acher to play at the
harvest-homes?"

"Not a bit. I've done it more than fifty times in this village, and you
won't see a man in it but takes off his cap when he meets me in the
street."

The old man's eloquence continued to flow until they had returned to
the garden. Our friend waited a long time, in the hope of seeing
Hedwig, but in vain. Thus his first design was accomplished in spite of
himself: he did not see Hedwig for a long, long time,--to wit, for full
forty-eight hours.

Next day, as he strode alone through the fields, he saw Buchmaier
driving a horse, which drew a sort of roller.

"Busy, squire?" asked the teacher: he had learned some of the customary
phrases by this time.

"A little," answered Buchmaier, and drove his horse to the end of the
field, where he halted.

[Illustration: He drove his horse to the end of the field, where he
halted.]

"Is that the sorrel you were breaking in the day I came here?"

"Yes, that's him. I'm glad to see that you remember it: I thought you
had nothing in your head but your books.

"You see, I've had a queer time with this here horse. My ploughman
wanted to break him into double harness right-away, and I gave in to
him; but it wouldn't do, nohow. These colts, the first time they get
harness on 'em, work themselves to death, and pull, and pull, and don't
do any good after all: if they pull hard and get their side of the
swingle-tree forward, the other horse don't know what to make of it and
just lumbers along anyhow. But if you have 'em in single harness you
can make 'em steady and not worry themselves to death for nothing. When
they can work each by himself, they soon learn to work in a team, and
you can tell much better how strong you want the other horse to be."

The teacher derived a number of morals from this speech; but all he
said aloud was, "It's just the same thing with men: they must learn to
work alone first, and then they are able to help each other."

"That's what I never thought of; but I guess you're right."

"Is that the new sowing-machine? What are you sowing?"

"Rapeseed."

"Do you find the machine better than the old way of sowing?"

"Yes, it's more even; but it won't do for any but large fields. Small
patches are better sown with the hand."

"I must confess, I find something particularly attractive in the act of
sowing with the hand: it is significant that the seed should first rest
immediately in the hand of man and then fly through t