7. FISHERMEN'S HOUSES 



It is at school that children get hold of such 

 notions: Teuh! why can't us move into one 

 o' they nice little new houses up on land, Instead 

 o' biding In this yer mucky ol' hole?' At first 

 It used to make me very fearful of having to 

 leave this salty old house, founded on the shingle 

 itself, for a prim, cramped, jerry-built box, one of 

 two Interminable rows, a mile or more from the 

 sea. Now I realise better that such chatter Is only 

 an echo of the reproaches levelled at us by a prog- 

 ress-proud generation which will disappear after 

 its life of fuss and worry — a life no happier than, 

 If so happy as, ours here — leaving the world but 

 little different, and men, at heart, the same as ever. 

 Fishermen and their habitations have been 

 looked down upon, it seems, for a good many 

 years. John Leland's Itinerary — that marvellously 

 vivid collection of topographical jottings, written 



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