THE RURAL EXODUS 91 



in their reasonable desire to " better them- 

 selves." The " finery " and " smart clothes " 

 criticised by mistresses are merely sympto- 

 matic of the same tendency towards fuller and 

 more comfortable conditions of life. Young 

 labourers in the vigour of early manhood ask 

 themselves why they should serve a master 

 all their lives for 15/- a week, living in a " tied 

 cottage," and liable to a week's notice to quit. 

 Many of these men would gladly remain if a 

 small portion of the land around them could 

 ultimately find its way into their hands. 

 Without perhaps that passionate devotion to 

 the soil so vividly portrayed in La Terre, the 

 English villager nevertheless in most cases 

 leaves his fields and hedgerows with regret 

 and sometimes real sorrow. I have talked 

 with young men who declared with tears in 

 their eyes that if they could have secured 

 even five acres of land they would have gladly 

 remained in the village of their boyhood, but 

 stay there as labourers at 13/- a week they 

 would not. The " land hunger " in rural 

 England, although it seldom reaches the 

 proportions indicated in the speeches of 

 " single tax " enthusiasts, who seem to believe 

 that every villager is clamouring for a small 

 farm, is nevertheless a very real thing. De- 

 spite a long series of political deceptions and 



