DISCONTENT OF THE LABOURER 409 



little more than discontent with a life which for them has lost its 

 meaning and with that loss its savour. Yet perhaps a contrast 

 between the past and the present conditions of rural villages may 

 suggest some sort of answer. Under the old system, some of the 

 existing evils prevailed, as well as others which are now removed. 

 The village was not Arcadia. Its life was by no means idyllic. In 

 one sense, at all events, it was on a lower level then than now. The 

 peasant was too absorbed in his own surroundings to care for matters 

 outside his own environment. He could rarely read ; he seldom 

 thought of anything beyond his daily pursuits ; he had no ideas 

 and few opinions except on the practical subjects in which he was 

 interested. For many years, under the shock of change, the mind 

 of the agricultural labourer was even less active and even more 

 narrow. His daily work was less varied and more monotonous ; 

 he had lost the opportunity of practising the manifold crafts in 

 which his grandfather had been occupied ; he toiled exclusively 

 for a master, not for himself. He fell into a half-dazed state of 

 fatalism. Now this is changing. Labourers read, think, enquire. 

 Their minds are awakening and curious for information. They are 

 slowly beginning to extend their intellectual horizon beyond their 

 own individual misfortunes or advantages, and to understand the 

 meaning of economic laws. In this mental development, politics, 

 honourably handled, and dealing with principles not personalities, 

 might, and should, play an important part. A great responsibility 

 rests on writers in the public press and on platform orators. 



The mental change in progress may account for the restlessness. 

 It does not by itself explain the discontent. The peasant, under 

 the old system, had a definite independent place in the community. 

 He commanded respect for his skill, judgment, and experience in 

 his own industries. He was not cut off by any distinctions in ideas, 

 tastes, or habits from the classes above. On the^ contrary, each 

 grade 'shaded almost imperceptibly into the next. To-day, the 

 intermediate classes have disappeared. Instead of the ascending 

 scale of peasant-labourer, the blacksmith, carpenter, wheelwright, 

 and carrier, the small-holder, the village shopkeeper, the small 

 farmer, the larger farmer, the yeoman occupying his own land, and 

 the squire, there are in many villages only two categories, employers 

 and employed. The gulf is wide enough. It has been broadened 

 by the progress of a civilisation which is more and more based < 

 the possession of money. All the employing classes have moved 



