A JOURNAL KEPT IN THE COUNTRY. 2OI 



heifers and horses, have gone by my gate, to be 

 lodged on any spare grass in the neighbourhood ; and 

 caravans of every sort have assembled and pitched 

 on the Green. To-day was Fair Day, and about ten 

 o'clock Bob and I started to view the sights. As we 

 neared the village street a various uproar grew on 

 our ears, bleat of sheep and scurrying yelp of dogs 

 behind them, lowing of distracted bullocks, and the 

 amazing human noises that are traditional accom- 

 paniment to the herding of beasts. Once through 

 the village, blocked with cattle and endless rows of 

 farmers' traps on their shafts, dangerous with the 

 wild career of rough-riders, we find the Green in a 

 state very unlike the wonted solitude where geese 

 cackle and small boys play cricket. Under the 

 dull equal light of a low grey sky its thirteen acres 

 are dense with men and beasts. A large part of the 

 upper end is laid out in wattle pens for the lambs 

 which properly constitute the Fair. Between the 

 pens run lanes along and across, crowded with all 

 the sheep interest in Sussex, farmers and dealers of 

 every degree. Below the pens stand the cattle, small 

 bullocks and heifers rounded up in rings that con- 

 stantly stampede and are re-formed with frantic 

 din ; further still are the horses, tied by the head in 

 long lines, or galloped with amazing exhibitions of 



