THE BASKET MAKER 



able because common. There were three 

 other blind women in the campoodie, with- 

 ered fruit on a bough, but they had mem- 

 ory and speech. By noon of the sun there 

 were never any left in the campoodie but 

 these or some mother of weanlings, and 

 they sat to keep the ashes warm upon the 

 hearth. If it were cold, they burrowed in 

 the blankets of the hut ; if it were warm, 

 they followed the shadow of the wickiup 

 around. Stir much out of their places 

 they hardly dared, since one might not 

 help another; but they called, in high, old 

 cracked voices, gossip and reminder across 

 the ash heaps. 



Then, if they have your speech or you 

 theirs, and have an hour to spare, there 

 are things to be learned of life not set 

 down in any books, folk tales, famine tales, 

 love and long-suffering and desire, but no 

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