MINISTER'S sor. 285 



verance of which, the manse garden will show the 

 best crops in the parish. Let no prejudice as to 

 inadequacy of strength prove a hinderance. No- 

 thing but ignorance of the spade and of muscular 

 exertion can make the name of trenching sound 

 harsh as work for a boy. The work is in fact as 

 easy as any other: severity lies in quantity, not in 

 kind. A man to make two shillings must trench 

 twenty-four square yards; and if your boy do one 

 fourth of that number, neither is he overwrought, 

 nor do you keep him for nothing; and even at this 

 lowly rate it is surprising, so little do we notice 

 the progress of time, how great the amount will 

 appear after a long period ! Supposing you have 

 a trench opened, and the work proceeds, the pro- 

 gress, though marked by small additions, is still an 

 object in dreary winter. But a snowfall has shut 

 all up, and yet the sky is delightfully serene. For 

 want of management in such a season, your boy, 

 having nothing to do, would certainly be off, spend- 

 ing his pence on gunpowder, and joining a group of 

 rascals about the hedges, idly shooting at birds, 

 swearing either at a hit or miss, and contracting 

 an intolerable itch for a life of poaching, and hence 

 of drams, to be had by the easy- won price of a 

 pheasant, or, failing that, by other acts of theft. 

 Keep your boy from such associates, as you have 

 to answer for his soul. Let the snow be no hinder- 

 ance to his work. Desire him to cut for you a road 

 to the trench, as you may wish to walk that way ; 

 and it will serve to keep his own feet dry and make 



