Sullivan letter diary, 27 October 1915-9 October 1917 / Eugene Sullivan - Page 243
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[Page 243]
work of the farm themselves. I have seen numbers of very old women (whom one would expect to find in an arm chair croning over the fire) hoeing the ground, gathering and carrying large bundles of faggots for firewood or lumping sacks of potatoes and flour on their backs. Others, too, squatted on the floor of rickety old carts driving to or from market.
On the road here I saw an old man with snow white hair ploughing with an equally old horse. They understood each other perfectly; I think they must have grown old together.
The horse would slowly lift one leg and place it down again and slowly straighten it and the old man would take a tottering pace forward. Every few steps the horse would stop, and then slowly raising his whip the old man would give it a cut. After appearing to consider the insult for a few moments, and likewise giving the old man time to recover the handles of the plough, the horse would resume its staggering progress. Each step represented two distinct movements, one placing the foot on the ground and the next slowly straightening the leg. We were expecting the see the whole caboose, horse man and plough topple over at any minute. At their rate of progress when we saw them, I don't think they could possibly complete more than four furrows a day. It was a rather pathetic spectacle although of course it called forth howls of derision at the time.
It is quite a usual sight here to see the very old and very young, as also the women, assisting in the farm work. This is to be expected when one considers that the whole male population of eligible age have been called to the colours. I have frequently passed gangs of youths from nine to sixteen years of age working on the roads keeping them in repair -
France's maintenance men.
When we hoisted our Red Cross flag outside the farm house it attracted quite a crowd of urchins who stood and gaped in open-mouthed astonishment whilst we displayed our small stock of drugs. They were soon joined by a few of the women folk of the village who entered into a confab with our hostess. Next morning two old dames arrived and requested our