HARVESTING.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20477, 1 December 1934, Page 26 (Supplement)

HARVESTING.

“ August brings the ripening corn, Then the harvest home is borne,’* chanted little Timothy as he came running in to supper. “ Oh, Grannie.” he shouted. “ we are all going to Barneycombe by motor to-morrow, and Jim says he believes we shall be able to see corn being cut, because the weather has been so hot it will be sure to be ripe. Are you going too, Grannie? Do you like cornfields? ” “ Indeed, I do,” replied Grannie with a smile, “and I guess T know 1 a bit more about them than Jim.” “ Did you live near cornfields when you were a little girl? ” queried Timothy. “ \ es, right in the heart of the country, and there were no trams or huses to take us to school in the towns as there are now. We all went to ihe village school, and great fun we had. Even the Squire’s two nephews lodged with the village schoolmaster and came to lessons with the rest cf us. Jolly boys they were, too. and not a bit proud. I think we played more games in those days than you can possibly do now, on account of the rush and the motor traffic. I pity you children very often when I think of our carefree plav.” “ Tell me. Grannie, all that vou did.” wheedled little Timothy, who' loved a joss ip with her. and had a little stool which was always brought out and placed near her for Timothy to sit on when she told him stories. “ I couldn't possibly tell you all,” laughed Grannie. “ for I was rather like vou, Tim, dear—always in mischief.” I can t believe that Grannie, dear.” chuckled Tim, “ you are always quiet and busy now. I can’t fancy 3'<;u up to mischief.” « k ut I was.” laughed G’-annie. and I must not put you up to more mischief than you know alreadv. or Mother will be forbidding our gDss»ps. W hen the harvest moon time came and the corn was being cut we used to find the afternoon lessons terribly long, for the girl next me lived at a arm, and would whisper, ‘ I am going )ut jp th e pony cart with the “ drinkn 2 s as soon as I get home. Don’t Kou get kept in, then you can go with me . So I had to hold my rebel tongue in check and be on my best behaviour, for, had I been kept to do even a sum or write a verse over again she would have been away bclore I could get there. The cart was a twowheeled one, and the pony a longegged nag. but no motor' could give more joy than our carriage did. The farmer’s wife would bring out. irst. a wide basket covered with a :loth. Homemade buns in that, a big kaf, and butter in a basin. Kext, helped by a maid, came an enormous kettle filled with steaming hot tea mixed with milk, all ready for pouring. A smaller basket containing cups, spoons, sugar, and a knife, came last. Now I am forgetting one detail. Cn the spout of the kettle, to keep the steam from escaping and the tea from spilling, was fixed a large, cleanly-sc übbed potato with a hole pierced in it just large enough to fit the spout of the kettle. “ I think I should have been disappointed had the potato been forgotten or a cork substituted.” “ Of course you would hav2.” said Timothy quietly, “so should I. Go on. please.” “ Then Fanny—that was my girl friend’s name—would start to " drive, standing up in the cart with a rein in each hand, and clicking hard wnh her tongue to make a noise that meant ‘ Gee up ! ’ The pony always did * geeup,' and -went the way he was intended, but I believe now he knew the way as well as Fanny did. When we got to the field it was quite an important feeling when the men stopped raking or tossing sheaves because we had arrived. Th?n they all came and sat in a shady feprner under the high hedge, but before sitting down they lifted the kettle and big basket out of the cart for F«-nny.” “ Did you have some tea, too, Grannie?” “ Why, yes, of course, Tim, for that was the reason of my going, you see. Never buns tasted as those did there in the cornfield, in spite of the prickling stubble which pierced our Stockinged legs. And such a delicious tea gurgled out of the spout of the big iron kettle when that large potato was removed. After tea was done it was our business to pack away the :ups into the baskets while a man or a. bov would lift the big kettle into the cart. Then off we set back to the farm, as a rule, but one evening Fanny bad a brain-wave. My two sisters. Louie and Frances, had come to meet is, so I suppose Fanny was feeling cind and important. " ‘ I will take you all a nice drive.’ ;aid she; ‘the longest way round to jet home.* Now. the longest way -ound was nearly two miles and the I irdinarv way just five minutes, and j ?o overjoyed were we that we all click- | :d hard with our tongues to make the

pony go. Then we sang songs and rattled our feet, but the pony took no notice of us at all, and went along with his usual ‘ jig-jog ’ as though we were not in the cart. Then came our adventure. We came to crossroads where stood a wide-armed directing-post naming the roads to ports by the sea, and under this directing-post lay a quaintlooking ruffiian, whom Fanny said was

a bit daft and easy-going.’ He lay like a spreadeagle. pretending to be dead. We thought Fanny hard-hearted when she passed by unheeding. “‘Pooh!’ she cried. ’He’s only pretending to be dead. That’s only' Bitty Noodle. Everybody knows he’s dafty.’ ‘ But he’s dead,’ we all protested, * and it is cruel not to stop.’ Don’t you be so soft-hearted,' she sniffed. ‘ He’s as right as rain; he’s not dead.’ But we were tearful, so, to please us, she checked the pony, and. bidding us hold the reins, she stepped softly down and tip-toed toward the prostrate creature. Carefullv, very carefully, she crept nearer, while we held our breaths. Yes, he moved, and up he jumped, with a wild shriek to frighten us. But Fanny had been cautious and. with a sharp ‘ I told you so ’ she was back in the cart like a fly. Even the old pony seemed to awake, and, with a flap or two of the reins, he actually trotted. We spun around the corner, for Fanny said it was ‘ Out of right, out of mind ’ with Billy Noodle. When we were well up the incline we turned to look back over the hedges, and, breathless with excitement, there we saw him dancing a kind of Dervish dance and making no headway after us at all.

He s mazed, said Fannv, “ everybody says so’; and. though wc believed her. we felt we had had a great adventure, and wc were very brave, but a bit shaky!”