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When Samantha had first come to Eternity, Reverend Crane had tried her in a couple of jobs She had first tried helping Prudence in her shop, but Samantha soon found she didn't have the skill or patience for sewing Then, since she was the only child who could read, Sahaham's memory and used water frohaer

After the Reverend's death, Samantha had been forced by necessity to perform a variety of tasks With most of the children of Eternity reduced to babies or toddlers, Samantha, Prudence, and the older children who had re jobs previously relegated solely to the boys

Samantha found she enjoyed the chores of the boys farheld little interest to her She preferred to ith her hands out in the fields or around the barns When she was seven she had helped one of the cows give birth by reaching inside the womb to turn the calf around Not even the boys had wanted to do that, but when the newborn calf licked Samantha's face, she found it hile

Now that most of the children were older, Samantha had taken onrounds from the fields to the barns to the streae in order toover the lesson in the et back to business as usual

She started in the fields, where she found the crops growing on schedule In another two months the corn would be taller than her-unless she had another growth spurt The wheat was still green, but by harvest ti into flour that would help see the winter

Sheanyone to pay any attention to her Still, she thought she heard the boys snickering in her wake Though she couldn't be certain, she thought one of theoes Boobies" She walked faster

Next she inspected the livestock She had helped deliver many of the animals herself and thus had always felt a kinship with the the horses and cows and even scratching the heads of the sheep The chickens she stayed away froht she were made of corn