IN " THE GOOD OLD TIMES." 109 



" Well, I heerd as a carter-boy wus wanted at 

 The Coombe, an' I goes there an' asks fur the 

 place. The master, he looks down on me, -an' he 

 eyes me all over. He wus just six foot two in his 

 stockings, you 'member. 'An',' sez he, 'you be 

 a little chap ; ken ye eat ? ' I told him I jest about 

 could ef I could git it. He stood thear, 'siderin' 

 me, when the missus a good un she wus sez, 

 'Try him, father; I think 't is on'y belly timber 

 the poor little chap wants. If he is but little, 

 it ain't no fault o' his, poor chap ! an' 't is a fault 

 he'll soon grow out of here.' They wus the werry 

 words she said. 



"So he took me inter his sarvice, an' I 'members 

 his fust words after I'd cum jest as if 'twas yester- 

 day. ' Now boy/ he sez, ' eat an' drink as much 

 as ye want, but waste nuthin'. Mind what's said 

 tu ye an' do yer work. Then ye'll git on.' I did 

 git on an' no mistake ; an' I growed. He brewed 

 reg'lar, one lot under the other. Two pints a-day, 

 year in an' year out, we got ; an' more in harvest- 

 time. It wus good too ; real malt an' hops ; no 

 swishet, mind ye. An' he killed lots o' pigs, an' 

 cured his own pork an' bacon ; but we had butcher's 



