1 88 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



I stayed out until it was time to go along and 

 prepare supper. It is hard work stoning the land, 

 and when the sun is on one's back almost exhausting ; 

 but if you don't dissipate the best of your strength 

 trying to do the work of ten minutes in one, and 

 take it in a firm and easy way, it is not altogether 

 disagreeable, since one works in particularly close 

 contact with the soil, and at least one can go home 

 from the half-day's work with the consolation that 

 the seed-bed is free from a few of the monsters 

 which occupy a great deal of valuable space, obstruct 

 and destroy implements. The insect population 

 seeks the shelter of a stone as the natural centre for 

 industrial development, and verily every " big 

 fellow " that is rolled off in triumph means disaster 

 for a miniature city on its site. 



At the end of the second morning the new man 

 was obviously done. 



" Rest this afternoon," I advised. " I'll go on 

 with the stoning, and when you are sufficiently fit 

 I shall be glad if you will go on with my work on 

 the flower-beds instead." 



My garden bed had not, however, advanced when 

 I got in. 



" Well, how did you get on ? " he inquired. 



" Oh, I got out quite a few," I said. " Do you 

 feel well enough to milk ? It's Sunday to-morrow, 

 take a long rest, and perhaps by Monday you will be 

 fit again." 



But on Monday he complained that the land 

 work was beyond his strength. He was down- 

 hearted, disappointed, homesick. And one never 

 really knows whether people who appear to have 

 an extraordinary opinion of their own power are 



