against the wind. The next day I came down
with an attack of quinsy, which kept me in
the house for nearly two weeks.

The basement kitchen seemed heavenly safe
and warm in those days -- like a tight little
boat in a winter sea. The men were out in
the fields all day, husking corn, and when they
came in at noon, with long caps pulled down
over their ears and their feet in red-lined over-
shoes, I used to think they were like Arctic
explorers.

In the afternoons, when grandmother sat
upstairs darning, or making husking-gloves,
I read "The Swiss Family Robinson" aloud
to her, and I felt that the Swiss family had
no advantages over us in the way of an ad-
venturous life. I was convinced that man's
strongest antagonist is the cold. I admired the
cheerful zest with which grandmother went
about keeping us warm and comfortable and
well-fed. She often reminded me, when she
was preparing for the return of the hungry
men, that this country was not like Virginia,
and that here a cook had, as she said, "very
little to do with." On Sundays she gave us
as much chicken as we could eat, and on other
days we had ham or bacon or sausage meat.

[[74]]

p073 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p074w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p075

v?