Homesteading 



" Right oh ! " we repHed, and drove off, but 

 that day at least proved warm and sunny. 



During the afternoon we came to one of the 

 homesteads our friends had told us of, where a 

 man on a great eight-foot binder, to which were 

 harnessed four horses, was steadily making his 

 way round a field which looked like a hundred 

 acres. We drove to the part nearest his house 

 and waited till he came round, when he stopped 

 the great machine. 



" Crop looks pretty good, eh ? " I asked. 



"A lot of it badly frosted in places," he replied, 

 and added : "I guess I must cut it and make 

 the best of it." 



" Want any help ? " was the next question. 



He got down from his seat, and pulling a few 

 ears, slowly rubbed them out in his hands, and 

 holding one between his fingers for both of us, 

 who now stood beside him, he remarked : 



"See the water coming out of it ? However," 

 he continued, " some of it on the hill there was 

 pretty hard before last night's frost, and I could 

 do with a man for a week or so." 



After some further talk he agreed to engage 

 Tom at two dollars a day ; with more experience 

 on Tom's part it should have been two and a half 

 or three. 



Thompson, Tom's new boss, showed him how 



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