WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



for my work lay in their midst, and I belonged 

 to them by force of sympathy. It was a pleasure 

 to me to be able to tell them where many of 

 their beautiful woodland legends originated : some 

 of them had, indeed, direct bearing on the book 

 they read and studied so deeply the Bible, in 

 fact. And with the aid of my pencil I could make 

 matters clearer at times than they would other- 

 wise have been. As I supplemented any little 

 information I gave by reading to them from works 

 treating on the subjects under discussion, and 

 offered them the books to read for themselves, 

 I was eased of too great responsibility in the 

 matter ; and if there is one thing the wood- 

 dwellers prize more than another it is " book 

 larnin'," as they call it. "To git hold on a book, 

 an' read away at it, hard words an' all, an' no 

 spellin', an' to be able to write like print," was 

 at that time something to be talked about in 

 their isolated dwellings. 



One poor old soul observed : " I was afeard as 

 he'd never git at what father an' me wanted to 

 tell Tom in furrin parts ; but, bless ye, he was 

 that patient-like, never sayin' a word afore we'd 



