Instead Of Having To Choose Between Half A Dozen
Applicants, As She Expected, The Difficulty Was To Discover Anybody Who
Would Even Take Such A Job Into Consideration.
The lads did not care
about it; their fathers did not care about it; and their mothers did not
want them to do it.
At one cottage there were three lads at home doing
nothing; but the mother thought they were too delicate for such work. In
the end a boy was found, but not for some time. Nobody was eager for any
extra shilling to be earned in that way. The next thing was somebody to
fetch a yoke or two of spring water daily. This man did not care for it,
and the other did not care for it; and even one who had a small piece of
ground, and kept a donkey and water-butt on wheels for the very purpose,
shook his head. He always fetched water for folk in the summer when it
was dry, never fetched none at that time of year - he could not do it.
After a time a small shopkeeper managed the yoke of water from the spring
for her - - his - boy could carry it; the labourer's could not. He was
comparatively well-to-do, yet he was not above an extra shilling.
This is one of the most curious traits in the character of cottage
folk - they do not care for small sums; they do not care to pick up
sixpences. They seem to be - afraid of obliging people - - as if to do so,
even to their own advantage, would be against their personal honour and
dignity.
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