POOR MOORLAND HOLDINGS. 127 



labouring class, which have worked themselves 

 into the position of being their own masters. 

 During the week he and his fellows are ardent 

 believers in the gospel of Carlyle, and on 

 Sunday the Ebenezer Chapel is filled with 

 the sound of their mournful voices, their black 

 coats, their black ties, and their ebony boots 

 shining for the glory of God. 



Riches do not come to any one quickly on 

 these poor moorland holdings ; indeed, I know 

 of no one living on the verge of the Forest, 

 excepting one man, who has amassed enough 

 wealth to endanger his chances of entering 

 Paradise. This man started, they tell me, 

 without a shilling to his name. He possessed, 

 however, a demoniac energy. From the lord 

 of the manor he obtained permission to break 

 up two acres of the lieather land at a rent of 

 10s. the acre. Now he is the owner of five 

 mud cottages. 



It is a common sight here to see, built close 

 up against a mud cottage thatched with heather, 

 another modern cottage built of brick. This will 

 invariably be the cottage of a newly married 

 son, whilst the father will be the occupant of 

 the mud cottage. Here, it will be seen, our 

 stalwart sons of the soil remain in the country 



