it was still dark when martin delaney and h** wife mary got up.martin stood in h** shirt by the window,rubbing h** eyes and yawning,while mary raked out the live coals that had lain hidden in the ashes onthe hearth all night.outside,cocks were crowing and a white streak was r**ing form the ground,as it were,and beginning to scatter the darkness.it was a february morning,dry,cold and starry.
the couple sat down to their breakfast of tea.bread and butter,in silence.they had only been married the previous autumn and it was hateful le**ing a warm bed at such and early hour.martin,with h** brown hair and eyes,h** freckled face and h** little fair moustache,ooked too young to be married,and hsi wife looked hardly than a girl,red-cheeked and blue-eyed,her black hair piled at the rear of her head with a large comb gleaming in the middle of the pile,span**h fashion.they were both dressed in rough homespuns,and both wore the loose white shirt that inverara speasants use for work in the fields.
the ate in silence,sleepy and yet on fire with excitement,for it was the first day of their first spring sowing as man and wife.and each felt the glamour of that day on which they were to open up the earth together and plant seeds in it.but somehow the imminence of an event that had been long expected loved,feared and prepared for made them dejected.mary,with her shrewd woman's mind,thought of as many things as there are in life as a woman would in the first joy and anxiety of her mating.but martin's mind was fixed on one thought.would he be able to prove himself a man worthy of being the head of a family by dong h** spring sowing well?in the barn after breakfast,when they were getting the potato seeds and the line ofor measuring the tround and the spade,martin fell over a basket in the half-darkness of the barn,he swore and said that a man would be better off dead than.but before he could fin**h whatever he was gong to say,mary had her arms around h** wa**t and her face to h**."martin,"she said,"let us not begin th** day cross with one another."and there was a tremor in her voice.and somehow,as they embraced,all their irritation and sleepiness left them.and they stood there embracing until at last martin pushed her from him with pretended roughness and said:"come,come,girl,it wil be sunset before we begin at th** rate.
still,as they walked silently in their rawhide shoes through the little hamlet,there was not a soul about.lights were glimmering in the windows of a few cabins.the sky had a big grey crack in it in the east,as if it were going to burst in order to give birth to the sun.birdes were singing somewhere at a d**tance.martin and mary proudly:"we are first,mary."and they both looked back at the little cluster of cabins that was the centre of their world,with throbbing hearts.for the jy of sping had now taken complete hold of them.
they reached the little field where they were to sow.it was a little triangular patch of ground under an ivy-covered limestone hill.the little field had been manured with sea** some weeks before,and the **s had rotted and whitened on the grass.and there was a big red heap of gresh sea** lying in a corner by the fence to be spread under the seeds as they were laid.martin,in spite of the cold,threw off everything above h** wa**t except h** striped woollen shirt.then he spat on h** hands,seized h** spade and cried:"now you are going to see what kind of a man you h**e,mary.
there,now,"said mary,rying a little shawl clser under her chin.
aren't we boastful th** early hour of the morning?maybe i'll wait till sunset to see what kind of a man i h**e got.
the work began.martin measured the ground by the southern fence forthe first ridge,a strip of ground four feet wide,and he placed the line along the edge and pegged it at each end.then he spread fresh sea** over the strip.mary filled her apron with seeds and began to lay them in rows.when she was a little d**tance down the ridge,martin advanced with h** spade to the head,eager to commence.
now in the name of god,"he cried,spitting on h** palms,"let us ra**e the first sod!oh,martin,wait till i'm with you!cried mary,dropping her seeds on the ridge and running up to him.her fingers outside her woollen mittens were numb with the cold,and she couldn't wipe them in her apron.her cheeks seemed to be on fire.she put an arm round martin's wa**t and stood looking at the green sod h** spade was going to cut,with the excitement of a little child.
now for god's sake,girl,keep back!said martin gruffly."suppose anybody saw us like th** in the field of our spring sowing,what would they take us for but a pair of useless,soft,empty-headed people that would be sure to die of hunger.huh!he spoke very rapidely,and h** eyes were fixed on the ground before hm.h** eyes had a wild,eager light in them as if some primeval impulse were burning within h** brain and driving out every other desire but that of asserting h** manhood and of subjugating the earth.
oh,what do we care who ** looking?said mary;but she drew back at the same time and gazed d**tantly at the ground.then martin cut the sod,and pressing the spade deep into the earth with h** foot,he turned up the first sod with a crunching sound as the gras roots were dragged out of the earth.mary sighed and walked back hurriedly to her seeds with furrowed brows.she picked up her seeds and began to spread them rapidly to drive out the sudden terror that had seized her at that moment whten she saw the fierce,hard look in her hu**and's eyes that were unconscious of her presence.she became suddenly afraid of that pitiless,cruel earth,the peasant's sl**e master,that would keep her chained to hard work and poverty all her life until she would sink again into its bosom.her short-lived love was gone.henceforth she was only her hu**and's helper to till the earth.and martin,absolutely without thought,worked furiously,covering the ridge with block earth,h** sharp spade gleaming white as he whirled it sideways to beat the sods.
then,as the sun rose,the little valley beneath the ivy-covered hills became dotted with white shirts,and everywhere men worked madly,without speaking,and women spread seeds.there was no heat in the light of the sun,and there was a sharpness in the still thin air that made the men jump on their spade halts ferociously and beat the sods as if they were living enemies.birds hopped silently before the spades,with their heads cocked sideways,watching for worms.made br**e by hunger,they often dashed under the spades to secure their food.then,when the sun reached a certain point,all the women went back to the village to get dinner for their men,and the men worked on without stopping.
then the women trturned,almost running,each carrying a tin can with a flannel tied around it adn a little bundle tied with a white cloth,martin threw down h** spade when mary arrived back in the field.smiling at one another they sat under the hill for their meal.it was the same as their breakfast,tea and bread and butter.
ah,"said martin,when he had taken a long draught of tea form h** mug,"** there anything in th** world as fine as eating dinner out in the open like th** after doing a good morning's work?ther,i h**e done two ridges and a half.that's than any man in the village could do.ha!and he looked at h** wife proudly.
yes,**n't it lovely,"said mary,looking at the back ridges w**tfully.she was just munching her bread and butter.the hurried trip to the village and the trouble of getting the tea ready had robbed her of her appetite.she had to keep blowing at the turf fire with the rim of her skirt,and the smoke nearly blinded her.but now,sitting on that grassy knoll,with the valley all round gl**tening with fresh sea** and a light smoke r**ing from the freshly truned earth,a strange joy swept over her.it overpowered that ofther felling of dread that had been with her during the morning.
martin ate heartily,revelling in h** great thirst and h** great hunger,with every pore of h** body open to the pure air.and he looked around at h** nei**ours' fields boastfully,comparing them with h** own.then he looked at h** wife's little round black head and felt very proud of h**ing her as h** own.he leaned back on h** elbow and took her hand in h**.shyly and in silence,not knowing what to say and ashamed of their gentle feelings,they fin**hed eating and still sat hand in hand looking away intothe d**tance.everywhere the sowers were resting on little knolls,men,women and children sitting in silence.and the great calm of nature in spring filled the atmosphere around them.everying seemed to sit still and wait until midday had passed.only the gleaming sun chased westwards at a mighty pace,in and out through white clouds.
then in a d**tant field an old man got up,took h** spade and began to clean the earth from it with a piece of stone.therasping no**e carried a long way in the silence.that was the signal for a general r**ing all along the little valley.young men stretched themselves and yawned.they walked slowly back to their ridges.
martin's back and h** wr**ts were getting sore,and mary felt that if she stooped again over her seeds her neck would break,but neither said anything and soon they had forgotten their tiredness in the mechanical movement of their bodes.the strong smell of the upturned earth acted like a drug on their nerves.
by sundown martin had five ridges fin**hed.he threw down h** spade and stretched himself.all h** bones ached and he wanted to lie down and rest."it's time to be gong home,mary,"he said.
mary straightened herself,but she was too tired to reply.she looked at martin wearily and it seemed ...