First Attempts at Observation 



The substance which the miller shoots 

 down is not a flour passed through the bolt- 

 ing-sieve, but rather a coarse meal, a mix- 

 ture of pulverized remnants and of pieces 

 hardly ground at all. Incomplete though 

 it be, this preliminary grinding will be of the 

 greatest assistance to the mother in her te- 

 dious job of bread-making: it will shorten 

 the work and allow the best and the second 

 best to be separated forthwith. When 

 everything on the upper story, including the 

 floor itself, is ground to powder, the horned 

 miller returns to the open air, gathers a fresh 

 harvest and starts his work of crumbling 

 anew entirely at his leisure. 



Nor is the baker inactive in her kitchen. 

 She collects the remnants pouring down 

 around her, subdivides them yet further, re- 

 fines them and sorts them. This, the ten- 

 derer part, for the central crumb; that, 

 tougher, for the crust of the loaf. Turning 

 this way and that, she pats the material with 

 the battledore of her flat arms; she arranges 

 it in layers, which presently she compresses 

 by stamping on them where they lie, much 

 after the manner of a vintager treading his 

 grapes. Rendered firm and compact, the 

 mass will keep better. After some ten days 



121 



