The burning sun of those few weeks, with
occasional rains at night, secured the corn.
After the milky ears were once formed, we had
little to fear from dry weather. The men were
working so hard in the wheatfields that they
did not notice the heat, -- though I was kept
busy carrying water for them, -- and grand-
mother and Antonia had so much to do in the
kitchen that they could not have told whether
one day was hotter than another. Each morn-
ing, while the dew was still on the grass,
Antonia went with me up to the garden to
get early vegetables for dinner. Grandmother
made her wear a sunbonnet, but as soon as we
reached the garden she threw it on the grass
and let her hair fly in the breeze. I remember
how, as we bent over the pea-vines, beads of
perspiration used to gather on her upper lip
like a little mustache.

"Oh, better I like to work out of doors than
in a house!" she used to sing joyfully. "I not
care that your grandmother say it makes me
like a man. I like to be like a man." She
would toss her head and ask me to feel the
muscles swell in her brown arm.

We were glad to have her in the house. She
was so gay and responsive that one did not

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