A strong man must drink now and then: but he was not a sot, and took nine-tenths of his money faithfully home to his wife and children.
In the winter when farm work is not so pressing he was allowed a week off now and then, which he spent in ferreting for the farmers, and sometimes for Luke, and of course he was only too glad to get such an engagement as we gave him.

Sometimes he made a good thing of his ferreting: sometimes when the weather was bad it was a failure.

But although a few shillings were of consequence to him, it really did not seem to be the money-value but the sport that he loved.

To him that sport was all-absorbing.
His ferrets were well looked after, and he sometimes sold one for a good price to keepers.

As a rule a man who keeps ferrets is suspected: but Little John was too well understood, and he had no difficulty in begging a little milk for them.
His tenacity in pursuit of a rabbit was always a source of wonder to me.
In rain, in wind, in frost; his feet up to the ankle in the ice-cold slush at the bottom of a ditch: no matter what the weather or how rough, he patiently stood to his nets.