of the subject warrants for, " The front oxen are 

 half the span," they say. The simple fact is that 

 they ' talk shop,' and when you hear them dis- 

 cussing the characters and qualities of each individual 

 animal you may be tempted to smile in a superior 

 way, but it will not eventually escape you that they 

 think and observe, and that they study their animals 

 and reason out what to do to make the most of them ; 

 and when they preach patience, consistency and 

 purpose, it is the fruit of much experience, and nothing 

 more than what the best of them practise. 



Every class has its world ; each one's world how- 

 ever small is a whole world, and therefore a big world ; 

 for the little things are magnified and seem big, which 

 is much the same thing : Crusoe's island was a world 

 to him and he got as much satisfaction out of it as 

 Alexander or Napoleon probably a great deal more. 

 The little world is less complicated than the big, but 

 the factors do not vary ; and so it may be that the 

 simpler the calling, the more clearly apparent are the 

 working of principles and the relations of cause and 

 effect. It was so with us. To you, as a beginner, 

 there surely comes a day when things get out of hand 

 and your span, which was a good one when you bought 

 it, goes wrong : the load is not too heavy ; the hill 

 not too steep ; the work is not beyond them for they 

 have done it all before ; but now no power on earth, 

 it seems, will make them face the pull. Some jib 

 and pull back ; some bellow and thrust across ; some 

 stand out or swerve under the chain ; some turn tail 

 to front, half choked by the twisted strops, the worn- 



230 



