THE COMMON AND THE LITTLE BITTERN 125 



very conservative people, not much given to talking ; 

 but very devils for action, deliberate as they appeared 

 to be. If they had got anything to say, out it came, 

 offend or please, no matter who was in front of 

 them. If angered, no sooner the word than the 

 blow, and very often the blow came first. They 

 kept their own company. 



When I was a lad only those who lived there 

 knew what the marshes contained in the way of fur 

 and feather, or what passed over them at times 

 between the night and morning ; and at times in 

 broad daylight, where the spot was very lonely. 

 Some of our marsh-lands seemed rig^ht out of the 

 world, or on the outside edge of it. 



The marsh-folk did not come into the towns 

 unless they had urgent business there, either to 

 purchase some necessary article, or to sell some fowl, 

 fish, or mushrooms. They came in and went out 

 in the most quiet fashion, and very rarely did they 

 leave without purchasing a considerable amount of 

 laudanum. Spirits they never bought in the towns ; 

 for reasons kept to themselves that was not 

 necessary. 



If I see a Bittern now, after all the years since I 

 left their haunts, it sets me thinking ; and once 

 more I seem to be standing on the most treacherous 

 parts of the flats, covered with splashes and pools, 

 with a film on the surface of them, coloured with all 

 the hues of the rainbow. The firm part where we 

 stand is rank to smell and bad to stand on for any 

 time. Reed-beds are all over the place ; low reeds, 



