The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1910-08-19
I \ !

where our boat lay, and
left-handed to the creek
right-handed to the main part of
the village, including the church
and station. A hedge, just break
ing into green. skirted the road
and over its brim we could see a
plowman guiding his team leisurely
up and down a broad, fiat field The
man in his drab corduroys and the
horses, big brown and a gray, made
picturesque group. They gave one,
too, the pleasant sense OF restfulness
an idler feels in watching other men
work. In the fulness OF my content
| murmured something silly about the
dignity OF labor, which reused my
companion from his comfortable ST.
lence to retort: That's because you've
never done any" looked up to
where a SMALL dark speck was rapidly
rising in the windy April sky and
flooding the air with Joyous melody
Just listen to that lark singing"
said. Just listen to that signboard
creaking! We shall have 1t down on
our heads retorted my practical
minded friend; not without reason, for
strong breeze was briskly swinging
the old sign to and fro, and the storm
of the night before had left dangling
by a single rusty hook The Plow
aand Anchor." muttered, as I eyed it
and warily edged along the bench
from under it. Il wonder what came
first at the beginning of things, and
when the first furrow was turned?"
THAT will be something for you to
think about till l get back" said
Frampton benignly.
That chap with the plow somehow
takes me back to Algeria
My friend grinned with good-hu-
mored sarcasm Most things seem
to do that" he said. But if you
want to ruminate on plowing. here's
something for start that takes one
to the back of beyond" AS he spoke
he detached coin from his watch
chain and tossed it to me. Next mo-
ment he looked at his watch and
rose hastily to his feet "Jove." he
exclaimed, its ten to, l must run
for it." And swinging his coat across
his shoulder, he picked up his bag
and disappeared at a trot round the
bend of the road to the station.
Frampton was right. Number!ess
incidents of the most trifling kind suf-
feed to carry my thoughts back to
| Algeria Life In the desert, life In the
towns. life in the Tell, each had i'm
pressed me vividly with its strange
and distinctive attraction. In the lat
ter district particularly l had studied
the process and progress of farming
carried on there in a way | should
never have thought of doing at home
There was such a glamour over 1t all;
over even the poverty and reckless
ness of the fellah and his primitive
methods of agriculture. Like farm
I ers all the world over, what he did and
what he left undone was the result not
of personal initiative, but of faithful
adherence to precedent. In spite OF
the efforts OF the French government
to introduce innovations and improve
ments the native cultivators Of agra
rian land plow, SOW and reap as men
did when the world was young. To
y
one hand pressed upon the single stem
of the plow and the other holding the
long, slim goad is to see living II
| lustration of how Elisha looked and
moved when Elijah found him plowing
and cast his cloak upon him In signlfl-
b cant symbolism of his destiny. Only
txsdn some such insignificant details as
sthe names of the months in the Kabyle
Gialect is the stamp Of Rome still Wis
III 1ble. and in the system of hiring labor
EsaIn the Tell there survives a custom
\ helonging to the early days of the Ro-
nan republic.
aSs This is what happens. A farmer
~ nds himself in debt, or he wants a
mp sum of money in order to marry
y settle down. He forthwith bor-
Us the required amount Of a richer
ghbor and signs contract by which
practically enslaves himself until
- able to pay off the loan. His
ter must provide him with plow
y pair Of oxen, the seed for the
and the necessaries of life. He
receives a fixed allowance of oil,
Il any barley per month, besides
Fly supply of clothes and foot
the price of them going to in
the original debt. In harvest
s NE khamme's, as he is called, is
4tlod to an assistant, but he often
9oks to take small indemnity and
- wife and children to work In
k Usually he is free to seek en-