Just north of it, far back from both
roads, another farmyard. Behind it--to the north, stretched
out, a long windbreak of poplars, with a gap or a vista
in its centre. Barn and outbuildings were unpainted, the
house white; a not unpleasing group, but something slovenly
about it. I saw with my mind's eye numerous children,
rather neglected, uncared for, an overworked, sickly
woman, a man who was bossy and harsh.
The road angles here. Bell's farm consists of three
quartersections; the southwest quarter lends its diagonal
for the trail. I had hardly made the turn, however, when
a car came to meet me. It stopped. The school-inspector
of the district looked out. I drew in and returned his
greeting, half annoyed at being thus delayed. But his
very next word made me sit up. He had that morning
inspected my wife's school and seen her and my little
girl; they were both as well as they could be. I felt so
glad that I got out of my buggy to hand him my pouch of
tobacco, the which he took readily enough. He praised my
wife's work, as no doubt he had reason to do, and I should
have given him a friendly slap on the shoulder, had not
just then my horse taken it into his head to walk away
without me.
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