Rip Van Winkles. 63 



great Exhibition in 185 1, having been treated to the 

 journey by his employer ; but his brother, who lived 

 only a few miles beyond, had never been in a railway 

 carriage. Their old master had died recently and had 

 left a pound ($5) to every workman who had been 

 with him for a certain number of years — I think ten. 

 Good old master ! The owners had new-fangled no- 

 tions, he said, and were spending " heaps o* money " in 

 building a steam engine which was not yet ready, but 

 which he invited us to go and see. This was to do the 

 work much faster ; but (with a shake of the head) " I've 

 'earn tell by some as knows it's na sae gid for the 

 leather." 



Could we really be within an hour's 'ride of the cap- 

 ital of the world, and yet in the midst of a Sleepy 

 Hollow like this, peopled by Rip van Winkles ! This 

 incident gives a just idea of the tenacity with which 

 the English hold to what their fathers did before them. 

 This man's father could not have seen the sea at 

 Brighton, nor have visited London short of spending 

 a week's earnings. His successor goes along as his 

 father did — what was good enough for his father is 

 good enough for him, 



" Chained to one spot, 

 They draw nutrition, propagate and rot." 



But the next generation is to see all this changed, for 

 even southern England is under the compulsory educa- 



