Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-04-29
LONDON, April II,

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Women.
LONDON, April II.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
After all, though the antiquarian, his
torio and picturesque features of English
vlllsges provide endless fascination and
charm, their human interest has the
strongest hold upon the observsnt mind
and sympathetic nature.
They are by no means alike though uni
versally possessing similar characteristics,
and very many are strikingly typical of
them all. Those most like the English
villages of literature will be found in the
eastern, midland and southern shires,
from Lincoln around to Devon, and these
comprise the far greater number. Those
differing most from each other, and occa-
sionally separately as well as a whole from
all others, are those of the northwestern
shires; the northwestern midland shires,
where industrial development has created
host of comparatively modern hamlets;
the western central shires among the Nal
vern and Cotswold hills, where the anti
guilty of all villages is very great; and
those of Cornwall where race distinction
has left strongly marked peculiarities in
language, customs, 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" I"
that is, owners in fee of their tiny estates,
are as a rule "house proud" In years of
wandering among the lowly of European
countries have never come upon any rus
tic folk the exteriors of whose habitations
were more picturesque, or whose interiors
were such shining examples of homely
comfort and content. There are of course
exceptions. Now and then you will find
hsmlets like Watendlath, hidden among
the fells between BorroEdale and Thirl.
mere, where may be seen the sodden
squslor occasionally met among the unfor-
tunate Scottish west-oosst crofters and in
the Irish west coast fishing villages
Their houses are dark and unwholesome,
the floors uneven, the furniture erszy, the
men clad In ragged fustian and the women
In coarse wool and wooden clogs. These
are sheep herders under later sort of
feudalism. In every such case the history
Is, their forefathers sold their little 'tes-
tates" to encrosching land grsbbers, and
their children are consequently to day in a
condition OF petty serfdom.
Precisely as in Wordsworth's time you
will find outside the Cumbrian villagers
cottages the shade of grand old syoamores
and always "a tall fir through which the
winds sing when other trees are lesfess;"
in the rear a little orchard; an ample herb
bed; q near rill or spring-spout with its
ceaseless wimple; a conely garden; COM
Portable stone outbuildings for grain and
for winter housing of the cows and tiny
but hardy Cumbrian sheep; and always
the shed for the hives of bees which dis.
till 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 IN
til they shine like dusky mirrors. FIRE.
quertly you will find them, particularly
near the door and fireplace, decorated
with white, ochre and vermilion chalk in
figures and scroll-work embodyipg strange
fsncies in rustic art. The living room or
"fre-house," as 1t Is called, is always very
large for cottage, often from eighteen t
twenty-five feet square, low, but with the
richest os old and polished oaken beams In
the ceiling Indeed old oak may be found
In these Cumbrisn village homes In profu-
sion.
The long, solid table with benches at its
sides where the ''statesmsn," his family
and laborers sit together at meals and of
evenings in winter; the '1opg settle" or
t1o-ysrds long seat at one side of the
great fire place, and the "sconoe" on the
called an "elden," Is placed; the chairs,
huge and high, and requiring q stronk arm
to move them; the high, narrow, sprawl
ing-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 stat
ure;-are all of oak, curiously carved and
wonderfully polished. All this is some
times varies by pieces of mahogany almost
as unique as can be found among the peas
aut-homes of Brittany. From this large,
clean "fre-house" or living room there are
In all directions inviting vlstas through
wide, low doors and ooEy stone clean tos, :"
perhaps each one built in different CEN
tury, to tiny -paned windows, splayed like
turret windows, white with inner cur
tsins, and in summer ablszs with outer
bud and blossom. These villages 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 owner
ship, neither emigrate nor fock to the con-
gested towns Here Is rare rural England
as 1t has for centuries been, among a type
of independent, half defiant folk, whose
simplicity, piety, hardihood and solidarity
compel genuine admiration and respect.
Many of the comparatively modern VII
lagos Of Yorkshire, Lancashire. Dsrbyshire
and Staffordshire, the village homes of op-
eratives In mines, mills and potteries, are
far prettier and more comfortable than
even many Englishmen would have Us be-
lieve. A half dozen different religions
fighting tooth and nail for their piety and
pence, the vague unrest that comes through
almost unlimited access to newspapers and
books, and the changed standards of me-
cessities and luxuries pressing sorely upon
ths highest limitations of even largely In
creased 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 envi
| ronment are, as we measure things, inf.
nitely superior to those of the same class
from half century to century ago.
Many Of these hamlete are massed about