126 HOME AND GARDEN 



a mower at work is a still better picture, for not only 

 are the movements of tlie labourer full of vigorous 

 grace and beauty, but so are also the subtly-curving 

 lines of the scythe and sneathe ; while the splendid 

 skill of the strong young man, often at work through- 

 out the long daylight of middle June, makes light the 

 lengthy hours of arduous toil. 



The action in another department of farm work, 

 even though it be a digression in a chapter on tools, 

 cannot be overlooked. It is that of the sower. His 

 work is of still more ancient origin, and is even more 

 rhythmical, and carries with it in a yet higher degree 

 the sentiment of poetry of action. For all tool he has 

 the seedlip of bent wood, the vessel that holds the seed. 

 In older days, and as it seems to me more conveniently, 

 the seed was held in a rough apron. Any one who has 

 sown a field of grain, and has some feeling for the 

 power of ordered motion, cannot fail to be struck by a 

 kind of lulling sense caused by the repeated movement. 

 The round sweep of the arm comes with the advance 

 and planting of the left foot, the right going forward 

 while the handful of grain is being gathered and the 

 arm thrown out ready for the new cast. And though 

 it is no light work to tramp over many acres of the 

 new-turned furrows, yet the power of rhythm carries 

 one along, and it is only at the end, when the task is 

 done, that the tired body calls for rest. 



To come to indoor tools, the chisel may be con- 

 sidered as the sub-head of a family whose ancestor 



