FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES.
"I think I'll go into business," said Hal one evening, as he and Granny and Florence sat together.
They missed Joe so much! He seldom came home until eight o'clock; and there was no one to stir up the children, and keep the house in a racket.
"What?" asked Granny.
"I am trying to decide. I wonder how chickens would do?"
"It takes a good deal to feed 'em," said Granny.
"But they could run about, you know. And buckwheat is such a splendid thing for them. Then we can raise ever so much corn."
"But where would you get your buckwheat?" asked Florence.
"I was thinking. Mr. Peters never does any thing with his lot down here, and the old apple-trees in it are not worth much. If he'd let me have it ploughed up! And then we'd plant all of our ground in corn, except the little garden that we want."
"What a master hand you are to plan, Hal!"