162 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



dation that marked the life of the X I Xth century. More- 

 over, the labourer was protected under the provisions of 

 recent legislation in case of accidents I and of sickness. 2 



There were many new and hopeful elements in rural 

 life. The co-operative movement in agriculture, fostered 

 by the Agricultural Organization Society, was spreading 

 throughout England and drawing all classes together. 

 Farmers were showing increasing energy and ability. 

 The new small holders, living on the great estates of 

 the county councils, were successfully building up under 

 favourable conditions a type of life new to England. 

 At the same time elementary education, compulsory 

 and also free to all,3 supplemented by opportunities for 

 secondary education^ in both agricultural and intellec- 

 tual subjects, had created a widespread intelligence and 

 a new social life was arising. Village club-rooms, with 

 newspapers and libraries, were common throughout 

 England. Dancing, music and acting were being re- 

 introduced, and were taken up by all classes working 

 together. In villages imbued with the modern spirit the 

 labourer was no longer a drudge, with no views outside 

 his work. He studied his weekly paper and took an 

 interest in national politics. Even if he had not himself, 

 at some period of his life, been away from his home to 

 work in towns or colonies, he would have friends all 

 over the world from whom he heard from time to time. 

 Thus he obtained a broader outlook on life. His wife 

 and children were not behind him in intelligence. 



Even before the outbreak of the great war, the 

 remnants of the bastard feudalism that, arising in the 

 XVIIIth century, had done so much harm to our village 

 life was rapidly dissolving. There was a widespread 

 feeling that we were at the beginning of a new era. 



1 See Appendix, p. 168. 2 Ibid. p. 176. 3 ibid p. 175. 



