A gang of men were laying down tramway rails on the street and I went forward and asked the overseer for a job. He laughed at me for a minute, then drew his gang around to examine me.
"He's a fine bit o' a man," said one.
"He's shouthered like a rake," said another.
Discomfited and disgusted I hurried away from the grinning circle of men, and all day long I travelled through the town. I soon got tired of looking for work, and instead I looked for food. I was very unsuccessful, and youth is the time for a healthy appetite. I spent my last penny on a bun, and when it was dark I got a crust from a night watchman who sat in a little hut by the tram-lines. About midnight I left the town and went into the country. The snow was no longer falling, but a hard frost had set in. About two o'clock in the morning I lay down on the cold ground utterly exhausted, and fell asleep. When dawn came I rose, and shivering in every limb I struck out once more on my journey. I looked for work on the farms along the road, but at every place I was turned away.
"Go back to the puirs' house," said every second or third farmer.
I went to one farmhouse when the men were coming out from dinner.
"Are you lookin' for a job?" asked a man, whom I took to be master.
"I am," I answered.
"Then give us a hand in the shed for a while," he said.
I followed the party into a large building where implements were stored, and the men gathered round a broken reaper which had to be taken out into the open.