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Show TREADING DOWN UTe HERD'S CRASS By Charlss Aitni. Tnn"iTliinr ii n 11 ii ii ii ii i,i T ni In haying time, and LiJ the weather waa ao fair I ttmt we had mowed all Uia pr-a rni grass In the "south field." tnill Hi' We hail double about cutting cut-ting uum u ao iinit-h, for there were only three of ui lo lake rare of It; but the wont her hail cleared otT bright and windy thnt morning, aflrr a thunder shower In the night. There are pretty anre to be three or lour daya nf troixl, herd wen I her now," eald Knpohou, or "I'oley." an we cnlled blin. "Il'a down wllh It!" And we did. There were atx acres nf It, all stout grass, following clover the auniiner before; two tnna and a half to the nrre nf Inn i; stalked herd'a irrnaa, which, when dry and remly to go Into the hum, la about na atlff and hard to pitch mill handle ns ao much wire. An country hoy who hna ever "mowed away" kroiwa wlint auch gross ta when It la pltehed oft the curt to him In Ms forkfuls. The aim ahone hot all that flrat day, Iand heavy aa the grass waa It "made" well. We raked It Into wlndrnwa with the home rnke during the afternoon. Father wna awny In the north pnrt of the Btate, "cruising" for pine and apruco. In the employ of a lumber company, and Xtinoleon and 1 bad the haying lo dn, wllh the assistance of one hlrd man. 1 The next mnriiliic aa aoon aa the clew waa off, we turned the wlmlrowa. There were nbout twenty rnokloads f , of the hny. We phinned to Imul In ten londa that eoconfl day and ten the next Keren or eight tuna of liny, na every one known, ore about aa mueh na three men ought to handle In one afternoon. It baa all to bp pitched over twice with forka and trodden down In tho haymow; and thin hitter pnrt of the work. In tho case of coarse herd'a Itraaa, la the worst, for the trninplnit hna lo be done In a hot, clone linrn, mid choking dust Until noon of the second dny. when we began Imulliiir. the weather wna 1 fiilr; but Initnedlntely nfler 12 o'clock change wna nppnrcnt. A gray linae appeared In the aniith, aoon followed by email abrcda of cloud, which In-crenaeil In-crenaeil 111 Blue. In Maine we knew thoao algns only too well during the warm acnann. Such aoiilhern rains Come on auddcnly. "It will pour by Ii n'elnrk," anld Na-poleon. Na-poleon. "And till till" liny out! Whnt'a to be done. The only thine we could do wna to ' (wallow a hasty luncheon and begin hauling na fuat na possible. Wo aent word of our plight to our next neighbor, the Wbltcomba, and aa they bad finished their hnylng a day or two previously, they kindly aent orer their two hired men. with hay rack and ox team, to help ns. We had been saving what we cnlled the "weat bny" of the hum In which to pnt thla herd'a grass. Tho uual cross gtrdera had been taken out of thla hay, making ono long haymow of It fifty feet by twenty, and wo knew that the crop In the aouth field would All It to the "great honnis" of the barn, sixteen or twenty feet above the Darn floor. When we drove In wllh the flrat load the hired man atnrtod to pilch It off Into the bay, and I nnderlonk to Blow It Napoleon had remained out In the Held to roll the windrow up Into "tumbles," "tum-bles," ready to be pitched upon the cart aa aoon aa It relumed from the barn. The hired mnn waa a large, strong fellow. At every forkful he flung off .j, , about a hundred-weight of thnt coorae, annrled liny, and I aoon found thnt I waa going to hnve quite aa much work aa I could manage, for I hud to pull the hay back Into the long, deep bay, tread It down In the dust and hot and return to the front In time to take the next tough, annrly forkfuls na they came rolling down off tho enrt. I could Dot do It; no one could. My weight. Indeed, waa not antllclent to trend the coarae atuff down. Thla flrat load wna no aooner pltehed Off and the cart backed nut than In drove tho Whltcoiub ruck, piled high with another load. One of the 111 n with thla team hnd remained In the field, rolling up tumblca; the driver waa ready to throw off the bay. and tney all accmcd to think Hint I could take rare of It. Finding myaclf wointcd. I ran Into the house to ace If I could not get aome of the women to help me trend the hay down, hut they had all gone rssphe trying. Aa 1 ran back to the barn, however. I happened to ace In the lane two three-year-old colte that we were pasturing for Grandfather Adams. They were handsome brown Mnrgnn colli, of which tha old gentleman waa very fond, for they were well matched, and he expected to exhibit them aa a trotting trot-ting pair at the State fair. He waa out nearly every day looking at his pota, giving them suit or tlthlta. ami aeolng to It thnt we kept the wnlerlng trough In the lane pumped full of water. wa-ter. He also made lis put brass balls on the horns of all the young cattle, for fear they would hook IIioro colts. It came Into my mind that I might make them trend that hay down In the mow. My need of aid waa pressing. I ran out to the lnue a-nl culled the eolts through the yard Into the barn, then led them aci-osa the burn floor and urged them Into the mow. The hay wna Jnt about level with the born floor when I drove them In, ninl I put up a board to keep them from coming out. The Whltcomb load waa half off by tills time: but I pulled a part of It back, and then, bringing a hnrsrwhtp from the wnenn bouse, 1 rnn those colts up and down the mow. They were flue, plump, heavy colts, and the way tiny trumped thnt herd's gms down wns a Joy to behold. The Whltcomli cart hod no aooner barked out of the barn floor than In came our rnrt with Ita aecond load. Napoleon bad loaded It baatily. fur the aky waa darkening. "ritih It off! Hull It offr I exclaimed to the hired man. "I'll take care of It I I'll stow It now nn fast aa all of jron can bring It to me!" I would wait till 1 hnd half a rack load of It rolled back and distributed abont a little; then I would get up on the front girders with the horsewhip and aend those colta back and forth, from one cud nf tho long bny to the other. Klght feet are much better than two for trending down bny, and the difference between 110 pounds of boys and lnno pounds nf colt waa at once apparent. It wna a great acheme! Meanwhile the loads en me In hurry and bnste. One wna nn aooner pitched off to me than nnother wna ready. We were all working aa awlflly na pns. alble. Hut while throwing off the eighth load our hired Dinu amlilenly stopped, leaned on his fork, and began to laugh. "Sny," he drawled, "I e'poe yon ace that this haymow la tlllln up pretty fast. It Is up to the front beanie now. 'Taln't nny o' my business, but how nrn you golu' to git Uie colta down ofT'n II e mow!" In tho hent and hurry of the emergency emer-gency I hnd not thought of thai, and they were being elevated higher and higher with every load. In fact, they were up nine or ten feet above the bnrn floor nlready; too high for them to jump down without breaking their legs. The hired mnn stood and laughed. "Those colts'll be up 111 the roof of the bum wheu thla Held of hay la In." said be. When he drove out to the Peld he told Napoleon of the fix I was getting Into with the colta. ami 1'oley came running In to aen about It. "Thnt'e a pretty go!" bo exclaimed. "What will tirnudpn Adania any! I don't think you ought to have taken those colta for audi a Jolt. The duat la making them cough." "Well, they might Just aa well he on tha great beams aa where they are," snlil I. "Now they nre up here. I nm going to keep the 111 ut It till thla hay la In." There'll be the mischief to .ay If grandpa Hilda It out'. replied Napoleon, Napo-leon, lie hurried buck to the field, however, for the cart wna waiting. 1 felt not a little anxious about the situation; but the londa were coming think and fast. Aa I could could not get the colta down, I kept thum trending, and getting higher with every load, 't he ruin did not begin until nenrlv five o'clock, and we hauled In eighteen big Inaila nf that herd'a grass, there wrro only abont two load that became too wet to get In. Hut those eighteen loada bad filled that haymow qtiito up to tho great beams nf tho bnrn. A the hired mnn bad anticipated, the colta were np In the top of that high barn with hardly room to stand under the roof. Truth to any, too, they were hn and awenty. Tho men from Mr. Whitconib'a went off home, Inughlnit over It; aa for Napoleon and me. the more we studied the problem of gelling the colta down, the more dllllrult It looked. We aet a long ladder and carried np two burketa of water to them, and let them stand In the bey and cut what they wanted. In fact, wo were tired out with our hard afternnon'a work, and there were the cowa to milk, and all the born chorea to to. It wna Hatur-ilay Hatur-ilay night and our hired man went home. While wo weru milking we heard firnndpn Adnma calling tho colli. It waa now raining hard, and be had come over to ece that they hnd or r 'Ulty to got under the barn Jill., shells. "Now wlint shall we tell hlmT anld Napoleon, anxiously. Of course I ought to hnve gone and confessed. I knew It, but 1 did not want ta have him flud out what I bad done. It disturbed me a good deal to hear the old gentleman out In the rnln calling. "Nobby, nobby, nobby!" and "Cojnck, cojock, colaek.' up and down the pnsture but I kept quiet and when at lust bo dime back to the bnrn and looked for ue boya, 10 ask about the colta, Nupolcon aud I kept out of eight Grandfather at last decided that they must have taken shelter In the woods at the fur aide of the pasture, aa they aometliiica did, and although still somewhat disappointed by their non-appearance, he went home without making any further aeareb. foy had no auoner broken next morn-lug morn-lug than Napoleon and I were at tue burn. Wo knew thnt we must get thoso colta down In aome way even If It were Sunday. It waa really work of necessity, but how to manage It and not Injure the animals waa sotne-Ihlng sotne-Ihlng of a problem. We went quietly to Mr. Whitconib'a. ami cnlled nut hla two hired men. and held a conference. We hit upon a scheme and to carry It out we were obliged to go to a sawmill half a mile distant and bring four aticka of timber, two by eight Inches, and each twenty-four twenty-four feet 111 length. These we aet up aslant, close together, to-gether, renchlng from the bnrn floor to the top of the bayniow. and forming form-ing a kind nf a rhute. Taking baiters and lilts of rope, three nf us theu climbed on the mow, and by pushing against their sides suddenly aa they stood in the annrly hay, threw down first one. then tho oilier, of the colta. and tied their legs securely, to prevent them from itruugllng. Then we drugged thrra forward to tho top of ; the cbiilc. j W hile we were thus employed Nn- poleon had gone to bilug the lung. large ro; e from a set of pulley bloe, and also nn old buffalo akin. Having wrapped the skin round one of the colts to prevent Injury to Its sides, we lllen let the nnlmal slide down the chute, steadying It wllh the large rope passed around Its body. We were fortunate fs pet both of them down without accident, and we then untied their legs and turned them out. The colts were In the pasture, feeding feed-ing na If nothing had happened, when Cramlfather Adnma enme at eight o'clock. He looked them nil over, but could not find a scrnlch or a mark on either of them. They did cough a little for aevernl dnye afterward, but he did not chance to bear or notice that. Thnt winter, however. In December, when father began to take the bny out nf the mow, he bad nome dllllciilty. Napoleon and I were from home nt the time, teaching district achools aevernl inllea awny, but ho wrote to na: "I should like to know bow you two boya stowed that herd's grass bny Inst summer, and what you did to It: yon must have naed a pile driver. I have sent for a grip fork, and I want yon both to come home ?nlurday and help me pull nut two or three tons of It with a tnekle and Mock." Youtha Companion. |