When at last his eyes closed from
great weariness he dreamed he was sitting with his grandmother on the
wall and above them all the birds were singing so loud and so joyfully
that he had to sing with them: "Only trust the dear Lord!"
CHAPTER FOURTH
HARD TIMES
The following morning Sami was awakened by loud tones, but it was no
longer the birds singing; it was the farmer's wife ordering the boys
harshly to get up right away. She had already called them three times,
and if this time they didn't obey, their father would come. Then they
all sprang out of bed and in a few minutes were down-stairs, where
their father was already sitting at the table and would not have waited
much longer.
The day did not pass very differently from the one before, and thus
passed a long series of days. There was already a change in the work.
Sami, little by little, learned to do everything very well, for he took
pains and followed his grandmother's advice carefully. He always had
something to do for the other boys still, so that he never finished his
work a moment before supper-time. But he was no longer late. A change had
also come about in this. Stoeffi had learned that there was one thing Sami
could not or would not do which he himself could do very well: he could
not tell a lie.
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