With true New England circumlocution Luke opened his communication thus:—
"Ain't very busy now, John, are you?"
Taken unawares, John said, frankly:—
"No; did the last of my haying yesterday. Why?"
"Well, father 'n' I was a wonderin' if you would n't do a job o' drivin for us. Ef yer would, 't 'ud be an awful help to us. We 're jest about drove out o' our senses. You see we hain't got hosses enough for all our folks; yer can't calkillate on boarders no how; one year there won't nobody want to ride at all, 'n' yer hosses 'll eat their heads off; an the next year, ye 'll cut down on hosses, and then everybody 'll want to drive from mornin' till night, and not make a mite of allowance for you nuther. Now, Kate, she 's gone lame; a feller here raced her up meetin'us hill last week, and pretty nigh killed her—I 'd like to break his darned neck for him; an' that breaks up our best team; and you see there 's some o' our folks we 'd agreed to take regular every afternoon, and they 're just upsot about it, an I 'm afraid they 'll go off if they can't have their rides,—it 's about all they do. I wish such folks 'd bring up their own hosses. Now could n't you jest take 'em for us? they won't be here more 'n a month. They 'll pay ye first rate, they 're rich, they don't care what they pay for any thing."
John laughed out.
