176 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



stone ; no chance of saving money enough to jump 

 into the position of a farmer. A graded small holding 

 system will offer this stepping-stone it will provide 

 a ladder for climbing. The hard-working tiller of the 

 eighth of an acre may scrape up enough to get the 

 freehold of a quarter of an acre. From that position 

 he may become the owner not merely the renter of 

 an acre. And so he can rise, getting a larger and larger 

 portion of land, until he may eventually become the 

 freeholder of five hundred acres all his own, with no 

 rent to pay. 



This is the prospect which will most effectually arrest 

 the progress of depopulation. The peasant's sons, 

 seeing a chance of something better than the dead-level 

 barrier which now stops the avenue to advancement, 

 will be tempted to enter the ranks instead of swelling 

 the already congested crowds of clerks : his father's 

 calling will no longer be despised. And with this 

 opening which the creation of a peasant proprietory 

 will disclose, unemployed clerks will be induced to come 

 " back to the land," with its healthful occupation, and 

 the charm of a country life. 



