HARVEST OF MY FIRST SEEDING 217 



in the house it is physically exhausting, and nerve 

 racking ; and the sense of rest and relief when the 

 wind storm has passed over is inexpressible. How- 

 ever, on this occasion my sense of relief was short- 

 lived, since I perceived that in the force of its 

 passing the greater number of the stooks had come 

 to grief. Some had blown hither and thither at the 

 sport of the wind, others had merely collapsed, but 

 I knew in my heart that I ought to restook every one, 

 and to begin that very hour. 



But one does not tumble into the chore-boy's and 

 every other duty on a farm without paying the 

 penalty in physical fatigue. In those early days 

 even milking tired me, but cleaning out stables 

 reduced me to something too limp even to grumble ; 

 and in stooking but a small share of the harvest 

 sheaves I had become fully aware that this is one 

 of the strenuous tasks in the life of an agriculturist, a 

 task requiring sharp attack and sustained resolution 

 to pull it through. A day of blazing sunshine followed 

 rain and wind. I procrastinated for two days. 



" I am afraid your wheat may be injured if you 

 don't get your stooks together," my neighbour 

 warned me. 



That day, the next, and the next I stooked and bit- 

 terly I reproached myself for the delay when here 

 and there I found a bonny yellow sheaf with some 

 of its members already in tendril on the rain- 

 softened bosom of Mother Earth, discoloured and at 

 first sight almost mildewed. But, like most ills 

 that befall from without, the appearance of injury 

 was greater than the actual damage, although 

 stooks should never be permitted to lie on the 

 ground but should be replaced on the earliest 



