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Authors: Flora Thompson
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magpie, let out
for her daily exercise, had not returned to her wicker cage, said: 'Doo'nt 'ee
take on like that, my man. You goo an' tell Mrs. Andrews about it [naming the
village gossip] an' you'll hear where your Maggie's been seen, if 'tis as far
away as Stratton.'
Their favourite virtue was endurance. Not to flinch from pain
or hardship was their ideal. A man would say, 'He says, says he, that field o'
oo-ats's got to come in afore night, for there's a rain a-comin'. But we didn't
flinch, not we! Got the last loo-ad under cover by midnight. A'moost too
fagged-out to walk home; but we didn't flinch. We done it!' Or,'Ole bull he
comes for me, wi's head down. But I didn't flinch. I ripped off a bit o' loose
rail an' went for he. 'Twas him as did th' flinchin'. He! he!' Or a woman would
say, 'I set up wi' my poor old mother six nights runnin'; never had me clothes
off. But I didn't flinch, an' I pulled her through, for she didn't flinch
neither.' Or a young wife would say to the midwife after her first confinement,
'I didn't flinch, did I? Oh, I do hope I didn't flinch.'
The farm was large, extending far beyond the parish
boundaries; being, in fact, several farms, formerly in separate occupancy, but
now thrown into one and ruled over by the rich old man at the Tudor farmhouse.
The meadows around the farmstead sufficed for the carthorses' grazing and to support
the store cattle and a couple of milking cows which supplied the farmer's
family and those of a few of his immediate neighbours with butter and milk. A
few fields were sown with grass seed for hay, and sainfoin and rye were grown
and cut green for cattle food. The rest was arable land producing corn and root
crops, chiefly wheat.
Around the farmhouse were grouped the farm buildings; stables
for the great stamping shaggy-fetlocked carthorses; barns with doors so wide and
high that a load of hay could be driven through; sheds for the yellow-and-blue
painted farm wagons, granaries with outdoor staircases; and sheds for storing
oilcake, artificial manures, and agricultural implements. In the rickyard,
tall, pointed, elaborately thatched ricks stood on stone straddles; the dairy
indoors, though small, was a model one; there was a profusion of all that was
necessary or desirable for good farming.
Labour, too, was lavishly used. Boys leaving school were
taken on at the farm as a matter of course, and no time-expired soldier or
settler on marriage was ever refused a job. As the farmer said, he could always
do with an extra hand, for labour was cheap and the land was well tilled up to
the last inch.
When the men and boys from the hamlet reached the farmyard in
the morning, the carter and his assistant had been at work for an hour, feeding
and getting ready the horses. After giving any help required, the men and boys
would harness and lead out their teams and file off to the field where their
day's work was to be done.
If it rained, they donned sacks, split up one side to form a
hood and cloak combined. If it was frosty, they blew upon their nails and
thumped their arms across their chest to warm them. If they felt hungry after their
bread-and-lard breakfast, they would pare a turnip and munch it, or try a bite
or two of the rich, dark brown oilcake provided for the cattle. Some of the
boys would sample the tallow candles belonging to the stable lanterns; but that
was done more out of devilry than from hunger, for, whoever went short, the
mothers took care that their Tom or Dicky should have 'a bit o' summat to peck
at between meals'—half a cold pancake or the end of yesterday's roly-poly.
With 'Gee!' and 'Wert up!' and 'Who-a-a, now!' the teams
would draw out. The boys were hoisted to the backs of the tall carthorses, and
the men, walking alongside, filled their clay pipes with shag and drew the
first precious puffs of the day, as, with cracking of whips, clopping of hooves
and jingling of harness, the teams went tramping along the muddy byways.
The field names gave
for her daily exercise, had not returned to her wicker cage, said: 'Doo'nt 'ee
take on like that, my man. You goo an' tell Mrs. Andrews about it [naming the
village gossip] an' you'll hear where your Maggie's been seen, if 'tis as far
away as Stratton.'
Their favourite virtue was endurance. Not to flinch from pain
or hardship was their ideal. A man would say, 'He says, says he, that field o'
oo-ats's got to come in afore night, for there's a rain a-comin'. But we didn't
flinch, not we! Got the last loo-ad under cover by midnight. A'moost too
fagged-out to walk home; but we didn't flinch. We done it!' Or,'Ole bull he
comes for me, wi's head down. But I didn't flinch. I ripped off a bit o' loose
rail an' went for he. 'Twas him as did th' flinchin'. He! he!' Or a woman would
say, 'I set up wi' my poor old mother six nights runnin'; never had me clothes
off. But I didn't flinch, an' I pulled her through, for she didn't flinch
neither.' Or a young wife would say to the midwife after her first confinement,
'I didn't flinch, did I? Oh, I do hope I didn't flinch.'
The farm was large, extending far beyond the parish
boundaries; being, in fact, several farms, formerly in separate occupancy, but
now thrown into one and ruled over by the rich old man at the Tudor farmhouse.
The meadows around the farmstead sufficed for the carthorses' grazing and to support
the store cattle and a couple of milking cows which supplied the farmer's
family and those of a few of his immediate neighbours with butter and milk. A
few fields were sown with grass seed for hay, and sainfoin and rye were grown
and cut green for cattle food. The rest was arable land producing corn and root
crops, chiefly wheat.
Around the farmhouse were grouped the farm buildings; stables
for the great stamping shaggy-fetlocked carthorses; barns with doors so wide and
high that a load of hay could be driven through; sheds for the yellow-and-blue
painted farm wagons, granaries with outdoor staircases; and sheds for storing
oilcake, artificial manures, and agricultural implements. In the rickyard,
tall, pointed, elaborately thatched ricks stood on stone straddles; the dairy
indoors, though small, was a model one; there was a profusion of all that was
necessary or desirable for good farming.
Labour, too, was lavishly used. Boys leaving school were
taken on at the farm as a matter of course, and no time-expired soldier or
settler on marriage was ever refused a job. As the farmer said, he could always
do with an extra hand, for labour was cheap and the land was well tilled up to
the last inch.
When the men and boys from the hamlet reached the farmyard in
the morning, the carter and his assistant had been at work for an hour, feeding
and getting ready the horses. After giving any help required, the men and boys
would harness and lead out their teams and file off to the field where their
day's work was to be done.
If it rained, they donned sacks, split up one side to form a
hood and cloak combined. If it was frosty, they blew upon their nails and
thumped their arms across their chest to warm them. If they felt hungry after their
bread-and-lard breakfast, they would pare a turnip and munch it, or try a bite
or two of the rich, dark brown oilcake provided for the cattle. Some of the
boys would sample the tallow candles belonging to the stable lanterns; but that
was done more out of devilry than from hunger, for, whoever went short, the
mothers took care that their Tom or Dicky should have 'a bit o' summat to peck
at between meals'—half a cold pancake or the end of yesterday's roly-poly.
With 'Gee!' and 'Wert up!' and 'Who-a-a, now!' the teams
would draw out. The boys were hoisted to the backs of the tall carthorses, and
the men, walking alongside, filled their clay pipes with shag and drew the
first precious puffs of the day, as, with cracking of whips, clopping of hooves
and jingling of harness, the teams went tramping along the muddy byways.
The field names gave
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