BOYHOOD WITH THE ROD 19 



course, he was the chief local gossip and carrier of 

 news. 



When he arrived there was always a roll of cloth 

 ready for him which had been woven at the little 

 local mill from wool grown on the farm. He used 

 to settle down cross-legged on the large kitchen 

 table and fit us all out. His work took him up to 

 the solitary farms and into the little market towns. 

 He was, therefore, more or less of a travelled man 

 with superior knowledge, and apt on that account 

 to look down on some of his less cosmopolitan 

 countrymen. 



A tale he once told at their expense illustrates 

 pretty well the outlook of all those who were not 

 fortunate enough, from an educational point of view, 

 to be itinerant tailors. 



Two local men who had never been much away 

 from their own farmsteads had to make a far 

 journey into the neighbouring valley of Ravenstone- 

 dale, and coming suddenly over a hill into sight of 

 Sunbiggin Tarn one of them shouted to the other, 

 " Matt, there's t' sea." " T' sea, man," said Matt, 

 knowing more of geography, " t' sea's twice as big 

 as that." 



Occasionally at that time a clever lad gravitated 

 through the ancient Grammar School to the 

 University, and came back, as all Westmorland 



