it--one
end at a time--over the necks of the oxen. Stuyvesant observed that
the oxen were fastened to the yoke, by means of bows shaped like the
letter U. These bows were passed up under the necks of the oxen. The
ends of them came up through the yokes and were fastened there by
little pegs, which Beechnut called keys. There was a ring in the
middle of the yoke on the under side to fasten the chain to, by which
the cattle were to draw.

When the oxen were yoked, Beechnut drove them to the corner of the
yard, where there was a drag with a plow upon it. Beechnut put an axe
also upon the drag.

"What do you want an axe for," asked Stuyvesant, "in going to plow?"

"We always take an axe," said Beechnut, "when we go away to work. We
are pretty sure to want it for something or other."

Beechnut then gave Stuyvesant a goad stick, and told him that he might
drive. Stuyvesant had observed very attentively what Beechnut had done
in driving, and the gestures which he had made, and the calls which he
had used, in speaking to the oxen, and though he had never attempted
to drive such a team before, he succeeded quite well. His success,
however, was partly owing to the sagacity of the oxen, who knew very
well where they were to go and what they were to do.

At length, after passing through one or two pairs of bars, they came
to the field.

"Which is the easiest," said Stuyvesant, "to drive the team or hold
the plow?"

"That depends," said Beechnut, "upon whether your capacity consists
most in your strength or your skill."

"Why so?" asked Stuyvesant.

"Because," said Beechnut, "it requires more skill to drive, than to
hold the plow, and more strength to hold the plow, than to drive. I
think, therefore, that you had better drive, for as between you and I,
it is I that have the most strength, and you that have the most
skill."

Stuyvesant laughed.

"Why you _ought_ to have the most skill," said Beechnut--"coming from
such a great city."

Beechnut took the plow off from the drag, and laid the drag on one
side. He then attached the cattle to the plow. They were standing,
when they did this, in the middle of one side of the field.

"Now," said Beechnut, "we are going first straight through the middle
of the field. Do you see that elm-tree, the other side of the fence?"

"I see a large tree," said Stuyvesant.

"It is an elm," said Beechnut.

"There is a great bird upon the top of it," said Stuyvesant.

"Yes," said Be