New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-11-08
NEW-ENGLAND SKETCHES.
DIR HIRED MAN.

anough TO raise our own potatoes and turnlps you
know We had heard great many stories about
women successfully carrying on numerous farms In
Kansas or Colorado, and harvesting with their own
hands q fabulous amount of wheat We knew we
could not manage large number of acres, but we
did think that something might be done, and fol-
Loving ont this idea we spent money in buying fer
t;,izers and we got men at fifteen cents an hour
ooch and fifteen cents an hour each for horses. to
nIopcb and prepare land apply fertilizers and SOW
GOOD for n crop of Hungarian" for fodder. The
other side of the lane which runs up into the past
pre we had planted with potatoes.
Ifany one wants 10 know how few movements
man can rake III sixty minutes, and how slow each
movement can be. let that person come Into the
country and hire man by the hour. And how
conversational they are with each other; every
word spoken requiring an ontre cessation OIL Iaoor'
a firm planting of the feet, and usually the ADJUST
ing of the tobacco qud i'll the mouth. OF ireSh
lighting of the pipe. The horses have learned the
WAYS of their masters, and after each deliberate
stride they make. they seem to slump down again
in their tracks and the whole process of starting
them ND has to be repeated. If you have nerves,
or If there be any limit to your pecuniary means,
YOU become wild watching, day after day. these
processes performed by the hour"
Already we had estimated that including the
hoeng of the Potatoes later IN the season. ana not
inclusive of tho gathering, our yield would
probably cost us about 81 90 per bushel, and we
coula buy them in the fall at 70 cents Long be-
fore digging time we hoped there would moi be
any potatoes to dig for they would have to be
taken from the field and stored by the hour.
II was rather dry. and the Hungarian seed did
not come UP very well. 1t soon grewmore dry, and
what had come up remained just as II was, only
growing more yellow every day. We perceived, to
our regret that though there was very little OF IL,
there was vet too much to let stand, and not cut.
There was too much to waste it must be moved
and cured and in haying time men have twenty
cents au hour. When that hay was in the barn, we
carefully relraincd from reckoning what 1t cost.
The COW and the horse ate 1t, but we suspected
that they ate il for the reason that they could get
little else of the fodder kind. Afterward a great
many men told us it was d" the wust thing in the
world 10 give a boss; made their legs swell up
and crack OPEN" and they cited several cases in
point.
In desperation we tod each other the horse must
have swollen legs, then, for we had not any more
money at present having paid all we had for fer
filters and for work Until you have hired men IN
that way, yUu have no idea how many working
hours there are in a week particularly are you
bewildered when they bring in their bills, some of
them did, not much time IN day, but all
down in a'lump like this. To 1854 hours work
for self and horse" This the way we did one
year on this place of forty acres more or less.
moving, tilage and pasture"
One day in the tall of the next year man
called All DID, though slight. acquaintance of ours.
In the course of talk he said he was ont of work.
and casually asked if we didn't want him TO run
the farm for u.s." We consulted. Why not have
one man all the time as well as half dozen men
-
school mental arithmetic ever again: If two
men can do a piece of work IN one day, how long
will il take one 70 do it ~
We engaged this person TO come here aud live
and do the farming He was to have certain
wages not high. for he was not proiessed farmer.
say not high as wages. but we found them TO be
really enormous as related to his accomplishments
But we should not complain tor beside shis being
our hired man. he gentleman. do not say
tins scornfuly for he was really well bred, had
seen better days" and prided himself i'm
mensey on beng the grandson of one
of the first families of Nantucket. His
grandfather had been a wealthy shipowner
of that island. The family. now reduced TO power
ty still had hopes in regard TO the French spoa-
ton claims. If those claims were ever paid, they
would be rich a2ain-and occasionally Congress
made some movement concerning the subject.
Rawlin NJ. Stsrbrd, therefore, came the next week
with his scan,y luggage and TOOK possession OF the
ppmp-rO0m chamber.
He was a man between forty and fifty. rather un-
dersized very deliberate OF speech and low toned.
having head small and narrow. and which told
YOU why he had 10 energy and preferred TO wait
for SpOlatiOn claims to be paid rather than to be
active on his own account. He tTifie bald.
and he wore most carefully tended mustache
and imperial. On Sundays he was always scrupu-
lousy shaved and washed, aAd wore white shirt
aud his best clothes OF course. being gentleman
and au acquaintance, he sat at tho table with
His esence was very tedious. for he did not know
O great deal and he thought he knew everything.
nal at first an idea that he was the most modest
and least conceicd of beings, but few weeks ed
to the conclusion that he was convinced he
was great fayorite with women and that
he was one of the handsomest of meH. And yet his
large brown eyes would look at YOU with an ex-
pressiou as seemingly devoid OF vanity as is the
glance Of jersey COW. But watch him gaze in
the glass and see the satisfaction on his face No
girl ever enjoyed a mirror more than did Mr.. r. NJ.
Starbrd 1t is not, however, to talk of Mr.. Star
bird as a gentleman. but as a hired man, that be-
gan this paper.
From the very beginning lac developed n remark.
able desire to sweep the barn and keep IT thor
oughly clean. He MIXED the COW and at first.
grOOmed the horse once only did he wash the
phaeton Gradually ne gave up taking care of the
horse aad that work deyOl we'd again upon Us.
The barn was 80 clean tina wo hardly dared TO
brush the horse wash the carriage there. We
walked through glngerly and felt that were
intruders About this time we had to be rin ~ buy
brooms. Mr.. Starblrd was continually calling for
these implements.
1t was in the fall when he came. and our
disastrous harvesting was long since done. There
was big pie of wood in the yard, and we
said to ourselves that We would have that wood cut.
as ii was really about ALL save "chores" that
there would be for our gentleman to do until
spring. When that season came We meant he
because nearly every day we asked him TO 20 20 the
vOod-pIl-. III We omitted one dIurna requ, ST. that
day there was 10 axe or SAW used. He said TO us
in his low toned deliberate way that he di dn't
know a. he cared to do that kind of work" What
wore we IA In r. another man? But il hard