m his
idol: I sauntered in to his smithy, and forged him one or two knives;
and of course he had never seen the hammer used with that nicety;
but instead of hating me, as the bad forgers in Hillsborough do, he
regularly worships me, and comes blushing up to the farm-house after
hours, to ask after me and get a word with me. He is the best whistler
in the parish, and sometimes we march down the village at night,
arm-in-arm, whistling a duet. This charms the natives so that we could
take the whole village out at our heels, and put them down in another
parish. But the droll thing is, they will not take me for what I am. My
gentle giant would say 'Sir' till I pretended to be affronted; the women
and girls will bob me courtesies, and the men and white headed boys
will take off their hats and pull their front hair to me. If a skilled
workman wants to burst with vanity, let him settle in Cairnhope."

[EXTRACT]

"Martha Dence and I have had words, and what do you think it was about?
I happened to let out my opinion of Mr. Raby. Mother, it was like
setting a match to a barrel of gunpowder. She turned as red as fire, and
said, 'Who be you that speaks against Raby to Dence?'

"I tried to pacify her, but it was no use. 'Don't speak to me,' said
she. 'I thought better of you. You and I are out.' I bowed before the
storm, and, to give her time to cool, I obeyed your wishes, and walked
to Cairnhope old church. What a curious place! But I could not get in;
and, on my return, I found Mr. Raby keeps the key. Now, you can't do a
thing here, or say a word, but what it is known all over the village. So
Martha Dence meets me at the door, and says, very stiffly, she thought
I might have told her I wanted to see the old church. I pulled a long,
penitent face, and said, 'Yes; but unfortunately, I was out of her good
books, and had orders not to speak to her.' 'Nay,' says she, 'life is
too short for long quarrels. You are a stranger, and knew no better.'
Then she told me to wait five minutes while she put on her bonnet, as
she calls it. Well, I waited the five and-forty minutes, and she put on
her bonnet, and so many other smart things, that we couldn't possibly
walk straight up to the old church. We had to go round by the butcher's
shop, and order half a pound of suet; no less. 'And bring it yourself,
this evening,' said I, 'or it might get lost on the road.' Says the
butcher, 'Well, sir, that is the first piece of friendly advice any good
C