IN THE WEALD 69 
of the southern counties. Their writings seem to me 
to prove very clearly that they know nothing what- 
ever about them. Slow of speech Hodge of the Weald 
may be that is a virtue, as a rule ; but his wits are 
keen, and those who, for want of better knowledge, 
think they can easily enlighten the ' tiller of the soil,' 
as they term him, will find that he can enlighten his 
would-be instructors in a very unpleasant manner. I 
am personally of the opinion that the class to which 
he belongs forms the very backbone of England. 
His reticence is not dulness far from it. Before he 
takes you into his confidence he wants to know who 
you are. If he thinks you will do, he will show you 
anything he thinks will please you, as soon as he has 
found out what your hobby is. If you begin by ask- 
ing a favour of him, he will, in most cases, flatly 
refuse it. 
The lives of these people are passed in the open 
air. Both summer and winter they are in the fields 
and about the woodlands that stretch for a great dis- 
tance in the forest districts. This country is well 
wooded right down to the sea-line. There are great 
farmsteads with moats round them, the roofs covered 
with slabs of stone in place of tiles or slates, the path- 
ways leading from the great covered porches right 
through the orchards and, in many instances, out to the 
