Five children asked me to let them "hunt tetta."
October 31.
The harvest of my twenty-five acre field at Casa Bianca began to-day—most beautiful weather and the hands worked very well, cutting down seven and a half acres, so that I hope we will get it all in the flats by Saturday.
November 1.
Another brilliant day and the hands getting on merrily with the work. If this were April rice we would tie up to-day what was cut yesterday, but the June rice straw is so green that one day's sun is not enough to dry it and so the tying will not begin until to-morrow.
November 2.
Seven and a half acres cut again to-day and Monday's cutting tied up and put in little cocks in the field. Though we have only had the few hands living on the place, the work is getting on finely. The sky is somewhat overcast, but I trust it does not mean rain.
November 3.
It began to rain late last evening, and poured all night. I could not sleep for thinking of my rice on the stubble. That which is stacked may not be much hurt, but that lying untied on the stubble will be terribly injured. During all the beautiful weather of the past two weeks I was eager to get the field harvested, but Marcus said it was not quite ripe enough, and when rice is cut underripe the grain is soft and mashes up in the pounding, making a very poor quality of rice; so I was forced to wait.