106 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



CHAPTER VII. 



BEFORE so much machinery came into use, in the 

 days when labourers were precious in the sight of 

 the farmer, he and his, with the men - servants, 

 usually constituted one large family in our part of 

 the country. How I delighted in "The Coombe," 

 as one of these old-fashioned farmsteads was fitly 

 called, sheltered as it was from the north winds 

 by a hill that rose immediately behind it ! The old 

 house was a large, substantial, rambling building. 

 The huge chimney-stacks alone were worth going 

 far to see. Age had given them that peculiar tone 

 of colouring which only the brush, not the pen, 

 can give any idea of. Starry lichens, small patches 

 of stonecrop, larger ones of house-leek, and other 



