Haymaking Supper - 10 June 1858

Everyone's been working so hard at the haymaking, we thought we'd reward them all with a haymaking supper. There's still grass drying in the fields, but it seemed a good point. And now they're all switching over to weeding for a while before the wheat harvest kicks in.

So they're all out on the lawn, gathered around the tables we've dragged out and singing traditional songs. And I've picked up a bit of news.

You know Laban Small?  Inhabitant of Weatherbury, perhaps most notable for being under the thumb of Susan, his wife, big time.

Laban passed on to Charley, who told Leaf who passed it on the Hnaef, that Bathsheba Everdene has lived up to her name by having a bath. This didn't really sound like big news, even in these parts at this time, so I asked Charley direct - thus getting the news second instead of fourth hand - and it turns out that actually Bathsheba has gone to Bath. Makes more sense, but it's all a bit of a shock to the locals. Most people round here stay in the same few villages and think a trip into Casterbridge is a bit of a once-a-year experience. That or they emigrate to Argentina or Australia. They're either one extreme or the other.