110 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



foresight and energy this new departure in 

 the organisation of small holdings owes its 

 inception. 



None of these men seem touched with those 

 peculiarities which one finds, for instance, in 

 the disciples of Tolstoy, who go back to the 

 land. One has been a bricklayer's labourer, 

 another a gardener, another a carpenter, 

 another a dairyman. They bore the stamp 

 of men who are accustomed to tread the solid 

 earth without losing theii' heads in the clouds. 

 They seemed happy, and, animated by a fine 

 spirit, were confident of success. The brick- 

 layer's labourer, as hard as nails, had begun 

 to dig at 4.30 in the morning, and was still at 

 work at 8.30 p.m., when I found him planning 

 a henhouse on a board in the barn by lamp- 

 light. 



Those short of capital could earn ready 

 money, whilst their crops were growing and 

 maturing, by delving and screening gravel in 

 the heart of the hillock overtopped by the 

 wood. A mile and a half away was a rail- 

 way station — Stalham. On the one side is 

 Norwich, sixteen miles distant, and on the 

 other, Yarmouth, reachable by rail or water. 

 On the coast-hne from Cromer to Lowestoft 



