THE COUNTRY HOUSE. 293 



are usually over-fed, self-indulgent, and indolent 

 in their habits, and produce a demoralis- 

 ing effect in the midst of a hard-working com- 

 munity. A large establishment has also this 

 vicious effect upon national life, that when a pro- 

 position is made to impose a tax upon unearned 

 increment in order to bring under cultivation 

 land lying idle or merely marking time, the 

 threat to reduce the number of servants em- 

 ployed in the large country house will bring 

 the parasitic class, and all that they are con- 

 nected with, in full hue and cry, with the 

 master of the establishment at their head, 

 against those who desire to produce more food 

 for the nation. 



Apart altogether from the debasing 

 qualities in charity in any neighbourhood 

 afflicted with the presence of a wealthy family, 

 the feeling becomes common that it is very 

 desirable to get well rewarded for little services 

 — a feeling generated by the lavish tips so 

 often given by visitors to the servant class. 

 An air of snobbery begins to invade the 

 village. As the villagers become more sophisti- 

 cated the moral tone sinks lower. The old 

 sturdy peasant traditions gradually become 

 effaced. Dull though the topics of con- 



