“It is the oddest thing in the world,” said Thorsby, “is that wonderful fancy for scraping up money, and denying yourself all your life-long the commonest necessaries. There is that old fellow, Woolley, of Derbyshire, who made the town-hall clock of Castleborough. That man once tried if he could not save horse hire by employing a lot of stockingers to draw his plough, as he held it, for he had a croft in his own hands; but the plough stuck fast at once in the earth, and the old man left it there, exclaiming, ‘How wonderful is the strength of a hoss!’ This old fellow is a freeman of Castleborough, and at the last election, coming to give his vote, he could not waste his precious time in waiting in the crowd at the hustings, but crept amongst their legs and came up by the table where the candidate and his friends stood taking votes. Seeing a very shabby-looking man thus emerge from amongst their feet, the candidate said, ‘There, my good fellow, vote and away,’ putting half-a-crown into his hand. ‘Stop!’ said the town-clerk, ‘that is a very rich man!’ But Woolley put the coin into his pocket, saying, ‘Every little helps!’ gave his vote, and disappeared. “That clock which he made for the town-hall is a very remarkable one; it goes a year without winding up. When he put it up, he ordered that no one should meddle with it till he came to wind it up, and he took the key with him. Weeks, months, a year nearly went over, and the clock continued to go. At last one day, the very day year, it struck one short at twelve o’clock, and the town-clerk sent a man off to fetch Woolley, lest it should stop altogether. As the messenger ascended the hill out of the town, he met Woolley coming down. Having told him his errand: ‘Fools!’ said the clock-maker, ‘I told them I should come at the right time. It will go till one o’clock, and it yet wants half-an-hour.’ But Woolley,” continued Thorsby, “was a philosopher to this Squance, for on being told that his nephews would spend his money fast enough when he was gone, he replied, ‘If they have as much pleasure in spending it as I have had in getting it, I shall be quite satisfied. I sha’n’t haunt them.’” “Oh! that is a sensible fellow, said Letty.”