Originally taken 1885, A Stiff Pull won a silver medal that year for this photograph of a Suffolk farmer plowing a field behind a team of horses. 

Emerson included the following press reviews of A Stiff Pull in response to a very contradictory view of same by a Mr. D. Harbord of London, who, in the January, 1890 issue of the American Amateur Photographer, stated his opinion that Emerson’s …“only chance lays in a practical demonstration of what art is, and I, for one of the many, fail to appreciate it in nine out of ten of his pictures, nor to realize it from his writings.” (George Davidson, defending Emerson, said Harbord: “wishes it to be inferred that Dr. Emerson is in a conspiracy with other amateurs to prop one another up…”)

Two months later, Emerson responded to the Harbord letter in the same journal: “I append a few of the press criticisms written at the time upon the “imposture,” and leave your readers to discover the impostor, who is a mere nobody, and who was long ago consigned to a well-merited oblivion which even his busy-body character could not break through:

“Among the other examples strangely interesting from their unusual merit, are ‘A Stiff Pull.'”—The Queen.

“Mr. Emerson has also been fortunate enough to gain the silver medal in the country horse-class, for a very spirited study of plowing.” — Topeal Times.

“To Mr. Emerson’s picture, ‘A Stiff Pull,’ a silver medal has worthily been given. This is a very artistic production. The horses are tugging the plow up hill, and the plowman is pushing with all his might to help them in their labors. The clouds aid the composition by carrying the eye to the extreme right of the picture, which is the summit of the hill so eagerly sought for by both horses and man. The whole is a most successful production of difficult action, and is one of the most striking pictures in the room.”—The Camera.

“P. H. Emerson’s delightful platinotype picture ‘A Stiff Pull,’ which worthily deserves the silver medal awarded to it.”— The Artist.

“Another silver medal for A Stiff Pull,’ where there is delicious sense of air and humidity, as well as beautiful tone and clearness without hardness.” —The Bazaar.

“This picture (‘A Stiff Pull‘), though not technically perfect, is very artistic. There is a great deal of ‘go’ in the old plowman breasting the hill with his team; and though out of focus, the whole picture is full of life and vigor, and is on the whole, while by no means a bad photograph, a very good picture.” — Amateur Photographer.

I may add the picture has been most highly spoken of since, for it is one of the best plates in my work “Pictures of East Anglican Life.”

Yours faithfully,     P. H. EMERSON, B.A., M.B. (Cantab.).

From Chapter VIII: Work and Play

“OUR plate shows us a stiff pull, such as is life for many. Like the horses and the ploughman in the plate, they must look neither to the right nor to the left, but straight before them, putting all their strength into their work. Slowly they climb the steep ascent of years, and finally, when they have reached the top, they sink down exhausted under the disappointments of life’s imperfections. But this honest peasant, a true son of Suffolk, dogged, grasping, not over intelligent, and rather boorish, little recks he of such thoughts. Enough if he keeps off the “rheumatics,” and has bacon and bread and beer to satisfy his appetite. Two strong bay horses of pure Suffolk breed, the pride of the country-side, drag an old-fashioned wheel-plough up the steep side of a field of mixed soil, it being neither very heavy nor very, light. The horses are nearing the crest of the hill, and now comes the tug of war.

We can see their muscles straining as they bravely pull the ploughshare through the caked earth, while the ploughman, with all his might and main, guides the plough with unerring accuracy, and lays the new furrow evenly by the last one. Overhead, the sunshine breaks through angry clouds, but he heeds them not; toil and battle are his lot, and a storm more or less is nothing to him. So patiently he pursues his way and his work. Behind him, at a respectful distance, the crows fight for the worms in the freshly-turned furrows.

This wheel-plough or “star-gazer,” as it was called, is not often used now, though it is an implement by no means to be despised. One wheel remains in the furrow and one out, and its advantages are that it can be adapted in several ways to the particular work in hand; for instance, the ploughman can set the counter to his taste with wooden wedges. But all these manipulations require a thorough knowledge of the implement, and a skilful ploughman to do them— a combination, we are told, not always to be found. The newer ploughs, which have superseded the star-gazer, are, on the contrary, so simple, that the use of them requires but little training. An old authority on agriculture once laid a wager to win with a “star-gazer” at a ploughing-match, and the work done by it won the day. This plough is said to have been introduced by the Dutch into Norfolk, whence, no doubt, its use spread to Suffolk. In a few villages oxen are still used for ploughing, but slowly and surely the older and more picturesque methods of agriculture are being ousted by the modern and less comely machines; but whether there is any saving of labour is a question which farmers have as yet by no means decided. One intelligent farmer assures us that every new machine requires a proportionate increase of hands to look after it, and that though the machines save actual hand-work to the labourer, it is no saving of wages to the landlord. But these are questions which experienced farmers alone can settle, and we may be sure they will finally adopt that form of labour which is most advantageous to themselves.”  p. 72