The herald., 1895-06-06

stllhouse were traced sorrows to families
The whisky must have been pretty good, ."
/ fancy. Those who drank it knew how
1t was made at any rate.
When the roads were good, wagons,
heaped with barrels of whisky and drawn
by from three to six horses, with creaking
wheels and cracking whips crept to tho
city. There were several anecdotes of the
returns of farmers showing that some
times the business trips were relieved by
festivities. One prosperous citizens wife
insisted on accompanying him, partly, the
neighbors said, for her own qualification
and partly for her moral influence, for her
"old man" had been known to wander. "
In the dusk of the evening the watchers
at home, waiting for the return Of the
heads of the family, who had made the
excursion to the great city by the Ohio,
heard on the highway, and growing louder
and louder, the rattling of chains, the
rumbling of wheels and the heavy gallop-
ing of the four horse team, and they said
to each other in ave. mikes comm,
and hastened to open the gates and re-
move all obstacles to navigation. AS Mike
drove in triumphantly and under high
steam the boys saw with alarm that there
was nothing Of the wagon there but the
running gears, and Mikes attention be-
ing urgently called to the fact he was So
bered by the shock and said, Must "a
left old oman in the road" Fresh horses
were soon bearing frantic riders in search,
and the lady was found sitting, safe and
patient in the wagon bed where it had
tumbled. She knew her value and that
she would be missed, and waited.
The first weeks work in the spring,
when school was out, was always excep-
tionally hard. The natural joys of spring
time were somewhat obscured. My earli-
est field work was dropping corn" Aft
er a field was well plowed, it was furrow-
ed one way in rows drawn with light
pillow as straight as possible, the width
that the corn rows were to stand from each
other-about four feet apart was the rulo
but some farmers thought 40 inches
enough. When tho cross furrowng took
place tho planting was simultaneously
done, for much depended in placing the
seed corn in the soft, fresh and, if posi-
Bile, mellow ground. A team for corn
planting was, first, the light ono horse
plow, marking the lines; after the plow-
boy the droppor, and then the hands who
covered tho grains in "hills'' with hoes or
with light machine drawn by one horse,
the sharAshovel taking up the dirt from
the bottom of the furrow, lifting the jun
per, as soIne called 1t, SO as to throw tho
proper amount of fine earth at ench cross
ing and stopping lightly on it, this light
step giving the operator an appearance of
limping. The dropper had to manage to
walk at steady jog and place his left foot
SO that the five grains the usual plant
but it often happened there were four or
six-should fall neatly near the tip of his
shoe, or, still better, the naked big toe.
There was a good deal Of skill and even
art in dropping corn. My first cornfield
triumph was in doing that we'll. 1t was
necessary to get the right number of
grains between the thumb and two first
fingers of the right hand and to catch the
swing in walking, to place the left foot
for guide at the crossing of the burrows,
and to drop the corn SO that it would not
be in pile or widely scattered. And there
presently came knack of throwing down
the four or five grains to produce the
proper number of stalks in 'hill, SO
as to strike and stick just about two
inches apart At first / was very proud
of my accomplishment in keeping step
and dropping the precious seed corn truly,
but there came from tho farm hands tho
deadly remark that it was girls work. /"
Very early got out of competition with
the girls by becoming a plowboy, when,
as Il complimentary person told Inc, had
to reach up' to the plow handles. l
found blowing such q delightful occupa-
tion that never considered it real work
-.-that is, real hard work. Tho feeding
and currying and watering and gearing