Where
the grain holds the dew and takes the bite from the sun the soil is
moist, and in such soil it is easier to pull the poppies out by the
roots than to break the stalk. Now the city folk, like other folk,
are inclined to move along the line of least resistance, and for each
flower they gathered, there were also gathered many crisp-rolled buds
and with them all the possibilities and future beauties of the plant
for all time to come.
One of the city folk, a middle-aged gentleman, with white hands and
shifty eyes, especially made life interesting for me. We called him
the "Repeater," what of his ways. When from the porch we implored
him to desist, he was wont slowly and casually to direct his steps
toward the fence, simulating finely the actions of a man who had not
heard, but whose walk, instead, had terminated of itself or of his
own volition. To heighten this effect, now and again, still casually
and carelessly, he would stoop and pluck another poppy. Thus did he
deceitfully save himself the indignity of being put out, and rob us
of the satisfaction of putting him out, but he came, and he came
often, each time getting away with an able-bodied man's share of
plunder.
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