the north wind, which whistled through the bare branches of
the tall elm overhead as if they were the cordage of a ship, and came in
sudden blasts through the gaps in the hedge, blowing his shirt back, and
exposing the immense breadth of bone, and rough dark skin tanned to a
brown-red by the summer sun while mowing. The neck rose from it short
and thick like that of a bull, and the head was round, and covered with
a crop of short grizzled hair not yet quite grey, but fast losing its
original chestnut colour. The features were fairly regular, but coarse,
and the nose flattened. An almost worn-out old hat thrown back on the
head showed a low, broad, wrinkled forehead. The eyes were small and
bleared, set deep under shaggy eyebrows. The corduroy trousers, yellow
with clay and sand, were shortened below the knee by leather straps like
garters, so as to exhibit the whole of the clumsy boots, with soles like
planks, and shod with iron at heel and tip. These boots weigh seven
pounds the pair; and in wet weather, with clay and dirt clinging to
them, must reach nearly double that.

In spite of all the magnificent muscular development which this man
possessed, there was nothing of the Hercules about him. The grace of
strength was wanting, the curved lines were lacking; all was gaunt,
angular, and square. The chest was broad enough, but flat, a framework
of bones hidden by a rough hairy skin; the breasts did not swell up like
the rounded prominences of the antique statue. The neck, strong enough
as it was to bear the weight of a sack of corn with ease, was too short,
and too much a part, as it were, of the shoulders. It did not rise up
like a tower, distinct in itself; and the muscles on it, as they moved,
produced hollow cavities distressing to the eye. It was strength
without beauty; a mechanical kind of power, like that of an engine,
working through straight lines and sharp angles. There was too much of
the machine, and too little of the animal; the lithe, easy motion of the
lion or the tiger was not there. The impression conveyed was, that such
strength had been gained through a course of incessant exertion of the
rudest kind, unassisted by generous food and checked by unnatural
exposure.

John Smith heaved up his axe and struck at the great bulging roots of
the elm, from which he had cleared away the earth with his spade. A
heavy chip flew out with a dull thud on the sward. The straight handle
of the axe increased the labou