IV OL' MUSSELS 187 



the policeman's — for some trivial offence against 

 respectability — can wrench him from it. There 

 he Is; there he stands waiting in weather-worn 

 clothes that were not made for labour; there he 

 has his being and his pipe. It gives one a turn 

 sometimes to think: 'That man I was joking 

 with out to beach just now has nothing to eat and 

 doesn't know how to get anything. How on 

 earth can he crack jokes?' Or, on the other 

 hand, to hear some hard-working man remark, 

 'OP Mussels, he don't trouble hisself about nort, 

 an' he's just so happy, seems so, as them that do. 

 Nice quiet chap, 01' Mussels. There's plenty 

 would employ him if they could, 'cause he's a fine 

 man at his trade; only if you gives 'en a job you 

 can't be always running down to beach after him. 

 There Isn't no dependence to be placed in him, 

 that's how 'tis.' He has, in fact, placed all his 

 dependence on the sea, and on those who do that 

 there Is no dependence to be placed. He exists, 

 he succeeds in existing, at constant low water. 

 What can anybody do? Active doing. In such a 

 case, requires a sense of superiority, and when It 

 comes to the point one cannot escape an uncom- 

 fortable feeling that the likes of 01' Mussels have 

 solved some of the problems of existence better 



