Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-10-10

that must have expression rises In
Southern Missouri and Illinois and rolls
n0rthward from farm to farm, from May
20 September, always beginning some
where and eliminating otherwhere, until
at last il dies away on the plains of Man
itoba.
While yet, to the traveller on the rail-
roads, ''the billowy bays Of grain, ever
rolling in shadow and sunshine" are
green and scarcely distinguishable from
meadow land, the farmer has caught the
Rrst undergleam of yellow that creeps up
the stalk from day to day, until the
heavy head has turned to gold. Every
day then is good or bad for the wheat.
He wants the weather to be cool and dry;
. thunder storm is tragedy, a sky Of
brass a disaster. He looks to the signs
Ia the morning, and waits impatiently
for the freight train to creep by with the
Government weather signal displayed.
He goes to town for the paper to read
the prediction, and he decorates his
horses ears with the heaviest boards he
can find to keep up his courage.
At this time he is pessimist. A spot
Of rust on q yellow stalk will make him
Respondent for week. If his daughter
n counting on music lessons he will show
her a Hessian fly found in the wheat.
and the sight of chinch bug will develop
the whole family in gloom. With the first
touch Of gold on the boards a feverish
activity begins. The farmer gets his
reaper and binder ready and arranges
with the neighbors to trade off work
There are trips to town for binding Irvine,
for stores of sugar and coffee, and the
butter is not sold but is stored away in
the milkhouse. A sheep or a calf Is penned
sp to be fattened, and chickens are con-
6ned in the poultry houses.
The first morning that smoke is seen
from a thrashing machine down on the
southern horizon is great day. ALI day
long it is watched. Perhaps il is busy at
q small farm and is moved to another in
the afternoon. Sometimes there is un-
accountable delay when, if the smoke still
rises from the thrasher, the farmer will
venture to predict that Sam Browns
twenty acres are turning out better than
he expected, and hopes rise. If the
smoke ceases there are dire predictions
that the machine has broken down, and
before it is fixed q storm will come and
drench the shocks.
The farmer has finished the reaping
and the shocks stand in the open field
amlu the StuDDle, ike nuggets or gold
lying on golden sands. Already peoples
and Indian lilies missed by the reaper,
have burst into flower and fleck the fields
with crimson, the smallest cloud casts a
sinister shadow and brings the whole
family out in apprehension. Daily the
thrasher creeps nearer, now east, now
west but always farther north.
At length the men of the family ride
away in the big wagon to help neigh
Dor, returning at night with the news that
"thc machine may be here any day now"
The women are thrown into a fiutter Of
excitement and the next day while the
men are gone the oven is filled with
loaves, then with pies and cakes. The
soap kettle is hung on the crane in the
yard and hams are boiled. All the butter
milk is saved to be sent to the field, and
root beer is brewed. The chickens are
dressed and vegetables gathered.
Now the women sit down and wait.
The thrasher sends out a clear whistle
at noon and g o'clock. If the whistle
should blow at IL the women know that
q piece of work is finished and they