" LANDLORDISM." 151 



brewery, cider-press, buttery, gristing mill, told 

 of times when a house needed to be something 

 too of a fortress, and to be self-contained and 

 amply victualled. 



For many generations the same family had 

 held this little estate. They have some seventy 

 dependants, most of whom are children and 

 grandchildren of former dependants. The last 

 butler in the house died an hour after playing 

 with a boy who was the fourth generation he 

 had seen of the family. The woman who acted 

 as lodgekeeper had been sixty-five years in one 

 cosy cottage, and had reared there eleven chil- 

 dren. The newest comer in the place had been 

 there twenty-five years, and was still looked 

 upon as a stranger. No son of a tenant was ever 

 refused work on the estate. The landlord con- 

 fessed that the place " hardly paid." But he 

 had some other means, and was content so long 

 as he could deal fairly with the old retainers. 

 The manor house had been in his family many 

 generations, and around it was centred his 

 family pride. 



Landlords of this sort it would be a pity for 

 any country to lose. They maintain little woods 



