I have said that Joe is our keeper.
He keeps the fishes, and the birds and hares and rabbits on the downs, but he makes no parade of these accomplishments. He also keeps the hedges in order and the peace among his fellow-servants on the estate. There is nothing to which he will not and cannot turn his hand. I have known him to spend three days in painting a roof of corrugated iron sky-blue. Now the men who have done that can be numbered on your fingers. He can cart coals better than anyone alive. With his slow smile he can make a day of east wind promising. He is a lovely man. With this prodigality of talent he is competent in everything that he undertakes. He has no false ideas about the comparative dignity of employment. Anything that is work is good enough for him, though it be the emptying of a cesspool. Such distasteful labour he undertakes without a thought of his place, thereby glorifying it and making it worthy of him. I have never heard him say an
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