76 A FARMERS YEAR 



ing to find employment I tried to get him admitted into the police, 

 but he was a little over age he went to sea as a smacksman, 

 and was drowned on his first voyage. His brother, who had also 

 been a soldier, hung about his parents' house without employ- 

 ment till, as it was said, he took to drinking. At any rate, 

 his mind became unhinged, and he committed suicide a few days 

 before the ex-soldier was lost at sea. The worst thing that a 

 young fellow from a country village can do is to enlist, unless he 

 means to make soldiering the profession of his life. It is all very 

 well to take on an eight years' engagement at forty years of age ; 

 at eighteen, with your life before you, it seems a folly. 



My remarks upon the rural labourer have led me away from 

 the subject of bush draining at Bedingham, to which I now return. 



After the furrows are drawn all loose soil is neatly cleared from 

 them with a shovel. Then the drainers begin their task. Generally 

 they labour in pairs, agreeing to drain the field by piece-work on 

 payment of so muchfler rod. In this fashion hardy, untiring men 

 can earn a good deal more than the usual daily wage, although, 

 draining being so laborious, they are in any case somewhat better 

 paid for it than for other kinds of work. It is curious to watch 

 them at their toil. They seldom do anything hurriedly or seem 

 to over-exert themselves. I have never seen a labourer employed 

 about his work show any sign of physical distress, however hard it 

 may chance to be ; that is to say, his colour does not change or his 

 breathing come quicker, nor does he turn faint or weaken about 

 the knees. This is because he knows how to use his strength how 

 much, in short, he can expend daily without overdrawing the 

 account. 



Now, one unaccustomed to labour who has suddenly to under- 

 take it will almost invariably make the mistake of working too 

 hard, or too quickly, and thereby exhausting himself. When I 

 was a young fellow I owned a farm in South Africa, and as my 

 partner and I were determined to show a good example to the 

 Kaffirs and wished to earn as much as we could, we laboured with 

 our own hands, a thing which very few white men do out there if 



