220 THE FACE OF THE FIELDS 



giving Day — everything brought in, everything 

 housed and battened down tight. The gray low- 

 ering clouds, the cold snap, the first flurry of 

 snow, how they hastened and heartened the work ! 

 Thanksgiving found us ready for winter, indoors 

 and out. 



The hay-mows were full to the beams where 

 the swallows built; the north and west sides of 

 the barnyard were flanked with a deep wind-break 

 of corn-fodder that ran on down the old worm- 

 fence each side of the lane in yellow zigzag walls ; 

 the big wooden pump under the turn-o'-lane tree 

 by the barn was bundled up and buttoned to 

 the tip of its dripping nose ; the bees by the cur- 

 rant bushes were double-hived, the strawberries 

 mulched, the wood all split and piled, the cellar 

 windows packed, and the storm-doors put on. 

 The very cows had put on an extra coat, and 

 turned their collars up about their ears ; the tur- 

 keys had changed their roost from the ridge-pole 

 of the corn-crib to the pearmain tree on the sunny 

 side of the wagon-house ; the squirrels had fin- 

 ished their bulky nests in the oaks ; the muskrats 

 of the lower pasture had completed their lodges; 

 the whole farm — house, barn, fields, and wood- 



