Little Joe was a happy and healthy boy who couldn't stay still for a minute and didn't even remember that he was poor.
In fact, his family was poor, the poorest in the area, and they were only not in an even worse situation because they worked for Mr. Ettuards, the owner of a huge farm with an endless list of tasks.
Since Mr. Eduards was very stingy and wanted to save money, he used few employees to carry out many tasks.
So, little Joe's parents were busy all day long with chores that seemed never-ending.
At first, little Joe still helped with some things, but as he grew older, he became clumsy and almost always knocked over the bucket of milk that his father had taken from the cow.
His father, Mr. Dondinel, used to be patient, but after the repeated times when "accidentally the milk bucket had fallen," he chose to expel little Joe from there, or he would give him a good scolding with a switch.
Little Joe's mother, Mrs. Carlie, although of Italian descent, was peaceful, so she would never let her husband lay a finger on their clumsy son.
However, the boy had no common sense at all, and they always had to be vigilant during milking time because little Joe had a habit of running near the cow's milking area, and in all his recklessness, he could step in cow dung and splash the milk with manure without even realizing it.
Little Joe was like that, smart, mischievous, and spontaneous.
And all those behaviors he had on the farm were escape mechanisms he had developed on his own.
He knew the farm was big and wonderful, only the owners were not.
Mr. Eduards' wife was a totally incoherent and inhumane person, forcing her employees to work until late at night, leaving them completely exhausted, just to satisfy her whims.
That's why little Joe hated her, as his father almost never had a day off because of so much work.
His mother, Mrs. Carlie, had been complaining of body aches for a long time, but unfortunately, the employers did not empathize with anyone and only allowed a break when all the work was finished.
So, at night, his parents took turns applying some herbal remedies.
And because of that, there was never any time left for our little Joe to play with his father. But little Joe was fully certain that this would end one day.
And that they would have their own house, and it didn't need to be as big as the house where they lived.