126 Wild Life in a Southern County. 
CHAPTER VII. 
THE FARMHOUSE—TRADITIONS—HUNTING PICTURES—THE 
FARMER’S YEAR—SPORT—THE AUCTION FESTIVAL—A 
SUMMER’S DAY—BEAUTY OF WHEAT. 
THE stream, after leaving the village and the wash- 
pool, rushes swiftly down the descending slope, and 
then entering the meadows, quickly loses its original 
impetuous character. Not much more than a mile 
from the village it flows placidly through meads and 
pastures, a broad, deep brook, thickly fringed with 
green flags bearing here and there large yellow 
flowers. By some old thatched cattle-sheds and 
rick-yards, overshadowed with elm-trees, a strong 
bay ordam crosses it, forcing the water into a pond 
for the cattle, and answering the occasional purpose 
of a ford; for the labourers in their heavy boots. 
walk over the bay, though the current rises to the in- 
step. They call these sheds, some few hundred 
yards from the farmhouse, the ‘Lower Pen.’ Wick 
Farm --almost every village has its outlying ‘ wick ’— 
stands alone in the fields. It is an ancient rambling 
building, the present form of which is the result of 
