88 FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 



never looked through him at all.' The poor man was 

 dreadfully frightened at what he had seen in the moon. 

 At first I laughed at the story and the odd idea of a 

 huge, great fellow being alarmed at a glance through a 

 telescope. Since then, however, on reflection, it seems 

 to me perfectly natural. He was illiterate ; he had 

 never read of astronomy ; to him it was really like a 

 sudden peep into another world, for the instrument was 

 exceptionally powerful, and the view of the sunlight on 

 the peaks and the shadows in the valleys must have 

 been extraordinary to him. There was nothing to laugh 

 at ; the incident shows what a great and wonderful 

 thing it is that rocks and mountains should be whirled 

 along over our heads. The idea has become familiarised 

 to us by reading, but the fact is none the less marvellous. 

 This man saw the fact first, before he had the idea, and 

 he had sufficient imagination to realise it. At the 

 village post office they ask for ' Letterhead, please, sir,' 

 instead of a stamp, for it is characteristic of the cottager 

 that whatever words he uses must be different from those 

 employed by other people. Stamp is as familiar to him 

 as to you, yet he prefers to say ' letterhead ' — because 

 he does. There are many curious old houses, some of 

 them timbered, still standing in these parts. The im- 

 mense hearths which were once necessary for burning 

 wood are now occupied with ' duck's-nest ' grates, so 

 called from the bars forming a sort of nest. In one of 

 the hamlets the women touched their hats to us. 



Not far from the hop-kiln I found a place where 

 charcoal-burning was carried on. The brown charcoal- 

 burner, upright as a bolt, walked slowly round the 

 smouldering heap, and wherever flame seemed inclined 

 to break out cast damp ashes upon the spot. Six or 

 seven water-butts stood in a row for his use, To wind' 



