A Waggons History 93 



outwards — including the ends — a method that certainly 

 does give the rick a very shapely look. 



But now the new-fangled ' elevator ' carries up the hay 

 by machinery from the waggon to the top, and two ricks 

 are run up while they would formerly have just been care- 

 fully laying the foundation for one of faggots to keep off the 

 damp. The poles put up to support the rick-cloth inter- 

 fere with the mathematically correct outward slope at the 

 ends, upon which the old fellow prided himself ; so they 

 are carried up straight like the end wall of a cottage, and 

 are a constant source of contempt to the ancient invalid. 

 However, he consoles himself with the reflection that most 

 of the men employed with the ' elevator ' will ultimately 

 go to a very unpleasant place, since they are continuously 

 swearing at the horse that works it, to make him go round 

 the faster. 



After an old cart or waggon has done its work and is 

 broken up, the wooden axletree, which is very solid, is fre- 

 quently used for the top bar of a stile. It answers very 

 well, and, being of seasoned wood that has received a good 

 many coats of red paint, will last a long time. The life 

 of a waggon is not unlike that of a ship. On the cradle 

 it is the pride of the craftsman who builds it, and who is 

 careful to reproduce the exact ' lines ' which he learned 

 from his master as an apprentice, and which have been 

 handed down these hundred years and more. The builders 

 of the Chinese junks are said never to saw a piece of timber 

 into the shape required, nor to bend it by softening the 

 fibres by hot steam, but always use a beam that has grown 

 crooked naturally. This plan gives great strength, but it 

 must take years to accumulate the necessary curved trees. 

 The waggon-builder, in like manner, has a whole yardful 

 of timber selected for much the same reason— because it 



