EARLY MANHOOD 83 



caused discussion in the form of letters and articles in the 

 press. They served the cause of truth by criticizing the 

 labourers' economy, and by pointing out the weakness 

 of the tenant-farmer, who had not even a right to com- 

 pensation for invested capital if ordered to quit. It was 

 well, too, that the tenant-farmer's point of view should 

 be dressed to advantage. And Jefferies expressed a 

 remarkable truth, from which he was to draw other con- 

 clusions, when he said that the labourers have no grati- 

 tude. But at this date there is little more to be said of 

 these letters. They must have served the cause of a 

 party even more than that of truth ; and honest though 

 Jefferies was, he not only did not rise out of the high- 

 walled position of a partisan, but even so proved no 

 extraordinary degree of penetration. It was almost 

 excellent journalism ; but it was not more. So, too, with 

 ' The True Tale.' It was true, and it was worth saying. The 

 form of the tale is good enough, and he has filled out that 

 form with nothing, or almost nothing, but true nature, 

 yet expressed with so little concentration that it is, after 

 all, only a sketch. He was to return to the subject 

 again. 



This slight success did not make 1873 a cheerful year. 

 Jefferies was writing another novel, and this was rejected 

 by Messrs. Bentley in May. He could not understand 

 how he failed to make headway after the praises given 

 to his letters to the Times. He was coming to the con- 

 clusion that he must publish at his own expense ; and, in 

 spite of ' eight years of almost continual failure,' is ' more 

 than ever determined to succeed.' 



Nevertheless, he continued to work at the vein just 

 opened in the letters to the Times. In 1873 ' The Future 

 of Farming ' was published in Fraser's Magazine ; in 1874 

 ' The Size of Farms ' in the Neie> Quarterly, and ' The 

 Farmer at Home,' ' The Labourer's Daily Life,' ' Field- 

 Faring Women,' ' An English Homestead,' and ' John 

 Smith's Shanty ' in Fraser's ; and in the same year ' The 

 Agricultural Life,' a book, was offered to Messrs. Longman. 



6—2 



