Joggeli went out and saw how Uli was carefully spreading the manure and thoroughly treading it down; that pleased him.  He wanted to look for the milker and the carter, to show them how Uli was doing it and to tell them to do it so in the future; he looked into the fodder-passage and could not take his eyes from it for a long time, as he saw the handsome, round, appetizing fodder-piles and the clean path between them.  He looked into the stable, and as he saw the cows standing comfortably in clean straw and no longer on old manure he too felt better, and so he now went to Uli and told him that it had not really been the intention that he should do all the dirty work himself; that was other people’s business.  He had had the time for it, said Uli; there was no place for him in the threshing, and so he had done this in order to show how he wanted it done in the future.  Joggeli wanted to bid him come in; but Uli said he would first like to watch the cleaning up after the threshing; he wanted to see how they did it.  There he saw that the men simply thought of getting through quickly.  The grain was poorly threshed; a number of ears could still be seen; it was winnowed still worse.  The grain in the bin was not clean, so that he felt like emptying it and beginning the work over; however, he controlled himself and thought he would do it otherwise tomorrow.—­But in the house Joggeli was saying that he liked the new man, for he knew his business; but he hoped he wouldn’t boss too much—­he didn’t like that.  You couldn’t do things in all places just alike, and by and by he wouldn’t have any orders to give himself.

After supper Uli came to the master and asked him what was to be done during the winter; it seemed to him that the work should be so arranged that one should be all ready for the new work when the spring came.

Yes, said Joggeli, that might be good; but one couldn’t do everything all at once; things had to take their time.  The threshing would last about three weeks more; then they could begin to cut wood, and by the time they were through with that the spring would just about be at hand.

If he might say so, said Uli, it seemed to him that they ought to bring in the wood now.  It was fine weather and the road good, so it would be twice as easy.  In February the weather was generally bad and the ground soft; then you couldn’t budge anything and ruined all the wagons.

That wouldn’t do very well, thought Joggeli; it was not customary to begin threshing in February.

He hadn’t meant that, said Uli.  They should continue threshing.  He and one more would cut down and get ready all the wood the carter could bring home, and until a load was ready the carter could help them in the woods.

Then they couldn’t thresh by sixes any more, said Joggeli, if he took a man from the threshing, and when they all cut wood together they could do a lot in a short time.

“Well,” said Uli, “as you will; but I thought this way:  couldn’t the milker help in the threshing during the morning and the afternoon, too, if the others help with the manure and the foddering at noon?  And sometimes two can do more in the woods than a whole gang, when nobody wants to take hold.”