1 
APRIL GOSSIP. 203 
—at a distance resembling the tents of an army. Never 
were the labouring men so glad to sce the spring, 
for never have so many of them been out of work or for 
longer periods. Yet, curiously enough, even if out of 
work and suffering, every sort of job will not suit them. 
One applicant for work was offered hop-pole shaving at 
3s. a hundred—said to be a fair price; but the work did 
not please him, and he would not do it. On the other 
hand, a girl sent out ‘to service’ turned her back on 
domestic duties, ran away from her mistress, and joined 
her father and brother in the woods where they were 
shaving hop-poles. There she worked with them all the 
winter—the roughest of rough winters—preferring the 
wild freedom of the snow-clad woods, with hard food, to 
the indoor employment. No mistress there in the snow: 
one woman does not like another over her. A man stood 
idling at the cross-roads in the village for wecks, hands 
in pockets, waiting for work. Some one took pity on 
him, and said he could come and dig up an acre of grass- 
land to make a market garden; 15s. a week was the 
offer, with spade found, and not long hours. ‘Thank 
you, sir; I'll go and look at it, said the labourer. He 
went; and presently returned to say that he did not 
care about it. In some way or other it did not fall in 
with his notions of what work for him ought to be. I 
do not believe he was a bad sort of fellow at all; but 
still there it is. No one can explain these things. A 
distinct line, as it were, separates the cottager, his ways 
and thoughts, from others. In a cottage with which I 
am acquainted an infant recently died. The body was 
kept in the parents’ bedroom close to their bed, day 
and night, until burial. This is the custom. The cottage 
wife thinks that not to have the body of her child by 
her bed would be most unfeeling—most cruel to lay it 
by itself in a cold room away from her. 
