tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post6663956297500843302..comments2024-03-22T19:13:05.266-04:00Comments on The Dusty Bookcase: A Stranger Comes to Town; an Author VanishesBrian Busbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-35331974807511995002020-03-02T19:47:33.809-05:002020-03-02T19:47:33.809-05:00You ask a good question, Roger. The answer provide...You ask a good question, Roger. The answer provided by the novel is that Evans appeared in town just after the death of the previous gravedigger. There was, it seems, a job to be filled (no pun intended). Of course this adds to my observation about the Great Depression. Seems awfully easy to get a job. I guess no two-legged men wanted it.Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-64522571064168624182020-02-17T12:42:02.978-05:002020-02-17T12:42:02.978-05:00A "town" with five hundred inhabitants (...A "town" with five hundred inhabitants (in England it'd barely be a village) could - with a life expectancy of a moderate sixty years - need a grave digger less than ten times a year. Even assuming most of the inhabitants are elderly, twenty to thirty deaths a year would be a noticeably high rate. Double the number to allow for the rural areas around, and you're still talking about less than one interment a week. The only way John Evans could pass "his days digging deep holes and then refilling them upon the heads the town's deceased" is if his disability drastically affected his ability to dig.<br />The mystery is: why does Pastor Clough employ a man so obviously unsuited to his job?Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.com