In the summer time the live stock of which we have 

 spoken ran wild upon the prairie, horses especially being out 

 of sight and sound for months, and we recall as a great 

 constitution builder, days spent in the saddle in search of the 

 wandering stock. In the long winter of course they must be 

 housed, and so making hay while the sun shone was a great 

 reality to us all. Hay cutting began on a certain day in July, 

 and, except for the "outer two miles" above referred to (and 

 on them only for a period), was done upon prairie that was 

 free as air to everybody. The best hay meadows were 

 located in good time before the date of commencement and 

 on the night previous people were camped all round them. 

 Each one knew pretty well the spot he was going to 

 strike the next morning, and if more than (me had their eyes 

 on the same spot, it became the ]>roperty of the one who got 

 there first and made a " circle " by cutting around the field he 

 wished to claim. When hay was scarce there was consider- 

 able rivalry, but there was a code of unwritten camp law that 

 prevented difficulties, and mutual helpfulness rather than 

 opposition was the rule. Occasionalh^ prairie fires swept 

 athwart the haystack of some unfortunate settler, but in 

 such a case all the rest turned in and helped him out, and I 

 recall how, when this happened in the case of an uncle of 

 mine, the neighbors rallied around and put a hundred cart 

 loads of hay into his barn yard next day. The camp life 

 during the time of hay making was a pleasant experience, 

 with the tents grouped like a village and the huge camp-fires 

 the centres of the social circles in the gathering night. On 

 Saturday evenings the way homeward was taken with the 

 younger men like a troop of cavalry and indulging in many a 

 race by the way. Hay was never placed under cover but in 

 long stacks in the hay-yard, and from these stacks we pulled 

 the hay in the winter time with wooden hooks and carried it 

 within the stables in our arms. By degrees implements and 

 instruments of various kinds were imported from " the States" 

 and elsewhere and were handed round from one to the other 

 amongst the neighbors as if they were common property. 



