122 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



it extends to those of politics and even of 

 ethics. It is difficult to decide which phase 

 of religious activity exhibits the more vigorous 

 life. In East Anglia and the south-western 

 counties Nonconformity is the stronger ; but 

 Anglicanism is full of vigour in Lancashire, 

 while in Yorkshire there are valleys which 

 have scarcely heard of the Reformation. 



The actual attendance at Church and 

 Chapel services varies greatly in different 

 localities. It has been stated on good 

 authority that not more than 25 per cent, of 

 London's millions ever enter a place of 

 worship. No such religious census has ever 

 been taken over any large area of rural 

 England, but in Oxfordshire, a purely agri- 

 cultural county, free from the unsettling 

 influences of large cities, I have attempted 

 to discover the normal number of Sunday 

 attendances at Church and Chapel, and find 

 these amount to between 25 35 per cent, 

 of the adult population. In proportion to 

 the number of its professed adherents, Non- 

 conformity appears to draw somewhat larger 

 congregations. 1 



1 Absence from Church or Chapel is often due to a deeply 

 rooted reluctance to appear in shabby or " odd " clothes. 

 In many rural parishes new clothes are practically un- 

 known. Second, third, and even fourth-hand suits 



