Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1909-05-07
Moving Scythes That Use to Be.

Talking about moving blades re-
minds me. L can remember, young
as 1 am, W hen all the grass and grain
in our community was cut by
scythes and grain cradleds. The intro
duction OF mowers and reapers was
slow and gradual. The first reaper L
ever saw, L reccoIect distinctly, was
on the farm of the late Lewis Huff,
near Big Lick, now Roanoke. 1t was n
heavy, cumbrous machine, drawn
by four horses. One man sat on the
machine with light, broad, wooden
rake, and gently pressed the wheat
against the blade and when
a bunch of sufficient size had gath
cred on the table Of the reaper he
pushed it Off with his rake In piles
for the binder. Each binder carried a
light rake to straighten out his
bundle before binding 1t or, as was
generally the case, each binder was
preceded by boy, who did the rak-
ing and Strengthening, and evening up
the bundles ready for the binder, who
made his bands while he walked
from one pile to the other.
II required specially expert man
to "rake and bind his own row."
and keep up. About 4 men and 4
boys were necessary to bind as fast
as the reaper could but, boys TO pile
the sleeves into dozens, and two men
to ''stock up'. so about dozen men
were necessary to each reaper besides
the driver and the man on the
the machine. Now, one man with
two horses, operates a machine which
cuts, binds and piles the sheaves. Be
fore this all the reaping was done
with cradles-also moving with
scythes. We had two kinds Of NOW
ing blades. One was known as the
Yankee and the other as the
Clutch" scythe. The Yankee"
scythe was about what we have now
(like the one L had that somebody
borrowed), the Dutch scythe is gone.
I havn't seen one for years. Did YOU
ever see and use one? If you diG you
remember 1t distinctly. They were
maze, or seemed to be made, of sheet
iron, broad, thin, short, and would
bend easily Instead of grinding them
we hammered them when they be-
came dull. a piece OF iron, with
narrow, long face, was driven into
log of wood, and the edge of the scy-
the hammered out on this little anvil
until ii is was as sharp as ii could be
gotten. When the hammering was
finished the edge of the blade looked
like a cross-cut saw. You could saw
wood with il. To pull one OF these
old Dutch blades through tall, tan
guled grass when the sun was strand
ing at about eleven In the morning
or three in the afternoon, was busi-
ness. The sun used to slip cog, or
in some way get hung or balled up
at about these special hours in the
day, and just hang right there, and
refuse to bulge, but all the same that
old Dutch blade would hang and
pull, and your back would ache, and
you'd get all "het up" However, ]
love to think Of that old scythe. car
hear it ring ACROSS the gap which
time has made between me and The
old meadow. l can see the long line
of the boys, with rolling, singing
rYthmic movement, each man jus'
lone lick behind" the man in front
and the tall grass falling and piling
into even smooth swarths clear acros
the field. One trouble about that oil
} Dutch scythe was that 1t gave no ex
cuse when you were about ready t
drop over, to stop and "whet. " Al
thhe same L would like to feel tn
blade in my hands once more, i
] the same old meadow field wit
that same old crowd of sturdy, swea
: ing mowers. With the passing of ii
old blade, the boys, too, have vanisl
+ ed into the shadowy past. j. A. l.