114 AUTUMN NOTES IN IOWA 



straw or refuse, in covering it with a thin, even 

 layer of earth, and removing the debris — and 

 cleaning and storing the tools. Skill consisted in 

 making a bank of equal, approved height and slope 

 clear around the house, and well-rounded curves at 

 the corners — without waste of materials or labor. 

 During the season, repairs must often be made. 

 We used to watch the snows cover the banks and 

 thaw there, water drip on them from icicles along 

 the eaves-trough, and the icicles themselves fall 

 and break to pieces on the slopes. In the spring 

 removal of the entire banking was a rapid process, 

 without much poetic interest, except as it remind- 

 ed us that erelong the orioles would sing in the 

 Cottonwood, and the bees hum among the willow 

 catkins. Humble labors, this of banking houses, 

 and those others with which we associated it. How 

 many of them still continue in these days of Iowa 

 millionaires and automobiles "? For some, the mere 

 mention of them will always recall the mingled 

 hopes and fears of boyhood, semi-pioneer days 

 with rough daily tasks and sense of fellowship 

 with all who ^^ worked for a living," finding such 

 pleasure as was possible in the work itself. 



