His breath came fainter and faster, and we could see that it would soon
cease. After resting a few minutes, Sir Tom said:--

"Me lady Laura, do you mind that prayer song, the second verse?"

Laura's voice was sobbing and uncertain as it quavered:--

"Other refuge have I none,"

but it gained courage and persuasiveness until it filled the room and
the heart of the man with,--

"Cover my defenceless head,
With the shadow of Thy wing."

A gentle smile and the relaxing of closed hands completed the story of
our loss, though the real weight of it came days and months later.

It was long before we could take up our daily duties with anything like
the familiar happiness. Something had gone out of our lives that could
never be replaced, and only time could salve the wounds. The dear man
who had gone was no friend to solemn faces, and living interests must
bury dead memories; but it was a long time before the click of Jane's
hammer was heard in her forge; not until Laura had said, "It will please
_him_, Jane."

CHAPTER LVIII

BACTERIA

January, February, and March passed with more than the usual snow and
rain,--fully ten inches of precipitation; but the spring proved neither
cold nor late. During these three months we sold butter to the amount of
$1283, and $747 worth of eggs; in all, $2030.

The ploughs were started in the highest land on the 11th of April, and
were kept going steadily until they had turned over nearly 280 acres.

I decided to put the whole of the widow's field into corn, lots 8, 12,
and 15 (84 acres) into oats, and 50 acres of the orchards into roots and
sweet fodder corn. Number 13 was to be sown with buckwheat as soon as
the rye was cut for green forage. I decided to raise more alfalfa, for
we could feed more to advantage, and it was fast gaining favor in my
establishment. It is so productive and so nutritious that I wonder it is
not more generally used by farmers who make a specialty of feeding
stock. It contains as much protein as most grains, and is wholesome and
highly palatable if properly cured. It should be cut just as it is
coming into flower, and should be cured in the windrow. The leaves are
the most nutritious part of the plant, and they are apt to fall off if
the cutting be deferred, or if the curing be _done carelessly_.

Lot No. 9 was to be fitted for alfalfa as soon as the season would
permit. First, it must receive a heavy dressing of manure, to be
ploughe