THE BOY WHO SLEPT WELL O' NIGHTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 2, 3 January 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BOY WHO SLEPT WELL O' NIGHTS.

Many years ago a farmer needed a trustworthy boy to help him with the work on his farm. In those days there were no labour bureaux; men who were out of work used to assemble at the annual, fairs, and there the farmers would choose the ones tlicy wanted. One day the farmer journeyed to a market-place, where a fair was being held, and began to question the boys who waited for someone to come along and employ them. The first boy said he could plough and reap, the second that lie could milk and tend the cattle, the third that he could clip the sheep, the fourth that he could groom the horses, and so 011. But the last boy in the line said none of these things. He merely replied quietly that he "could sleep well 0' windy nights." , The farmer was so struck by this strange answer and 'by the steadfast bearing of the boy that he agreed to engage him for a year. The spring passed, and the summer, and the hoy worked so well that the farmer was pleased -with him, and learned to rely on him. He had almost forgotten the strange incident in the market-place. After the autumn, whep all the crops had been safely harvested, came the winter. One night a terrible storm broke over the farm. All night long the lightning' flashed and the thunder pealed and the wind howled round the chimneys, and the rain poured down in torrents. The farmer shuddered as he lay awake listening to the storm, wondering what I damage was being done outside in the fields. At breakfast he told the boy how he had been kept awake by the fury of the gale. The boy smiled, and replied that he had slept as soundly as ever. " Why," said the farmer in amazement, "I could not sleep a wink, thinking of the wind tearing at the tops of the hayricks." "Oh,-" replied the boy in ° his quiet voice, "I didn't worry about that. 1 knew they would be all right. You see, I put them on."