He did not want to frighten his sister
by telling of what had happened, and when he wrote, tried to be diplomatic.
"Clara has been too much among the rough men who work on my farms and had
become a little rough," he wrote. "Take her in hand. I want her to become
more of a lady. Get her acquainted with the right kind of people." In
secret he hoped she would meet and marry some young man while she was away.
Two of his sisters had gone away to school and it had turned out that way.
During the month before his daughter left home the farmer tried to be
somewhat more human and gentle in his attitude toward her, but did not
succeed in dispelling the dislike of himself that had taken deep root
in her nature. At table he made jokes at which the farm hands laughed
boisterously. Then he looked at his daughter who did not appear to have
been listening. Clara ate quickly and hurried out of the room. She did not
go to visit her girl friends in town and the young school teacher came
no more to see her. During the long summer afternoons she walked in the
orchard among the beehives or climbed over fences and went into a wood,
where she sat for hours on a fallen log staring at the trees and the sky.
Tom Butterworth also hurried out of his house. He pretended to be busy and
every day drove far and wide over the country. Sometimes he thought he had
been brutal and crude in his treatment of his daughter, and decided he
would speak to her regarding the matter and ask her to forgive him.
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