Natural History. 49 



And first as to the inhabitants 157 in number according to 

 the last census. The houses number 36, of which five may 

 be described as farm houses. The largest farm contains 

 between 300 and 400 acres, the others less than 200 each. 

 There are two other small holdings and the blacksmith and 

 carpenter each farm a few acres. A wheelwright and a shoe- 

 maker represent other trades. There is a small general shop 

 and a brickyard, and everyone has a garden ; there is also one 

 public house. The Lincolnshire custom of hiring garthmen, 

 shepherds, waggoners and labourers by the year, "confined 

 men " as they are called, causes a constant change among 

 them, so that though the farms seldom change hands, only half 

 the inhabitants can be considered as constant residents. The 

 good old Lincolnshire dialect, with many words of Danish 

 origin, is still spoken, and though it may become extinct: in 

 course of time through the compulsory Education Act, it will 

 not be so soon as some people think. As long as children can 

 contrive to pass the 4th Standard and go to work at 12 years 

 old they soon forget most of what they learn at school and 

 revert to the expressive language of their parents. A farmer 

 who was asked his opinion of technical education said, the 

 most useful thing a boy could learn was to hold a gate open for 

 a flock of sheep to go through whilst they were being counted. 



The following are some of the words still in use : Bottle, a 

 bundle of hay or straw ; fell, ferocious ; fierce, lively ; flea, 

 fly ; gam, near " Gain of a road " j odd, solitary " An odd 

 house " j low, short " A low woman " ; thacf^ thatch ; fyear, 

 this year ; wankle, weakly. 



There is no actual village, most of the houses being scattered 

 in pairs about the farms, but that part of the parish nearest the 

 church is called the "Town": there is the "Town-end 

 close " ; and, till lately, the " Town-end gate " lead into some 

 unenclosed fields, now fenced off. Twenty-five years ago, the 

 Rectory and most, if not all, of the cottages were of " stud 

 and mud," with a large open chimney. One only remains as 

 it was, the rest have been replaced by commodious but ugly 

 brick and slated tenements, or altogether altered and roofed 

 with tiles. The old Re6tory was demolished in 1870, and the 

 architect judged by the chamfered oak beams that it was 500 

 years old. Until 1874 the nearest station was seven miles 

 distant, and many people had never been in a train, much less 

 seen the sea ; a visit to the market town on foot or by carrier 



Vol. 5, No. 36, Lines. N. &f #. 

 Nat. Hist. &ff. 



