MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



Big Foot, and I fled down green aisles of the corn before 

 the wrath of the mighty Adam Poe. At times Big Foot 

 grew tired fleeing, and said so in remarkably distinct 

 English, and then to keep the game going, my sister Ada, 

 who played Adam Poe, had to turn and do the fleeing or be 

 tomahawked with a stick. 



When the milk was in the ears, they were delicious 

 steamed over salted water, or better yet roasted 

 before coals at the front of the cooking stove, and 

 eaten with butter and salt, — if you have missed the 

 flavour of it in that form, really you never have known 

 corn ! 



Next came the cutting days. These were after all the 

 caterpillars had climbed down, and travelled across the 

 fence to spin their cocoons among the leaves of the woods ; 

 as if some instinct warned them that they would be 

 plowed up too early to emerge, if they remained in the 

 field. The boys bent four hills, lashed the tassels to- 

 gether for a foundation, and then with one sweep of their 

 big knives, they cut a hill at a time, and stacked it in 

 large shocks, that lined the field like rows of sentinels, 

 guarding the gold of pumpkin and squash tying all around. 

 While the shocks were drying, the squirrels, crows, and 

 quail took possession, and fattened their sides against 

 snow time. 



Then the gathering days of October — they were the 

 best days of all! Like a bloom-outlined vegetable bed, 



221 



