Under the Greenwood Tree | Page 6

yet awhile; and we could choose the tuens, and so on."
"Father and grandfather William have expected ye a little sooner. I
have just been for a run round by Ewelease Stile and Hollow Hill to
warm my feet."
"To be sure father did! To be sure 'a did expect us--to taste the little
barrel beyond compare that he's going to tap."
"'Od rabbit it all! Never heard a word of it!" said Mr. Penny, gleams of
delight appearing upon his spectacle-glasses, Dick meanwhile singing
parenthetically--"The lads and the lasses a-sheep- shearing go."
"Neighbours, there's time enough to drink a sight of drink now afore
bedtime?" said Mail.
"True, true--time enough to get as drunk as lords!" replied Bowman
cheerfully.
This opinion being taken as convincing they all advanced between the
varying hedges and the trees dotting them here and there, kicking their
toes occasionally among the crumpled leaves. Soon appeared
glimmering indications of the few cottages forming the small hamlet of
Upper Mellstock for which they were bound, whilst the faint sound of
church-bells ringing a Christmas peal could be heard floating over upon

the breeze from the direction of Longpuddle and Weatherbury parishes
on the other side of the hills. A little wicket admitted them to the
garden, and they proceeded up the path to Dick's house.
CHAPTER II
: THE TRANTER'S

It was a long low cottage with a hipped roof of thatch, having dormer
windows breaking up into the eaves, a chimney standing in the middle
of the ridge and another at each end. The window-shutters were not yet
closed, and the fire- and candle-light within radiated forth upon the
thick bushes of box and laurestinus growing in clumps outside, and
upon the bare boughs of several codlin-trees hanging about in various
distorted shapes, the result of early training as espaliers combined with
careless climbing into their boughs in later years. The walls of the
dwelling were for the most part covered with creepers, though these
were rather beaten back from the doorway--a feature which was worn
and scratched by much passing in and out, giving it by day the
appearance of an old keyhole. Light streamed through the cracks and
joints of outbuildings a little way from the cottage, a sight which
nourished a fancy that the purpose of the erection must be rather to veil
bright attractions than to shelter unsightly necessaries. The noise of a
beetle and wedges and the splintering of wood was periodically heard
from this direction; and at some little distance further a steady regular
munching and the occasional scurr of a rope betokened a stable, and
horses feeding within it.
The choir stamped severally on the door-stone to shake from their
boots any fragment of earth or leaf adhering thereto, then entered the
house and looked around to survey the condition of things. Through the
open doorway of a small inner room on the right hand, of a character
between pantry and cellar, was Dick Dewy's father Reuben, by
vocation a "tranter," or irregular carrier. He was a stout florid man
about forty years of age, who surveyed people up and down when first
making their acquaintance, and generally smiled at the horizon or other

distant object during conversations with friends, walking about with a
steady sway, and turning out his toes very considerably. Being now
occupied in bending over a hogshead, that stood in the pantry ready
horsed for the process of broaching, he did not take the trouble to turn
or raise his eyes at the entry of his visitors, well knowing by their
footsteps that they were the expected old comrades.
The main room, on the left, was decked with bunches of holly and
other evergreens, and from the middle of the beam bisecting the ceiling
hung the mistletoe, of a size out of all proportion to the room, and
extending so low that it became necessary for a full-grown person to
walk round it in passing, or run the risk of entangling his hair. This
apartment contained Mrs. Dewy the tranter's wife, and the four
remaining children, Susan, Jim, Bessy, and Charley, graduating
uniformly though at wide stages from the age of sixteen to that of four
years--the eldest of the series being separated from Dick the firstborn
by a nearly equal interval.
Some circumstance had apparently caused much grief to Charley just
previous to the entry of the choir, and he had absently taken down a
small looking-glass, holding it before his face to learn how the human
countenance appeared when engaged in crying, which survey led him
to pause at the various points in each wail that were more than
ordinarily striking, for a thorough appreciation of the general effect.
Bessy was leaning against a chair, and glancing under the plaits about
the waist