76 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



acquire land under the Allotments Act of 

 1890. They took 18 acres, which they let 

 to thirty tenants. They made an immediate 

 profit of £4 : 10s., and starting with this small 

 working balance they were able, during the 

 next eight years, to hire about 180 acres of 

 land at a total rental of £268, which were 

 relet to seventy -five tenants at a rent of 

 £359:12:4. 



At the present moment, I believe, the 

 Parish Council let no less than 500 acres, and 

 many men who were once on the rates are now 

 contributing to the rates as prospej'ons small 

 holders. I am told that the improvement in 

 the morale of the workers here has been 

 astonishing ; and surely it makes for national 

 welfare to have little children sitting among 

 the corn-sheaves of their father's allotment, 

 basking in the sunlight, with their baby eyes 

 reflecting the blue of heaven, rather than 

 letting them hang in an improvised cradle 

 suspended from a nail in the fitful glare 

 of a forge, whilst the mother was labouring, 

 half-stripped to the waist, at the anvil. 



Nail -making is still carried on in this 

 district, but only in a half-hearted way, for 

 most of the nailers are anxious to quit the 



