50 DANVIS FARM LIFE 



A pleasant thing to look upon is an old gray 

 barn with its clustering sheds, straw-stacks, and 

 well-fenced yards; in this the cattle taking their 

 day's outing from the stable; in that the sheep 

 feeding from their racks or chewing the cud of 

 contentment, or making frequent trips to the 

 water-trough in the corner. 



Inside is the broad "barn floor," with grain 

 scaffolds above it, and on one side a great "bay" 

 filled with hay; on the other, the stable for the 

 cows; and over this a "mow." In the mysterious 

 heights above, whose dusty gloom is pierced by 

 bolts of sunshine, are dimly seen the cobwebbed 

 rafters and the deserted nests of the swallows. 



On this floor, in winter days, the threshers' 

 flails are beating out the rye with measured throb. 

 Chanticleer and Partlet and all their folk come 

 to the wide-open southern doors to pick the scat- 

 tered kernels, and the cattle "toss their white 

 horns" in their stanchions and look with wonder 

 in their soft eyes on this unaccountable pounding 

 of straw. Then, when the "cave" (as the long pile 

 of unwinnowed gram on one side the floor is 

 called) has become so large as to narrow too much 

 the threshing-room, the fanning-mill is brought 

 from its corner, and amid clatter and clouds of 

 dust the gram is "cleaned up" and carried away 

 to the granary. Here, too, in the early morning 

 comes the farmer or his man to fodder the cows 



