OLD COUNTRY FOLK 227 



always spoken of as Master So-and-so. The older people 

 habitually spoke of any squire's wife with the prefix 

 ' Lady ' instead of ' Mrs.' It was no confusion of mind 

 about social distinctions, but the custom of the country. 



The clock was generally spoken of as ' she ' : ' she's 

 a bit slow.' 



To give a hint or make a suggestion was thus 

 worded. The clergyman was one day surprised and slightly 

 alarmed by a worthy old soul stopping in front of him 

 with a beaming face and pulling up her outer petticoat to 

 reveal a warm red one underneath — the gift of his wife. 

 ' Thank you, sir,' for ' putting it into your lady to give 

 me this beautiful petticoat.' 



A word is sometimes used in a sense whose intention 

 it is difficult to make out, as in this authentic instance. 



' So you're goin' to buy a pony off Master D., be you. 

 Well, you'd better take care how you deals with he ; lies 

 a very religious man ! ' 



Sometimes, after a solemn pause, a rejoinder or a 

 supplementary remark is made with an air of profound 

 wisdom, and as if to throw quite a new light on the 

 subject. 



Two labourers stood at the edge of a field, some ten 

 feet above a hollow lane, where I was driving, and passing 

 a farm cart, with barely an inch to spare. The cart had 

 stopped and had one wheel already a little way up the 

 steep bank. 



' Lane's ter narrer.' 



'Yus' (long pause, and then this profound remark); 

 ' it ain't wide enough.' 



One clay I missed a garden labourer and said to the 

 one who worked with him, ' Where's Jim ? ' 



