148 FARMING IT 



Then comes a thin-legged, gaunt man with 

 loose trousers, too short, and frock-coat, too long. 

 Why should a thin-legged, gaunt man wear loose 

 trousers and why, of all things, a frock-coat ? 

 The water drips from his hat-brim as he strides 

 powerfully for shelter. The wind blows his wet 

 trousers against his shanks, disclosing the ex- 

 treme attenuation of his figure, astonishing to the 

 beholder. 



Look ! here comes a ponderous individual car- 

 rying an umbrella. He walks easily, his chest 

 protrudes, he appears conscious, perhaps a trifle 

 over-conscious, of his vast superiority to climatic 

 conditions. He would not run from a shower, 

 not he. The rain pours and the procession of 

 passers-by scurry in every direction. Ordinary 

 everyday people may grow excited over such 

 trivial matters as a wetting, but he has cultivated 

 the true spirit of dignity and repose. He takes 

 things as they come, and rises superior to his 

 surroundings. 



See, as he passes the Town Hall a gust of wind 

 from the north strikes him. His umbrella drives 

 sou'-sou'-east. He clings to it with desperation. 

 A fatal mistake, for it goes inside-out like a boy 

 doing a handspring. His imitation panama fol- 

 lows ; his hair, growing from the sides and care- 

 fully brought up and pasted over his cranium to 

 hide his baldness, is blown from its moorings and 



