what used to keep the greengrocery shop to the top of High
Street afore her took the lodging house on East Cliff." It is, in
fact, strange how undemocratic the poor man is. (Not so strange when
one realises that far from having everything to gain and nothing to
lose by a levelling process, he has a deal to lose and his gains are
problematical.) I am not sure that he doesn't prefer to regard the
gen'leman as another species of animal. Jimmy and Tommy have a name of
their own for the little rock-cakes their mother cooks. They call them
_gentry-cakes_ because such morsels are fitted for the--as Jimmy and
Tommy imagine--smaller mouths of ladies and gentlemen. The other
afternoon Mabel told me that a boat she had found belonged not to a
boy but to a _gentry-boy_. Some time ago I begged Tony not to _sir_
me; threatened to punch his head if he did. It discomforted me to be
belaboured with a title of respect which I could not reasonably claim
from him. Rather I should _sir_ him, for he is older and at least my
equal in character; he has begotten healthy children for his country
and he works hard 'to raise 'em vitty.' Against my book-knowledge he
can set a whole stock of information and experience more directly
derived from and bearing upon life. I don't consider myself unfit to
survive, but he is fitter, and up to the present has done more to
justify his survival--which after all is the ultimate test of a man's
position in the race. At all events, he did cease _sir-ing_ me except
on ceremonial occasions. At ordinary times the detested word is
unheard, but it is still: "Gude morning, sir!" "Gude night, sir!" And
sometimes: "Your health, sir!" At that the matter must rest, I
suppose, though the _sir_ is a symbol of class difference, and to do
away with the symbol is to weaken the difference.

[Sidenote: _THE WORD "LIKE"_]

But at the same time, I am lucky enough to possess certain advantages.
I have, for instance, managed to preserve the ability to speak dialect
in spite of all the efforts of my pastors and masters to make me talk
the stereotyped, comparatively inexpressive compromise which goes by
the name of King's English. Tony is hard of hearing, catches the
meaning of dialect far quicker than that of standard English, and I
notice that the damn'd spot _sir_ seldom blots our conversation when
it is carried on in dialect. Finally there is the great problem of
self-expression. There, at any rate, I am well to windward.

The