140 MOWING, 



Pray how do my little city friends suppose 

 these six men proceed with their six scythes 

 mowing down this piece of grass? "How! 

 why they need not consider long about that," 

 perhaps you reply; "each may begin in any 

 part, and leave off when all is mown." Not 

 SQ, if you please : they might, if they had no 

 plan of operation, miss portions, or meet casu- 

 ally, or follow carelessly, and cut each other's 

 feet. The way is this : one commences alone 

 at the side of the field, and cuts a few swaths ; 

 that is, by the sweep of his scythe he clears a 

 certain space, and leaves the grass he has cut, 

 in a straight row on his left hand as he goes on. 

 This first man in time and place is called "my 

 lord." When he has got a few paces forward, 

 the second man begins also at the side of the 

 piece, and just where the sweep of his own 

 scythe will take off a similar width, without 



