Caleb, watching, swallowed and grimaced at the same instant that his son did.

There were tears in his old eyes as he took up another apple to pare.
Deborah set the bottle on the shelf and laid the spoon beside it.
"You've got to take this every hour for a spell," said she, "an' I ain't goin' to have any such work, if you be sick; you can make up your mind to it." And make up his mind to this unwelcome dose Ephraim did.

Once an hour his mother stood over him with the spoon, and the fierce odor of the medicine came to his nostrils; he screwed his eyes tight, opened his mouth, and swallowed without a word.

There were limits to his mother's patience which Ephraim dared not pass.

He had only vague ideas of what might happen if he did, but he preferred to be on the safe side.