"California seems so far away," resumed Mrs. Nelson, "and he has no one there to look after him, and mend his clothes—"
"And darn his stockings," said Walter, smiling.
"If he walked all the way across the continent," said Sarah, "I don't believe he would have larger holes in his stockings than you have, Walter."
"Oh, well, I exercise a good deal," said Walter. "Ask father if I don't."
"Walter will be more successful as a farmer than as a scholar," said Mr. Nelson. "He helps me a good deal."
"Tom was a good scholar," said Sarah, "and he was always ready to work too. Walter will never astonish or electrify the world by his learning."
"I don't want to," said her brother. "It isn't in my line."
"That's true enough."
"Don't tease Walter," said Mrs. Nelson. "He helps your father a good deal, and he is not a dunce."
"Thank you, mother, for taking my part. Sarah is going to be a strong-minded woman. I should not wonder if she came out as a lecturer on 'Woman's Rights' some time. I think I see her, with a pair of iron-bowed spectacles on her nose, and her back hair tied up in a big knot, flinging her arms about, and—"