296 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



adequately describe the oddness of the thing, the 

 incongruity of that old-time inn and this new-time 

 coffee-tavern facing each other. And then the two 

 public-houses, with the coffee-tavern and three or 

 four miserable-looking cottages, comprised all the 

 buildings within sight. But the problem is, Was 

 that coffee-tavern built by some well-meaning person 

 with too much money, or by some company of total 

 abstainers from London town ? Good intentions 

 go wrong at times, and moneyed people's fads there 

 is no accounting for. 



I spoke of the large size of all the fields, cultivated 

 either for corn or hops, in the district we are pass- 

 ing over. These must of necessity employ a great 

 amount of agricultural labour. The homes of the 

 people may be scattered, but they are somewhere 

 about. I know those who till the soil fairly well, 

 and have been familiar with the class of agricultural 

 labourers a class distinctly by itself, with all its 

 sturdy independence from my boyhood. It is for 

 that very reason because I do know them so well 

 that I have so little to say about them in print. 

 One thing I do know, they will never take kindly to 

 coffee so called, or to coffee-taverns. In past times 



