and even, the sheaves well bound and shocked in straight rows, with ten
sheaves to the shock. It was really a pleasure to inspect the fields
when the work was done. Skill was required to load well, and also to mow
away, the object being to get the greatest number of sheaves in the
smallest space. About the first of September the crops were in and the
barns were filled and surrounded with stacks of hay and grain.

My father was admitted to be the best farmer in the district. His farm
was a model of good order and neatness. He was one of the first to
devote attention to the improvement of his stock, and was always on the
look-out for improved implements or new ideas, which, if worthy of
attention, he was the first to utilize.

There is always something for a pushing farmer to do, and there are
always rainy days through the season, when out-door work comes to a
stand. At such times my father was almost always found in his workshop,
making pails or tubs for the house, or repairing his tools or making new
ones. At other times he would turn his attention to dressing the flax he
had stowed away, and getting it ready for spinning. The linen for bags,
as well as for the house, was then all home-made. It could hardly be
expected that with such facilities at hand my ingenuity would not
develop. One day I observed a pot of red paint on the workbench, and it
struck me that the tools would look much better if I gave them a coat of
paint. The thought was hardly conceived before it was put into
execution, and in a short time planes, saws, augers, &c., were carefully
coated over and set aside to dry. Father did not see the thing in the
same light as I did. He was very much displeased, and I was punished.
After this I turned my attention to water-wheels, waggons, boats, boxes,
&c., and in time got to be quite an expert with tools, and could make
almost anything out of wood. We children, although we had to drive cows,