The next day proved rainy, but Mrs. Whitman perceived that—notwithstanding the lack of enthusiasm manifested by her husband the evening before,—though there was much work under cover that was quite necessary to be done, he did not set James about it; but told Bertie that he and James might take the day to study, after doing the chores, and, taking Peter, went to the barn to thresh beans.
“Father, can I teach James to write, too?”
“You have no writing-book.”
“I have one I didn’t quite finish last winter, and so has Maria.”
“There’s not a quill in the house, and but one pen that has been mended till there’s not much of it left, and I can’t spare that.”
“We can pull some out of the old gander.”
“They will be too soft.”
“Mother says she can bake ‘em in the oven.”
“Well, fix it to suit yourselves.”
One obstacle surmounted, another arose.