 Section 0 of Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Under the Greenwood Tree Preface Under the Greenwood Tree or the Melstock Choir, a rural painting of the Dutch school by Thomas Hardy. The Preface of 1896 This story of the Melstock Choir and its old established West Gallery musicians with some supplementary descriptions of similar officials in Two on a Tower, a few crusted characters and other places, is intended to be a fairly true picture at first hand of the personages' ways and customs which were common among such orchestral bodies in the villages of 50 or 60 years ago. One is inclined to regret the displacement of these ecclesiastical bandsmen by an isolated organist, often at first a barrel organist or harmonium player. And despite certain advantages in point of control and accomplishments which were no doubt secured by installing the single artist, the change has tended to stultify the professed aims of the clergy. Its direct result being to curtail and extinguish the interest of parishioners in church doings. Under the old plan, from half a dozen to ten full-grown players, in addition to the numerous more or less grown-up singers, were officially occupied with the Sunday routine and concerned in trying their best to make it an artistic outcome of the combined musical taste of the congregation. With a musical executive limited, as it mostly is limited now, to the parson's wife or daughter and the school children or to the school teacher and the children, an important union of interests has disappeared. The zest of these bygone instrumentalists must have been keen and staying to take them as it did on foot every Sunday after a toilsome week through all weathers to the church which often lay at a distance from their homes. They usually received so little in payment for their performances that their efforts were really a labour of love. In the parish I had in mind when writing the present tale, the gratuities received yearly by the musicians at Christmas were somewhat as follows. From the manor house, ten shillings and a supper, from the vicar ten shillings, from the farmers five shillings each, from each cottage household one shilling, amounting all together to not more than ten shillings ahead annually, just enough, as an old executant told me, to pay for their fiddle strings, repairs, rosin and music paper which they mostly ruled themselves. Their music in those days was all in their own manuscript copied in the evenings after work and their music books were home bound. It was customary to inscribe a few jigs, reels, hornpipes and ballads in the same book by beginning it at the other end, the insertions being continued from front and back till sacred and secular met together in the middle, often with bizarre effect, the words of some of the songs exhibiting the ancient and broad humour which our grandfathers and possibly grandmothers took delight in and is in these days unquotable. The aforesaid fiddle strings, rosin and music paper were supplied by a peddler who travelled exclusively in such wares from parish to parish, coming to each village about every six months. Tales are told of the consternation once caused among the church fiddlers when, on the occasion of their producing a new Christmas anthem, he did not come to time, owing to being snowed up on the downs and the straits they were in through having to make shift with whip chord and twine for strings. He was generally a musician himself and sometimes a composer in a small way bringing his own new tunes and tempting each choir to adopt them for a consideration. Some of these compositions which now lie before me with their repetitions of lines, half lines and half words their fugues and their intermediate symphonies are good singing still though they would hardly be admitted into such hymn books as are popular in the churches of fashionable society at the present time. August 1896 The Preface of 1912 Under the Greenwood Tree was first brought out in the summer of 1872 in two volumes. The name of the story was originally intended to be more appropriately the Melstock Choir and this has been appended as a subtitle since the early editions it having been thought unadvisable to displace for it the title by which the book first became known. In rereading the narrative after a long interval there occurs the inevitable reflection that the realities out of which it was spun were material for another kind of study of this little group of church musicians that is found in the chapters here penned so lightly even so farcically and flippantly at times but circumstances would have rendered any aim at a deeper more essential, more transcendent handling unadvisable at the date of writing and the exhibition of the Melstock Choir in the following pages must remain the only extant one except for the few glimpses of that perished band which I have given in verse elsewhere. T.H. April 1912 End of Section Zero Recording by Rachel Linter in Bristol, UK Section 1 of Under the Greenwood Tree This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy Beginning of Part I, Winter Chapter 1, Melstock Lane To dwell as in a wood almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature at the passing of the breeze the fir trees, sob and moan no less distinctly than they rock the holly whistles as it battles with itself the ash hisses amid its quiverings the beach rustles while its flat boughs rise and fall and winter which modifies the note of such trees as shed their leaves does not destroy its individuality Armour cold and starry Christmas Eve within living memory a man was passing up a lane towards Melstock Cross in the darkness of a plantation that whispered thus distinctively to his intelligence all the evidences of his nature were those afforded by the spirit of his footsteps which succeeded each other lightly and quickly and by the liveliness of his voice as he sang in a rural cadence with the rose and the lily and the daffodown dilly the lads and the lasses a sheep shearing go the lonely lane he was following connected one of the hamlets of Melstock Parish with Upper Melstock and Lugate and to his eyes casually glancing upward the silver and black stemmed birches with their characteristic tufts the pale grey boughs of beach the dark crevice elm all appeared now as black and flat outlines upon the sky wherein the white stars twinkled so vehemently that their flickering seemed like the flapping of wings within the woody pass at a level anything lower than the horizon all was dark as the grave the cops would forming the sides of the bower interlaced its branches so densely even at this season of the year that the draught from the northeast flew along the channel with scarcely an interruption from lateral breezes after passing the plantation and reaching Melstock Cross the white surface of the lane revealed itself between the dark hedgerows like a ribbon jagged at the edges the irregularity being caused by temporary accumulations of leaves extending from the ditch on either side the song many times interrupted by flitting thoughts which took the place of several bars and resumed at a point it would have reached had its continuity been unbroken now received a more palpable check in the shape of from the crossing lane to lower Melstock on the right of the singer who had just emerged from the trees he answered stopping and looking round though with no idea of seeing anything more than imagination pictured is that the young Dick Dewey came from the darkness I sure Michael Mail then why not stop for fellow creatures gone to thy own father's house too as we be and knowing us so well Dick Dewey faced about and continued his tune in an underwistle implying that the business of his mouth could not be checked at a moment's notice by the placid emotion of friendship having come more into the open he could now be seen rising against the sky his profile appearing on the light background like the portrait of a gentleman in black cardboard it assumed the form of a low-crowned hat an ordinary shape nose an ordinary chin an ordinary neck and ordinary shoulders what he consisted of further down invisible from lack of sky low enough to picture him on shuffling halting irregular footsteps of various kinds were now heard coming up the hill and presently there emerged from the shade, severally, five men of different ages and gates all of them working villages of the parish of Melstock they too had lost their rotundity with the daylight and advanced against the sky in flat outlines which suggested some processional design on Greek or Etruscan pottery they represented the chief portion of Melstock parish choir the first was a bowed and bent man who carried a fiddle under his arm and walked as if engaged in studying some subject connected with the surface of the road he was Michael Mail, the man who had eluded to Dick the next was Mr. Robert Penny boot and shoemaker a little man who, though rather round-shouldered walked as if that fact had not come to his own knowledge moving on with his back very hollow and his face fixed on the northeast quarter of the heavens before him so that his lower waistcoat buttons came first and then the remainder of his figure his features were invisible yet when he occasionally looked round two faint moons of light gleamed for an instant from the precincts of his eyes denoting that he wore spectacles of a circular form the third was Elias Spinks who walked perpendicularly and dramatically the fourth outline was Joseph Bowmans who had now no distinctive appearance beyond that of a human being finally came a weak, lath-like form trotting and stumbling along with one shoulder forward and his head inclined to the left his arms dangling nervously in the wind as if they were empty sleeves this was Thomas Leif where be the boys, said Dick to this somewhat indifferently matched assembly the eldest of the group, Michael Mail cleared his throat from a great depth we told him to keep back at home for a time thinking they wouldn't be wanted yet a while and we should choose the toons and so on Father and grandfather William have expected you a little sooner I've just been for a run round by Uly's style and hollow hell to warm my feet to be sure Father did to be sure it did expect us to taste a little barrel beyond compare that he's going to tap odd rabbit at all never heard a word of it said Mr. Penny gleams of delight appearing upon his spectacle glasses Dick meanwhile singing parenthetically the lads and the lasses a sheep shearing go neighbours there's time enough to drink a sight of drinker for bedtime said Mail true true time enough to get as drunk as lords replied Bowman cheerfully this opinion being taken as convincing they all advanced between the varying hedges and the trees dotting them here and there kicking their toes occasionally among the crumpled leaves soon appeared glimmering indications of the few cottages forming the small hamlet of upper Melstock for which they were bound whilst the faint sound of church bells ringing a Christmas peel could be heard floating over upon the breeze from the direction of long puddle and weathering parishes on the other side of the hills a little wicket admitted them to the garden and they proceeded up the path to Dick's house end of section one recording by Rachel Linton Bristol UK section two of under the Greenwood tree this LibriVox recording is in the public domain under the Greenwood tree by Thomas Hardy part one chapter two The Trantors it was a long low cottage with a hit roof of thatch having dormer windows breaking up into the eaves a chimney standing in the middle of the ridge and another at each end the window shutters were not yet closed and the fire and candlelight within radiated forth upon the thick bushes of box and Laurence Deanus growing in clumps outside and upon the bare boughs of several codland trees hanging about in various distorted shapes the result of early training as espaliers combined with careless climbing into their boughs in later years the walls of the dwelling were for the most part covered with creepers though these were rather beaten back from the doorway a feature which was worn and scratched by much passing in and out giving it by day the appearance of an old keyhole light streamed through the cracks and joints of outbuildings a little away from the cottage a site which nourished a fancy that the purpose of the erection must be rather to veil bright attractions than to shelter unsightly necessaries the noise of a beetle and wedges and the splintering of wood was periodically heard from this direction and at some little distance further a steady regular munching and the occasional skir of a rope be tokened a stable and horses feeding within it the choir stamped severally on the doorstone to shake from their boots any fragment of earth or leaf adhering there too then entered the house and looked around to survey the condition of things through the open doorway of a small inner room on the right hand of a character between pantry and cellar was Dick Juey's father Ruben by vocation a tranter or irregular carrier he was a stout florid man about 40 years of age who surveyed people up and down when first making their acquaintance and generally smiled at the horizon or other distant object during conversations with friends walking about with a steady sway and turning out his toes very considerably being now occupied in bending over a hog's head that stood in the pantry ready horse for the process of broaching he did not take the trouble to turn or raise his eyes at the entry of his visitors well knowing by their footsteps that they were the expected old comrades the main room on the left was decked with bunches of holly and other evergreens and from the middle of the beam bisecting the ceiling hung the mistletoe of a size out of all proportion to the room and extending so low that it became necessary for a full grown person to walk around it in passing or run the risk of entangling his hair this apartment contained Mrs. Juey the tranter's wife and the four remaining children Susan Jim Bessie and Charlie graduating uniformly though at wide stages from the age of 16 to that of four years the eldest of the series being separated from Dick the Firstborn by a nearly equal interval some circumstance had apparently caused much grief to Charlie just previous to the entry of the choir and he had absolutely taken down a small looking glass holding it before his face to learn how the human countenance appeared when engaged in crying which survey led him to pause at the various points in each whale that were more than ordinarily striking for a thorough appreciation of the general effect Bessie was leaning against a chair and glancing under the plaques about the waist of the plaid frock she wore to notice the original unfaded pattern of the material as they're preserved her face bearing an expression of regret that the brightness had passed away from the visible portions Mrs. Juey sat in a brown settle by the side of the glowing wood fire so glowing that with a heedful compression of the lips she would now and then rise and put her hand upon the hams and flitches of bacon lining the chimney to reassure herself that they were not being broiled instead of smoked a misfortune that had been known to happen now and then at Christmas time Hello my sunnies, here you be then said Ruben Juey at length standing up and blowing forth a vehement gust of breath how the blood do puff up in anybody's head to be sure is stupid like that I was just going out to gate to hark for you he then carefully began to wind a strip of brown paper round a brass tap he held in his hand this in the cask here is a drop of the right sort tapping the cask it is a real drop of cordial from the best picked apples sandsms, stubbered, five corners and such like you'd mind the sort, Michael Michael nodded and there's a sprinkling of they that grow down by the orchard rails streaked ones rail apples weed a column as tis by the rails they grow and not know in the right name the water cider from them is as good as most people's best cider is iron of the same mate too said Bowman it rained when we rung it out and the water got into it people will say that his only excuse watered cider is too common among us yes yes too common it is said Spinks with an inward sigh whilst his eyes seem to be looking at the case in an abstract form rather than at the scene before him such poor liquor to make a man's throat feel very melancholy there's a disgrace to the name of stimulant come in come in and draw up to the fire never mind your shoes said Mrs. Dewy seeing that all except Dick had paused to wipe them up on the door mat I am glad that you've stepped up along at last and Susan you run down to Grammar Cates and see if you can borrow some larger candles than these four teams Tommy Leif don't you be afraid come and sit here in the settle this was addressed to the young man before mentioned consisting chiefly of a human skeleton and a smock frock who was very awkward in his movements apparently on account of having grown so very fast that before he had had time to get used to his height he was higher he I replied Leif letting his mouth continue to smile for some time after his mind had done smiling so that his teeth remained in view as the most conspicuous member of his body here Mr. Penny resumed Mrs. Dewy you sit in this chair and how's your daughter Mrs. Brown John well I suppose I must say pretty fair he adjusted his spectacles a quarter of an inch to the right but she'll be worse before she's better I believe indeed poor soul and how many will that make in all four or five five they've buried three yes five and she not much more than a maid yet she don't know the multiplication tables unmistakable well however it was to be and none can gain say it Mrs. Dewy resigned Mr. Penny wonder where your grandfather James is she inquired of one of the children he said he'd drop in tonight out in fuel house with grandfather William said Jimmy now let's see what we can do was heard spoken about this time by the Tranta in a private voice to the barrel beside which he had again established himself and was stooping to cut away the cork Reuben don't make such a mess a tap in that barrel as is mostly made in this house Mrs. Dewy cried from the fireplace I tap a hundred without wasting more than you do in one such a squizzling and squirting job as tis in your hands there he always was such a clumsy man indoors I know you tap a hundred beautiful and I know you would two hundred perhaps but I can't promise this is an old cask and the woods rotted away about the taphole the husband of a fellow Sam Lawson that ever I should call in such now he's dead and gone poor heart took me in completely upon the feet of buying this cask Reuben says he I always used to call me playing Reuben poor old heart Reuben says he that their cask Reuben is as good as new yes good is new tis a wine hog's head the best port wine in the commonwealth has been in that their cask a new shall happen for ten shillings Reuben said says he he's worth twenty I five and twenty if he's worth one and an iron who poor two put rank among the wood ones will make and worth thirty shillings of any man's money if I think I should have used the eyes that Providence gave me to use for I paid any ten shillings for a Jim Crack wine barrel a saint is sinner enough not to be cheated but tis like all your family was so easy to be deceived that's as true as gospel of this member said Reuben Mrs. Dewey began a smile at the answer then altering her lips and refolding them so that it was not a smile commenced smoothing little Bessie's hair the Tranta meanwhile having suddenly become oblivious to conversation occupying himself in a deliberate cutting and arrangement of some more brown paper for the broaching operation ah who can believe sellers said old Michael Mail in a carefully cautious voice by way of tidying over this critical point of affairs no one at all said Joseph Bowman in the tone of a man fully agreeing with everybody I said Mail in the tone of a man who did not agree with everybody as a rule he did now I know a auctioneering fellow once a very friendly fellow I was to and so one hot day as I was walking down the front street a cast a bridge just below the king's arms I passed open window and see him inside stuck upon his perch a selling off I just nodded to him in a friendly way as I passed and went my way and thought no more about it well next day as I was oiling my boots by fuel house door if a letter didn't come we a bill charging me with a feather bed bolster and pillars that I bid for at Mr. Taylor's sale the slim face model had knocked him down to me because I nodded to him in my friendly way and I had to pay for him too now I hold that was coming at very close Ruben was close there's no denying said the general voice too close to us said Ruben in the rear of the rest and as to Sam Lawson poor heart now he's dead and gone too I warrant that if so be I've spent one hour in making hoops for that barrel I've spent fifty first and last that's one of my hoops touching it with his elbow that's one of mine and that and that and all these ah Sam was a man said Mr. Penny contemplatively Sam was said Bowman especially for a draper drink said the Tranter good but not religious good suggested Mr. Penny the Tranter nodded having at last made the tap and hole quite ready now then Suze bring a mug he said here's luck to us my sonnies the tap went in and the cider immediately squirted out in a horizontal shower over Ruben's hands knees and leggings and into the eyes and neck of Charlie who having temporarily put off his grief under pressure of more interesting proceedings was squatting down and blinking near his father there it is again said Mrs. Dewey devil take the hole the cask and Sam Lawson too the good cider should be wasted like this exclaimed the Tranter your thumb lend me your thumb Michael ram it in here Michael I must get a bigger tap my sonnies did it cold inside the hole inquired Charlie of Michael as he continued in a stooping posture with his thumb in the cork hole what wonderful odds and ends that child as in his head to be sure Mrs. Dewey admiring the exclaimed from the distance I lay a wager that he thinks more about how tears inside that barrel than in all the other parts of the world put together all persons present put on speaking countenance of admiration for the cleverness alluded to in the midst of which Ruben returned the operation was then satisfactorily performed when Michael arose and stretched his head to the extremist fraction of height that his body would allow of to rest straighten his back and shoulders thrusting out his arms and twisting his features to a mass of wrinkles to emphasize the relief acquired a quarter or two of the beverage was then brought to table at which all the new arrivals receded themselves with widespread knees their eyes meditatively seeking out any speck or not in the board upon which the gaze might precipitate itself whatever his father abiding out in fuel house for so long said the Tranter never such a man as father for two things cleaving up all dead apple tree wood and playing the bass vial and passes life between the two that I would he stepped the door and opened it father I rang thinly from round the corner here's the barrel tapped and we all awaiting a series of dull thuds that had been heard without for some time past now ceased and after the light of a lantern had passed the window and made wheeling rays upon the ceiling inside the eldest of the Dewey family appeared end of section two recording by Rachel Linton Bristol UK section three of under the Greenwood tree this did provoked recording is in the public domain under the Greenwood tree by Thomas Hardy part one chapter three the assembled choir William Dewey otherwise grandfather William was now about 70 yet an ardent vitality still preserved a warm and roughened bloom upon his face which reminded gardeners of the sunny side of a ripe rib stone Pippin though a narrow strip of forehead that was protected from the weather by lying above the line of his hat brim seemed to belong to some town man so gentlemanly was its whiteness his was a humorous and kindly nature not unmixed with a frequent melancholy and he had a firm religious faith but to his neighbors he had no character in particular if they saw him passed by their windows when they had been bottling off old mead or when they had just been called long-headed men who might do anything in the world if they chose they thought concerning him ah there's that good-hearted man open as a child if they saw him just after losing a shilling or half a crown or accidentally letting fall a piece of crockery they thought there's that poor weak-headed man Dewey again ah he's never done much in the world either if he passed when fortune neither smiled nor frowned on them they mainly thought him old William Dewey ah so here you be ah Michael and Joseph and John and you too Leif and Merry Christmas all we shall have a rare logwood fire directly rubed to reckon by the toughness of the job I had in cleaving them as he spoke he threw down an armful of logs which fell in the chimney corner with a rumble and looked at them with something of the admiring enmity he would have bestowed on living people who had been very obstinate in holding their own come in grandfather James old James grandfather on the maternal side had simply called as a visitor he lived in a cottage by himself and many people considered him a miser some rather slovenly in his habits he now came forward from behind grandfather William and his stooping figure formed a well illuminated picture as he passed towards the fireplace being by trader Mason he wore a long linen apron reaching almost to his toes corduroy breeches and gaiters which together with his boots graduated in tints of whitish brown by constant friction against lime and stone he also wore a very stiff fustian coat having folds at the elbows and shoulders as unvarying in their arrangement as those in a pair of bellows the ridges in the projecting parts of the coat collectively exhibiting a shade different from that of the hollows which were lined with small ditch like accumulations of stone and mortar dust the extremely large side pockets sheltered beneath wide flaps bulged out convexly whether empty or full and as he was often engaged to work at buildings far away his breakfast and dinners being eaten in a strange chimney corner by a garden wall on a heap of stones or walking along the road he carried in these pockets a small tin canister of butter a small canister of sugar a small canister of tea a paper of salt and a paper of pepper the bread cheese and meat forming the substance of his meals hanging up behind him in his basket among the hammers and chisels if a passerby looked hard at him when he was drawing forth any of these my buttery he said with a pinch smile better try over number 78 before we start I suppose said William pointing to a heap of old Christmas Carol books on a side table we all my heart said the choir generally number 78 was always a teaser always I can mind him ever since I was growing up a hard boy chap but he's a good tune and worth a minute of practice said Michael he is though I've been mad enough with that tune at times to season and tear an altar linen I is a splendid Carol there's no denying that the first line is well enough said Mr. Spinks but when you come to oh thou man you make a mess out we'll have another go into an and see what we can make of the martel half an hour is hammering at him we'll conquer the toughness of an I'll warn it odd rabbit at all said Mr. Penny interrupting with a flash of his spectacles and at the same time clawing at something in the depths of a large side pocket if so be I haven't been a scatterbrained and third angle as a child I should have called at the schoolhouse we're boot as I come up along whatever is coming to me I really can't estimate at all the brain has its weaknesses murmured Mr. Spinks waving his head ominously Mr. Spinks was considered to be a scholar having once kept a night school and always spoke up to that level well I must call within the first thing tomorrow and I'll empty my pocket at this last two if you don't mind Mrs. Dewey he drew forth the last and placed it on the table at his elbow the eyes of three or four followed it well said the shoemaker seeming to perceive that the interest the object had excited was greater than he had anticipated and warranted the lasts being taken up again and exhibited now whose foot do you suppose this last was made for it was made for Jeffrey Day's father over at Yalbury Wood and many's the pair of boots you've had off that last well when I died I used the last for Jeffrey and I've ever since though a little doctrine was wanted to make it do yes a very queer nature'd last it is now I believe he continued turning it over caressingly now you notice that there pointing to a lump of leather braided to the toe that's a very bad bunion that you've had ever since I was a boy now this remarkable large piece pointing to a patch nailed to the side shows an accident he received by the tread of a horse that squashed his foot almost to a pumice the horseshoe came full but on this point you see and so I've just been over to Jeffrey's to know if he wanted his bunion altered or made bigger in the new pair I'm making during the latter part of this speech Mr. Penny's left hand wandered towards the cider cup as if the hand had no connection with the person speaking and bringing his sentence to an abrupt close all but the extreme margin of the bootmaker's face was eclipsed by the circular brim of the vessel however I was going to say continued Penny putting down the cup I ought to have called at the school here he went groping again in the depths of his pocket to leave this without fail though I suppose the first thing tomorrow will do he now drew forth and placed upon the table a boot small, light and prettily shaped upon the heel of which he had been operating the new school mistresses I no less miss fancy day as neat a little figure of fun as ever I see and just husband high never Jeffrey's daughter fancy said Bowman as all glances present converged like wheel spokes upon the boot in the centre of them yes sure resumed Mr. Penny regarding the boot as if that alone were his auditor to she that's come here school mistress you know this daughter was in training strange isn't it for her to be here Christmas night master Penny yes but here she is I believe I know how she comes here so I do chirped one of the children why? Dick inquired with subtle interest Pass and Maybold was afraid he couldn't manage us all tomorrow at the dinner and he took again her just to come over and help him hand about the plates and see we didn't make pigs of ourselves and that's what she's come for and that's the boot then continued its mender imaginatively that she'll walk to church in tomorrow morning I don't care to men boots I don't make but there's no knowing what it may lead to and her father always comes to me there between the cider mug and the candle stood this interesting receptacle of the little unknown's foot and a very pretty boot it was a character in fact the flexible bend at the instep the rounded localities of the small nestling toes scratches from careless scampers now forgotten all as repeated in the telltale leather evidencing a nature and a bias Dick surveyed it with a delicate feeling that he had no right to do so without having first asked the owner of the foot's permission now neighbors though no common I can see it the shoemaker went home a man in the trade can see the likeness between this boot and that last although that is so deformed as hardly to recall one of God's creatures and this is one of as pretty a pair as you get for ten and sixpence in cast a bridge to you nothing but his father's foot and daughter's foot to me as plain as houses I don't doubt there's a likeness master penny and my old likeness a fantastical likeness said Spinks but I haven't got imagination enough to see it perhaps Mr. Penny adjusted his spectacles now I'll tell you what happened to me once on this very point you used to know Johnson the dairyman William I sure I did well it wasn't opposite his house but a little lower down by his paddock in front of Park May's pool I was a bearing across towards blue men and lo and behold there was a man just brought out of the pool dead it unraid for a dip but not been able to pitch it just there had gone in flop over his head men looked at him women looked at him children looked at him nobody know them he was covered with a sheet but I catch sight of his foot just showing out as they carried him along I don't care what name that man went by I said in my way but he's John Woodward's brother I can swear to the family foot at that very moment up comes John Woodward weeping and teething I've lost my brother I've lost my brother only to think of that said Mrs. Dewey Tis well enough to know this foot and that foot said Mr. Spinks Tis long-headed in fact as far as feet do go I know little tis true I say no more but show me a man's foot and I'll tell you that man's heart you must be a clever fellow there than mankind in general said the Tranter well that's nothing for me to speak of returned Mr. Spinks a man lives and learns maybe I've read a leaf or two in my time I don't wish to say anything large mind you but nevertheless maybe I have yes I know said Michael Soothingly and all the parish knows that you've read summer of everything almost and have been a great filler of young folks brains learnings are worthy thing and you've got it Master Spinks I make no boast though I may have read and thought a little and I know it may be from much perusing but I make no boast that by the time a man's head is finished tis almost time for him to creep underground I am over 45 Mr. Spinks emitted a look to signify that if his head was not finished nobody's head ever could be talk of knowing people by their feet said Ruben brought me my sonny's then if I can tell what a man is from all his members put together often times but still look is a good deal observed grandfather William absently moving and balancing his head till the tip of grandfather James's nose was exactly in a right line with Williams eye and the mouth of a miniature cavern he was discerning in the fire by the way he continued in a fresher voice and looking up that young crater the school mistress must be sung to tonight with a rest if her ear is as fine as her face we shall have enough to do to be upsides with her what about her face said young Dewey well as to that Mr. Spinks replied tis a face you can hardly gain say a very good pink face as far as that do go still only a face when all is said and done come Elias Spinks say she's a pretty maiden I've done with her said the Tranter again preparing to visit the cider barrel end of section 3 recording by Rachel Linton Bristol UK section 4 of under the Greenwood tree this LibriVox recording is in the public domain under the Greenwood tree by Thomas Hardy part 1 chapter 4 going the rounds shortly after 10 o'clock the singing boys arrived at the Trantas house which was invariably the place of meeting and preparations were made for the start the older men and musicians wore thick coats with stiff perpendicular collars and coloured handkerchiefs wound round and round the neck till the end came to hand over all of which they just showed their ears and noses like people looking over a wall the remainder stalwart ruddy men and boys were dressed mainly in snow white smock frocks embroidered upon the shoulders and breasts in ornamental forms of hearts diamonds and zigzags the cider mug was emptied for the ninth time the music books were arranged and the pieces finally decided upon the boys in the meantime put the old horn lanterns in order cut candles into short lengths to fit the lanterns and a thin fleece of snow having fallen since the early part of the evening those who have no leggings went to the stable and wound wisps of hay around their ankles to keep the insidious flakes from the interior of their boots Melstock was a parish of considerable acreage the Hamlets composing it lying at a much greater distance from each other than is ordinarily the case hence several hours were consumed in playing and singing within hearing of every family even if but a single air were bestowed on each there was lower Melstock the main village half a mile from this with a church and vicarage and a few other houses the spot being rather lonely now though in past centuries it had been the most thickly populated quarter of the parish a mile northeast lay the Hamlet of Upper Melstock where the Tranta lived and at other points knots of cottages besides solitary farmsteads and dairies Old William Dewey with the violin cello played the bass his grandson Dick the treble violin and Reuben and Michael Mail the tenor and second violins respectively the singers consisted of four men and seven boys upon whom devolved the task of carrying and attending to the lanterns and holding the books open for the players directly music was the theme Old William ever and instinctively came to the front now mind neighbors he said as they all went out one by one at the door he himself holding at a jar and regarding them with a critical face as they passed like a shepherd counting out his sheep you two counterboys keep your ears open to Michael's fingering and don't you go straying into the treble part along a dick in his set as he did last year and mind this especially when we be in a rise and hail Billy Chimlin don't you sing quite so raving mad as you feign would and all of you quietly whatever you do keep from making a great scuffle on the ground when we go in at people's gates but go quietly so as to strike up all of a sudden like spirits Farmer led Lowe's first Farmer led Lowe's first the rest as usual and Voss said the tranter terminatively you keep house here till about half past two then heat the methiglin and cider in the warm rail feign turned up upon the cupper and bring it with the vitals to church hatch as the snow just before the clock struck twelve they lighted the lanterns and started the moon in her third quarter had risen since the snowstorm but the dense accumulation of snow cloud weakened her power to a faint twilight which was rather pervasive of the landscape than traceable to the sky the breeze had gone down and the rustle of their feet and tones of their speech echoed with an alert rebound from every post, boundary stone and ancient wall they passed even where the distance of the echo's origin was less than a few yards beyond their own slight noises nothing was to be heard save the occasional bark of foxes in the direction of Yalbury Wood or the brush of a rabbit among the grass now and then as it scampered out of their way most of the outlying homesteads and hamlets had been visited by about two o'clock they then passed across the outskirts of a wooded park toward the main village nobody being at home at the manner pursuing no recognised track great care was necessary in walking lest their faces should come in contact with the low hanging boughs of the old lime trees which in many spots formed dense overgrowth of interlaced branches times of change from the time they used to be said mail regarding nobody can tell what interesting old panoramas within an inward eye and letting his outward glance rest on the ground because it was as convenient a position as any people don't care much about us now I've been thinking we must be almost the last left in the county of the old string players barrel organs and the things next door to him that you blow your foot have come in terribly of late years I said Bowman shaking his head and old William on seeing him did the same thing more's the pity replied another time was long and merry ago now when not one of the varmints was to be heard of but it served some of the choirs right they should have stuck to strings as we did and kept out clarinets and done away with serpents if you'd thrive in musical religion stick to strings say I strings be safe soul lifters as far as that do go said Mr. Spinks yet there's worse things than serpents said Mr. Penny old things pass away to his true but a serpent was a good old note a deep rich note was the serpent clarinets however be bad at all times said Michael mail one Christmas years ago now years I went the round with a weather pre-quire it was a hard frosty night and the keys of all the clarinets froze ah they did freeze so that was like drawing a cork every time a key was opened and the players of them had to go into a hedgeron ditches chimney corner and throw their clarinets every now and then an icicle a spit hung down from the end of every man's clarinet a span long and as to fingers well there if you'll believe me we had no fingers at all to our knowing I can well bring back to my mind said Mr. Penny what I said to poor Joseph Rhyme who took the treble part in Chalk Newton church for two and forty years when they thought of having clarinets there Joseph I said says I depend upon if so be you have them tooting clarinets you'll spoil the whole set out clarinets were not made for the service of the lord you can see it by looking at them I said and what came out the wise souls the parson set up a barrel organ on his own account within two years of the time I spoke and the old choir went to nothing as far as luck is concerned said the tramter I don't for my part see that a fiddle is much nearer heaven than a clarinet just further off there's always a rakish scampish twist about a fiddle look that seems to say the wicked one had a hand in making of them well angels be supposed to play clarinets in heaven or somewhat like them if you may believe pictures Robert Penny you was in the right broken the eldest duee they should have stuck to strings your brass man is a rafting dog well and good your read man is a dab at stirring e well and good your drum man is a rare bowel shaker good again but I don't care who hears me say nothing will speak to your heart we the sweetness of the man of strings strings forever said little Jimmy strings alone would have held their ground against all the newcomers in creation true true said bowman but clarinets was death death they was said Mr. Penny and harmoniums William continued in a louder voice and getting excited by the signs of approval harmoniums and barrel organs and groans from spinks be miserable what shall I call them miserable sinners suggested Jimmy who made large strides like the men and did not lag behind like the other little boys miserable dumbledores right William and so they be miserable dumbledores said the choir with unanimity by this time they were crossing to a gate in the direction of the school which standing on a slight eminence at the junction of three ways now rose in unvarying and dark flatness against the sky the instruments were retuned and all the band entered the school enclosure enjoined by old William to keep upon the grass number 78 he softly gave out as they formed around in a semi-circle the boys opening the lanterns to get a clearer light and directing their rays on the books then passed forth into the quiet night an ancient and time-worn hymn embodying a quaint Christianity in words orally transmitted from father to son through several generations down to the present characters who sang them out right earnestly having concluded the last note they listened for a minute or two but found that no sound issued from the schoolhouse four breaths and then knew what unbounded goodness number 59 said William this was Julie gone through and no notice whatever seemed to be taken of the performance good guide us surely it isn't an empty house as befellas in the year 39 and 43 said old Julie perhaps she's just come from some musical city and sneers at our doings the tranter whispered odd rabbit her said Mr. Penny with an annihilating look at a corner of the school chimney I don't quite stomach her if this is it your plain music well done as is worthy as your other sort done bad I believe souls so say I four breaths and then the last said the leader authoritatively rejoice ye tenants of the earth number 64 at the close waiting yet another minute he said in a clear loud voice as he had said in the village at that hour and season for the previous 40 years a merry Christmas to ye end of section four recording by Rachel Linton Bristol UK Carol sung by Ruth Golding section five of under the greenwood tree as liberal box recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by Thomas Hardy part one chapter five the listeners when the expectant stillness consequent upon the exclamation had nearly died out of them all and increasing light made itself visible in one of the windows of the upper floor it came so close to the blind that the exact position of the flame could be perceived from the outside remaining steady for an instant the blind went upward from before it revealing to 30 concentrated eyes a young girl framed as a picture by the window architrave and unconsciously illuminating her countenance to a vivid brightness by a candle she held in her left hand close to her face her right hand being extended to the side of the window she was wrapped in a white robe of some kind whilst down her shoulders fell a twining profusion of marvelously rich hair in a wild disorder which proclaimed it to be only during the invisible hours of the night that such a condition was discoverable her bright eyes were looking into the grey world outside with an uncertain expression oscillating between courage and shyness which as she recognized the semi-circular group of dark forms gathered before her transformed itself into pleasant resolution opening the window she said lightly and warmly thank you singers thank you Heather went the window quickly and quietly and the blind started downward on its return to its place her fair forehead and eyes vanished her little mouth her neck and shoulders all of her then the spot of candlelight shone nebulously as before then it moved away how pretty exclaimed Dick Dewey if she'd been real waxwork she couldn't have been cumblier said Michael Mail it was near a thing to a spiritual vision as ever I wish to see said Tranter Dewey oh said I never never see said leaf fervently all the rest after clearing their throats and adjusting their hats agreed that such a sight was worth singing for now to farmer shiners and then replenish her insides father said the Tranter with all my heart said old William shouldering his base vile farmer shiners was a queer lump of a house standing at the corner of a lane that ran into the principal thoroughfare the upper windows were much wider than they were high and this feature together with a broad bay window where the door might have been expected gave it by day the aspect of a human countenance turned to skants and wearing a sly and wicked layer tonight nothing was visible but the outline of the roof upon the sky the front of this building was reached and the preliminaries arranged as usual four breaths and number 32 behold the morning star said old William they had reached the end of the second verse and the fiddlers were doing the up bow stroke previously to pouring forth the opening chord of the third verse when without a light appearing or any signal being given a roaring voice exclaimed shut up woolly don't make your blaring row here a fellow way ahead aching enough to split his skull like a quiet night slam went the window hello that's an ugly blow for we said the tranter in a keenly appreciative voice and turning to his companions finished the carol or who be friends of harmony commanded old William and they continue to the end four breaths and number 19 said William firmly give it him well the choir can't be insulted in this manner a light now flashed into existence the window opened and the farmers had revealed as one in a terrific passion drowning drowning the tranter cried fiddling frantically play fortissimie and drown is spaking fortissimie said michael mail and the music and singing waxed so loud that it had been impossible to know what Mr. shiner had said was saying or was about to say but wildly flinging his arms and body about in the forms of capital X's and Y's he appeared to utter enough invectives to consign the whole perished perdition very unseemly very said old William as they retired never such a dreadful scene in the whole round my carol practice never and he a church warden only a draper drink got into his head said the tranter man's well enough when he's in his religious frame he's in his worldly frame now must ask unto our bit of a party tomorrow night I suppose and so putting in humour again we bear no mortal man ill will they now crossed melstock bridge and went along an empowered path beside the frume towards the church and vicarage meeting voss with hot and bread and cheese as they were approaching the church yard this determined them to eat and drink before proceeding further and they entered the church and ascended to the gallery the lanterns were opened and the whole body sat round against the walls on benches and whatever else was available and made a hearty meal in the pauses of conversation there could be heard through the floor overhead a little world of undertones and creeks from the halting clockwork which never spread further than the tower they were born in and raised in the more meditative minds a fancy that here lay the direct pathway of time having done eating and drinking they again tuned the instruments and once more the party emerged into the night air where's dick said old dewey every man looked round upon every other man as if dick might have been transmuted into one or the other and then they said they didn't know well now that's what I call very nasty of master dicky that I do said Michael mail he clinked off home along he penned upon it another suggested though not quite believing that he had dick exclaimed the tranter and his voice rolled sonorously forth among the ewes he suspended his muscles rigid as stone whilst listening for an answer and finding he listened in vain turned to the assemblage the treble man too now if he'd been a tenor or counter chat we might contrive the rest out without any say but for a choir to lose the treble why my sonies you may so well lose your the tranter paused unable to mention an image vast enough for the occasion your head at once suggested Mr. Penny the tranter moved apace as if it were pure isle of people to complete sentences when they were more pressing things to be done was ever heard such a thing as a young man leaving his work half done and turning tail like this never replied bowman in a tone signifying that he was the last man in the world to wish to withhold the formal finish required of him I hope no fatal tragedy has overtook the lad said his grandfather oh no replied tranter dewey placidly wonder where he's put that their fiddle of his why that fiddle costs thirty shillings and good words besides somewhere in the damp without doubt that instrument will be unglued and spoiled in ten minutes ten I two what in the name righteousness can have happened said old william more uneasily perhaps he's grounded leaving their lanterns and instruments in the belfry they retrace their steps along the water side track a strapping lad like dick to know better than let anything happen on a wares ruben remarked they're sure to be some poor little scram reason for it staring us in the face all the while he lowered his voice to a mysterious tone neighbors have you noticed any sign of a scornful woman in his head are such like not a glimmer of such a body he's as clear as water yet and dick he said he should never marry cry jimmy but live at home always along with mother and we my my sonny every lad has said that in his time they had now again reached the precincts of mr shiners but hearing nobody in that direction one or two went across to the schoolhouse a light was still burning in the bedroom and though the blind was down the window had been slightly opened as if to admit the distant notes of the carolers to the ears of the occupant of the room opposite the window leaning motionless against a beach tree was the lost man his arms folded his head thrown back his eyes fixed upon the illuminated lattice why dick is that the what this doing here dick's body instantly flew into a more rational attitude and his head was seen to turn east and west in the gloom as if endeavouring to discern some proper answer to that question and at last he said in rather feeble accents nothing father this tape long enough time about it then upon my body said the tranter as they all turned anew towards the vicarage i thought you hadn't done having snap in the gallery said dick why we've been traipsing and rambling about looking everywhere and thinking you've done fifty deathly things and here have you been at nothing at all the stupidness lies in that point of it being nothing at all murmured mr sphinx the vicarage front was their next field of operation and mr maybold the lately arrived incumbent duly received his share of the night's harmonies it was hoped that by reason of his profession he would have been led to open the window and an extra carolin quick time was added to draw him forth but mr maybold made no stir a bad sign said old william shaking his head however at that same instant a musical voice was heard exclaiming from inner depths of bed clothes thanks villagers what did he say asked bowman who was rather dull of hearing bowman's voice being therefore loud had been heard by the vicar within i said thanks villagers cried the vicar again oh we didn't hear you the first time cried bowman now don't for heaven's sake spoil the young man's temper by answering like that said the tranter you won't do that my friends the vicar shouted well to be sure what ears said mr penny in a whisper beats any horse or dog in the parish and depend upon that's a sign he's a proper clever chap we shall see that in time said the tranter old william in his gratitude for such thanks from a comparatively new inhabitant was anxious to play all the tunes over again but renounced his desire on being reminded by rubin that it would be best to leave well alone now putting two and two together the tranter continued as they went their way over the hill and across to the last remaining houses that is in the form of that young female vision we see just now and this young tenor voiced person my belief is she'll wind and round her finger and twist the poor young fella about like the figure of eight that she will sew my sonnies end of section five recording by rachel linton bristol uk section six of under the greenwood tree this libra vox recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by thomas hardy part one chapter six christmas morning the choir at last reached their beds and slept like the rest of the parish dick slumbers through the three or four hours remaining for rest were disturbed and slight an exhaustive variation upon the incidents that had passed that night in connection with the school window going on in his brain every moment of the time in the morning do what he would go upstairs downstairs out of doors speak of the wind and weather he thought he could not refrain from an unceasing renewal in imagination of that interesting enactment tilted on the edge of one foot he stood beside the fireplace watching his mother grilling rashers there was nothing in grilling he thought unless the vision grilled the limp rasher hung down between the bars of the gridiron like a cat in a child's arms but there was nothing in simile he looked at the daylight shadows of a yellow hue dancing with the firelight shadows in blue on the white wash chimney corner but there was nothing in shadows perhaps the new young school miss fancy day will sing in church with us this morning he said the tranter looked a long time before he replied I fancy she will and yet I fancy she won't dick implied that such a remark was rather to be tolerated than admired though deliberateness in speech was known to have as a rule more to do with the machinery of the tranter's throat than with the matter enunciated they made preparations for going to church as usual dick with extreme alacrity though he would not definitely consider why he was so religious his wonderful nicety brushing and cleaning his best light boots had features which elevated it to the rank of an art every particle and speck of last week's mud was scraped and brushed from toe and heel new blacking from the packet was carefully mixed and made use of regardless of expense a coat was laid on and polished then another coat for increased blackness and lastly a third to give the perfect and mirror like jet which the hoped for encounter tranter demanded it being Christmas day the tranter prepared himself with Sunday particularity loud sourcing and snorting noises were heard to proceed from a tub in the back quarters of the dwelling proclaiming that he was there performing his great Sunday wash lasting half an hour to which his washings on workday mornings were mere flashes in the pan vanishing into the outhouse a large brown towel and the above named bubblings and snortings being carried on for about 20 minutes the tranter would appear around the edge of the door smelling like a summer fog and looking as if he'd just narrowly escaped a watery grave with a loss of much of his clothes having since been weeping bitterly till his eyes were red a crystal drop of water hanging ornamentally at the bottom of each ear one at the tip of his nose and others in the form of spangles about his hair after a great deal of crunching upon the sanded stone floor by the feet of father son and grandson as they moved to and fro in these preparations the base vial and fiddles were taken from their nook and the strings examined and screwed a little above concert pitch that they might keep their tone when the service began to obviate the awkward contingency of having to retune them at the back of the gallery during a cough sneeze or amen an inconvenience which had been known to arise in damp wintery weather the three left the door and paced down Melstock Lane and across the Ulys bearing under their arms the instruments in faded Green Bay's bags and old brown music books in their hands Dick continually finding himself in advance of the other two and the tranter moving on with toes turned outwards to an enormous angle at the foot of an incline the church became visible through the north gate or church hatch as it was called there seven agile figures in a clump were observable beyond which proved to be the choristers waiting sitting on an altar tomb to pass the time and letting their heels dangle against it the musicians being now in sight the youthful party scampered off and rattled at the old wooden stairs of the gallery like a regiment of cavalry the other boys of the parish waiting outside and observing birds cats and other creatures till the vicar entered when they suddenly subsided into sober churchgoers and passed down the aisle with echoing heels the gallery of Melstock church had a status and sentiment of its own a stranger there was regarded with a feeling altogether differing from that of the congregation below towards him the nave as an intruder whom no originality could make interesting he was received above as a curiosity that no unfitness could render dull the gallery too looked down upon and knew the habits of the nave to its remotest peculiarity and had an extensive stock of exclusive information about it whilst the nave knew nothing of the gallery folk as gallery folk beyond their loud sounding minims and chest notes such topics as that the clerk was always chewing tobacco except at the moment of crying amen that he had a dust hole in his pew that during the sermon certain young daughters of the village had left off caring to read anything so mild as the marriage service for some years and now regularly studied the one which chronologically follows it that a pair of lovers touched fingers through a knot hole between their pews in the manner ordained by their great exemplars Pyramus and Thisby that Mrs Ledlow the farmer's wife countered her money and reckoned her weeks marketing expenses during the first lesson all news to those below were stale subjects here old Williams sat in the centre of the front row his violin cello between his knees and two singers on each hand behind him on the left came the treble singers and Dick and on the right the tranter and the tenors father back was old male with the altos and supernumeries but before they had taken their places and while they were standing in a circle at the back of the gallery practising a psalm or two Dick cast his eyes over his grandfather's shoulder and saw the vision of the past night enter the porch door as methodically as if it had never been a vision at all a new atmosphere seemed suddenly to be puffed into the ancient edifice by her movement which made Dick's body and soul tingle with novel sensations directed by Shiner the church warden she proceeded to the small aisle on the north side of the chancel a spot now allotted to a throng of Sunday school girls and distinctly visible from the gallery front by looking under the curve of the further most arch on that side before this moment the church had seen comparatively empty now it was thronged and as Miss Fancy rose from her knees and looked around her for a permanent place in which to deposit herself finally choosing the remotest corner Dick began to breathe more freely the warm new air she had brought with her to feel rushings of blood and to have impressions that there was a tie between her and himself visible to all the congregation ever afterwards the young man could recollect individually each part of the service of that bright Christmas morning and the trifling occurrences which took place as its minutes slowly drew along the duties of that day divided themselves by a complete line from the services of other times the tunes they that morning assayed remained with him for years apart from all others also the text also the appearance of the layer of dust upon the capitals of the piers that the holly bow in the chancellarch way was hung a little out of the centre all the ideas in short but creep into the mind when reason is only exercising its lowest activity through the eye by chance or by fate another young man who attended Maelstock church on that Christmas morning had, towards the end of the service the same instinctive perception of an interesting presence in the shape of the same bright maiden though his emotion reached a far less developed stage and there was this difference too that the person in question was surprised at his condition and sedulously endeavoured to reduce himself to his normal state of mind was the young vicar Mr Maybold the music on Christmas mornings was frequently below the standard of church performances at other times the boys were sleepy from the heavy exertions of the night the men were slightly wearied and now in addition to these constant reasons there was a dampness in the atmosphere which still further aggravated the evil their strings from the recent long exposure to the night air rose whole semitones and snapped with a loud twang at the most silent moment which necessitated more retiring than ever to the back of the gallery and made the gallery throat quite husky with the quantity of coughing and hemming required for tuning in the vicar looked cross when the singing was in progress there was suddenly discovered to be a strong and shrill reinforcement from some point ultimately found to be the school girl's isle at every attempt it grew bolder and more distinct at the third time of singing these intrusive feminine voices were as mighty as those of the regular singers in fact the flood of sound from this quarter assumed such an individuality that it had a time a key almost a tune of its own surging upwards when the gallery plunged downwards and the reverse now this had never happened before within the memory of man the girls like the rest of the congregation had always been humble and respectful followers of the gallery singing at sixes and sevens if without gallery leaders never interfering with the ordinances of these practised artists having no will union power or proclivity except it was given them from the established choir enthroned above them a good deal of desperation became noticeable in the gallery throats and strings which continued throughout the musical portion of the service directly the fiddles were laid down Mr. Penny's spectacles put in their sheath and the text had been given out and indignant whispering began did you hear that souls said Mr. Penny in a groaning breath brazen faced huzzies said Bowman true why they were every note as loud as we fiddles and all if not louder fiddles and all echoed Bowman bitterly shall anything saucier be found than united women Mr. Spinks murmured what I want to know is said the Tramper as if he knew already but that civilization required the form of words what business people have to tell maidens to sing like that when they don't sit in a gallery and never have entered one in their lives that's the question my sunnies tis the gallery have got to sing all the world knows said Mr. Penny why souls what's the use of the ancients spending scores of pounds to build galleries if people down in the lowest depths of the church sing like that at a moment's notice really I think we useless ones had better march out of church fiddles and all said Mr. Spinks with a laugh which to a stranger would have sounded mild and real only the initiated body of men he addressed could understand the horrible bitterness of irony that lurked under the quiet words useless ones and the ghastliness of the laughter apparently so natural never mind let them sing too to make it all the louder said leaf Thomas leaf Thomas leaf where have you lived all your life said grandfather Williams sternly the quailing leaf tried to look as if you'd lived nowhere at all when all said and done my sunnies Ruben said there'd have been no real harm in there singing if they'd let nobody hear them and only joined in now and then none at all said Mr. Penny but though I don't wish to accuse people wrongfully I'd say before my lord judge that I could hear every note of that last song come from them as much as from us every note as if it was their own know it ah I should think I did know it that the Wings was heard to observe at this moment without reference to his fellow players shaking his head at some idea he seemed to see floating before him and smiling as if he were attending a funeral at the time ah do I or don't I know it no one said know what because all were aware from experience that what he knew would declare itself in process of time I could fancy last night that we should have some trouble with that young man said the tranter pending the continuance of Spinks's speech and looking towards the unconscious Mr. Maybold in the pulpit I fancy said old William rather severely I fancy there's too much whispering going on to be of any spiritual use to gentle or simple then folding his lips and concentrating on the vicar he implied that none but the ignorant would speak again and accordingly there was silence in the gallery Mr. Spinks's telling speech remaining forever unspoken Dick had said nothing and the tranter little on this episode of the morning for Mrs. Dewey at breakfast expressed it as her intention to invite the youthful leader of the culprits to the small party it was customary with them to have on Christmas night a piece of knowledge which had given a particular brightness to Dick's reflections since he had received it and in the tranter slightly cynical nature party feeling was weaker than in the other members of the choir though friendliness and faithful partnership still sustained in him a hearty earnestness on their account end of section 6 recording by Rachel Linton Bristol UK section 7 of under the greenwood tree this lipovox recording is in the public domain under the greenwood tree by Thomas Hardy Part 1 Chapter 7 The Tranter's Party during the afternoon unusual activity was seen to prevail about the precincts of Tranter Dewey's house the flagstone floor was swept of dust and a sprinkling of the finest yellow sand from the innermost stratum of the adjoining sandpit lightly scattered there upon then were produced large knives and forks which had been shrouded in darkness and grease since the last occasion of the kind and bearing upon their sides sheer steel warranted in such emphatic letters of assurance that the warrant's name was not required as further proof and not given the key was left in the tap of the cider barrel instead of being carried in a pocket and finally the Tranter had to stand up in the room and let his wife wheel him round like a turnstile to see if anything discreditable was visible in his appearance Stand still till I've been for the scissors said Mrs. Dewey the Tranter stood as still as a sentinel at the challenge the only repairs necessary were a trimming of one or two whiskers that had extended beyond the general contour of the mass a like trimming of a slightly frayed edge visible on his shirt collar and a final tug at a grey hair to all of which operations he submitted in resigned silence except the last which produced a mild come come on by way of expostulation really Rubent is quite as grace to see such a man said Mrs. Dewey with the severity justifiable in a long tried companion giving him another turn round and picking several of Smiler's hairs from the shoulder of his coat Ruben's thoughts seemed engaged elsewhere and he yawned and the colour of your coat is a shame to behold so plastered with dirt or duster grease or something why wherever could you have got it tis my warm nature in summer time I suppose I always did get in such a heat when I bustle about I the Dewey's always were such a coarse skin family there's your brother Bob just as bad as fat as a porpoise we is low mean house do and whenever he meets me White House do him indeed if the sun only shines out a minute they'll be you all streaming in the face I never see if I be hot week I must be hot Sundays if any of the girls should turn after their father it will be a bad look out for him poor things none of my family were such vulgar sweaters not one of them but lord and mercy the deweys I don't know how ever I come into such a family your woman's weakness when I ask you to join us that's how it was I suppose but the Tranter appear I've heard some such words from his wife before and hence his answer had not the energy it might have shown if the inquiry had possessed the charm of novelty you never did look so well in a pair of trousers as in them she continued in the same unimpassioned voice so that the unfriendly criticism of the Dewey family seemed to have been more normal and spontaneous such a cheap pair as to us too as big as any man wish to have and lined inside and double lined in the lower parts and an extra piece of stiffening at the bottom and is a nice high cut that comes up right under your armpits and there's enough turn down inside the seams to make half a pair more besides a piece of cloth left that will make an honest waistcoat all by my contriving in buying the stuff at a bargain and having it made up under my eye it only shows what may be done by taking a little trouble and not going straight to the rascally tailors the discourse was cut short by the sudden appearance of Charlie on the scene with a face and hands of hideous blackness and a nose like a duttering candle why on that particularly cleanly afternoon he should have discovered that the chimney crook and chain from which the hams were suspended should have possessed more merits the general interest as playthings than any other articles in the house is a question for nursing mothers to decide however the humour seemed to lie in the result being, as has been seen that any given player with these articles was in the long run daubed with soot the last that was seen of Charlie by daylight after this piece of ingenuity was when in the act of vanishing from his father's presence around the corner of the house and back over his shoulder with an expression of great sin on his face like Cain as the outcast in bible pictures the guests had all assembled and the tramp's party had reached that degree of development which accords with 10 o'clock p.m. in rural assemblies at that hour the sound of a fiddling process of tuning was heard from the inner pantry that's Dick said the tranter that lads crazy for a jig Dick now I cannot really I cannot have any dancing at all till Christmas day is out said old William emphatically when the clock had done strike in 12 dance as much as she liked well I must say there's reason in that William said Mrs Penny if you do have a party on Christmas night it is only fair and honourable to the sky folk to have it a sit still party jigging parties be all very well on the devil's holidays but a jigging party looks suspicious now oh yes stop till the clock strikes young folk so say I it happened that some warm mead accidentally got into Mr Spinks his head about this time dancing he said is a most strengthening a liveening and courting movement specially with a little average added and dancing is good but why disturb what is ordained Richard and Ruben and the company generally why I ask as far as that to go then nothing till after 12 said William though Ruben and his wife ruled on social points religious questions were mostly disposed of by the old man whose firmness on this head quite counter balanced a certain weakness in his handling of domestic matters the hopes of the younger members of the household were therefore relegated to a distance of one hour and three quarters a result that took visible shape in them by a remote and listless look about the eyes the singing of songs being permitted in the interim at five minutes to 12 the soft tuning was again heard in the back quarters and when at length could whist forth the last stroke dick appeared ready primed and the instruments were boldly handled old William very readily taking the base vial from its accustomed nail and touching the strings as irreligiously as could be desired the country dance called the triumph or follow my lover was the figure with which they opened the tractor took for his partner mrs. Penny and mrs. Dewy was chosen by mr. Penny who made so much of his limited height by a judicious carriage of the head straightening of the back and important flashes of his spectacle glasses that he seemed almost as tall as the tractor mr. Shiner age about 35 farmer and church warden a character principally composed of a crimson stare vigorous breath and a watch chain with a mouth hanging on a dark smile but never smiling had come quite willingly to the party and showed a wondrous obliviousness of all his antics on the previous night but the cumley slender pretty dress prize fancy day fell to dicks lot in spite of some private machinations of the farmer for the reason that mr. Shiner as a richer man had shown too much assurance in asking the favor whilst dick had been duly courteous we gain a good view of our heroine as she advances to her place in the ladies line she belonged to the taller division of middle height flexibility was her first characteristic by which she appeared to enjoy the most easeful rest when she was in gliding motion her dark eyes arched by brows of so keen slender and softer curve that they resembled nothing so much as two slurs in music showed primarily a bright sparkle each this was softened by a frequent thoughtfulness yet not so frequent as to do away from more than a few minutes at a time with a certain coquettishness which in its turn was never so decided as to banish honestly her lips imitated her brows in their clearly cut outline and softness of bend and her nose was well shaped which is saying a great deal when it is remembered that there are a hundred pretty mouths and eyes for one pretty nose add to this plentiful knots of dark brown hair a gauzy dress of white with blue facings and the slightest idea may be gained of the young maiden who showed amidst the rest of the dancing ladies like a flower among vegetables and so the dance proceeded Mr. Shiner, according to the interesting rule laid down deserted his own partner and made off down the middle with this fair one of dicks the pair appearing from the top of the room like two persons tripping down a lane to be married Dick trotted behind with what was intended to be a look of composure but which was in fact a rather silly expression of feature implying with too much earnestness that such an enlopment could not be tolerated then they turned and came back when Dick grew more rigid around his mouth and blushed with ingenuous ardour as he joined hands with the rival and formed the arch over his ladies head which presumably gave the figure its name relinquishing her again at setting two partners when Mr. Shiner's new chain quivered in every link at all the loose flesh upon the tranter who here came into action again shook like jelly Mrs. Penny being always rather concerned for her personal safety when she danced with the tranter fixed her face to a chronic smile of timidity the whole time it lasted a peculiarity which filled her features with wrinkles and reduced her eyes to little straight lines like hyphens as she jigged up and down opposite him repeating in her own ring person not only his proper movements but also the minor flourishes which the richness of the tranter's imagination led him to introduce from time to time an imitation which had about it something of slavish obedience not unmixed with fear the earrings of the ladies now flung themselves wildly about turning violent somersault banging this way and that and then swinging quietly against the ears sustaining them Mrs. Crumpler a heavy woman who for some reason which nobody ever thought worth inquiry danced in a clean apron moved so smoothly through the figure that her feet were never seen conveying to imaginative minds the idea that she rolled on casters minute after minute glided by and the party reached the period when ladies back hair begins to look forgotten and dissipated when a perceptible dampness makes itself apparent upon the faces even of delicate girls a ghastly dew having for some time reigned from the features of their masculine partners when skirts begin to be torn out of their gathers when elderly people who have stood up to please their juniors begin to feel sundry small tremblings in the region of the knees and to wish the interminable dance was at Jericho when at country parties of the Thorosort waistcoats begin to be unbuttoned and when the fiddler's chairs have been wriggled by the frantic bowing of their occupiers to a distance of about two feet from where they originally stood fancy was dancing with Mr. Shiner Dick knew that fancy by the law of good manners was banged to dance pleasantly with one partner as with another yet he could not help suggesting to himself that she need not have put quite so much spirit into her steps nor smiled quite so frequently while in the farmer's hands I'm afraid you didn't cast off said Dick mildly to Mr. Shiner before the latter man's watch chain had done vibrating from a recent whirl fancy made a motion of accepting the correction but her partner took no notice and proceeded the next movement with an affectionate bend towards her that Shiner's too fond of her the young man said to himself as he watched them they came to the top again fancy smiling warmly towards her partner and went to their places Mr. Shiner you didn't cast off said Dick for want of something else to demolish him with casting off himself and being put out at the farmer's irregularity perhaps I shan't cast off for any man said Mr. Shiner I think you ought to sir Dick's partner a young lady of the name of Lizzie called Liz for short tried to mollify I can't say that I myself have much feeling for casting off she said nor I said Mrs. Penny following up the argument especially if a friend and neighbour is set against it not but that is a terrible tasty thing in good hands and well done yes indeed so say I all I meant was said Dick rather sorry that he'd spoken correctly to a guest that is in the dance and a man has hardly any right to hack and mangle what was ordained by the regular dance maker who I dare say got his living by making an unthought of nothing else all his life I don't like casting off then very well I cast off for no dance maker that ever lived Dick now appeared to be doing mental arithmetic the act being really an effort to present to himself in an abstract form how far an argument with the formidable rival ought to be carried when that rival was his mother's guest the deadlock was put to an end by the stamping rival in the middle of the tranter who despising my newti on principle started a theme of his own I assure you neighbours he said the heat of my frame no tongue can tell he looked around and endeavoured to give by a forcible gaze of self sympathy some faint idea of the truth Mrs. Dewey formed one of the next couple yes she said in an auxiliary tone Ruben always was such a hot man Mrs. Penny implied the species of sympathy that such a class of affliction required by trying to smile and to look grieved at the same time if he only walk around the garden of a Sunday morning his shirt collar is as limp as no starch at all continued Mrs. Dewey her countenance lapsing parenthetically into a housewifely expression of concern at the reminiscence come, come you women folk tis hands across come, come said the tranter and the conversation ceased for the present end of section 7 recording by Rachel Linton Bristol UK