Page:Beautiful and interesting account of the shepherd of Salisbury Plain.pdf/10

12 never afford to get them without a little contrivance. I must shew you how we manage about the shoes, when you condescend to call at our cottage, Sir; as to stockings, this is one way we take to get them: my young ones, who are too little to do much work, sometimes wander quite over the hills, for the chance of finding what little wool the sheep may drop when they rub themselves, as they are apt to do, in the bushes. These scattered bits of wool the children pick out of the brambles, which I see have tore sad holes in Molly's apron to day: they carry this wool home, and when they have got a pretty parcel together, their mother cards it; for she can sit and card in the chimney corner, when she is not able to wash or work about the house. The biggest girl then spins it; it does very well for us without dying, for poor people must not stand upon the colour of their stockings. After this, our little boys knit it for themselves, when they are employed in keeping