next week over at the sod schoolhouse. She
says there's a good teacher, and you'd learn
a lot."

Antonia stood up, lifting and dropping her
shoulders as if they were stiff. "I ain't got
time to learn. I can work like mans now.
My mother can't say no more how Ambrosch
do all and nobody to help him. I can work as
much as him. School is all right for little boys.
I help make this land one good farm."

She clucked to her team and started for
the barn. I walked beside her, feeling vexed.
Was she going to grow up boastful like her
mother, I wondered? Before we reached the
stable, I felt something tense in her silence,
and glancing up I saw that she was crying.
She turned her face from me and looked off
at the red streak of dying light, over the dark
prairie.

I climbed up into the loft and threw down
the hay for her, while she unharnessed her
team. We walked slowly back toward the
house. Ambrosch had come in from the north
quarter, and was watering his oxen at the
tank.

Antonia took my hand. "Sometime you will
tell me all those nice things you learn at the

[[141]]

p140 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p141w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p142

v?