I-IV

On the afternoon of that same Sunday I took
my first long ride on my pony, under Otto's
direction. After that Dude and I went twice a
week to the post-office, six miles east of us, and
I saved the men a good deal of time by riding
on errands to our neighbors. When we had to
borrow anything, or to send about word that
there would be preaching at the sod school-
house, I was always the messenger. Formerly
Fuchs attended to such things after working
hours.

All the years that have passed have not
dimmed my memory of that first glorious
autumn. The new country lay open before
me: there were no fences in those days, and I
could choose my own way over the grass up-
lands, trusting the pony to get me home again.
Sometimes I followed the sunflower-bordered
roads. Fuchs told me that the sunflowers were
introduced into that country by the Mormons;
that at the time of the persecution, when they
left Missouri and struck out into the wilder-
ness to find a place where they could worship

[[31]]

p030 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p031w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p032

v?