WOODCRAFT 247 



and a set of wedges for wood-splitting ; picks 

 and shovels, garden-forks and draining-grafts, 

 cross-cut saws and ordinary saws, rakes and 

 hoes, were all there ; to say nothing of a large 

 rough open box of tools that to us would appear 

 in wild disorder, but not so to the master. He 

 would make a dive and get from it what he 

 required at once. 



From very early years the children, boys 

 and girls, helped their parents to the best of 

 their ability ; for it was really a case of stern 

 necessity. The natural result of this early 

 discipline was simply this, that whereas town 

 children are barely fit to be trusted out alone, 

 the children of the woods are self-reliant, and 

 can take care of themselves well. They are 

 shy of strangers, these young dwellers under 

 green leaves, but if you can once win their 

 trust, and they know that what interests them 

 has very great interest for you, they will talk 

 freely and to the point. But you must know 

 them well, and live with them, not for weeks 

 or months, but, as it has been in my own case 

 at different periods of my life, for years, in 

 order to win their entire confidence. 



" Now ain't that 'ere jist like what we told ye 

 about ? " they would say. 



