THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND - CSIR

single one of these tasks to her liking. Her hands were unskillful not so much from inability as from the rebellion that
stiffened her fingers. She was Katherine Tyler. She had not been reared to do the work of slaves. And William Ashby was the
only person in Wethersfield who did not expect her to be useful, who demanded nothing, and offered his steady admiration as
proof that she was still of some worth. No wonder that she found herself looking forward to Saturday evening.
CHAPTER EIGHT
"THE ONION FIELD in the south meadow needs weeding," announced Matthew one morning in early June. "If Judith and
Katherine can be spared, they can spend the morning at it."
The two girls who set out soon after breakfast did not provide such a contrast as on Meeting Day. Scandalized to see Kit
wearing out her finery with scrubbing and cooking, Rachel and Mercy had made her a calico dress exactly the same as
Judith's. It was coarse woven and simply made, without so much as a single bow for trimming, but it was certainly far more
suited to the menial work she had to do in it. Beyond a doubt, too, it had made for an easier relationship with her cousin This
morning Judith seemed almost friendly.
"What a wonderful day!" she exclaimed. "Aren't you glad we don't have to stay inside, Kit?''
Kit felt quite cheerful. It really was a wonderful day, with a bright blue sky, and the fields and woods all a soft green. The
roadway was bordered with daisies and buttercups, pale and thin, of course, compared to the brilliant masses of color in
Barbados, but pretty all the same. And for the first time since she had come to Wethersfield she did not feel chilly.
The girls passed the Meeting House, turned down Short Street and went on down the pathway that was known as the South
Road. The Great Meadow, Judith explained, was the grassy land that lay within the wide loop of the river.
"No one lives there," Judith told her, "because in the spring the river floods over and sometimes the fields are completely
covered. After the water goes down we can use the land. Tis good rich soil and every landowner has a lot for pasture or
gardens. Father is entitled to a bigger lot, but he has no one to help him."
As they came out from the shelter of the trees and the Great Meadows stretched before them, Kit caught her breath. She had
not expected anything like this. From that first moment, in a way she' could never explain, the Meadows claimed her and
made her their own. As far as she could see they stretched on either side, a great level sea of green, broken here and there by a
solitary graceful elm. Was it the fields of sugar cane they brought to mind, or the endless reach of the ocean to meet the sky?