ardma1951

@@@@@ "See, Katie Scarlett hasn't forgotten what you told her, that the land of County Meath is the best in the world, better even than the land of Georgia, of TaraI'll do my best to tend it, Pa, and love it the way you taught meIt's O'Hara soil, and it's ours again The age-old progression of plowing and harrowing, planting and praying had a simple, hard-working dignity that won Scarlett's admiration and respect for all who lived by the landShe had felt it when she lived in Daniel's cottage and she felt it now for the farmers at BallyharaFor herself as well, because she was, in her own way, one of themShe hadn't the strength to drive the plow, but she could provide itAnd the horses to pull itAnd the seed to plant in the furrows it made The Estate Office was her home even more than her rooms in the Big HouseThere was another cradle for Cat by her desk, identical to the one in her bedroom, and she could rock it with her foot while she worked on her record books and her accountsThe disputes that Mrs Fitzpatrick had been so gloomy about turned out to be simple matters to settleEspecially if you were The O 'Hara, and your word was law Scarlett had always had to bully people into doing what she wanted; now she had only to speak quietly, and there was no argumentShe enjoyed the first Sunday of the month very muchShe even began to realize that other people occasionally had an opinion worth listening toThe farmers really did know more about farming than she did, and she could learn from themThree hundred acres of Ballyhara land were set aside as her own farmThe farmers worked it and paid only half the usual rent for the land they leased from her Scarlett understood sharecropping; it was the way things were done in the SouthBeing an estate landlord was still new to herShe was determined to be the best landlord in all Ireland"The farmers learn from me, too," she told Cat"They'd never even heard of fertilizing with phosphates until I handed out those sacks of it