The Mcveys Author:Joseph Kirkland General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1888 Original Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin Subjects: Literary Criticism / General Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. Whe... more »n you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER III. THE MILL AND THE BROKEN LEG. Slowly to themselves, swiftly to their mother, Phil and Meg grew to their " teens." The boy's mind did not change its bent; but its stronger grasp seized upon stronger things. Certain pattering water-wheels driven by a shady brook that crept down toward Spring River, near the town, had been his dear delight for several summers; now they were supplanted in his affections by the heavy shafting, the intricate gearing, the whirring stones, the shaking and roar of a real mill. And yet it was only nature's play. The river came running down, babbling and insignificant, scarcely a pool of it deep enough to swim in ; but when it met the mill-dam, and part of its stream, turning idly aside, threaded its sluggish way through the mill-race, over the water-weeds, and nnder the willows and alders until it reached the flume and filled the buckets of the great wheel, what an awful strength it suddenly put forth ! So huge were even the most insignificant powers of Mother Earth when compared with the strength of a man -- and so mighty was the mind of man to capture those powers and break them to harness. One day he met with an accident. Arriving home much earlier than usual, he called out from the road : -- " Mother and Meg ! See how well I could walk on crutches if I had to ! " Mother and Meg came to window and door in response to the invitation, and there to be sure was master Philip trudging manfully up the walk, his coat showing...« less