Memoirs of a Surrey Labourer: A Record of the Last Years of Frederick Bettesworth

"Memoirs of a Surrey Labourer: A Record of the Last Years of Frederick Bettesworth" by George Sturt is a biography. Bettesworth, the old laboring man, who in the decline of his strength found employment in the author's garden and entertained him with his talk, never knew that he had been made the subject of a book. To know it would have pleased him vastly, and there is something tragical in the reflection that he had to wear through his last weary months without the consolation of the little fame he had justly earned; and yet it would have been a mistake to tell him of it. His upbringing had not fitted him for publicity. Excerpt: «December 7, 1892.—The ground in the upper part of the garden being too hard frozen for Bettesworth to continue this morning the work he was doing there yesterday, I found him some digging to do in a more sheltered corner, where the fork would enter the soil. With snow threatening to come and stop all outdoor work, it was not well that he should stand idle too soon.»