METHODS OF CULTURE IN THE SOUTH 1 77 



farm as a little world within itself. It would be difficult to 

 make the reader understand its life and " go " at certain 

 hours of the day. Scores are coming and going ; hundreds 

 dot the fields ; carts piled up with crates are moving hither 

 and thither. At the same time the regular toil of cultivation 

 is maintained. Back and forth between the young plants 

 mules are drawing cultivators, and following these come a 

 score or two women with light, sharp hoes. From the great 

 crate manufactory is heard the whir of machinery and the 

 click of hammers ; at intervals the smithy sends forth its 

 metallic voice, while from one centre of toil and interest to 

 another the proprietor whisks in his open buggy at a speed 

 that often seems perilous. 



After all, Mr. Young's most efficient aid in his business 

 was his father (recently deceased). It gave me pleasure 

 to note the frequency and deference with which the senior's 

 judgment was consulted, and I also observed that wherever 

 the old gentleman's umbrella was seen in the field, all went 

 well. 



At four or five in the afternoon, the whole area would be 

 picked over. The fields would be left to meadow-larks and 

 quails, whose liquid notes well replaced the songs and cries 

 of the pickers. Here and there a mule-cart would come 

 straggling in. By night, all signs of life were concentrated 

 around the bams and paying booth ; but even from these 

 one after another would drift away to the city, till at last 

 scarcely a vestige of the hurry and business of the day would 

 be left. The deep hush and quiet that settled down on the 

 scene was all the more delightful from contrast. To listen 

 to the evening wind among the pines, to watch the sun drop 

 below the spires of Norfolk, and see the long shadows creep, 

 toward us ; to let our thoughts flit whither they would, like 

 the birds about us, was all: the occupation we craved at this, 



