INTRODUCTION. vii 



country by the fact that the land, as a great 

 abstraction above all temporary interests, is 

 loved, and one might almost say worshipped, by 

 those who live by it. The service of the land 

 seems to engender a personal devotion, especially 

 among those whose roots in the soil go far into 

 the centuries. Among the agricultural labourers 

 this passion for the land is often most marked. 

 In a recent book 1 containing interviews with a 

 number of agricultural labourers it is remarked : 



" Again and again one is struck by the intimate 

 feeling of the labourer towards the soil. 



" ' They ought to look after the land. Ain't 

 she the mother of us all ? ' said one man." 



And from the farmer's point of view an old 

 friend of mine, who has occupied the same farm 

 for over half a century, voices the same affection : 



" Born and bred on the land, the land has 

 always called me. I hear the call now, although 

 it reaches me too often within walls and not in 

 the open field. 



" Love of the land makes me ask the readers 

 of this little book 2 to stick to the land, because 

 Mother Earth is kind to all her children, whose 

 zeal is according to knowledge/ 7 



Where the land is cultivated by men inspired 

 by this devotion it is in no danger of unfair treat- 

 ment. 



1 "How the Labourer Lives," by B. Seebohm Rowntree and 

 May Kendall, 1913. 



2 '* Story of a Staffordshire Farm," by T. Carrington Smith, 

 1913- 



