Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/167

Rh lay in fence corners, or even in the middle of fields, where horses had been unhitched at the sound of the dinner horn, and that particular bit of plowing or cultivating never taken up again. All of these things Philip noted in a systematic way.

There was shed room enough for any and all farming implements, but the natural shiftlessness of the darkeys, born on the Bolling place with generations of shiftless masters, had prevented their ever seeing the necessity of order and care in such matters. Philip had forgotten how absolutely careless the running of the farm was. It seemed strange to him that anybody as parsimonious as was his father should be negligent in such things things that represented money. Rolfe Bolling's one idea had been to save cash, but his natural slothfulness always had been his handicap. He could drive a hard bargain in a trade and demand a huge rate of interest when someone sought a loan. This lending money was always done as a neighbor and kept very quiet. If the rate of interest was illegal the authorities never were informed of it.

The farm had been mismanaged until it was only by luck that it furnished food for the family; what with the overworking of certain