ance and tale, neither Bert nor I succeeded in
making out; but in the end he softened his heart
and found us the one unoccupied bin in the place
a bin deserted by two other men, from what I
could learn, because of inability to make living
wages.

"No bad conduct, mind ye," warned the bailiff,
as he left us at work in the midst of the women.

It was Saturday afternoon, and we knew quit
ting time would come early; so we applied our
selves earnestly to the task, desiring to learn if we
could at least make our salt. It was simple work,
woman s work, in fact, and not man s. We sat on
the edge of the bin, between the standing hops,
while a pole-puller supplied us with great fragrant
branches. In an hour s time we became as expert
as it is possible to become. As soon as the fingers
became accustomed automatically to differentiate
between hops and leaves and to strip half a dozen
blossoms at a time there was no more to learn.

We worked nimbly, and as fast as the women
themselves, though their bins filled more rapidly
because of their swarming children each of which
picked with two hands almost as fast as we
picked.

"Don tcher pick too clean, it s against the rules,"
one of the women informed us; and we took the
tip and were grateful.

[[174]]

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