A Carpenter s Workshop. 171 



lizard,' which is a much coarser-looking and larger 

 creature, and is not an inhabitant of this locality : at 

 all events it is rare enough to have escaped me here, 

 though I have often observed it in districts where the 

 soil is light and sandy and where there is a good deal 

 of heath-land. The land-lizards will stroll indoors if 

 the door be left open. These lesser but more elegant 

 lizards appear to prefer a damp spot — cool and moist, 

 but not positively wet. 



A large shed built against the side of the adjacent 

 stable is used as a carpenter's workshop — much car- 

 penter's work is done on a farm — and here is a bench 

 with a vice and variety of tools. When sawing, the 

 Avood operated on often ' ties ' the saw, as it is called 

 — that is, pinches it — which makes it hard to work ; 

 a thin wedge of wood is then inserted to open a wa^', 

 and the blade of the saw rubbed with a little grease, 

 which the metal, heated by the friction, melts into 

 oil. This eases the work — a little grease, too, will 

 make a gimlet bore quicker. Country carpenters 

 keep this grease in a horn — a cow's horn stopped at 

 the larger end with a piece of wood and at the other 

 by its own natural growth. Now the mice (which 

 are everywhere on farm premises) are so outrageously 

 fond of grease that the}' will spend any length of 

 time gnaw-gnaw-gnawing till they do get at it. Right 

 through the solid stopper of wood they eat their way, 

 and even through the horn ; so that the carpenter is 

 puzzled to know how to preserve it out of their reach. 

 It is of no use putting it on a shelf, because they 

 either rush up the wall or drop from above. At last, 

 however, he has hit upon a dodge. 



He has suspended the horn high above the ground 



