A RETURN TO NATURE 85 



in the Weald of Kent, and I had many a large, if not 

 always savoury, meal of tench and eels. At the end of 

 the summer I had three pounds in my pocket, and little 

 less by the end of October. 



" The winter I passed as before. For five years I lived 

 in this way. Then, for the sake of going abroad on my 

 savings, I worked for a whole year at a desk, and spent 

 four months along the Loire and down to Bordeaux; 

 from there I worked my passage to Newport. Since 

 then I have gone back to rny old plan." 



Here he paused and mused. I asked him if he still 

 found it easy to get work in London. 



"No, that's it," he replied; "my handwriting is worse 

 and it is slow. The first weeks in London seem to undo 

 all the good of my summer outing, especially as my salary 

 is less than it used to be. They begin to ask me if I am 

 a married man when I apply for work. The November 

 rains remind me that I have rheumatism. It is my great 

 fear that I may need a doctor, and so spend my savings, 

 and be unable to leave London until field work is plenti- 

 ful in June. But I have my freedom; I could, if neces- 

 sary, take an under-cowman's place and live entirely on 

 the land. They begin to look at my hands when I apply 

 for clerical work, and I can't wear gloves." 



" And ten years hence ? " 



" That is ten years too far ahead for me to look, though 

 I am less cheerful than I used to be. I realize that I 

 belong to the suburbs still. I belong to no class or race, 

 and have no traditions. We of the suburbs are a muddy, 

 confused, hesitating mass, of small courage though much 

 endurance. As for myself, I am world-conscious, and 



