THE COUNTRY HOUSE. 295 



What the country poor really want is not 

 that something should be done for them, but 

 that they should be given the opportunity to 

 do it for themselves. Those tiresome, amateur 

 theatrical performances by the " local gentry," 

 should be superseded by performances given 

 by the rustics themselves portraying their 

 own lives. Village dances should not be per- 

 formed under the patronage of any one, least 

 of all of the vicar. They should be spontane- 

 ously organised by the villagers themselves. 



The library of the village institute might 

 very well be relieved of its ponderous tomes, 

 as well as of its very frivolous and sporting 

 side, such as the "Pink 'un," suitable enough, 

 though it may be for idle moments in the 

 country house ; and books which tell of their 

 own lives and what can be made out of their 

 own lives put in their place. Debating societies 

 should be organised by the young men them- 

 selves, without any intellectual deadweight to 

 crush the diffident. Cricket clubs should not 

 only be self-supporting, but they should also 

 cease to support the local publican. 



Though the country house with its luxury, 

 its diffusion of meretricious standards of what 

 is good and what is bad, its abrogation of 



