My mother had always lived in town.
She says she started behind in farm-work, and never has caught up."
"Yes, a new country's hard on the old ones, sometimes," said Anna
thoughtfully. "My grandmother's getting feeble now, and her mind wanders.
She's forgot about this country, and thinks she's at home in Norway. She
keeps asking mother to take her down to the waterside and the fish market.
She craves fish all the time. Whenever I go home I take her canned salmon
and mackerel."
"Mercy, it's hot!" Lena yawned. She was supine under a little oak, resting
after the fury of her elder-hunting, and had taken off the high-heeled
slippers she had been silly enough to wear. "Come here, Jim. You never got
the sand out of your hair." She began to draw her fingers slowly through
my hair.
Antonia pushed her away. "You'll never get it out like that," she said
sharply. She gave my head a rough touzling and finished me off with
something like a box on the ear. "Lena, you ought n't to try to wear those
slippers any more. They're too small for your feet. You'd better give them
to me for Yulka."
"All right," said Lena good-naturedly, tucking her white stockings under
her skirt. "You get all Yulka's things, don't you? I wish father did n't
have such bad luck with his farm machinery; then I could buy more things
for my sisters. I'm going to get Mary a new coat this fall, if the sulky
plough's never paid for!"
Tiny asked her why she did n't wait until after Christmas, when coats
would be cheaper.
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