It was crowded with them at one time, but they were so noisy and
troublesome that his infernal majesty was driven to his wits' end
by their disputes. He offered to let them all go. They refused.
So one day he struck upon a plan to get rid of them. Going outside
the gates he shouted at the top of his voice, 'Beer, beer, who wants
beer?' every cropper in the place rushed out, and he then slipped
in again and shut the gates, and has taken good care ever since
never to admit a cropper into his territory."

Ned laughed at the story.

"It shows at any rate, father, what people think of them here; but
I don't think they are as bad as that, though Bill did say that
there are awful fights and rows going on there of an evening, and
even down here if there is a row there is sure to be a cropper in
it. Still you see there are some good ones; look at Luke Marner,
that's the man we saw in church, see how kind he has been to his
niece."

"There are good men of all sorts, and though the croppers may be
rough and given to drink, we must not blame them too severely; they
are wholly uneducated men, they work hard, and their sole pleasure
is in the beer shop. At bottom they are no doubt the same as the
rest of their countrymen, and the Yorkshire men, though a hard
headed, are a soft hearted race; the doctor tells me that except
that their constitutions are ruined by habitual drinking he has
no better patients; they bear pain unflinchingly, and are patient
and even tempered. I know he loves them with all their faults, and
I consider him to be a good judge of character."