H.E. Bates Companion

Bates's first published story, appearing in the Manchester Guardian, "whose perceptive literary editor Allan Monkhouse ran a back-page short story of about 1000 words every day of the week in that then great newspaper" (Blossoming World, 24), is a village sketch with colorful dialogue. A man, criticized for his gait by his wife, is after her death complimented by a widow on carrying his grief so well: "I admire the way you walked there -- so straight and steady." He, "waddling more than ever, in his joy went home." One of three early stories not selected for Bates's first collection (Day's End and Other Stories). In the Manchester Guardian (March 2, 1926).