The Rothamstcd Allotment Club. 
389 
now in force will be found at the end of this article. Shortly 
after the club was established, the late Mr. Austin, with whom 
I was associated on a commission " to inquire into the sewage 
of towns," requested permission to bring down his brother- 
in-law, Mr. Charles Dickens, to see the club. This visit is 
described in an article entitled ' The Poor Man and his Beer,' 
published in the first number of ' All the Year Round,' April, 
1859. 
It may be mentioned here, that neither the reading-room nor 
the store club proved of any use, education being at a very low 
ebb in Harpenden twenty years ago. The club-books were 
therefore transferred to a general parish library. At the 
present time, however, the reports of her Majesty's Inspectors 
show a very high state of efficiency in the education of this 
parish. It need hardly be said that a club-house receiving 
barrels of beer direct from the brewer did not meet the approval 
of the publicans, or that an attempt was made to compel me to 
take out a licence. When I first established the club, I pointed 
out clearly to the members that any attempt to sell beer to non- 
members would destroy the private character of the building ; 
and, to the best of my knowledge, no attempt of the kind has 
been made. At all events, I was successful in establishing the 
character of the club before the magistrates. It will probably 
be asked, What are the benefits which the parish has derived 
from this club, and what inducements it holds out to others who 
contemplate the establishment of a somewhat similar institution ? 
As a substitute for the public-house, it possesses many advan- 
tages. A man can hardly go into a public-house, and occupy 
a seat for the evening without also drinking beer there, for the 
publican must be paid in some way for providing fire and candles ; 
whereas at the club no one is expected to drink, each member 
acting entirely in accordance with his own inclination. In 
villages where there are several public-houses, it is well known 
that each has its regular customers, and some houses have a bad 
reputation with the police ; petty thefts, and even worse crimes, 
being often developed where small parties of men are frequently 
meeting. In a club of any size (Rothamsted has about 180 
members) such things are impossible. Those who consider all 
public-houses an evil, and all drinking of alcohol in any 
form, and in whatever moderation, an unmitigated curse, 
are not likely to give any encouragement to an institution 
which has for one of its main objects the supply of beer to its 
members. As, however, we cannot prevent drinking, it appears 
to me desirable that we should endeavour to lessen and arrest 
some of the evils attendant upon it. If any one will picture to 
himself the limited accommodation of a labourer's cottage on a 
