34 MY FOLLY AND MY FALL. 



keep it ; for I've learnt ay, and bitterly, 

 too, once in my life that if good men are 

 scarce, good places are not like hedge-fruit 

 in autumn. I've heard men, when they've 

 got discharged, and been a bit fuddled, say : 

 " I don't care ; more places than parish- 

 churches." That " don't care" saying does a 

 deal of harm, for men use it till they believe 

 it; and very often, when they say it loudest 

 they care the most ; but young people catch 

 the word, and soon find the trouble "don't 

 care" brings. But I'm forgetting iny story. 

 I was now a sober man, a steady man ; and 

 as to work, it never frightened me. I was 

 always at it ; and the squire saw this, and 

 left things in the gardens and grounds 

 pretty much to me. People saw this ; and 

 where they used to call me James or Gre- 

 gory, now they called me " Mr. Gregory." 

 The Bible says true enough, " Pride goeth 

 before destruction, and a haughty spirit 

 before a fall." I began to take on ; and if 

 the squire gave me any orders, I did not 

 take 'em as I ought to have done. If he 

 had a plan, I had a plan ; if he wanted any 

 thing done, I was just going to do it, only 

 something or other; and then I was often 



