A NEW FEATURE
The summer had passed, and now the late autumn was at hand. The nights were getting cold and damp. The cows were eating the last bits of grass in the chilly pastures, while the boys herding them built fires to warm themselves and to roast potatoes.
One such unpleasant evening Otto came home from school to tell his mother that he was going over to see what Wiseli was doing, for she had not been at school for a whole week. He took an apple and hurried away. As he went up the path to Beechgreen he noticed Rudi sitting on the ground in front of the door with a pile of pears beside him; he was busily engaged biting into first one and then another.
"Where is Wiseli?" asked Otto.
"Outdoors," answered Rudi.
"Where outdoors?"
"In the pasture."
"In what pasture?"
"I don't know."
"You will not suffer from overpoliteness at least," remarked Otto. He started for the large pasture near the woods. Just then he noticed some people under a pear tree near at hand, and soon he saw Wiseli gathering pears into a basket. Hans had thrown himself face upward across a filled basket and was rocking himself in a way which threatened the overturn of the pears. Chappi was perched up in the tree laughing at his brother's antics. When Wiseli saw Otto coming, her face broke into happy smiles.