Emergencies 167 



fitting the hole so accurately, the whole of the 

 flame played on its bottom, and the waste of heat 

 was very much less than in an open fireplace. 

 Might not this little plan bear development for the 

 greater ease in work, the greater economy in fire 

 and the greater convenience in the kitchen ? 

 Finding that it took more fire to boil the first 

 pot than any two after it, we kept the pot going 

 for half a day at a time, and got our supply of 

 boiled potatoes twice a week. 



One day we had two big men trying to put a 

 heavy roller across an earth fence into another 

 field. The fence was rather a bank, and pretty 

 high on the outer side, with a young hedge of 

 thorn in the face, which I did not wish to disturb. 

 After much engineering, the two men announced 

 that the only way was to " dig a gap," and then 

 they went to dinner. On returning, they found 

 the roller in the field, without a gap. I had done 

 it alone, and quite easily. First, I pushed the 

 roller on to the top of the fence, but anybody 

 could do that. Then I drove a stake in the field 

 behind it, and fastened a rope between this and the 

 frame of the roller. Two planks inclined on the 

 steep side beyond, and the roller moved down on 

 them quite nicely, with the rope " paid " out from 

 the stake to control the descent. The two big 

 men thought I was very clever. I thought I had 

 merely escaped being very stupid. Still, it does 

 show the waste of working power from want of 

 light in the upper storey. It was the kind of work 

 at which they had spent their lives, and my life 



