; the years had evidently slipped by him
unnoticed, and no record of dates remained in his memory.

Tricker often got a little mixed in the names of novelties or in
unusual words. I chanced to pass him one day along the road, on my
omnicycle, and next time I saw him he referred to it, adding: "I
didn't know as you'd got a phlorsopher (velocipede and philosopher)"!
Some of my land had been occupied by the Romans in very distant days,
and coins and pottery were frequently found. Tricker, having heard of
the Romans, also of Roman Catholics, jumbled them together, and
"reckoned" that the former inhabitants of these fields were "some of
those old Romans or Cartholics."

This mixture of words, generally bearing some relation to each other,
was not infrequently carried still further by making one word of two.
With some of the villagers "conservatory" stood for conservative and
tory, and "containment" for concert and entertainment. A messenger who
was asked to bring _Daniel Deronda_ from the Evesham library returned
with the announcement that "Dannel Deronomy" was not available; this
appeared to be a confusion between the books of Daniel and
Deuteronomy. A cook (not a Worcestershire person) was asked if the
papers had come. "Yes; the _Standard_ has arrived, but not the Condy's
fluid _(Connoisseur)_ "! The regatta at Evesham was always "the
regretta." An old sexton working in a churchyard, from whom I inquired
if there was a bridge over the river, replied: "Only a temperance
bridge (temporary bridge)."

Tricker, as a very typical representative of the agricultural labourer
in old age, was engaged as model for a figure in a picture by Mr.
Chevalier Taylor, then staying in Badsey. He sat in this capacity when
work was not very pressing, and day by day used to repair to the
artist's lodgings with his tools on his shoulder. His remuneration was
half a crown a day--ordinary day wages for an able-bodied man--but he
told me that the inaction was very trying, and that a day as model was
much more exacting than a day's work on the farm.

When the old man could no longer complete even a short day's work, and
suffered from the cold in winter, he decided to go to the workhouse
for a time, but he was out again before the cuckoo was singing, and we
found him light jobs "by the piece," so that he could work for as long
or as short a time as suited him. He was most grateful for any
assistance, and told me that "A little help is worth a deal