At that time the use of a traction-engine in agriculture was somewhat of
a novelty, and because it was different from the appliances generally
used by farmers, was a recommendation to the Duke.
It was nine o'clock one night when he said to his haymakers: "Take the
carts home and bring another load with the engine."
"Excuse me, your Grace," said one, "If the engine is made of steel and
iron I'm not. I'm tired out."
"Well, perhaps you are, go home then," came the order, which is
testimony to the consideration he had for his employees when he was
addressed in a manly, straightforward way.
There was a grotesque procession one day at a farm on the Welbeck
estate. It was a rainy summer, and the farmers were at their wits'-ends
to know how they were to secure their hay in anything like good
condition.
The Duke was not a man to be beaten by the weather; he defied it; he was
determined to have his grass in the rickyard, wet or dry. So the order
went forth that his traction-engine and waggons were to be ready for
carrying it on a certain day.
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