Keepers' Woe

If June proves wet, despair reigns in the partridge keeper's breast.

With hopeless eyes he looks forward to the coming season. One keeper

of our acquaintance, one wet midsummer, a time when, in a promising

season, he would have had no moment to spare from the care of his young

birds, married, and went for a honeymoon. "Lor' love ye," said another,

weary of June rain, "I might just as well 've bin in bed for a month

past." A common remark made by keepers in a rainy June is the mournful

plaint, "Ye don't see no feetmarks on the roads, but old un's."

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A Gamekeeper's Note-book · 第 148 / 312 题