ISO PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



have, alas, been received by the vast majority 

 of the rural clergy with either open hostility 

 or sullen acquiescence. 



How well I remember the case of one Robert 

 Clarke, a labourer in a remote Suffolk village. 

 This man a clever and industrious workman 

 had led a local strike in Arch's days, which had 

 been defeated by the importation of Irishmen. 

 For this offence he had never been forgiven. 

 He was refused regular employment by the 

 farmers, ignored by the parson, and universally 

 described by the " residents " of the village 

 as a " dangerous man." As a boy I used to 

 pay stealthy visits to this Clarke, who lived 

 alone in a tumbledown cottage, a broken man, 

 full of helpless resentment. He had striven 

 for some little advance beyond the miserable 

 pittance of 10/- a week, and for this crime 

 he was treated like a social leper. Our vil- 

 lages in the southern half of England are 

 full of these humble tragedies. Another 



honest man, P , in a Midland village, guilty 



of a similar offence to Clarke's, was refused 

 all employment on farms or even road-mend- 

 ing. He then tried to make some sort of 

 living by hawking fish, but bitter persecution 

 pursued him, and when he failed and gave up 

 the struggle and died, the village doctor 

 exclaimed to a friend of mine, " Well, they've 



