AN EXCUSABLE THIEF. 155 



but he got " bowled out " at last. It was found 

 he had bored a hole in the floor under the corn. 

 In this he had a bung, which went up close, and 

 only looked like a knot in the wood till closely 

 inspected. I did not do as some hasty masters 

 would have done " draw his cork " (as the 

 fighters say), and then turn him away ; but, for 

 example sake, I got a constable, and talked of 

 transportation, and probably should have given 

 a day or two of peculiar temperance in the village 

 cage, but for the fellow's coolness and ingenuity. 

 On my calling him a thief, he indignantly replied, 

 " Now, dang it, I beant noa thief; I never took 

 nothing off your premises : " and I suppose, seeing 

 this made some impression, he added, with a grin 

 from ear to ear, " You'll have it all back again, 

 you know, measter." He was in ordinary cases a 

 very honest fellow, and I am sure would not 

 have taken a piece of bread for himself if he had 

 wanted it. 



To a man obstinately bent on acting on his 

 own judgment it would be useless to say much, 

 otherwise, much as I deprecate permitting servants 

 to give their opinions, I should, in his case, re- 

 mind him of a quotation " Fas est ab hoste 

 doceri," or, in more vulgar phrase, " Never refuse 

 a light from any man's candle." Anybody's advice 

 that is good is better than that dictated by your 

 own judgment, if that happens to be bad; and, in 



