EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 5 



The churchyard is very large and nearly de- 

 void of inhabitants a proof of the healthful- 

 ness of the parish. Within a compass of 

 twelve square yards I found the names of six 

 old folks whose united age was 503, being an 

 average of eighty-four, all of which goes to 

 prove that I have hit upon a spot where the 

 average of life is long, and where life is really 

 worth living. 



Having thus fixed my headquarters, I have 

 now to settle how I can best occupy my time. 

 My first walk descending from this Arcadia 

 down through the old village was, I am 

 bound to confess, a disillusionment. In a 

 main thoroughfare leading to the station an 

 old beldame rushed out of a passage after a 

 little girl of five, cursing her in the most un- 

 mentionably disgusting language ; then another 

 pretty little toddler of about four years old 

 came out of another door, and screamed and 

 hissed at the old woman like a venomous 

 little adder, as if no particle of good had ever 

 entered her tiny head, using such horribly 

 filthy and abominable words as I could not 

 have conceived it possible for any human 

 being to imagine or utter ; it really made me 



