ii2 THE LAND'S END 



taken out of the country, and them who own it and 

 them that make their living out of it can be robbed 

 better than anybody else. That's how them that 

 are not on the land will get their something for 

 nothing. 



What most interested me was the manner in which 

 this discourse was delivered. In conversation he had the 

 hard metallic Cornish voice without any perceptible 

 intonation ; now in his excitement he fell into some- 

 thing like a chant, keeping time with hands and legs, 

 swinging his arms, striking his foot on the ground, 

 and jerking his whole body up and down. Even so 

 might some Cornish warrior of the ancient days have 

 harangued his followers and tried to inspire in them 

 a fury equal to his own. Even the cows two or three 

 fields away raised their heads and gazed in our direc- 

 tion, wondering what the shouting was about. 



As for the matter of his discourse, he expressed 

 the feeling common among the farming people the 

 fear of change was on them. The odd thing is that 

 the people generally, including miners, fishermen and 

 others of their class, are haters of innovation, even as 

 the farmers are, which does not promise them some 

 material benefit, and there is no doubt that in this 

 case they did confidently expect some good thing, and 

 it pleased them to think their ministers were on their 

 side. They knew that their ministers were aiming 

 at something which they cared very little about : it 

 was an alliance and nothing more. They are not 

 dominated by their ministers, and, excepting some of 

 the local preachers, do not share their malignant hatred 



