by trade he was a shoemaker, and when he worked he pulled his thread out with such force that he drove his fist into every one who did not keep far enough off. no apprentice stayed more than a month with him, for he had always some fault to find with the very best work. at one time it was that the stitches were not even, at another that one shoe was too long, or one heel higher than the other, or the leather not cut large enough. "wait," said he to his apprentice, "i will soon show thee how we make skins soft," and he brought a strap and gave him a couple of strokes across the back. he called them all sluggards. he himself did not turn much work out of his hands, for he never sat still for a quarter of an hour. if his wife got up very early in the morning and lighted the fire, he jumped out of bed, and ran bare-footed into the kitchen, crying, "wilt thou burn my house down for me? that is a fire one could roast an ox by! does wood cost nothing?" if the servants were standing by their wash-tubs and laughing, and telling each other all they knew, he scolded them, and said, "there stand the geese cackling, and forgetting their work, to gossip! and why fresh soap? disgraceful extravagance and shameful idleness into the bargain! they want to save their hands, and not rub the things properly!" and out he would run and knock a pail full of soap and water over, so that the whole kitchen was flooded. someone was building a new house, so he hurried to the window to look on. "there, they are using that red sand-stone again that never dries!" cried he. "no one will ever be healthy in that house! and just look how badly the fellows are laying the stones! besides, the mortar is good for nothing! it ought to have gravel in it, not sand. i shall live to see that house tumble down on the people who are in it." he sat down, put a couple of stitches in, and then jumped up again, unfastened his leather-apron, and cried, "i will just go out, and appeal to those men’s consciences." he stumbled on the carpenters. "what’s this?" cried he, "you are not working by the line! do you expect the beams to be straight?—one wrong will put all wrong." he snatched an axe out of a carpenter’s hand and wanted to show him how he ought to cut; but as a cart loaded with clay came by, he threw the axe away, and hastened to the peasant who was walking by the side of it: "you are not in your right mind," said he, "who yokes young horses to a heavily-laden cart?