IN THE CATSKILLS 



and in the splendid October weather it is a pleasing 

 spectacle to behold the gathering of the ruddy crop, 

 and three or four lithe figures beating out the grain 

 with their flails in some sheltered nook, or some 

 grassy lane lined with cedars. When there are 

 three flails beating together, it makes lively music; 

 and when there are four, they follow each other so 

 fast that it is a continuous roll of sound, and it 

 requires a very steady stroke not to hit or get hit 

 by the others. There is just room and time to get 

 your blow in, and that is all. When one flail is 

 upon the straw, another has just left it, another is 

 halfway down, and the fourth is high and straight 

 in the air. It is like a swiftly revolving wheel that 

 delivers four blows at each revolution. Thresh- 

 ing, like mowing, goes much easier in company 

 than when alone; yet many a farmer or laborer 

 spends nearly all the late fall and winter days shut 

 in the barn, pounding doggedly upon the endless 

 sheaves of oats and rye. 



When the farmers made "bees," as they did a 

 generation or two ago much more than they do 

 now, a picturesque element was added. There was 

 the stone bee, the husking bee, the " raising," the 

 " moving," etc. When the carpenters had got the 

 timbers of the house or the barn ready, and the foun- 

 dation was prepared, then the neighbors for miles 

 about were invited to come to the " raisin'." The 

 afternoon was the time chosen. The forenoon was 

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