Gissip
"Ah," he said. looking round. "The foot an' mouth before the war was the makin' of him. He hadn't a decent animal on his place till then. The chap what came to assess was some relation, if you ask me. The stuff that was lost could hardly stand up in a strong wind, but the new stuff he brought in after was good. He never looked back. They used to say if it hadn't been for the foot an' mouth he'd have been in the poorhouse." 1 listened to this little bit, knowing that the speaker meant me to hear. His audience paid no attention at all. It was old stuff, and they were not ready to respond. The speaker caught my eye and shook his head. " If you'd lived here long as I have," he said, " you'd know some tales." After a while he got up and went out. One of his friends took his pipe out of his mouth and remarked, " You don't want to pay no heed to Jack. Everything he says is pure libel; only he's not worth takin' to court. He don't own nothin' but the clothes he's got on, and likely he owes for them."
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