82 A Modern ''Ironside.' 1 



volume of polemical theology, bound in leather ; it 

 dates back .to the days of the fierce religious contro- 

 versies which raged in the period which produced 

 Cromwell. There is a rude engraving of the author 

 for frontispiece, title in red letter, a tedious preface, 

 and the text is plentifully bestrewn with Latin and 

 Greek quotations. These add greatly to its value in 

 the cottager's eyes, for he still looks upon a knowl- 

 edge of Latin as the essential of a ' scholard.' This 

 book has evidently been handed down for many gen- 

 erations as a kind of heirloom, for on the blank leaves 

 may be seen the names of the owners with the inevi- 

 table addition of ' his ' or ' her book.' It is remark- 

 able that literature of this sort should survive so 

 long. 



Even yet not a little of that spirit which led to the 

 formation of so many contending sects in the seven- 

 teenth century lingers in the cottage. I have known 

 men who seemed to reproduce in themselves the 

 character of the close-cropped soldiers who prayed 

 and fought by turns with such energy. They still 

 read the Bible in its most literal sense, taking every 

 word as addressed to them individually, and seri- 

 ously trying to shape their lives in accordance with 

 their convictions. 



Such a man, who has been laboring in the hay- 

 field all day, in the evening may be found exhorting 

 a small but attentive congregation in a cottage hard 

 by. Though he can but slowly wade through the 

 book, letter by letter, word by word, he has caught 

 the manner of the ancient writer, and expresses him- 

 self in an archaic style not without its effect. Narrow 

 as the view must be which is unassisted by education 



