" Joe puffed
and blowed, but perhaps he thought it an awkward job, for he backed out
of it, and Will and I went off to our work in rather a merry cue, for
old Joe had blundered on the truth about himself for once in his life.
The aforesaid Will Shepherd has sometimes come down rather heavy upon me
in his remarks, but it has done me good. It is partly through his
home-thrusts that I have come to write this new book, for he thought I
was idle; perhaps I am, and perhaps I am not. Will forgets that I have
other fish to fry and tails to butter; and he does not recollect that a
ploughman's mind wants to lie fallow a little, and can't give a crop
every year. It is hard to make rope when your hemp is all used up, or
pancakes without batter, or rook pie without the birds; and so I found
it hard to write more when I had said just about all I knew. Giving much
to the poor doth increase a man's store, but it is not the same with
writing; at least, I am such a poor scribe that I don't find it come
because I pull. If your thoughts only flow by drops, you can't pour them
out in bucketfuls.
However, Will has ferreted me out, and I am obliged to him so far. I
told him the other day what the winkle said to the pin: "Thank you for
drawing me out, but you are rather sharp about it." Still, Master Will
is not far from the mark: after three hundred thousand people had bought
my book it certainly was time to write another. So, though I am not a
hatter, I will again turn capmaker, and those who have heads may try on
my wares; those who have none won't touch them.
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