There was of course an opportunity for the witness to go into considerable detail, but he did not apparently consider it necessary. And after he had made his simple statement, there seemed to be no occasion to procrastinate the proceedings any further.
“Yes,” said Uncle Jimmy, “I found Mr. Kelly yisterday here in tow-un and as he lives along the road toward my place, I invited him to ride with me. After we had gone up the road a piece, Mr. Kelly took a good sized bottle of whiskey out of his pocket and offered me a drink. Indeed he offered me several drinks on the way.”
The court thus assembled listened with breathless attention to this simple statement of the witness, but were even more impressed with his final words:
“Yes,” said Uncle Jimmy in a sad refrain, “I took what was good for me, and Kelly, poor mon, took the rest. And now he’s no more the day.”
Uncle Jimmy was excused. The court hastily agreed upon a verdict and the inquest was over.
CHAPTER XIV
Tales of the Farm Hired Man
Any record of New England rural life would be incomplete that left out the farm hired man.
The farm employer who does not make a careful study of how to get the best service he can from his help, and at the same time retain that good will and cheerful co-operation which are so essential to pleasant personal relations, is not likely to succeed to any satisfactory degree.
The Hand Mowers at Murray’s
Mr. Murray conducted a large and somewhat rocky farm in the days before farm machinery had been developed to anything like its present state of efficiency. He had a large field of grass that he was in a hurry to cut and put in the barn. The field was pretty nearly rectangular and one July day Mr. Murray devised a very ingenious plan. There were four hired men to undertake the job of mowing the field with hand scythes. Three of these men were assigned brief tasks, the fourth taking his place to turn the grindstone while the proprietor ground the scythe. This man was then told to mow around the field.