A. Slvwm'l MacDonald D.F.C., M.D. C..M. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Section 1 
     
     GROWING UP IN LITTLE SANDS 
     
    
   
   
    
     I was born on a farm but never considered myself a farmer. 
     
     During my formative years, I was around horses, although 
     
     they were not great pets to me as they were to my father, 
     
     who simply loved horses and the horses knew that. He 
     
     talked to them as if they were persons and they would 
     
     respond with what we call a snicker. I guess it was their 
     
     way of talking. 
     
    

    
     Hughie MacNeill had taught a great many young 
     
     boys how to work on a farm. He would pay us 50 cents a 
     
     day, and we would plough for him. He had slow moving 
     
     horses, and he never complained if the ground was red 
     
     after ploughing, or how deep we went. We soon learned 
     
     that the horses did not enjoy being anchored by deep 
     
     ploughing. My father liked to have neat rows, especially 
     
     near the road where a passing farmer could see the 
     
     ploughing, and often assessed the type of farmer and his 
     
     work, but he soon found that crooked ploughing did not 
     
     affect the growth of crops. I was therefore, allowed to 
     
     plough at home, especially in the back fields. At an early 
     
     age he allowed me to ride on the horse’s back when he was 
     
     scuffling the potato rows, but I learned that by putting the 
     
     reins over one shoulder and under an arm, I could do the 
     
     scuffling, by myself, which allowed my father to do other 
     
     things. 
     
    

    
     We soon learned to make coils of hay, as well as 
     
     loads of hay and to stock sheaves. When I got older I used 
     
     to work until there were about four rounds of the binders, 
     
     and I would start making stooks, which are made by 
     
     twisted sheaves. The thicker the grain, the less one worked, 
     
     and it was my aim in later years to have the field all