220 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



the mechanical or artistic craving which has 

 been stimulated by modern education and the 

 modern press. He must be able to catch a 

 glimpse of a future in which he can see a 

 likelihood of earning a living on land tilled by 

 his own hand, of sleeping under a roof that he 

 can call his own, and of varying his labours in 

 the field with work at the bench, in the studio, 

 or in the woods. It will not be by Morris 

 Dances, or village institutions, excellent as 

 these are, that we shall keep our intelligent 

 youngsters from becoming American citizens 

 or drifting into our own unsavoury slums. 



On the other hand, many a town workman 

 of the best type is forever seeking to escape 

 from factory conditions. He wearily sighs for 

 the sweet air of the open road, and would 

 sacrifice much to vary the monotony of his toil 

 by keeping a few hens or a cow, or by keeping 

 bees, or by growing fruit and vegetables. He 

 yearns to watch something grow to maturity 

 under his own hands so that he may restore 

 his waning zest for life. 



He wants a little piece of land on which 

 he can work when his own trade is slack, land 

 on which he can raise for himself the basic 

 needs of life. For the town workman to take 



