CHAPTER IV 

 DAYS IN THE STUBBLES 



WHAT delightful hours these words recall and 

 bring to the mind's vision ! 



Glorious afternoons in late September or 

 early October, when the corn is partly carried, 

 according to the late or early season ; when 

 some of the fields are complete stubble, others 

 are still dotted with stocks ; perhaps on the 

 high ground the reaping machine is still at 

 work, cutting a last strip of standing corn ; 

 or if it be into October, the plough is snailing 

 up and down the hillside, turning the golden 

 ground to " brown of the fruitful earth." 



One fears that the birds of which we have 

 come in search, black game in particular, 

 grouse and partridges thrown in, may be 

 scared by the whirring machine or the plough, 

 but little care they. Their supper to them is 



