much extra worry. Indeed, finding me adamant on the subject, they have thrown up the idea of emigrating altogether and stayed in the old country.
Tombstones are the source of a great deal of difficulty. Seeing the example set in high places, one sympathises with the poor in their desire to show respect to their dead, even if one is convinced that the measures they take are unwise. I generally like to postpone the drawing out of money for a tombstone as long as possible; but I have never made any hard-and-fast rule that nothing shall be used for such a purpose. I remember one widow grieved very much that I could not allow her a considerable sum for a “stone.” I told her we would discuss it again in about twelve months. When she returned after this period I happened to remember her trouble, and said: “I do hope, Mrs. X., you have thought over all I said to you last time about the tombstone.”
She looked down on the ground, and I feared we were going to have tears.
“I think there are so many better ways of showing respect,” I ventured.
“Yes, sir,” she began falteringly, “so do I, sir.”
“I’m very glad,” I said heartily.
“So am I,” she said, blushing. “You see, I’m going to be married again.”
And though one laughs over the little comedies in the lives of these poor folk, I became daily more and more impressed with the sterling worth of the people whose servant I was, and I spoke
with all sincerity when I said, on leaving Manchester, that I took off my hat to the Lancashire man who brings up his wife and children worthily on twenty-five shillings a week. I have been face to face with the man, and feel that his outlook on life is a great asset for our country, and that it has been a privilege to be called upon to minister to his needs, even in the obscure atmosphere of an urban County Court.
As a witness, he is a most refreshing and epigrammatic personality. He is far from being a saint or a hero, but he is in the main honest, homely, and humorous, and you can learn a great deal of the difficulties of his works and days by appreciative study of his sayings. Most of them could have left the court with a clear conscience, saying in the old style:—