Boys were playing ball in the street at the same
time. Some _bought_ tobacco; which led me to ask again about the use
of
money. The question was not in any case satisfactorily answered; but I
have reason to believe that a little selfish earning of private spending
money is winked at. For instance, the man whose daughter's wedding I
attended kept a few hives of bees; and in answer to a question I was
told he did not turn their honey into the general treasury; what he did
not consume he was allowed to sell. "In such ways we get a little finery
for our daughters," said one. Again, when apples are very abundant, and
a sufficient supply has been dried for market, the remainder of the crop
is divided among the householders, with the understanding that they may
eat or sell them as they prefer.
There is an air of untidiness about the streets of the settlement which
is unpleasing. There is a piece of water, which might easily be made
very pretty, but it is allowed to turn into a quagmire. But few of the
door-yards are neatly kept. The village seems to have been laid out at
haphazard. Moreover, their stock is of poor breeds; the pigs especially
being wretched razor-backed creatures.
As to the people--there can be no doubt that they are happy and
contented.
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