The youth turned his attention to the buildings themselves--the
barn, the cart shed, the henhouse, and the smaller buildings.
That famous old decorating firm of Wind & Weather had contracted
for all painting done around the Atterson place for the many
years; but the buildings were not otherwise in a bad state of
repair.

A few shingles had been blown off the roofs; here and there a
board was loose. With a hammer and a few nails, and in a few
hours, many of these small repairs could be accomplished. And a
coat or two of properly mixed and applied whitewash would freshen
up the whole place and--like charity--cover a multitude of sins.

Henry bade him good-bye now, they shook hands, and Hiram agreed
to let his new friend know at once if he decided to come with
Mrs. Atterson to the farm.

"We can have heaps of fun--you and me," declared Henry.

"It isn't so bad," soliloquized the young farmer when he was
alone. "There'd be time to put the buildings and fences in
good shape before the spring work came on with a rush. There's
fertilizer enough in the barnyard and the pig pen and the hen
run--with the help of a few pounds of salts and some bone meal,
perhaps--to enrich a right smart kitchen garden and spread for
corn on that four acre lot yonder.

"Of course, this land up here on the hill needs humus. If it has
been cropped on shares, as Henry says, all the enrichment it has