SUMMER [Chap. 



to go out with his yoke and his bows just at 

 break of day ; that is to say, as soon as he could 

 see the oxen at fifty or sixty yards from him ; 

 for, there it is a great thing to get the main of the 

 work done before ten o'clock, and after five, in 

 order to avoid the burning heat of the day. He 

 generally found the oxen lying down, in which 

 respect again they were so much better than the 

 dainty and capricious horse, wliich will some- 

 times stand upon his legs, even for a week 

 together. As soon as the man got a sight of 

 the oxen, for the space was large, he used to 

 tall out " Haw, boys'' At the second call, some- 

 what more loud than the former, the oxen used 

 to rise up and look at him, and then look 

 at one another. When he approached them 

 near enough for his words to be distinctly heard, 

 he used to call out, " Come under," upon which 

 the oxen began to walk off slowly towards 

 him. The next words were, " Come under, I 

 TELL ye,'* pronounced in a very command- 

 ing and even angry tone, upon which the oxen 

 set off to him at full trot, bringing their heads 

 up close to his body; and putting the yokes 

 round their necks, each fastened at the top 

 with a little piece of wood, away he walked, and 

 they after him, into the field, where a single 

 plough-chain hooked on to a ring in the yoke, 

 sent the plough along in a minute. There are 



