If some idle city dweller asked a countryman newly arrived in Paris from another province what he was proudest of in his life, nine times out of ten, the countryman would not bother answering.
When city dwellers read pastoral romances and longed for country life, those who came from the "countryside" were trying to put down roots in the city. The practical nature of rural people made them value more tangible things. Rather than waste time chatting, they would rather sell more goods, save more money, buy a house in the city, and end their wandering lives sooner. Like the ferryman who carried a philosopher across the river: perhaps he did not understand philosophy or mathematics, but he could swim. And when a huge wave knocked the philosopher into the river, he was still on the boat. That was why he could leisurely discuss "the value of life" with the philosopher who could not swim.
In The Great Gatsby, the father once said, "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that not all the people in this world have had the advantages that you've had."
Half a century earlier, when Giles Corey had first arrived in the New World, he had been a penniless nobody. When he was not guarding warehouses, he stole; when it was his turn to guard goods, he stole from them himself. He lied in court, fought with a male teacher, and was repeatedly prosecuted for brawling and disturbing the peace. In 1676, he viciously beat a thief with a stick, then pretended the young man had fallen on his own. A few days later, the thief died of his injuries.
Giles would also pull down fences to frighten horses, and when selling things, he made trouble for people like Sarah Good did. Even the