CHAPTER XV 



VILLAGES 



IN what exactly, we may perhaps ask, does a 

 village consist ? How many or how few houses 

 will make a village ? It is quite likely that we 

 should each of us answer these questions a little 

 differently, and it is therefore worth while to 

 stop for a few minutes and think what we mean 

 by the word ' village.' 



It is certain that every village must have 

 begun with a few houses only, perhaps but one, 

 and grown gradually. Very rarely do people 

 set to work and build a whole village at once ; 

 it does happen sometimes, but these are not 

 the sort of villages that we are considering. 

 Some villages go on growing until they become 

 small towns, and others increase until they are 

 great cities, and take in many villages around 

 them which once stood in open fields. We 

 occasionally hear of deserted villages, where 

 nearly all the people have gone away, and the 

 cottages are falling into ruins. How soon does 

 a collection of houses become a village, and 

 when also does a village grow into a town ? 



Now, though we may many of us be quite 

 sure that we know what a village is and what 



