The way to walk noiselessly is to feel with the foot before letting your
weight press on it; then the dead stick or fallen hemlock is discovered
and avoided. A dead stick cracks; the dry hollow hemlock gives a
splintering sound when crushed. These old hemlock stems were numerous in
places, together with 'gicksies,' as the haymakers call a plant that
resembles it, but has a ribbed or fluted instead of a smooth stalk. The
lads use a long 'gicks' cut between the joints as a tube to blow haws or
peggles at the girls. When thirsty, and no ale is handy, the men search
for one to suck up water with from the brook. It is difficult to find
one free from insects, which seem to be remarkably fond of anything
hollow. The haymakers do not use the hemlock, thinking it would poison
the water; they think, too, that drinking through a tube is safer when
they are in a great heat from the sun than any other way.

Nor is it so easy to drink from a stream without this simple aid. If the
bank be flat it is wet, and what looks like the grass of the meadow
really grows out of the water; so that there it is not possible to be at
full length. If the bank be dry the level of the water is several inches
lower, and in endeavouring to drink the forehead is immersed; often the
water is so much lower than its banks that it is quite impossible to
drink from it lying. By the edge grasses, water-plantains,
forget-me-nots, frequently fill the space within reach. If you brush
these aside it disturbs the bottom, and the mud rises, or a patch of
brown 'scum' comes up and floats away. A cup, though gently used,
generally draws some insects in with the water, though the liquid itself
be pure. Lapping with the hollowed palm requires practice, and, unless
the spot be free from weeds and of some little depth, soon disturbs the
bottom. But the tube can be inserted in the smallest clear place, and
interferes with nothing.