In the Belfry 63 



on them, and so break off innumerable twigs too short 

 to be tied up in the bundle. After they have finished 

 faggotting, the women rake up the fragments for their 

 cottage fires ; and later on as the spring advances, the 

 birds come for the remaining twigs, of which great quanti- 

 ties are left. These they pick up from among the grass ; 

 and it is noticeable that they like twigs that are dead but 

 not decayed : they do not care for them when green, and 

 reject them when rotten. Have they discovered that 

 green wood shrinks in drying, and that rotten wood is 

 untrustworthy ? Books, jackdaws, and pigeons find their 

 building materials in this way, where trees or hedges have 

 been cut ; yet even then it must require some patience. 

 They use also a great deal of material rearranged from the 

 nests of last year that is, rooks and jackdaws. 



Stepping out at last into the belfry, be careful how you 

 tread ; for the flooring is worm-eaten, and here and there 

 planks are loose : keep your foot, if possible, on the beams, 

 which at least are fixed. It is a giddy height to fall from 

 down to the stone pavement below, where the ringers 

 stand. Their ropes are bound round with list or cloth, or 

 some such thing, for a better grasp for the hand. High as 

 it is to this the first floor, if you should attempt to ring 

 one of these bells, and forget to let the rope slip quickly 5 

 it will jerk you almost to the ceiling : thus many a man 

 has broken his bones close to the font where he was 

 christened as a child. 



Against the wall up here are iron clamps to strengthen 

 the ancient fabric, settling somewhat in its latter days ; 

 and, opening the worm-eaten door of the clock-case the 

 key stands in it you may study the works of the old clock 

 for a full hour, if so it please you ; for the clerk is away 

 labouring in the field, and his aged wife, who produced 



