182 LETTERS TO MARCO xxvn 



quite large sums being spent annually in the 

 destruction of sparrows and other so -con- 

 sidered vermin. These books were all signed 

 by the churchwardens for the time being. 

 These old rate-books are always worth look- 

 ing into, as they throw great light on the 

 doings of olden times. 



Wallingford has been going through a 

 period of upheaval on account of drainage 

 works, the whole borough having had to 

 abolish the old drains and adopt a new 

 system called " the Shone," which is to carry 

 the sewage away from the river and up to a 

 sewage-farm in the fields at the west of the 

 town. 



I expected in such a very old town as this 

 many interesting things would have turned 

 up during the excavations, but this has not 

 been the case ; beyond one or two skeletons 

 and bones in general, little has been found. 

 I secured a curious old horse-shoe, which, with 

 some horses' bones, was dug up near here 

 from a depth of eight feet ; the bones were 



