River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-10-09
AsrEAM.rHREsHER AT WORK


Board ng the Men.
The Boston Transcript publishes the
following lively lettar, written by
young married lady in Kansas to her
mother in Boston, and giving a picture
of farm lite in the far West that Is highly
interesting and picturesque: The dreaded
day is past and our threshing is done,
aud load is lifted from me. Only think
OF gang of sixteen ravenous men filing
into our little housed You remember l
wrote you OF Mr.. lie Bar, who was al
most ruined by the cyclone--losiDg
house, crops and tools, and leaving his
wife with s broken arms 1t was his
machine that came to do our threshing.
1t seems that the engine was not de
stEoyed, but was out of the track of the
whirlwind on another part of his farm;
| SO the sepayator was the only thing lost
and this be has replaced. We have
heard his whistle on different farms
around US, merning and evening, for two
OH three weeks. They do very rapid
| work, which is the attraction to most peo-
ple, although they are compelled to have
a larger gang than with other machines.
A horsepower cannot maintain the even
movement required. The tired horses
lag behind as they revoive around the
driver, who promptly sends that long
| frontier black-snake of whip with
| crack over their straining shoulders.
| They start again with a spring, ard the
| + .achine rattles away for minute OF
| two, thea gradually the measured beat
and thud within the vibrating thresheT
becomes fainter as the horses again try
70 ease their tired limbs. With steam
power all this is obviated The engineer
sets the gauge as he wishes to thresh-
rapidly or slowly. 1t all depends on the
condition Of the gram. With strong even
movements inc powerful engine draws
the long band over the wheels and pull
| Ievs ttat start the machine, each man
leaps or walks 10 his place, and the work
begins
When dinner was over and the long
file walked down the hill, l drew a deep
breath Of relief that one meal was past,
and Immediately began to arrange for a
second one When all was planned out,
TIE table set, the room darkened, and the
floor sprinkled with water Qor il was
overpoweringly hot, 1913 degrees in the
shaded, | went through the garden under
the cool shade of the peach trees, and
stood by the grape vines looking at their
! work. The long black belt glisteRed in
the sun as it swiftly flew back and forth;
there was a bewildering amount of dying
sheayes from the men on the stack; and
the poor little Dutch shoemaker, who
stood IN the straw stack, taking care of
the refuse, as IT was elevated and drop
ped at hts feet, seemed almost overpow-
ed by dl:6t and heat. Gradually the ma
chine stopped, and the four men who go
with it began to loosen screws and
change sieves before they threshed the
oats
H--~scame up az this moment, saying
| that Mr.. Grund, comical little German,
had come to hun and said In deep whis-
per, ''Y our wife ish 5htandin' under that
peach tree yonderl' He thought want
ed hin, for something and came at once,
! but r5n back Immediately, for the black
belt was moving with long hiss. fol
lowed more slowly until / stood by the
engine Mr.. LIE Bar is his own engineer.
He is n pleasant man, very different from
most OF the people who surround us; tall
and strong, with a twinkling eye that
speaks for his good nature whenever he
smiles. lie greeted me pleasantly, and
politely answered all nv questions, which
| suppose have been put to him by every
one for whom he has threshed When
he laughed or smiled, was reminded of
Romney Leigh 'with a mouth twice
gravcr than his eyesw The merry crows
feet capcred on his temples when ] said
something about my apprehension at the
sight ct every uncanny-looking cloud
. Il. Il. "a
huge suck into the glowing, roaring
Dire, sAut the door, and, leaning his broad
shoulder against the wheel Of the engine,
said "Now do you look at it sol 1t
dent affect me a particle. | can Snore
through the worst gale that ever blew. if
nv wire wouiu lei me, aut she is lust
the opposite. She works herself into a
fever at every cloud. Three times week
on an average, she opens that cellar door,
and LAYS those children around It. What
she intends to do with them IN case il
comes, I can't say; but il appears to be
ler intention to shove them all I'M"
"Well, | can sympathize with her." 1 said,
laughing. aft your arm had been brok-
en- YOU might not be So free from fear.
How is her arm nowl' "Gaining slow
ly," he answered, in sympathetic tones.
ait is her right arm, and she will use il
some. IL was broken betN en- the elbow
| and shoulder Three of the children
were Al school or We might have had
more touble than we did"
At ttis moment his eye wandered over
the men at work beyond us, and again
I glowed with fun. / followed his glance,
and say one of the young fellows dane
/ ing an awkward breakdown on the stack
in an instants pause of his work. "Come,
/ Luke" roared one of the band-cutters,
''we'd sooner hev them bundles than
your dancin'. You can ave that for that
gal of yours" The men near them
laughed and Lucas fell to work in shame
faced silence / often yity these people
when they are assallcd by others with
rough jcsts. They might cover their re-
treat with few light words If it only oc-
Cured to them TO do 50, but the majority
suffer III awkward silence, though now
and then few bold spirits have courage
enough to say, ooh, you 20 'longW ]
stood little longer, then turned to go up
the hill, just as the four horses drew near
with the water-cart, dripping with cool
ness
bad the four men to take care of that
night and the next morning.
/ l don't know when ] have been so
grateful as I was when Mr.. LeBar told
me that they would not be here for din
ner. l mentally resolved that II. should
eat bread and milk, and wandered down
| again TO see the machine from my stand
under the pcach-tree. There was some
| thing fascinating to me about it. The
measured. roaring beat Of the th1esher,
the sraooth, swiftly gliding belt, and the
silent power of the engine, controlling
and guiding all as the eeaseless flow OF
bundles poured upon it. A little tremu-
Ious motion like the rise and tall Of the
breath that gives US life, seemed to
culver through it as it did its work
swiftly, for the men were in hurry 10
leave for the "next job" On 1t went.
until one sharp ''tOot" told the men 10
stop feeding, and it was curious to see
the silent, busy gang, alert and active
the instant befQre, drop on the ground
or leaned heavily on their forks as they
wiped their dripping foreheads and be
gan 20 talk to each other. The little
shoem ker Oh the stack leaned forward
and said, "Gim rue that there water
bucket" One Of the men elevated it on
his pitcbfork to the poor old man, who
was choked with dust
as the threshers hi rricd their prepare
tlon for departure the hired hands slowly