16 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



in the tiles one by one, and filling the earth in over 

 them as he went ! 



The field I had begun upon was very large, and 

 very flat ; and in order to increase artificially the fall, 

 I had calculated so as to make the drain eighteen 

 inches deeper at the mouth than at the tail. I might 

 as well have calculated the distance of a telescopic star. 



" I've been a-draining this forty year and more / 

 ought to know summut about it !" 



Need I tell you who said this ? or give you the whole 

 of the colloquy to which it furnished the epilogue ? 



I had begun, something in this way "Why, my 

 good friend ! what on earth are you about ? Didn't 

 I tell you to lay the drain open from bottom to top, 

 and that not a tile was to be put in till I had seen it, 

 and tried the levels ?" &c., &c. 



Old as Adaia old as Adam was the whole dialogue 

 it is idle to go through it Conceit versus Prejudice 

 the ignorance of the young against the ignorance of 

 the old the thing that has been, and will be, as long 

 as " the sun and the moon endureth." It ended as I 

 have said. 



" Fve been a-draining this forty year and more I 

 ought to know summut about it !" 



Here was a staggerer. Amongst all my calculations 



