234 THE LIFE OF THE FIELDS. 



and putting that method upon one side for the present, 

 there are other means available. There is the post. 



The post is a far more powerful disseminator in the 

 country than in town. A townsman picks up twenty 

 letters, snatches the envelopes open, and casts them 

 aside. The letters delivered in the country have 

 marvellously multiplied, but still country people do 

 not treat letters offhand. The arrival o£ a letter or 

 two is still an event ; it is read twice or three times, 

 put in the pocket, and looked at again. Suburban resi- 

 dents receive circulars by every other post of every 

 kind and description, and cast them contemptuously 

 aside. In the country the delivery of a circular is not 

 so treated. It is certain to be read. Nothing may come 

 of it, but it is certain to be looked over, and more 

 than once. It will be left on the table, or be folded 

 up and put on the mantelpiece : it will not be destroyed. 

 Country people have not yet got into the habit which 

 may be called slur-reading. They really read. The 

 circulars at present delivered in the country are 

 counted by ones and twos where suburban residents get 

 scores and fifties. Almost the only firms who have 

 found out the value of circulars in the country are the 

 great drapery establishments, and their enterprise is 

 richly rewarded. The volume of business thus trans- 

 acted and brought to the London house by the circular 

 is enormous. There are very few farmhouses in the 

 country which do not contribute orders once or twice 

 a year. Very many families get all their materials 

 in this way, far cheaper, better, and more novel than 

 those on sale in the country towns. Here, then, is a 

 powerful lever ready to the hand of the publisher. 



m 



