收獲月下的承諾

He was a farmer， a factory laborer， and a country pastor. He worked hard， lived simply and loved his family. He could be a good neighbor， too. He farmed a small hill-farm and raised beef and some grain for feed. In the summer his grandchildren would come and they would 1）bale hay， fish the pond and eat sweet corn and garden-ripe tomatoes.

When harvest-time came he would piece together his old one-row corn picker and oil it up for the season. He pulled it behind a little Ford 9-N and hooked a wagon on the back. It was a noisy 2）contraption， unlike these huge modern green monsters you see shaving the grain off wide， flat fields in wide gulps these days.

His whole operation was like that； basic. His life was like that， too. He worked hard， helped others and you could count on him to keep his promises. That’s what made it so hard one autumn when time and responsibilities and difficult circumstances closed in on him. He needed to harvest a few acres of his own corn. He also promised to harvest a few ribbons of corn that wound around the hills on a friend’s farm， too. Problems came. First was equipment trouble. Usually he was able to 3）fabricate something or rig the equipment so the job could be done， but after he had harvested his own corn his little corn picker coughed， 4）sputtered and quit. It was out of use until a special part came from distant lands， and that would be too late to help his year. Then the equipment problem was followed by a time problem. The factory had orders to fill and began to require overtime. He was leaving the farm before light and arriving home after dark.

He sat at the kitchen table and nursed a cup of awful coffee while he wondered aloud what to do. His wife said that there was simply nothing he could do. He would have to tell his friend that he couldn’t help with his corn. He thought long and the idea didn’t sit well with him. His friend was depending on him. “If you don’t have the equipment， you just can’t do it，” his wife said. “Well， I could do it the way we used to do it. I could harvest it by hand.” “You don’t have time to do that with the overtime， besides， it would be dark.”

He consulted the Farmer’s Almanac. Late in October there would be another full moon. It is called the harvest moon because it gives farmers more light and increases their harvest time. “If the Lord gives us clear weather， I think I can do it.”

And he did. The weather was cold and clear and the moon was brilliant. After work he made his way to the field and his wife met him in the truck with dinner and a 5）thermos of more of the awful， strong， black coffee. Then he worked through the night to keep his word.

Late one autumn in 1958 he had a grandson. He and his wife got in their car and drove across the state to see him. They would share the same name.

I know this story well， because the farmer was my grandfather. I’m proud to have the same name as he did. I’ve spent hours on the 6）fender of the tractor with my grandpa. I’ve even suffered through some of that same awful coffee. But I had never heard about this incident until I was having a talk with my grandmother one day about values she and grandpa believed very deeply in； hard work， and keeping your promises.

My grandpa did work hard and keep his promises. He also loved his family. Sometimes， when I am tempted to 7）cut corners or defer responsibilities， I think of my grandfather out under the harvest moon bending low and swinging his sharp corn-knife in a wide arch. I can hear the thump of ears of corn hitting the floor of the wagon and the music of geese honking their way across the cold October sky， against the brilliance of the harvest moon.

In the dark early hours of the morning， when his work was done he crawled his tired body up into the seat of the old tractor and made his way home. Behind him in the pale moonlight， I can see row after row of corn shocks 8）standing at attention in respect for a man who keeps his word.

他是一名農夫，是個工廠工人，也是一名鄉村牧師。他工作努力，生活簡樸，熱愛自己的家人。他也可以當個好鄰居。他耕作一個小小的山崗農場，養牛，并且種植一些飼料作物。夏天時，他的孫輩會來到這里，打草垛、池塘垂釣、吃甜玉米以及花園里成熟的西紅柿。

當收獲季節來到時，他會拼好那輛老式單排糧食收割機，給它上些潤滑油，為收莊稼做好準備。他將收割機拖在一輛小小的福特9N拖拉機后面，并且在后面掛上一個拖車。這是個噪聲很大的裝置，可不像你如今見到的那些大型綠色現代機械，在廣闊平坦的田野里一大口一大口地將糧食刷下來。

他的整套設備就是那樣的—基本。他的生活亦如此。他工作努力，樂于助人，你可以指望他信守諾言。這一點在某個秋天變得異常艱難，當時，時間、責任與困難都一下子壓到他頭上。他需要收割自己那幾畝地的莊稼，但同時也答應了收割朋友農場里繞著山邊的幾塊地的莊稼。問題來了。先是設備出了狀況。通常他可以自造一些配件或者裝配機械，那樣就可以完成收割工作，但在他收完自家的莊稼后，那小糧食收割機就咳嗽起來，接著發出咕噥聲，最后歇工了。如果不能從遙遠的地方拿來一個特殊部件，機器就無法運作，但那樣就太晚了，這年他就幫不上忙了。設備問題后面還跟著時間問題。工廠要趕訂單，已經開始要加班了。他得在日出前離開農場，在日落后回家。

他坐在廚房的桌子旁，慢慢地喝著一杯苦澀難喝的咖啡，自言自語著該怎么做?！?br>