184 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



one-fcurth of the resident landowners of 

 England. It is supported by the richest 

 classes in the community. It has inherited 

 many a building which is not only a gem of 

 architecture, but is marked by tradition and 

 situation alike as the centre of the village. 

 Its political influence is incalculable. Some 

 of its clergy have used that influence and 

 there are those who are using it to-day to 

 promote the social as well as the religious 

 welfare of their people, to form a right public 

 opinion, and to hold up, against the suspicious 

 individualism of country life, the ideal of 

 fellowship in a great organization. And yet 

 the Church remains out of touch with the 

 spiritual needs of the labourer. Many of the 

 clergy have earned his respect, but few his 

 confidence. Few of them have taken his side 

 in the questions which touch him most closely. 

 To him they seem remote ; a part of the world 

 in which the landlord moves ; prominent in the 

 Conservative party ; dwellers in large houses. 

 He is glad, indeed, of the part they play at the 

 critical moments at the christening, the 

 marriage, the burial ; it seems to him in the 

 nature of things that they should be at hand 

 to provide these offices. He thinks, too, that 

 a certain amount of Church attendance, while 

 it may do him some good, will certainly do 



