Nathan neighed under his breath, with the sound Dan gave when he saw clover.
"Well, I kind of know how he feels. I like a big tree myself."
"Sometimes in stormy weather that pine is like a rocky crag with the sea beating against it," Dorinda said. "I used to remember it up in Maine. I suppose that is why Pa likes to look at it. All the meaning of his life has gone into it, and all the meaning of the country. Endurance, that's what it is."
"What a fancy you've got," Nathan answered admiringly, "and always had even when you were a child. But you're right about endurance. This farm looks to me as if it had endured about as much as it can stand."
"Oh, I'm going to change all that."
"Then you'd better get busy."
"I'll begin to-morrow, if you'll send me some field hands." She stopped and made a gesture, full of vital energy, in the direction of the road. "I want to make a new pasture out of that eighteen-acre field next to the old one."
"It has run to broomsedge now, hasn't it?"
"Yes, but it used to be a cornfield in great-grandfather's day. If you can get me the hands, I'll start them clearing it off the first thing in the morning."
He chuckled with enjoyment. "Oh, I'll get you anything you want, but the niggers won't work for nothing, you know."