Jane Marcet

The Haymaking Fête

T HE next day Willy was very glad to hear that his cousins Emily and Maria were coming to see him, and their brother George. They were all three much older than Willy; but they were so good-natured that he liked to play with them almost better than with children of his own age.

"Then," said his Mamma, "your uncle and aunt are coming, with little Mary; and Harry and his sister Adela will come too."

"Oh, how many we shall be!" cried Willy, jumping about with joy. "How we shall tumble about in the hay. I hope, Mamma, they will bring little forks and rakes to make hay. They will like that best of all."

Willy and his Mamma then went out to see how the haymakers were getting on.

"It is such fine weather, Ma'am," said the bailiff, "that I dare say we shall carry some of the hay before night. There is plenty of sun and air to dry it."

"Are they going to carry it into the stables for the horses?" asked Willy.

"No, my dear; there would not be room in the stables for all that hay. They will carry it to the farm-yard, where the hay-ricks are, and there they will make it into a rick, as you will see by and by."

"Then how will the horses get it to eat?"

"The men will fetch it from the rick to the stables."

Willy worked but a little while with the haymakers; for his Mamma soon called him into the house, that he might not tire himself in the morning; for she said that he would have a great deal to do in the afternoon, making hay with all his young friends. Willy did not at all like to go in; however, he obeyed without complaining.

When he went into the drawing-room, he found his Mamma very busy tying up flowers.

"Oh, what a quantity of flowers you have got, Mamma! what are they all for?"

"To amuse the children who are coming. Try if you can help me; I am making them into garlands."

Willy tried to tie up flowers in garlands, but it was too difficult for him. His Mother said he would help her better, if he cut the stalks of the flowers shorter. She said they should be as long as her finger. She gave Willy a pair of small scissors, and measuring the stalk of one of the flowers the length of her finger, bade him cut it off.

"Now," said she, it will take too much time to measure them all, so you must guess the length you are to cut them."

Willy guessed sometimes a little too long, and at other times a little too short; but that did not much signify; his Mamma tied them together, and Willy thought he never saw any thing look so beautiful.

"How nicely I help you, Mamma," cried he; "you did not get on half so fast, when you did it all alone."

"Oh, no; I was obliged to put down the garland and take up the scissors to cut the flowers; and then to lay down the scissors to tie up the flowers; and doing that so often lost a great deal of time. But now that you cut the flowers, and hand them to me, I go on tying them up without interruption. But pray give me some pinks; you have given me roses three times following."

Willy handed a pink; he next chose a honeysuckle; then some larkspur; and after that stock and jessamine: in short, I do not know how many different sorts of flowers there were.

Whilst they were at work, the gardener came in to enquire what fruit should be gathered for the company that was coming.

"All the strawberries that are ripe," said his mistress: "children are fond of strawberries, and it is a very wholesome fruit."

"Then there are some cherries ripe," said Mark.

"Oh, cherries! cherries!" cried Willy; "they will like cherries more than strawberries."

"I do not think cherries so good as strawberries; do you, Willy?"

"I like them best now," replied he, "because they are new things. I have had a great many strawberries, and hardly any cherries yet."

So the cherries were ordered to be gathered also.

Some hours afterwards the carriages began to arrive. Willy was standing on the balcony jumping for joy; but as soon as he saw his uncle and aunt, with little Mary, in the phaëton, he ran down stairs to kiss them: he was going to take little Mary to the hay-field directly, when he heard another carriage driving up to the house.

"Oh, I must go and see who is in that carriage!" cried Willy, leaving poor little Mary to take care of herself. Mary toddled after him as well as she could; and luckily her Mamma was in the hall, or she might have fallen down the steps at the door of the house.

Well; who do you think was in this carriage? It was Emily and Maria, with George, and their Papa and Mamma. Then there was such kissing among the children, and, How d'ye do? How d'ye do and asking whether the hay was making.

"Oh, yes," said Willy; "and have you brought rakes and forks?"

George ran and fetched a parcel of them out of the carriage, and then they all set off running into the hay-field as fast as they could go. They found the hay-makers busy making the hay up into large, heaps, called cocks. George was such a great boy, that he went to work with one of the haymakers' forks, and carried bundles of hay upon it, which he put together to make a cock. Emily and Maria raked up the hay all round the cock, as they saw the women do. Willy sometimes carried hay to the cock with his little fork, like George, and sometimes he raked the scattered hay, like Emily and Maria; he tried to imitate them all. Little Mary, who was not much more than a year old, could not understand what they were about, and pulled the hay out of the cock to scatter it on the ground.

"Oh, look what Mary is about," cried Willy; "she is undoing all the work we have done. Fie, fie, Mary!"

"Fie, Willy, to scold her!" said George. "She does not mean to do any harm; she can undo very little, and we can soon put it up again."

Poor little Mary held up her mouth to Willy, who ran up to kiss her, and told her she might pull it about as much as she pleased.

When they had been hay-making some time, they saw Willy's Papa bringing Harry and his sister Adela across the field; they all ran to meet them, and then took them to the haycock they had been making, of which Willy was very proud.

"Look, Papa," said he, "what a large haycock we have made; and I helped a great deal."

"I wonder which made the greatest part of it," said Papa, laughing; "you, Willy, or George? I suppose he did very little, for he does not boast of it at all."

Willy felt ashamed of having boasted of the work, as he well knew his three cousins had done the greatest part.

"And you, little Mary," cried Papa, taking her up in his arms, "I am sure you helped a great deal too."

"Oh, no, Papa, she pulled the cock to pieces, and disturbed us; but she did not do it on purpose to disturb us, so we let her amuse herself."

The children were now called in to dinner: but they were so impatient to go on with their work, that they would hardly allow themselves time to eat it.

When they returned to the field, they found, to their surprise, that the whole of the hay was put into cocks, so that there was nothing more for them to do.

At first they looked a little disappointed at having lost their amusement. But George said, "Let us make a bird's nest, and we will all be the little birds." Then he began with his fork taking the hay out of the middle of the cock, to make a large hollow in it, and afterwards heaping up the hay all round, to make it look like a nest. Emily and Maria helped with their rakes. Willy did not well understand what they were about, but he tried to imitate them.

When the nest was finished, "Now," said George, "as we cannot fly, we must leap over the ridge, and jump in." And he went back a little way, then set off running, and as soon as he came to the nest he gave a great spring, and jumped over the ridge into the hollow. Harry followed next; but he was much younger, and not so strong, so that he could not leap clear over the ridge of hay, but fell upon it; however, he was not hurt at all, for the hay was quite soft. George laid hold of him, and rolled him down into the hollow. Willy's turn came next. As he saw that Harry was not strong enough for such a leap, he might easily have thought that he, who was a year younger, could not do it. But he thought of nothing but jumping over into the hollow like George. So he went back a few steps to run, and when he got to the hay, jumped up, and came down again just where he sprang up, which made all the children laugh. Willy tried to laugh too; but he felt vexed, and ashamed that he should think himself able to do so much more than he really could. However, Maria and Emily helped him to scramble over the hay, and they got into the nest with him. Little Mary was lifted up in her nurse's arms to see them all seated round inside the nest; and she held out her little hands, and begged so hard, by her looks and gestures, to be taken in, that Maria and George took her into the nest; and there she tumbled about as much as she chose, for she could not hurt herself on the soft hay. Whilst they were amusing themselves in this nest, they heard a noise,—Moo, moo, moo.

"Is that a cow?" said Harry. They all jumped up to look over the ridge of hay; and what should they see but Nanny, the white cow, covered with garlands of flowers: she was led on by a long wreath of flowers, which Johnny held in his hand; and Johnny was dressed in a new suit of clothes, and a new hat.

"Oh! all Mamma's pretty garlands," cried Willy; "and I helped to make them, and I did not know what they were for."

"How beautiful! How pretty! How funny!" cried the several children; and off they all were in an instant, running to meet the cow. The dairy-maid followed the cow, holding in her hands a large bowl, which had some wine and sugar in it. Johnny led the cow under a great tree. The dairy-maid then told the children she was going to milk them a syllabub. They did not know what that was, but they were sure it must be something very good. The dairy-maid sat down on her low stool, and began milking into the bowl, while the children surrounded the cow, patting it, and caressing it, and admiring its beautiful garlands; they were twisted round its horns, down its back, and over its tail. George fetched a little hay to feed the cow; then all the other children would do the same; and poor Nanny did not know which way to turn her head, so much hay was held up to her mouth.

"But what will the calf do, if you take away its milk?" said Willy.

"Oh, I have put it to another cow for its supper to-night," replied the dairy-maid. As she was milking, the milk mixed with the wine and sugar that was in the bowl, and it frothed up, as if it had been boiling. It looked so nice that the children longed to taste it. Presently all the company came from the house into the field to see Nanny and her garlands; and John and another servant followed with trays full of glasses, and baskets of cakes, and the strawberries Mark gathered, and cherries too. Oh, how delighted were the children! they ran to bring their Papas and Mammas to see the beautiful cow, and show them the garlands. Johnny, too, looked quite pleased and happy in his new clothes; and the more so, as he knew his master had given them to him because he had been a good boy, and worked well: but he did not boast of it. When his master came up, he said,—"There is a lad who has a new suit of clothes, because he deserves it." Johnny coloured, and took off his new hat, and scraped his foot to make a bow.

Papa whispered to Willy,—"I praise him, because he does not praise himself."

Then Willy thought,—"I wonder why Papa whispers that to me. Oh, I suppose it is because I praised myself about making the haycock; I will not do so another time."

The syllabub was now put into glasses with a ladle, and handed round to all the ladies and gentlemen. Each of the children had a glass of it, and they thought it very nice. They then took their Papas and Mammas to show them their bird's nest, and they all got in.

"Now," said Willy's Mamma, "I will be the mother bird, and bring you something to eat." So she took the basket of strawberries and cherries, and stretching out her arms, lifted it into the middle of the nest: the strawberries and cherries were both so good, that the children could not tell which they liked best. When they had eaten them, they ran about playing all over the field. They danced round a haycock, holding each other by the hand, while Mamma sang to them. Then the children tried to pull George down, and cover him with hay, but they were not strong enough; however, he very good-naturedly let himself be thrown down and covered all over, so that he was quite hidden; and they got upon the haycock that covered him, and rolled over, and played a thousand pranks, scattering the hay all about. A haymaker now came up to them, and began scolding them for littering the hay about.

"Are not you ashamed, young ladies and gentlemen," said he, "to undo all the work we have done?"

"Oh, what a cross haymaker!" said Emily and Maria.

"I don't like that naughty man," cried Adela, who was half afraid of him.

"Don't mind him!" said Harry and Willy.

But the man went on, and turning to Willy, said,—"And you, Master Willy, are you not ashamed to litter the hay in this manner? Oh fie!"

No sooner had the haymaker said Oh fie! than Willy remembered that he had scolded little Mary in the morning for littering the hay, and said Oh fie! to her. Then he was very sorry; for he could not bear to be like the scolding haymaker, whom some of the children called cross, and others naughty, and whom they all disliked. While he was thinking of this, and looking very grave, another haymaker came up, and said to his cross companion,—"Let them have their play, dear little creatures; I will make up the cock when they have done."

"Oh, what a good-natured man!" cried Emily and Maria.

"I like him," said Adela; "and I don't like the other at all."

"We all like him," cried Harry and George; "thank you, Master."

Willy could not say a word. He saw they all disliked the scolding haymaker; and he was afraid they would dislike him too, because he had scolded little Mary; and they all liked the good-natured haymaker. I wish I had been like the good haymaker, thought he to himself; George was like him when he told me not to scold her.

George observed how grave Willy looked, and guessed what he was thinking of; so he went to him and said,—"Remember, Willy, you went up to Mary afterwards, and kissed her."

"So I did," said Willy, who was pleased to think he had been kind to her afterwards.

A large wagon then came into the field, and the haymakers began filling it with hay. The children all ran to help, and lifted the hay on their little forks as high as they could reach, and the man who was in the cart, stooped down to take it up on his great fork. The wagon was soon filled, and the children wanted to ride in it on the top of the hay; but this they were not allowed to do, for fear they should fall and hurt themselves.

The sun was now very near the hill behind which it set, and the clouds looked as if they were painted with colours.

"Just like the colours in Mamma's paint-box," cried Willy.

"Oh, no; much brighter," said Maria; "the yellow looks like shining gold, and the red like flames of fire."

"Oh, yes; it is a great deal prettier than the colours in a paint box," cried all the children.

The sound of carriage wheels was then heard, and John came to tell them they were to return home. This was the only unpleasant thing the children had heard throughout this happy day. To make amends, they were allowed to ride to the house on Nanny's back, two at a time; and in this way they came back shouting and laughing. They then bid each other good b'ye, got into the carriages, and went home.

Willy went to bed; and though he was sadly tired with all the fun he had had, he could not help talking to Ann while he was undressing, and telling her about the cross and the good-natured haymaker. He then knelt down to repeat his little prayer; and before he rose, he said,—"Pray, God, forgive me for scolding Mary, and make me good-natured, like the good-natured haymaker."