16 



CHRISTMAS NUMBER AND ALMANAC 



ferent jjarts of ihe liome country, and some there were who 

 have left the marks of their influence on other parts of the 

 worlil. If inclined to be studious, the very companionship 

 of so many acted as an incentive to industry and application, 

 as the difl'erent bent of each individual mind, brought within 

 that room much of the requisites for forming a mutual 

 instruction society ; requisites which in some cases were 

 turned to profitable account. 



_ Being mostly young and healthy, the roughness of our 

 living, and such lodgings as I have described, did nothing 

 SEEMINGLY to impair the buoyancy of our youthful vigour, 

 or to prevent us, especially in winter, getting robust, fat, and 

 ruddy; and, yet, now I am convinced of nothing more firmly 

 than this, that many of the ailments, decrepitudes, and pains 

 and penalties from rlieumatics, and other evils, suffered by 

 many gardeners as they get up in years, are owing to the 

 seeds^ of these ailments and diseases having been sown broad- 

 cast in their constitutions, from living, and especially from 

 sleeping in such and much, very much, worse lodging bothies. 

 The existence of such unsuitable places now, I believe, is 

 owing more to the ignorance than the apathy of employers. 

 It is a noble characteristic of our times, that ladies and gijn- 

 tlemcn generally consider such little matters worthy of their 

 earnest attention. Young gardeners should make the most 

 of their greater comforts. If some must yet contend with 

 unsuitable lodgings, I would earnestly advise them to coun- 

 teract, as far as possible, the injurious results for the present 

 and the future, by extra attention to general and personal 

 cleanliness, and to a free circulation of fresh air. 



In this room I spent my first Christmas from home, and 

 mostly alone. Some of my comrades were within %dsiting 

 distances of their relatives, and others had received invita- 

 tions to go to the Hall in the .after parts of the day; and it 

 was considerately arranged, that, as I knew no one parti- 

 cularly in the neighbourhood, it would be best everv way if I 

 atteiuled the neeessan- duties of the place. This was all 

 very well so long as there was plenty to do in covering up 

 frames and pits, clearing out .and setting furnaces .a-going in 

 several ranges of houses, keeping the mouth and nose pro- 

 tected all the time with a handkerchief from the dust and the 

 sulphur fumes with which the coals were much loaded, &c. ; 

 but when I got into the room some time after it was dark, and 

 sat down at the fireside waiting for the kettle to boil', the 

 small tallow dip only sending a mere misty, ghostly light into 

 the farther end of the gre.at gaunt galleiy of a place, I did 

 begin to feel an eerishness and a sort of .all-overishness creep- 

 ing over me ; and more especially as the wind rising began 

 to sough among the evergreens, whistle in at the doors, and 

 moan in the dark sheds, whilst the Scottish nightingale (the 

 owl) ]ierchcd on or close to the chimney, kept up its dismal 

 hoot-hoots : altogether conjuring up nearly-forgotten tales of 

 the spectre-world. 



An interesting field of inquiry would be, under what cir- 

 cumstances a belief in the ghostly and the supernatural is 

 best promoted in, and best eradicated from the mind. The 

 newspapers and serials of the day often show us how much 

 there is of a lingering semi-belief in such spectre-visitants 

 even now; and after all it must be confessed, that as our 

 knowledge is yet very imperfect of our materii-l Iradies, we 

 know little or nothing of our own spiiitual existence, .and, if 

 possible, less of the great spirit-world. My own opinion, the 

 result of experience and observation, is, that the most igno- 

 rant are the least timid and superstitious in .such matters; 

 that it requires a certain amount of intelligence to bring us 

 under the dread of ghosts or other unearthly visitants ; and 

 a good deal more of intelligence and experience to en.able us 

 calmly to regard all such unked matters as merely the result 

 of a deceived invagination, or the prickings of" an uneasy 

 conscience. I can recollect when, as a boy, I coiUd go any- 

 where in the darkest night as cheerfully and as free from 

 anything like fear as I could have done at mid-diiy. But I 

 also recollect that, when years older, and having surrep- 

 titiously obtained and read in secret places, which I dared 

 not have done before father and mothei-, t.ales of ghosts, and 

 wizards, .and witches, I actually dreaded to go out of doors 

 in a dark night by myself ; thus receiving a terrible punish- 

 ment for the secret indulgence in curiosity. I had left such 

 paralysing dread far behind me before I sat thus eery in the 

 bothy ; and in addition to increased experience and intelli- 



gence, perhaps one of the most effectual means of cure for 

 the malady was the finding th.at a young rascal of an archer 

 was trying to riddle my poor heart with his arrows, and 

 giving me plainly to understand that, if I would get ease 

 from my pain, it must be from the sympathy of another heart 

 that could be reached only by much longer walks after dark 

 than merely making a tryst at the garden-gate. But with 

 all this increase of courage, there were still certivin places, 

 where dark deeds had been committed, that I used to pass on 

 the run at night ; and if that running roused up a recumbent 

 sheep or cow, the sound thus made pretty well caused my 

 bristling hair to lift off my bonnet. I mention all this clearly, 

 first, to account for the feelings that came over me on that 

 lonely Christm.as ; and, secondly, to solicit from those more 

 advanced in life, and who have forgotten to be troubled with 

 any such ftvntasies, not their badinage, however playful, but 

 their sympathy and kindness for laddie youths placed beside 

 them in similar circumstances. 



This eerincss, increased, if possible, by the gn,awiugs of 

 mice and the r.asping cutting of rats to get at the simple edi- 

 bles, the quiet leading them to conclude they could do as they 

 liked, was ere long associated with thoughts of home and 

 friends at home ; what each of these so dear to me woidd he 

 doing and saying then ; whether I was of importance enough 

 to be missed; whether some one would think of me fondly, 

 and some other one would be vexed I could not participate 

 personally in his joy; until I began to feel a fullness at the 

 heart, and a pearly messenger came tumbling down my cheek 

 which I would not have let another see almost for a world. 

 But this would never do ; I determined to look matters fairly 

 in the face ; I dared nnscrupulously to look at myself, to 

 tuni myself, as it were, inside out, wants, deficiencies, short- 

 comings, and all ; and so absorbed was I in the work, that 

 the kettle unnoticed sang, and hissed* and spurted itself dry. 

 But from that long examination I rose, all eerishness gone, 

 took our lantborn, examined every hole and corner, went to 

 every house, tried every gate, got too happy to think of boil- 

 ing kettles, crunched a piece of bread, and washed down 

 with Adam's wine mixed with something more cheering, and 

 spent the evening in reading the best of books and pieces 

 from our favourite authors, and \\Titing to friends ; and was 

 engaged in this latter pleasant work, when one of my com- 

 rades returned in the short hours, g.ave me a good blowing-up 

 for u-asting the candle, and ordered me ofi" to bed. Fi'om 

 that night I have never known eerincss, because I have never 

 met at night with worse than flesh .and blood ; and though 

 living in lonely places I have never felt solitary and alone, 

 because in books I could hold friendly converse with the 

 greatest and best of our race. Pity the gardener who lives a 

 good way from neighbours, if ho has no taste for reading. 

 There is just a pity and a beware on the other side. Our 

 converse with books must not deaden our sympathies with 

 those around ns, or make our hearts old. Ah ! there is a 

 vast fund of happiness to be derived from keeping the heart 

 young, even if our bodies grow aged. 



The expression above — " writing to friends" — may need a 

 little explanation. There was no penny postage in those 

 olden times. At the period referred to, I was fond of letter 

 writing, and it did me good, so far that it enabled me to 

 write quickly, and often more clearly, on a subject than I 

 could speak about it. But then my letters to friends were 

 not sent singly through the post-office as now, but in parcels 

 by coach or earner. One person generally received and 

 distributed. I knew I was acting against the l.aw, but then 

 I somewhat jcsuitically argued I had no hand in making the 

 law ; and the law never thought of me or my interests as a 

 letter writer, because it just rendered frequent communica- 

 tions an impossibility. It pressed hard enough upon me when 

 I was forced to have letters by post. I recollect when in 

 another place, with 12s. per week, and find cveiything, lodg- 

 ings, &c., that in one week I had four letters, which cost 

 respectively lOrf., \2\d., 14J(/., and \6\d. I wasveiy glad to 

 receive them, but the price, in my circumstances, did diminish 

 the pleasure. The price of letters then ivas my excuse for 

 cheating the post-office ; now I give it my cheerful support. 

 If there is a doubt about tlio weight, even, I would put on 

 another stamj) rather than give them the trouble to weigh or 

 charge extra to the receiver. I consider that Rowland 

 Hill was one of the greatest benefactors to the intelligent, 



