APRIL GOSSIP. 203 



— at a distance resembling the tents of an army. Never 

 were the labouring men so glad to see the spring, 

 for never have so many of them been out of work or for 

 longer periods. Yet, curiously enough, even if out of 

 work and suffering, every sort of job will not suit them. 

 One applicant for work was offered hop-pole shaving at 

 \s. a hundred — said to be a fair price ; but the work did 

 not please him, and he would not do it. On the other 

 hand, a girl sent out * to service ' turned her back on 

 domestic duties, ran away from her mistress, and joined 

 her father and brother in the woods where they were 

 shaving hop-poles. There she worked with them all the 

 winter — the roughest of rough winters — preferring the 

 wild freedom of the snow-clad woods, with hard food, to 

 the indoor employment. No mistress there in the snow : 

 one woman does not like another over her. A man stood 

 idling at the cross-roads in the village for weeks, hands 

 in pockets, waiting for work. Some one took pity on 

 him, and said he could come and dig up an acre of grass- 

 land to make a market garden ; 1 5 J. a week was the 

 offer, with spade found, and not long hours. 'Thank 

 you, sir ; I'll go and look at it,' said the labourer. He 

 went ; and presently returned to say that he did not 

 care about it. In some way or other it did not fall in 

 with his notions of what work for him ought to be. I 

 do not believe he was a bad sort of fellow at all ; but 

 still there it is. No one can explain these things. A 

 distinct line, as it were, separates the cottager, his ways 

 and thoughts, from others. In a cottage with which I 

 am acquainted an infant recently died. The body was 

 kept in the parents' bedroom close to their bed, day 

 and night, until burial. This is the custom. The cottage 

 wife thinks that not to have the body of her child by 

 her bed would be most unfeeling — most cruel to lay it 

 by itself in a cold room away from her. 



