AN EXCUSABLE THIEF. 155 



but he o-ot " bowled out " at last. It was found 

 he had bored a hole in the floor under the corn. 

 In this he had a bung, which went up close, and 

 only looked like a knot in the wood till closely 

 inspected. I did not do as some hasty masters 

 would have done — " draw his cork " (as the 

 fighters say), and then turn him away ; but, for 

 example sake, I got a constable, and talked of 

 transportation, and probably should have given 

 him a day or two of peculiar temperance in the 

 villao^e cao-e, but for the fellow's coolness and in- 

 genuity. On my calling him a thief, he indig- 

 nantly replied, '' Noa, dang it, I beant no thief; 

 I never took nothing off your premises : " and I 

 suppose, seeing this made some impression, he 

 added, with a grin from ear to ear, " You'll have 

 it all back again, you know, measter." He was 

 in ordinary cases a very honest fellow, and I am 

 sure would not have taken a piece of bread for 

 himself if he had w^anted it. 



To a man obstinately bent on acting on his 

 own judgment it would be useless to say much, 

 otherwise, much as I deprecate permitting servants 

 to give their opinions, I should, in his case, re- 

 mind him of a quotation — " Fas est ab hoste 

 doceri," or, in more vulgar phrase, " Never refuse 

 a light from any man's candle." Anybody'' s advice 

 that is good is better than that dictated by your 

 own judgment, if that happens to be bad; and, in 



