A BARN 



them to appear still smaller. The wi inkles at the 

 corners and the bushy eyebrows are more visible 

 and pronounced than the eyes themselves, which 

 are mere bright grey points twinkling with compla- 

 cent good humour. 



These red cheeks want but the least motion to 

 break into a smile ; the action of opening the lips 

 to speak is sufficient to give that expression. The 

 fur cap he wears allows the round shape of his head 

 to be seen, and the thick neck which is the colour 

 of a brick. He trudges deliberately round the straw- 

 rick ; there is something in the style of the man 

 which exactly corresponds to the barn, and the 

 straw, and the stone staddles, and the waggons. 

 Could we look back three hundred years, just such 

 a man would be seen in the midst of the same 

 surroundings, deliberately trudging round the straw- 

 ricks of Elizabethan days, calm and complacent 

 though the Armada be at hand. There are the 

 ricks just the same, there is the barn, and the 

 horses are in good case ; the wheat is coming on 

 well. Armies may march, but these are the same. 



When his waggon creaks along the road towards 

 the town, his eldest lad walks proudly by the 

 leader's head, and two younger boys ride in the 

 vehicle. They pass under the great elms ; now 

 the sunshine and now the shadow falls upon them ; 

 the horses move with measured step and without 

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