Summary of At Hiruharama

Tanner, Mr. Tanner’s grandfather was an orphan in Stamford, Lincolnshire before he was sent to New Zealand as a servant. There he met Kitty, Mr. Tanner’s grandmother, who was also a servant. They got married, and moved further up north to buy some land and carve out a living. They settled in a quiet piece of countryside called “Hiruharama” and after two years, Kitty told Tanner that she was expecting a child. After consulting with the doctor and getting his assurances and a prescription of medicine, Tanner borrows two racing pigeons from a man named Parrish, in order to contact the doctor in an emergency. However, on the day that Kitty does go into labor, their neighbor, Brinkman, comes around for dinner. Tanner quickly sends off a message to the doctor using the racing-pigeons and begins to help his wife while Brinkman continues to complain about the lack of food. The doctor arrives as soon as Tanner delivered the baby. As the doctor deals with the afterbirth, he realizes that it was a smaller twin and gives it to Tanner. It turns out that the second twin would be the more successful of the two, starting a career in law and hence bringing lawyers into the Tanner family. After that experience, Tanner hung up a tin sign on the wall: “Throw Nothing Away”, just to remind the family how important that philosophy was, especially to them.