264 Four-in-Hand in Britain. 



tine of ordinary existence while blessed with such weathef 

 and such company. Indeed, this nomadic life must be 

 the hardest of all to exchange for city life. It is so dia- 

 metrically opposed to it in every phase. " If I were not 

 the independent gentleman I am," says Lamb, " I 

 should choose to be a beggar." "Chapsey me a gypsy," 

 gentle Elia, you could not have known of that life, or 

 perhaps you considered it and the beggar's life identical. 

 But, mark you, there is a difference which is much more 

 than a distinction. A gypsy cannot beg, but he or she 

 tells fortunes, tinkers a little and deals in horses. Even 

 if he steals a little now and then, I take it he is still within 

 the lines of the profession ; while your beggar who does 

 anything in the way of work, or who steals, is no true 

 man. His license is for begging only. The gypsy ob- 

 viously has the wider range, and I say again, therefore, 

 " Chapsey me a gypsy," gentle Elia. 



Davie and I walked over to the railway line after 

 luncheon to have a talk with the surfacemen we saw at 

 work. They were strong, stalwart men, and possessed 

 of that shrewd, solid sense which is invariably found in 

 Scotch workmen. Their pay seemed very small to us; 

 the foreman got only twenty shillings per week ($5), 

 while the ordinary surfaceman got fourteen shillings 

 (S3- 50). Although this was only a single-track branch 

 line, it was almost as well laid as the Pennsylvania Rail- 

 road. None of the men had ever been in America, 

 but several had relatives there who were doing well, 



