“I don’t care—I would like to do it anyway. Roughing it just suits me. That’s why I would like to be out with father.”
“I’m afraid, Dave, you’ll never care to settle down to steady farming life,” said Joseph Morris, with a sigh. “It’s plain to see you have your father’s restless spirit in you.”
“Well, we can’t all be farmers, Uncle Joe. Some men must be restless or the world would stand still. Columbus was restless and that is what made him discover America and Captain John Smith was restless, too, and that brought him to Virginia and made him fight for his footing. I don’t think it’s right to find fault with restless men, as you call them, if they do what is right.”
“I am not finding fault, my lad. Only I want to caution you against breaking away from habits that are steady. A steady farmer, who attends strictly to his work, is worth a dozen such men as those restless backwoodsmen for instance, who came into Winchester and raised a row.”
“But if a fellow doesn’t like farming?”
“Then try to find something else to do. There are many openings, and more are springing up. You might get into some business in the town. How would you like to be bound out as an apprentice?”
“I’d hate that! I don’t want to live in town. I would like trading, or surveying, or something like that—something that would let me travel around, and yet something that I could make money at.”
“Well, those openings are not so many. But perhaps your father will need you soon, and out in that wild country you’ll get all the open air you’ll want.”
The Shenandoah passed, their course was now directly for the gap in the mountains which Washington had pointed out. Here the trail soon plunged into the gloom of the mountain forest, where the cedars and hemlocks were so thick the two could scarcely see a rod before them. The road was rough to such a degree that the horses often came to a standstill and had to be led forward by hand. The soil was black and thick with insects and they had to watch carefully for fear of stirring up such a snake’s nest as had been left behind.
“Mr. Washington certainly will have a task surveying through here,” remarked Dave, as they came to a halt to catch their breaths after toiling up a rocky hill.