Far from the madding crowd

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Far from the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy ******************************************************************* THIS EBOOK WAS ONE OF PROJECT GUTENBERG'S EARLY FILES PRODUCED AT A TIME WHEN PROOFING METHODS AND TOOLS WERE NOT WELL DEVELOPED THERE IS AN IMPROVED EDITION OF THIS TITLE WHICH MAY BE VIEWED AS EBOOK (#107) at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/107 ******************************************************************* This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Far from the Madding Crowd Author: Thomas Hardy Posting Date: December 18, 2011 [EBook #27] Release Date: March, 1992 Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD *** NOTE: This edition has NOT been prepared in a normal Project Gutenberg methodology A year ago we released Moby Dick (from the On-line Book Initiative) without editing which meant it was available as one single zip file which contained one file for each chapter (I noted chapter 72 was missing, and we are replacing it when we do a copyright analysis on the various chapters 72 we received We did not receive much, if any, response to this method of release of an etext, but we have continued to produce most of our etexts in this normal Project Gutenberg format with blank lines between paragraphs, no hyphenation and no characters one wouldn't expect to find on the obvious parts of the printed page However, once a year, at least, we will present a book in various other format designs to let you know what is available, to go gain a response to the kind of formatting we do We usually spend a 10 hour day revising any etext we receive into what we consider easy to read formats, chapter and paragraph separation, two spaces between an end of one sentence and the beginning of the next, standardizing punctuation, etc, not to mention checking spelling Even though chapter and page headers and footers were supplied with the text of this book when we received it, it would appear this is fairly obviously mostly scanner output, which may explain punctuation FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD by Thomas Hardy, 1874 From the Penguin edition, 1978 CHAPTER I DESCRIPTION OF FARMER OAK — AN INCIDENT When Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to chinks, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, extending upon his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising sun His Christian name was Gabriel, and on working days he was a young man of sound judgment, easy motions, proper dress, and general good character On Sundays he was a man of misty views, rather given to postponing, and hampered by his best clothes and umbrella: upon the whole, one who felt himself to occupy morally that vast middle space of Laodicean neutrality which lay between the Communion people of the parish and the drunken section, — that is, he went to church, but yawned privately by the time the con- gegation reached the Nicene creed,- and thought of what there would be for dinner when he meant to be listening to the sermon Or, to state his character as it stood in the scale of public opinion, when his friends and critics were in tantrums, he was considered rather a bad man; when they were pleased, he was rather a good man; when they were neither, he was a man whose moral colour was a kind of pepper-and-salt mixture Since he lived six times as many working-days as Sundays, Oak's appearance in his old clothes was most peculiarly his own — the mental picture formed by his neighbours in imagining him being always dressed in that way He wore a low-crowned felt hat, spread out at the base by tight jamming upon the head for security in high winds, and a coat like Dr Johnson's; his lower extremities being encased in ordinary leather leggings and boots emphatically large, affording to each foot a roomy apartment so constructed that any wearer might stand in a river all day long and know nothing of damp — their maker being a conscientious man who endeavoured to compensate for any weakness in his cut by unstinted dimension and solidity Mr Oak carried about him, by way of watch,- what may be called a small silver clock; in other words, it was a watch as to shape and intention, and a small clock as to size This instrument being several years older than Oak's grandfather, had the peculiarity of going either too fast or not at all The smaller of its hands, too, occasionally slipped round on the pivot, and thus, though the minutes were told with precision, nobody could be quite certain of the hour they belonged to The stopping peculiarity of his watch Oak remedied by thumps and shakes, and he escaped any evil consequences from the other two defects by constant comparisons with and observations of the sun and stars, and by pressing his face close to the glass of his neighbours' windows, till he could discern the hour marked by the green-faced timekeepers within It may be mentioned that Oak's fob being difficult of access, by reason of its somewhat high situation in the waistband of his trousers (which also lay at a remote height under his waistcoat), the watch was as a necessity pulled out by throwing the body to one side, compressing the mouth and face to a mere mass of ruddy flesh on account of the exertion, and drawing up the watch by its chain, like a bucket from a well But some thoughtfull persons, who had seen him walking across one of his fields on a certain December morning — sunny and exceedingly mild — might have regarded Gabriel Oak in other aspects than these In his face one might notice that many of the hues and curves of youth had tarried on to manhood: there even remained in his remoter crannies some relics of the boy His height and breadth would have been sufficient to make his presence imposing, had they been exhibited with due consideration But there is a way some men have, rural and urban alike, for which the mind is more responsible than flesh and sinew: it is a way of curtail- ing their dimensions by their manner of showing them And from a quiet modesty that would have become a vestal which seemed continually to impress upon him that he had no great claim on the world's room, Oak walked unassumingly and with a faintly perceptible bend, yet distinct from a bowing of the shoulders This may be said to be a defect in an individual if he depends for his valuation more upon his appearance than upon his capacity to wear well, which Oak did not He had just reached the time of life at which "young" is ceasing to be the prefix of "man" in speaking of one He was at the brightest period of masculine growth, for his intellect and his emotions were clearly separated: he had passed the time during which the influence of youth indiscriminately mingles them in the character of impulse, and he had not yet arrived at the stage wherein they become united again, in the character of prejudice, by the influence of a wife and family In short, he was twenty-eight, and a bachelor The field he was in this morning sloped to a ridge called Norcombe Hill Through a spur of this hill ran the highway between Emminster and Chalk- Newton Casually glancing over the hedge, Oak saw coming down the incline before him an ornamental spring waggon, painted yellow and gaily marked, drawn by two horses, a waggoner walking alongside bearing a whip perpendicularly The waggon was laden with household goods and window plants, and on the apex of the whole sat a woman, "young" and attractive Gabriel had not beheld the sight for more than half a minute, when the vehicle was brought to a standstill just beneath his eyes "The tailboard of the waggon is gone, Miss." said the waggoner "Then I heard it fall." said the girl, in a soft, though not particularly low voice "I heard a noise I could not account for when we were coming up the hill." "I'll run back." "Do." she answered The sensible horses stood — perfectly still, and the waggoner's steps sank fainter and fainter in the distance The girl on the summit of the load sat motionless, surrounded by tables and chairs with their legs upwards, backed by an oak settle, and ornamented in front by pots of geraniums, myrtles, and cactuses, together with a caged canary — all probably from the windows of the house just vacated There was also a cat in a willow basket, from the partly-opened lid of which she gazed with half-closed eyes, and affectionately-surveyed the small birds around The handsome girl waited for some time idly in her place, and the only sound heard in the stillness was the hopping of the canary up-and down the perches of its prison Then she looked attentively downwards It was not at the bird, nor at the cat; it was at an oblong package tied in paper, and lying between them She turned her head to learn if the waggoner were coming He was not yet in sight; and her-eyes crept back to the package, her thoughts seeming to run upon what was inside it At length she drew the article into her lap, and untied the paper covering; a small swing looking-glass was disclosed, in which she proceeded to survey herself attentively She parted her lips and smiled It was a fine morning, and the sun lighted up to a scarlet glow the crimson jacket she wore, and painted a soft lustre upon her bright face and dark hair The myrtles, geraniums, and cactuses packed around her were fresh and green, and at such a leafless season they invested the whole concern of horses, waggon, furniture, and girl with a peculiar vernal charm What possessed her to indulge in such a performance in the sight of the sparrows, blackbirds, and unperceived farmer who were alone its spectators, — whether the smile began as a factitious one, to test her capacity in that art, — nobody knows; it ended certainly in a real smile She blushed at herself, and seeing her reflection blush, blushed the more The change from the customary spot and necessary occasion of such an act — from the dressing hour in a bedroom to a time of travelling out of doors — lent to the idle deed a novelty it did not intrinsically possess The picture was a delicate one Woman's prescriptive infirmity had stalked into the sunlight, which had clothed it in the freshness of an originality A cynical inference was irresistible by Gabriel Oak as he regarded the scene, generous though he fain would have been There was no necessity whatever for her looking in the glass She did not adjust her hat, or pat her hair, or press a dimple into shape, or do one thing to signify that any such intention had been her motive in taking up the glass She simply observed herself as a fair product of Nature in the feminine kind, her thoughts seeming to glide into far-off though likely dramas in which men would play a part — vistas of probable triumphs — the smiles being of a phase suggesting that hearts were imagined as lost and won Still, this was but conjecture, and the whole series of actions was so idly put forth as to make it rash to assert that intention had any part in them at all The waggoner's steps were heard returning She put the glass in the paper, and the whole again into its place When the waggon had passed on, Gabriel withdrew from his point of espial, and descending into the road, followed the vehicle to the turnpike-gate some way beyond the bottom of the hill, where the object of his contemplation now halted for the payment of toll About twenty steps still remained between him and the gate, when he heard a dispute lt was a difference con- cerning twopence between the persons with the waggon and the man at the toll-bar "Mis'ess's niece is upon the top of the things, and she says that's enough that I've offered ye, you great miser, and she won't pay any more." These were the waggoner's words "Very well; then mis'ess's niece can't pass." said the turnpike-keeper, closing the gate Oak looked from one to the other of the disputants, and fell into a reverie There was something in the tone of twopence remarkably insignificant Threepence had a definite value as money — it was an appreciable infringement on a day's wages, and, as such, a higgling matter; but twopence — " Here." he said, stepping forward and handing twopence to the gatekeeper; "let the young woman pass." He looked up at her then; she heard his words, and looked down Gabriel's features adhered throughout their form so exactly to the middle line between the beauty of St John and the ugliness of Judas Iscariot, as represented in a window of the church he attended, that not a single lineament could be selected and called worthy either of distinction or notoriety The redjacketed and dark- haired maiden seemed to think so too, for she carelessly glanced over him, and told her man to drive on She might have looked her thanks to Gabriel on a minute scale, but she did not speak them; more probably she felt none, for in gaining her a passage he had lost her her point, and we know how women take a favour of that kind The gatekeeper surveyed the retreating vehicle "That's a handsome maid" he said to Oak "But she has her faults." said Gabriel "True, farmer." "And the greatest of them is — well, what it is always." "Beating people down? ay, 'tis so." "O no." "What, then?" Gabriel, perhaps a little piqued by the comely traveller's indifference, glanced back to where he had witnessed her performance over the hedge, and said, "Vanity." I'll get a light." Oak replied, with some awkwardness "No; not on my account." "It is so seldom that I get a lady visitor that I'm afraid I haven't proper accommodation Will you sit down, please? Here's a chair, and there's one, too I am sorry that my chairs all have wood seats, and are rather hard, but I was thinking of getting some new ones." Oak placed two or three for her "They are quite easy enough for me." So down she sat, and down sat he, the fire dancing in their faces, and upon the old furniture all a-sheenen Wi' long years o' handlen, that formed Oak's array of household possessions, which sent back a dancing reflection in reply It was very odd to these two persons, who knew each other passing well, that the mere circumstance of their meeting in a new place and in a new way should make them so awkward and constrained In the fields, or at her house, there had never been any embarrassment; but now that Oak had become the entertainer their lives seemed to be moved back again to the days when they were strangers "You'll think it strange that I have come, but — " "O no; not at all." "But I thought — Gabriel, I have been uneasy in the belief that I have offended you, and that you are going away on that account It grieved me very much and I couldn't help coming." "Offended me! As if you could do that, Bathsheba!" "Haven't I?" she asked, gladly "But, what are you going away for else?" "I am not going to emigrate, you know; I wasn't aware that you would wish me not to when I told 'ee or I shouldn't ha' thought of doing it." he said, simply "I have arranged for Little Weatherbury Farm and shall have it in my own hands at Lady-day You know I've had a share in it for some time Still, that wouldn't prevent my attending to your business as before, hadn't it been that things have been said about us." "What?" said Bathsheba, in surprise "Things said about you and me! What are they?" "I cannot tell you." "It would be wiser if you were to, I think You have played the part of mentor to me many times, and I don't see why you should fear to do it now." "It is nothing that you have done, this time The top and tail o't is this — that I am sniffing about here, and waiting for poor Boldwood's farm, with a thought of getting you some day." "Getting me! What does that mean?" "Marrying o' 'ee, in plain British You asked me to tell, so you mustn't blame me." Bathsheba did not look quite so alarmed as if a cannon had been discharged by her ear, which was what Oak had expected "Marrying me! I didn't know it was that you meant." she said, quietly "Such a thing as that is too absurd — too soon — to think of, by far!" "Yes; of course, it is too absurd I don't desire any such thing; I should think that was plain enough by this time Surely, surely you be the last person in the world I think of marrying It is too absurd, as you say "Too — s-s-soon" were the words I used." "I must beg your pardon for correcting you, but you said, "too absurd," and so do I." "I beg your pardon too! she returned, with tears in her eyes ""Too soon" was what I said But it doesn't matter a bit — not at ali-but I only meant, "too soon" Indeed, I didn't, Mr Oak, and you must believe me!" Gabriel looked her long in the face, but the firelight being faint there was not much to be seen "Bathsheba," he said, tenderly and in surprise, and coming closer: "if I only knew one thing — whether you would allow me to love you and win you, and marry you after ali-if I only knew that!" "But you never will know." she murmured "Why?" "Because you never ask "Oh — Oh!" said Gabriel, with a low laugh of joyous- ness "My own dear — " "You ought not to have sent me that harsh letter this morning." she interrupted "It shows you didn't care a bit about me, and were ready to desert me like all the rest of them! It was very cruel of you, consider- ing I was the first sweetheart that you ever had, and you were the first I ever had; and I shall not forget it!" "Now, Bathsheba, was ever anybody so provoking he said, laughing "You know it was purely that I, as an unmarried man, carrying on a business for you as a very taking young woman, had a proper hard part to play — more particular that people knew I had a sort of feeling for'ee; and I fancied, from the way we were mentioned together, that it might injure your good name Nobody knows the heat and fret I have been caused by it." "And was that all?" "All." "Oh, how glad I am I came!" she exclaimed, thank- fully, as she rose from her seat "I have thought so much more of you since I fancied you did not want even to see me again But I must be going now, or I shall be missed Why Gabriel." she said, with a slight laugh, as they went to the door, "it seems exactly as if I had come courting you — how dreadful!" "And quite right too." said Oak "I've danced at your skittish heels, my beautiful Bathsheba, for many a long mile, and many a long day; and it is hard to be- grudge me this one visit." He accompanied her up the hill, explaining to her the details of his forthcoming tenure of the other farm They spoke very little of their mutual feeling; pretty phrases and warm expressions being probably un- necessary between such tried friends Theirs was that substantial affection which arises (if any arises at all) when the two who are thrown together begin first by knowing the rougher sides of each other's character, and not the best till further on, the romance growing up in the interstices of a mass of hard prosaic reality This good-fellowship — CAMARADERIE — usually occurring through similarity of pursuits, is unfortunately seldom superadded to love between the sexes, because men and women associate, not in their labours, but in their pleasures merely Where, however, happy circumstance permits its development, the compounded feeling proves itself to be the only love which is strong as death — that love which many waters cannot quench, nor the floods drown, beside which the passion usually called by the name is evanescent as steam CHAPTER LVII A FOGGY NIGHT AND MORNING — CONCLUSION "THE most private, secret, plainest wedding that it is possible to have." Those had been Bathsheba's words to Oak one evening, some time after the event of the preceding chapter, and he meditated a full hour by the clock upon how to carry out her wishes to the letter "A licence — O yes, it must be a licence." he said to himself at last "Very well, then; first, a license." On a dark night, a few days later, Oak came with mysterious steps from the surrogate's door, in Casterbridge On the way home he heard a heavy tread in front of him, and, overtaking the man, found him to be Coggan They walked together into the village until they came to a little lane behind the church, leading down to the cottage of Laban Tall, who had lately been installed as clerk of the parish, and was yet in mortal terror at church on Sundays when he heard his lone voice among certain hard words of the Psalms, whither no man ventured to follow him "Well, goodnight, Coggan." said Oak, "I'm going down this way." "Oh!" said Coggan, surprised; "what's going on to- night then, make so bold Mr Oak?" It seemed rather ungenerous not to tell Coggan, under the circumstances, for Coggan had been true as steel all through the time of Gabriel's unhappiness about Bathsheba, and Gabriel said, " You can keep a secret, Coggan?" "You've proved me, and you know." "Yes, I have, and I do know Well, then, mistress and I mean to get married to-morrow morning." "Heaven's high tower! And yet I've thought of such a thing from time to time; true, I have But keeping it so close! Well, there, 'tis no consarn of amine, and I wish 'ee joy o' her." "Thank you, Coggan But I assure 'ee that this great hush is not what I wished for at all, or what either of us would have wished if it hadn't been for certain things that would make a gay wedding seem hardly the thing Bathsheba has a great wish that all the parish shall not be in church, looking at her — she's shylike and nervous about it, in fact — so I be doing this to humour her." "Ay, I see: quite right, too, I suppose I must say And you be now going down to the clerk." "Yes; you may as well come with me." "I am afeard your labour in keeping it close will be throwed away." said Coggan, as they walked along "Labe Tall's old woman will horn it all over parish in half-an-hour " "So she will, upon my life; I never thought of that." said Oak, pausing "Yet I must tell him to- night, I suppose, for he's working so far off, and leaves early." "I'll tell 'ee how we could tackle her." said Coggan "I'll knock and ask to speak to Laban outside the door, you standing in the background Then he'll come out, and you can tell yer tale She'll never guess what I want en for; and I'll make up a few words about the farm-work, as a blind." This scheme was considered feasible; and Coggan advanced boldly, and rapped at Mrs Tall's door Mrs Tall herself opened it "I wanted to have a word with Laban." "He's not at home, and won't be this side of eleven o'clock He've been forced to go over to Yalbury since shutting out work I shall do quite as well." "I hardly think you will Stop a moment;" and Coggan stepped round the corner of the porch to consult Oak "Who's t'other man, then?" said Mrs Tall "Only a friend." said Coggan "Say he's wanted to meet mistress near churchhatch to-morrow morning at ten." said Oak, in a whisper "That he must come without fail, and wear his best clothes." "The clothes will floor us as safe as houses!" said Coggan "It can't be helped said Oak "Tell her." So Coggan delivered the message "Mind, het or wet, blow or snow, he must come, added Jan "'Tis very particular, indeed The fact is, 'tis to witness her sign some lawwork about taking shares wi' another farmer for a long span o' years There, that's what 'tis, and now I've told 'ee, Mother Tall, in a way I shouldn't ha' done if I hadn't loved 'ee so hopeless well." Coggan retired before she could ask any further; and next they called at the vicar's in a manner which excited no curiosity at all Then Gabriel went home, and prepared for the morrow "Liddy." said Bathsheba, on going to bed that night, "I want you to call me at seven o'clock tomorrow, In case I shouldn't wake." "But you always do wake afore then, ma'am." "Yes, but I have something important to do, which I'll tell you of when the time comes, and it's best to make sure." CONCLUSION Bathsheba, however, awoke voluntarily at four, nor could she by any contrivance get to sleep again About six, being quite positive that her watch had stopped during the night, she could wait no longer She went and tapped at Liddy's door, and after some labour awoke her "But I thought it was I who had to call you?" said the bewildered Liddy "And it isn't six yet." Indeed it is; how can you tell such a story, Liddy? I know it must be ever so much past seven Come to my room as soon as you can; I want you to give my hair a good brushing." When Liddy came to Bathsheba's room her mistress was already waiting Liddy could not understand this extraordinary promptness "Whatever IS going on, ma'am?" she said "Well, I'll tell you." said Bathsheba, with a mischiev- ous smile in her bright eyes "Farmer Oak is coming here to dine with me to-day!" "Farmer Oak — and nobody else? — you two alone?" "Yes." "But is it safe, ma'am, after what's been said?" asked her companion, dubiously "A woman's good name is such a perishable article that — — " Bathsheba laughed with a flushed cheek, and whispered in Liddy's ear, although there was nobody present Then Liddy stared and exclaimed, " Souls alive, what news! It makes my heart go quite bumpity-bump" "It makes mine rather furious, too." said Bathsheba "However, there's no getting out of it now!" It was a damp disagreeable morning Nevertheless, at twenty minutes to ten o'clock, Oak came out of his house, and Went up the hill side With that sort of stride A man puts out when walking in search of a bride, and knocked Bathsheba's door Ten minutes later a large and a smaller umbrella might have been seen moving from the same door, and through the mist along the road to the church The distance was not more than a quarter of a mile, and these two sensible persons deemed it unnecessary to drive An observer must have been very close indeed to discover that the forms under the umbrellas were those of Oak and Bathsheba, arm-in- arm for the first time in their lives, Oak in a greatcoat extending to his knees, and Bathsheba in a cloak that reached her clogs Yet, though so plainly dressed there was a certain rejuvenated appearance about her: — As though a rose should shut and be a bud again Repose had again incarnadined her cheeks; and having, at Gabriel's request, arranged her hair this morning as she had worn it years ago on Norcombe Hill, she seemed in his eyes remarkably like a girl of that fascinating dream, which, considering that she was now only three or four-and-twenty, was perhaps not very wonderful In the church were Tall, Liddy, and the parson, and in a remarkably short space of time the deed was done The two sat down very quietly to tea in Bathsheba's parlour in the evening of the same day, for it had been arranged that Farmer Oak should go there to live, since he had as yet neither money, house, nor furniture worthy of the name, though he was on a sure way towards them, whilst Bathsheba was, comparatively, in a plethora of all three Just as Bathsheba was pouring out a cup of tea, their ears were greeted by the firing of a cannon, followed by what seemed like a tremendous blowing of trumpets, in the front of the house "There!" said Oak, laughing, "I knew those fellows were up to something, by the look on their face; " Oak took up the light and went into the porch, followed by Bathsheba with a shawl over her head The rays fell upon a group of male figures gathered upon the gravel in front, who, when they saw the newly-married couple in the porch, set up a loud "Hurrah!" and at the same moment bang again went the cannon in the background, followed by a hideous clang of music from a drum, tambourine, clarionet, serpent, hautboy, tenor- viol, and double-bass — the only remaining relics of the true and original Weatherbury band — venerable worm- eaten instruments, which had celebrated in their own persons the victories of Marlhorough, under the fingers of the forefathers of those who played them now The performers came forward, and marched up to the front "Those bright boys, Mark Clark and Jan, are at the bottom of all this." said Oak "Come in, souls, and have something to eat and drink wi' me and my wife." "Not to-night." said Mr Clark, with evident self- denial "Thank ye all the same; but we'll call at a more seemly time However, we couldn't think of letting the day pass without a note of admiration of some sort If ye could send a drop of som'at down to Warren's, why so it is Here's long life and happiness to neighbour Oak and his comely bride!" "Thank ye; thank ye all." said Gabriel "A bit and a drop shall be sent to Warren's for ye at once I had a thought that we might very likely get a salute of some sort from our old friends, and I was saying so to my wife but now." "Faith." said Coggan, in a critical tone, turning to his companions, "the man hev learnt to say "my wife" in a wonderful naterel way, considering how very youth- ful he is in wedlock as yet — hey, neighbours all?" "I never heerd a skilful old married feller of twenty years" standing pipe "my wife" in a more used note than 'a did." said Jacob Smallbury "It might have been a little more true to nater if't had been spoke a little chillier, but that wasn't to be expected just now "That improvement will come wi' time." said Jan, twirling his eye Then Oak laughed, and Bathsheba smiled (for she never laughed readily now), and their friends turned to go "Yes; I suppose that's the size o't." said Joseph Poorgrass with a cheerful sigh as they moved away; "and I wish him joy o' her; though I were once or twice upon saying to-day with holy Hosea, in my scripture manner, which is my second nature "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." But since 'tis as 'tis why, it might have been worse, and I feel my thanks accordingly." 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compliance with any particular paper edition Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: http://www.gutenberg.net This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks ... seemed to have absolutely vanished from the hill There were the fifty with their lambs, enclosed at the other end as he had left them, but the rest, forming the bulk of the flock, were nowhere Gabriel called at the top of his voice the. .. output, which may explain punctuation FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD by Thomas Hardy, 1874 From the Penguin edition, 1978 CHAPTER I DESCRIPTION OF FARMER OAK — AN INCIDENT When Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were within... hireling or a novice The wind continued to beat-about the corners of the hut, but the flute-playing ceased A rectangular space of light appeared in the side of the hut, and in the opening the outline of Farmer Oak's figure