OLD COUNTRY FOLK 



231 



comes presently, though her memory is failing, was a 

 woman of excellent general ability. It was she who 

 described to me the making of rushlights and tinder. 

 When asking her something about women's work on the 

 farms in harvest-time she told me how she ' used to turn 

 the fan, winnowing.' She could not describe the imple- 

 ment quite clearly, but said, ' I'll make you a pattern.' 

 The next time I went to see her she had made this little 

 model with some split sticks, pins, tin-tacks, and string. 

 The hand winnowing-fan stood on the barn floor. In 



Model of Winnowing-Fan 



front of it was a sieve, partly supported by an upright 

 stick, worked by a man, while another shovelled the 

 grain into the sieve. 



As the man riddled the corn through the sieve, the 

 chaff was blown aside by the wind made by the revolving 

 flaps of stout sacking nailed to the axle of the machine. 



' I should like to show you the book I wrote,' she said 

 one day. 



' What ! you wrote a book ? ' I said. 



She got up — she was sitting on the foot of her bed— 



