180 MY LIFE 



the labourers and farmers, few of whom could speak any 

 English. The landlady here brewed her own beer in very 

 primitive fashion in a large iron pot or cauldron in the wash- 

 house, and had it ready for sale in a few days — a rather thick 

 and sweetish liquor, but very palatable. The malt and hops 

 were bought in small quantities as wanted, and brewing took 

 place weekly, or even oftener, when there was a brisk demand. 



In my bedroom there was a very large old oak chest, 

 which I had not taken the trouble to look in, and one morn- 

 ing very early I heard my door open very slowly and quietly. 

 I wondered what was coming. A man came in, cautiously 

 looking to see if I was asleep. I wondered if he was a robber 

 or a murderer, but lay quite still. He moved very slowly to 

 the big chest, lifted the lid, put in his arm, groped about a 

 little, and then drew out a large piece of hung beef! The 

 chest contained a large quantity bedded in oatmeal. My mind 

 was relieved, and I slept on till breakfast time. 



A young Englishman who was a servant in a gentleman's 

 house near used to come to the beershop occasionally, and 

 would sometimes give me local information or interpret for 

 me with the landlady when no one else was at home. He 

 seemed to speak Welsh quite fluently, yet to my great aston- 

 ishment he told me he had only been in Wales three or 

 four months, and could not read or write. He said he picked 

 up the language by constantly talking to the people, and I 

 have noticed elsewhere that persons who are thus illiterate 

 learn languages by ear with great rapidity. It no doubt 

 arises from the fact that, having no other mental occupations 

 and no means of acquiring information but through conversa- 

 tion, their whole mental capacities are concentrated on the 

 one object of learning to speak to the people. Some natural 

 faculty of verbal memory must no doubt exist, but when this 

 is present in even a moderate degree the results are often 

 very striking. Somewhat analogous cases are those of teach- 

 ing the deaf and dumb the gesture language, lip-reading, and 

 even articulate speech which they cannot themselves hear, 

 and the still more marvellous cases of Laura Bridgeman 

 and Helen Keller, in which was added blindness, so that 



