Grandpapa's Hay-Field

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Title:     Grandpapa's Hay-Field
Author: Harriet Myrtle [More Titles by Myrtle]

When the trees were green and the hedges full of wild roses, and birds singing, and butterflies fluttering over the sweet clover-fields, in the pleasant month of June, Willie and Alice Grey received an invitation to go to their grandpapa's on the last day of hay-making, when the hay is carted and stacked. Their grandpapa had a garden, a field, and a cow, and a swing in the field; and at all times, to go to see him and their aunts was a great pleasure, but at hay-making time it was more than ever delightful; so they set out with their mama and their favourite dog Ranger, in joyous spirits.

It was a bright sunny morning and very warm, and the road was very dusty, so that, happy as they were, they could not help feeling tired before half the walk was over; and when they came in sight of Farmer Dale's they wished "this was grandpapa's," and sat down by the gate, thinking it would be very nice if they might go by the fields instead of the dusty road. At this moment they heard the sound of wheels, and horses' feet coming tramp, tramp, behind the hedge, and looking through the gate, they saw Farmer Dale's horse and wagon with Charley the carter walking by the side.

"Ah Charley!" cried Willie, "where are you going?"

"To Squire Wakefield's," answered he, "to cart his hay."

"Then we shall see you again presently, for we are going to grandpapa's too," said Willie.

"Wo! Smiler," said Charley, and the horse stopped.

Charley began to open the gate, then touched his hat, and asked Mrs. Grey if she would please to walk in and go through the fields. She was very much obliged to him, and the children were delighted to get on the grass. They ran along by the side of the cart, looking at the great horse as he went on so strongly, and as if he did not feel the weight of the cart in the least.

"What is all that wood for, that you have in the wagon?" asked Alice.

"That is to lay under the hay-stack. The hay is laid on wood, not on the damp ground, you see, Miss. If it was not for the wood, you and Master Willie might have got into the cart and had a ride, but you might get hurt some way if it shook about."

"Thank you, Charley; I should have liked it very much," said she.

"Wo! Smiler," said Charley again, and again Smiler stopped.

"You could both ride on Smiler's back, if you're not afraid," said Charley.

"May we, mama?" cried Alice. "I should like it very much, only it looks so high up."

"Suppose we should tumble off," said little Willie, rather doubtfully.

Their mama was a little afraid at first too, but Charley assured her he would take great care of the young gentleman and lady; and presently Willie felt quite courageous and was lifted up and seated very firmly, and took fast hold of the collar. Then Charley lifted up Alice, and she put her arm round Willie's waist. Then Ranger began to bark and leap up as if he wanted to have a ride too.

"Stay by us, mama," cried Willie. "What a height we are from the ground!"

"Oh yes, stay by us," said Alice, who could not help feeling a little frightened too.

"I will stay by you," said their mama; "sit firm, and you are in no danger."

"Now hold fast," cried Charley. "Gee wot! Smiler!" and away went Smiler, tramp, tramp again. Very soon they got used to the motion, and laughed and chatted, and enjoyed it very much. Ranger went on, jumping and barking all the way; but Smiler did not mind: he never stopped. It was all their mama could do to keep up with them.

"Open the gate. Look where we are," cried Willie, when they stopped at their grandpapa's field, and smelt the sweet new hay. The gate was thrown open, and in they went in triumph, and were soon surrounded by a whole troop of merry people, with hay-forks and rakes in their hands and lifted down and kissed and welcomed by all.

There were Aunt Lucy, and Aunt Emily, and Uncle John, and there were their little cousins Mary and Janey, with their elder brother Robert, and their friends Herbert and Meggy, with their papa and mama. And there were Thomas, the gardener, and two hay-makers, whose names were Joe and Roger, and Emma, the cook, and Harriet, the housemaid. All were in the field, hard at work, spreading the large hay-cocks into long ridges ready to cart.

Willie and Alice were first taken to the summer-house, in one corner of the field, to have some cake and milk, and then a little rake was given to each, and they went hard to work, raking the hay like the rest.

The wagon was standing behind the summer-house, by the place where the stack was to be made, and Thomas was busy unloading it, and laying the wood in a proper form, ready to lay the hay on. This was soon done, and he got into the wagon himself, fork in hand.

"Who will have a ride down the field?" he cried.

"I will,--I will,--let me,--take me up," cried many voices, and in two minutes every child there was seated in the wagon, and away went Smiler with them down the field, and Charley led him to the end of one of the long ridges of hay.

Now out they must all come as fast as they got in. Uncle John held out his hands, and jumped them down one after another, on to the ridge of hay, and ended by burying them under it. But Thomas called out, that it was not time to play yet, so they all scrambled up as well as they could for laughing. Joe and Roger, Uncle John and Robert, forked up the hay and threw it into the wagon, and Thomas, standing up in it, packed it all even; all the rest raked after them, collecting what was scattered, and Charley led Smiler on and on, as they cleared. Soon there was a good heaped load.

"Who will have a ride on the top of the hay?" cries Thomas.

All the children were ready. So now Uncle John must lift them up, and, as Thomas received them, and seated them on the dry loose hay, they sunk in it very comfortably, and their faces peeped out like the young birds in a nest. When Smiler moved on they set up a shout, and grandpapa himself came out to see what was doing.

"Here we are! Ah, grandpapa, come up too!" cried Alice and Willie; but he laughed, and said, "that would never do for him."

Now they had to be handed down again, sliding and jumping as well as they could, for the wagon was led to the right place, and the hay was to be forked out and laid in order on the wood. Joe and Roger built the stack; Thomas, Robert, and Uncle John threw the hay out of the wagon; the rest had time to rest or play; only a few had to rake what was scattered by the wind or dropped, and Thomas soon sent them all to shake the rest of the cocks into ridges.

Now came a new visitor into the field: it was Daisy, the cow. All the time the grass was growing, she had been kept in the cow-house, but now Aunt Lucy had determined she should come and enjoy the pleasant air and grass once more. Daisy was a pretty Guernsey cow, with short horns, a small head, short legs, and was prettily spotted white and light brown. She was very gentle and tame, but she was young and playful; so when she found herself once more in her field, she set off, levelled her horns at a large hay-cock, knocked it down, and ran round by the hedge with a great bunch of hay on her head. Everybody laughed, and grandpapa declared it was exactly as if she had said to the hay-cock, "So it was for you I was shut up all this time! down with you!"

"You ought to have jumped over it, Daisy!" cried Uncle John.

"Uncle John must jump over a hay-cock!" cried Alice.

"Yes, yes, Uncle John. Do jump over a hay-cock," exclaimed several voices.

"To be sure I will," he said; so he laid down his fork, took off his straw hat, chose out one of the tallest hay-cocks, went back several paces, took a run, then a jump; but, high as he jumped, it was not high enough. His foot came thump against the top of the hay-cock, knocked it off, and he tumbled down on the other side, where he was buried under the rest of it by the children the next minute.

There is no saying when he would have got out; but the sight of the empty wagon, going down the field, made them all eager for a ride, and Uncle John must crawl out and help them in; and then every one was hard at work again.

By-and-bye it was dinner time. A cold dinner was ready for every one, and it was surprising what appetites they had; but the children could not sit long,--they must be off to the field again; and as the men were not ready to go on yet, they began to play. They pelted each other with hay. Little Willie was seized as he was running along with a load on his head to throw at some one, laid on a hay-cock, and quite hid under a heap; then out he got, and Alice was smothered, then all the others.

"Would anybody like a swing?" cried Robert, who had just come out.

Everybody liked swinging, so to the swing all went. It was hung to one of the arms of a large elm tree. Alice was put in first, and Robert swung her so high that she touched the green leaves and branches with her feet, and she enjoyed it very much; but she soon called out to him to stop, that some one else might come in. Herbert was such a bold swinger that he liked to stand up on the board, and Janey stood up with him; they held tight, and went up as high as Alice had done. Then little Willie and Mary were put in side by side, and swung together, and then Meggy had her turn; and while she was scudding through the air, first touching the high branches with her head, then with the tips of her toes, Thomas called all to work again.

Smiler had been taken out of the shafts and allowed to feed where he liked, but now he must be fastened in again; and as Charley had gone a message, Joe undertook to do it, and was a long time over it, for he did not understand how to fasten the buckles; however, it was done at last, and he led the wagon while the others loaded, and then the children were mounted on the top as before. They had got to the lower part of the field, and Smiler had to drag them up a steep bank. As he was straining up, and had nearly reached the top, one of the buckles, not properly fastened by Joe, gave way. Up went the shafts down went the back of the wagon, and out fell all the hay and all the children with it on the grass. Smiler walked off quietly, and began to eat grass very contentedly; grandpapa, uncle, aunts, papas, mamas, rushed to the spot in alarm. Nothing was to be seen of children, nothing but a great heap of hay; but the hay began to shake, and out came a head, then a foot, then a hand, then several heads, feet, and hands; then some were able to laugh, others to cry, and others to answer the anxious question, "Are you hurt?"

No one was hurt. Alice's bonnet was beaten flat over her eyes, but her mama soon straightened it; Meggy's frock was torn, but Aunt Emily brought out a needle and thread and mended it; Herbert lost a top out of his pocket, and Willie could not find his cap, till the hay was nearly all flung into the wagon again; but when they had shaken themselves well, and had got the hay out of their mouths and hair as well as they could, it was declared that no harm was done. It happened, however, that though Charley now fastened the harness right and tight, no one asked to get up on the next load or two; they preferred rather to run by the side.

The sun began to go round towards the west, and the trees to cast a longer shadow, and the field was nearly cleared; but now tea was ready under a spreading beech. Such a great tea-pot, such an immense jug of milk, such platefuls of cake and bread and butter, such piled heaps of strawberries and cherries were there for them, as they had never seen before; and much they enjoyed everything.

"What are those bright ribbons for, Aunt Lucy?" cried somebody. And, all leaving the remains of the feast, found the grass covered with bits of ribbon of every colour.

"Where are your rakes?" said she. "Choose your colours. All of you must have a streamer on your rakes when the last load goes to be stacked."

Now there was a great bustle. One would have green, another blue, another pink, another white. Then the forks were dressed; and then for papas and mamas, who had not been at work, long sticks were cut, and ribbons tied on them. Smiler must be dressed now. He had bunches of green leaves at each ear; and, as ribbon failed, long strips of bright-coloured calico were torn up and tied about his mane, tail, and harness. Ranger was caught, and had a fine collar of blue and red, with a large bow put on, and Herbert's little dog Ponto was made splendid, by tying bright strips to his long white hair all over him.

The carting was going on, and rakers were soon called for. The field was cleared; the wagon was about half full, and it was the last load.

All must mount now, rakes and forks in hand. Not only children.--grandpapa was in, now papa, now mama, now Aunt Lucy, now Aunt Emily and Uncle John, and Emma and Harriet. All were in. Charley walked at the head, a long red streamer on his whip. Joe and Roger waited on the stack, streamers on their forks.

"Now hold up your rakes and forks, and shout for the last load," cries Thomas. He was obeyed; there was a famous shout.

They stopped at the stack. "Master must please to get up on the stack, and Joe and Roger must come down."

Grandpapa mounted on the stack; all the rest stood up in the wagon.

"Three cheers for Squire Wakefield! whose hay we have got in this day," cries Thomas.

There were three capital cheers, and then Mr. Wakefield, thanking them, told them supper would be ready in half an hour, and invited them all to partake.

It was a lovely evening, and the long supper table was laid in the garden, on the lawn. The children helped to lay the tables, and were ready and delighted to wait on the company at supper. There was abundance of everything, and the tables looked beautiful when the high vases of flowers and heaped dishes of fruit were placed among the substantial dishes.

The hay was stacked, Smiler put up in the stable, and Thomas and his two assistants, with Charley, had come into the garden; and now the guests began to arrive,--Thomas's wife and three children, Emma's brother and sister, Harriet's father and sister, Charley's old mother, Joe's wife, Roger's mother and sister. There were seats for everybody. Mr. Wakefield and Aunt Lucy took the two ends of the table, and the children waited on all. Everything was so well arranged that they found it quite easy, and when they had no more to do they formed rings on the grass, and danced to their own voices.

Then songs were sung, and the children sometimes joined in chorus, and pleasant stories were told, and they stopped their dance to listen. The sun had gone down in a golden sky, and the moon was up when the happy party separated. The children stayed all night; every sofa and bed was full, and the moon that lighted the other guests to their several homes, peeped in at the windows of Mr. Wakefield's cottage on many little eyelids fast closed in sleep after a very merry day.

[The end]
Harriet Myrtle's short story: Grandpapa's Hay-Field

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