78 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



the late Lord Salisbury apropos of parish 

 councils " give them a circus " had a real 

 meaning to those who, like the writer, have 

 spent long years in remote English villages. 

 The experiences of my boyhood come back as 

 a veritable nightmare the dull scenery, the 

 slush and mud of the roads, the absolutely 

 mechanical existence of the villagers, who 

 went to bed at eight o'clock to save oil and 

 candles, the careworn faces of the women, 

 the sullen endurance of their husbands, the 

 dreary respectability of the farmers. And 

 if this picture of village dullness imprinted 

 itself on the mind of a boy living in comfort, 

 the real significance of the scene for families 

 living on ll/- a week can be imagined. 



There is so little to refine the mind or cheer 

 the soul in rural England. Music, for example, 

 has largely disappeared from our villages. 

 Puritanism proved too strong for such simple 

 pleasures. In 1597 and 1648 minstrels were 

 ordered to be branded, all ballad-singers were 

 liable to be arrested, and all organs and lutes 

 were to be destroyed. Cromwell's Third 

 Parliament decreed the arrest of all musicians 

 performing hi taverns. And so it came to 

 pass that even in the remoter parts of Great 

 Britain, Wales, Lancashire and the west of 

 Yorkshire, where the older traditions of 



