The
Little Ones He Treated With The Most Affectionate Kindness, And
Gathered The Whole Flock About His Knees The Moment He Came In To
His Meals.
On a wet day, when no work could be done abroad, Moodie took up his
flute, or read aloud to us, while John and I sat down to work.
The
young emigrant, early cast upon the world and his own resources, was
an excellent hand at the needle. He would make or mend a shirt with
the greatest precision and neatness, and cut out and manufacture his
canvas trousers and loose summer-coats with as much adroitness as
the most experienced tailor; darn his socks, and mend his boots and
shoes, and often volunteered to assist me in knitting the coarse
yarn of the country into socks for the children, while he made them
moccasins from the dressed deer-skins that we obtained from the
Indians.
Scrupulously neat and clean in his person, the only thing which
seemed to ruffle his calm temper was the dirty work of logging;
he hated to come in from the field with his person and clothes
begrimed with charcoal and smoke. Old Jenny used to laugh at him
for not being able to eat his meals without first washing his
hands and face.
"Och! my dear heart, yer too particular intirely; we've no time
in the woods to be clane." She would say to him, in answer to his
request for soap and a towel, "An' is it soap yer a-wantin'?
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