IX "THE GOOD OLD TIMES? 115 



case that a satisfactory arrangement was not ar- 

 rived at. 



As for the agricultural labourers, masters and 

 men were not so far apart. Long service was a 

 common thing in those days ; it is unusual now. 

 Farms change hands now at short notice, and, 

 owing to eventualities that no amount of forecast 

 can provide against, great numbers of the fine old 

 homesteads have been pulled down to make room 

 for modern mansions, built by capitalists who have 

 bought up the properties that were once owned by 

 old gentry of the type I have sketched. I, for one, 

 fear that, if this rapid way of living and of doing 

 things continues, there will be little rest and com- 

 fort left, and little good work produced. In the 

 old days there was time for everything, and folks 

 lived their life. 



The old order of things is passing away, day by 

 day ; the changes come, ever faster. It is a rare 

 thing now to hear the sound of the flail on the 

 threshing-floor; a flail will soon be only regarded 

 as a curiosity. Townfolk, who know little or noth- 

 ing about the country, talk of the " yokel " or 

 countryman in a sneering manner : but, as a rule, 



