Page:Walks in the Black Country and its green border-land.pdf/446

432 lighted and comfortable; and, over and above all this, he can have his wife with him. Then there is the common kitchen, a brave place as ever a dozen old soldiers could desire to tell over to each other the strange experiences of their lives. One of the masters had bequeathed to this kitchen fraternity a copper mug which must hold at least two gallons of beer. What a curious volume of talk a short-hand reporter might take down while that huge mug was being emptied from brim to bottom! And there are men now among the brethren who can tell stories that would read well in print. We went into several of their rooms; one of which was occupied by a sharp-eyed old veteran who went out in the ship that conveyed Napoleon to St. Helena. He gave us several incidents of the passage, and gave us the posture in which the dethroned emperor used to sit in his chair on the deck. He said he showed a friendly regard to all the sailors and marines, and afterwards presented every one of them with a pair of shoes. I was struck with the sight of a familiar face in this old oak-ceiled room. There was a Connecticut clock, of the Jerome brand, looking very honestly at the old British soldier while he was recounting these experiences of his younger days. Indeed, nearly every room allotted to the brethren seemed to be furnished with one of these cheap wooden clocks, contrasting so