"JiM'asttiale^ 307 



kept by one of the Ritsons, the other family having 

 still accommodation for private lodgers* The opening 

 out of the dale head, when the valley has appeared to close 

 in round the lake, is as wonderful a spectacle to strangers 

 as anything they see. The dale is one of those perfect 

 levels, shut in by lake and mountains, which give a different 

 impression from any other kind of scenery in the world. 

 The passes themselves are so high as to leave no appearance 

 of outlet, except by the lake ; and of these passes there are 

 but two, — the Styhead and the Mosedale paths. The 

 green and perfect level, to which the mountains come down 

 with a sheer sweep, is partly divided off into fields ; and a 

 few farmhouses are set down among the fields, on the bends 

 of the gushing and gurgling stream. There is a chapel, — 

 the humblest of chapels, — with eight pews, and three win- 

 dows in three sides, and a skylight over the pulpit. There 

 is also a school. The schoolmaster is entertained on 'whittle- 

 gate ' terms ; that is, boards at the farmhouses in turn. An 

 old man told us that the plan answers. * He gets on very 

 well,' said he, * and particularly in the spelling. He thinks 

 if they can spell, they can do the rest.' Such are the origi- 

 nal conclusions arrived at in Wastdale Head. It struck us 

 that the children were dirtier than even in other vales, 

 though the houses are so clean that you might eat your 

 dinner off the board or the floor. But the state of the 

 children's skin and hair is owing to superstition in all these 

 dales; and the schoolmaster is the one who should cure the 

 evil. A young lady who kindly undertook to wash and 

 dress the infant of a sick woman, but who was not ex- 

 perienced in the process, exclaimed at the end, * O dear ! I 

 forget its hands and arms. I must wash them.' The mother 

 expressed great horror, and said that * if the child's arms 

 were washed before it was six months old, it would be a 



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