92 MEADOW GRASSES 



on its long handle, and required much 

 skill to prevent the point from digging 

 into the ground. Great wooden " bottles," 

 or firkins, of ale were brought out in the 

 early morning and hidden in the nettle 

 ditch, well down in the cool and shade; 

 and often a gallon of small ale was drunken 

 by each labourer before the Goatsbeard 

 closed its flowers at noon. 



The sun bronzed their arms and dried 

 the wallows; colour soon faded. The 

 scarlet poppy shrivelled to a purple brown, 

 the gold of the dandelion became dulled, 

 the grasses wilted as they fell. It was 

 great fun to follow the workers, to gather 

 whole armfuls of flowers, and to pull their 

 petals apart. They were but flowers to me 

 then, pretty things, their colours delighting 

 the eye, so many of them : the boy was 

 natural and thought little, knowing nothing 

 of life. I have not been there for years, 

 but even now, when so many stacks have 

 grown and dwindled near the barn, I am 



