. The land of heather . h whom I talked wasa dirty old woman who greeted me one day from awayside heap of road metal (broken stone) on whichshe was resting. She had been carrying a big bundlestrapped to her shoulders, but had loosened it for themoment. In addition she had with her a danglingbunch of rabbit skins that she had taken in exchangetrades with farmers wives. A wretched specimen of ashoe lay in her lap, and I noticed that one of her feethad no covering save a frayed stocking. She explainedthat the shoe was burst out and would keep slippingoff, and it was easier to take it along in her
. The land of heather . h whom I talked wasa dirty old woman who greeted me one day from awayside heap of road metal (broken stone) on whichshe was resting. She had been carrying a big bundlestrapped to her shoulders, but had loosened it for themoment. In addition she had with her a danglingbunch of rabbit skins that she had taken in exchangetrades with farmers wives. A wretched specimen of ashoe lay in her lap, and I noticed that one of her feethad no covering save a frayed stocking. She explainedthat the shoe was burst out and would keep slippingoff, and it was easier to take it along in her hand thanit was to wear it. She said she was only four weeksout of the poorhouse, where she had been laid up allwinter with her liver. She was hardly able to getabout, but she would rather do almost anything thanbide in the workhouse ; so she was trying to earn a fewpennies peddling with her pack. She had seven chil-dren. Some were in Australia, some in South Africa,and one in America, and there was another, a son, who. Quoits — a Dispute Village Happenings 51 had been misfortunit, and had to run awaV and shedid not know where he was. A daughter had marriedwell and was living in Aberdeen, and the daughterknew her mothers need, and so did some of the otherchildren, but none of them offered her help, and shewould rather die than ask it of them. She heaved asigh, gave her nose a dicht (wipe), took up the rabbitskins, and shifted her bundle up to her she rose stiffly from the stone heap, and I watchedher melancholy figure hobble away down the road. Another tramp who interested me was a tall manwith a touch of the dandy in the tilt of his hat and thecurl of his long mustache. He said he was a clock-maker, and that he had been a soldier. He pulledback his sleeve and showed an arm covered with bluetattooing. The mans son, a slender, pinch-faced littleboy, accompanied him, and bore a pack just like hisfathers, only smaller. The man was a hard drinker,and one could not
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1904
