THE RATEPAYER'S HOME 121 



cornices, handrails, etc., are of red Verona marble ; 

 the balusters, wall -lining and frieze of the entablature 

 of alabaster, and the dado of the ground iloor is 

 gris-rouge marble. The flooring is of Roman mosaic 

 of various marbles, purposely kept simple in design 

 and quiet in colouring. One of the windows has the 

 arms of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, and the other 

 the Borough arms, in stained glass. Above the dado 

 at the first floor level the walls are painted a delicate 

 green tint, relieved by a powdering of C's and Civic 

 Crowns. The doors and their surroundings are of 

 walnut wood." 



Very beautiful indeed. Now let us see the home 

 of one of Croydon's poorer ratepayers : 



On one side of the hall are two rooms, called 

 respectively the parlour and the kitchen. Beyond 

 is the scullery. The walls of the staircase are covered 

 with a sort of plaster called stucco, but closely 

 resembling road-scrapings : the skirtings are of pitch- 

 pine, the balusters of the same material. The floorings 

 are of deal. The roof lets in the rain. One of the 

 windows is broken and stuffed with rags, the others 

 are cracked. The walls are stained a delicate green 

 tint relieved by a film of blue mould, owing to lack 

 of a damp-course. None of the windows close properly, 

 the flues smoke into the rooms instead of out of the 

 chimney-pots, the doors jam, and the surroundings 

 are wretched beyond description. 



Electric tramways now conduct along the Brighton 

 Road to the uttermost end of the great modern borough 

 of Croydon, at Purley Corner. Here the explorer 

 begins to perceive, despite the densely packed houses, 

 that he is in that " Croydene," or crooked vale, of 

 Saxon times from which, we are told, Croydon takes 

 its name ; and he can see also that nature, and not 

 man, ordained in the first instance the position and 

 direction of what is now the road to Brighton, in the 

 bottom, alongside where the Bourne once flowed, 

 inside the fence of Haling Park. It is, in fact, the 

 site of a prehistoric track which led the most easy 



