120 THE LAND'S END 



sadly informed the schoolmaster a day or two later 

 that Winnie had refused to let them go without her ! 

 The odd thing, my informant said, was that there was 

 no attempt on the parents' part to put the child down. 

 The children, he said, are masters of the situation in 

 these parts : the way they lorded it over their parents 

 had amazed him when he first came from a Midland 

 district to live among them. 



But I must say for the little ones that they do not 

 as a rule abuse their authority. They are so healthy, 

 and have such happy and affectionate dispositions, 

 that they do behave very well. Winnie was an 

 exceptionally naughty little maid and required some 

 such drastic method as that which Solomon advocated, 

 but for the generality the system in favour is after all 

 the one best suited to them. 



