Mrs. Piper was a widow—
“Oh, dear me!
A single woman with a farm must fight her way,” said she.
“Of everything about the land my husband always knew;
I never felt, when he was here, I’d anything to do;
But now, what fields to plow,
And how much hay I ought to cut, and just what crops to sow,
And what to tell the hired men, how can a woman know?
Oh, dear!
With no strong arm to lean upon, it’s lonesome being here!