Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1920-02-06
EXPERIENCES OF A PEDAGOGUE W|THA HARVEST CREW;
by l.. t. Babcock)

brakes. l didn't know for the lifr
OF me what I'd do when the time At
last came for me to tackle this steeu
hillside, but l went at it with an
parently all the sublime assurance
OF an experienced teamster. Pres
entity noticed that the hind wheels
/ OF the wagon lacked whole lot of
tracking" with the front wheels
Under the influence of gravity they
| persisted in sliding constantly down
hill, thing which threw me out of
my apprehension into state OF all
Ject terror until learned to use nv
brake.
| loaded the bundles on the best
! could, meanwhile clinging to the
bundle rack with might and main in
my effort to avoid disaster. Pres
entity | turned the wagon around
with the other side of the load up-
hill, at which a whole lot of the bun
dies fell off, much to the expressed
disgust of my buddy" the field
pitcher, fellow who came to Amer
lea from Switzerland few years
ago, but more recently from Oregon.
where he had been a lumber Jack"
Muttering to himself in some sort
OF foreign lingo, he pitched them on
again and I drove to the machine
10
ciate fully my style of loading, but
Il should worry"
Often and often | have wondered
why the farm laborers of the Pa
louise country are so many times and
so proverbially profane in their use
OF language. | think | have an ink
ling of at least one of the chief
causes of this quite common fault
An ordinary vocabulary, such as the
orthodox one fellow gets from a
dictionary, is utterly incapable of eX-
pressing ones feelings about these
abOminable north hill-slopes | tried
it, but gave it up in despair. I'm
fortunately | was not equipped with
this supplementary vocabulary not
often published in dictionaries. Per-
haps it is Just as well that | was not,
The eternal southwest winds have
gathered up the very richest part
OF this world-famed Palouse soil and
deposited it on the north slopes
which renders this absolutely the
best land on the ranch. Further
more these spots are away from the
direct rays of the sun, SO that the
ground there does not dry out 50
quickly, with the result that the
rankest growth of crops is often on
the north slopes. Sometimes, how
ever, the late snow drifts cut short
the eXuberance of growth which is
seen when snow leaves the ground
early in the spring. The past year
the very best grain grew on these
sheltered slopes and | had the full
benefit of the luxuriant growth. This
filled me with dismay at first but
il wasn't half bad after | became
used to it. The long straw was a
decided advantage when it came 80
making the loads hang on. In the
effort to get even with me for MAX
ing aim pitch the first load twice,
my Swiss bundle pitcher held me to
the steep slope until it was done.
One afternoon some young ladies
came to the harvest field in search
of new and thrilling experiences,
suppose. They asked me for the
privilege of riding on my bundle
wagon as | went for a load of grain.
Of course, l readily gave my consent.
inwardly chuckling to myself while
anticipating possible results. | was
right then hauling the bundles off
a hill which my lumber jack pitch
er declared was a ''son of gun
I couldn't help wondering what he
meant by such an uncouth assertion,
but | was not long in finding out
Just what a hill is like when shes
son of gun
The girls. who had come to the
thresher all "dolled up mounted
the bundle rack as soon as it was UNI
loaded and presently we started up
the steep incline. About the time
the hind wheels began to slide down
hill pretty strenuously, one of them
shouted, "Oh, gee whiz! stop a min
ute; I've busted my supporter!
Never mind the supporter, l re-
piled without looking around
You'll be eyerlastingly lucky II you
don't bust something more than
supporter before you get back from
this trip" | looked for an instant
in their direction and saw look of
extreme terror oyerspreading their
faces as the slope grew sleeper and