238 FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS 



part of whom are fools " ; the writer adding as a 

 rider, that of the remainder, many are more knaves 

 than fools, and as a subscript the Scriptural de- 

 nunciation against him that "removeth his neigh- 

 bour's landmark." If, argued the writer, the whole 

 country were to be subdivided into patches of 

 ground for the teeming population, what would 

 happen in a district like the Wolds of East York- 

 shire, where the water-supply is such a difficulty 

 owing to a lack of springs, many of the farmers in 

 a dry summer having to send their water-carts miles 

 in order to obtain sufficient water for their cattle ? 

 "Many of the Wold farms," he observed, "are as 

 much as a thousand acres each. Each of these 

 acre holdings, therefore, would require a supply of 

 water in hot weather. How are they to get it ? 

 They cannot have ponds at each one of their small 

 holdings, their space being over-stinted already. 

 Where is each one of them to get a horse and cart 

 to fetch it for him?" 



On most of the burning questions of the day, 

 as well as many others that were not burning on 

 which he expressed himself, he held views clear and 

 decided. 



With regard to teetotalism, for instance, he con- 

 sidered that religious principle is a better safeguard 

 against intemperance than merely signing one's 

 name in a book, but that, if a pledge had to be 

 taken at all, he was of opinion that it would be 

 likely to be better kept if it were one never to enter 

 the doors of a public-house than one to abstain 



