74 DANVIS FARM LIFE 



lazy days of early summer when he knew he ought 

 to be catching the fish or hunting the birds' nests 

 he was dreaming of, instead of being a clothespin 

 to the thin blanket on Dobbin's sharp back and 

 the mark of the sharper tongue of the plough- 

 holder, would ever again of his own free will 

 mount a horse? I can speak for one. Happily this 

 particular boy-torture has gone out of fashion; 

 and in the tillage of hoed crops as in haymaking 

 the horse is guided by the man who cultivates or 

 rakes. After this trio, man, boy, and horse, come 

 the hoers cutting away at the everlasting and 

 ever-present weeds, and stirring and mellowing 

 the soil of the corn or potato hills. 



It is Kkely enough to happen, about these days, 

 that a farmer, having set about the building of a 

 barn and the carpenter having got the frame 

 ready for setting up, invites his neighbors to a 

 "raising," one of the few "bees" remaining of 

 those so common and frequent in the earlier days 

 of interdependence. The young and able-bodied 

 are promptly on hand, and vie with one another 

 in deeds of strength and daring, while the old 

 men, exempt from the warfare of life, sit apart 

 on a pile of rafters or sleepers, anon giving sage 

 advice, recounting their youthful exploits, and 

 contrasting the past with the present; seldom, 

 albeit, to the great honor of modern times or men. 

 The labor ended, cakes, pies, cheese, and cider are 



