He'll never make a farmer.

Indeed, for that matter, men never farm like women, and Leena will take to it after me.

She knows all my ways." They were a kindly family, with no minds to make this short life bitter for each other by thwarting, as so many well-meaning relatives do; so the boy chose his own trade and went to sea.
He saw many places and many people; he saw a great deal of life, and came face to face with death more than once, and under strange shapes.
He found answers to a lot of the old questions, and then new ones came in their stead.

Each year seemed to hold more than a life-time at home would have held, and yet how quickly the years went by! A great many had gone by when Peter Paul set foot once more upon Dutch soil.
"And it only seems like yesterday that I went away!" said he.
Mother was dead.

That was the one great change.