And thus, so little do we know of the
prankishness
cheap louis vuitton handbags of
the blind god, thus was Annabel Franklin working for her rival's best interests;
and instead of reviling her in secret, and treating her with disdain in public,
Patty should have welcomed her cordially to all the delights of Riverboro
society.
Chapter 13 Haying-Time
EVERYBODY in Riverboro,
Edgewood, Milliken's Mills, Spruce Swamp, Duck Pond, and Moderation was
"haying." There was a perfect frenzy of haying, for it was the Monday after the
"Fourth," the precise date in July when the Maine farmer said good-bye to
repose, and "hayed" desperately and unceasingly, until every spear of green in
his section was mowed down and safely under cover. If a man had grass of his
own, he cut it, and if he had none, he assisted in cutting that of some other
man, for "to hay," although an unconventional verb, was, and still is, a very
active one, and in common circulation, although
chanel bags
sale not used by the grammarians.
Whatever your trade, and
whatever your profession, it counted as naught in good weather. The fish-man
stopped selling fish, the meat-man ceased to bring meat; the cobbler, as well as
the judge, forsook the bench; and even the doctor made fewer visits than usual.
The wage for work in the hay-fields was a high one, and every man, boy, and
horse in a village was pressed into service.
When Ivory Boynton had
finished with his own small crop, he commonly went at once to Lawyer Wilson, who
had the largest acreage of hay-land in the township. Ivory was always in great
demand, for he was a mighty worker in the field, and a very giant at "pitching,"
being able to pick up a fair-sized hay-cock at one stroke of the fork and fling
it on to the cart as if it were a feather. Lawyer Wilson
chanel bags
outlet always took a hand himself if signs of rain appeared, and
Mark occasionally visited the scene of action when a crowd in the field made a
general jollification, or when there was an impending thunderstorm. In such
cases even women and girls joined the workers and all hands bent together to the
task of getting a load into the barn and covering the rest.
Deacon
Baxter was wont to call Mark Wilson a "worthless, whey-faced, lily-handed
whelp," but the description, though picturesque, was decidedly exaggerated. Mark
disliked manual labor, but having imbibed enough knowledge of law in his
father's office to be an excellent clerk, he much preferred travelling about,
settling the details of small cases, collecting rents and bad bills, to any form
of work on a farm. This sort of life, on stage-coaches and railway trains, or on
long driving trips with his own fast trotter, suited his
chanel
bags adventurous disposition and gave him a sense of importance
that was very necessary to his peace of mind. He was not especially intimate
with Ivory Boynton, who studied law with his father during all vacations and in
every available hour of leisure during term time, as did many another young New
England schoolmaster. Mark's father's praise of Ivory's legal ability was a
little too warm to please his son, as was the commendation of one of the County
Court judges on Ivory's preparation of a brief in a certain case in the Wilson
office. Ivory had drawn it up at Mr. Wilson's request, merely to show how far he
understood the books and cases he was studying, and he had no idea that it
differed in any way from the work of any other student; all the same, Mark's own
efforts in a like direction had never received any
cheap chanel
bags special mention. When he was in the hay-field he also kept as
far as possible from Ivory, because there, too, he felt a superiority that made
him, for the moment, a trifle discontented. It was no particular pleasure for
him to see Ivory plunge his fork deep into the heart of a hay-cock, take a firm
grasp of the handle, thrust forward his foot to steady himself, and then raise
the great fragrant heap slowly, and swing it up to the waiting haycart amid the
applause of the crowd. Rodman would be there, too, helping the man on top of the
load and getting nearly buried each time, as the mass descended upon him, but
doing his slender best to distribute and tread it down properly, while his young
heart glowed with pride at Cousin Ivory's prowess.