1 
88 FIELN AND HEDGEROW. 
never looked through him at all. The poor man was 
dreadfully frightened at what he had seen in the moon. 
At first I laughed at the story and the odd idea of a 
huge, great fellow being alarmed at a glance through a 
telescope. Since then, however, on reflection, it seems 
to me perfectly natural. He was illiterate; he had 
never read of astronomy; to him it was really like a 
sudden peep into another world, for the instrument was 
exceptionally powerful, and the view of the sunlight on 
the peaks and the shadows in the valleys must have 
been extraordinary to him. There was nothing to laugh 
at; the incident shows what a great and wonderful 
thing it is that rocks and mountains should be whirled 
along over our heads. The idea has become familiarised - 
to us by reading, but the fact is none the less marvellous. 
This man saw the fact first, before he had the idea, and 
he had sufficient imagination to realise it. At the 
village post office they ask for ‘ Letterhead, please, sir, 
instead of a stamp, for it is characteristic of the cottager 
that whatever words he uses must be different from those 
employed by other people. Stamp is as familiar to him 
as to you, yet he prefers to say ‘letterhead ’—because 
he does. There are many curious old houses, some of 
them timbered, still standing in these parts. The im- 
mense hearths which were once necessary for burning 
wood are now occupied with ‘duck’s-nest’ grates, so 
called from the bars forming a sort of nest. In one of 
the hamlets the women touched their hats to us. 
Not far from the hop-kiln I found a place where 
charcoal-burning was carried on. The brown charcoal- 
burner, upright as a bolt, walked slowly round the 
smouldering heap, and wherever flame seemed inclined 
to break out cast damp ashes upon the spot. Six or 
seven water-butts stood in a row for his use. To wind. 
