The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-02-28
THE OLD r1MR, HARVEST.
frhrauRh Mail.l

iS Sife, sS takes AsS Sell-n1ndeK And two shockers and goes out to harvest it with out the ostentasion of former years. The harvest of the present Is a tame and formal affair, compared with the harvest of thirty years since.
 In the old days, the huShandman swapped work. John Smiths wheat hap pened to ripen a little earlier than that oi his neighbors, and they brought their cradles on a 6ne summer morning, and their boys came with rakes and strong arms, and all aided John Smith in get ting in bis wheat and emptying his jug of old rye. John Smith. in his turn, hel ped each of those who assisted him, to harvest his grain and drink his whisky. Everybody had a hand in the old time harvest The women got up a feast; the small boys carried drinking. water 10 the men, walking across the field with jug and tin-cup and pro- viding each sturdy laborer with one drink from the whisky jug to three from the jug of water. The boys occasionally rested from their further duty of gather ing the sheaves for shocking, and sat in the shade and mixed water and whisky with great freedom, drinking it until there was |. body left with nerves steady enough to carry the drinks around the l field.
 remember on one occasion being employed to tote" water for one of my fathers neighbor's harves,erS. There were three of us about the same age, and we passed the jugs in very able-bodied and satisfactory manner until about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, when we sat down in the shade of a wheat-shock and made some half and halt. We drank several rounds, when observed that my companions looked liule indisposed. One of them tried to drink from the han de of the jug, and the other gared pen sively into the vacant depths of the tin.cup and remarked that he was the best man on that prairie. A little later felt that the world was very unstable. The trees about us began to dance, and the COWS that roamed over the adjacent pas ture seemed to rise up and float about in the air like huge, ungainly bats. As time wore on, noticed that the men were swinging their cradles over their heads, and the wheat-shocks were play ing tag with each other all around me My fellow drawers of water and hewers of whisky were trying to settle the vexed question as to which was the proprietor of the universe. while l, content with be- ing left alone with the frcwning jugs, gradually saw more and more of the in- stability of worldly things, and began to wonder whether l was merely my seit or the president of the United States travel ing incognito. l have . faint recollec. ! t,0u rt "a av.ow shA vawo or~s~fnv nf eha .-inaA call fcr water, and making a reply to the effect that was above serving in such menial sphere as that of bearing meat and drink to common laborers. My com panions had ceased to wranek about their title to all creation and were sleep. ing peacefully each apparently satisfied to be regarded as owner of an undivided half interest in it. was trying to in- duce the water jug to resume friendly re- lations with the whisky jug and to restore order among the bel.igcsers shesyes, each of which seemed bent on usurping the place of the other, when the preprie- tor of the harvest caGe toward me, and arose to receive him as became the dignity of one high up in the councils of the nation.
 Welcome, sir thrice welcome to the presence of the king" 1 exclaimed, = wing my hand ;mperiossiy, and sud denly sitting down on my head and shoulders.
 "Why in blaxes don't yea boys bring the water around r he inquised.
 "Ho there, guard!" exclaimed, hold ing on the jug for support. "Take this saucy wretch hence and chep of his of- lending head" The guards replied with significant snores, and again rose ts my feet and commasded my employer ts hence. He seemed reluctant to obey, and noticing that he did aos hence, 1 roared the command again, falling over the whisky jug and striking my head heavily on the water jug. The man ex- tended his hand to catch me, and just then my father, who was working some distance away, looked up and saw me faH-saw my employer pick ssse up-saw the blood on my cheek. He came toward me with the speed of the wind, and first noticing the blood, he asked myemployer why he struck me. He replied that he had not struck me, but my father said he saw him do it, and then 1 saw them dancing around and having a most hilari- ous time of it, and my fathers neigh bor fell across my stomach, and became so deathly sick could not for moment make the mistake of supposing myself anything better than a badly assassin ated president, and was carried home and put to bed, and my wound vas dressed, and my father made certaia in- quiries of me the next morning which induced hin so call on his neighbor and apologize, aad I felt weary and humiii- ated for several days, and in due time, we harvested. bat the whisky jug was kept along with the men and 1 carried only water. Oh, yesi The vile clatter of the modern selfbmder hath no charms like the melodious gurgle of the jugs of thirty years ago.