The first work ever I did was to mind two little lads for a farmer. I drawed them about in a little cart, for which I got my breakfast and a penny a day.

When I got older I went to tending sheep. I was about seven year old then. My mistress was a very gay woman, fond of company and dress, and going about; and this often caused them to fall out. One day when I was in the room, missis wished to go to some party. Master would not take her, and she got very angry, and stood behind him making faces at him, little thinking he could see her; but he was shaving before the glass and so caught sight of her faces. Presently he turns round and sets upon her. "Shut the door, Bill," calls out my missis to me. I rose and bolted the door in a great fright, but the servant maid had heard them and come down stairs, and so in at another door, and separates them, for she was used to their ways.

While I was at this place one of the maids lost her pocket, with three and sixpence in it. It was one of them oldfashioned side-pockets women used to wear. She blamed me for it, and said I had stolen it; and I went home crying to father. He got in a passion, and said, he "knowed his boy would never be a thief;" but things went on for a fortnight or three weeks, and nothing could be heard of the pocket.

Then mother says, "Well, father, now we must go to the cunning woman;" and so we all went. When we got to the place we found a little old thatched house all on the one floor; and, looking in over the half door, we sees a little funny old woman a-sitting up in the chimbley corner.

"Come in, neighbour," she says directly. "Is this the boy?" she says, like as if she'd knowed all the time what we was come for.

Then she took up some cards and begun working 'em about and shuffling 'em, and gave 'em to mother to cut.

"Is not there a dark person there?"

she says.

"Yes, very dark," mother says; "about two or three and twenty."

"Ah! I shall soon find it all out; cut the cards again," says the old lady. So mother cuts again, and she then shows mother a little picture.

"I see who it is," says mother.

Being a little lad, I runned up to try if I could see too, but could not make much out of it.

"Now, I'll tell you who it is, and where it will be found, neighbour," says the old woman; "and I'll never let the man rest till it is found."

"Dear me!" says mother; "don't torment him," she says.

Well, the end of it was, the pocket was to be found in a basket of my father's, but he was not to touch it himself, not upon no account.

That very night, after he had done his work, Richard the cow-man comes down to father's

"Ben," he says, "I can't rest."

"Why, what's the matter wi' ye, Dick?" says father.

"I don't know, but I feel terrible uneasy;" and then he falls a-telling father all about this pocket, and how he'd stolen it himself, and could get no rest till he put it into a basket of father's that he used to carry his victuals in, and which hung up behind the door of the small beer-cellar at the master's.

They went up to the farm, and the maid beat down the basket with a long shovel she had (to take the bread out of the oven), so as nobody should not touch it, and there dropped out the pocket with the three and sixpence in it just as the old cunning woman had said.

I stopped in that place, at Farmer G's, two years. Missis would still keep going on with her parties and company, o' rum o' minding her farm and her dairy; and this brought them at last to poverty. Last time I lit on 'em, he was a-mending a barrow in the streets of Lincoln. I took him into the "Red Lion" and gived him two or three quarts of ale and the change out of half-a-crown. "Mr. G——," I says to him, "I should think some of them crusts you used to chuck away, and never give to a poor person, would come in rather handy now?"

"Yes, Bill," he says, "they would; "but I little thought then I should ever have come to this."

But it was all caused by his wife's idle extravagant ways.

CHAPTER II.

MATRIMONIAL SPECULATIONS.

My father used to work at times for Squire G; and, when I was a little boy, they used to have me up to clean the knives and run of errands.

The Squire was a young man then, not of age yet. He used to have a friend from London to go out shooting with him. Let the young Squire go out a-shooting when he would, he'd always have me to go along with him. It used to be their fun to set me on a horse, and then fire the gun and start off the horse to run away. I used to cling on tight by the horse's mane, and that amused them.

When I was about twelve years old I went to live with Farmer S. He was a very honest, respectable man. When he was young, he fell in love with one of his father's servant-maids, which made the family very angry. They would give him no money, nor nothing to settle upon; so he hired himself. as a labourer on his father's farm, ploughing and doing his work just like a servant; and out of his own wages he sent the young woman to a boarding-school, and paid for her education for two or three years. When she returned from school he married her, and took a little onehorse farm; he used to get on by dealing in pigs and sheep. He never had but one price. What he'd say his pigs was worth, he'd have it. He'd never bate a halfpenny; but then he was always fair and honest. All the dealers could trust his word, and a poor man would go and buy a pig on him.

His elder brother had married a farmer's daughter, worth a deal of money, and they used to laugh at him because he was married to a servant.

"Ah! never mind," he'd say; "if you have any clothes made, you pay a tailor for making on 'em; now there's nothing

I wear," says he, "but what my wife makes me. See, in twenty years, how much it will cost you in making clothes for you and your family; and see if my wife won't save a fortune," he says, "in making clothes for her family and minding her dairy."

(The elder brother had to keep two servants to mind his dairy, but the younger had never a one.)

Long before the end of the twenty years the eldest brother, who had married the rich wife, failed, and came to poverty. He was always drinking and swearing, and thought he was quite safe because he'd got all the money. Then the other brother bought the old farm from him, and went back to live in his father's house, for all he had once been turned out of it. He paid his men better than what the other farmers did, and never missed going to church twice regular. He prospered and throve, and got on in his good ways, and became a very rich man.

I often think of his words, and I did as he telled me in one respect.

"William," he'd say to me, "if ever you choose a young woman, look out for one whose hair lies straight on her head, for she'll be sure to have a good temper."

"Look at your missis," he'd say, "look at her hair, and be sure you try for a poor servant girl," says he. "I'm married to a servant, though my father turned me out of the house for it, and see how I am off now."

When I got a little older, I used to keep looking out for all the young woman with straight hair. I fixed upon one in my own village, but she was all on for us to get married, and I wanted to stop till we was older; so we fell out and she went to service. When her twelvemonth was up she married the cow-man. She sent me a letter to say she did not think no more about me, but had got married to some one else.

"Thank the Lord for it!" I sent her word back, "I only hope you'll have a happy husband."

I soon begun to keep company with another young woman, whose name was

T. Her father had nineteen children; but he would not have any of them christened; he would call them anything that come up-sometimes Betsy, sometimes Sarah, just as it happened. I used to call this girl "my little mouse," because she worked hard all the summer, and laid by a store for the winter. She used to work in her father's brickfield, for he was a brickmaker; but the end of it was, she killed herself with it.

She was the only woman ever I knew killed herself by hard work. She used to do just the same as a man, and she was nearly as strong.

She had a sister who was stronger than a man; she still travels the country as a show. Just before she was born, her father had some ferrets. He was nearly caught with them one day, and he ran home thinking he was followed, and threw the ferret into his wife's lap, telling her to hide it under her apron ; but she was frightened, and fell right down on the floor, and the ferret ran away.

Soon after, she had this little girl born, with red eyes, as red as flames, and white hair, as white as snow.

She is married now, and gets a lot of money by going about to fairs. She is so strong, that she can lift a blacksmith's anvil up by her hair. She also lies down and has the anvil placed on her chest. Anybody may take up the anvil and satisfy themselves that there is no deception in it. She generally goes about the north parts of England, and I have met with many who have seen her scores of times.

After I lost my poor "little mouse," I felt very uneasy in my mind, and I did not rightly get over it for about two years.

In the meantime I quarrelled with my master through going to the publichouse. I had often made up my mind to run away from home, and had even started a few miles on the road, but the thoughts of my mother always brought me back again. However, this time I really did go; and a brother of "the mouse" came along with me for company.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE TRAMP.

AFTER I left home, I started on the road "tramping" about the country, looking for work. Sometimes I'd stop a few weeks with one master and then go on again, travelling about; never long at a time in the one place. I soon got into bad company and bad ways, and at times it would come over my mind that I thought more about the devil than I thought about my Saviour; but still I kept wandering on in that long lane and found no end to it.

This is the way we used to carry on. Perhaps I'd light of an old mate somewhere about the country, and we'd go rambling together from one place to another. If we earned any money, we'd go to a public-house, and stop there two or three days, till we'd spent it all, or till the publican turned us out drunk and helpless to the world. Having no money to pay for a lodging, we had to lie under a hedge, and in the morning we'd get up thinking, "What shall we do?" "Where shall we go?" and perhaps it would come over us, "Well, I'll never do the like again."

We'd wander on till we could find a gang of men at work at some railroad or large building; sometimes they would help us, and sometimes they would not. Once I travelled about for three days without having anything to eat. We'd always sooner take a thing than ask for it, and the devil kep' on tutoring me to steal, till at last, seeing some poor labouring man's victuals lying under a hedge, I jumped over and took them. I thought to myself at the time, "I'll never get so low again, but always keep a shilling in my pocket, sooner than get to this pitch.'

I came away, till I got some work in Sussex, as a "tipper." I got four shillings a day, working Sundays and all. I bid there eleven weeks till I had saved nine pounds, and then I left to come to London by the train. There I got along with bad company, and spent three or four of my pounds, and then

turned towards Derby, where I spent the rest of my money, and had to lie again in a stable. From there I walked into Yorkshire.

While I was in Yorkshire I met with a young gentleman who had a fine house of his own, but would spend all his time in the beer-shop. One day he saw me there and called out,

"Well, old navvy," he says, you drink a quart of ale?" "Thank you, sir," says I.

can

"I dare say now you could sing a good song about shooting, could not you? and hunting, and all?" he says. "Can't you tell us a good tale?"

"Yes, sir. I don't sing much, but I can make a noise about anything you ask me."

"Well, if you will stop along of me, I'll keep you in drink as long as you like to sing me songs," says he.

"Master," says I, "I'll have you! I do like my beer."

I stopped at the public-house with the young gentleman, holloing and shouting and drinking, and up to all sorts of wild pranks. He could not abide to be left alone, because of the "blue devils,” as we call them. He had been drunk every day for three months; so he would do anything to get some one to keep him company.

I stopped with him a fortnight drinking Yorkshire ale at sixpence a quart, while he drank rum and brandy, and soda water between whiles. But at the fortnight's end I had to run away, I could not stand it any longer. He'd have killed me with it if I'd gone on.

Then I went to work at Bradford, where I stayed about six or eight weeks. Here an engine was to start upon a new line; and the contractor gave us a load of beer (about four barrels) for the opening. I was not satisfied with the way the man drawed this beer; and so, as soon as his back was turned and the crowd all round us, so as he could not see, three of us got hold of a barrel and rolled it down the hill and over the hedge, knocked in the head of it, and drank out of our hats, which we dipped into the cask.

Not content with all this, we must still go to a public-house and have some more; and there I bid, till the landlord throwed me out in the road, where I laid till morning, while the rain poured down, and the water ran off both sides of me.

About four o'clock the sun rose, and some man came by and woke me up. "Hullo, old navvy," he says, "you're wet, ain't you?"

"Yes," I makes answer. "I was wet enough inside when I came here last night, but I am wetter outside now."

"I should think a quart of ale would do you good, now," says the man, "would not it?"

"It'ud save my life," but I little thought what I was saying on at the time; but I got my quart of ale, drink'd it, and wished him good morning. "Thank you, old fellow," says I; “if I see you on Saturday night I'll give you a quart, or two if you like; I'll make you fine and drunk," I says, and I went on, till I meets some of my mates acoming to work-then I falls into the hedge till they are passed, because I was ashamed to meet them, same as all of us is, when we've been drinking.

After this, I went to a small place called Wales, on the Sheffield and Grimsby railroad, and there I was taken bad, through this very drinking, and gave myself up for dead.

I had not written home for two years; and about this time my mother, reading in the paper about a man found drowned at Hull, took it in her head it was me. She always had a custom, every New Year's day, as the clock struck twelve of the noon, of taking her Bible, a-setting it up on its back and then letting it fall open where it would; and from the place where it chanced to open, she could tell all what would happen through the year-good or bad. She goes on the same still in her old age.

If she is in the house she sits and watches the clock till the time comes round; and, if she is out of doors, she takes her Bible with her-but she never misses it upon no account.

On the New Year's day after my ill

ness mother opens her Bible at the 15th chapter of Luke, and the 32d verse"For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." Then -she took that for a sign, and felt quite happy about me, and was sure I should soon return home; and so I did, not long afterwards.

I was still very ill, and kept at home with my mother about six months afterwards. My mother, being a good sort of woman, was unhappy about my wicked ways. She was always down on her knees a-praying for me-still I was regular 'shamed to do the same, though I kept getting away by myself, and thinking, "Well, my mother is rightI will give myself up to the Lord." kept getting a hold on me, and I said, "If I get round this time I will still keep on in my good promises."

It

But I was no sooner well than I turned out "tramping" again, and got first with one and then with another, till it all went out of my head.

CHAPTER IV.

CAROLINE.

WHILE I was at home this time, I worked for a farmer in the neighbourhood. I was eating my dinner the first day I went to this new place, when I saw the servant-girl a-tinging the bees. I spoke to her. Young woman," I says, you make rare music with those shovels while I have my dinner."

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Upon this, out comes the missis, and says, "Bill, do you know I never allow anybody to speak to my servants?"

"Thank you, ma'am," says I; “I'll think of that another time. It won't make much difference to me."

"Why, whotten sort of missis," I say, "is this, Caroline?"

"Oh," she says, "they don't never allow me to speak to any one."

"Well, then, I'll not speak any more," says I, "if this be the way. I did not know what she was," I says.

A little time after we was walking out, and talking to ourselves about love tales, or summat of that, and we made No. 26.-VOL. V.

up our minds we'd keep each other company; and it so happened that about the same time" Van Humbug" come round with his wild beasts.

Caroline asked her missis if she might go and see him.

"Oh, yes," says she; but the master had a mistrust that I was going with her, and he watched me away from work, to see whether I went home; so I turned on my road home, and came round and met her. We went together to see the beasts; but, as we was returning back, master come along to meet us. Oh, Bill!" she says, "here comes

66

master."

I jumped over the hedge so quick he never seed me, but still he could hear some footsteps.

In the morning, when I went to my work, "Caroline," I says, " did master see me?"

No," she says, "but he heered ye; and he finely went on after I got home.' But all this made us only the more determined upon keeping company.

I had to call Caroline up every morning at four, to get the key of the stables for me out of master's room.

A few mornings after we'd been to see Van Humbug, she'd brought me the key, and we stood a-talking for some little time-I had one foot in the house and the t'other out-master come down. "There!" he says, "now I've ketched ye. I thought I could not see the stable door open. I'll have none of this," he says, "in my house."

Says I, "Well, sir, I ain't in your house."

"You are in the house," he says. "No, sir, I'm only half in and half out," says I.

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Well," he says, you I'll have to go or else the servant will, for I won't allow no talking here."

"If you discharge any one, sir, discharge me," I says. So I had my money on Saturday night, and left through it. I got work close agen' home, and they would not even let her come to chapel, for fear she should call in the house as she passed. After this master got that angry about my leaving him, that he

L