1 6 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



up — which is a fine thing ; and the hedges and the 

 grass are as sweet as sugar after a shower. Anything 

 with a green leaf is the thing, depend upon it, if you 

 want to live healthy. I never signed no pledge ; and 

 if a man asks me to take a glass of ale, I never says 

 him no. But I ain't got no barrel at home ; and all 

 the time I've been in this here place, I've never been 

 to a public. Gentlemen give me tips — of course they 

 does ; and much obliged I be ; but I takes it to my 

 missus. Many's the time they've axed me to have a 

 glass of champagne or brandy when we've had lunch 

 under the hedge ; but I says no, and would like a glass 

 of beer best, which I gets, of course. No ; when I 

 drinks, I drinks ale : but most in general I drinks no 

 strong liquor. Great coat ! — cold weather ! I never 

 put no great coat on this thirty year. These here 

 woods be as good as a topcoat in cold weather. Come 

 off the open field with the east wind cutting into you, 

 and get inside they firs and you'll feel warm in a 

 minute. If you goes into the ash wood you must go 

 in farther, because the wind comes more between the 

 poles.' Fresh air, exercise, frugal food and drink, the 

 odour of the earth and the trees — these have given 

 him, as he nears his sixtieth year, the strength and 

 vitality of early manhood. 



He has his faults : notably, a hastiness of temper 



