2 
that there can hardly be a greater benefit to any young person 
than to lead him to a taste for some intellectual pursuit outside 
the groove of that which is to be his own special work in life. 
People may call, and do call, such things “fads.” In my opinion, 
one of the best gifts we can make to a lad, is such a wholesome 
“fad.” 
I purpose to-day to say a few words to encourage one such 
pursuit, namely, the study of local Archeology. I cannot call 
myself a real archeologist: I have never had the time to take up 
such pursuits very seriously. But an educated man can hardly live 
in such a country as ours without desiring to know something about 
the history and character of those who have lived here before him, 
and whose record he sees, in their handiwork, on every side. And 
thus local antiquities have been to me, as I said just now, a 
pleasant and wholesome “fad,” an interesting and useful relaxation 
from the more serious work of life. 
In our Northern part of England there is much work to be done 
by persons interested in antiquarian subjects, because of the rapid 
changes which have taken place during the later part of this 
century, or which are still in progress. Thus, old words and 
modes of speech, are passing rapidly away under the influence of 
educationists, who consider the language of a Cockney Training 
College to be far superior to the good old tongue of Cumberland 
and Westmorland. South-countryman as I am myself by birth 
and education, I have no sympathy with a parent who told me 
exultingly concerning her children: ‘They tak’ greit pains wid 
them ; they’re gitten’ quite to speak wid a sooth-country twang.” 
And if there are any other south-countrymen here, let me urge 
them to make careful notes of phrases or terms of language (as 
well as words) to which their ears are unaccustomed, for after a 
time they will not be equally sensitive to them. Old customs, 
too, are rapidly passing away in consequence of increased inter- 
course between different parts of England. And in some districts 
enclosures and extended cultivation, in others the changes caused 
by the growth of population, have destroyed or are destroying the 
relics of ancient times. And although the larger and more con- 
