But he must not think of our farm as at all like some great farm he may happen to know in England; for there was nothing done by machinery on the place.

There may be great pleasure in watching machine-operations, but surely none to equal the pleasure we had.

If there had been a steam engine to plough my father's fields, how could we have ridden home on its back in the evening?
To ride the horses home from the plough was a triumph.

Had there been a thrashing-machine, could its pleasures have been comparable to that of lying in the straw and watching the grain dance from the sheaves under the skilful flails of the two strong men who belaboured them?
There was a winnowing-machine, but quite a tame one, for its wheel I could drive myself--the handle now high as my head, now low as my knee--and watch at the same time the storm of chaff driven like drifting snowflakes from its wide mouth.

Meantime the oat-grain was flowing in a silent slow stream from the shelving hole in the other side, and the wind, rushing through the opposite doors, aided the winnower by catching at the expelled chaff, and carrying it yet farther apart.