The Washington times., 1906-12-23


baby with one hand and did the house
work with the other AT The end OF the
viuaue an old man past work sat at
ro.ish deal table under the creaEing
sfsnboard OF the Cauudower, grateful
ly drinking from mug Of ale supplied
bv a chance traveller who sat opposite
him.
The shade of the elms was pleasant
and the ale good The traveller filled
his pipe and. glancing az the dusty
hedges and the white road baking in
the SUM- allied for the mugs 10 be re-
filled, and pushed bIs pouch toward
his companion After which ue paid
compliment to the appearance OF the
village.
1T Amt what il was when / was
boy" quovered the old man. nlling his
pipe with trembling ungers. II mind
when The griudstCne was stuck just
outside the Rdnder o. the forge instead
o. being one side as 1t no is and as
for the shop winder-its twice the
size 1T was when I was young 'un.''
He lit his pipe with the scientific ac-
curacy Of smoker of sixty years
standing. and shook his head solemnly
as ne regarded his altered birthplace.
Then his color heightened and his
dim eye flashed.
Its the people about ere as chang
% more than the place as" he said,
with sudden herceness: there's a set
o men about here nowadays as are no
good 20 anybody; reg'lar raskels. And
Il you've the mind 10 listen ] can tel2
you OF one or two as couldn't be beaI
In London itself.
There's Tom Adams for one. He
went and started wot . called IA
Benevolent Club. Three psnoe a week
each wa paid again sickness or Rcci-
dent, and Tom was secretary. Three
weeks arter the club was started he
caught chill and was laid up for a
month. He got back to work a week,
and then q spraiued something in Is
Leg. and arter that was well is in
side went wrong. We didn't think
much OF it at first not understanding
figures; but at the end O. six months
the club hadn't got a rarthing, and
they was i'm Tom s debt one pound
seveut uteeu-and-siX.
He ISN'T the only one O. that sort in
the place. either. There was Herbert
Richardson. He went TO town. and
came back with the idea OF a Goose
Club for Christmas. We paid two
pence a week into that for pretty near
ten months. and then Herbert went
back TO town aEIn. and all We ear
OF I'm, through his sister, is that he's
stll there and doing well, and don't
know when he'll be back.
''But the artfuIlest and worst man IN
this place-anI that's saying a good
deal, mind y0u-is Bob Pretty. Deep
is no word for i'm There's no way
OF being up 10 i'm. It's through I'm
that we lost our Flower Show; and
II you'd like To ear the rights 70
that, don't suppose there's anybody
In this place as knows as much about
it as L d0-barrlug Bob hisself that
ig, but e wouldn't tell il TO you as
plain as I can.
WED only 'ad the Flower Show one
year. and lrJie anybody thought that
the next one was t5 be the last The
first year you might smell the place
a mile off In the summer, and on the
day OF the show people came from a
long way round and brought money
20 spend M the Caulid0Wer and other
places.
IT was started just after we got
cur new p7rs0u. and Mrs. Pawlett
the parsons wife, is name being
Pawlett, thought as she'd encourage
mon to love their ONES and be better
'usbauds by giving a prize every year
for the best cottage garden Three
pounds was the prize. and a metal
teapot with writing on n.
As I said. we only 'ad Il two years.
The fust year the garden as got IL was
q picter, and Bill Chambers. I'm as
won the prize, used 10. say as e was
out O. pocket by IT, taking is time
and the money e spent on flowers.
Not as we believed that. you under
stand. specially as Bill lid IS very
best to ger &c the next year, too, y
didn't get IT, and though p'r'aps most
OF us was glad t. didn't we was all
very surprised at the way it turned
out IN the end.
'sThe flower show was 10 be cid on
the 5th O July. just as a'mOst every
thing about here. was at its best On
the 18th OF June Bill Chambers's gar
den seemed to be leading, but Peter
Bmlth and Joe Gubhius and Sam Jones
and Henery Walker was almost as
eood. and IT was understood that more
than one OF 'em had got a surprise
which they'd produce ar the last mo-
nent. too late for the others 20 copy
We used 70 sit up here of an evening
It this CauHnower pubItc-house and
pat money on H. L put mine on
Hsnery Walker. apd the time 7 spent
ia rs garden 'elping i'm is sin and
q shame TO think Of.
--OI course some OF 'Cm used TO make
fun of IT, and Bob Pretty was the
worst Of 'em ALL He was always "a
lazy. good-for-nothinE man. and is
garden was a disgrace. H'd chuck
down any rubbish i'm #. old bones. old
tins. bits OF an old bucket anything
10 make IL unddy. He used to larf
at 'em awful about their gardens and
about being took up by The parsons
Wtfe. Nobody ever see INA do any
work. but the smell from is place at
dinner time was always nice and I
believe that he knew more about game
than the parson hisseIf did.
-LI was the day arJsu this one I'm
speaking about, the 18th June. that
the trouble all began. and it came
about iu very eggstrordfnary way.
George English, quiet man getting
into years, who used when e vas
younger TO foller the sea, and whose
culy misfortin was that q was a
brother-in-law O. Bob Pretty's, his sis
ter marrying Bob while e was al sea
and l--or-fr7r~ r0r-frsr- fosrr il saF "a