WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



to do was to them a comparatively easy task 

 but the first week's pay was to them a complete 

 revelation. They had heard about such money 

 being earned by those who, at intervals few and 

 far between, visited the outside world ; but they 

 never had believed it to be truly stated. Civil, 

 hard-working fellows they all were, full of manly 

 independence. In my own daily work I came in 

 constant contact with them, but they kept aloof 

 from the other workmen as a rule. In the morning 

 they were on the works to a minute ; in the even- 

 ing, when the day's work was done, they were 

 lost sight of in the woods. 



Years passed before I could say that I knew 

 much about these woodland dwellers, but I got 

 to understand them at last. Personally I have 

 found them fiercely conservative, and I never found 

 fault with them on that score. Their knowledge, 

 though not gained through books, made them keen 

 observers of human nature. In their own peculiar 

 way they would patiently thresh matters out. It 

 might be months before any signs would be given 

 for or against a new movement; but given either 

 way, it was final. 



