362 HUNTING. 



that this friendly feeling is not more generally culti- 

 vated than it is in hunting districts. 



Unfortunately, the old-fashioned motherly, hard- 

 working farmer's wife is a type of woman which is 

 rapidly dying out, and the modern specimen belongs to 

 that large and useless brigade of ''perfect ladies" who 

 are above their position and who regard work as undig- 

 nified. I recently saw an advertisement from a fanner's 

 daughter who said in it that she had offers of plenty of 

 mounts, but wanted some lady to give her a riding 

 habit ! Surely it would have been far better for her to 

 have worked and earned one, instead of cadging in 

 such a manner for her amusement ? Proverbially bad 

 as our fresh butter in the Midlands is, I fear the time 

 is approaching when butter making will entirely cease, 

 for, with few exceptions, farmers' daughters are not 

 trained to do dairy work. A modern " young lady" 

 from a farm, who had been educated in a Board school, 

 applied to a well known lady of title for a situation as 

 governess ; but her ladyship pointed out that her 

 educational attainments did not qualify her for such a 

 post, and suggested that she should obtain employment 

 as a parlourmaid. Needless to say that the farmer's 

 daughter scorned the idea of thus " lowering " 

 herself! Even the daughters of farm labourers nowa- 

 days ride their bicycles, instead of going out to service 

 as their mothers and grandmothers did before them, 

 and dress themselves ridiculously out of keeping with 

 their position and surroundings. It seems very 

 incongruous to see such girls living in indolence in 



