108 .FIVE ACRES TOO MUCH. 



in the habit, entirely regardless of the enormous dam 

 ages they occasioned, of driving over the lower end, 

 and the cattle of the neighborhood had grazed it pret 

 ty thoroughly. There was, consequently, only about 

 an acre and a half left to mow, and Pat, with the aid 

 of the boy, had that done in a day or two. 



In my youthful days, often &quot; of a summer day&quot; I 

 had &quot; raked the meadow, sweet with hay,&quot; and conse 

 quently had learned the importance of sun in hay 

 making. Unfortunately, no sooner was the hay cut 

 and scattered about than there came on the heaviest 

 rain of the season; it was a veritable northeaster, 

 and lasted four or five days. The barn, which was 

 expected to hold the crop, existed as yet only in an 

 ticipation ; and when the hay did finally dry, it had 

 to be collected in a pile, which &quot;Weeville called a 

 stack, and left to the mercy of the elements. How 

 ever, the labor cost only about seven dollars, and I 

 was offered seventeen dollars for the stack, so that 

 there was a clear profit of ten dollars. This was so 

 encouraging that I felt almost inclined to lay down 

 the entire five acres in grass, until I remembered 

 that if an acre and a half produced ten dollars, five 

 acres would only yield about thirty -five dollars 

 hardly sufficient interest on property valued at ten 

 thousand dollars. 



