The Lottery - foreshadowing

I think it is safe to say that The Lottery had a surprising ending. I got the feeling that the lottery was not a good thing when it says that the men smiled rather than laughed, but I did not know what was bad about it. I thought about the theme of this unit being death, but I thought  that surely they would not kill someone simply because they had an unlucky drawing. I was wrong. However, foreshadowing of the stoning is present in the story. At the beginning, the boys are collecting stones and protecting them from others, and these piles of stones are mentioned again saying that the men stood away from the piles. Old man Warner is adamant about keeping the lottery because he believe it will take them back to prehistoric times if they get rid of it. This is a little ironic because it is barbaric to kill someone like this. Old man Warner says, "Used to be a saying about 'Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon.'" The true meaning of this saying is unknown to me. I believe there is a symbolic meaning to this saying. Maybe it means that the lottery was used as a pre-harvest ceremony. In any instance, the lottery was a big event that just became a tradition with little meaning to the current citizens.