During the last war, most of the men were fighting or working in factories, so it was very difficult to find men to do other work. The headmaster of a school wanted a gardener, but the only person he was able to get was an old retired farmer.

The old man worked so hard in the school garden that the headmaster became worried. He thought that the old man might get ill or die if he continued like that, so he suggested to him that he should work more slowly and rest more. But the old man continued to work as before. At last the headmaster went to the man’s wife and asked her to speak to her husband.

“All right,” she answered, “but I don’t think it will do any good. You see, he has worked for himself all his life, never for anybody else, so he had just never learnt to work slowly.”