62 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



" Any choice of a road ? " asked the agent. 



"Well, yes; I should like a bit in 



Road." 



" Just one house for yourself to live in ? " 



"How much would that be?" asked the 

 man, as though he were buying a Dutch 

 cheese. 



Thereupon the agent figured out a house 

 that would cost, roughly speaking, about £300. 

 " But you had better build two semi-detached 

 cottages," added the agent, " which you could 

 put up for £500." 



" No," said the small market gardener, " I've 

 only got enough to pay for one, and here it is 

 in this yere bag." And to the amazement of 

 the agent he threw a bag of gold upon the 

 counter. 



"But we can't do business in that way," 

 exclaimed the agent, smiling at the simplicity 

 of this son of the soil, who imagined that 

 buying land was as simple a thing as buying a 

 cow. " You'll have to see a lawyer, and I 

 can arrange a mortgage in the meantime, if 

 you like, for the extra £200." 



But he would have no " truck " with lawyers, 

 nor anything to do with mortgages. They 

 always brought trouble, he said. He did not 



