FAITH LAPIDUS: Frost is telling a story about an old farm worker named Silas. The discussion between Warren and Mary continues:

ROBERT FROST:

She pushed Warren outward with her through the door

And shut it after her. “Be kind,” she said.

She took the market things from Warren's arms

And set them on the porch, then drew him down

To sit beside her on the wooden steps.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Warren says:

ROBERT FROST:

“When was I ever anything but kind to him?

But I'll not have the fellow back,” he said.

“I told him so last haying, didn't I?

If he left then, I said, that ended it.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: And Mary says:

ROBERT FROST:

“He's worn out. He's asleep beside the stove.

When I came up from Rowe's I found him here,

Huddled against the barndoor fast asleep. . . .”

Robert Frost had an unhappy childhood which some believe helped make him a very good writer

STEVE EMBER: Through the discussion between Warren and Mary the reader discovers more and more about Silas. In some ways he is a good worker, but he usually disappears when he is most needed. He does not earn much money. He has his own ideas about the way farm work should be done. And he has his own ideas about himself. Instead of asking for help from his rich brother, Silas has come to Warren and Mary. She says: