An old Rope-walk. ES 
the cobbler, having lived among them all his life, 
understands what is wanted better than the artisan 
of the cities, and knows how to stud the soles with 
nails and cover toe and heel with plates till the huge 
boot is literally iron-clad. Even the children wear 
boots which for their size are equally heavy: many of 
the working farmers also send theirs to be repaired. 
The only thing to be remembered in dealing with a 
village cobbler is, if you want a pair of boots, to order 
them six months beforehand, or you will be disap- 
pointed. The business occupies him about as long as 
it takes a shipwright to build a ship. 
Under the trees of the lane that connects one part 
of the village with another stands a wooden post, once 
stout, now decaying ; and opposite it at some distance 
the remnants of a second. This was a rope-walk, but 
has long since fallen into disuse ; the tendency of the 
age having for a long time been to centralise industry 
of all kinds. It is true that of late years many 
manufacturers have found it profitable to remove 
their workshops from cities into the country, the rent 
of premises being so much less, water to be got by 
sinking a well, less rates, and wages a little cheaper. 
They retain a shop and office in the cities, but have 
the work done miles away. But even this is distinctly 
associated with centralisation. The workmen are 
merely paid human machines; they do not labour 
for their own hands in their own little shops at home, 
or as the rope-maker slowly walked backwards here, 
