yes, what is um, Uncle Eddard?"
"That is a mistletoe-vine embracing a hickory tree. It is called a'tree-thief,' because it steals its food from the tree it grows upon."
"Why, papa, I shouldn't think 'twas a thief, for the tree knows it. Athief comes in the night, when there doesn't anybody know it. _I_ shouldthink 'twas a _beggar_."
"_I_ fink so too," said Flyaway, straining her eyes to look at she knewnot what. "I fink um ought to ask _pease_."
"All this tract of country where we are riding now," said Mrs. Clifford,"was overflowed last spring by the river. It is called 'bottom land,'and is extremely rich."
"I never thought the Hoojers had a very clean, blue, pretty river," saidDotty, thoughtfully; "it looks some like a mud-puddle. Perhaps itcarried off too much of this dirt."
"Muddy-puddil," replied Katie, "full of dirt."
As they rode they passed houses whose chimneys were inhospitably leftout of doors.
"Why, look, auntie," said Dotty; "theres a house turned wrong side out!"
These buildings had no cellars, but were propped upon logs, leaving roomfor the air to pass under the floor, and for other things to passunder, such as cats, dogs, and chickens.
"Why, where _do_ the people go to when they want to go down cellar?"asked Dotty, in a maze.
Near one of these houses she was seized with an irresistible thirst. Mr.Parlin gave the reins to Mrs. Clifford, and stepped out of the carriage,then helped Dotty and Katie to alight.
They found a sharp-nosed woman cooking corn-dodgers for a family of ninechildren. Whether it was their breakfast or dinner hour, it was hard totell. When Mr. Parlin asked for water, the woman wiped her forehead withher apron, and replied, "O, yes, stranger," and one of the little girls,whose face was stained with something besides the kisses of the sun,brought some water from the spring in a gourd.
"Well, Dotty Dimple," said Mrs. Clifford, when they were all on theirway again, "what did you see in the house?"
"O, I saw a woman with a whittled nose, and a box of flowers in thewindow."
"And children," said Katie; "four, five hunnerd chillen."
"The box was labelled 'Assorted Lozenges,'" said Mr. Parlin; "but Iobserved that it contained a black imperial rose; so the occupants havean eye for beauty, after all. I presume they cannot trust their flowersout of doors on account of the pigs."
"They brought me water in a squash-shell," cried Dotty; "it _is_ sofunny out West!"
"_I_ dinked in a skosh-shell, too; and I fink it's _velly_ funny outWest!" said little Echo.
They were riding behind the other carriage, and at some distance, inorder to avoid the dust from its wheels.
"Henry has stopped," said Mrs. Clifford. "We have reached 'Small'sEnlargement,' and cannot comfortably ride any farther. The lot next tothis is ours, and it is there we are going for the pecans."
Dotty could hardly wait to be lifted out, so eager was she to walk onthe "Small Enlargement." She spoke of it afterwards as an "ensmallment;"and the confusion of ideas was very natural. It was the place whereGrace and the "Princess of th
e Ruby Seal" had gone, some years before,to have their fortunes told. It was a wild picturesque region, overgrownwith tulip trees, Judas trees, and scrub oaks.