The national forum., 1910-08-20


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
plowmen guiding his team leisurely
UP and down a broad, flat field, The
man in his drab corduToys and the
horses, a big brown and gray, made
picturesque group. They gave one,
too, the pleasant sense of restfulhess
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 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 it down on
our heads" rotorted my practical
minded friend; not without reason, for
a strong breeze was briskly swinging
the old sign to and fro, and the storm
of the night before had left dangling
by single rusty hook. The Pow
and Anchor!" | muttered, as l 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 get back said
Frampton benignly.
That chap with the plow somehow
takes me back to Algeria"
My friend grinned with a 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 ard tossod it ia me. Next mo-
ment he looked at hts watch and
rose hastily to his feet "Joyel" he
exclaimed, 'it's ten to! must run
for it." And swinging his coat across
his shoulder, he picked up his bag
and disappeared at trot round the
bend of the road to the station.
Frampton was right. Nunberless
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 it's strange
and distinctive attraction. In the lat
ter district particularly had studied
the process and progress of farming
carried on there in way should
never have thought of doing at home.
There was such glamour over 1t all;
over even the poverty and reckless
ness Of the fellah and his primitive
methods of agriculture. Like farm
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
see an Arab steering yoke of oxen,
one hand pressed upon the single stem
OF the plow and the other holding the
long, slim goad, is to see living IL
lustration of how Elisha looked and
moved when Elijah found him plowing
and cast his cloak upon him in signifi-
cant symbolism of his destiny. Only
in some such insignificant details as
the names of the months in the Kabyle
dialect is the stamp of Rome still Wis
ible, and in the system of hiring labor
in the Tell there survives custom
belonging to the early days Of the Ro-
man republic.
This is what happens. A farmer
finds himself in debt, or he wants a
lump sum of money in order to marry
and settle down. He forthwith bor-
rows the required amount of a richer
neighhor and signs contract by which
he practically enslaves himself until
he is able to pay off the loan His
master must provide him with plow
and a pair Of oxen. the seed for the
crop and the necessaries Of life. He
also receives a fixed allowance Of oil,
wheat any barley per month, besides
b yearly supply Of clothes and foot"
wear, the price of them going to In
crease the original debt, In harvest
time the khamme's, as he is called, Ia
entitled to an assistant, but he often
prefers to take small indemnity and
set his wife and children to work in
stead. Usually he Is free to seek en-
ployment on his own account from
January to April, and then he hires
himself out for day labor in the vine
yards and olive groves of the French
colonists, Bat in the districts now
given up to olive growing the khammes
are few, as their wages soon enable
them to free themselves; and before
long, it may be safely prophesied,
the Arab will relinquish this ancient
usage in favor of modern European de-
vices for tiding over bad times. Per
haps, too, 1t is hard to believe, he
may be gradually induced to secure
himself a richer return for his Ia
Dor by using tools of modern shape.
and In particular by exchanging his
picturesque but ineffective wooden
plow for the powerful up-to-date ma