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Show Sickle Still in Use at Galician Harvest The harvester bends low; In the left arm she gathers a cluster of grain stalks: with the sickle In her right hand she cuts a swift stroke near the roots. Catching the severed grain In the curve of the sickle, she raises It above her head and waves It In a circular cir-cular movement ; then, pivoting on her hips, she lays the sheaf on the ground behind her. In tireless rhythm she moves across the rows of grain. A boy follows In the field, tying the sheaves with straws. Exoh.-u ge. j A Galician peasant girl frames her bronzed face with a russet-colored handkerchief. She wears a blouse of blue percale with sleeves of checked gingham, and a gray woolen fklrt The white and blue striped apron Is crumpled crum-pled by the sheaf of yellow wheat clasped In her smooth brown arms. In Galioia many of the men emigrate emi-grate to find employment, and the women carry on the work of the four seasons. The fields are small ; the funning methods are the methods of the Homeric age. The red earth is turned in shallow furrows with wooden plows drawn by biscuit-colored oxen. The seed Is scattered by hand, and the soil Is cultivated with wooden harrows. In June the grain Is ripe, and the peasant girl goes Into the field with her sickle. |