Threshing Day 133 



machine. On that separator's side was painted 

 its name — "The Koaring Lion" — and my first look 

 into it convinced me that it had been properly- 

 named, and I feared it just as much as if it had 

 actually been a King of Beasts. 



ON THE STRAWSTACK 



I remember the strawstack was the place of 

 chief interest for a small boy. There were, of 

 course, no pneumatic tubes to put the straw where 

 it was wanted, on the old-time machine, but there 

 were straw-carriers, a sort of elevator, and there 

 would usually be half a dozen men on the stack. 

 These old-time strawstacks were sometimes enor- 

 mous mounds of straw, built in pyramid form, and 

 often higher than the barn roof. 



A FAVOURITE TRICK 



I have in mind recollections of a favourite trick 

 that the boys of the neighbourhood used fre- 

 quently to play in connection with ** threshing 

 day" and the strawstack. While the men would 

 be at dinner, the boys would dig a hole on top of 

 the rather loosely-built strawstacks, to the depth 

 of five or six feet, or as deep as time and juvenile 

 energy would permit. They'd cover the hole over 

 lightly with straw, and set the pitchforks of the 

 men in such a position that they'd have to walk 

 across the pit to reach their tools. The young 



