of a different and better class than her husband's.
She was the daughter of a small tradesman, and had begun life as a
lady's-maid: her husband was nothing but a labourer; his people had been
labourers for generations, consequently her marriage to him had involved
a considerable descent in the social scale. Hearing this, it was hard to
repress a smile.

The contrast between this man and the ordinary villager of his class was
as great in manners and conversation as in features and expression. His
combined dignity and gentleness, and apparent unconsciousness of any
caste difference between man and man, were astonishing in one who had
been a simple toiler all his life.

There were some grown-up children, others growing up, with others that
were still quite small. The boys, I noticed, favoured their mother, and
had commonplace faces; the girls took after their father, and though
their features were not so perfect they were exceptionally good-looking.
The eldest son--the disjointed, fly-away-looking young man who had
conquered all his enemies--had a wife and child. The eldest daughter was
also married, and had one child. Altogether the three families numbered
about sixteen persons, each family having its separate set of rooms, but
all dining at one table. How did they do it? It seemed easy enough to
them. They were serious people in a sense, although always cheerful and
sometimes hilarious when together of an evening, or at their meals. But
they regarded life as a serious matter, a state of probation; they
were non-smokers, total abstainers, diligent at their work, united,
profoundly religious. A fresh wonder came to light when I found that
this poor woodman, with so large a family to support, who spent ten or
twelve hours every day at his outdoor work, had yet been able out of his
small earnings to buy bricks and other materials, and, assisted by his
sons, to build a chapel adjoining his house. Here he held religious
services on Sundays, and once or twice of an evening during the week.
These services consisted of extempore prayers, a short address, and
hymns accompanied by a harmonium, which they all appeared able to play.

What his particular doctrine was I did not inquire, nor did I wish for
any information on that point. Doubtless he was a Dissenter of some kind
living in a village where there was no chapel; the services were for
the family, but were also attended by a few of the villagers and some
persons from neighbo