She suddenly feels that no one had ever loved her as deeply as Rosicky. Rudolph and Polly take Rosicky home, where he dies the next morning.The story concludes when Dr. Burleigh, driving to the Rosicky farm one evening, stops by the graveyard where Rosicky is buried)
Ed Burleigh where Anton Rosicky learns that he has a bad heart. Readers also learn that Rosicky, a farmer on the Nebraska prairie, is a native of Bohemia, a region in what is today Slovakia. He is sixty-five and has a wife and six children as well as an "American" daughter-in-law. The doctor urges Rosicky to cease doing heavy farming chores. After Rosicky leaves his office, Dr.
Burleigh remembers how he breakfasted at the Rosicky farm the previous winter after delivering a baby for a rich neighbor. His warm welcome there causes Burleigh to reflect that good people such as the Rosickys never seem to get ahead; but he concludes that perhaps they enjoyed their life all the more.)
When he reaches home, Rosicky tells Mary that his heart "ain't so young." Mary recalls that Rosicky has never treated her harshly in all their years of marriage, which has been successful because they both value the same things. The section ends with a story about how they refused to sell their cream when approached by a creamery company, preferring to give the cream to their own children instead of someone else's.)
He remembers his first days in New York City, when he came to America at the age of 20 and worked in a tailor shop. In the evening he went to school to learn English. His wages were adequate, but he never saved any money and instead loaned it to friends, went to the opera, or spent it on "the girls." Soon, however, Rosicky became restless. On the Fourth of July, Rosicky "found out what was the matter with him." He realized that, in the city, he was living in an unnatural world without any contact with earthly things.
He began to think about going west to farm. He left New York when he was thirty-five to start a new life in Nebraska.)
Polly has found the transition from being a single woman living in town to married life on a farm difficult. Because Rosicky is afraid that Polly's unhappiness will prompt Rudy to abandon the farm for a job in the city, Rosicky decides to loan his son the family car, suggesting that he and Polly go into town that evening. The section ends when, on his way home, Rosicky stops to look at "the sleeping fields" and "the noble darkness.")
Mary responds by telling the story of how, one Fourth of July, the heat and wind destroyed their crops. Instead of despairing, Mary explained, Rosicky decided to have a picnic in the orchard. The storytelling continues when Rosicky describes one particular Christmas in London when he discovered a roasted goose that his poor landlady had prepared for the next day's meal and hidden in his corner of the room. Before he realized what he had done, Rosicky had devoured half of the goose.
Horrified, he wandered the city in despair before meeting some wealthy Czechs who generously gave him money to replace the goose. Shortly after this incident, Rosicky left for New York. Polly is moved by this story and tells Rudy she wants to invite his family to their farm for New Year's dinner.)
