The National tribune., 1895-09-12
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Now is the season of beautiful nights when
! the great harvest moon" swings low over the
earth and makes 1t glow with rare pale light.
One of the queer sights of this country is the
stone piles that one sees everywhere. Odd
mounds, rudely symmetrical, loom up in the
midst of cornfelds and meadows, and remind
one of the cairns and circles of Druid temples
| in old England One could easily fancy that
| these solemn structures are ruins of some hea-
then affairs and temples once the scenes Of
weird ceremonies and strange professions.
x*x
| In reality they are only stone heaps, pure
and simple. This billy country is likewise
very stony, and before the farmer plow his
fields in peace he must so through tho drudg-
cry of cleaning off the stones-a weary. back
| breaking task. in which his sons. and perhaps
his wife and daughters, the man servant and
| maid servant and the whole household, join
him. Then the horses draw away the Offend
ing rocks on "stone-bo boat" which is drudgery
for the beasts, and the field is somewhat cleared.
Once off the fields the stones become very use
foundations for his buildings or makes Of them
low, picturesque walls around his lands. Often,
however, he contents himself with piling them
up in the center of the fields in the huge cir
cular mounds. The stones are all we'll rounded,
and it is easier than not to make the piles SYM
metrical. Sometimes the small boys are set
the unwelcome task, and they make smaller
mounds and put several in q row circle.
Arch9ologists have puzzled for many years
over the buried ruins i'll England, and have
invented many clever theories to explain them.
Now, perhaps, with the lapse Of a few thousand
centuries this Nation will perish, its buildings
be wiped away from the face OF the earth, the
forest growth run riot and the now sober and
sedate corn and wheat be turned into bold,
froiicsome weeds; then, perhaps, an archRolo-
gist Of the new time will come poking as2 dig
ging along and will discover these mounds.
Perhaps he will write essays about them and
arrange a religious worship around them. Ii
he can invent half as picturesque rites really
were he will be fortunate. for truly the good
farmers arc going through continual deyotions
to mother earth unremittingly as any priests
W Dio auu uoIo luz suoy
both hope for plenteous reward.
In due seasons there are long professions of
plowmen who 60 back and forth over the land.
Again at the regular season the sacrifice of
seeds is offered to the waiting earth. Sun and
winds, dews and rains pettioned to bless
the work, and with the Autumn come all the
duties and ceremonies of harvesting and stor-
ing. Picturesque and splendid it would seem
to a far-away observer, who would not be con-
scious of all the drudgery and disappointment
it may, and frequently does, involve. And in
involving these it is not unlike all else that is
picturesque and beautiful in life; there is al
ways drudgery and pain mixed in somewhere,
at least, in all that man has hand in.
One who lives in small town gets remark
ably well acquainted with people. Unless ono
is born to it, it is a little difficult TO remember
all the families, including the collaterals and
relationships established by second marriages,
but it comes with time. Feuds and friendships,
too, must be kept in mind; who does not speak
to whom. and who is who's sweetheart, are
facts not to be neglected. Ono learns life bet
ter, perhaps, in the town than in the city. The
temptations, victories, d0wnfalls ambitions,
and successes, the city neighbor; but
gets more intimately acquainted in the smaller
community, and nothing ever escapes the town
news.
It is always funny to sit and listen to the
talk of group of lades-callers and those
called upon. First come the sick ones of the
families present; their are discussed las is
most polite. then the sick acquaintances not
related, then the miscellaneous sick. with de- |
tails of all operations and treatments and fore
casts of the results. Next for discussion are |
the household duties of the season-house- |
cleaning, putting up fruit or whatever |
they may be, and then the joys and sorrows, |
the good and evil Of tho community. Gossip |
concerning fashions, babies. and books may |
break into the conversation at intervals. We |
can find out in an afternoon what Mrs. A. feeds |
to her children what sickness clutches Mrs. b. |
in its grasp, and what mistakes Doctor c. made |
in her treatment; what kind OF preserves Mr.. |
ID. likes; why Miss E. broke her engagement;
when Mrs. F. took hanneis of her baby; when |
Mr.. G. will finish paying Off his mortgage: why
MIS- H. cut MIS-. Il ou luesudy bHab j..
uses to keep her hair from falling out; what |
Mr.. X. did when he found that his lamp had
sm ok ed while he out and thai his furni-
ture was covered with black SCOT; why Mr.. L.
and Mr.. N. do not speak to each other now;
what time Mr.. n. gets home at night; how the
little boy o. gets on with has lessons, and how
much more than her husbands income Mrs P.
expends. All the problems of life, death, good
and evil, are living, personal, definite problems
to them, needing immediate attention and
leaving little time for abstract theorizing.
The Gipsy moth-or what looks very much
like that devastating Insects making great
head way here and the farmers do not seem to
bother about the ugly brown webs bit.
Nearly every tree along the roadsides ia caught
in the gauzy webs. Sometimes only little
patch. but often the greater part of the tree is
covered with them. No one bothers about
hem and the State even does not seem TO care
10 take measures against them. In Massachu-
,etts active operations for their destruction
ave been going on for months and official
bulletins warning farmers and all land owners
against the pests placed in every postoffice. |
Pictures of the caterpillar, the web and the