ly to anyone inclined to rally
him, or whom he thought inclined to do so; but his method was
inoffensive, though from most men it would have appeared impertinent.
In the very earliest days of my occupation the weather was so dry for
the time of year--October and November--that fallowing operations,
generally only possible in summer, could be successfully carried on, a
very unusual circumstance on such wet and heavy land. Meeting the
Vicar, a genial soul with a pleasant word for everyone, the latter
remarked that it was "rare weather for the new farmers." Bell, highly
sensitive, fancied he scented a quizzing reference to himself and to
me, and knowing that the Vicar's own land--he was then farming the
glebe with a somewhat unskilful bailiff--was getting out of hand,
replied: "Yes, sir; and not so bad for some of the old uns." Bell
happened to pass one day when I was talking to the Vicar at my gate.
"Hullo! Bell," said he, "hard at work as usual; nothing like hard
work, is there?" "No, sir," said Bell; "I suppose that's why you chose
the one-day-a-week job!"

Labourers have great contempt for the work of parsons, lawyers, and
indoor workers generally; a farmer who spends much time indoors over
correspondence and comes round his land late in the day is regarded as
an "afternoon" or "armchair" farmer, and a tradesman who runs a small
farm in addition to his other business is an "apron-string" farmer.
With some hours daily employed on letter-writing, accounts and labour
records, which a farm and the employment of many hands entails, and
with frequent calls from buyers and sellers, I was sometimes unable to
visit men working on distant fields until twelve o'clock or after, and
I was told that it had been said of me by some new hands, "why don't
'e come out and do some on it?"

It was remarked of the late tenant, "I reckon there was a good parson
spoiled when 'e was made a farmer." And of a lawyer, who combined
legal practice with the hobby of a small farm, that there was no doubt
that "Lawyer G----s kept farmer G----s."

Bell's favourite saying was, "If a job _has_ to be done you may as
well do it first as last," and it was so strongly impressed upon me by
his example that I think I have been under its influence, more or
less, all my life. He was certain to be to the fore in any emergency
when promptitude, courage, and resource were called for; he it was who
dashed into the pool below the mill and rescued a child, and when