1891 
3i9 
“A NEIGHBORLY LIFT.”— Continued. 
couraged, and if his neighbors should turn 
in and give him a start-” 
“ Who else have you talked with ? ” 
“Nobody yet. I wanted to start with 
you, for I knew you could influence others.” 
Mrs. Allen was somewhat of a diplomat, 
and knew that Simon Kennedy liked to be 
thought charitable, whether he was so or 
not. 
“ Well, I’ll see. Mother 1 ” At the sound 
of his voice Mrs. Kennedy came out upon 
the porch, 
“ Why; good morning, Mrs. Allen. Won’t 
ir you come in ? ” she called out hospitably at 
the sight of her neighbor ; but before Mrs. 
Allen could answer, her husband spoke 
again. 
“ Mother, Dick Allen and I are thinking 
of going over and helping Joe Benton next 
Monday. He’s somewhat behind with his 
work. Do you think we can afford to lose 
a day of such weather from our own 
affairs ? ” 
“ Oh ! it would be such a good thing,” 
said the kindly soul. “ I know he ain’t 
able to do anything, and it worries him and 
keeps him down all the time. And you 
know you said last night that you could 
not do much more here till the ground got 
some drier.” 
“Never mind what I said,” replied her 
husband, with some discomfiture. “ A 
good farmer can always find work to do. 
But I guess I might as well join Allen. So, 
tell him I’ll be on hand Monday.” 
“Ob,thank you, Mr. Kennedy. Now, I’m 
going right over to Ransom’s and will say 
you sent me; and, by the way, Richard 
said he was going to take seed enough to 
sow all the land he could plow, and feed 
for his own team. And you and I, Mrs. 
* Kennedy, must have an eye on the dinner.” 
At Ransom’s Mrs. Allen was sure of her 
ground, and had a quiet laugh with her 
friends because Simon Kennedy was to 
pose as one of the originators of the 
scheme. 
Ransom not only agreed to come himself, 
but vouched for two other young farmers 
that he knew would join them but who 
were too far away for Mrs. Allen to see in 
person. He would ride over to their farms 
on Sunday and tell them—“ a good day for 
a good deed.” And he would get up a spirit 
of friendly rivalry among the men, to see 
who would be first on the ground, so as to 
be sure of getting in a full day’s work. 
Ransom agreed with Mrs. Allen that the 
field must be plowed and planted before 
nightfall; and his wife began forthwith 
upon a supply of cakes and pies, for which 
she was famous, so that her portion might 
make up for others who would have less 
time to prepare. , 
Then Dick and his mistress went on 
through the bright spring morning, over 
many a mile of level road that wound be¬ 
tween fair homesteads. And they carried 
with them such a brisk and honest air of 
cheery hope and helpfulness that every one, 
almost, gave in his word at once, prom- 
w ising to be on hand at Benton’s on the com¬ 
ing Monday morning. 
When Mrs. Allen returned home late 
that afternoon, tired but happy with the 
success of her mission, and looked over the 
list with her husband, she found that she 
had 14 men and teams provided—one more 
than they had counted would be needed. 
So, even allowing for mi shaps, there was 
little doubt but that Joe Benton’s oat field 
would be well plowed and planted. 
All that bright Saturday, Benton wan¬ 
dered in and out of the house, restlessly. 
He was anxious to go to work, and was 
only restrained by the pleading of his good 
wife. 
“Now, Joe, dear, do wait until the first 
of the week, at least. You will be a little 
stronger by then, and it won’t hurt much 
to wait just a little longer.” 
“ But, wife, there will be so many other 
things to do after a little, and I don’t want 
to be behind-hand all the season, and I can 
see that Allen is finishing up his oats to¬ 
day. I hate to begin after every one else 
is through.” 
“ I know it is hard to sit still when you 
want to work. But you must try to be pa¬ 
tient and not begin too soon for your 
strength.” 
By dint of persuasion she managed to 
keep him moderately quiet; but all day 
Sunday he was anxious for the morrow to 
come so that he could begin to turn the 
brown furrows. He loved to work in the 
ground, to see his bright plowshare glint 
in the long rows of freshly-turned earth. 
He was no laggard from habit or liking. 
But early as Benton and his wife were 
astir on Monday morning, others were 
there before them. Ransom, not to be out- 
THE RURAL 
done at the game that he himself had pro¬ 
posed, was on hand long before the sky 
began to grow gray in the east. 
Allen was not far behind him, and the 
others came in thick and fast. 
Benton and his wife could hardly believe 
the evidence of their senses when they saw 
the array of men and teams (for not one 
had failed to come), and when Richard 
Allen, in a few well-chosen words, said 
that they had come to give him a neigh¬ 
borly lift with the spring work, and that 
his part of the day’s duties was to be 
simply to tell them where and what to do. 
Then, without more ado, the whole force 
was started for the oat-field, and plowing 
began in good earnest. 
Throughout the morning the good wives 
and daughters of these neighbors kept 
coming by ones and twos and threes until 
the house and the yard seemed overflow¬ 
ing with them, and as every one brought a 
basketful of eatables, there was soon 
enough to feed even a score of hungry 
plowmen. Tables were Improvised in the 
orchard where a few trees were beginning 
to put out some early blossoms, and when 
the men came from the field at noon they 
found a feast spread that well repaid them 
for the morning’s labor. Then after a rest 
and chat they were back at their work 
again, and so heartily was it followed up 
that before sunset the field was plowed 
and harrowed and rolled and sown, and the 
forces of nature were already busy at 
germinating the seed upon the 20 acres, 
that only the night before had stared at 
Joe Denton with the menace of many a day 
of hard toil in its untouched surface. 
When his neighbors started homeward 
that night, Denton tried to thank them, 
but his voice failed, and he asked Allen to 
say a few words for him, which that 
worthy man did in about the following 
manner: 
“Neighbors,” he said, “I, for one, am 
very much obliged to Denton for the 
opportunity he has given us of spending a 
pleasant day together on his farm. I have 
learned, and I believe some of the rest of 
you have as well, that just as much satis¬ 
faction may be had from giving a neighbor 
a lift now and then, as by tugging away so 
continuously to just lift ourselves.” Before 
he left, he took Denton aside for a few 
private words. 
“ Take things easy now for a week,” he 
said. “Your corn ground won’t do to 
work for that time at least, and there is 
nothing else pressing. Live out of doors 
for a few days, loaf, visit (come over and 
see us and bring your wife), don’t worry, 
and you will soon have a new lease of life.” 
Denton heeded this friendly advice, and 
so by the time there was work to do he was 
ready to do it. Hid crops prospered (it was 
said that no field of oats for miles around 
was so good as his that year), and when 
autumn came he found himself fairly “ on 
his feet” again, thanks to the breakfast 
table conversation of Richard Allen and 
his wife that fair April morning. 
So the People Think —Legislative 
deadlocks and boodle scandals in the elec 
tion of United States Senators could be 
avoided by permitting the people to elect 
their Senators by a direct vote, and Gen. 
Palmer thinks it will come to this.—New 
York World. 
No Moving Backward.— The success of 
the Australian ballot system is emphasized 
of late in Vermont, where it has just been 
tried. Its success has been gratifying and 
reports from local elections in Massa¬ 
chusetts are warm in its praise. Any 
change in its provisions must be along the 
line not of its annihilation, but of its 
strengthening. Reforms are not wont to 
move backward, and having tested the 
value of the secret ballot the people will 
not permit a return to the corrupt system 
once in vogue.—Providence Journal, (Ind). 
In writing to advertisers please always 
mention The Rural New-Yorker. 
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