296 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



and that notwithstanding the agricultural " depression." 

 The shopkeepers of Halberton had prospered also 

 proportionately with the improved condition of the 

 labourers, a natural and, so to speak, automatic ad- 

 vance. The cottages, too, had greatly improved, the 

 two-roomed hovels of Canon Girdlestone's time remain- 

 ing, it is true, in many cases, but tenantless, as ugly 

 mementoes of a past condition of things. The same 

 correspondent wrote : 



" The school accommodation at Halberton is greatly 

 improved. Some years since there was only one school here 

 the National School, which was then one half the size it is 

 now, although there were, at the time I speak of, a private 

 school or two here and there." 



He added : 



" I remember a very elderly lady who kept a private school 

 which I attended. I also quite well remember a long stick 

 she kept from seven to eight feet long at least to give us 

 ' a crack on the head ' now and then if anything went wrong. 

 A favourite and novel punishment whose infliction was 

 ' enjoyed ' by this old lady was to pin any of us who chanced 

 to offend her to her apron. But the severest punishment 

 of all was to be put in the dark, under the stairs, in a place 

 we called ' the dark hole ' 1 Would this kind of thing be 

 tolerated now ? Certainly not. Now, as I have said, we 

 have our National School enlarged to hold twice the number 

 it used to hold. We have also a Board School built to hold 

 nearly a hundred children ; and both institutions are doing 

 well and annually carrying off honours." 



We ourselves paid a special visit to Halberton, and 

 noticed the great improvements that only in the previous 

 eight years had been effected ; and we may fitly, perhaps, 

 conclude this chapter by quoting the personal impression 

 penned at the time of our visit : 



" We saw nothing offensive except the still lingering but 

 tenantless mud hovels, whose broken glass, ruined roofs and 

 walls, and general aspect of desolateness were strongly 

 suggestive of the miserable population which at one time 

 were indecently crowded within them. There were no 

 offensive odours from bad drainage or fever-stricken air. 

 The whole village, in fact, had an aspect of quiet comfort ; 

 and over it there seemed to be brooding the spirit of that 



