Villagers accept the novel significations which time or fashion gradually confer upon old words very unreadily.  I could see, at first, that they were puzzled by my use of the word “awful,” now long adopted generally to strengthen a statement, very much as they themselves make use of “terrible,” “desp’rate,” or “de-adly.”  They connect the word “friend” with the signification “benefactor” only; a man, speaking of someone born with a little inherited fortune, said that “his friends lived before him.”  I told an old labourer that my little daughter considered him a great friend of hers.  He looked puzzled, and replied:  “Well, I don’t know as I ever gave her anything.”  They still distinguish between two words now carrying the same meaning.  I told a man that I was afraid some work he had for me would give him a lot of trouble.  He corrected me:  “’Twill be no trouble, master, only labour.”

The labourer does not appreciate a sudden order or an unreasonable change in work once commenced; he does not like being taken by surprise in such matters:  the necessary tool—­for farm labourers find their own hand implements—­may not be readily available, may be out of order, require grinding, or a visit to the blacksmith’s for repair or readjustment.  The wise master introduces the subject, whenever possible, gradually beforehand.  “We shall have to think about wheat-hoeing, mowing, potato-digging, next week,” prepares the man for the occasion, so that when the time comes he has his hoe, axe, scythe, or bill-hook, as the case may be, ready.  The job, too, may demand some special clothing—­hedging gloves, gaiters, new shoes, and so forth.

He is often suspicious of new arrangements or alteration of hours, and is inclined to attribute an ulterior motive to the proposer of any change in the unwritten but long-accustomed laws which govern his habits; he lives in a groove into which by degrees abuses may have crept, and some alteration may have become imperative.

When we introduced a coal club for the villagers, with the idea of buying several trucks at lowest cash price, collecting their contributions week by week during the previous summer, when good wages were being earned, and delivering the coal gratis in my carts shortly before winter, they seemed very doubtful as to the advantage of joining.  Some saw the advantage at once, knowing the high prices of single half-tons or hundredweights delivered in coal-merchants’ carts; others would “let us know in a day or two,” wanted time to consider the matter, being taken “unawares”; others, assured that nobody would undertake such a troublesome business without an eye to personal profit, but anxious not to offend my daughter, who was visiting each cottage, replied:  “Oh yes, miss, if ’tis to do you any good”!  Eventually, however, they were all satisfied and very grateful, appreciating the fact that the cartage was not charged for, and that they were getting much better coal than before at a lower price.