Sullivan letter diary, 27 October 1915-9 October 1917 / Eugene Sullivan - Page 134
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 134]
While I was in the shop at Chitterne several old dames came in and purchased three-ha'pennyth of different household necessities. None of them spent more than four pence. You can judge what a windfall our arrival was to the storekeeper. Another little incident illustrating their thriftyness. Myself and some others were yarning to the storekeeper outside his yard and he was very eloquent in his praise of a sheep-dog which he had with him. After listening patiently to his stories of the different feats performed by his pet we asked him to sell us a little coal to start a fire in our quarters as it was very cold. He had a stack in his yard almost as high as the house. This quelled his eloquence immediately and he became very cold and calculating. We told him that we only wanted very little; and full expected to be invited to help ourselves, which we would otherwise have done without asking.
Instead of this he demurred and said he had no idea of the price of coal in small quantities as he always purchased it by the ton. After beating about the bush for a while we were constrained to offer him 6d. for a small bucket-ful. He wasn't inclined to accept this until we hinted that we could easily help ourselves later on when opportunity offered. Having secured the coal we asked him where we could procure a few faggots for kindling the fire - he had a yard full of them himself. He replied that he was afraid we wouldn't find any about. Needless to say we managed to find some and soon had a