AUGUST 325 



my repairs, upon the back of an oak panel that is set into the hall 

 of this house, thinking the while that, long after I am dust, it 

 might prove of passing interest to some unborn creature who may 

 chance to be present when at length the place falls into ruin, or is 

 pulled down piecemeal. 



Another curiosity about these cottages is that the two possess 

 but one brick oven between them, which, for reasons too long to 

 explain, was, I am convinced, common to both. What neighbours' 

 quarrels, what small but very active bitternesses may not have 

 arisen during the last few centuries over the use of that oven ! 

 If some experience of such differences is any guide, these must 

 have been many. Those who frequent a bench of magistrates 

 will know them well. 



These cottages, at their last reconstruction, which I should 

 judge to have taken place a hundred and fifty or two hundred 

 years ago, were largely built of stud-work framed on sapling 

 boughs measuring about an inch and a half in diameter, and 

 lashed to the roof beams with string. This string, of which I 

 secured some pieces, is for the most part still fairly sound, and of 

 a very strong and even make. 



August 31. — Yesterday was fine, so the rain of the previous 

 afternoon proved but a passing shower. We finished cutting, 

 tying, and shocking the wheat on Baker's, and mowing that on 

 All Hallows, which has proved a most troublesome and exhaust- 

 ing task, it being matted together by the weeds which have grown 

 through it as it lay upon the ground. 



To-day, the last of the month, is still fine. Truly we are 

 enjoying a harvest to be thankful for. We have been carting the 

 vetches from No. 21 and the white oats from the glebe land. 



This evening, standing on a high ridge in the Pit field, I 

 watched the rising of the harvest moon. She appeared in an 

 absolutely cloudless sky, a huge and lambent ball, pale at first, 

 but growing brighter with each passing minute, till her moun- 

 tain ranges and valleys showed clearly upon the shining disc. 



