He was truly grateful for this , and toiled away so diligently that Mr. Bhaer said , smiling , when he saw his hot face and inky fingers : `` Do n't work so hard , my boy ; you will tire yourself out , and there is time enough . '' `` But I must work hard , or I ca n't catch up with the others . They know heaps , and I do n't know anything , '' said Nat , who had been reduced to a state of despair by hearing the boys recite their grammar , history , and geography with what he thought amazing ease and accuracy . `` You know a good many things which they do n't , '' said Mr. Bhaer , sitting down beside him , while Franz led a class of small students through the intricacies of the multiplication table . `` Do I ? '' and Nat looked utterly incredulous . `` Yes ; for one thing , you can keep your temper , and Jack , who is quick at numbers , can not ; that is an excellent lesson , and I think you have learned it well . Then , you can play the violin , and not one of the lads can , though they want to do it very much . But , best of all , Nat , you really care to learn something , and that is half the battle . It seems hard at first , and you will feel discouraged , but plod away , and things will get easier and easier as you go on . '' Nat 's face had brightened more and more as he listened , for , small as the list of his learning was , it cheered him immensely to feel that he had anything to fall back upon . `` Yes , I can keep my temper father 's beating taught me that ; and I can fiddle , though I do n't know where the Bay of Biscay is , '' he thought , with a sense of comfort impossible to express . Then he said aloud , and so earnestly that Demi heard him : `` I do want to learn , and I will try . I never went to school , but I could n't help it ; and if the fellows do n't laugh at me , I guess I 'll get on first rate you and the lady are so good to me . '' `` They sha n't laugh at you ; if they do , I 'll I 'll tell them not to , '' cried Demi , quite forgetting where he was . The class stopped in the middle of 7 times 9 , and everyone looked up to see what was going on . Thinking that a lesson in learning to help one another was better than arithmetic just then , Mr. Bhaer told them about Nat , making such an interesting and touching little story out of it that the good-hearted lads all promised to lend him a hand , and felt quite honored to be called upon to impart their stores of wisdom to the chap who fiddled so capitally . This appeal established the right feeling among them , and Nat had few hindrances to struggle against , for every one was glad to give him a `` boost '' up the ladder of learning . Till he was stronger , much study was not good for him , however , and Mrs. Jo found various amusements in the house for him while others were at their books . But his garden was his best medicine , and he worked away like a beaver , preparing his little farm , sowing his beans , watching eagerly to see them grow , and rejoicing over each green leaf and slender stock that shot up and flourished in the warm spring weather .
Never was a garden more faithfully hoed ; Mr. XXXXX really feared that nothing would find time to grow , Nat kept up such a stirring of the soil ; so he gave him easy jobs in the flower garden or among the strawberries , where he worked and hummed as busily as the bees booming all about him .
Bhaer Biscay Demi Franz Jo Nat fall first intricacies right