WOOD TONIC 



needs a thorough training. The worker does not 

 begin with the hurdle in the frame. He starts a 

 lad of thirteen or fourteen years with a small bill- 

 hook, and will choose and prepare the wands, which, 

 woven into the ten uprights in the frame, form 

 the hurdle. These are years of apprenticeship. Is 

 it not a perverted view that such a calling as the 

 hurdler's is low on the social scale ? It is wrong 

 to regard the woodman as only needing strength and 

 endurance. These help him to succeed, but quali- 

 ties of head and character count high. He can 

 never rise to be his own employer, or take rank as 

 the best maker of hurdles in the neighbourhood 

 without them. The intelligence brought to bear 

 on such open-air employments is far better than 

 the casual watcher may imagine. These men reason 

 on the strength of years of observation and atten- 

 tion. The best shepherds and woodmen are always 

 intelligent, except to the impatient or incurious 

 observer of character. The machinery of mind 

 moves with them slowly, but it is sure. Apart 

 from the qualities needed for such occupations, the 

 life itself is far superior, in health and beauty of 

 scene, to many "genteel" callings of the town. 

 We say this it is almost commonplace and feel 

 it, and yet the trend is all the other way. 



The Redbreast's Eggs 



This spring I have found a redbreast's nest with 

 an extraordinary set of eggs. I watched the female 



