At eight o’clock in the morning he had scrubbed his freckled face twice in such a vigorous manner as threatened to rub off the skin, while his tow-colored hair was combed into a painful state of exactness.
Josiah was forced to complete the labor of caring for the herbs, which should have been performed on the Saturday previous; and after the last bunch had been carried into the attic he was at liberty once more to inspect his baggage with a view of again assuring himself that everything was in its proper place.
“The first thing I do after meeting Tom and Bob will be to sell them woodchuck skins,” he said to his mother, as he came from his chamber arrayed in a new suit of clothes, and staggering under the weight of the huge valise. “Towser has bit one pretty bad, an’ father says nobody will be crazy enough to buy them; but Bob told me there were lots of stores in New York where nothin’ but fur was kept, an’ of course they’ll want woodchucks.”
“Don’t count too strongly on getting much money from that source, Josiah,” his mother said mildly. “You have got three dollars, and that ought to be enough to spend in one week.”
“So it will if I don’t have to pay too big a price for the presents I want to get you and father.”
“Don’t bother about us, my son, but enjoy yourself, and we will be just as glad to see you empty-handed when Saturday comes, as if you brought half the things in the city. Give me your hand-kerchief so I can tie the money in one corner. Father’s going to pay for the railroad-ticket, and you won’t have any use for it until you get to New York.”
Josiah had no intention of carrying his wealth in the manner proposed, for if Tom and Bob should see it in such a receptacle they would call him “green.”
He had provided himself with the proper outfit at the expense of no small amount of time, and several of his most cherished treasures, by trading with one of the neighbor’s boys for an old calf-skin wallet many sizes too large for himself or his money. There were two holes in it; but by the judicious use of glue and a piece of one of the woodchuck skins, he had repaired the damages until, in his eyes at least, the ancient pocket-book was as good as new.
There were many pennies in Josiah’s hoard; and after these had been placed in the well-worn calf-skin, and the whole stowed snugly in the inside pocket of his coat, a stranger might have fancied he was slightly deformed; but this, according to the young traveler’s ideas, was rather a pleasing addition, since, if the true nature of the protuberance was discovered, he would be looked upon as a capitalist.
For at least the tenth time Mrs. Shindle laid down rules governing his conduct during the six days he was to be absent from the farm.