Posted by Peter Hyland on April 15, 2007 at 21:15:58 from 86.154.105.218 user Peter_H.
In S&A we meet the charcoal burners, Old Billy and his son Young Billy. Young Billy, we are told, has 'sons and grandsons of his own'. Where are their wives? Charcoal burning was an itinerant occupation, so did the wives usually live in the encampments and move around with their menfolk, or did they live in more permanent occupation, ie a cottage or similar? Neither Billy mentions having a wife (perhaps, Ed, you could check on this?), so perhaps they are both widowers. I am aware of a catch when one is identifying characters in fiction - ie the fact that they are not mentioned does not mean they do not exist. All the same, one would expect that if the Billies' wives (or one of them) were alive, they would be mentioned.