1902_06_NormalRecord.013 |
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8 THE NORMAL RECORD. of the ranch kindly presented each of us with a pitchfork. To the reader who may be wondering if we did any work that day, I will say that we did. About half-past 9 in the evening we commenced work, or as a journalist would put it, made our debut. Fancy, reader, a large field, in which two mowers were steadily running euttir.g the hay. Also, draw upon your imagination enough to picture a large, anything but comfortable sun sending down in generous amount his loving rays, or, as Lowell has said, "Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, and over it softly her warm ear lays." Such was the scene. Nothing to be seen but acres and acres of hay; nothing to be beard but the ring of fork tines as the five pleasure seekers industriously used their forks under the watchful eyes of the not far distant boss. I should have called the reader's attention to the fact that there were no shade trees to be included in this picture. Shakespeare has said that it is a wise father that knoweth his own son; and I think, had he have written a sonnet about ranching, he would have said that it is a wise farmer who leaveth no spreading rape on his ranch. While we were an extremely conscientious crowd, I am afraid we would have found it convenient to have shocked hay in the shade frequently if we had had the chance. Many were the comments upon the ability of the sun to make things warm. Nature poets, as Wordsworth and others, may have wandered along banks of streams and in other shady places, and thus have seemingly thrown an inspiration within beautiful poems. Whittier wrote of Maud Muller raking the meadow sweet with hay, of the singing birds and the humming bees, or perhaps, of the low of cattle. This a poet might have done; but I am sure that not one of us, after the first half hour's work, had much poetry in his soul. I said we commenced work at half-past 9. Well, about 10 o'clock, and from then on till 12, watches were frequently consulted, and many comments were heard about time dragging. One suggested that we were too far from the house to hear the dinner bell; another, that perhaps they had forgotten to ring it. Various comments were indulged in, till at last that most welcome of sounds, the ringing of the dinner bell, was heard. Pitchforks were hastily thrown aside, and then a short run of perhaps two hundred yards, and then, after a delightfully refreshing wash, dinner wvs served. We are told somewhere to put our faith in spiritual things: and not in material things. Well, this particular noon we completely overlooked this command till after dinner. After an hour's rest we were again ready to continue our field-day exercises. The day finally came to an end, and to say we were glad does not express it. After an excellent supper we were invited into the parlor, where we enjoyed some music and social chat. We retired early, not because we were tired, but because we did not wish to keep our host up late. To cut a long story short, the next morning we were awakened by a loud knocking on the door and a summons to breakfast. We would have eujoyed resting another hour, but as resting is psychologically ignominious, we rose. The reader may expect another account of the day's labor; but we didn't think best to pitch hay that day, because it rained; aud while we were very sorry that the rain was spoiling the hay, we were not very sorry that we were not working. In our short experience of the day before, we did not reconcile our muscles to this most arduous of tasks, as was evinced by the number of sore-armed young men the next day. While I think hay pitching is an honorable and a noble calling, I would advise any of my Normal friends to steer clear of a hay field. ''He who attacks an ahsent friend, or who does not defend him when defamed by another—that man is a dark character; do you, Roman, beware of him." " All the arts which belong to polished life are held together by some common tie, and connected, as it were, by some intimate relationship. " "Let the ignorant learn, and let the learned improve their recollection.'
Object Description
Title | The Normal Record. June 1902 |
Original Date | 1902-06 |
Description | The Record. Published by the Associated Students of Chico State College. |
Creator | Chico State College |
Location of Original | Archives |
Call Number | LD723 C57 |
Digital Collection | The Record: Chico State Yearbook Collection |
Digital Repository | Meriam Library, California State University, Chico. |
Description-Abstract | The Record served as both a student magazine and a commencement program for Chico Normal School. In the year 1902 it was published every month - except the Summer months of July and August. |
Date Digital | 2013 |
Language | eng |
Rights | For information on the use of the images in this collection contact the Special Collections Department at 530.898-6342 or email: specialcollections@csuchico.edu |
Format | image/tiff |
Filename | index.cpd |
Description
Title | 1902_06_NormalRecord.013 |
Original Date | 1902-06 |
OCR- Transcript | 8 THE NORMAL RECORD. of the ranch kindly presented each of us with a pitchfork. To the reader who may be wondering if we did any work that day, I will say that we did. About half-past 9 in the evening we commenced work, or as a journalist would put it, made our debut. Fancy, reader, a large field, in which two mowers were steadily running euttir.g the hay. Also, draw upon your imagination enough to picture a large, anything but comfortable sun sending down in generous amount his loving rays, or, as Lowell has said, "Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, and over it softly her warm ear lays." Such was the scene. Nothing to be seen but acres and acres of hay; nothing to be beard but the ring of fork tines as the five pleasure seekers industriously used their forks under the watchful eyes of the not far distant boss. I should have called the reader's attention to the fact that there were no shade trees to be included in this picture. Shakespeare has said that it is a wise father that knoweth his own son; and I think, had he have written a sonnet about ranching, he would have said that it is a wise farmer who leaveth no spreading rape on his ranch. While we were an extremely conscientious crowd, I am afraid we would have found it convenient to have shocked hay in the shade frequently if we had had the chance. Many were the comments upon the ability of the sun to make things warm. Nature poets, as Wordsworth and others, may have wandered along banks of streams and in other shady places, and thus have seemingly thrown an inspiration within beautiful poems. Whittier wrote of Maud Muller raking the meadow sweet with hay, of the singing birds and the humming bees, or perhaps, of the low of cattle. This a poet might have done; but I am sure that not one of us, after the first half hour's work, had much poetry in his soul. I said we commenced work at half-past 9. Well, about 10 o'clock, and from then on till 12, watches were frequently consulted, and many comments were heard about time dragging. One suggested that we were too far from the house to hear the dinner bell; another, that perhaps they had forgotten to ring it. Various comments were indulged in, till at last that most welcome of sounds, the ringing of the dinner bell, was heard. Pitchforks were hastily thrown aside, and then a short run of perhaps two hundred yards, and then, after a delightfully refreshing wash, dinner wvs served. We are told somewhere to put our faith in spiritual things: and not in material things. Well, this particular noon we completely overlooked this command till after dinner. After an hour's rest we were again ready to continue our field-day exercises. The day finally came to an end, and to say we were glad does not express it. After an excellent supper we were invited into the parlor, where we enjoyed some music and social chat. We retired early, not because we were tired, but because we did not wish to keep our host up late. To cut a long story short, the next morning we were awakened by a loud knocking on the door and a summons to breakfast. We would have eujoyed resting another hour, but as resting is psychologically ignominious, we rose. The reader may expect another account of the day's labor; but we didn't think best to pitch hay that day, because it rained; aud while we were very sorry that the rain was spoiling the hay, we were not very sorry that we were not working. In our short experience of the day before, we did not reconcile our muscles to this most arduous of tasks, as was evinced by the number of sore-armed young men the next day. While I think hay pitching is an honorable and a noble calling, I would advise any of my Normal friends to steer clear of a hay field. ''He who attacks an ahsent friend, or who does not defend him when defamed by another—that man is a dark character; do you, Roman, beware of him." " All the arts which belong to polished life are held together by some common tie, and connected, as it were, by some intimate relationship. " "Let the ignorant learn, and let the learned improve their recollection.' |