He at once set about doing the chores in an unusually careful manner when they arrived home.
A large quantity of wood was brought into the kitchen, an extra amount of water drawn, and the cow given a generous lunch of clover after she had been driven into the stable.
"Why do you do so much unnecessary work, Jack dear?" Aunt Nancy asked. "There will be nothing left for morning, and it is bad to have 'idle hands.'"
"I may as well fix everything now, for you know what you said about puttin' off till to-morrow. Say, Aunt Nancy, would you lend me a lead pencil an' a piece of paper?"
"Of course, my child. Are you going to write a letter?"
"Yes, Aunt Nancy, an' you shall see it in the mornin'."
"Better sit down at the kitchen table. If writing is as much of a task for you as it is for me, you'll need every possible convenience."
"I had rather do it in my room, for you see I don't know very much about such things, an' it'll come mighty hard, but you won't care if it don't look very nice, will you?"
"Certainly not, my child. It could only annoy me because I have not taken advantage of our leisure time to teach you the little I know."
"You are always blamin' yourself, Aunt Nancy, an' I don't like to hear it. I wouldn't let anybody else talk that way about you."