Dobcross, Saddleworth.
Sunday, 18th October 1953.

Glass 30.3, the highest this month. Wind south, and warm. St Luke's little summer, as Mother promised, and for once as advertised.

The wall is finished. Eleven yards and one foot, by my measure; eleven yards and two, by Penny's. She came up yesterday to inspect it, and measured from the gatepost, which is where the wall begins, and not from the through-stone, which is where I began. I have checked since. I shall not be checking again.

The winter thrushes are in. Redwings in the holly by the gate on Monday, and on Wednesday the fieldfares, forty or so, over Standedge and straight into the rowan in the top field. By yesterday afternoon there was not a berry left on it. Between them they have eaten everything on the hill that is red, except the hips in the lane, which I suppose they are saving.

This morning a red admiral came down on the ivy by the woodshed and opened out in the sun, among the wasps, as bright as anything painted in June. I went in for the paint box, and he waited, which they seldom do. The page is enclosed, out of the book I have been keeping this year. So is a verse, which came of sitting on a wall in my shirtsleeves in the middle of October, a thing no man should be allowed to do without consequence.

Florrie writes that she will come for Bonfire Night. Ned says the weather will turn by Wednesday; he can feel it in his knee. I have the coal in.

R.A.B.

Enclosed: a page from the notebook

Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta), on the ivy by the woodshed. St Luke's Day. He stayed for the paint, which they seldom do.

Enclosed: a verse

St Luke's Little Summer

St Luke came up the lane last night
Wi' the south wind at his back,
And he found the frost at the top field gate
And he sent it down the track.

So it's off wi' the coat and out in the sun,
And sit while the stones are warm,
For St Luke's but lent us a week o' the light,
And he'll want it back in a storm.

The fieldfares came in over Standedge
As grey as the men at the mill,
And they had the rowan bare by Saturday
And they've not yet had their fill.

The admiral lit on the woodshed ivy
In his black and his red and his white,
And he spent the sun like a sailor ashore
As mun sail again tonight.

So it's off wi' the coat and out in the sun,
And sit while the stones are warm,
For St Luke's but lent us a week o' the light,
And he'll want it back in a storm.

The wall stands done in the top field now
Wi' every cope set true,
And the Lonks lie down along its foot
Where the sun's come warming through.

And one as comes up the lane wi' a map
Sat down in the good chair,
And the dog as fights me for it nightly
Lay down, and left her there.

So it's on wi' the coat, and in by the fire,
And let the wind have its way,
For St Luke may take his summer back,
But not the Saturday.

— Dobcross, 18th October 1953.

The Countryman's Crossword

No. 1 · Sunday, 18th October 1953

Across

1. Small hunter of the walls, that may go into ermine for the winter (5)
3. The lapwing, named for what it says (6)
6. Tells every man on the moor to go back; or a grumble (6)
8. Plants more oaks than any forester, by forgetting where he put them (3)
11. Weight for weight, the loudest bird in the country (4)
12. The waller's hammer, in these parts (4)
13. Grey-headed winter thrush, in over Standedge this week (9)
14. The redwings found it by the gate on Monday (5)
17. A steep little valley with a beck in it, and generally trees (6)
19. Horned sheep of the Lancashire moors (4)
20. Pink-footed, they go over to the coast sounding like a far-off football crowd (5)
21. "Many haws, many ——s, many cold toes" (4)

Down

2. What 8 Across buries and forgets (5)
4. It flowers last of all, and the wasps know it (3)
5. The whaup, as Ned has it (6)
7. Comes to roost over the valley at dusk, ten thousand at a time (8)
9. A red one, out on the ivy on St Luke's Day (7)
10. The moorland linnet; the cock has a pink rump (5)
15. A tawny one calls from the clough after dark (3)
16. Common heather; also a fish (4)
17. Top stone of a drystone wall, set on edge (4)
18. Hawthorn berries; see 21 Across (4)

Set by R. A. B. The solution will follow next Sunday.

The barometer this week

Mon 12th · 30.1 · clear evening; red in the west by six
Tue 13th · 30.2, set fair · wind north-west
Wed 14th · 30.0 · wind gone north; fieldfares over Standedge
Thu 15th · 29.9 · wind north-east, raw
Fri 16th · 30.0 · still; walling weather
Sat 17th · 30.2, rising · wind backing south
Sun 18th · 30.3 · wind south, warm; St Luke's little summer

The week's pages

• The Journal, 14th and 16th October
• Fashion: The Good Chair, Briefly, 14th October
• Fashion: St Luke's Little Summer, 18th October
• The Story So Far: The Last Cope, 17th October
• On the wireless: The Story So Far, Chapter Three, The Last Cope, read by R. A. Bramble

If you've a mind to write back, the afternoon post calls at rufusbramble.com/letter.