Little Dues of Corn 177 



Among the residents of the hamlet is a thriftless 

 jobbing labourer, whose household is almost main- 

 tained by pilferings from Nature. The pig in his stye 

 is always the fattest, yet in summer it was fed only on 

 boiled nettles and fresh dock-leaves, and in autumn 

 by acorns picked from under the wayside oaks. A 

 bunch of dried sage from a corner of the garden serves 

 for tea, and against times when there is no money 

 for tobacco, he has preserved the great leaves of the 

 * dish-a-laggy ' wherewith to fill his pipe, and he 

 declares that its smoke is pleasant and wholesome. 

 His wife will at Christmas time produce a choice of 

 drinks from her cupboard, mead brewed from the old 

 black unsaleable honeycombs, wine made from the dark 

 fruit of the elderberry, or the white bitter milk of the 

 dandelion, and prides herself on the ketchup seasoned 

 with her own mint and marjoram and other garden 

 herbs. The children hardly ever taste butter, but they 

 prefer the excellent substitutes provided in the shape 

 of preserved wild fruit. Although there is no house in 

 the district where ready money is scarcer or the income 

 less, the most selfish relative does not shun the cottage, 

 for at short notice the hospitable dame, who has tame 

 rabbits and pigeons and one or two fowls at her com- 

 mand, will provide a dinner fit for the best, though 

 the pot is boiled by blown wood and her bread was 

 picked up from the bare stubble. In spring, the 

 waterhen, the peewit, and the black-headed gull 

 provide fresh eggs for them, while many a dainty pie 



