POOR MOORLAND HOLDINGS. 131 



gardener. Yet even in the luxurious in- 

 dulgence of gardening selfishness is not allowed 

 to dominate. The garden is thrown open 

 to the public every Sunday, a pleasaunce of 

 which the cottagers are not slow to avail 

 themselves, especially if they have visitors from 

 a distance. 



His wife has strong objections to acting the 

 part usually played by the Lady Bountiful in 

 an English village. She considers it im- 

 pertinent to knock at a cottage door save in 

 the same spirit as that in which she would 

 exchange cards with her other friends. Need- 

 less to say, no case of want is allowed to pass 

 unnoticed in spite of her objections to district 

 visiting. 



Amid the heather -scented common is a 

 bathing pool for the villagers and a dressing 

 shelter erected round it. This, of course, has 

 been carried out by the squire. 



It is evident that at Verwood, at any rate, 

 rents are not " squeezed out of the bones of the 

 labourers," as Cobbett phrased it, in order to 

 add to the magnificence of the landowner's 

 establishment. The squire is quite indifferent 

 to splendour, so his tenants are better off than 

 are the tenants of those who keep up large 



