112 Old Days on the Farm 



that there was a projection or shelf at the rear 

 of the platform, and on this, as a small boy, I 

 used to ride and let my bare feet trail among and 

 be tickled by the stubbles. Despite the weight of 

 that reaper and that the ground was rough and 

 grain crops heavy, I was permitted to ride by my 

 indulgent father. 



Then came the self-raking reaper and it was 

 thought that the acme of perfection had been 

 reached in harvesting machinery. The binding 

 had still to be done by hand. It could never be 

 that any mechanical contrivance might be in- 

 vented that would make bands of straw and tie 

 sheaves. We never thought of twine being used 

 for such a purpose and, if we had, it's likely we'd 

 have felt that there was not enough string in the 

 wide world for such uses. In those days twine 

 for fishing lines was, on occasion, difficult to get. 

 But inventive ingenuity and the march of progress 

 solved the problem. Now the self -binding reaper 

 holds sway. 



A pioneee's "cbadlinq" stoey 



I once listened to a grizzled pioneer as he told 

 this story of a ''cradling" contest in which he was 

 one of the chief actors: 



"Away back in the sixties I cut many a wide 

 swath in wheat-fields encircled by 'the old rail- 

 fence' an' that's what I mean to tell ye about. I've 

 got in mind a little contest I once had with a chap 



