This hard-working kid may have discovered something in the dirt that has his attention. My grandfather, who enlarged his garden just about every summer, always found objects like commemorative coins and medals, old buttons, gadgets, small medicine bottles, etc. He would empty his pockets each time he came into the house to clean up and we kids would get to keep his "finds". It's all been relost over the years and hopefully refound by someone else, and could have been some wonderful keepsakes for all we know. Metal detectors had not become widely available at the time.