The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1904-01-23
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HI I'll SruSS Ill inc AOutu ueiu.
6Sl 9N We had doubts about cut
ting down SO much. for there were
only three of us to take care Of 1t; but
the weather Ind cleared Off bright and
windy that morning, after thunder
shower in the night.
There are pretty sure to be three or
four days OF good. hard weather now,'
said Napoleon. or Policy" rs we called
him. Lets down with it.'
And we did. There were six acres
of 1t, all stout grass, following clover
the summer before; two tons and a
half to the acre of long stalked herds
grass, which. when dry and ready to
go into the barn, is about as stih and
hard to pitch and handle MS so much
wire. Any country boy who has ever
moved away" knows what such grass
is when 1t is pitched off the cart to
him In big forkfuls.
The sun shOne hot all that first day.
and heavy as the grass was 1t made"
well. We raked 1t into windows with
the horse rake during the afternoon.
Father was away in the north part
of the State, cruising" for pine and
spruce, In the employ of lumber
company. and Napoleon and I had the
haying to do. with the assistance of
one bird man. yt
The next morning. MS soon as the
dew was off. we turned the windows
There were about twenty rack-loads
of the hay. We planned to haul in
ten loads that second day and ten the
next.
Seven or eight tons Of hay. az every
one knows, are about as much as three
men ought to handle in one afternoon.
1t has all to be pitched over twice
with forks md trOdden down In the
haymow; and this latter part of the
work, in the case of coarse herds
grass, IL the worst. for the tramping
has to be done in hot, close barn,
amid choking dust.
Until noon of the second day, when
we began hauling. the weather was
fair; but Immediately aftet - O'Clock
n change was apparent. A gray haze
appeared In the south, soon followed
by small shreds of cloud. which In
creased In size. In Maine we knew
those signs only too welp during the
warm season. Such southern rains
come on suddenly.
TT will pour by : o'clock" soid Ma
poleon. "And oil this hay out! What's
to be done.
The only thing we could do was to
swallow hasty luncheon and begin
hauling as fast us possible.
We sent word of our plight TO our
next neighbors, the Whitcombs. and
as they had finished their haying a day
or two previously. they kindly sent
over their two hired men, with hay
rack and OK team. to help US.
We had been saving what we called
the west bay of the barn In which
to put this herds grass. The usual
cross Orders had been taken out of
this bay. making one long haymow of
1t. fifty feet by twenty. and we knew
that the crop In the south field would
fill 1t to the great beams" of the barn,
eighteen or twenty feet above the
barn floor.
When we drove in with the first load
into the bay. and 1 undertook to stow
1t. Napoleon had remained out in the
field to roll the windrow up into "tum-
bles." ready to be pitched upon the
cart as soon as 1t returned from the
barn.
The hired man was a large. strong
fellow. At every forkful he flung OF
about hundred-weight of that coarse.
snarled hay. and soon found that
was going to have quite as much work
as could manage. for had to pull the
hay back into the long. deep bay.
tread 1t down in the dust and heat,
and return to the front in time to take
the next tough. snarly forkfuls as they
came rolling down OF the cart. could
not do 1t; no one could. My weight.
indeed, was not sufficient to tread the
coarse stun down.
This first load was no sooner pitched
OF and the cart backed out than in
drove the Whitcomb rack. piled high
with another load. One Of the men
with this team had remained in the
field, rolling up tumbles; the, driver
was ready to throw on the hay. and
they IN seemed to think that could
take care Of 1t.
Finding myself worsted. I ran into
the house to see If I could not get some
of the women to help me tread the
hay down. but they had all gone
raspberrying.
AS l ran back to the barn. however.
I happened to see in the lane two three
year-old colts that we were pasturing
for Grandfather Adams. They were
handsome brown Morgan colts. OF
(which the old gentleman was very
fond, for they were well matched. and
he expected to exhibit them ~ trot-
ting pair at the State fair. He was
out nearly every day looking at his
pets. giving them salt or titbits, and
seeing to 1t that we kept the watering
trough in the lane pumped full Of wa-
ter. He also made us put brass balls
on the horns of all the young cattle.
a. III -