6o 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



of the doubler and all else that has fol- 

 lowed. You can see in that load the 

 masterly strength of Fred and the rem- 

 iniscences of Uncle Dan. But if you 

 have not advanced beyond the purely 

 practical, you will see, as then the boy 

 saw, a lot of sweating under the stuffy 

 rafters. 'Tuck it away down there; 

 don't be afraid to squeeze it in. Will 

 be hard to get it all in any wav." But 

 one bright hope sustains him — that de- 

 licious sweetened water with a dash of 

 vinegar, and, Oh joy! perhaps a "fried 

 cake" with it. 



Down from the haymow come the 

 boy and Joe. Fred did the pitching, 

 and, true to his rank, he kept them 

 bus)'. It had been a fight for life, for 

 Fred seemed to have a grim determina- 

 tion to bury them alive. Reeking, 

 sweating, veneered with seed, they 

 come out of the furnace to enjoy the 

 delicious drink. It is a mingling of 

 sour and sweet ; it is always associated 

 with the hardest work. Oh, epitome of 

 life! 



"Back out ; leave the cart under the 

 cherry tree. Unyoke the oxen, put 



them in the pasture, and drive the cows 

 home." 



:|: $ * * * 



After milking and after supper, the 

 twilight conclave assembled under the 

 cherry tree. Some sat in the wagon, 

 some on the wall and a few on a pile 

 of planks. All smoked because, of 

 course, that would drive away the mos- 

 quitoes. What stories, what jokes, 

 what tales of other seasons. If a 

 stenographer with ten hands had been 

 there, and with each hand had written 

 double strokes, he might have recorded 

 perhaps a tithe of the words that flowed 

 in a surging, roaring flood from every 

 man's lips; but now they remain only 

 as an echo, faint and far, and growing 

 fainter, as the boy grows older, and 

 grayer, and closer to the end of his 

 swathe. 



"Oh, too hot to go in to-night. Let's 

 spread out the hay left on the barn 

 floor and put on it the sailcloth." 



"We'll do it." 



And the boy tries it too. He is really 

 getting to be quite a man — in haying 

 time. When the jug had been brought 



"HE WAITS UNTIL THE LOAD OF HAY GOES HOME. IT IS THE FULLNESS OF ALL THINGS." 



