MEMORIES OF THE 



heavy, and a backward or wet spring delayed sowing, and some- 

 times a crop was badly shortened thereby. 



We had but one team, with sometimes an extra horse, and 

 they were pushed for all they could do in the spring-time. 

 Plowing, dragging and hauling manure, with an occasional call 

 to draw logs onto the log-way of the mill, and draw lumber for 

 sticking up so as to clear the board-way, and such trips to Adams 

 and the Manor and the '< Huddle" as necessity required, gave 

 the horses a hard spring's work. The roads and the wet, 

 clay soil upon which they had to work were against them. 



My brother John for quite a time had the responsible posi- 

 tion of driving and doing the team work and taking care of the 

 horses. He was older and could handle them better and more 

 safely; but when he got tired of that branch, or was called to 

 work in the sawmill or do something else, I was substituted, 

 and thus early learned to do anything that could be done with 

 horses. When eleven years of age, and before I could put a 

 plow in a wagon, I plowed both old land and green-sward, and 

 then thought, and still think, that I did it well. At thirteen I 

 drew logs from the woods to the mill, loading alone onto the 

 sled big logs that two grown men could hardly handle. This 

 was done by rolling or drawing them on with the team — quite 

 a dangerous business unless one knows just how to do it and is 

 extremely careful. I was quite a stout, wiry boy at thirteen 

 and, of course, was proud to do a man's work. 



The days of spring plowing were long ones. The team had 

 to be fed at daylight and must be cleaned before breakfast, 

 ready to go to the field. There was an hour's nooning for 

 dinner at twelve, and about one-half hour for supper at five ; 

 then we went back to the field until sundown or later. The 

 endurance of the team was the only question considered. 



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