A JOURNAL KEPT IN THE COUNTRY. 67 



many of the young men ; their law, surlily acknow- 

 ledged, is the constable living in Wickens' Cottages, 

 the gamekeepers who patrol the coverts, the military 

 J.P. whose dogcart spins through the village on 

 Bench days ; indolence and cowardice are the chief 

 inward preservatives from actively vicious courses. 

 The Rector admits all this and more, concerning the 

 village proper ; but there is a large difference between 

 the inhabiters of " the street," the five or six hundred 

 souls between the Tanyard corner and the Mill 

 brook, and the other odd thousand scattered among 

 the farms and cottages in the outlying parts of the 

 parish. In every way the outliers excel the street- 

 dwellers ; the children are healthier and pleasanter 

 to see, the lads and girls are steadier, the elders are 

 incomparably more civil and sober-minded ; alto- 

 gether it is a gentler race. To a twice-dipped Tory 

 like myself, this of course is the remnant of the old 

 order, still unsubmerged in cloacal overflow of these 

 latter days ; the Rector, who must be called a Radical 

 for want of a sweeter name, thinks it lies in the 

 breeding. Out on the farms, in the little hovels of 

 cottages that lie a mile up a wet lane all alone, there 

 is often courtesy to be found very unlike the bald 

 converse of the street There the boys' " touch " and 

 the girls' curtsey (this most effective when performed 



