The record-union., 1893-04-29
Especial Correspondence of the RECORD
UNION. Copyright. 1891

After all, though the antiquarian, his
toric and picturesque features of English
villages provide endless fascination and
charm, their human interest has the
strongest hold upon the obseryant mind
and sympathetic nature.
They are by no means alike, though
universally possessing similar character
istics, and very many are strikingly typ
ical of them all. Those most like the
English villages of literature will be
found in the eastern, midland and south
ern shires, from Lincoln around to De-
Won, and these comprise the far greater
number. Those differing most from each
other, and occasionally separately as well
as whole from all others, are those of
the northwestern shires; the northwest
ern midland shires where industrial de-
velopment has created host of compara-
lively modern hamIets; the western CEN
tral shires among the Malvern and Cots
void hills, where the antiquity OF all viii
lagos is very great, and those of Cornwall
where race distinction has left strongly
marked peculiarities in language, GUS
toms, and home and village life among
the loWly.
The peasants of Cumberland and West
moreland, who are nearly all villagers,
most OF the former being Statesmen"
that is, owners in fee Of their tiny estates,
are, as rule, 'house-proud." In years
OF wandering among the lowly of Euro
pean countries | have never come upou
any rustic folk the eXteriors of whose
habltations were most picturesque, or
whose interiors were such shining exam
pies OF homely comfort and content.
There are, of course, exceptions. Now
and then you will find hanlets like Wat
endlath hidden among the fells between
dol
be seen the sodden squalor occasionally
met among the unfortunate Scottish
West-coaSt croiterS and in the Irish west
coast fishing villages. Their houses are
dark and unwholesome, the floors un-
even, the furniture crazy, the men clad
IN ragged tusJlan and the women in
coarse and wooden clogs. These are
sheepherderS under later sort of feudal-
ism. In every such case the history is,
their toretathers sold their little estates"
to encroaching landgrabbers, and their
children are consequently to-day in a
condition of petty sertdom.
Precisely as in w Wordsworth's time you
will find outside the Cumbrian villagers
cottages the shade OF grand old sycamores
and always "a tall tir through which the
winds sings when other trees are leafless," ;"
in the rear a little orchard, an ample
herb-bed, lear rill or spring spout with
its ceaseless wimple, a comely garden,
and for winter housing of the COWS and
tiny but hardy Cumbrlan sheep, and al
ways the shed Tor the hives of bees which
distill from the mountain heath the
darkest, but ever the sweetest, honey in
the world.
These village home interiors are no less
characteristic. The floors are usually of
the same huge states as those covering
the roof. They are scrubbed and cleaned
until they shine like dusky mirrors
frequently you will lind them, particu-
ularly near the door and fireplace, dec
GRATED with white, ocher and vermilion
chalk IN ngureS and scroll work embody-
ing strange tancies in rustic art. The
hVing-room, or ''tire-house," as it is
called, is always very large for cottage,
often from eighteen to twenty-five feet
square, low, but with the richest of old
and polished oaken beams in the ceiling.
Indeed old oak may be found in these
Cumbrian village homes in profusion.
The long, solid table with benches at
its sides where the statesman" his fam
lily and laborers sit together at meals and
OF evenings in winter; the "long settle.u
or two-yards long seat at one side of the
great fireplace, and the 'sconce" on the
other side, under which the nights fuel.
called an "elden," is placed; the chairs.
huge and high and requiring a strong
arm TO move them; the high, narrow,
sprawling legged bureaus; the many iron
or brass bound chests; the beds, huge and
strong enough to hold giants, for these
Cumbrians are often tremendous in
stature, are all of oak, curiously carved
and wonderfully polished. All this is
sometimes varied by pieces of mahogany
almost as unique as can be found among
the peasant homes of Brittany. From
this large, clean fire house." or living
room, there are in all directions inviting
Vistas through wide, low doors and COW
sllnn-tnS h,,iI IL
IN different century, to t1ny-paned win
dowS, splayed like turret windows, white
with inner curtains, and in summer
ablaze with outer bud and blossom.
These villagers, rooted to the land which
gave them birth, not only by the sacred
ties of heredity but by the, to them, more
priceless heritage OF ownership, neither
emigrate nor flock to the congested
towns. Here is rare rural England as it
has for centuries been, among a type
of independent, half-defiant folk, whose
simplicity, piety, hardihood and SOL
ldarlty compel genuine admiration and
respect.
Many of the comparatively modern viii
lagos of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derby
shire and Statfordshire, the village homes
of operative in mines, mills and potter
les, are far prettier and more comfortable
than even many Englishmen would have
us believe. \ hali-doZen different re-
ligions fighting tooth and tail for their
piety ana pence, the vague unrest that
comes through almost unlimited access
to newspapers and books, and the changed
standards OF necessities and luNuries
pressing sorely upon the highest limita-
lions OF even largely increased wages.
have given the villagers of this type of
hamlets an entirely different mental and
material mold. | would not say they are
happier for the change, but their homes.
food, labor, wage and environment are.
as we measure things, infinitely superior
TO those of the same class rom a half
century to century ago.
Many of these hamlets are massed
about by trees, have earchitecturalIy beauti-
1ul little churches, chapels, club-houses,
libraries and the neatest OF shops Nearly
all are tidy and clean. The potters' vii
lagos OF StatfordShire are good illustra-
tions of them all. Within fiye-mile
radius of Hanley, Bursiem and Stoke.
you can tnd 10000 houses of potters,
nearly all in pretty hamlets or in shady
village lanes, and villages OF long, single
streets. The poorest potter OF the district
lives as snugly as did the master potter
manufacturer of forty and fifty years
ago.
ries, and the blessing OF perfect drainage.
on the ground floor are parlor with a
pretty huge CRATE, hobs and ''jockey-bar
Tor swinging pots and kettles, and behind
this is a scullery with tine little garden
at the rear. The upper floor comprises
tw large sleeping-rooms.
This gives every family five-roomed,
completely detached, house and garden.
Ordinary workmen earn from twenty
five TO thirty shillings weekly. If there
happen to be daughters one may be a
''paintreSs,n colorlug the cheaper wares,
and earning eight shilhngs, and, per-
haps. another ''burnlsher," earning six