I planted about two acres and a half of upland; and as it was only about fifteen years since the land was cleared, and I myself had got out two or three cords of stumps, I did not give it any manure; but in the course of the summer it appeared by the arrowheads which I turned up in hoeing, that an extinct nation had anciently dwelt here and planted corn and
beans ere white men came to clear the land, and so, to some extent, had exhausted the soil for this very crop.
'I think,' answered the
bean, 'that as we have so fortunately escaped death, we should keep together like good companions, and lest a new mischance should overtake us here, we should go away together, and repair to a foreign country.'
"Better
beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear."
Daylight cut up generous chunks of bacon and dropped them in the pot of bubbling
beans. The moccasins of both men were wet, and this in spite of the intense cold; so when there was no further need for them to leave the oasis of spruce boughs, they took off their moccasins and hung them on short sticks to dry before the fire, turning them about from time to time.
After awhile it seemed to me that my oats came very short; I had the
beans, but bran was mixed with them instead of oats, of which there were very few; certainly not more than a quarter of what there should have been.
An old mouse was running in and out over the stone doorstep, carrying peas and
beans to her family in the wood.
"Will you eat any of these
beans, Cousin Porthos?" said Mme.
Jane escorted them all upstairs, while Miranda watched the cooking of the supper; but Rebecca promptly took the two little girls away from their mother, divested them of their wraps, smoothed their hair, and brought them down to the kitchen to smell the
beans.
Phebe stopped rattling her
beans from one pan to another, and her eyes were full of pity as they rested on the curly head bent down on Rose's knee, for she saw that the heart under the pretty locket ached with its loss, and the dainty apron was used to dry sadder tears than any she had ever shed.
"What's the matter with them
beans?" she challenged.
Straight to New York they hie, and lay their goods at the feet of the girl who serves them
beans in a beanery.
Webster's Dictionary gives the meaning of the word 'miasma' as 'an infection floating in the air; a deadly exhalation'; and, in the opinion of Mr Robert Ferguson, his late employer, that description, though perhaps a little too flattering, on the whole summed up Master Roland
Bean pretty satisfactorily.
