William Morris
News from Nowhere or
An Epoch of Rest
Being Some Chapters from an Utopian Romance
Chapter I
Discussion and Bed
Up at the League says a friend there had been one night a brisk conversational
discussion as to what would happen on the Morrow of the Revolution finally
shading off into a vigorous statement by various friends of their views on the
future of the fullydeveloped new society
Says our friend Considering the subject the discussion was goodtempered
for those present being used to public meetings and afterlecture debates if
they did not listen to each others opinions which could scarcely be expected
of them at all events did not always attempt to speak all together as is the
custom of people in ordinary polite society when conversing on a subject which
interests them For the rest there were six persons present and consequently
six sections of the party were represented four of which had strong but
divergent Anarchist opinions One of the sections says our friend a man whom
he knows very well indeed sat almost silent at the beginning of the discussion
but at last got drawn into it and finished by roaring out very loud and
damning all the rest for fools after which befell a period of noise and then a
lull during which the aforesaid section having said goodnight very amicably
took his way home by himself to a western suburb using the means of travelling
which civilisation has forced upon us like a habit As he sat in that
vapourbath of hurried and discontented humanity a carriage of the underground
railway he like others stewed discontentedly while in selfreproachful mood
he turned over the many excellent and conclusive arguments which though they
lay at his fingers ends he had forgotten in the just past discussion But this
frame of mind he was so used to that it didnt last him long and after a brief
discomfort caused by disgust with himself for having lost his temper which he
was also well used to he found himself musing on the subjectmatter of
discussion but still discontentedly and unhappily »If I could but see a day of
it« he said to himself »if I could but see it«
As he formed the words the train stopped at his station five minutes walk
from his own house which stood on the banks of the Thames a little way above
an ugly suspension bridge He went out of the station still discontented and
unhappy muttering »If I could but see it if I could but see it« but had not
gone many steps towards the river before says our friend who tells the story
all that discontent and trouble seemed to slip off him
It was a beautiful night of early winter the air just sharp enough to be
refreshing after the hot room and the stinking railway carriage The wind which
had lately turned a point or two north of west had blown the sky clear of all
cloud save a light fleck or two which went swiftly down the heavens There was a
young moon halfway up the sky and as the homefarer caught sight of it tangled
in the branches of a tall old elm he could scarce bring to his mind the shabby
London suburb where he was and he felt as if he were in a pleasant country
place pleasanter indeed than the deep country was as he had known it
He came right down to the riverside and lingered a little looking over
the low wall to note the moonlit river near upon high water go swirling and
glittering up to Chiswick Eyot as for the ugly bridge below he did not notice
it or think of it except when for a moment says our friend it struck him that
he missed the row of lights down stream Then he turned to his house door and
let himself in and even as he shut the door to disappeared all remembrance of
that brilliant logic and foresight which had so illuminated the recent
discussion and of the discussion itself there remained no trace save a vague
hope that was now become a pleasure for days of peace and rest and cleanness
and smiling goodwill
In this mood he tumbled into bed and fell asleep after his wont in two
minutes time but contrary to his wont woke up again not long after in that
curiously wideawake condition which sometimes surprises even good sleepers a
condition under which we feel all our wits preternaturally sharpened while all
the miserable muddles we have ever got into all the disgraces and losses of our
lives will insist on thrusting themselves forward for the consideration of
those sharpened wits
In this state he lay says our friend till he had almost begun to enjoy it
till the tale of his stupidities amused him and the entanglements before him
which he saw so clearly began to shape themselves into an amusing story for
him
He heard one oclock strike then two and then three after which he fell
asleep again Our friend says that from that sleep he awoke once more and
afterwards went through such surprising adventures that he thinks that they
should be told to our comrades and indeed the public in general and therefore
proposes to tell them now But says he I think it would be better if I told
them in the first person as if it were myself who had gone through them which
indeed will be the easier and more natural to me since I understand the
feelings and desires of the comrade of whom I am telling better than any one
else in the world does
Chapter II
A Morning Bath
Well I awoke and found that I had kicked my bedclothes off and no wonder
for it was hot and the sun shining brightly I jumped up and washed and hurried
on my clothes but in a hazy and halfawake condition as if I had slept for a
long long while and could not shake off the weight of slumber In fact I
rather took it for granted that I was at home in my own room than saw that it
was so
When I was dressed I felt the place so hot that I made haste to get out of
the room and out of the house and my first feeling was a delicious relief
caused by the fresh air and pleasant breeze my second as I began to gather my
wits together mere measureless wonder for it was winter when I went to bed the
last night and now by witness of the riverside trees it was summer a
beautiful bright morning seemingly of early June However there was still the
Thames sparkling under the sun and near high water as last night I had seen it
gleaming under the moon
I had by no means shaken off the feeling of oppression and wherever I might
have been should scarce have been quite conscious of the place so it was no
wonder that I felt rather puzzled in despite of the familiar face of the Thames
Withal I felt dizzy and queer and remembering that people often got a boat and
had a swim in midstream I thought I would do no less It seems very early
quoth I to myself but I daresay I shall find someone at Biffins to take me
However I didnt get as far as Biffins or even turn to my left thitherward
because just then I began to see that there was a landingstage right before me
in front of my house in fact on the place where my nextdoor neighbour had
rigged one up though somehow it didnt look like that either Down I went on to
it and sure enough among the empty boats moored to it lay a man on his sculls
in a solidlooking tub of a boat clearly meant for bathers He nodded to me and
bade me goodmorning as if he expected me so I jumped in without any words and
he paddled away quietly as I peeled for my swim As we went I looked down on
the water and couldnt help saying
»How clear the water is this morning«
»Is it« said he »I didnt notice it You know the floodtide always
thickens it a bit«
»Hm« said I »I have seen it pretty muddy even at halfebb«
He said nothing in answer but seemed rather astonished and as he now lay
just stemming the tide and I had my clothes off I jumped in without more ado
Of course when I had my head above water again I turned towards the tide and my
eyes naturally sought for the bridge and so utterly astonished was I by what I
saw that I forgot to strike out and went spluttering under water again and
when I came up made straight for the boat for I felt that I must ask some
questions of my waterman so bewildering had been the halfsight I had seen from
the face of the river with the water hardly out of my eyes though by this time
I was quit of the slumbrous and dizzy feeling and was wideawake and
clearheaded
As I got in up the steps which he had lowered and he held out his hand to
help me we went drifting speedily up towards Chiswick but now he caught up the
sculls and brought her head round again and said
»A short swim neighbour but perhaps you find the water cold this morning
after your journey Shall I put you ashore at once or would you like to go down
to Putney before breakfast«
He spoke in a way so unlike what I should have expected from a Hammersmith
waterman that I stared at him as I answered »Please to hold her a little I
want to look about me a bit«
»All right« he said »its no less pretty in its way here than it is off
Barn Elms its jolly everywhere this time in the morning Im glad you got up
early its barely five oclock yet«
If I was astonished with my sight of the river banks I was no less
astonished at my waterman now that I had time to look at him and see him with
my head and eyes clear
He was a handsome young fellow with a peculiarly pleasant and friendly look
about his eyes an expression which was quite new to me then though I soon
became familiar with it For the rest he was darkhaired and berrybrown of
skin wellknit and strong and obviously used to exercising his muscles but
with nothing rough or coarse about him and clean as might be His dress was not
like any modern workaday clothes I had seen but would have served very well
as a costume for a picture of fourteenth century life it was of dark blue
cloth simple enough but of fine web and without a stain on it He had a brown
leather belt round his waist and I noticed that its clasp was of damascened
steel beautifully wrought In short he seemed to be like some specially manly
and refined young gentleman playing waterman for a spree and I concluded that
this was the case
I felt that I must make some conversation so I pointed to the Surrey bank
where I noticed some light plank stages running down the foreshore with
windlasses at the landward end of them and said »What are they doing with
those things here If we were on the Tay I should have said that they were for
drawing the salmon nets but here «
»Well« said he smiling »of course that is what they are for Where there
are salmon there are likely to be salmonnets Tay or Thames but of course
they are not always in use we dont want salmon every day of the season«
I was going to say »But is this the Thames« but held my peace in my
wonder and turned my bewildered eyes eastward to look at the bridge again and
thence to the shores of the London river and surely there was enough to
astonish me For though there was a bridge across the stream and houses on its
banks how all was changed from last night The soapworks with their
smokevomiting chimneys were gone the engineers works gone the leadworks
gone and no sound of rivetting and hammering came down the west wind from
Thorneycrofts Then the bridge I had perhaps dreamed of such a bridge but
never seen such an one out of an illuminated manuscript for not even the Ponte
Vecchio at Florence came anywhere near it It was of stone arches splendidly
solid and as graceful as they were strong high enough also to let ordinary
river traffic through easily Over the parapet showed quaint and fanciful little
buildings which I supposed to be booths or shops beset with painted and gilded
vanes and spirelets The stone was a little weathered but showed no marks of
the grimy sootiness which I was used to on every London building more than a
year old In short to me a wonder of a bridge
The sculler noted my eager astonished look and said as if in answer to my
thoughts
»Yes it is a pretty bridge isnt it Even the upstream bridges which are
so much smaller are scarcely daintier and the downstream ones are scarcely
more dignified and stately«
I found myself saying almost against my will »How old is it«
»Oh not very old« he said »it was built or at least opened in 2003
There used to be a rather plain timber bridge before then«
The date shut my mouth as if a key had been turned in a padlock fixed to my
lips for I saw that something inexplicable had happened and that if I said
much I should be mixed up in a game of cross questions and crooked answers So
I tried to look unconcerned and to glance in a matterofcourse way at the
banks of the river though this is what I saw up to the bridge and a little
beyond say as far as the site of the soapworks Both shores had a line of very
pretty houses low and not large standing back a little way from the river
they were mostly built of red brick and roofed with tiles and looked above
all comfortable and as if they were so to say alive and sympathetic with
the life of the dwellers in them There was a continuous garden in front of
them going down to the waters edge in which the flowers were now blooming
luxuriantly and sending delicious waves of summer scent over the eddying
stream Behind the houses I could see great trees rising mostly planes and
looking down the water there were the reaches towards Putney almost as if they
were a lake with a forest shore so thick were the big trees and I said aloud
but as if to myself
»Well Im glad that they have not built over Barn Elms«
I blushed for my fatuity as the words slipped out of my mouth and my
companion looked at me with a half smile which I thought I understood so to
hide my confusion I said »Please take me ashore now I want to get my
breakfast«
He nodded and brought her head round with a sharp stroke and in a trice we
were at the landingstage again He jumped out and I followed him and of course
I was not surprised to see him wait as if for the inevitable afterpiece that
follows the doing of a service to a fellowcitizen So I put my hand into my
waistcoatpocket and said »How much« though still with the uncomfortable
feeling that perhaps I was offering money to a gentleman
He looked puzzled and said »How much I dont quite understand what you
are asking about Do you mean the tide If so it is close on the turn now«
I blushed and said stammering »Please dont take it amiss if I ask you I
mean no offence but what ought I to pay you You see I am a stranger and dont
know your customs or your coins«
And therewith I took a handful of money out of my pocket as one does in a
foreign country And by the way I saw that the silver had oxydised and was
like a blackleaded stove in colour
He still seemed puzzled but not at all offended and he looked at the coins
with some curiosity I thought Well after all he is a waterman and is
considering what he may venture to take He seems such a nice fellow that Im
sure I dont grudge him a little overpayment I wonder by the way whether I
couldnt hire him as a guide for a day or two since he is so intelligent
Therewith my new friend said thoughtfully
»I think I know what you mean You think that I have done you a service so
you feel yourself bound to give me something which I am not to give to a
neighbour unless he has done something special for me I have heard of this
kind of thing but pardon me for saying that it seems to us a troublesome and
roundabout custom and we dont know how to manage it And you see this ferrying
and giving people casts about the water is my business which I would do for
anybody so to take gifts in connection with it would look very queer Besides
if one person gave me something then another might and another and so on and
I hope you wont think me rude if I say that I shouldnt know where to stow away
so many mementos of friendship«
And he laughed loud and merrily as if the idea of being paid for his work
was a very funny joke I confess I began to be afraid that the man was mad
though he looked sane enough and I was rather glad to think that I was a good
swimmer since we were so close to a deep swift stream However he went on by
no means like a madman
»As to your coins they are curious but not very old they seem to be all
of the reign of Victoria you might give them to some scantilyfurnished museum
Ours has enough of such coins besides a fair number of earlier ones many of
which are beautiful whereas these nineteenth century ones are so beastly ugly
aint they We have a piece of Edward III with the king in a ship and little
leopards and fleursdelys all along the gunwale so delicately worked You
see« he said with something of a smirk »I am fond of working in gold and fine
metals this buckle here is an early piece of mine«
No doubt I looked a little shy of him under the influence of that doubt as
to his sanity So he broke off short and said in a kind voice
»But I see that I am boring you and I ask your pardon For not to mince
matters I can tell that you are a stranger and must come from a place very
unlike England But also it is clear that it wont do to overdose you with
information about this place and that you had best suck it in little by little
Further I should take it as very kind in you if you would allow me to be the
showman of our new world to you since you have stumbled on me first Though
indeed it will be a mere kindness on your part for almost anybody would make as
good a guide and many much better«
There certainly seemed no flavour in him of Colney Hatch and besides I
thought I could easily shake him off if it turned out that he really was mad so
I said
»It is a very kind offer but it is difficult for me to accept it unless «
I was going to say Unless you will let me pay you properly but fearing to stir
up Colney Hatch again I changed the sentence into »I fear I shall be taking
you away from your work or your amusement«
»O« he said »dont trouble about that because it will give me an
opportunity of doing a good turn to a friend of mine who wants to take my work
here He is a weaver from Yorkshire who has rather overdone himself between his
weaving and his mathematics both indoor work you see and being a great friend
of mine he naturally came to me to get him some outdoor work If you think you
can put up with me pray take me as your guide«
He added presently »It is true that I have promised to go upstream to some
special friends of mine for the hayharvest but they wont be ready for us for
more than a week and besides you might go with me you know and see some very
nice people besides making notes of our ways in Oxfordshire You could hardly
do better if you want to see the country«
I felt myself obliged to thank him whatever might come of it and he added
eagerly
»Well then thats settled I will give my friend a call he is living in
the Guest House like you and if he isnt up yet he ought to be this fine
summer morning«
Therewith he took a little silver buglehorn from his girdle and blew two or
three sharp but agreeable notes on it and presently from the house which stood
on the site of my old dwelling of which more hereafter another young man came
sauntering towards us He was not so welllooking or so strongly made as my
sculler friend being sandyhaired rather pale and not stoutbuilt but his
face was not wanting in that happy and friendly expression which I had noticed
in his friend As he came up smiling towards us I saw with pleasure that I must
give up the Colney Hatch theory as to the waterman for no two madmen ever
behaved as they did before a sane man His dress also was of the same cut as the
first mans though somewhat gayer the surcoat being light green with a golden
spray embroidered on the breast and his belt being of filagree silverwork
He gave me goodday very civilly and greeting his friend joyously said
»Well Dick what is it this morning Am I to have my work or rather your
work I dreamed last night that we were off up the river fishing«
»All right Bob« said my sculler »you will drop into my place and if you
find it too much there is George Brightling on the look out for a stroke of
work and he lives close handy to you But see here is a stranger who is
willing to amuse me today by taking me as his guide about our countryside and
you may imagine I dont want to lose the opportunity so you had better take to
the boat at once But in any case I shouldnt have kept you out of it for long
since I am due in the hayfields in a few days«
The newcomer rubbed his hands with glee but turning to me said in a
friendly voice
»Neighbour both you and friend Dick are lucky and will have a good time
today as indeed I shall too But you had better both come in with me at once
and get something to eat lest you should forget your dinner in your amusement
I suppose you came into the Guest House after I had gone to bed last night«
I nodded not caring to enter into a long explanation which would have led
to nothing and which in truth by this time I should have begun to doubt myself
And we all three turned toward the door of the Guest House
Chapter III
The Guest House amp Breakfast Therein
I lingered a little behind the others to have a stare at this house which as I
have told you stood on the site of my old dwelling
It was a longish building with its gable ends turned away from the road and
long traceried windows coming rather low down set in the wall that faced us It
was very handsomely built of red brick with a lead roof and high up above the
windows there ran a frieze of figure subjects in baked clay very well executed
and designed with a force and directness which I had never noticed in modern
work before The subjects I recognised at once and indeed was very particularly
familiar with them
However all this I took in a minute for we were presently within doors
and standing in a hall with a floor of marble mosaic and an open timber roof
There were no windows on the side opposite to the river but arches below
leading into chambers one of which showed a glimpse of a garden beyond and
above them a long space of wall gaily painted in fresco I thought with
similar subjects to those of the frieze outside everything about the place was
handsome and generously solid as to material and though it was not very large
somewhat smaller than Crosby Hall perhaps one felt in it that exhilarating
sense of space and freedom which satisfactory architecture always gives to an
unanxious man who is in the habit of using his eyes
In this pleasant place which of course I knew to be the hall of the Guest
House three young women were flitting to and fro As they were the first of the
sex I had seen on this eventful morning I naturally looked at them very
attentively and found them at least as good as the gardens the architecture
and the male men As to their dress which of course I took note of I should
say that they were decently veiled with drapery and not bundled up with
millinery that they were clothed like women not upholstered like armchairs
as most women of our time are In short their dress was somewhat between that
of the ancient classical costume and the simpler forms of the fourteenth century
garments though it was clearly not an imitation of either the materials were
light and gay to suit the season As to the women themselves it was pleasant
indeed to see them they were so kind and happylooking in expression of face
so shapely and wellknit of body and thoroughly healthylooking and strong All
were at least comely and one of them very handsome and regular of feature They
came up to us at once merrily and without the least affectation of shyness and
all three shook hands with me as if I were a friend newly come back from a long
journey though I could not help noticing that they looked askance at my
garments for I had on my clothes of last night and at the best was never a
dressy person
A word or two from Robert the weaver and they bustled about on our behoof
and presently came and took us by the hands and led us to a table in the
pleasantest corner of the hall where our breakfast was spread for us and as
we sat down one of them hurried out by the chambers aforesaid and came back
again in a little while with a great bunch of roses very different in size and
quality to what Hammersmith had been wont to grow but very like the produce of
an old country garden She hurried back thence into the buttery and came back
once more with a delicately made glass into which she put the flowers and set
them down in the midst of our table One of the others who had run off also
then came back with a big cabbageleaf filled with strawberries some of them
barely ripe and said as she set them on the table »There now I thought of
that before I got up this morning but looking at the stranger here getting into
your boat Dick put it out of my head so that I was not before all the
blackbirds however there are a few about as good as you will get them anywhere
in Hammersmith this morning«
Robert patted her on the head in a friendly manner and we fell to on our
breakfast which was simple enough but most delicately cooked and set on the
table with much daintiness The bread was particularly good and was of several
different kinds from the big rather close darkcoloured sweettasting
farmhouse loaf which was most to my liking to the thin pipestems of wheaten
crust such as I have eaten in Turin
As I was putting the first mouthfuls into my mouth my eye caught a carved
and gilded inscription on the panelling behind what we should have called the
High Table in an Oxford college hall and a familiar name in it forced me to
read it through Thus it ran
»Guests and neighbours on the site of this Guest hall once stood the
lectureroom of the Hammersmith Socialists Drink a glass to the memory May
1962«
It is difficult to tell you how I felt as I read these words and I suppose my
face showed how much I was moved for both my friends looked curiously at me
and there was silence between us for a little while
Presently the weaver who was scarcely so well mannered a man as the
ferryman said to me rather awkwardly
»Guest we dont know what to call you is there any indiscretion in asking
you your name«
»Well« said I »I have some doubts about it myself so suppose you call me
Guest which is a family name you know and add William to it if you please«
Dick nodded kindly to me but a shade of anxiousness passed over the
weavers face and he said
»I hope you dont mind my asking but would you tell me where you come from
I am curious about such things for good reasons literary reasons«
Dick was clearly kicking him underneath the table but he was not much
abashed and awaited my answer somewhat eagerly As for me I was just going to
blurt out Hammersmith when I bethought me what an entanglement of cross
purposes that would lead us into so I took time to invent a lie with
circumstance guarded by a little truth and said
»You see I have been such a long time away from Europe that things seem
strange to me now but I was born and bred on the edge of Epping Forest
Walthamstow and Woodford to wit«
»A pretty place too« broke in Dick »a very jolly place now that the
trees have had time to grow again since the great clearing of houses in 1955«
Quoth the irrepressible weaver »Dear neighbour since you knew the Forest
some time ago could you tell me what truth there is in the rumour that in the
nineteenth century the trees were all pollards«
This was catching me on my archæological naturalhistory side and I fell
into the trap without any thought of where and when I was so I began on it
while one of the girls the handsome one who had been scattering little twigs
of lavender and other sweetsmelling herbs about the floor came near to listen
and stood behind me with her hand on my shoulder in which she held some of the
plant that I used to call balm its strong sweet smell brought back to my mind
my very early days in the kitchengarden at Woodford and the large blue plums
which grew on the wall beyond the sweetherb patch a connection of memories
which all boys will see at once
I started off »When I was a boy and for long after except for a piece
about Queen Elizabeths Lodge and for the part about High Beech the Forest was
almost wholly made up of pollard hornbeams mixed with holly thickets But when
the Corporation of London took it over about twentyfive years ago the topping
and lopping which was a part of the old commoners rights came to an end and
the trees were let to grow But I have not seen the place now for many years
except once when we Leaguers went apleasuring to High Beech I was very much
shocked then to see how it was builtover and altered and the other day we
heard that the philistines were going to landscapegarden it But what you were
saying about the building being stopped and the trees growing is only too good
news only you know «
At that point I suddenly remembered Dicks date and stopped short rather
confused The eager weaver didnt notice my confusion but said hastily as if
he were almost aware of his breach of good manners »But I say how old are
you«
Dick and the pretty girl both burst out laughing as if Roberts conduct
were excusable on the grounds of eccentricity and Dick said amidst his
laughter
»Hold hard Bob this questioning of guests wont do Why much learning is
spoiling you You remind me of the radical cobblers in the silly old novels
who according to the authors were prepared to trample down all good manners in
the pursuit of utilitarian knowledge The fact is I begin to think that you
have so muddled your head with mathematics and with grubbing into those idiotic
old books about political economy he he that you scarcely know how to
behave Really it is about time for you to take to some openair work so that
you may clear away the cobwebs from your brain«
The weaver only laughed goodhumouredly and the girl went up to him and
patted his cheek and said laughingly »Poor fellow he was born so«
As for me I was a little puzzled but I laughed also partly for companys
sake and partly with pleasure at their unanxious happiness and good temper and
before Robert could make the excuse to me which he was getting ready I said
»But neighbours« I had caught up that word »I dont in the least mind
answering questions when I can do so ask me as many as you please its fun
for me I will tell you all about Epping Forest when I was a boy if you please
and as to my age Im not a fine lady you know so why shouldnt I tell you
Im hard on fiftysix«
In spite of the recent lecture on good manners the weaver could not help
giving a long whew of astonishment and the others were so amused by his naïveté
that the merriment flitted all over their faces though for courtesys sake they
forbore actual laughter while I looked from one to the other in a puzzled
manner and at last said
»Tell me please what is amiss you know I want to learn from you And
please laugh only tell me«
Well they did laugh and I joined them again for the abovestated reasons
But at last the pretty woman said coaxingly
»Well well he is rude poor fellow but you see I may as well tell you
what he is thinking about he means that you look rather old for your age But
surely there need be no wonder in that since you have been travelling and
clearly from all you have been saying in unsocial countries It has often been
said and no doubt truly that one ages very quickly if one lives amongst
unhappy people Also they say that southern England is a good place for keeping
good looks« She blushed and said »How old am I do you think«
»Well« quoth I »I have always been told that a woman is as old as she
looks so without offence or flattery I should say that you were twenty«
She laughed merrily and said »I am well served out for fishing for
compliments since I have to tell you the truth to wit that I am fortytwo«
I stared at her and drew musical laughter from her again but I might well
stare for there was not a careful line on her face her skin was as smooth as
ivory her cheeks full and round her lips as red as the roses she had brought
in her beautiful arms which she had bared for her work firm and wellknit
from shoulder to wrist She blushed a little under my gaze though it was clear
that she had taken me for a man of eighty so to pass it off I said
»Well you see the old saw is proved right again and I ought not to have
let you tempt me into asking you a rude question«
She laughed again and said »Well lads old and young I must get to my
work now We shall be rather busy here presently and I want to clear it off
soon for I began to read a pretty old book yesterday and I want to get on with
it this morning so goodbye for the present«
She waved a hand to us and stepped lightly down the hall taking as Scott
says at least part of the sun from our table as she went
When she was gone Dick said »Now Guest wont you ask a question or two of
our friend here It is only fair that you should have your turn«
»I shall be very glad to answer them« said the weaver
»If I ask you any questions sir« said I »they will not be very severe
but since I hear that you are a weaver I should like to ask you something about
that craft as I am or was interested in it«
»Oh« said he »I shall not be of much use to you there Im afraid I only
do the most mechanical kind of weaving and am in fact but a poor craftsman
unlike Dick here Then besides the weaving I do a little with machine printing
and composing though I am little use at the finer kinds of printing and
moreover machine printing is beginning to die out along with the waning of the
plague of bookmaking so I have had to turn to other things that I have a taste
for and have taken to mathematics and also I am writing a sort of antiquarian
book about the peaceable and private history so to say of the end of the
nineteenth century more for the sake of giving a picture of the country
before the fighting began than for anything else That was why I asked you those
questions about Epping Forest You have rather puzzled me I confess though
your information was so interesting But later on I hope we may have some more
talk together when our friend Dick isnt here I know he thinks me rather a
grinder and despises me for not being very deft with my hands thats the way
nowadays From what I have read of the nineteenth century literature and I have
read a good deal it is clear to me that this is a kind of revenge for the
stupidity of that day which despised everybody who could use his hands But
Dick old fellow Ne quid nimis Dont overdo it«
»Come now« said Dick »am I likely to Am I not the most tolerant man in
the world Am I not quite contented so long as you dont make me learn
mathematics or go into your new science of æsthetics and let me do a little
practical æsthetics with my gold and steel and the blowpipe and the nice little
hammer But hillo here comes another questioner for you my poor guest I say
Bob you must help me to defend him now«
»Here Boffin« he cried out after a pause »here we are if you must have
it«
I looked over my shoulder and saw something flash and gleam in the sunlight
that lay across the hall so I turned round and at my ease saw a splendid
figure slowly sauntering over the pavement a man whose surcoat was embroidered
most copiously as well as elegantly so that the sun flashed back from him as if
he had been clad in golden armour The man himself was tall darkhaired and
exceedingly handsome and though his face was no less kindly in expression than
that of the others he moved with that somewhat haughty mien which great beauty
is apt to give to both men and women He came and sat down at our table with a
smiling face stretching out his long legs and hanging his arm over the chair in
the slowly graceful way which tall and wellbuilt people may use without
affectation He was a man in the prime of life but looked as happy as a child
who has just got a new toy He bowed gracefully to me and said
»I see clearly that you are the guest of whom Annie has just told me who
have come from some distant country that does not know of us or our ways of
life So I daresay you would not mind answering me a few questions for you see
«
Here Dick broke in »No please Boffin let it alone for the present Of
course you want the guest to be happy and comfortable and how can that be if he
has to trouble himself with answering all sorts of questions while he is still
confused with the new customs and people about him No no I am going to take
him where he can ask questions himself and have them answered that is to my
greatgrandfather in Bloomsbury and I am sure you cant have anything to say
against that So instead of bothering you had much better go out to James
Allens and get a carriage for me as I shall drive him up myself and please
tell Jim to let me have the old grey for I can drive a wherry much better than
a carriage Jump up old fellow and dont be disappointed our guest will keep
himself for you and your stories«
I stared at Dick for I wondered at his speaking to such a dignifiedlooking
personage so familiarly not to say curtly for I thought that this Mr Boffin
in spite of his wellknown name out of Dickens must be at the least a senator
of these strange people However he got up and said »All right old
oarwearer whatever you like this is not one of my busy days and though«
with a condescending bow to me »my pleasure of a talk with this learned guest
is put off I admit that he ought to see your worthy kinsman as soon as
possible Besides perhaps he will be the better able to answer my questions
after his own have been answered«
And therewith he turned and swung himself out of the hall
When he was well gone I said »Is it wrong to ask what Mr Boffin is whose
name by the way reminds me of many pleasant hours passed in reading Dickens«
Dick laughed »Yes yes« said he »as it does us I see you take the
allusion Of course his real name is not Boffin but Henry Johnson we only call
him Boffin as a joke partly because he is a dustman and partly because he will
dress so showily and get as much gold on him as a baron of the Middle Ages As
why should he not if he likes only we are his special friends you know so of
course we jest with him«
I held my tongue for some time after that but Dick went on
»He is a capital fellow and you cant help liking him but he has a
weakness he will spend his time in writing reactionary novels and is very
proud of getting the local colour right as he calls it and as he thinks you
come from some forgotten corner of the earth where people are unhappy and
consequently interesting to a storyteller he thinks he might get some
information out of you O he will be quite straightforward with you for that
matter Only for your own comfort beware of him«
»Well Dick« said the weaver doggedly »I think his novels are very good«
»Of course you do« said Dick »birds of a feather flock together
mathematics and antiquarian novels stand on much the same footing But here he
comes again«
And in effect the Golden Dustman hailed us from the halldoor so we all got
up and went into the porch before which with a strong grey horse in the
shafts stood a carriage ready for us which I could not help noticing It was
light and handy but had none of that sickening vulgarity which I had known as
inseparable from the carriages of our time especially the elegant ones but was
as graceful and pleasant in line as a Wessex waggon We got in Dick and I The
girls who had come into the porch to see us off waved their hands to us the
weaver nodded kindly the dustman bowed as gracefully as a troubadour Dick
shook the reins and we were off
Chapter IV
A Market by the Way
We turned away from the river at once and were soon in the main road that runs
through Hammersmith But I should have had no guess as to where I was if I had
not started from the waterside for King Street was gone and the highway ran
through wide sunny meadows and gardenlike tillage The Creek which we crossed
at once had been rescued from its culvert and as we went over its pretty
bridge we saw its waters yet swollen by the tide covered with gay boats of
different sizes There were houses about some on the road some amongst the
fields with pleasant lanes leading down to them and each surrounded by a
teeming garden They were all pretty in design and as solid as might be but
countryfied in appearance like yeomens dwellings some of them of red brick
like those by the river but more of timber and plaster which were by the
necessity of their construction so like mediæval houses of the same materials
that I fairly felt as if I were alive in the fourteenth century a sensation
helped out by the costume of the people that we met or passed in whose dress
there was nothing modern Almost everybody was gaily dressed but especially the
women who were so welllooking or even so handsome that I could scarcely
refrain my tongue from calling my companions attention to the fact Some faces
I saw that were thoughtful and in these I noticed great nobility of expression
but none that had a glimmer of unhappiness and the greater part we came upon a
good many people were frankly and openly joyous
I thought I knew the Broadway by the lie of the roads that still met there
On the north side of the road was a range of buildings and courts low but very
handsomely built and ornamented and in that way forming a great contrast to the
unpretentiousness of the houses round about while above this lower building
rose the steep leadcovered roof and the buttresses and higher part of the wall
of a great hall of a splendid and exuberant style of architecture of which one
can say little more than that it seemed to me to embrace the best qualities of
the Gothic of northern Europe with those of the Saracenicand Byzantine though
there was no copying of any one of these styles On the other the south side
of the road was an octagonal building with a high roof not unlike the Baptistry
at Florence in outline except that it was surrounded by a leanto that clearly
made an arcade or cloisters to it it also was most delicately ornamented
This whole mass of architecture which we had come upon so suddenly from
amidst the pleasant fields was not only exquisitely beautiful in itself but it
bore upon it the expression of such generosity and abundance of life that I was
exhilarated to a pitch that I had never yet reached I fairly chuckled for
pleasure My friend seemed to understand it and sat looking on me with a
pleased and affectionate interest We had pulled up amongst a crowd of carts
wherein sat handsome healthylooking people men women and children very gaily
dressed and which were clearly market carts as they were full of very
temptinglooking country produce
I said »I need not ask if this is a market for I see clearly that it is
but what market is it that it is so splendid And what is the glorious hall
there and what is the building on the south side«
»O« said he »it is just our Hammersmith market and I am glad you like it
so much for we are really proud of it Of course the hall inside is our winter
MoteHouse for in summer we mostly meet in the fields down by the river
opposite Barn Elms The building on our right hand is our theatre I hope you
like it«
»I should be a fool if I didnt« said I
He blushed a little as he said »I am glad of that too because I had a
hand in it I made the great doors which are of damascened bronze We will look
at them later in the day perhaps but we ought to be getting on now As to the
market this is not one of our busy days so we shall do better with it another
time because you will see more people«
I thanked him and said »Are these the regular country people What very
pretty girls there are amongst them«
As I spoke my eye caught the face of a beautiful woman tall darkhaired
and whiteskinned dressed in a pretty lightgreen dress in honour of the season
and the hot day who smiled kindly on me and more kindly still I thought on
Dick so I stopped a minute but presently went on
»I ask because I do not see any of the countrylooking people I should have
expected to see at a market I mean selling things there«
»I dont understand« said he »what kind of people you would expect to see
nor quite what you mean by country people These are the neighbours and that
like they run in the Thames valley There are parts of these islands which are
rougher and rainier than we are here and there people are rougher in their
dress and they themselves are tougher and more hardbitten than we are to look
at But some people like their looks better than ours they say they have more
character in them thats the word Well its a matter of taste Anyhow the
cross between us and them generally turns out well« added he thoughtfully
I heard him though my eyes were turned away from him for that pretty girl
was just disappearing through the gate with her big basket of early peas and I
felt that disappointed kind of feeling which overtakes one when one has seen an
interesting or lovely face in the streets which one is never likely to see
again and I was silent a little At last I said »What I mean is that I
havent seen any poor people about not one«
He knit his brows looked puzzled and said »No naturally if anybody is
poorly he is likely to be within doors or at best crawling about the garden
but I dont know of any one sick at present Why should you expect to see poorly
people on the road«
»No no« I said »I dont mean sick people I mean poor people you know
rough people«
»No« said he smiling merrily »I really do not know The fact is you must
come along quick to my greatgrandfather who will understand you better than I
do Come on Greylocks« Therewith he shook the reins and we jogged along
merrily eastward
Chapter V
Children on the Road
Past the Broadway there were fewer houses on either side We presently crossed a
pretty little brook that ran across a piece of land dotted over with trees and
awhile after came to another market and townhall as we should call it
Although there was nothing familiar to me in its surroundings I knew pretty
well where we were and was not surprised when my guide said briefly
»Kensington Market«
Just after this we came into a short street of houses or rather one long
house on either side of the way built of timber and plaster and with a pretty
arcade over the footway before it
Quoth Dick »This is Kensington proper People are apt to gather here rather
thick for they like the romance of the wood and naturalists haunt it too for
it is a wild spot even here what there is of it for it does not go far to the
south it goes from here northward and west right over Paddington and a little
way down Notting Hill thence it runs northeast to Primrose Hill and so on
rather a narrow strip of it gets through Kingsland to StokeNewington and
Clapton where it spreads out along the heights above the Lea marshes on the
other side of which as you know is Epping Forest holding out a hand to it
This part we are just coming to is called Kensington Gardens though why gardens
I dont know«
I rather longed to say »Well I know« but there were so many things about
me which I did not know in spite of his assumptions that I thought it better
to hold my tongue
The road plunged at once into a beautiful wood spreading out on either side
but obviously much further on the north side where even the oaks and sweet
chestnuts were of a good growth while the quickergrowing trees amongst which
I thought the planes and sycamores too numerous were very big and finegrown
It was exceedingly pleasant in the dappled shadow for the day was growing
as hot as need be and the coolness and shade soothed my excited mind into a
condition of dreamy pleasure so that I felt as if I should like to go on for
ever through that balmy freshness My companion seemed to share in my feelings
and let the horse go slower and slower as he sat inhaling the green forest
scents chief amongst which was the smell of the trodden bracken near the
wayside
Romantic as this Kensington wood was however it was not lonely We came on
many groups both coming and going or wandering in the edges of the wood
Amongst these were many children from six or eight years old up to sixteen or
seventeen They seemed to me to be especially fine specimens of their race and
were clearly enjoying themselves to the utmost some of them were hanging about
little tents pitched on the greensward and by some of these fires were burning
with pots hanging over them gipsy fashion Dick explained to me that there were
scattered houses in the forest and indeed we caught a glimpse of one or two He
said they were mostly quite small such as used to be called cottages when there
were slaves in the land but they were pleasant enough and fitting for the wood
»They must be pretty well stocked with children« said I pointing to the
many youngsters about the way
»O« said he »these children do not all come from the near houses the
woodland houses but from the countryside generally They often make up parties
and come to play in the woods for weeks together in summertime living in
tents as you see We rather encourage them to it they learn to do things for
themselves and get to notice the wild creatures and you see the less they
stew inside houses the better for them Indeed I must tell you that many grown
people will go to live in the forests through the summer though they for the
most part go to the bigger ones like Windsor or the Forest of Dean or the
northern wastes Apart from the other pleasures of it it gives them a little
rough work which I am sorry to say is getting somewhat scarce for these last
fifty years«
He broke off and then said »I tell you all this because I see that if I
talk I must be answering questions which you are thinking even if you are not
speaking them out but my kinsman will tell you more about it«
I saw that I was likely to get out of my depth again and so merely for the
sake of tiding over an awkwardness and to say something I said
»Well the youngsters here will be all the fresher for school when the
summer gets over and they have to go back again«
»School« he said »yes what do you mean by that word I dont see how it
can have anything to do with children We talk indeed of a school of herring
and a school of painting and in the former sense we might talk of a school of
children but otherwise« said he laughing »I must own myself beaten«
Hang it thought I I cant open my mouth without digging up some new
complexity I wouldnt try to set my friend right in his etymology and I
thought I had best say nothing about the boyfarms which I had been used to call
schools as I saw pretty clearly that they had disappeared and so I said after
a little fumbling »I was using the word in the sense of a system of education«
»Education« said he meditatively »I know enough Latin to know that the
word must come from educere to lead out and I have heard it used but I have
never met anybody who could give me a clear explanation of what it means«
You may imagine how my new friends fell in my esteem when I heard this frank
avowal and I said rather contemptuously »Well education means a system of
teaching young people«
»Why not old people also« said he with a twinkle in his eye »But« he went
on »I can assure you our children learn whether they go through a system of
teaching or not Why you will not find one of these children about here boy or
girl who cannot swim and every one of them has been used to tumbling about the
little forest ponies theres one of them now They all of them know how to
cook the bigger lads can mow many can thatch and do odd jobs at carpentering
or they know how to keep shop I can tell you they know plenty of things«
»Yes but their mental education the teaching of their minds« said I
kindly translating my phrase
»Guest« said he »perhaps you have not learned to do these things I have
been speaking about and if thats the case dont you run away with the idea
that it doesnt take some skill to do them and doesnt give plenty of work for
ones mind you would change your opinion if you saw a Dorsetshire lad
thatching for instance But however I understand you to be speaking of
booklearning and as to that it is a simple affair Most children seeing
books lying about manage to read by the time they are four years old though I
am told it has not always been so As to writing we do not encourage them to
scrawl too early though scrawl a little they will because it gets them into a
habit of ugly writing and whats the use of a lot of ugly writing being done
when rough printing can be done so easily You understand that handsome writing
we like and many people will write their books out when they make them or get
them written I mean books of which only a few copies are needed poems and
such like you know However I am wandering from my lambs but you must excuse
me for I am interested in this matter of writing being myself a fairwriter«
»Well« said I »about the children when they know how to read and write
dont they learn something else languages for instance«
»Of course« he said »sometimes even before they can read they can talk
French which is the nearest language talked on the other side of the water and
they soon get to know German also which is talked by a huge number of communes
and colleges on the mainland These are the principal languages we speak in
these islands along with English or Welsh or Irish which is another form of
Welsh and children pick them up very quickly because their elders all know
them and besides our guests from over sea often bring their children with them
and the little ones get together and rub their speech into one another«
»And the older languages« said I
»O yes« said he »they mostly learn Latin and Greek along with the modern
ones when they do anything more than merely pick up the latter«
»And history« said I »how do you teach history«
»Well« said he »when a person can read of course he reads what he likes
to and he can easily get someone to tell him what are the best books to read on
such or such a subject or to explain what he doesnt understand in the books
when he is reading them«
»Well« said I »what else do they learn I suppose they dont all learn
history«
»No no« said he »some dont care about it in fact I dont think many
do I have heard my greatgrandfather say that it is mostly in periods of
turmoil and strife and confusion that people care much about history and you
know« said my friend with an amiable smile »we are not like that now No
many people study facts about the make of things and the matters of cause and
effect, so that knowledge increases on us if that be good and some as you
heard about friend Bob yonder will spend time over mathematics Tis no use
forcing peoples tastes«
Said I »But you dont mean that children learn all these things«
Said he »That depends on what you mean by children and also you must
remember how much they differ As a rule they dont do much reading except for
a few storybooks till they are about fifteen years old we dont encourage
early bookishness though you will find some children who will take to books
very early which perhaps is not good for them but its no use thwarting them
and very often it doesnt last long with them and they find their level before
they are twenty years old You see children are mostly given to imitating their
elders and when they see most people about them engaged in genuinely amusing
work like housebuilding and streetpaving and gardening and the like that
is what they want to be doing so I dont think we need fear having too many
booklearned men«
What could I say I sat and held my peace for fear of fresh entanglements
Besides I was using my eyes with all my might wondering as the old horse
jogged on when I should come into London proper and what it would be like now
But my companion couldnt let his subject quite drop and went on
meditatively
»After all I dont know that it does them much harm even if they do grow
up bookstudents Such people as that tis a great pleasure seeing them so
happy over work which is not much sought for And besides these students are
generally such pleasant people so kind and sweet tempered so humble and at
the same time so anxious to teach everybody all that they know Really I like
those that I have met prodigiously«
This seemed to me such very queer talk that I was on the point of asking him
another question when just as we came to the top of a rising ground down a
long glade of the wood on my right I caught sight of a stately building whose
outline was familiar to me and I cried out »Westminster Abbey«
»Yes« said Dick »Westminster Abbey what there is left of it«
»Why what have you done with it« quoth I in terror
»What have we done with it« said he »nothing much save clean it But you
know the whole outside was spoiled centuries ago as to the inside that remains
in its beauty after the great clearance which took place over a hundred years
ago of the beastly monuments to fools and knaves which once blocked it up as
greatgrandfather says«
We went on a little further and I looked to the right again and said in
rather a doubtful tone of voice »Why there are the Houses of Parliament Do
you still use them«
He burst out laughing and was some time before he could control himself
then he clapped me on the back and said
»I take you neighbour you may well wonder at our keeping them standing
and I know something about that and my old kinsman has given me books to read
about the strange game that they played there Use them Well yes they are
used for a sort of subsidiary market and a storage place for manure and they
are handy for that being on the waterside I believe it was intended to pull
them down quite at the beginning of our days but there was I am told a queer
antiquarian society which had done some service in past times and which
straightway set up its pipe against their destruction as it has done with many
other buildings which most people looked upon as worthless and public
nuisances and it was so energetic and had such good reasons to give that it
generally gained its point and I must say that when all is said I am glad of
it because you know at the worst these silly old buildings serve as a kind of
foil to the beautiful ones which we build now You will see several others in
these parts the place my greatgrandfather lives in for instance and a big
building called St Pauls And you see in this matter we need not grudge a few
poorish buildings standing because we can always build elsewhere nor need we
be anxious as to the breeding of pleasant work in such matters for there is
always room for more and more work in a new building even without making it
pretentious For instance elbowroom within doors is to me so delightful that
if I were driven to it I would almost sacrifice outdoor space to it Then of
course there is the ornament which as we must all allow may easily be
overdone in mere living houses but can hardly be in motehalls and markets and
so forth I must tell you though that my greatgrandfather sometimes tells me
I am a little cracked on this subject of fine building and indeed I do think
that the energies of mankind are chiefly of use to them for such work for in
that direction I can see no end to the work while in many others a limit does
seem possible«
Chapter VI
A Little Shopping
As he spoke we came suddenly out of the woodland into a short street of
handsomely built houses which my companion named to me at once as Piccadilly
the lower part of these I should have called shops if it had not been that as
far as I could see the people were ignorant of the arts of buying and selling
Wares were displayed in their finely designed fronts as if to tempt people in
and people stood and looked at them or went in and came out with parcels under
their arms just like the real thing On each side of the street ran an elegant
arcade to protect footpassengers as in some of the old Italian cities About
halfway down a huge building of the kind I was now prepared to expect told me
that this also was a centre of some kind and had its special public buildings
Said Dick »Here you see is another market on a different plan from most
others the upper stories of these houses are used for guesthouses for people
from all about the country are apt to drift up hither from time to time as folk
are very thick upon the ground which you will see evidence of presently and
there are people who are fond of crowds though I cant say that I am«
I couldnt help smiling to see how long a tradition would last Here was the
ghost of London still asserting itself as a centre an intellectual centre
for aught I knew However I said nothing except that I asked him to drive very
slowly as the things in the booths looked exceedingly pretty
»Yes« said he »this is a very good market for pretty things and is mostly
kept for the handsomer goods as the HousesofParliament market where they set
out cabbages and turnips and such like things along with beer and the rougher
kind of wine is so near«
Then he looked at me curiously and said »Perhaps you would like to do a
little shopping as tis called«
I looked at what I could see of my rough blue duds which I had plenty of
opportunity of contrasting with the gay attire of the citizens we had come
across and I thought that if as seemed likely I should presently be shown
about as a curiosity for the amusement of this most unbusinesslike people I
should like to look a little less like a discharged ships purser But in spite
of all that had happened my hand went down into my pocket again where to my
dismay it met nothing metallic except two rusty old keys and I remembered that
amidst our talk in the guesthall at Hammersmith I had taken the cash out of my
pocket to show to the pretty Annie and had left it lying there My face fell
fifty per cent and Dick beholding me said rather sharply
»Hilloa Guest whats the matter now Is it a wasp«
»No« said I »but Ive left it behind«
»Well« said he »whatever you have left behind you can get in this market
again so dont trouble yourself about it«
I had come to my senses by this time and remembering the astounding customs
of this country had no mind for another lecture on social economy and the
Edwardian coinage so I said only
»My clothes Couldnt I You see What do you think could be done about
them«
He didnt seem in the least inclined to laugh but said quite gravely
»O dont get new clothes yet You see my greatgrandfather is an
antiquarian and he will want to see you just as you are And you know I
mustnt preach to you but surely it wouldnt be right for you to take away
peoples pleasure of studying your attire by just going and making yourself
like everybody else You feel that dont you« said he earnestly
I did not feel it my duty to set myself up for a scarecrow amidst this
beautyloving people but I saw I had got across some ineradicable prejudice
and that it wouldnt do to quarrel with my new friend So I merely said »O
certainly certainly«
»Well« said he pleasantly »you may as well see what the inside of these
booths is like think of something you want«
Said I »Could I get some tobacco and a pipe«
»Of course« said he »what was I thinking of not asking you before Well
Bob is always telling me that we nonsmokers are a selfish lot and Im afraid
he is right But come along here is a place just handy«
Therewith he drew rein and jumped down and I followed A very handsome
woman splendidly clad in figured silk was slowly passing by looking into the
windows as she went To her quoth Dick »Maiden would you kindly hold our horse
while we go in for a little« She nodded to us with a kind smile and fell to
patting the horse with her pretty hand
»What a beautiful creature« said I to Dick as we entered
»What old Greylocks« said he with a sly grin
»No no« said I »Goldylocks the lady«
»Well so she is« said he »Tis a good job there are so many of them that
every Jack may have his Jill else I fear that we should get fighting for them
Indeed« said he becoming very grave »I dont say that it does not happen even
now sometimes For you know love is not a very reasonable thing and perversity
and selfwill are commoner than some of our moralists think« He added in a
still more sombre tone »Yes only a month ago there was a mishap down by us
that in the end cost the lives of two men and a woman and as it were put out
the sunlight for us for a while Dont ask me about it just now I may tell you
about it later on«
By this time we were within the shop or booth which had a counter and
shelves on the walls all very neat though without any pretence of showiness
but otherwise not very different to what I had been used to Within were a
couple of children a brownskinned boy of about twelve who sat reading a
book and a pretty little girl of about a year older who was sitting also
reading behind the counter they were obviously brother and sister
»Good morning little neighbours« said Dick »My friend here wants tobacco
and a pipe can you help him«
»O yes certainly« said the girl with a sort of demure alertness which was
somewhat amusing The boy looked up and fell to staring at my outlandish
attire but presently reddened and turned his head as if he knew that he was
not behaving prettily
»Dear neighbour« said the girl with the most solemn countenance of a child
playing at keeping shop »what tobacco is it you would like«
»Latakia« quoth I feeling as if I were assisting at a childs game and
wondering whether I should get anything but makebelieve
But the girl took a dainty little basket from a shelf beside her went to a
jar and took out a lot of tobacco and put the filled basket down on the counter
before me where I could both smell and see that it was excellent Latakia
»But you havent weighed it« said I »and and how much am I to take«
»Why« she said »I advise you to cram your bag because you may be going
where you cant get Latakia Where is your bag«
I fumbled about and at last pulled out my piece of cotton print which does
duty with me for a tobacco pouch But the girl looked at it with some disdain
and said
»Dear neighbour I can give you something much better than that cotton rag«
And she tripped up the shop and came back presently and as she passed the boy
whispered something in his ear and he nodded and got up and went out The girl
held up in her finger and thumb a red morocco bag gaily embroidered and said
»There I have chosen one for you and you are to have it it is pretty and
will hold a lot«
Therewith she fell to cramming it with the tobacco and laid it down by me
and said »Now for the pipe that also you must let me choose for you there are
three pretty ones just come in«
She disappeared again and came back with a bigbowled pipe in her hand
carved out of some hard wood very elaborately and mounted in gold sprinkled
with little gems It was in short as pretty and gay a toy as I had ever seen
something like the best kind of Japanese work but better
»Dear me« said I when I set eyes on it »this is altogether too grand for
me or for anybody but the Emperor of the World Besides I shall lose it I
always lose my pipes«
The child seemed rather dashed and said »Dont you like it neighbour«
»O yes« I said »of course I like it«
»Well then take it« said she »and dont trouble about losing it What
will it matter if you do Somebody is sure to find it and he will use it and
you can get another«
I took it out of her hand to look at it and while I did so forgot my
caution and said »But however am I to pay for such a thing as this«
Dick laid his hand on my shoulder as I spoke and turning I met his eyes
with a comical expression in them which warned me against another exhibition of
extinct commercial morality so I reddened and held my tongue while the girl
simply looked at me with the deepest gravity as if I were a foreigner
blundering in my speech for she clearly didnt understand me a bit
»Thank you so very much« I said at last effusively as I put the pipe in
my pocket not without a qualm of doubt as to whether I shouldnt find myself
before a magistrate presently
»O you are so very welcome« said the little lass with an affectation of
grownup manners at their best which was very quaint »It is such a pleasure to
serve dear old gentlemen like you specially when one can see at once that you
have come from far over sea«
»Yes my dear« quoth I »I have been a great traveller«
As I told this lie from pure politeness in came the lad again with a tray
in his hands on which I saw a long flask and two beautiful glasses
»Neighbours« said the girl who did all the talking her brother being very
shy clearly »please to drink a glass to us before you go since we do not have
guests like this every day«
Therewith the boy put the tray on the counter and solemnly poured out a
strawcoloured wine into the long bowls Nothing loth I drank for I was
thirsty with the hot day and thinks I I am yet in the world and the grapes of
the Rhine have not yet lost their flavour for if ever I drank good Steinberg I
drank it that morning and I made a mental note to ask Dick how they managed to
make fine wine when there were no longer labourers compelled to drink rotgut
instead of the fine wine which they themselves made
»Dont you drink a glass to us dear little neighbours« said I
»I dont drink wine« said the lass »I like lemonade better but I wish
your health«
»And I like gingerbeer better« said the little lad
Well well thought I neither have childrens tastes changed much And
therewith we gave them good day and went out of the booth
To my disappointment like a change in a dream a tall old man was holding
our horse instead of the beautiful woman He explained to us that the maiden
could not wait and that he had taken her place and he winked at us and laughed
when he saw how our faces fell so that we had nothing for it but to laugh also
»Where are you going« said he to Dick
»To Bloomsbury« said Dick
»If you two dont want to be alone Ill come with you« said the old man
»All right« said Dick »tell me when you want to get down and Ill stop for
you Lets get on«
So we got under way again and I asked if children generally waited on
people in the markets »Often enough« said he »when it isnt a matter of
dealing with heavy weights but by no means always The children like to amuse
themselves with it and it is good for them because they handle a lot of
diverse wares and get to learn about them how they are made and where they
come from and so on Besides it is such very easy work that anybody can do it
It is said that in the early days of our epoch there were a good many people who
were hereditarily afflicted with a disease called Idleness because they were
the direct descendants of those who in the bad times used to force other people
to work for them the people you know who are called slaveholders or
employers of labour in the history books Well these Idlenessstricken people
used to serve booths all their time because they were fit for so little
Indeed I believe that at one time they were actually compelled to do some such
work because they especially the women got so ugly and produced such ugly
children if their disease was not treated sharply that the neighbours couldnt
stand it However I am happy to say that all that is gone by now the disease
is either extinct or exists in such a mild form that a short course of aperient
medicine carries it off It is sometimes called the Bluedevils now or the
Mulleygrubs Queer names aint they«
»Yes« said I pondering much But the old man broke in
»Yes all that is true neighbour and I have seen some of those poor women
grown old But my father used to know some of them when they were young and he
said that they were as little like young women as might be they had hands like
bunches of skewers and wretched little arms like sticks and waists like
hourglasses and thin lips and peaked noses and pale cheeks and they were
always pretending to be offended at anything you said or did to them No wonder
they bore ugly children for no one except men like them could be in love with
them poor things«
He stopped and seemed to be musing on his past life and then said
»And do you know neighbours that once on a time people were still anxious
about that disease of Idleness at one time we gave ourselves a great deal of
trouble in trying to cure people of it Have you not read any of the medical
books on the subject«
»No« said I for the old man was speaking to me
»Well« said he »it was thought at the time that it was the survival of the
old mediæval disease of leprosy it seems it was very catching for many of the
people afflicted by it were much secluded and were waited upon by a special
class of diseased persons queerly dressed up so that they might be known They
wore amongst other garments breeches made of worsted velvet that stuff which
used to be called plush some years ago«
All this seemed very interesting to me and I should like to have made the
old man talk more But Dick got rather restive under so much ancient history
besides I suspect he wanted to keep me as fresh as he could for his
greatgrandfather So he burst out laughing at last and said »Excuse me
neighbours but I cant help it Fancy people not liking to work its too
ridiculous Why even you like to work old fellow sometimes« said he
affectionately patting the old horse with the whip »What a queer disease it
may well be called Mulleygrubs«
And he laughed out again most boisterously rather too much so I thought
for his usual good manners and I laughed with him for companys sake but from
the teeth outward only for I saw nothing funny in people not liking to work as
you may well imagine
Chapter VII
Trafalgar Square
And now again I was busy looking about me for we were quite clear of Piccadilly
Market and were in a region of elegantlybuilt much ornamented houses which I
should have called villas if they had been ugly and pretentious which was very
far from being the case Each house stood in a garden carefully cultivated and
running over with flowers The blackbirds were singing their best amidst the
gardentrees which except for a bay here and there and occasional groups of
limes seemed to be all fruittrees there were a great many cherrytrees now
all laden with fruit and several times as we passed by a garden we were offered
baskets of fine fruit by children and young girls Amidst all these gardens and
houses it was of course impossible to trace the sites of the old streets but it
seemed to me that the main roadways were the same as of old
We came presently into a large open space sloping somewhat toward the
south the sunny site of which had been taken advantage of for planting an
orchard mainly as I could see of apricottrees in the midst of which was a
pretty gay little structure of wood painted and gilded that looked like a
refreshmentstall From the southern side of the said orchard ran a long road
chequered over with the shadow of tall old peartrees at the end of which
showed the high tower of the Parliament House or Dung Market
A strange sensation came over me I shut my eyes to keep out the sight of
the sun glittering on this fair abode of gardens and for a moment there passed
before them a phantasmagoria of another day A great space surrounded by tall
ugly houses with an ugly church at the corner and a nondescript ugly cupolaed
building at my back the roadway thronged with a sweltering and excited crowd
dominated by omnibuses crowded with spectators In the midst a paved
befountained square populated only by a few men dressed in blue and a good
many singularly ugly bronze images one on the top of a tall column The said
square guarded up to the edge of the roadway by a fourfold line of big men clad
in blue and across the southern roadway the helmets of a band of
horsesoldiers dead white in the greyness of the chilly November afternoon
I opened my eyes to the sunlight again and looked round me and cried out
among the whispering trees and odorous blossoms »Trafalgar Square«
»Yes« said Dick who had drawn rein again »so it is I dont wonder at your
finding the name ridiculous but after all it was nobodys business to alter
it since the name of a dead folly doesnt bite Yet sometimes I think we might
have given it a name which would have commemorated the great battle which was
fought on the spot itself in 1952 that was important enough if the
historians dont lie«
»Which they generally do or at least did« said the old man »For instance
what can you make of this neighbours I have read a muddled account in a book
O a stupid book called James Social Democratic History of a fight which
took place here in or about the year 1887 I am bad at dates Some people says
this story were going to hold a wardmote here or some such thing and the
Government of London or the Council or the Commission or what not other
barbarous halfhatched body of fools fell upon these citizens as they were
then called with the armed hand That seems too ridiculous to be true but
according to this version of the story nothing much came of it which certainly
is too ridiculous to be true«
»Well« quoth I »but after all your Mr James is right so far and it is
true except that there was no fighting merely unarmed and peaceable people
attacked by ruffians armed with bludgeons«
»And they put up with that« said Dick with the first unpleasant expression
I had seen on his good face
Said I reddening »We had to put up with it we couldnt help it«
The old man looked at me keenly and said »You seem to know a great deal
about it neighbour And is it really true that nothing came of it«
»This came of it« said I »that a good many people were sent to prison
because of it«
»What of the bludgeoners« said the old man »Poor devils«
»No no« said I »of the bludgeoned«
Said the old man rather severely »Friend I expect that you have been
reading some rotten collection of lies and have been taken in by it too
easily«
»I assure you« said I »what I have been saying is true«
»Well well I am sure you think so neighbour« said the old man »but I
dont see why you should be so cocksure«
As I couldnt explain why I held my tongue Meanwhile Dick who had been
sitting with knit brows cogitating spoke at last and said gently and rather
sadly
»How strange to think that there have been men like ourselves and living in
this beautiful and happy country who I suppose had feelings and affections like
ourselves who could yet do such dreadful things«
»Yes« said I in a didactic tone »yet after all even those days were a
great improvement on the days that had gone before them Have you not read of
the Mediæval period and the ferocity of its criminal laws and how in those
days men fairly seemed to have enjoyed tormenting their fellow men nay for
the matter of that they made their God a tormentor and a jailer rather than
anything else«
»Yes« said Dick »there are good books on that period also some of which I
have read But as to the great improvement of the nineteenth century I dont
see it After all the Mediæval folk acted after their conscience as your
remark about their God which is true shows and they were ready to bear what
they inflicted on others whereas the nineteenth century ones were hypocrites
and pretended to be humane and yet went on tormenting those whom they dared to
treat so by shutting them up in prison for no reason at all except that they
were what they themselves the prisonmasters had forced them to be O its
horrible to think of«
»But perhaps« said I »they did not know what the prisons were like«
Dick seemed roused and even angry »More shame for them« said he »when
you and I know it all these years afterwards Look you neighbour they couldnt
fail to know what a disgrace a prison is to the Commonwealth at the best and
that their prisons were a good step on towards being at the worst«
Quoth I »But have you no prisons at all now«
As soon as the words were out of my mouth I felt that I had made a mistake
for Dick flushed red and frowned and the old man looked surprised and pained
and presently Dick said angrily yet as if restraining himself somewhat
»Man alive how can you ask such a question Have I not told you that we
know what a prison means by the undoubted evidence of really trustworthy books
helped out by our own imaginations And havent you specially called me to
notice that the people about the roads and streets look happy and how could
they look happy if they knew that their neighbours were shut up in prison while
they bore such things quietly And if there were people in prison you couldnt
hide it from folk like you may an occasional manslaying because that isnt
done of set purpose with a lot of people backing up the slayer in cold blood
as this prison business is Prisons indeed O no no no«
He stopped and began to cool down and said in a kind voice »But forgive
me I neednt be so hot about it since there are not any prisons Im afraid
you will think the worse of me for losing my temper Of course you coming from
the outlands cannot be expected to know about these things And now Im afraid
I have made you feel uncomfortable«
In a way he had but he was so generous in his heat that I liked him the
better for it and I said »No really tis all my fault for being so stupid
Let me change the subject and ask you what the stately building is on our left
just showing at the end of that grove of planetrees«
»Ah« he said »that is an old building built before the middle of the
twentieth century and as you see in a queer fantastic style not over
beautiful but there are some fine things inside it too mostly pictures some
very old It is called the National Gallery I have sometimes puzzled as to what
the name means anyhow nowadays wherever there is a place where pictures are
kept as curiosities permanently it is called a National Gallery perhaps after
this one Of course there are a good many of them up and down the country«
I didnt try to enlighten him feeling the task too heavy but I pulled out
my magnificent pipe and fell asmoking and the old horse jogged on again As we
went I said
»This pipe is a very elaborate toy and you seem so reasonable in this
country and your architecture is so good that I rather wonder at your turning
out such trivialities«
It struck me as I spoke that this was rather ungrateful of me after having
received such a fine present but Dick didnt seem to notice my bad manners but
said
»Well I dont know it is a pretty thing and since nobody need make such
things unless they like I dont see why they shouldnt make them if they like
Of course if carvers were scarce they would all be busy on the architecture as
you call it and then these toys a good word would not be made but since
there are plenty of people who can carve in fact almost everybody and as
work is somewhat scarce or we are afraid it may be folk do not discourage this
kind of petty work«
He mused a little and seemed somewhat perturbed but presently his face
cleared and he said »After all you must admit that the pipe is a very pretty
thing with the little people under the trees all cut so clean and sweet too
elaborate for a pipe perhaps but well it is very pretty«
»Too valuable for its use perhaps« said I
»Whats that« said he »I dont understand«
I was just going in a helpless way to try to make him understand when we
came by the gates of a big rambling building in which work of some sort seemed
going on »What building is that« said I eagerly for it was a pleasure amidst
all these strange things to see something a little like what I was used to »it
seems to be a factory«
»Yes« he said »I think I know what you mean and thats what it is but we
dont call them factories now but Bandedworkshops that is places where
people collect who want to work together«
»I suppose« said I »power of some sort is used there«
»No no« said he »Why should people collect together to use power when
they can have it at the places where they live or hard by any two or three of
them or any one for the matter of that No folk collect in these
Bandedworkshops to do handwork in which working together is necessary or
convenient such work is often very pleasant In there for instance they make
pottery and glass there you can see the tops of the furnaces Well of
course its handy to have fairsized ovens and kilns and glasspots and a good
lot of things to use them for though of course there are a good many such
places as it would be ridiculous if a man had a liking for potmaking or
glassblowing that he should have to live in one place or be obliged to forego
the work he liked«
»I see no smoke coming from the furnaces« said I
»Smoke« said Dick »why should you see smoke«
I held my tongue and he went on »Its a nice place inside though as plain
as you see outside As to the crafts throwing the clay must be jolly work the
glassblowing is rather a sweltering job but some folk like it very much
indeed and I dont much wonder there is such a sense of power when you have
got deft in it in dealing with the hot metal It makes a lot of pleasant work«
said he smiling »for however much care you take of such goods break they
will one day or another so there is always plenty to do«
I held my tongue and pondered
We came just here on a gang of men roadmending which delayed us a little
but I was not sorry for it for all I had seen hitherto seemed a mere part of a
summer holiday and I wanted to see how this folk would set to on a piece of
real necessary work They had been resting and had only just begun work again
as we came up so that the rattle of the picks was what woke me from my musing
There were about a dozen of them strong young men looking much like a boating
party at Oxford would have looked in the days I remembered and not more
troubled with their work their outer raiment lay on the roadside in an orderly
pile under the guardianship of a sixyearold boy who had his arm thrown over
the neck of a big mastiff who was as happily lazy as if the summerday had been
made for him alone As I eyed the pile of clothes I could see the gleam of gold
and silk embroidery on it and judged that some of these workmen had tastes akin
to those of the Golden Dustman of Hammersmith Beside them lay a good big basket
that had hints about it of cold pie and wine a half dozen of young women stood
by watching the work or the workers both of which were worth watching for the
latter smote great strokes and were very deft in their labour and as handsome
cleanbuilt fellows as you might find a dozen of in a summer day They were
laughing and talking merrily with each other and the women but presently their
foreman looked up and saw our way stopped So he stayed his pick and sang out
»Spell ho mates here are neighbours want to get past« Whereon the others
stopped also and drawing around us helped the old horse by easing our wheels
over the half undone road and then like men with a pleasant task on hand
hurried back to their work only stopping to give us a smiling goodday so that
the sound of the picks broke out again before Greylocks had taken to his
jogtrot Dick looked back over his shoulder at them and said
»They are in luck today its right down good sport trying how much
pickwork one can get into an hour and I can see those neighbours know their
business well It is not a mere matter of strength getting on quickly with such
work is it Guest«
»I should think not« said I »but to tell you the truth I have never tried
my hand at it«
»Really« said he gravely »that seems a pity it is good work for hardening
the muscles and I like it though I admit it is pleasanter the second week than
the first Not that I am a good hand at it the fellows used to chaff me at one
job where I was working I remember and sing out to me Well rowed stroke Put
your back into it bow«
»Not much of a joke« quoth I
»Well« said Dick »everything seems like a joke when we have a pleasant
spell of work on and good fellows merry about us we feel so happy you know«
Again I pondered silently
Chapter VIII
An Old Friend
We now turned into a pleasant lane where the branches of great planetrees
nearly met overhead but behind them lay low houses standing rather close
together
»This is Long Acre« quoth Dick »so there must once have been a cornfield
here How curious it is that places change so and yet keep their old names
Just look how thick the houses stand and they are still going on building look
you«
»Yes« said the old man »but I think the cornfields must have been built
over before the middle of the nineteenth century I have heard that about here
was one of the thickest parts of the town But I must get down here neighbours
I have got to call on a friend who lives in the gardens behind this Long Acre
Goodbye and good luck Guest«
And he jumped down and strode away vigorously like a young man
»How old should you say that neighbour will be« said I to Dick as we lost
sight of him for I saw that he was old and yet he looked dry and sturdy like a
piece of old oak a type of old man I was not used to seeing
»O about ninety I should say« said Dick
»How longlived your people must be« said I
»Yes« said Dick »certainly we have beaten the threescoreandten of the
old Jewish proverbbook But then you see that was written of Syria a hot dry
country where people live faster than in our temperate climate However I
dont think it matters much so long as a man is healthy and happy while he is
alive But now Guest we are so near to my old kinsmans dwellingplace that I
think you had better keep all future questions for him«
I nodded a yes and therewith we turned to the left and went down a gentle
slope through some beautiful rosegardens laid out on what I took to be the
site of Endell Street We passed on and Dick drew rein an instant as we came
across a long straightish road with houses scantily scattered up and down it He
waved his hand right and left and said »Holborn that side Oxford Road that
This was once a very important part of the crowded city outside the ancient
walls of the Roman and Mediæval burg many of the feudal nobles of the Middle
Ages we are told had big houses on either side of Holborn I daresay you
remember that the Bishop of Elys house is mentioned in Shakespeares play of
King Richard III and there are some remains of that still left However this
road is not of the same importance now that the ancient city is gone walls and
all«
He drove on again while I smiled faintly to think how the nineteenth
century of which such big words have been said counted for nothing in the
memory of this man who read Shakespeare and had not forgotten the Middle Ages
We crossed the road into a short narrow lane between the gardens and came
out again into a wide road on one side of which was a great and long building
turning its gables away from the highway which I saw at once was another public
group Opposite to it was a wide space of greenery without any wall or fence of
any kind I looked through the trees and saw beyond them a pillared portico
quite familiar to me no less old a friend in fact than the British Museum
It rather took my breath away amidst all the strange things I had seen but I
held my tongue and let Dick speak Said he
»Yonder is the British Museum where my greatgrandfather mostly lives so I
wont say much about it The building on the left is the Museum Market and I
think we had better turn in there for a minute or two for Greylocks will be
wanting his rest and his oats and I suppose you will stay with my kinsman the
greater part of the day and to say the truth there may be some one there whom
I particularly want to see and perhaps have a long talk with«
He blushed and sighed not altogether with pleasure I thought so of course
I said nothing and he turned the horse under an archway which brought us into a
very large paved quadrangle with a big sycamore tree in each corner and a
plashing fountain in the midst Near the fountain were a few market stalls with
awnings over them of gay striped linen cloth about which some people mostly
women and children were moving quietly looking at the goods exposed there The
ground floor of the building round the quadrangle was occupied by a wide arcade
or cloister whose fanciful but strong architecture I could not enough admire
Here also a few people were sauntering or sitting reading on the benches
Dick said to me apologetically »Here as elsewhere there is little doing
today on a Friday you would see it thronged and gay with people and in the
afternoon there is generally music about the fountain However I daresay we
shall have a pretty good gathering at our midday meal«
We drove through the quadrangle and by an archway into a large handsome
stable on the other side where we speedily stalled the old nag and made him
happy with horsemeat and then turned and walked back again through the market
Dick looking rather thoughtful as it seemed to me
I noticed that people couldnt help looking at me rather hard and
considering my clothes and theirs I didnt wonder but whenever they caught my
eye they made me a very friendly sign of greeting
We walked straight into the forecourt of the Museum where except that the
railings were gone and the whispering boughs of the trees were all about
nothing seemed changed the very pigeons were wheeling about the building and
clinging to the ornaments of the pediment as I had seen them of old
Dick seemed grown a little absent but he could not forbear giving me an
architectural note and said
»It is rather an ugly old building isnt it Many people have wanted to
pull it down and rebuild it and perhaps if work does really get scarce we may
yet do so But as my greatgrandfather will tell you it would not be quite a
straightforward job for there are wonderful collections in there of all kinds
of antiquities besides an enormous library with many exceedingly beautiful
books in it and many most useful ones as genuine records texts of ancient
works and the like and the worry and anxiety and even risk there would be in
moving all this has saved the buildings themselves Besides as we said before
it is not a bad thing to have some record of what our forefathers thought a
handsome building For there is plenty of labour and material in it«
»I see there is« said I »and I quite agree with you But now hadnt we
better make haste to see your greatgrandfather«
In fact I could not help seeing that he was rather dallying with the time
He said »Yes we will go into the house in a minute My kinsman is too old to
do much work in the Museum where he was a custodian of the books for many
years but he still lives here a good deal indeed I think« said he smiling
»that he looks upon himself as a part of the books or the books a part of him
I dont know which«
He hesitated a little longer then flushing up took my hand and saying
»Come along then« led me toward the door of one of the old official dwellings
Chapter IX
Concerning Love
»Your kinsman doesnt much care for beautiful building then« said I as we
entered the rather dreary classical house which indeed was as bare as need be
except for some big pots of the June flowers which stood about here and there
though it was very clean and nicely whitewashed
»O I dont know« said Dick rather absently »He is getting old
certainly for he is over a hundred and five and no doubt he doesnt care about
moving But of course he could live in a prettier house if he liked he is not
obliged to live in one place any more than any one else This way Guest«
And he led the way upstairs and opening a door we went into a fairsized
room of the old type as plain as the rest of the house with a few necessary
pieces of furniture and those very simple and even rude but solid and with a
good deal of carving about them well designed but rather crudely executed At
the furthest corner of the room at a desk near the window sat a little old man
in a roomy oak chair well becushioned He was dressed in a sort of Norfolk
jacket of blue serge worn threadbare with breeches of the same and grey
worsted stockings He jumped up from his chair and cried out in a voice of
considerable volume for such an old man »Welcome Dick my lad Clara is here
and will be more than glad to see you so keep your heart up«
»Clara here« quoth Dick »if I had known I would not have brought At
least I mean I would «
He was stuttering and confused clearly because he was anxious to say
nothing to make me feel one too many But the old man who had not seen me at
first helped him out by coming forward and saying to me in a kind tone
»Pray pardon me for I did not notice that Dick who is big enough to hide
anybody you know had brought a friend with him A most hearty welcome to you
All the more as I almost hope that you are going to amuse an old man by giving
him news from over sea for I can see that you are come from over the water and
faroff countries«
He looked at me thoughtfully almost anxiously as he said in a changed
voice »Might I ask you where you come from as you are so clearly a stranger«
I said in an absent way »I used to live in England and now I am come back
again and I slept last night at the Hammersmith Guest House«
He bowed gravely but seemed I thought a little disappointed with my
answer As for me I was now looking at him harder than good manners allowed of
perhaps for in truth his face driedapplelike as it was seemed strangely
familiar to me as if I had seen it before in a lookingglass it might be
said I to myself
»Well« said the old man »wherever you come from you are come among
friends And I see my kinsman Richard Hammond has an air about him as if he had
brought you here for me to do something for you Is that so Dick«
Dick who was getting still more absentminded and kept looking uneasily at
the door managed to say »Well yes kinsman our guest finds things much
altered and cannot understand it nor can I so I thought I would bring him to
you since you know more of all that has happened within the last two hundred
years than anybody else does Whats that«
And he turned toward the door again We heard footsteps outside the door
opened and in came a very beautiful young woman who stopped short on seeing
Dick and flushed as red as a rose but faced him nevertheless Dick looked at
her hard and half reached out his hand toward her and his whole face quivered
with emotion
The old man did not leave them long in this shy discomfort but said
smiling with an old mans mirth »Dick my lad and you my dear Clara I rather
think that we two oldsters are in your way for I think you will have plenty to
say to each other You had better go into Nelsons room up above I know he has
gone out and he has just been covering the walls all over with mediæval books
so it will be pretty enough even for you two and your renewed pleasure«
The girl reached out her hand to Dick and taking his led him out of the
room looking straight before her but it was easy to see that her blushes came
from happiness not anger as indeed love is far more selfconscious than
wrath
When the door had shut on them the old man turned to me still smiling and
said
»Frankly my dear guest you will do me a great service if you are come to
set my old tongue wagging My love of talk still abides with me or rather grows
on me and though it is pleasant enough to see these youngsters moving about and
playing together so seriously as if the whole world depended on their kisses
as indeed it does somewhat yet I dont think my tales of the past interest
them much The last harvest the last baby the last knot of carving in the
marketplace is history enough for them It was different I think when I was
a lad when we were not so assured of peace and continuous plenty as we are now
Well well Without putting you to the question let me ask you this Am I to
consider you as an enquirer who knows a little of our modern ways of life or as
one who comes from some place where the very foundations of life are different
from ours do you know anything or nothing about us«
He looked at me keenly and with growing wonder in his eyes as he spoke and
I answered in a low voice
»I know only so much of your modern life as I could gather from using my
eyes on the way here from Hammersmith and from asking some questions of Richard
Hammond most of which he could hardly understand«
The old man smiled at this »Then« said he »I am to speak to you as «
»As if I were a being from another planet« said I
The old man whose name by the bye like his kinsmans was Hammond smiled
and nodded and wheeling his seat round to me bade me sit in a heavy oak chair
and said as he saw my eyes fix on its curious carving
»Yes I am much tied to the past my past you understand These very pieces
of furniture belong to a time before my early days it was my father who got
them made if they had been done within the last fifty years they would have
been much cleverer in execution but I dont think I should have liked them the
better We were almost beginning again in those days and they were brisk
hotheaded times But you hear how garrulous I am ask me questions ask me
questions about anything dear guest since I must talk make my talk profitable
to you«
I was silent for a minute and then I said somewhat nervously »Excuse me
if I am rude but I am so much interested in Richard since he has been so kind
to me a perfect stranger that I should like to ask a question about him«
»Well« said old Hammond »if he were not kind as you call it to a perfect
stranger he would be thought a strange person and people would be apt to shun
him But ask on ask on dont be shy of asking«
Said I »That beautiful girl is he going to be married to her«
»Well« said he »yes he is He has been married to her once already and
now I should say it is pretty clear that he will be married to her again«
»Indeed« quoth I wondering what that meant
»Here is the whole tale« said old Hammond »a short one enough and now I
hope a happy one they lived together two years the first time were both very
young and then she got it into her head that she was in love with somebody
else So she left poor Dick I say poor Dick because he had not found any one
else But it did not last long only about a year Then she came to me as she
was in the habit of bringing her troubles to the old carle and asked me how
Dick was and whether he was happy and all the rest of it So I saw how the
land lay and said that he was very unhappy and not at all well which last at
any rate was a lie There you can guess the rest Clara came to have a long
talk with me today but Dick will serve her turn much better Indeed if he
hadnt chanced in upon me today I should have had to have sent for him
tomorrow«
»Dear me« said I »Have they any children«
»Yes« said he »two they are staying with one of my daughters at present
where indeed Clara has mostly been I wouldnt lose sight of her as I felt
sure they would come together again and Dick who is the best of good fellows
really took the matter to heart You see he had no other love to run to as she
had So I managed it all as I have done with suchlike matters before«
»Ah« said I »no doubt you wanted to keep them out of the Divorce Court
but I suppose it often has to settle such matters«
»Then you suppose nonsense« said he »I know that there used to be such
lunatic affairs as divorcecourts but just consider all the cases that came
into them were matters of property quarrels and I think dear guest« said he
smiling »that though you do come from another planet you can see from the mere
outside look of our world that quarrels about private property could not go on
amongst us in our days«
Indeed my drive from Hammersmith to Bloomsbury and all the quiet happy
life I had seen so many hints of even apart from my shopping would have been
enough to tell me that the sacred rights of property as we used to think of
them were now no more So I sat silent while the old man took up the thread of
the discourse again and said
»Well then property quarrels being no longer possible what remains in
these matters that a court of law could deal with Fancy a court for enforcing a
contract of passion or sentiment If such a thing were needed as a reductio ad
absurdum of the enforcement of contract such a folly would do that for us«
He was silent again a little and then said »You must understand once for
all that we have changed these matters or rather that our way of looking at
them has changed as we have changed within the last two hundred years We do
not deceive ourselves indeed or believe that we can get rid of all the trouble
that besets the dealings between the sexes We know that we must face the
unhappiness that comes of man and woman confusing the relations between natural
passion and sentiment and the friendship which when things go well softens
the awakening from passing illusions but we are not so mad as to pile up
degradation on that unhappiness by engaging in sordid squabbles about livelihood
and position and the power of tyrannising over the children who have been the
results of love or lust«
Again he paused awhile and again went on »Calf love mistaken for a
heroism that shall be lifelong yet early waning into disappointment the
inexplicable desire that comes on a man of riper years to be the allinall to
some one woman whose ordinary human kindness and human beauty he has idealised
into superhuman perfection and made the one object of his desire or lastly the
reasonable longing of a strong and thoughtful man to become the most intimate
friend of some beautiful and wise woman the very type of the beauty and glory
of the world which we love so well as we exult in all the pleasure and
exaltation of spirit which goes with these things so we set ourselves to bear
the sorrow which not unseldom goes with them also remembering those lines of
the ancient poet I quote roughly from memory one of the many translations of
the nineteenth century
For this the Gods have fashioned mans grief and evil day
That still for man hereafter might be the tale and the lay
Well well tis little likely anyhow that all tales shall be lacking or all
sorrow cured«
He was silent for some time and I would not interrupt him At last he began
again »But you must know that we of these generations are strong and healthy of
body and live easily we pass our lives in reasonable strife with nature
exercising not one side of ourselves only but all sides taking the keenest
pleasure in all the life of the world So it is a point of honour with us not to
be selfcentred not to suppose that the world must cease because one man is
sorry therefore we should think it foolish or if you will criminal to
exaggerate these matters of sentiment and sensibility we are no more inclined
to eke out our sentimental sorrows than to cherish our bodily pains and we
recognise that there are other pleasures besides lovemaking You must remember
also that we are longlived and that therefore beauty both in man and woman is
not so fleeting as it was in the days when we were burdened so heavily by
selfinflicted diseases So we shake off these griefs in a way which perhaps the
sentimentalists of other times would think contemptible and unheroic but which
we think necessary and manlike As on the other hand therefore we have ceased
to be commercial in our lovematters so also we have ceased to be artificially
foolish The folly which comes by nature the unwisdom of the immature man or
the older man caught in a trap we must put up with that nor are we much
ashamed of it but to be conventionally sensitive or sentimental my friend I
am old and perhaps disappointed but at least I think we have cast off some of
the follies of the older world«
He paused as if for some words of mine but I held my peace then he went
on »At least if we suffer from the tyranny and fickleness of nature or our own
want of experience we neither grimace about it nor lie If there must be
sundering betwixt those who meant never to sunder so it must be but there need
be no pretext of unity when the reality of it is gone nor do we drive those who
well know that they are incapable of it to profess an undying sentiment which
they cannot really feel thus it is that as that monstrosity of venal lust is no
longer possible so also it is no longer needed Dont misunderstand me You did
not seem shocked when I told you that there were no lawcourts to enforce
contracts of sentiment or passion but so curiously are men made that perhaps
you will be shocked when I tell you that there is no code of public opinion
which takes the place of such courts and which might be as tyrannical and
unreasonable as they were I do not say that people dont judge their
neighbours conduct sometimes doubtless unfairly But I do say that there is
no unvarying conventional set of rules by which people are judged no bed of
Procrustes to stretch or cramp their minds and lives no hypocritical
excommunication which people are forced to pronounce either by unconsidered
habit or by the unexpressed threat of the lesser interdict if they are lax in
their hypocrisy Are you shocked now«
»No no« said I with some hesitation »It is all so different«
»At any rate« said he »one thing I think I can answer for whatever
sentiment there is it is real and general it is not confined to people very
specially refined I am also pretty sure as I hinted to you just now that
there is not by a great way as much suffering involved in these matters either
to men or to women as there used to be But excuse me for being so prolix on
this question You know you asked to be treated like a being from another
planet«
»Indeed I thank you very much« said I »Now may I ask you about the
position of women in your society«
He laughed very heartily for a man of his years and said »It is not
without reason that I have got a reputation as a careful student of history I
believe I really do understand the Emancipation of Women movement of the
nineteenth century I doubt if any other man now alive does«
»Well« said I a little bit nettled by his merriment
»Well« said he »of course you will see that all that is a dead controversy
now The men have no longer any opportunity of tyrannising over the women or
the women over the men both of which things took place in those old times The
women do what they can do best and what they like best and the men are neither
jealous of it or injured by it This is such a commonplace that I am almost
ashamed to state it«
I said »O and legislation do they take any part in that«
Hammond smiled and said »I think you may wait for an answer to that
question till we get on to the subject of legislation There may be novelties to
you in that subject also«
»Very well« I said »but about this woman question I saw at the Guest
House that the women were waiting on the men that seems a little like reaction
doesnt it«
»Does it« said the old man »perhaps you think housekeeping an unimportant
occupation not deserving of respect I believe that was the opinion of the
advanced women of the nineteenth century and their male backers If it is
yours I recommend to your notice an old Norwegian folklore tale called How the
Man minded the House or some such title the result of which minding was that
after various tribulations the man and the family cow balanced each other at
the end of a rope the man hanging halfway up the chimney the cow dangling
from the roof which after the fashion of the country was of turf and sloping
down low to the ground Hard on the cow I think Of course no such mishap could
happen to such a superior person as yourself« he added chuckling
I sat somewhat uneasy under this dry gibe Indeed his manner of treating
this latter part of the question seemed to me a little disrespectful
»Come now my friend« quoth he »dont you know that it is a great
pleasure to a clever woman to manage a house skilfully and to do it so that all
the housemates about her look pleased and are grateful to her And then you
know everybody likes to be ordered about by a pretty woman why it is one of
the pleasantest forms of flirtation You are not so old that you cannot remember
that Why I remember it well«
And the old fellow chuckled again and at last fairly burst out laughing
»Excuse me« said he after a while »I am not laughing at anything you
could be thinking of but at that silly nineteenthcentury fashion current
amongst rich socalled cultivated people of ignoring all the steps by which
their daily dinner was reached as matters too low for their lofty intelligence
Useless idiots Come now I am a literary man as we queer animals used to be
called yet I am a pretty good cook myself«
»So am I« said I
»Well then« said he »I really think you can understand me better than you
would seem to do judging by your words and your silence«
Said I »Perhaps that is so but people putting in practice commonly this
sense of interest in the ordinary occupations of life rather startles me I will
ask you a question or two presently about that But I want to return to the
position of women amongst you You have studied the emancipation of women
business of the nineteenth century dont you remember that some of the superior
women wanted to emancipate the more intelligent part of their sex from the
bearing of children«
The old man grew quite serious again Said he »I do remember about that
strange piece of baseless folly the result like all other follies of the
period of the hideous class tyranny which then obtained What do we think of it
now you would say My friend that is a question easy to answer How could it
possibly be but that maternity should be highly honoured amongst us Surely it
is a matter of course that the natural and necessary pains which the mother must
go through form a bond of union between man and woman an extra stimulus to love
and affection between them and that this is universally recognised For the
rest remember that all the artificial burdens of motherhood are now done away
with A mother has no longer any mere sordid anxieties for the future of her
children They may indeed turn out better or worse they may disappoint her
highest hopes such anxieties as these are a part of the mingled pleasure and
pain which goes to make up the life of mankind But at least she is spared the
fear it was most commonly the certainty that artificial disabilities would
make her children something less than men and women she knows that they will
live and act according to the measure of their own faculties In times past it
is clear that the Society of the day helped its Judaic god and the Man of
Science of the time in visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children How
to reverse this process how to take the sting out of heredity has for long
been one of the most constant cares of the thoughtful men amongst us So that
you see the ordinarily healthy woman and almost all our women are both healthy
and at least comely respected as a childbearer and rearer of children
desired as a woman loved as a companion unanxious for the future of her
children has far more instinct for maternity than the poor drudge and mother of
drudges of past days could ever have had or than her sister of the upper
classes brought up in affected ignorance of natural facts reared in an
atmosphere of mingled prudery and prurience«
»You speak warmly« I said »but I can see that you are right«
»Yes« he said »and I will point out to you a token of all the benefits
which we have gained by our freedom What did you think of the looks of the
people whom you have come across today«
Said I »I could hardly have believed that there could be so many
goodlooking people in any civilised country«
He crowed a little like the old bird he was »What are we still
civilised« said he »Well as to our looks the English and Jutish blood which
on the whole is predominant here used not to produce much beauty But I think
we have improved it I know a man who has a large collection of portraits
printed from photographs of the nineteenth century and going over those and
comparing them with the everyday faces in these times puts the improvement in
our good looks beyond a doubt Now there are some people who think it not too
fantastic to connect this increase of beauty directly with our freedom and good
sense in the matters we have been speaking of they believe that a child born
from the natural and healthy love between a man and a woman even if that be
transient is likely to turn out better in all ways and especially in bodily
beauty than the birth of the respectable commercial marriage bed or of the
dull despair of the drudge of that system They say Pleasure begets pleasure
What do you think«
»I am much of that mind« said I
Chapter X
Questions and Answers
»Well« said the old man shifting in his chair »you must get on with your
questions Guest I have been some time answering this first one«
Said I »I want an extra word or two about your ideas of education although
I gathered from Dick that you let your children run wild and didnt teach them
anything and in short that you have so refined your education that now you
have none«
»Then you gathered lefthanded« quoth he »But of course I understand your
point of view about education which is that of times past when the struggle
for life as men used to phrase it i e the struggle for a slaves rations on
one side and for a bouncing share of the slaveholders privilege on the other
pinched education for most people into a niggardly dole of not very accurate
information something to be swallowed by the beginner in the art of living
whether he liked it or not and was hungry for it or not and which had been
chewed and digested over and over again by people who didnt care about it in
order to serve it out to other people who didnt care about it«
I stopped the old mans rising wrath by a laugh and said »Well you were
not taught that way at any rate so you may let your anger run off you a
little«
»True true« said he smiling »I thank you for correcting my illtemper I
always fancy myself as living in any period of which we may be speaking But
however to put it in a cooler way you expected to see children thrust into
schools when they had reached an age conventionally supposed to be the due age
whatever their varying faculties and dispositions might be and when there with
like disregard to facts to be subjected to a certain conventional course of
learning My friend cant you see that such a proceeding means ignoring the
fact of growth bodily and mental No one could come out of such a mill
uninjured and those only would avoid being crushed by it who would have the
spirit of rebellion strong in them Fortunately most children have had that at
all times or I do not know that we should ever have reached our present
position Now you see what it all comes to In the old times all this was the
result of poverty In the nineteenth century society was so miserably poor
owing to the systematised robbery on which it was founded that real education
was impossible for anybody The whole theory of their socalled education was
that it was necessary to shove a little information into a child even if it
were by means of torture and accompanied by twaddle which it was well known was
of no use or else he would lack information lifelong the hurry of poverty
forbade anything else All that is past we are no longer hurried and the
information lies ready to each ones hand when his own inclinations impel him to
seek it In this as in other matters we have become wealthy we can afford to
give ourselves time to grow«
»Yes« said I »but suppose the child youth man never wants the
information never grows in the direction you might hope him to do suppose for
instance he objects to learning arithmetic or mathematics you cant force him
when he is grown cant you force him while he is growing and oughtnt you to
do so«
»Well« said he »were you forced to learn arithmetic and mathematics«
»A little« said I
»And how old are you now«
»Say fiftysix« said I
»And how much arithmetic and mathematics do you know now« quoth the old
man smiling rather mockingly
Said I »None whatever I am sorry to say«
Hammond laughed quietly but made no other comment on my admission and I
dropped the subject of education perceiving him to be hopeless on that side
I thought a little and said »You were speaking just now of households
that sounded to me a little like the customs of past times I should have
thought you would have lived more in public«
»Phalangsteries eh« said he »Well we live as we like and we like to
live as a rule with certain housemates that we have got used to Remember
again that poverty is extinct and that the Fourierist phalangsteries and all
their kind as was but natural at the time implied nothing but a refuge from
mere destitution Such a way of life as that could only have been conceived of
by people surrounded by the worst form of poverty But you must understand
therewith that though separate households are the rule amongst us and though
they differ in their habits more or less yet no door is shut to any
goodtempered person who is content to live as the other housemates do only of
course it would be unreasonable for one man to drop into a household and bid the
folk of it to alter their habits to please him since he can go elsewhere and
live as he pleases However I need not say much about all this as you are
going up the river with Dick and will find out for yourself by experience how
these matters are managed«
After a pause I said »Your big towns now how about them London which
which I have read about as the modern Babylon of civilization seems to have
disappeared«
»Well well« said old Hammond »perhaps after all it is more like ancient
Babylon now than the modern Babylon of the nineteenth century was But let that
pass After all there is a good deal of population in places between here and
Hammersmith nor have you seen the most populous part of the town yet«
»Tell me then« said I »how is it towards the east«
Said he »Time was when if you mounted a good horse and rode straight away
from my door here at a round trot for an hour and a half you would still be in
the thick of London and the greater part of that would be slums as they were
called that is to say places of torture for innocent men and women or worse
stews for rearing and breeding men and women in such degradation that that
torture should seem to them mere ordinary and natural life«
»I know I know« I said rather impatiently »That was what was tell me
something of what is Is any of that left«
»Not an inch« said he »but some memory of it abides with us and I am glad
of it Once a year on Mayday we hold a solemn feast in those easterly
communes of London to commemorate The Clearing of Misery as it is called On
that day we have music and dancing and merry games and happy feasting on the
site of some of the worst of the old slums the traditional memory of which we
have kept On that occasion the custom is for the prettiest girls to sing some
of the old revolutionary songs and those which were the groans of the
discontent once so hopeless on the very spots where those terrible crimes of
classmurder were committed day by day for so many years To a man like me who
have studied the past so diligently it is a curious and touching sight to see
some beautiful girl daintily clad and crowned with flowers from the
neighbouring meadows standing amongst the happy people on some mound where of
old time stood the wretched apology for a house a den in which men and women
lived packed amongst the filth like pilchards in a cask lived in such a way
that they could only have endured it as I said just now by being degraded out
of humanity to hear the terrible words of threatening and lamentation coming
from her sweet and beautiful lips and she unconscious of their real meaning to
hear her for instance singing Hoods Song of the Shirt and to think that all
the time she does not understand what it is all about a tragedy grown
inconceivable to her and her listeners Think of that if you can and of how
glorious life is grown«
»Indeed« said I »it is difficult for me to think of it«
And I sat watching how his eyes glittered and how the fresh life seemed to
glow in his face and I wondered how at his age he should think of the happiness
of the world or indeed anything but his coming dinner
»Tell me in detail« said I »what lies east of Bloomsbury now«
Said he »There are but few houses between this and the outer part of the
old city but in the city we have a thicklydwelling population Our
forefathers in the first clearing of the slums were not in a hurry to pull
down the houses in what was called at the end of the nineteenth century the
business quarter of the town and what later got to be known as the Swindling
Kens You see these houses though they stood hideously thick on the ground
were roomy and fairly solid in building and clean because they were not used
for living in but as mere gambling booths so the poor people from the cleared
slums took them for lodgings and dwelt there till the folk of those days had
time to think of something better for them so the buildings were pulled down so
gradually that people got used to living thicker on the ground there than in
most places therefore it remains the most populous part of London or perhaps
of all these islands But it is very pleasant there partly because of the
splendour of the architecture which goes further than what you will see
elsewhere However this crowding if it may be called so does not go further
than a street called Aldgate a name which perhaps you may have heard of Beyond
that the houses are scattered wide about the meadows there which are very
beautiful especially when you get on to the lovely river Lea where old Isaak
Walton used to fish you know about the places called Stratford and Old Ford
names which of course you will not have heard of though the Romans were busy
there once upon a time«
Not heard of them thought I to myself How strange that I who had seen the
very last remnant of the pleasantness of the meadows by the Lea destroyed
should have heard them spoken of with pleasantness come back to them in full
measure
Hammond went on »When you get down to the Thames side you come on the
Docks which are works of the nineteenth century and are still in use although
not so thronged as they once were since we discourage centralisation all we
can and we have long ago dropped the pretension to be the market of the world
About these Docks are a good few houses which however are not inhabited by
many people permanently I mean those who use them come and go a good deal the
place being too low and marshy for pleasant dwelling Past the Docks eastward
and landward it is all flat pasture once marsh except for a few gardens and
there are very few permanent dwellings there scarcely anything but a few sheds
and cots for the men who come to look after the great herds of cattle pasturing
there But however what with the beasts and the men and the scattered
redtiled roofs and the big hayricks it does not make a bad holiday to get a
quiet pony and ride about there on a sunny afternoon of autumn and look over
the river and the craft passing up and down and on to Shooters Hill and the
Kentish uplands and then turn round to the wide green sea of the Essex
marshland with the great domed line of the sky and the sun shining down in one
flood of peaceful light over the long distance There is a place called
Cannings Town and further out Silvertown where the pleasant meadows are at
their pleasantest doubtless they were once slums and wretched enough«
The names grated on my ear but I could not explain why to him So I said
»And south of the river what is it like«
He said »You would find it much the same as the land about Hammersmith
North again the land runs up high and there is an agreeable and wellbuilt
town called Hampstead which fitly ends London on that side It looks down on
the northwestern end of the forest you passed through«
I smiled »So much for what was once London« said I »Now tell me about the
other towns of the country«
He said »As to the big murky places which were once as we know the
centres of manufacture they have like the brick and mortar desert of London
disappeared only since they were centres of nothing but manufacture and
served no purpose but that of the gambling market they have left less signs of
their existence than London Of course the great change in the use of
mechanical force made this an easy matter and some approach to their breakup
as centres would probably have taken place even if we had not changed our
habits so much but they being such as they were no sacrifice would have seemed
too great a price to pay for getting rid of the manufacturing districts as they
used to be called For the rest whatever coal or mineral we need is brought to
grass and sent whither it is needed with as little as possible of dirt
confusion and the distressing of quiet peoples lives One is tempted to
believe from what one has read of the condition of those districts in the
nineteenth century that those who had them under their power worried befouled
and degraded men out of malice prepense but it was not so like the
miseducation of which we were talking just now it came of their dreadful
poverty They were obliged to put up with everything and even pretend that they
liked it whereas we can now deal with things reasonably and refuse to be
saddled with what we do not want«
I confess I was not sorry to cut short with a question his glorifications of
the age he lived in Said I »How about the smaller towns I suppose you have
swept those away entirely«
»No no« said he »it hasnt gone that way On the contrary there has been
but little clearance though much rebuilding in the smaller towns Their
suburbs indeed when they had any have melted away into the general country
and space and elbowroom has been got in their centres but there are the towns
still with their streets and squares and marketplaces so that it is by means
of these smaller towns that we of today can get some kind of idea of what the
towns of the older world were like I mean to say at their best«
»Take Oxford for instance« said I
»Yes« said he »I suppose Oxford was beautiful even in the nineteenth
century At present it has the great interest of still preserving a great mass
of precommercial building and is a very beautiful place yet there are many
towns which have become scarcely less beautiful«
Said I »In passing may I ask if it is still a place of learning«
»Still« said he smiling »Well it has reverted to some of its best
traditions so you may imagine how far it is from its nineteenthcentury
position It is real learning knowledge cultivated for its own sake the Art
of Knowledge in short which is followed there not the Commercial learning of
the past Though perhaps you do not know that in the nineteenth century Oxford
and its less interesting sister Cambridge became definitely commercial They
and especially Oxford were the breeding places of a peculiar class of
parasites who called themselves cultivated people they were indeed cynical
enough as the socalled educated classes of the day generally were but they
affected an exaggeration of cynicism in order that they might be thought knowing
and worldlywise The rich middle classes they had no relation with the working
classes treated them with the kind of contemptuous toleration with which a
mediæval baron treated his jester though it must be said that they were by no
means so pleasant as the old jesters were being in fact the bores of society
They were laughed at despised and paid Which last was what they aimed at«
Dear me thought I how apt history is to reverse contemporary judgments
Surely only the worst of them were as bad as that But I must admit that they
were mostly prigs and that they were commercial I said aloud though more to
myself than to Hammond »Well how could they be better than the age that made
them«
»True« he said »but their pretensions were higher«
»Were they« said I smiling
»You drive me from corner to corner« said he smiling in turn »Let me say
at least that they were a poor sequence to the aspirations of Oxford of the
barbarous Middle Ages«
»Yes that will do« said I
»Also« said Hammond »what I have been saying of them is true in the main
But ask on«
I said »We have heard about London and the manufacturing districts and the
ordinary towns how about the villages«
Said Hammond »You must know that toward the end of the nineteenth century
the villages were almost destroyed unless where they became mere adjuncts to
the manufacturing districts or formed a sort of minor manufacturing district
themselves Houses were allowed to fall into decay and actual ruin trees were
cut down for the sake of the few shillings which the poor sticks would fetch
the building became inexpressibly mean and hideous Labour was scarce but wages
fell nevertheless All the small country arts of life which once added to the
little pleasures of country people were lost The country produce which passed
through the hands of the husbandmen never got so far as their mouths Incredible
shabbiness and niggardly pinching reigned over the fields and acres which in
spite of the rude and careless husbandry of the times were so kind and
bountiful Had you any inkling of all this«
»I have heard that it was so« said I »but what followed«
»The change« said Hammond »which in these matters took place very early in
our epoch was most strangely rapid People flocked into the country villages
and so to say flung themselves upon the freed land like a wild beast upon his
prey and in a very little time the villages of England were more populous than
they had been since the fourteenth century and were still growing fast Of
course this invasion of the country was awkward to deal with and would have
created much misery if the folk had still been under the bondage of class
monopoly But as it was things soon righted themselves People found out what
they were fit for and gave up attempting to push themselves into occupations in
which they must needs fail The town invaded the country but the invaders like
the warlike invaders of early days yielded to the influence of their
surroundings and became country people and in their turn as they became more
numerous than the townsmen influenced them also so that the difference between
town and country grew less and less and it was indeed this world of the country
vivified by the thought and briskness of townbred folk which has produced that
happy and leisurely but eager life of which you have had a first taste Again I
say many blunders were made but we have had time to set them right Much was
left for the men of my earlier life to deal with The crude ideas of the first
half of the twentieth century when men were still oppressed by the fear of
poverty and did not look enough to the present pleasure of ordinary daily life
spoilt a great deal of what the commercial age had left us of external beauty
and I admit that it was but slowly that men recovered from the injuries they had
inflicted on themselves even after they became free But slowly as the recovery
came it did come and the more you see of us the clearer it will be to you
that we are happy That we live amidst beauty without any fear of becoming
effeminate that we have plenty to do and on the whole enjoy doing it What
more can we ask of life«
He paused as if he were seeking for words with which to express his
thought Then he said
»This is how we stand England was once a country of clearings amongst the
woods and wastes with a few towns interspersed which were fortresses for the
feudal army markets for the folk gathering places for the craftsmen It then
became a country of huge and foul workshops and fouler gamblingdens surrounded
by an illkept povertystricken farm pillaged by the masters of the workshops
It is now a garden where nothing is wasted and nothing is spoilt with the
necessary dwellings sheds and workshops scattered up and down the country all
trim and neat and pretty For indeed we should be too much ashamed of
ourselves if we allowed the making of goods even on a large scale to carry
with it the appearance even of desolation and misery Why my friend those
housewives we were talking of just now would teach us better than that«
Said I »This side of your change is certainly for the better But though I
shall soon see some of these villages tell me in a word or two what they are
like just to prepare me«
»Perhaps« said he »you have seen a tolerable picture of these villages as
they were before the end of the nineteenth century Such things exist«
»I have seen several of such pictures« said I
»Well« said Hammond »our villages are something like the best of such
places with the church or motehouse of the neighbours for their chief
building Only note that there are no tokens of poverty about them no
tumbledown picturesque which to tell you the truth the artist usually
availed himself of to veil his incapacity for drawing architecture Such things
do not please us even when they indicate no misery Like the mediævals we like
everything trim and clean and orderly and bright as people always do when they
have any sense of architectural power because then they know that they can have
what they want and they wont stand any nonsense from Nature in their dealings
with her«
»Besides the villages are there any scattered country houses« said I
»Yes plenty« said Hammond »in fact except in the wastes and forests and
amongst the sandhills like Hindhead in Surrey it is not easy to be out of
sight of a house and where the houses are thinly scattered they run large and
are more like the old colleges than ordinary houses as they used to be That is
done for the sake of society for a good many people can dwell in such houses
as the country dwellers are not necessarily husbandmen though they almost all
help in such work at times The life that goes on in these big dwellings in the
country is very pleasant especially as some of the most studious men of our
time live in them and altogether there is a great variety of mind and mood to
be found in them which brightens and quickens the society there«
»I am rather surprised« said I »by all this for it seems to me that after
all the country must be tolerably populous«
»Certainly« said he »the population is pretty much the same as it was at
the end of the nineteenth century we have spread it that is all Of course
also we have helped to populate other countries where we were wanted and were
called for«
Said I »One thing it seems to me does not go with your word of garden for
the country You have spoken of wastes and forests and I myself have seen the
beginning of your Middlesex and Essex forest Why do you keep such things in a
garden and isnt it very wasteful to do so«
»My friend« he said »we like these pieces of wild nature and can afford
them so we have them let alone that as to the forests we need a great deal of
timber and suppose that our sons and sons sons will do the like As to the
land being a garden I have heard that they used to have shrubberies and
rockeries in gardens once and though I might not like the artificial ones I
assure you that some of the natural rockeries of our garden are worth seeing Go
north this summer and look at the Cumberland and Westmoreland ones where by
the way you will see some sheepfeeding so that they are not so wasteful as
you think not so wasteful as forcinggrounds for fruit out of season I think
Go and have a look at the sheepwalks high up the slopes between Ingleborough
and Penygwent and tell me if you think we waste the land there by not
covering it with factories for making things that nobody wants which was the
chief business of the nineteenth century«
»I will try to go there« said I
»It wont take much trying« said he
Chapter XI
Concerning Government
»Now« said I »I have come to the point of asking questions which I suppose
will be dry for you to answer and difficult for you to explain but I have
foreseen for some time past that I must ask them will I nill I What kind of a
government have you Has republicanism finally triumphed or have you come to a
mere dictatorship which some persons in the nineteenth century used to prophesy
as the ultimate outcome of democracy Indeed this last question does not seem
so very unreasonable since you have turned your Parliament House into a
dungmarket Or where do you house your present Parliament«
The old man answered my smile with a hearty laugh and said »Well well
dung is not the worst kind of corruption fertility may come of that whereas
mere dearth came from the other kind of which those walls once held the great
supporters Now dear guest let me tell you that our present parliament would
be hard to house in one place because the whole people is our parliament«
»I dont understand« said I
»No I suppose not« said he »I must now shock you by telling you that we
have no longer anything which you a native of another planet would call a
government«
»I am not so much shocked as you might think« said I »as I know something
about governments But tell me how do you manage and how have you come to this
state of things«
Said he »It is true that we have to make some arrangements about our
affairs concerning which you can ask presently and it is also true that
everybody does not always agree with the details of these arrangements but
further it is true that a man no more needs an elaborate system of government
with its army navy and police to force him to give way to the will of the
majority of his equals than he wants a similar machinery to make him understand
that his head and a stone wall cannot occupy the same space at the same moment
Do you want further explanation«
»Well yes I do« quoth I
Old Hammond settled himself in his chair with a look of enjoyment which
rather alarmed me and made me dread a scientific disquisition so I sighed and
abided He said
»I suppose you know pretty well what the process of government was in the
bad old times«
»I am supposed to know« said I
Hammond What was the government of those days Was it really the
Parliament or any part of it
I No
H Was not the Parliament on the one side a kind of watchcommittee
sitting to see that the interests of the Upper Classes took no hurt and on the
other side a sort of blind to delude the people into supposing that they had
some share in the management of their own affairs
I History seems to show us this
H To what extent did the people manage their own affairs
I I judge from what I have heard that sometimes they forced the
Parliament to make a law to legalise some alteration which had already taken
place
H Anything else
I I think not As I am informed if the people made any attempt to deal
with the cause of their grievances the law stepped in and said this is
sedition revolt or what not and slew or tortured the ringleaders of such
attempts
H If Parliament was not the government then nor the people either what
was the government
I Can you tell me
H I think we shall not be far wrong if we say that government was the
LawCourts backed up by the executive which handled the brute force that the
deluded people allowed them to use for their own purposes I mean the army
navy and police
I Reasonable men must needs think you are right
H Now as to those LawCourts Were they places of fair dealing according
to the ideas of the day Had a poor man a good chance of defending his property
and person in them
I It is a commonplace that even rich men looked upon a lawsuit as a dire
misfortune even if they gained the case and as for a poor one why it was
considered a miracle of justice and beneficence if a poor man who had once got
into the clutches of the law escaped prison or utter ruin
H It seems then my son that the government by lawcourts and police
which was the real government of the nineteenth century was not a great success
even to the people of that day living under a class system which proclaimed
inequality and poverty as the law of God and the bond which held the world
together
I So it seems indeed
H And now that all this is changed and the rights of property which
mean the clenching the fist on a piece of goods and crying out to the
neighbours You shant have this now that all this has disappeared so utterly
that it is no longer possible even to jest upon its absurdity is such a
Government possible
I It is impossible
H Yes happily But for what other purpose than the protection of the
rich from the poor the strong from the weak did this Government exist
I I have heard that it was said that their office was to defend their own
citizens against attack from other countries
H It was said but was anyone expected to believe this
For instance did the English Government defend the English citizen against
the French
I So it was said
H Then if the French had invaded England and conquered it they would
not have allowed the English workmen to live well
I laughing As far as I can make out the English masters of the English
workmen saw to that they took from their workmen as much of their livelihood as
they dared because they wanted it for themselves
H But if the French had conquered would they not have taken more still
from the English workmen
I I do not think so for in that case the English workmen would have died
of starvation and then the French conquest would have ruined the French just
as if the English horses and cattle had died of underfeeding So that after
all the English workmen would have been no worse off for the conquest their
French masters could have got no more from them than their English masters did
H This is true and we may admit that the pretensions of the government
to defend the poor i e the useful people against other countries come to
nothing But that is but natural for we have seen already that it was the
function of government to protect the rich against the poor But did not the
government defend its rich men against other nations
I I do not remember to have heard that the rich needed defence because
it is said that even when two nations were at war the rich men of each nation
gambled with each other pretty much as usual and even sold each other weapons
wherewith to kill their own countrymen
H In short it comes to this that whereas the socalled government of
protection of property by means of the lawcourts meant destruction of wealth
this defence of the citizens of one country against those of another country by
means of war or the threat of war meant pretty much the same thing
I I cannot deny it
H Therefore the government really existed for the destruction of wealth
I So it seems And yet
H Yet what
I There were many rich people in those times
H You see the consequences of that fact
I I think I do But tell me out what they were
H If the government habitually destroyed wealth the country must have
been poor
I Yes certainly
H Yet amidst this poverty the persons for the sake of whom the
government existed insisted on being rich whatever might happen
I So it was
H What must happen if in a poor country some people insist on being rich
at the expense of the others
I Unutterable poverty for the others All this misery then was caused
by the destructive government of which we have been speaking
H Nay it would be incorrect to say so The government itself was but
the necessary result of the careless aimless tyranny of the times it was but
the machinery of tyranny Now tyranny has come to an end and we no longer need
such machinery we could not possibly use it since we are free Therefore in
your sense of the word we have no government Do you understand this now
I Yes I do But I will ask you some more questions as to how you as free
men manage your affairs
H With all my heart Ask away
Chapter XII
Concerning the Arrangement of Life
»Well« I said »about those arrangements which you spoke of as taking the place
of government could you give me any account of them«
»Neighbour« he said »although we have simplified our lives a great deal
from what they were and have got rid of many conventionalities and many sham
wants which used to give our forefathers much trouble yet our life is too
complex for me to tell you in detail by means of words how it is arranged you
must find that out by living amongst us It is true that I can better tell you
what we dont do than what we do do«
»Well« said I
»This is the way to put it« said he »We have been living for a hundred and
fifty years at least more or less in our present manner and a tradition or
habit of life has been growing on us and that habit has become a habit of
acting on the whole for the best It is easy for us to live without robbing each
other It would be possible for us to contend with and rob each other but it
would be harder for us than refraining from strife and robbery That is in short
the foundation of our life and our happiness«
»Whereas in the old days« said I »it was very hard to live without strife
and robbery Thats what you mean isnt it by giving me the negative side of
your good conditions«
»Yes« he said »it was so hard that those who habitually acted fairly to
their neighbours were celebrated as saints and heroes and were looked up to
with the greatest reverence«
»While they were alive« said I
»No« said he »after they were dead«
»But as to these days« I said »you dont mean to tell me that no one ever
transgresses this habit of good fellowship«
»Certainly not« said Hammond »but when the transgressions occur
everybody transgressors and all know them for what they are the errors of
friends not the habitual actions of persons driven into enmity against
society«
»I see« said I »you mean that you have no criminal classes«
»How could we have them« said he »since there is no rich class to breed
enemies against the state by means of the injustice of the state«
Said I »I thought that I understood from something that fell from you a
little while ago that you had abolished civil law Is that so literally«
»It abolished itself my friend« said he »As I said before the civil
lawcourts were upheld for the defence of private property for nobody ever
pretended that it was possible to make people act fairly to each other by means
of brute force Well private property being abolished all the laws and all the
legal crimes which it had manufactured of course came to an end Thou shalt not
steal had to be translated into Thou shalt work in order to live happily Is
there any need to enforce that commandment by violence«
»Well« said I »that is understood and I agree with it but how about the
crimes of violence would not their occurrence and you admit that they occur
make criminal law necessary«
Said he »In your sense of the word we have no criminal law either Let us
look at the matter closer and see whence crimes of violence spring By far the
greater part of these in past days were the result of the laws of private
property which forbade the satisfaction of their natural desires to all but a
privileged few and of the general visible coercion which came of those laws
All that cause of violent crime is gone Again many violent acts came from the
artificial perversion of the sexual passions which caused overweening jealousy
and the like miseries Now when you look carefully into these you will find
that what lay at the bottom of them was mostly the idea a law idea of the
woman being the property of the man whether he were husband father brother
or what not That idea has of course vanished with private property as well as
certain follies about the ruin of women for following their natural desires in
an illegal way which of course was a convention caused by the laws of private
property
Another cognate cause of crimes of violence was the family tyranny which
was the subject of so many novels and stories of the past and which once more
was the result of private property Of course that is all ended since families
are held together by no bond of coercion legal or social but by mutual liking
and affection and everybody is free to come or go as he or she pleases
Furthermore our standards of honour and public estimation are very different
from the old ones success in besting our neighbours is a road to renown now
closed let us hope for ever Each man is free to exercise his special faculty
to the utmost and every one encourages him in so doing So that we have got rid
of the scowling envy coupled by the poets with hatred and surely with good
reason heaps of unhappiness and illblood were caused by it which with
irritable and passionate men i e energetic and active men often led to
violence«
I laughed and said »So that you now withdraw your admission and say that
there is no violence amongst you«
»No« said he »I withdraw nothing as I told you such things will happen
Hot blood will err sometimes A man may strike another and the stricken strike
back again and the result be a homicide to put it at the worst But what then
Shall we the neighbours make it worse still Shall we think so poorly of each
other as to suppose that the slain man calls on us to revenge him when we know
that if he had been maimed he would when in cold blood and able to weigh all
the circumstances have forgiven his maimer Or will the death of the slayer
bring the slain man to life again and cure the unhappiness his loss has caused«
»Yes« I said »but consider must not the safety of society be safeguarded
by some punishment«
»There neighbour« said the old man with some exultation »You have hit
the mark That punishment of which men used to talk so wisely and act so
foolishly what was it but the expression of their fear And they had need to
fear since they i e the rulers of society were dwelling like an armed
band in a hostile country But we who live amongst our friends need neither fear
nor punish Surely if we in dread of an occasional rare homicide an occasional
rough blow were solemnly and legally to commit homicide and violence we could
only be a society of ferocious cowards Dont you think so neighbour«
»Yes I do when I come to think of it from that side« said I
»Yet you must understand« said the old man »that when any violence is
committed we expect the transgressor to make any atonement possible to him and
he himself expects it But again think if the destruction or serious injury of
a man momentarily overcome by wrath or folly can be any atonement to the
commonwealth Surely it can only be an additional injury to it«
Said I »But suppose the man has a habit of violence kills a man a year
for instance«
»Such a thing is unknown« said he »In a society where there is no
punishment to evade no law to triumph over remorse will certainly follow
transgression«
»And lesser outbreaks of violence« said I »how do you deal with them for
hitherto we have been talking of great tragedies I suppose«
Said Hammond »If the illdoer is not sick or mad in which case he must be
restrained till his sickness or madness is cured it is clear that grief and
humiliation must follow the illdeed and society in general will make that
pretty clear to the illdoer if he should chance to be dull to it and again
some kind of atonement will follow at the least an open acknowledgement of
the grief and humiliation Is it so hard to say I ask your pardon neighbour
Well sometimes it is hard and let it be«
»You think that enough« said I
»Yes« said he »and moreover it is all that we can do If in addition we
torture the man we turn his grief into anger and the humiliation he would
otherwise feel for his wrongdoing is swallowed up by a hope of revenge for our
wrongdoing to him He has paid the legal penalty and can go and sin again with
comfort Shall we commit such a folly then Remember Jesus had got the legal
penalty remitted before he said Go and sin no more Let alone that in a society
of equals you will not find any one to play the part of torturer or jailer
though many to act as nurse or doctor«
»So« said I »you consider crime a mere spasmodic disease which requires
no body of criminal law to deal with it«
»Pretty much so« said he »and since as I have told you we are a healthy
people generally so we are not likely to be much troubled with this disease«
»Well you have no civil law and no criminal law But have you no laws of
the market so to say no regulation for the exchange of wares for you must
exchange even if you have no property«
Said he »We have no obvious individual exchange as you saw this morning
when you went ashopping but of course there are regulations of the markets
varying according to the circumstances and guided by general custom But as
these are matters of general assent which nobody dreams of objecting to so
also we have made no provision for enforcing them therefore I dont call them
laws In law whether it be criminal or civil execution always follows
judgment and someone must suffer When you see the judge on his bench you see
through him as clearly as if he were made of glass the policeman to emprison
and the soldier to slay some actual living person Such follies would make an
agreeable market wouldnt they«
»Certainly« said I »that means turning the market into a mere
battlefield in which many people must suffer as much as in the battlefield of
bullet and bayonet And from what I have seen I should suppose that your
marketing great and little is carried on in a way that makes it a pleasant
occupation«
»You are right neighbour« said he »Although there are so many indeed by
far the greater number amongst us who would be unhappy if they were not engaged
in actually making things and things which turn out beautiful under their
hands there are many like the housekeepers I was speaking of whose delight
is in administration and organisation to use longtailed words I mean people
who like keeping things together avoiding waste seeing that nothing sticks
fast uselessly Such people are thoroughly happy in their business all the more
as they are dealing with actual facts and not merely passing counters round to
see what share they shall have in the privileged taxation of useful people
which was the business of the commercial folk in past days Well what are you
going to ask me next«
Chapter XIII
Concerning Politics
Said I »How do you manage with politics«
Said Hammond smiling »I am glad that it is of me that you ask that
question I do believe that anybody else would make you explain yourself or try
to do so till you were sickened of asking questions Indeed I believe I am the
only man in England who would know what you mean and since I know I will
answer your question briefly by saying that we are very well off as to politics
because we have none If ever you make a book out of this conversation put
this in a chapter by itself after the model of old Horrebows Snakes in
Iceland«
»I will« said I
Chapter XIV
How Matters Are Managed
Said I »How about your relations with foreign nations«
»I will not affect not to know what you mean« said he »but I will tell you
at once that the whole system of rival and contending nations which played so
great a part in the government of the world of civilisation has disappeared
along with the inequality betwixt man and man in society«
»Does not that make the world duller« said I
»Why« said the old man
»The obliteration of national variety« said I
»Nonsense« he said somewhat snappishly »Cross the water and see You will
find plenty of variety the landscape the building the diet the amusements
all various The men and women varying in looks as well as in habits of thought
the costume far more various than in the commercial period How should it add to
the variety or dispel the dulness to coerce certain families or tribes often
heterogeneous and jarring with one another into certain artificial and
mechanical groups and call them nations and stimulate their patriotism i
e their foolish and envious prejudices«
»Well I dont know how« said I
»Thats right« said Hammond cheerily »you can easily understand that now
we are freed from this folly it is obvious to us that by means of this very
diversity the different strains of blood in the world can be serviceable and
pleasant to each other without in the least wanting to rob each other we are
all bent on the same enterprise making the most of our lives And I must tell
you whatever quarrels or misunderstandings arise they very seldom take place
between people of different race and consequently since there is less unreason
in them they are the more readily appeased«
»Good« said I »but as to those matters of politics as to general
differences of opinion in one and the same community Do you assert that there
are none«
»No not at all« said he somewhat snappishly »but I do say that
differences of opinion about real solid things need not and with us do not
crystallise people into parties permanently hostile to one another with
different theories as to the build of the universe and the progress of time
Isnt that what politics used to mean«
»Hm well« said I »I am not so sure of that«
Said he »I take you neighbour they only pretended to this serious
difference of opinion for if it had existed they could not have dealt together
in the ordinary business of life couldnt have eaten together bought and sold
together gambled together cheated other people together but must have fought
whenever they met which would not have suited them at all The game of the
masters of politics was to cajole or force the public to pay the expense of a
luxurious life and exciting amusement for a few cliques of ambitious persons
and the pretence of serious difference of opinion belied by every action of
their lives was quite good enough for that What has all that got to do with
us«
Said I »Why nothing I should hope But I fear In short I have been
told that political strife was a necessary result of human nature«
»Human nature« cried the old boy impetuously »what human nature The
human nature of paupers of slaves of slaveholders or the human nature of
wealthy freemen Which Come tell me that«
»Well« said I »I suppose there would be a difference according to
circumstances in peoples action about these matters«
»I should think so indeed« said he »At all events experience shows that
it is so Amongst us our differences concern matters of business and passing
events as to them and could not divide men permanently As a rule the
immediate outcome shows which opinion on a given subject is the right one it is
a matter of fact not of speculation For instance it is clearly not easy to
knock up a political party on the question as to whether haymaking in such and
such a countryside shall begin this week or next when all men agree that it
must at latest begin the week after next and when any man can go down into the
fields himself and see whether the seeds are ripe enough for the cutting«
Said I »And you settle these differences great and small by the will of
the majority I suppose«
»Certainly« said he »how else could we settle them You see in matters
which are merely personal which do not affect the welfare of the community how
a man shall dress what he shall eat and drink what he shall write and read
and so forth there can be no difference of opinion and everybody does as he
pleases But when the matter is of common interest to the whole community and
the doing or not doing something affects everybody the majority must have their
way unless the minority were to take up arms and show by force that they were
the effective or real majority which however in a society of men who are free
and equal is little likely to happen because in such a community the apparent
majority is the real majority and the others as I have hinted before know
that too well to obstruct from mere pigheadedness especially as they have had
plenty of opportunity of putting forward their side of the question«
»How is that managed« said I
»Well« said he »let us take one of our units of management a commune or
a ward or a parish for we have all three names indicating little real
distinction between them now though time was there was a good deal In such a
district as you would call it some neighbours think that something ought to be
done or undone a new townhall built a clearance of inconvenient houses or
say a stone bridge substituted for some ugly old iron one there you have
undoing and doing in one Well at the next ordinary meeting of the neighbours
or Mote as we call it according to the ancient tongue of the times before
bureaucracy a neighbour proposes the change and of course if everybody
agrees there is an end of discussion except about details Equally if no one
backs the proposer seconds him it used to be called the matter drops for
the time being a thing not likely to happen amongst reasonable men however as
the proposer is sure to have talked it over with others before the Mote But
supposing the affair proposed and seconded if a few of the neighbours disagree
to it if they think that the beastly iron bridge will serve a little longer and
they dont want to be bothered with building a new one just then they dont
count heads that time but put off the formal discussion to the next Mote and
meantime arguments pro and con are flying about and some get printed so that
everybody knows what is going on and when the Mote comes together again there
is a regular discussion and at last a vote by show of hands If the division is
a close one the question is again put off for further discussion if the
division is a wide one the minority are asked if they will yield to the more
general opinion which they often nay most commonly do If they refuse the
question is debated a third time when if the minority has not perceptibly
grown they always give way though I believe there is some halfforgotten rule
by which they might still carry it on further but I say what always happens is
that they are convinced not perhaps that their view is the wrong one but they
cannot persuade or force the community to adopt it«
»Very good« said I »but what happens if the divisions are still narrow«
Said he »As a matter of principle and according to the rule of such cases
the question must then lapse and the majority if so narrow has to submit to
sitting down under the status quo But I must tell you that in point of fact the
minority very seldom enforces this rule but generally yields in a friendly
manner«
»But do you know« said I »that there is something in all this very like
democracy and I thought that democracy was considered to be in a moribund
condition many many years ago«
The old boys eyes twinkled »I grant you that our methods have that
drawback But what is to be done We cant get anyone amongst us to complain of
his not always having his own way in the teeth of the community when it is
clear that everybody cannot have that indulgence What is to be done«
»Well« said I »I dont know«
Said he »The only alternatives to our method that I can conceive of are
these First that we should choose out or breed a class of superior persons
capable of judging on all matters without consulting the neighbours that in
short we should get for ourselves what used to be called an aristocracy of
intellect or secondly that for the purpose of safeguarding the freedom of
the individual will we should revert to a system of private property again and
have slaves and slaveholders once more What do you think of those two
expedients«
»Well« said I »there is a third possibility to wit that every man
should be quite independent of every other and that thus the tyranny of society
should be abolished«
He looked hard at me for a second or two and then burst out laughing very
heartily and I confess that I joined him When he recovered himself he nodded
at me and said »Yes yes I quite agree with you and so we all do«
»Yes« I said »and besides it does not press hardly on the minority for
take this matter of the bridge no man is obliged to work on it if he doesnt
agree to its building At least I suppose not«
He smiled and said »Shrewdly put and yet from the point of view of the
native of another planet If the man of the minority does find his feelings
hurt doubtless he may relieve them by refusing to help in building the bridge
But dear neighbour that is not a very effective salve for the wound caused by
the tyranny of a majority in our society because all work that is done is
either beneficial or hurtful to every member of society The man is benefited by
the bridgebuilding if it turns out a good thing and hurt by it if it turns out
a bad one whether he puts a hand to it or not and meanwhile he is benefiting
the bridgebuilders by his work whatever that may be In fact I see no help
for him except the pleasure of saying I told you so if the bridgebuilding turns
out to be a mistake and hurts him if it benefits him he must suffer in silence
A terrible tyranny our Communism is it not Folk used often to be warned
against this very unhappiness in times past when for every wellfed contented
person you saw a thousand miserable starvelings Whereas for us we grow fat and
wellliking on the tyranny a tyranny to say the truth not to be made visible
by any microscope I know Dont be afraid my friend we are not going to seek
for troubles by calling our peace and plenty and happiness by ill names whose
very meaning we have forgotten«
He sat musing for a little and then started and said »Are there any more
questions dear guest The morning is waning fast amidst my garrulity«
Chapter XV
On the Lack of Incentive to Labour in a Communist Society
»Yes« said I »I was expecting Dick and Clara to make their appearance any
moment but is there time to ask just one or two questions before they come«
»Try it dear neighbour try it« said old Hammond »For the more you ask
me the better I am pleased and at any rate if they do come and find me in the
middle of an answer they must sit quiet and pretend to listen till I come to an
end It wont hurt them they will find it quite amusing enough to sit side by
side conscious of their proximity to each other«
I smiled as I was bound to and said »Good I will go on talking without
noticing them when they come in Now this is what I want to ask you about to
wit how you get people to work when there is no reward of labour and
especially how you get them to work strenuously«
»No reward of labour« said Hammond gravely »The reward of labour is life
Is that not enough«
»But no reward for especially good work« quoth I
»Plenty of reward« said he »the reward of creation The wages which God
gets as people might have said time agone If you are going to ask to be paid
for the pleasure of creation which is what excellence in work means the next
thing we shall hear of will be a bill sent in for the begetting of children«
»Well but« said I »the man of the nineteenth century would say there is a
natural desire towards the procreation of children and a natural desire not to
work«
»Yes yes« said he »I know the ancient platitude wholly untrue indeed
to us quite meaningless Fourier whom all men laughed at understood the matter
better«
»Why is it meaningless to you« said I
He said »Because it implies that all work is suffering and we are so far
from thinking that that as you may have noticed whereas we are not short of
wealth there is a kind of fear growing up amongst us that we shall one day be
short of work It is a pleasure which we are afraid of losing not a pain«
»Yes« said I »I have noticed that and I was going to ask you about that
also But in the meantime what do you positively mean to assert about the
pleasurableness of work amongst you«
»This that all work is now pleasurable either because of the hope of gain
in honour and wealth with which the work is done which causes pleasurable
excitement even when the actual work is not pleasant or else because it has
grown into a pleasurable habit in the case with what you may call mechanical
work and lastly and most of our work is of this kind because there is
conscious sensuous pleasure in the work itself; it is done that is by
artists«
»I see« said I »Can you now tell me how you have come to this happy
condition For to speak plainly this change from the conditions of the older
world seems to me far greater and more important than all the other changes you
have told me about as to crime politics property marriage«
»You are right there« said he »Indeed you may say rather that it is this
change which makes all the others possible What is the object of Revolution
Surely to make people happy Revolution having brought its foredoomed change
about how can you prevent the counterrevolution from setting in except by
making people happy What shall we expect peace and stability from unhappiness
The gathering of grapes from thorns and figs from thistles is a reasonable
expectation compared with that And happiness without happy daily work is
impossible«
»Most obviously true« said I for I thought the old boy was preaching a
little »But answer my question as to how you gained this happiness«
»Briefly« said he »by the absence of artificial coercion and the freedom
for every man to do what he can do best joined to the knowledge of what
productions of labour we really want I must admit that this knowledge we
reached slowly and painfully«
»Go on« said I »give me more detail explain more fully For this subject
interests me intensely«
»Yes I will« said he »but in order to do so I must weary you by talking a
little about the past Contrast is necessary for this explanation Do you mind«
»No no« said I
Said he settling himself in his chair again for a long talk »It is clear
from all that we hear and read that in the last age of civilisation men had got
into a vicious circle in the matter of production of wares They had reached a
wonderful facility of production and in order to make the most of that facility
they had gradually created or allowed to grow rather a most elaborate system
of buying and selling which has been called the WorldMarket and that
WorldMarket once set agoing forced them to go on making more and more of
these wares whether they needed them or not So that while of course they
could not free themselves from the toil of making real necessaries they created
in a neverending series sham or artificial necessaries which became under the
iron rule of the aforesaid WorldMarket of equal importance to them with the
real necessaries which supported life By all this they burdened themselves with
a prodigious mass of work merely for the sake of keeping their wretched system
going«
»Yes and then« said I
»Why then since they had forced themselves to stagger along under this
horrible burden of unnecessary production it became impossible for them to look
upon labour and its results from any other point of view than one to wit the
ceaseless endeavour to expend the least possible amount of labour on any article
made and yet at the same time to make as many articles as possible To this
cheapening of production as it was called everything was sacrificed the
happiness of the workman at his work nay his most elementary comfort and bare
health his food his clothes his dwelling his leisure his amusement his
education his life in short did not weigh a grain of sand in the balance
against this dire necessity of cheap production of things a great part of which
were not worth producing at all Nay we are told and we must believe it so
overwhelming is the evidence though many of our people scarcely can believe it
that even rich and powerful men the masters of the poor devils aforesaid
submitted to live amidst sights and sounds and smells which it is in the very
nature of man to abhor and flee from in order that their riches might bolster
up this supreme folly The whole community in fact was cast into the jaws of
this ravening monster the cheap production forced upon it by the WorldMarket«
»Dear me« said I »But what happened Did not their cleverness and facility
in production master this chaos of misery at last Couldnt they catch up with
the WorldMarket and then set to work to devise means for relieving themselves
from this fearful task of extra labour«
He smiled bitterly »Did they even try to« said he »I am not sure You
know that according to the old saw the beetle gets used to living in dung and
these people whether they found the dung sweet or not certainly lived in it«
His estimate of the life of the nineteenth century made me catch my breath a
little and I said feebly »But the laboursaving machines«
»Heyday« quoth he »Whats that you are saying the laboursaving machines
Yes they were made to save labour or to speak more plainly the lives of men
on one piece of work in order that it might be expended I will say wasted on
another probably useless piece of work Friend all their devices for
cheapening labour simply resulted in increasing the burden of labour The
appetite of the WorldMarket grew with what it fed on the countries within the
ring of civilisation that is organised misery were glutted with the abortions
of the market and force and fraud were used unsparingly to open up countries
outside that pale This process of opening up is a strange one to those who have
read the professions of the men of that period and do not understand their
practice and perhaps shows us at its worst the great vice of the nineteenth
century the use of hypocrisy and cant to evade the responsibility of vicarious
ferocity When the civilised WorldMarket coveted a country not yet in its
clutches some transparent pretext was found the suppression of a slavery
different from and not so cruel as that of commerce the pushing of a religion
no longer believed in by its promoters the rescue of some desperado or
homicidal madman whose misdeeds had got him into trouble amongst the natives of
the barbarous country any stick in short which would beat the dog at all
Then some bold unprincipled ignorant adventurer was found no difficult task
in the days of competition and he was bribed to create a market by breaking up
whatever traditional society there might be in the doomed country and by
destroying whatever leisure or pleasure he found there He forced wares on the
natives which they did not want and took their natural products in exchange as
this form of robbery was called and thereby he created new wants to supply
which that is to be allowed to live by their new masters the hapless
helpless people had to sell themselves into the slavery of hopeless toil so that
they might have something wherewith to purchase the nullities of civilisation
Ah« said the old man pointing to the Museum »I have read books and papers in
there telling strange stories indeed of the dealings of civilisation or
organised misery with noncivilisation from the time when the British
Government deliberately sent blankets infected with smallpox as choice gifts to
inconvenient tribes of Redskins to the time when Africa was infested by a man
named Stanley who «
»Excuse me« said I »but as you know time presses and I want to keep our
question on the straightest line possible and I want at once to ask this about
these wares made for the WorldMarket how about their quality these people
who were so clever about making goods I suppose they made them well«
»Quality« said the old man crustily for he was rather peevish at being cut
short in his story »how could they possibly attend to such trifles as the
quality of the wares they sold The best of them were of a lowish average the
worst were transparent makeshifts for the things asked for which nobody would
have put up with if they could have got anything else It was a current jest of
the time that the wares were made to sell and not to use a jest which you as
coming from another planet may understand but which our folk could not«
Said I »What did they make nothing well«
»Why yes« said he »there was one class of goods which they did make
thoroughly well and that was the class of machines which were used for making
things These were usually quite perfect pieces of workmanship admirably
adapted to the end in view So that it may be fairly said that the great
achievement of the nineteenth century was the making of machines which were
wonders of invention skill and patience and which were used for the
production of measureless quantities of worthless makeshifts In truth the
owners of the machines did not consider anything which they made as wares but
simply as means for the enrichment of themselves Of course the only admitted
test of utility in wares was the finding of buyers for them wise men or fools
as it might chance«
»And people put up with this« said I
»For a time« said he
»And then«
»And then the overturn« said the old man smiling »and the nineteenth
century saw itself as a man who has lost his clothes whilst bathing and has to
walk naked through the town«
»You are very bitter about that unlucky nineteenth century« said I
»Naturally« said he »since I know so much about it«
He was silent a little and then said »There are traditions nay real
histories in our family about it my grandfather was one of its victims If
you know something about it you will understand what he suffered when I tell
you that he was in those days a genuine artist a man of genius and a
revolutionist«
»I think I do understand« said I »but now as it seems you have reversed
all this«
»Pretty much so« said he »The wares which we make are made because they
are needed men make for their neighbours use as if they were making for
themselves not for a vague market of which they know nothing and over which
they have no control as there is no buying and selling it would be mere
insanity to make goods on the chance of their being wanted for there is no
longer anyone who can be compelled to buy them So that whatever is made is
good and thoroughly fit for its purpose Nothing can be made except for genuine
use therefore no inferior goods are made Moreover as aforesaid we have now
found out what we want so we make no more than we want and as we are not
driven to make a vast quantity of useless things we have time and resources
enough to consider our pleasure in making them All work which would be irksome
to do by hand is done by immensely improved machinery and in all work which it
is a pleasure to do by hand machinery is done without There is no difficulty in
finding work which suits the special turn of mind of everybody so that no man
is sacrificed to the wants of another From time to time when we have found out
that some piece of work was too disagreeable or troublesome we have given it up
and done altogether without the thing produced by it Now surely you can see
that under these circumstances all the work that we do is an exercise of the
mind and body more or less pleasant to be done so that instead of avoiding work
everybody seeks it and since people have got defter in doing the work
generation after generation it has become so easy to do that it seems as if
there were less done though probably more is produced I suppose this explains
that fear which I hinted at just now of a possible scarcity in work which
perhaps you have already noticed and which is a feeling on the increase and
has been for a score of years«
»But do you think« said I »that there is any fear of a workfamine amongst
you«
»No I do not« said he »and I will tell why it is each mans business to
make his own work pleasanter and pleasanter which of course tends towards
raising the standard of excellence as no man enjoys turning out work which is
not a credit to him and also to greater deliberation in turning it out and
there is such a vast number of things which can be treated as works of art that
this alone gives employment to a host of deft people Again if art be
inexhaustible so is science also and though it is no longer the only innocent
occupation which is thought worth an intelligent man spending his time upon as
it once was yet there are and I suppose will be many people who are excited
by its conquest of difficulties and care for it more than for anything else
Again as more and more of pleasure is imported into work I think we shall take
up kinds of work which produce desirable wares but which we gave up because we
could not carry them on pleasantly Moreover I think that it is only in parts
of Europe which are more advanced than the rest of the world that you will hear
this talk of the fear of a workfamine Those lands which were once the colonies
of Great Britain for instance and especially America that part of it above
all which was once the United States are now and will be for a long while a
great resource to us For these lands and I say especially the northern parts
of America suffered so terribly from the full force of the last days of
civilisation and became such horrible places to live in that they are now very
backward in all that makes life pleasant Indeed one may say that for nearly a
hundred years the people of the northern parts of America have been engaged in
gradually making a dwellingplace out of a stinking dustheap and there is
still a great deal to do especially as the country is so big«
»Well« said I »I am exceedingly glad to think that you have such a
prospect of happiness before you But I should like to ask a few more questions
and then I have done for today«
Chapter XVI
Dinner in the Hall of the Bloomsbury Market
As I spoke I heard footsteps near the door the latch yielded and in came our
two lovers looking so handsome that one had no feeling of shame in looking on
at their littleconcealed lovemaking for indeed it seemed as if all the world
must be in love with them As for old Hammond he looked on them like an artist
who has just painted a picture nearly as well as he thought he could when he
began it and was perfectly happy He said
»Sit down sit down young folk and dont make a noise Our guest here has
still some questions to ask me«
»Well I should suppose so« said Dick »you have only been three hours and
a half together and it isnt to be hoped that the history of two centuries
could be told in three hours and a half let alone that for all I know you may
have been wandering into the realms of geography and craftsmanship«
»As to noise my dear kinsman« said Clara »you will very soon be disturbed
by the noise of the dinnerbell which I should think will be very pleasant
music to our guest who breakfasted early it seems and probably had a tiring
day yesterday«
I said »Well since you have spoken the word I begin to feel that it is
so but I have been feeding myself with wonder this long time past really its
quite true« quoth I as I saw her smile O so prettily
But just then from some tower high up in the air came the sound of silvery
chimes playing a sweet clear tune that sounded to my unaccustomed ears like the
song of the first blackbird in the spring and called a rush of memories to my
mind some of bad times some of good but all sweetened now into mere pleasure
»No more questions now before dinner« said Clara and she took my hand as
an affectionate child would and led me out of the room and down stairs into the
forecourt of the Museum leaving the two Hammonds to follow as they pleased
We went into the marketplace which I had been in before a thinnish stream
of elegantly1 dressed people going in along with us We turned into the cloister
and came to a richly moulded and carved doorway where a very pretty darkhaired
young girl gave us each a beautiful bunch of summer flowers and we entered a
hall much bigger than that of the Hammersmith Guest House more elaborate in its
architecture and perhaps more beautiful I found it difficult to keep my eyes
off the wallpictures for I thought it bad manners to stare at Clara all the
time though she was quite worth it I saw at a glance that their subjects were
taken from queer oldworld myths and imaginations which in yesterdays world
only about half a dozen people in the country knew anything about and when the
two Hammonds sat down opposite to us I said to the old man pointing to the
frieze
»How strange to see such subjects here«
»Why« said he »I dont see why you should be surprised everybody knows
the tales and they are graceful and pleasant subjects not too tragic for a
place where people mostly eat and drink and amuse themselves and yet full of
incident«
I smiled and said »Well I scarcely expected to find record of the Seven
Swans and the King of the Golden Mountain and Faithful Henry and such curious
pleasant imaginations as Jacob Grimm got together from the childhood of the
world barely lingering even in his time I should have thought you would have
forgotten such childishness by this time«
The old man smiled and said nothing but Dick turned rather red and broke
out
»What do you mean Guest I think them very beautiful I mean not only the
pictures but the stories and when we were children we used to imagine them
going on in every woodend by the bight of every stream every house in the
fields was the Fairyland Kings House to us Dont you remember Clara«
»Yes« she said and it seemed to me as if a slight cloud came over her fair
face I was going to speak to her on the subject when the pretty waitresses
came to us smiling and chattering sweetly like reed warblers by the river side
and fell to giving us our dinner As to this as at our breakfast everything
was cooked and served with a daintiness which showed that those who had prepared
it were interested in it but there was no excess either of quantity or of
gourmandise everything was simple though so excellent of its kind and it was
made clear to us that this was no feast only an ordinary meal The glass
crockery and plate were very beautiful to my eyes used to the study of
mediæval art but a nineteenthcentury clubhaunter would I daresay have found
them rough and lacking in finish the crockery being leadglazed potware
though beautifully ornamented the only porcelain being here and there a piece
of old oriental ware The glass again though elegant and quaint and very
varied in form was somewhat bubbled and hornier in texture than the commercial
articles of the nineteenth century The furniture and general fittings of the
hall were much of a piece with the tablegear beautiful in form and highly
ornamented but without the commercial finish of the joiners and cabinetmakers
of our time Withal there was a total absence of what the nineteenth century
calls comfort that is stuffy inconvenience so that even apart from the
delightful excitement of the day I had never eaten my dinner so pleasantly
before
When we had done eating and were sitting a little while with a bottle of
very good Bordeaux wine before us Clara came back to the question of the
subjectmatter of the pictures as though it had troubled her
She looked up at them and said »How is it that though we are so interested
with our life for the most part yet when people take to writing poems or
painting pictures they seldom deal with our modern life or if they do take
good care to make their poems or pictures unlike that life Are we not good
enough to paint ourselves How is it that we find the dreadful times of the past
so interesting to us in pictures and poetry«
Old Hammond smiled »It always was so and I suppose always will be« said
he »however it may be explained It is true that in the nineteenth century
when there was so little art and so much talk about it there was a theory that
art and imaginative literature ought to deal with contemporary life but they
never did so for if there was any pretence of it the author always took care
as Clara hinted just now to disguise or exaggerate or idealise and in some
way or another make it strange so that for all the verisimilitude there was
he might just as well have dealt with the times of the Pharaohs«
»Well« said Dick »surely it is but natural to like these things strange
just as when we were children as I said just now we used to pretend to be
soandso in suchandsuch a place Thats what these pictures and poems do and
why shouldnt they«
»Thou hast hit it Dick« quoth old Hammond »it is the childlike part of
us that produces works of imagination When we are children time passes so slow
with us that we seem to have time for everything«
He sighed and then smiled and said »At least let us rejoice that we have
got back our childhood again I drink to the days that are«
»Second childhood« said I in a low voice and then blushed at my double
rudeness and hoped that he hadnt heard But he had and turned to me smiling
and said »Yes why not And for my part I hope it may last long and that the
worlds next period of wise and unhappy manhood if that should happen will
speedily lead us to a third childhood if indeed this age be not our third
Meantime my friend you must know that we are too happy both individually and
collectively to trouble ourselves about what is to come hereafter«
»Well for my part« said Clara »I wish we were interesting enough to be
written or painted about«
Dick answered her with some lovers speech impossible to be written down
and then we sat quiet a little
Chapter XVII
How the Change Came
Dick broke the silence at last saying »Guest forgive us for a little
afterdinner dulness What would you like to do Shall we have out Greylocks and
trot back to Hammersmith or will you come with us and hear some Welsh folk sing
in a hall close by here or would you like presently to come with me into the
City and see some really fine building or what shall it be«
»Well« said I »as I am a stranger I must let you choose for me«
In point of fact, I did not by any means want to be amused just then and
also I rather felt as if the old man with his knowledge of past times and even
a kind of inverted sympathy for them caused by his active hatred of them was as
it were a blanket for me against the cold of this very new world where I was
so to say stripped bare of every habitual thought and way of acting and I did
not want to leave him too soon He came to my rescue at once and said
»Wait a bit Dick there is someone else to be consulted besides you and the
guest here and that is I I am not going to lose the pleasure of his company
just now especially as I know he has something else to ask me So go to your
Welshmen by all means but first of all bring us another bottle of wine to this
nook and then be off as soon as you like and come again and fetch our friend
to go westward but not too soon«
Dick nodded smilingly and the old man and I were soon alone in the great
hall the afternoon sun gleaming on the red wine in our tall quaintshaped
glasses Then said Hammond
»Does anything especially puzzle you about our way of living now you have
heard a good deal and seen a little of it«
Said I »I think what puzzles me most is how it all came about«
»It well may« said he »so great as the change is It would be difficult
indeed to tell you the whole story perhaps impossible knowledge discontent
treachery disappointment ruin misery despair those who worked for the
change because they could see further than other people went through all these
phases of suffering and doubtless all the time the most of men looked on not
knowing what was doing thinking it all a matter of course like the rising and
setting of the sun and indeed it was so«
»Tell me one thing if you can« said I »Did the change the revolution it
used to be called come peacefully«
»Peacefully« said he »what peace was there amongst those poor confused
wretches of the nineteenth century It was war from beginning to end bitter
war till hope and pleasure put an end to it«
»Do you mean actual fighting with weapons« said I »or the strikes and
lockouts and starvation of which we have heard«
»Both both« he said »As a matter of fact the history of the terrible
period of transition from commercial slavery to freedom may thus be summarised
When the hope of realising a communal condition of life for all men arose quite
late in the nineteenth century the power of the middle classes the then
tyrants of society was so enormous and crushing that to almost all men even
those who had you may say despite themselves despite their reason and
judgment conceived such hopes it seemed a dream So much was this the case
that some of those more enlightened men who were then called Socialists
although they well knew and even stated in public that the only reasonable
condition of Society was that of pure Communism such as you now see around
you yet shrunk from what seemed to them the barren task of preaching the
realisation of a happy dream Looking back now we can see that the great
motivepower of the change was a longing for freedom and equality akin if you
please to the unreasonable passion of the lover a sickness of heart that
rejected with loathing the aimless solitary life of the welltodo educated man
of that time phrases my dear friend which have lost their meaning to us of
the present day so far removed we are from the dreadful facts which they
represent
Well these men though conscious of this feeling had no faith in it as a
means of bringing about the change Nor was that wonderful for looking around
them they saw the huge mass of the oppressed classes too much burdened with the
misery of their lives and too much overwhelmed by the selfishness of misery to
be able to form a conception of any escape from it except by the ordinary way
prescribed by the system of slavery under which they lived which was nothing
more than a remote chance of climbing out of the oppressed into the oppressing
class
Therefore though they knew that the only reasonable aim for those who would
better the world was a condition of equality in their impatience and despair
they managed to convince themselves that if they could by hook or by crook get
the machinery of production and the management of property so altered that the
lower classes so the horrible word ran might have their slavery somewhat
ameliorated they would be ready to fit into this machinery and would use it
for bettering their condition still more and still more until at last the
result would be a practical equality they were very fond of using the word
practical because the rich would be forced to pay so much for keeping the poor
in a tolerable condition that the condition of riches would become no longer
valuable and would gradually die out Do you follow me«
»Partly« said I »Go on«
Said old Hammond »Well since you follow me you will see that as a theory
this was not altogether unreasonable but practically it turned out a failure«
»How so« said I
»Well dont you see« said he »because it involved the making of a
machinery by those who didnt know what they wanted the machines to do So far
as the masses of the oppressed class furthered this scheme of improvement they
did it to get themselves improved slaverations as many of them as could And
if those classes had really been incapable of being touched by that instinct
which produced the passion for freedom and equality aforesaid what would have
happened I think would have been this that a certain part of the
workingclasses would have been so far improved in condition that they would
have approached the condition of the middling rich men but below them would
have been a great class of most miserable slaves whose slavery would have been
far more hopeless than the older classslavery had been«
»What stood in the way of this« said I
»Why of course« said he »just that instinct for freedom aforesaid It is
true that the slaveclass could not conceive the happiness of a free life Yet
they grew to understand and very speedily too that they were oppressed by
their masters and they assumed you see how justly that they could do without
them though perhaps they scarce knew how so that it came to this that though
they could not look forward to the happiness or peace of the freeman they did
at least look forward to the war which a vague hope told them would bring that
peace about«
»Could you tell me rather more closely what actually took place« said I
for I thought him rather vague here
»Yes« he said »I can That machinery of life for the use of people who
didnt know what they wanted of it and which was known at the time as State
Socialism was partly put in motion though in a very piecemeal way But it did
not work smoothly it was of course resisted at every turn by the capitalists
and no wonder for it tended more and more to upset the commercial system I have
told you of without providing anything really effective in its place The
result was growing confusion great suffering amongst the working classes and
as a consequence great discontent For a long time matters went on like this
The power of the upper classes had lessened as their command over wealth
lessened and they could not carry things wholly by the high hand as they had
been used to in earlier days So far the State Socialists were justified by the
result On the other hand the working classes were illorganised and growing
poorer in reality in spite of the gains also real in the long run which they
had forced from the masters Thus matters hung in the balance the masters could
not reduce their slaves to complete subjection though they put down some feeble
and partial riots easily enough The workers forced their masters to grant them
ameliorations real or imaginary of their condition but could not force
freedom from them At last came a great crash To explain this you must
understand that very great progress had been made amongst the workers though as
before said but little in the direction of improved livelihood«
I played the innocent and said »In what direction could they improve if
not in livelihood«
Said he »In the power to bring about a state of things in which livelihood
would be full and easy to gain They had at last learned how to combine after a
long period of mistakes and disasters The workmen had now a regular
organisation in the struggle against their masters a struggle which for more
than half a century had been accepted as an inevitable part of the conditions of
the modern system of labour and production This combination had now taken the
form of a federation of all or almost all the recognised wagepaid employments
and it was by its means that those betterments of the condition of the workmen
had been forced from the masters and though they were not seldom mixed up with
the rioting that happened especially in the earlier days of their organisation
it by no means formed an essential part of their tactics indeed at the time I
am now speaking of they had got to be so strong that most commonly the mere
threat of a strike was enough to gain any minor point because they had given up
the foolish tactics of the ancient trades unions of calling out of work a part
only of the workers of such and such an industry and supporting them while out
of work on the labour of those that remained in By this time they had a biggish
fund of money for the support of strikes and could stop a certain industry
altogether for a time if they so determined«
Said I »Was there not a serious danger of such moneys being misused of
jobbery in fact«
Old Hammond wriggled uneasily on his seat and said
»Though all this happened so long ago I still feel the pain of mere shame
when I have to tell you that it was more than a danger that such rascality
often happened indeed more than once the whole combination seemed dropping to
pieces because of it but at the time of which I am telling things looked so
threatening and to the workmen at least the necessity of their dealing with the
fastgathering trouble which the labourstruggle had brought about was so
clear that the conditions of the times had begot a deep seriousness amongst all
reasonable people a determination which put aside all nonessentials and which
to thinking men was ominous of the swiftlyapproaching change such an element
was too dangerous for mere traitors and selfseekers and one by one they were
thrust out and mostly joined the declared reactionaries«
»How about those ameliorations« said I »what were they or rather of what
nature«
Said he »Some of them and these of the most practical importance to the
mens livelihood were yielded by the masters by direct compulsion on the part
of the men the new conditions of labour so gained were indeed only customary
enforced by no law but once established the masters durst not attempt to
withdraw them in face of the growing power of the combined workers Some again
were steps on the path of State Socialism the most important of which can be
speedily summed up At the end of the nineteenth century the cry arose for
compelling the masters to employ their men a less number of hours in the day
this cry gathered volume quickly and the masters had to yield to it But it
was of course clear that unless this meant a higher price for work per hour
it would be a mere nullity and that the masters unless forced would reduce it
to that Therefore after a long struggle another law was passed fixing a minimum
price for labour in the most important industries which again had to be
supplemented by a law fixing the maximum price on the chief wares then
considered necessary for a workmans life«
»You were getting perilously near to the late Roman poorrates« said I
smiling »and the doling out of bread to the proletariat«
»So many said at the time« said the old man drily »and it has long been a
commonplace that that slough awaits State Socialism in the end if it gets to
the end which as you know it did not with us However it went further than this
minimum and maximum business which by the by we can now see was necessary The
Government now found it imperative on them to meet the outcry of the master
class at the approaching destruction of commerce as desirable had they known
it as the extinction of the cholera which has since happily taken place And
they were forced to meet it by a measure hostile to the masters the
establishment of government factories for the production of necessary wares and
markets for their sale These measures taken altogether did do something they
were in fact of the nature of regulations made by the commander of a beleaguered
city But of course to the privileged classes it seemed as if the end of the
world were come when such laws were enacted
Nor was that altogether without a warrant the spread of communistic
theories and the partial practice of State Socialism had at first disturbed
and at last almost paralysed the marvellous system of commerce under which the
old world had lived so feverishly and had produced for some few a life of
gamblers pleasure and for many or most a life of mere misery over and over
again came bad times as they were called and indeed they were bad enough for
the wageslaves The year 1952 was one of the worst of these times the workmen
suffered dreadfully the partial inefficient government factories which were
terribly jobbed all but broke down and a vast part of the population had for
the time being to be fed on undisguised charity as it was called
The Combined Workers watched the situation with mingled hope and anxiety
They had already formulated their general demands but now by a solemn and
universal vote of the whole of their federated societies they insisted on the
first step being taken toward carrying out their demands this step would have
led directly to handing over the management of the whole natural resources of
the country together with the machinery for using them into the power of the
Combined Workers and the reduction of the privileged classes into the position
of pensioners obviously dependent on the pleasure of the workers The
Resolution as it was called which was widely published in the newspapers of
the day was in fact a declaration of war and was so accepted by the master
class They began henceforward to prepare for a firm stand against the brutal
and ferocious communism of the day as they phrased it And as they were in many
ways still very powerful or seemed so to be they still hoped by means of brute
force to regain some of what they had lost and perhaps in the end the whole of
it It was said amongst them on all hands that it had been a great mistake of
the various governments not to have resisted sooner and the liberals and
radicals the name as perhaps you may know of the more democratically inclined
part of the ruling classes were much blamed for having led the world to this
pass by their mistimed pedantry and foolish sentimentality and one Gladstone
or Gledstein probably judging by this name of Scandinavian descent a
notable politician of the nineteenth century was especially singled out for
reprobation in this respect I need scarcely point out to you the absurdity of
all this But terrible tragedy lay hidden behind this grinning through a
horsecollar of the reactionary party The insatiable greed of the lower classes
must be repressed The people must be taught a lesson these were the
sacramental phrases current amongst the reactionists and ominous enough they
were«
The old man stopped to look keenly at my attentive and wondering face and
then said
»I know dear guest that I have been using words and phrases which few
people amongst us could understand without long and laborious explanation and
not even then perhaps But since you have not yet gone to sleep and since I am
speaking to you as to a being from another planet I may venture to ask you if
you have followed me thus far«
»O yes« said I »I quite understand pray go on a great deal of what you
have been saying was commonplace with us when when «
»Yes« said he gravely »when you were dwelling in the other planet Well
now for the crash aforesaid
On some comparatively trifling occasion a great meeting was summoned by the
workmen leaders to meet in Trafalgar Square about the right to meet in which
place there had for years and years been bickering The civic bourgeois guard
called the police attacked the said meeting with bludgeons according to their
custom many people were hurt in the mêlèe of whom five in all died either
trampled to death on the spot or from the effects of their cudgelling the
meeting was scattered and some hundred of prisoners cast into gaol A similar
meeting had been treated in the same way a few days before at a place called
Manchester which has now disappeared Thus the lesson began The whole country
was thrown into a ferment by this meetings were held which attempted some rough
organisation for the holding of another meeting to retort on the authorities A
huge crowd assembled in Trafalgar Square and the neighbourhood then a place of
crowded streets and was too big for the bludgeonarmed police to cope with
there was a good deal of dryblow fighting three or four of the people were
killed and half a score of policemen were crushed to death in the throng and
the rest got away as they could This was a victory for the people as far as it
went The next day all London remember what it was in those days was in a
state of turmoil Many of the rich fled into the country the executive got
together soldiery but did not dare to use them and the police could not be
massed in any one place because riots or threats of riots were everywhere But
in Manchester where the people were not so courageous or not so desperate as in
London several of the popular leaders were arrested In London a convention of
leaders was got together from the Federation of Combined Workmen and sat under
the old revolutionary name of the Committee of Public Safety but as they had no
drilled and armed body of men to direct they attempted no aggressive measures
but only placarded the walls with somewhat vague appeals to the workmen not to
allow themselves to be trampled upon However they called a meeting in
Trafalgar Square for the day fortnight of the lastmentioned skirmish
Meantime the town grew no quieter and business came pretty much to an end
The newspapers then as always hitherto almost entirely in the hands of the
masters clamoured to the Government for repressive measures the rich citizens
were enrolled as an extra body of police and armed with bludgeons like them
many of these were strong wellfed fullblooded young men and had plenty of
stomach for fighting but the Government did not dare to use them and contented
itself with getting full powers voted to it by the Parliament for suppressing
any revolt and bringing up more and more soldiers to London Thus passed the
week after the great meeting almost as large a one was held on the Sunday
which went off peaceably on the whole as no opposition to it was offered and
again the people cried victory But on the Monday the people woke up to find
that they were hungry During the last few days there had been groups of men
parading the streets asking or if you please demanding money to buy food
and what for goodwill what for fear the richer people gave them a good deal
The authorities of the parishes also I havent time to explain that phrase at
present gave willynilly what provisions they could to wandering people and
the Government by means of its feeble national workshops also fed a good
number of halfstarved folk But in addition to this several bakers shops and
other provision stores had been emptied without a great deal of disturbance So
far so good But on the Monday in question the Committee of Public Safety on
the one hand afraid of general unorganised pillage and on the other emboldened
by the wavering conduct of the authorities sent a deputation provided with
carts and all necessary gear to clear out two or three big provision stores in
the centre of the town leaving papers with the shop managers promising to pay
the price of them and also in the part of the town where they were strongest
they took possession of several bakers shops and set men at work in them for
the benefit of the people all of which was done with little or no
disturbance the police assisting in keeping order at the sack of the stores as
they would have done at a big fire
But at this last stroke the reactionaries were so alarmed that they were
determined to force the executive into action The newspapers next day all
blazed into the fury of frightened people and threatened the people the
Government and everybody they could think of unless order were at once
restored A deputation of leading commercial people waited on the Government and
told them that if they did not at once arrest the Committee of Public Safety
they themselves would gather a body of men arm them and fall on the
incendiaries as they called them
They together with a number of the newspaper editors had a long interview
with the heads of the Government and two or three military men the deftest in
their art that the country could furnish The deputation came away from that
interview says a contemporary eyewitness smiling and satisfied and said no
more about raising an antipopular army but that afternoon left London with
their families for their country seats or elsewhere
The next morning the Government proclaimed a state of siege in London a
thing common enough amongst the absolutist governments on the Continent but
unheardof in England in those days They appointed the youngest and cleverest
of their generals to command the proclaimed district a man who had won a
certain sort of reputation in the disgraceful wars in which the country had been
long engaged from time to time The newspapers were in ecstacies and all the
most fervent of the reactionaries now came to the front men who in ordinary
times were forced to keep their opinions to themselves or their immediate
circle but who began to look forward to crushing once for all the Socialist
and even democratic tendencies which said they had been treated with such
foolish indulgence for the last sixty years
But the clever general took no visible action and yet only a few of the
minor newspapers abused him thoughtful men gathered from this that a plot was
hatching As for the Committee of Public Safety whatever they thought of their
position they had now gone too far to draw back and many of them it seems
thought that the Government would not act They went on quietly organising their
food supply which was a miserable driblet when all is said and also as a
retort to the state of siege they armed as many men as they could in the
quarter where they were strongest but did not attempt to drill or organise
them thinking perhaps that they could not at the best turn them into trained
soldiers till they had some breathing space The clever general his soldiers
and the police did not meddle with all this in the least in the world and
things were quieter in London that weekend though there were riots in many
places of the provinces which were quelled by the authorities without much
trouble The most serious of these were at Glasgow and Bristol
Well the Sunday of the meeting came and great crowds came to Trafalgar
Square in procession the greater part of the Committee amongst them surrounded
by their band of men armed somehow or other The streets were quite peaceful and
quiet though there were many spectators to see the procession pass Trafalgar
Square had no body of police in it the people took quiet possession of it and
the meeting began The armed men stood round the principal platform and there
were a few others armed amidst the general crowd but by far the greater part
were unarmed
Most people thought the meeting would go off peaceably but the members of
the Committee had heard from various quarters that something would be attempted
against them but these rumours were vague and they had no idea of what
threatened They soon found out
For before the streets about the Square were filled a body of soldiers
poured into it from the northwest corner and took up their places by the houses
that stood on the west side The people growled at the sight of the redcoats
the armed men of the Committee stood undecided not knowing what to do and
indeed this new influx so jammed the crowd together that unorganised as they
were they had little chance of working through it They had scarcely grasped
the fact of their enemies being there when another column of soldiers pouring
out of the streets which led into the great southern road going down to the
Parliament House still existing and called the Dung Market and also from the
embankment by the side of the Thames marched up pushing the crowd into a
denser and denser mass and formed along the south side of the Square Then any
of those who could see what was going on knew at once that they were in a trap
and could only wonder what would be done with them
The closelypacked crowd would not or could not budge except under the
influence of the height of terror which was soon to be supplied to them A few
of the armed men struggled to the front or climbed up to the base of the
monument which then stood there that they might face the wall of hidden fire
before them and to most men there were many women amongst them it seemed as
if the end of the world had come and today seemed strangely different from
yesterday No sooner were the soldiers drawn up aforesaid than says an
eyewitness a glittering officer on horseback came prancing out from the ranks
on the south and read something from a paper which he held in his hand which
something very few heard but I was told afterwards that it was an order for us
to disperse and a warning that he had legal right to fire on the crowd else
and that he would do so The crowd took it as a challenge of some sort and a
hoarse threatening roar went up from them and after that there was comparative
silence for a little till the officer had got back into the ranks I was near
the edge of the crowd towards the soldiers« says this eyewitness »and I saw
three little machines being wheeled out in front of the ranks which I knew for
mechanical guns I cried out Throw yourselves down they are going to fire But
no one scarcely could throw himself down so tight as the crowd were packed I
heard a sharp order given and wondered where I should be the next minute and
then It was as if the earth had opened and hell had come up bodily amidst us
It is no use trying to describe the scene that followed Deep lanes were mowed
amidst the thick crowd the dead and dying covered the ground and the shrieks
and wails and cries of horror filled all the air till it seemed as if there was
nothing else in the world but murder and death Those of our armed men who were
still unhurt cheered wildly and opened a scattering fire on the soldiers One or
two soldiers fell and I saw the officers going up and down the ranks urging the
men to fire again but they received the orders in sullen silence and let the
butts of their guns fall Only one sergeant ran to a machinegun and began to
set it going but a tall young man an officer too ran out of the ranks and
dragged him back by the collar and the soldiers stood there motionless while
the horrorstricken crowd nearly wholly unarmed for most of the armed men had
fallen in that first discharge drifted out of the Square I was told
afterwards that the soldiers on the west side had fired also and done their
part of the slaughter How I got out of the Square I scarcely know I went not
feeling the ground under me what with rage and terror and despair«
»So says our eyewitness The number of the slain on the side of the people
in that shooting during a minute was prodigious but it was not easy to come at
the truth about it it was probably between one and two thousand Of the
soldiers six were killed outright and a dozen wounded«
I listened trembling with excitement The old mans eyes glittered and his
face flushed as he spoke and told the tale of what I had often thought might
happen Yet I wondered that he should have got so elated about a mere massacre
and I said
»How fearful And I suppose that this massacre put an end to the whole
revolution for that time«
»No no« cried old Hammond »it began it«
He filled his glass and mine and stood up and cried out »Drink this glass
to the memory of those who died there for indeed it would be a long tale to
tell how much we owe them«
I drank and he sat down again and went on
»That massacre of Trafalgar Square began the civil war though like all
such events it gathered head slowly and people scarcely knew what a crisis
they were acting in
Terrible as the massacre was and hideous and overpowering as the first
terror had been when the people had time to think about it their feeling was
one of anger rather than fear although the military organisation of the state
of siege was now carried out without shrinking by the clever young general For
though the rulingclasses when the news spread next morning felt one gasp of
horror and even dread yet the Government and their immediate backers felt that
now the wine was drawn and must be drunk However even the most reactionary of
the capitalist papers with two exceptions stunned by the tremendous news
simply gave an account of what had taken place without making any comment upon
it The exceptions were one a socalled liberal paper the Government of the
day was of that complexion which after a preamble in which it declared its
undeviating sympathy with the cause of labour proceeded to point out that in
times of revolutionary disturbance it behoved the Government to be just but
firm and that by far the most merciful way of dealing with the poor madmen who
were attacking the very foundations of society which had made them mad and
poor was to shoot them at once so as to stop others from drifting into a
position in which they would run a chance of being shot In short it praised
the determined action of the Government as the acme of human wisdom and mercy
and exulted in the inauguration of an epoch of reasonable democracy free from
the tyrannical fads of Socialism
The other exception was a paper thought to be one of the most violent
opponents of democracy and so it was but the editor of it found his manhood
and spoke for himself and not for his paper In a few simple indignant words he
asked people to consider what a society was worth which had to be defended by
the massacre of unarmed citizens and called on the Government to withdraw their
state of siege and put the general and his officers who fired on the people on
their trial for murder He went further and declared that whatever his opinion
might be as to the doctrines of the Socialists he for one should throw in his
lot with the people until the Government atoned for their atrocity by showing
that they were prepared to listen to the demands of men who knew what they
wanted and whom the decrepitude of society forced into pushing their demands in
some way or other
Of course this editor was immediately arrested by the military power but
his bold words were already in the hands of the public and produced a great
effect so great an effect that the Government after some vacillation withdrew
the state of siege though at the same time it strengthened the military
organisation and made it more stringent Three of the Committee of Public Safety
had been slain in Trafalgar Square of the rest the greater part went back to
their old place of meeting and there awaited the event calmly They were
arrested there on the Monday morning and would have been shot at once by the
general who was a mere military machine if the Government had not shrunk
before the responsibility of killing men without any trial There was at first a
talk of trying them by a special commission of judges as it was called ie
before a set of men bound to find them guilty and whose business it was to do
so But with the Government the cold fit had succeeded to the hot one and the
prisoners were brought before a jury at the assizes There a fresh blow awaited
the Government for in spite of the judges charge which distinctly instructed
the jury to find the prisoners guilty they were acquitted and the jury added
to their verdict a presentment in which they condemned the action of the
soldiery in the queer phraseology of the day as rash unfortunate and
unnecessary The Committee of Public Safety renewed its sittings and from
thenceforth was a popular rallyingpoint in opposition to the Parliament The
Government now gave way on all sides and made a show of yielding to the demands
of the people though there was a widespread plot for effecting a coup détat
set on foot between the leaders of the two socalled opposing parties in the
parliamentary faction fight The wellmeaning part of the public was overjoyed
and thought that all danger of a civil war was over The victory of the people
was celebrated by huge meetings held in the parks and elsewhere in memory of
the victims of the great massacre
But the measures passed for the relief of the workers though to the upper
classes they seemed ruinously revolutionary were not thorough enough to give
the people food and a decent life and they had to be supplemented by unwritten
enactments without legality to back them Although the Government and Parliament
had the lawcourts the army and society at their backs the Committee of
Public Safety began to be a force in the country and really represented the
producing classes It began to improve immensely in the days which followed on
the acquittal of its members Its old members had little administrative
capacity though with the exception of a few selfseekers and traitors they
were honest courageous men and many of them were endowed with considerable
talent of other kinds But now that the times called for immediate action came
forward the men capable of setting it on foot and a new network of workmens
associations grew up very speedily whose avowed single object was the tiding
over of the ship of the community into a simple condition of Communism and as
they practically undertook also the management of the ordinary labourwar they
soon became the mouthpiece and intermediary of the whole of the working classes
and the manufacturing profitgrinders now found themselves powerless before this
combination unless their committee Parliament plucked up courage to begin the
civil war again and to shoot right and left they were bound to yield to the
demands of the men whom they employed and pay higher and higher wages for
shorter and shorter days work Yet one ally they had and that was the rapidly
approaching breakdown of the whole system founded on the WorldMarket and its
supply which now became so clear to all people that the middle classes
shocked for the moment into condemnation of the Government for the great
massacre turned round nearly in a mass and called on the Government to look to
matters and put an end to the tyranny of the Socialist leaders
Thus stimulated the reactionist plot exploded probably before it was ripe
but this time the people and their leaders were forewarned and before the
reactionaries could get under way had taken the steps they thought necessary
The Liberal Government clearly by collusion was beaten by the
Conservatives though the latter were nominally much in the minority The
popular representatives in the House understood pretty well what this meant and
after an attempt to fight the matter out by divisions in the House of Commons
they made a protest left the House and came in a body to the Committee of
Public Safety and the civil war began again in good earnest
Yet its first act was not one of mere fighting The new Tory Government
determined to act yet durst not reenact the state of siege but it sent a body
of soldiers and police to arrest the Committee of Public Safety in the lump
They made no resistance though they might have done so as they had now a
considerable body of men who were quite prepared for extremities But they were
determined to try first a weapon which they thought stronger than street
fighting
The members of the Committee went off quietly to prison but they had left
their soul and their organisation behind them For they depended not on a
carefully arranged centre with all kinds of checks and counterchecks about it
but on a huge mass of people in thorough sympathy with the movement bound
together by a great number of links of small centres with very simple
instructions These instructions were now carried out
The next morning when the leaders of the reaction were chuckling at the
effect which the report in the newspapers of their stroke would have upon the
public no newspapers appeared and it was only towards noon that a few
straggling sheets about the size of the gazettes of the seventeenth century
worked by policemen soldiers managers and presswriters were dribbled
through the streets They were greedily seized on and read but by this time the
serious part of their news was stale and people did not need to be told that
the GENERAL STRIKE had begun The railways did not run the telegraphwires were
unserved flesh fish and green stuff brought to market was allowed to lie
there still packed and perishing the thousands of middleclass families who
were utterly dependant for the next meal on the workers made frantic efforts
through their more energetic members to cater for the needs of the day and
amongst those of them who could throw off the fear of what was to follow there
was I am told a certain enjoyment of this unexpected picnic a forecast of
the days to come in which all labour grew pleasant
So passed the first day and towards evening the Government grew quite
distracted They had but one resource for putting down any popular movement to
wit mere bruteforce but there was nothing for them against which to use their
army and police no armed bodies appeared in the streets the offices of the
Federated Workmen were now in appearance at least turned into places for the
relief of people thrown out of work and under the circumstances they durst not
arrest the men engaged in such business all the more as even that night many
quite respectable people applied at these offices for relief and swallowed down
the charity of the revolutionists along with their supper So the Government
massed soldiers and police here and there and sat still for that night fully
expecting on the morrow some manifesto from the rebels as they now began to be
called which would give them an opportunity of acting in some way or another
They were disappointed The ordinary newspapers gave up the struggle that
morning and only one very violent reactionary paper called the Daily
Telegraph attempted an appearance and rated the rebels in good set terms for
their folly and ingratitude in tearing out the bowels of their common mother
the English Nation for the benefit of a few greedy paid agitators and the
fools whom they were deluding On the other hand the Socialist papers of which
three only representing somewhat different schools were published in London
came out full to the throat of wellprinted matter They were greedily bought by
the whole public who of course like the Government expected a manifesto in
them But they found no word of reference to the great subject It seemed as if
their editors had ransacked their drawers for articles which would have been in
place forty years before under the technical name of educational articles Most
of these were admirable and straight forward expositions of the doctrines amp
practice of Socialism free from haste and spite and hard words and came upon
the public with a kind of Mayday freshness amidst the worry and terror of the
moment and though the knowing well understood that the meaning of this move in
the game was mere defiance and a token of irreconcilable hostility to the then
rulers of society and though also they were meant for nothing else by the
rebels yet they really had their effect as educational articles However
education of another kind was acting upon the public with irresistible power
and probably cleared their heads a little
As to the Government they were absolutely terrified by this act of
boycotting the slang word then current for such acts of abstention Their
counsels became wild and vacillating to the last degree one hour they were for
giving way for the present till they could hatch another plot the next they all
but sent an order for the arrest in the lump of all the workmens committees
the next they were on the point of ordering their brisk young general to take
any excuse that offered for another massacre But when they called to mind that
the soldiery in that Battle of Trafalgar Square were so daunted by the slaughter
which they had made that they could not be got to fire a second volley they
shrank back again from the dreadful courage necessary for carrying out another
massacre Meantime the prisoners brought the second time before the magistrates
under a strong escort of soldiers were the second time remanded
The strike went on this day also The workmens committees were extended
and gave relief to great numbers of people for they had organised a
considerable amount of production of food by men whom they could depend upon
Quite a number of welltodo people were now compelled to seek relief of them
But another curious thing happened a band of young men of the upper classes
armed themselves and coolly went marauding in the streets taking what suited
them of such eatables and portables that they came across in the shops which had
ventured to open This operation they carried out in Oxford Street then a great
street of shops of all kinds The Government being at that hour in one of their
yielding moods thought this a fine opportunity for showing their impartiality
in the maintenance of order and sent to arrest these hungry rich youths who
however surprised the police by a valiant resistance so that all but three
escaped The Government did not gain the reputation for impartiality which they
expected from this move for they forgot that there were no evening papers and
the account of the skirmish spread wide indeed but in a distorted form for it
was mostly told simply as an exploit of the starving people from the Eastend
and everybody thought it was but natural for the Government to put them down
when and where they could
That evening the rebel prisoners were visited in their cells by very polite
and sympathetic persons who pointed out to them what a suicidal course they
were following and how dangerous these extreme courses were for the popular
cause Says one of the prisoners It was great sport comparing notes when we
came out anent the attempt of the Government to »get at« us separately in
prison and how we answered the blandishments of the highly »intelligent and
refined« persons set on to pump us One laughed another told extravagant
longbow stories to the envoy a third held a sulky silence a fourth damned the
polite spy and bade him hold his jaw and that was all they got out of us
So passed the second day of the great strike It was clear to all thinking
people that the third day would bring on the crisis for the present suspense
and illconcealed terror was unendurable The ruling classes and the
middleclass nonpoliticians who had been their real strength and support were
as sheep lacking a shepherd they literally did not know what to do
One thing they found they had to do try to get the rebels to do something
So the next morning the morning of the third day of the strike when the
members of the Committee of Public Safety appeared again before the magistrate
they found themselves treated with the greatest possible courtesy in fact
rather as envoys and ambassadors than prisoners In short the magistrate had
received his orders and with no more to do than might come of a long stupid
speech which might have been written by Dickens in mockery he discharged the
prisoners who went back to their meetingplace and at once began a due sitting
It was high time For this third day the mass was fermenting indeed There was
of course a vast number of working people who were not organised in the least
in the world men who had been used to act as their masters drove them or
rather as the system drove of which their masters were a part That system was
now falling to pieces and the old pressure of the master having been taken off
these poor men it seemed likely that nothing but the mere animal necessities
and passions of men would have any hold on them and that mere general overturn
would be the result Doubtless this would have happened if it had not been that
the huge mass had been leavened by Socialist opinion in the first place and in
the second place by actual contact with declared Socialists many or indeed most
of whom were members of those bodies of workmen above said
If anything of this kind had happened some years before when the masters of
labour were still looked upon as the natural rulers of the people and even the
poorest and most ignorant man leaned upon them for support while they submitted
to their fleecing the entire breakup of all society would have followed But
the long series of years during which the workmen had learned to despise their
rulers had done away with their dependence upon them and they were now
beginning to trust somewhat dangerously as events proved in the nonlegal
leaders whom events had thrust forward and though most of these were now become
mere figureheads their names and reputations were useful in this crisis as a
stopgap
The effect of the news therefore of the release of the Committee gave the
Government some breathing time for it was received with the greatest joy by the
workers and even the welltodo saw in it a respite from the mere destruction
which they had begun to dread and the fear of which most of them attributed to
the weakness of the Government As far as the passing hour went perhaps they
were right in this«
»How do you mean« said I »What could the Government have done I often
used to think that they would be helpless in such a crisis«
Said old Hammond »Of course I dont doubt that in the long run matters
would have come about as they did But if the Government could have treated
their army as a real army and used them strategically as a general would have
done looking on the people as a mere open enemy to be shot at and dispersed
wherever they turned up they would probably have gained the victory at the
time«
»But would the soldiers have acted against the people in this way« said I
Said he »I think from all I have heard that they would have done so if they
had met bodies of men armed however badly and however badly they had been
organised It seems also as if before the Trafalgar Square massacre they might
as a whole have been depended upon to fire upon an unarmed crowd though they
were much honeycombed by Socialism The reason for this was that they dreaded
the use by apparently unarmed men of an explosive called dynamite of which many
loud boasts were made by the workers on the eve of these events although it
turned out to be of little use as a material for war in the way that was
expected Of course the officers of the soldiery fanned this fear to the utmost
so that the rank and file probably thought on that occasion that they were being
led into a desperate battle with men who were really armed and whose weapon was
the more dreadful because it was concealed After that massacre however it
was at all times doubtful if the regular soldiers would fire upon an unarmed or
halfarmed crowd«
Said I »The regular soldiers Then there were other combatants against the
people«
»Yes« said he »we shall come to that presently«
»Certainly« I said »you had better go on straight with your story I see
that time is wearing«
Said Hammond »The Government lost no time in coming to terms with the
Committee of Public Safety for indeed they could think of nothing else than the
danger of the moment They sent a duly accredited envoy to treat with these men
who somehow had obtained dominion over peoples minds while the formal rulers
had no hold except over their bodies There is no need at present to go into the
details of the truce for such it was between these high contracting parties
the Government of the empire of Great Britain and a handful of workingmen as
they were called in scorn in those days amongst whom indeed were some very
capable and squareheaded persons though as aforesaid the abler men were not
then the recognised leaders The upshot of it was that all the definite claims
of the people had to be granted We can now see that most of these claims were
of themselves not worth either demanding or resisting but they were looked on
at that time as most important and they were at least tokens of revolt against
the miserable system of life which was then beginning to tumble to pieces One
claim however was of the utmost immediate importance and this the Government
tried hard to evade but as they were not dealing with fools they had to yield
at last This was the claim of recognition and formal status for the Committee
of Public Safety and all the associations which it fostered under its wing
This it is clear meant two things first amnesty for the rebels great and
small who without a distinct act of civil war could no longer be attacked
and next a continuance of the organised revolution Only one point the
Government could gain and that was a name The dreadful revolutionary title was
dropped and the body with its branches acted under the respectable name of
the Board of Conciliation and its local offices Carrying this name it became
the leader of the people in the civil war which soon followed«
»O« said I somewhat startled »so the civil war went on in spite of all
that had happened«
»So it was« said he »In fact it was this very legal recognition which
made the civil war possible in the ordinary sense of war it took the struggle
out of the element of mere massacres on one side and endurance plus strikes on
the other«
»And can you tell me in what kind of way the war was carried on« said I
»Yes« he said »we have records and to spare of all that and the essence
of them I can give you in a few words As I told you the rank and file of the
army was not to be trusted by the reactionists but the officers generally were
prepared for anything for they were mostly the very stupidest men in the
country Whatever the Government might do a great part of the upper and middle
classes were determined to set on foot a counter revolution for the Communism
which now loomed ahead seemed quite unendurable to them Bands of young men
like the marauders in the great strike of whom I told you just now armed
themselves and drilled and began on any opportunity or pretence to skirmish
with the people in the streets The Government neither helped them nor put them
down but stood by hoping that something might come of it These Friends of
Order as they were called had some successes at first and grew bolder they
got many officers of the regular army to help them and by their means laid hold
of munitions of war of all kinds One part of their tactics consisted in their
guarding and even garrisoning the big factories of the period they held at one
time for instance the whole of that place called Manchester which I spoke of
just now A sort of irregular war was carried on with varied success all over
the country and at last the Government which at first pretended to ignore the
struggle or treat it as mere rioting definitely declared for the Friends of
Order and joined to their bands whatsoever of the regular army they could get
together and made a desperate effort to overwhelm the rebels as they were now
once more called and as indeed they called themselves
It was too late All ideas of peace on a basis of compromise had disappeared
on either side The end it was seen clearly must be either absolute slavery
for all but the privileged or a system of life founded on equality and
Communism The sloth the hopelessness and if I may say so the cowardice of
the last century had given place to the eager restless heroism of a declared
revolutionary period I will not say that the people of that time foresaw the
life we are leading now but there was a general instinct amongst them towards
the essential part of that life and many men saw clearly beyond the desperate
struggle of the day into the peace which it was to bring about The men of that
day who were on the side of freedom were not unhappy I think though they were
harassed by hopes and fears and sometimes torn by doubts and the conflict of
duties hard to reconcile«
»But how did the people the revolutionists carry on the war What were the
elements of success on their side«
I put this question because I wanted to bring the old man back to the
definite history and take him out of the musing mood so natural to an old man
He answered »Well they did not lack organisers for the very conflict
itself in days when as I told you men of any strength of mind cast away all
consideration for the ordinary business of life developed the necessary talent
amongst them Indeed from all I have read and heard I much doubt whether
without this seemingly dreadful civil war the due talent for administration
would have been developed amongst the working men Anyhow it was there and
they soon got leaders far more than equal to the best men amongst the
reactionaries For the rest they had no difficulty about the material of their
army for that revolutionary instinct so acted on the ordinary soldier in the
ranks that the greater part certainly the best part of the soldiers joined the
side of the people But the main element of their success was this that
wherever the working people were not coerced they worked not for the
reactionists but for the rebels The reactionists could get no work done for
them outside the districts where they were allpowerful and even in those
districts they were harassed by continual risings and in all cases and
everywhere got nothing done without obstruction and black looks and sulkiness
so that not only were their armies quite worn out with the difficulties which
they had to meet but the noncombatants who were on their side were so worried
and beset with hatred and a thousand little troubles and annoyances that life
became almost unendurable to them on those terms Not a few of them actually
died of the worry many committed suicide Of course a vast number of them
joined actively in the cause of reaction and found some solace to their misery
in the eagerness of conflict Lastly many thousands gave way and submitted to
the rebels and as the numbers of these latter increased it at last became
clear to all men that the cause which was once hopeless was now triumphant and
that the hopeless cause was that of slavery and privilege«
Chapter XVIII
The Beginning of the New Life
»Well« said I »so you got clear out of all your trouble Were people satisfied
with the new order of things when it came«
»People« he said »Well surely all must have been glad of peace when it
came especially when they found as they must have found that after all they
even the once rich were not living very badly As to those who had been
poor all through the war which lasted about two years their condition had
been bettering in spite of the struggle and when peace came at last in a very
short time they made great strides towards a decent life The great difficulty
was that the oncepoor had such a feeble conception of the real pleasure of
life so to say they did not ask enough did not know how to ask enough from
the new state of things It was perhaps rather a good than an evil thing that
the necessity for restoring the wealth destroyed during the war forced them into
working at first almost as hard as they had been used to before the Revolution
For all historians are agreed that there never was a war in which there was so
much destruction of wares and instruments for making them as in this civil
war«
»I am rather surprised at that« said I
»Are you I dont see why« said Hammond
»Why« I said »because the party of order would surely look upon the wealth
as their own property no share of which if they could help it should go to
their slaves supposing they conquered And on the other hand it was just for
the possession of that wealth that the rebels were fighting and I should have
thought especially when they saw that they were winning that they would have
been careful to destroy as little as possible of what was so soon to be their
own«
»It was as I have told you however« said he »The party of order when
they recovered from their first cowardice of surprise or if you please when
they fairly saw that whatever happened they would be ruined fought with great
bitterness and cared little what they did so long as they injured the enemies
who had destroyed the sweets of life for them As to the rebels I have told you
that the outbreak of actual war made them careless of trying to save the
wretched scraps of wealth that they had It was a common saying amongst them
Let the country be cleared of everything except valiant living men rather than
that we fall into slavery again«
He sat silently thinking a little while and then said
»When the conflict was once really begun it was seen how little of any
value there was in the old world of slavery and inequality Dont you see what
it means In the times which you are thinking of and of which you seem to know
so much there was no hope nothing but the dull jog of the millhorse under
compulsion of collar and whip but in that fightingtime that followed all was
hope the rebels at least felt themselves strong enough to build up the world
again from its dry bones and they did it too« said the old man his eyes
glittering under his beetling brows He went on »And their opponents at least
and at last learned something about the reality of life and its sorrows which
they their class I mean had once known nothing of In short the two
combatants the workman and the gentleman between them «
»Between them« said I quickly »they destroyed commercialism«
»Yes yes YES« said he »that is it Nor could it have been destroyed
otherwise except perhaps by the whole of society gradually falling into lower
depths till it should at last reach a condition as rude as barbarism but
lacking both the hope and the pleasures of barbarism Surely the sharper
shorter remedy was the happiest«
»Most surely« said I
»Yes« said the old man »the world was being brought to its second birth
how could that take place without a tragedy Moreover think of it The spirit
of the new days of our days was to be delight in the life of the world
intense and overweening love of the very skin and surface of the earth on which
man dwells such as a lover has in the fair flesh of the woman he loves this I
say was to be the new spirit of the time All other moods save this had been
exhausted the unceasing criticism the boundless curiosity in the ways and
thoughts of man which was the mood of the ancient Greek to whom these things
were not so much a means as an end was gone past recovery nor had there been
really any shadow of it in the socalled science of the nineteenth century
which as you must know was in the main an appendage to the commercial system
nay not seldom an appendage to the police of that system In spite of
appearances it was limited and cowardly because it did not really believe in
itself It was the outcome as it was the sole relief of the unhappiness of the
period which made life so bitter even to the rich and which as you may see
with your bodily eyes the great change has swept away More akin to our way of
looking at life was the spirit of the Middle Ages to whom heaven and the life
of the next world was such a reality that it became to them a part of the life
upon the earth which accordingly they loved and adorned in spite of the
ascetic doctrines of their formal creed which bade them contemn it
But that also with its assured belief in heaven and hell as two countries
in which to live has gone and now we do both in word and in deed believe in
the continuous life of the world of men and as it were add every day of that
common life to the little stock of days which our own mere individual experience
wins for us and consequently we are happy Do you wonder at it In times past
indeed men were told to love their kind to believe in the religion of humanity
and so forth But look you just in the degree that a man had elevation of mind
and refinement enough to be able to value this idea was he repelled by the
obvious aspect of the individuals composing the mass which he was to worship
and he could only evade that repulsion by making a conventional abstraction of
mankind that had little actual or historical relation to the race which to his
eyes was divided into blind tyrants on the one hand and apathetic degraded
slaves on the other But now where is the difficulty in accepting the religion
of humanity when the men and women who go to make up humanity are free happy
and energetic at least and most commonly beautiful of body also and surrounded
by beautiful things of their own fashioning and a nature bettered and not
worsened by contact with mankind This is what this age of the world has
reserved for us«
»It seems true« said I »or ought to be if what my eyes have seen is a
token of the general life you lead Can you now tell me anything of your
progress after the years of the struggle«
Said he »I could easily tell you more than you have time to listen to but
I can at least hint at one of the chief difficulties which had to be met and
that was that when men began to settle down after the war and their labour had
pretty much filled up the gap in wealth caused by the destruction of that war a
kind of disappointment seemed coming over us and the prophecies of some of the
reactionists of past times seemed as if they would come true and a dull level
of utilitarian comfort be the end for awhile of our aspirations and success The
loss of the competitive spur to exertion had not indeed done anything to
interfere with the necessary production of the community but how if it should
make men dull by giving them too much time for thought or idle musing But
after all this dull thundercloud only threatened us and then passed over
Probably from what I have told you before you will have a guess at the remedy
for such a disaster remembering always that many of the things which used to be
produced slavewares for the poor and mere wealthwasting wares for the rich
ceased to be made That remedy was in short the production of what used to be
called art but which has no name amongst us now because it has become a
necessary part of the labour of every man who produces«
Said I »What had men any time or opportunity for cultivating the fine arts
amidst the desperate struggle for life and freedom that you have told me of«
Said Hammond »You must not suppose that the new form of art was founded
chiefly on the memory of the art of the past although strange to say the
civil war was much less destructive of art than of other things and though what
of art existed under the old forms revived in a wonderful way during the latter
part of the struggle especially as regards music and poetry The art or
workpleasure as one ought to call it of which I am now speaking sprung up
almost spontaneously it seems from a kind of instinct amongst people no
longer driven desperately to painful and terrible overwork to do the best they
could with the work in hand to make it excellent of its kind and when that
had gone on for a little a craving for beauty seemed to awaken in mens minds
and they began rudely and awkwardly to ornament the wares which they made and
when they had once set to work at that it soon began to grow All this was much
helped by the abolition of the squalor which our immediate ancestors put up with
so coolly and by the leisurely but not stupid countrylife which now grew as
I told you before to be common amongst us Thus at last and by slow degrees we
got pleasure into our work then we became conscious of that pleasure and
cultivated it and took care that we had our fill of it and then all was
gained and we were happy So may it be for ages and ages«
The old man fell into a reverie not altogether without melancholy I
thought but I would not break it Suddenly he started and said »Well dear
guest here are come Dick and Clara to fetch you away and there is an end of my
talk which I daresay you will not be sorry for the long day is coming to an
end and you will have a pleasant ride back to Hammersmith«
Chapter XIX
The Drive Back to Hammersmith
I said nothing for I was not inclined for mere politeness to him after such
very serious talk but in fact I should like to have gone on talking with the
older man who could understand something at least of my wonted ways of looking
at life whereas with the younger people in spite of all their kindness I
really was a being from another planet However I made the best of it and
smiled as amiably as I could on the young couple and Dick returned the smile by
saying »Well Guest I am glad to have you again and to find that you and my
kinsman have not quite talked yourselves into another world I was half
suspecting as I was listening to the Welshmen yonder that you would presently be
vanishing away from us and began to picture my kinsman sitting in the hall
staring at nothing and finding that he had been talking a while past to nobody«
I felt rather uncomfortable at this speech for suddenly the picture of the
sordid squabble the dirty and miserable tragedy of the life I had left for a
while came before my eyes and I had as it were a vision of all my longings
for rest and peace in the past and I loathed the idea of going back to it
again But the old man chuckled and said
»Dont be afraid Dick In any case I have not been talking to thin air
nor indeed to this new friend of ours only Who knows but I may not have been
talking to many people For perhaps our guest may some day go back to the people
he has come from and may take a message from us which may bear fruit for them
and consequently for us«
Dick looked puzzled and said »Well gaffer I do not quite understand what
you mean All I can say is that I hope he will not leave us for dont you see
he is another kind of man to what we are used to and somehow he makes us think
of all kind of things and already I feel as if I could understand Dickens the
better for having talked with him«
»Yes« said Clara »and I think in a few months we shall make him look
younger and I should like to see what he was like with the wrinkles smoothed
out of his face Dont you think he will look younger after a little time with
us«
The old man shook his head and looked earnestly at me but did not answer
her and for a moment or two we were all silent Then Clara broke out
»Kinsman I dont like this something or another troubles me and I feel as
if something unto ward were going to happen You have been talking of past
miseries to the guest and have been living in past unhappy times and it is in
the air all round us and makes us feel as if we were longing for something that
we cannot have«
The old man smiled on her kindly and said »Well my child if that be so
go and live in the present and you will soon shake it off« Then he turned to
me and said »Do you remember anything like that Guest in the country from
which you come«
The lovers had turned aside now and were talking together softly and not
heeding us so I said but in a low voice »Yes when I was a happy child on a
sunny holiday and had everything that I could think of«
»So it is« said he »You remember just now you twitted me with living in
the second childhood of the world You will find it a happy world to live in
you will be happy there for a while«
Again I did not like his scarcely veiled threat and was beginning to
trouble myself with trying to remember how I had got amongst this curious
people when the old man called out in a cheery voice »Now my children take
your guest away and make much of him for it is your business to make him sleek
of skin and peaceful of mind he has by no means been as lucky as you have
Farewell Guest« and he grasped my hand warmly
»Goodbye« said I »and thank you very much for all that you have told me
I will come and see you as soon as I come back to London May I«
»Yes« he said »come by all means if you can«
»It wont be for some time yet« quoth Dick in his cheery voice »for when
the hay is in up the river I shall be for taking him a round through the
country between hay and wheat harvest to see how our friends live in the north
country Then in the wheat harvest we shall do a good stroke of work I should
hope in Wiltshire by preference for he will be getting a little hard with
all the openair living and I shall be as tough as nails«
»But you will take me along wont you Dick« said Clara laying her pretty
hand on his shoulder
»Will I not« said Dick somewhat boisterously »And we will manage to send
you to bed pretty tired every night and you will look so beautiful with your
neck all brown and your hands too and you under your gown as white as privet
that you will get some of those strange discontented whims out of your head my
dear However our weeks haymaking will do all that for you«
The girl reddened very prettily and not for shame but for pleasure and the
old man laughed and said
»Guest I see that you will be as comfortable as need be for you need not
fear that those two will be too officious with you they will be so busy with
each other that they will leave you a good deal to yourself I am sure and
that is a real kindness to a guest after all O you need not be afraid of
being one too many either it is just what these birds in a nest like to have
a good convenient friend to turn to so that they may relieve the ecstasies of
love with the solid commonplace of friendship Besides Dick and much more
Clara likes a little talking at times and you know lovers do not talk unless
they get into trouble they only prattle Goodbye Guest may you be happy«
Clara went up to old Hammond threw her arms about his neck and kissed him
heartily and said »You are a dear old man and may have your jest about me as
much as you please and it wont be long before we see you again and you may be
sure we shall make our guest happy though mind you there is some truth in
what you say«
Then I shook hands again and we went out of the hall and into the
cloisters and so in the street found Greylocks in the shafts waiting for us He
was well looked after for a little lad of about seven years old had his hand on
the rein and was solemnly looking up into his face on his back withal was a
girl of fourteen holding a threeyear old sister on before her while another
girl about a year older than the boy hung on behind The three were occupied
partly with eating cherries partly with patting and punching Greylocks who
took all their caresses in good part but pricked up his ears when Dick made his
appearance The girls got off quietly and going up to Clara made much of her
and snuggled up to her And then we got into the carriage Dick shook the reins
and we got under way at once Greylocks trotting soberly between the lovely
trees of the London streets that were sending floods of fragrance into the cool
evening air for it was now getting toward sunset
We could hardly go but fair and softly all the way as there were a great
many people abroad in that cool hour Seeing so many people made me notice their
looks the more and I must say my taste cultivated in the sombre greyness or
rather brownness of the nineteenth century was rather apt to condemn the
gaiety and brightness of the raiment and I even ventured to say as much to
Clara She seemed rather surprised and even slightly indignant and said
»Well well whats the matter They are not about any dirty work they are only
amusing themselves in the fine evening there is nothing to foul their clothes
Come doesnt it all look very pretty It isnt gaudy you know«
Indeed that was true for many of the people were clad in colours that were
sober enough though beautiful and the harmony of the colours was perfect and
most delightful
I said »Yes that is so but how can everybody afford such costly garments
Look there goes a middleaged man in a sober grey dress but I can see from
here that it is made of very fine woollen stuff and is covered with silk
embroidery«
Said Clara »He could wear shabby clothes if he pleased that is if he
didnt think he would hurt peoples feelings by doing so«
»But please tell me« said I »how can they afford it«
As soon as I had spoken I perceived that I had got back to my old blunder
for I saw Dicks shoulders shaking with laughter but he wouldnt say a word
but handed me over to the tender mercies of Clara who said
»Why I dont know what you mean Of course we can afford it or else we
shouldnt do it It would be easy enough for us to say we will only spend our
labour on making our clothes comfortable but we dont choose to stop there Why
do you find fault with us Does it seem to you as if we starved ourselves of
food in order to make ourselves fine clothes or do you think there is anything
wrong in liking to see the coverings of our bodies beautiful like our bodies
are just as a deers or an otters skin has been made beautiful from the
first Come what is wrong with you«
I bowed before the storm and mumbled out some excuse or other I must say
I might have known that people who were so fond of architecture generally would
not be backward in ornamenting themselves all the more as the shape of their
raiment apart from its colour was both beautiful and reasonable veiling the
form without either muffling or caricaturing it
Clara was soon mollified and as we drove along toward the wood before
mentioned she said to Dick
»I tell you what Dick now that kinsman Hammond the Elder has seen our
guest in his queer clothes I think we ought to find him something decent to put
on for our journey tomorrow especially since if we do not, we shall have to
answer all sorts of questions as to his clothes and where they came from
Besides« she said slily »when he is clad in handsome garments he will not be
so quick to blame us for our childishness in wasting our time in making
ourselves look pleasant to each other«
»All right Clara« said Dick »he shall have everything that you that he
wants to have I will look something out for him before he gets up tomorrow«
Chapter XX
The Hammersmith Guest House Again
Amidst such talk driving quietly through the balmy evening we came to
Hammersmith and were well received by our friends there Boffin in a fresh
suit of clothes welcomed me back with stately courtesy the weaver wanted to
buttonhole me and get out of me what old Hammond had said but was very
friendly and cheerful when Dick warned him off Annie shook hands with me and
hoped I had had a pleasant day so kindly that I felt a slight pang as our
hands parted for to say the truth I liked her better than Clara who seemed to
be always a little on the defensive whereas Annie was as frank as could be and
seemed to get honest pleasure from everything and everybody about her without
the least effort
We had quite a little feast that evening partly in my honour and partly I
suspect though nothing was said about it in honour of Dick and Clara coming
together again The wine was of the best the hall was redolent of rich summer
flowers and after supper we not only had music Annie to my mind surpassing
all the others for sweetness and clearness of voice as well as for feeling and
meaning but at last we even got to telling stories and sat there listening
with no other light but that of the summer moon streaming through the beautiful
traceries of the windows as if we had belonged to time long passed when books
were scarce and the art of reading somewhat rare Indeed I may say here that
though as you will have noted my friends had mostly something to say about
books yet they were not great readers considering the refinement of their
manners and the great amount of leisure which they obviously had In fact when
Dick especially mentioned a book he did so with an air of a man who has
accomplished an achievement as much as to say »There you see I have actually
read that«
The evening passed all too quickly for me since that day for the first
time in my life I was having my fill of the pleasure of the eyes without any of
that sense of incongruity that dread of approaching ruin which had always
beset me hitherto when I had been amongst the beautiful works of art of the
past mingled with the lovely nature of the present both of them in fact the
result of the long centuries of tradition which had compelled men to produce
the art and compelled nature to run into the mould of the ages Here I could
enjoy everything without an afterthought of the injustice and miserable toil
which made my leisure the ignorance and dulness of life which went to make my
keen appreciation of history the tyranny and the struggle full of fear and
mishap which went to make my romance The only weight I had upon my heart was a
vague fear as it drew toward bedtime concerning the place wherein I should wake
on the morrow but I choked that down and went to bed happy and in a very few
moments was in a dreamless sleep
Chapter XXI
Going Up the River
When I did wake to a beautiful sunny morning I leapt out of bed with my
overnight apprehension still clinging to me which vanished delightfully
however in a moment as I looked around my little sleeping chamber and saw the
pale but purecoloured figures painted on the plaster of the wall with verses
written underneath them which I knew somewhat over well I dressed speedily in
a suit of blue laid ready for me so handsome that I quite blushed when I had
got into it feeling as I did so that excited pleasure of anticipation of a
holiday which well remembered as it was I had not felt since I was a boy new
come home for the summer holidays
It seemed quite early in the morning and I expected to have the hall to
myself when I came into it out of the corridor wherein was my sleeping chamber
but I met Annie at once who let fall her broom and gave me a kiss quite
meaningless I fear except as betokening friendship though she reddened as she
did it not from shyness but from friendly pleasure and then stood and picked
up her broom again and went on with her sweeping nodding to me as if to bid me
stand out of the way and look on which to say the truth I thought amusing
enough as there were five other girls helping her and their graceful figures
engaged in the leisurely work were worth going a long way to see and their
merry talk and laughing as they swept in quite a scientific manner was worth
going a long way to hear But Annie presently threw me back a word or two as she
went on to the other end of the hall »Guest« she said »I am glad that you are
up early though we wouldnt disturb you for our Thames is a lovely river at
halfpast six on a June morning and as it would be a pity for you to lose it I
am told just to give you a cup of milk and a bit of bread outside there and put
you into the boat for Dick and Clara are all ready now Wait half a minute till
I have swept down this row«
So presently she let her broom drop again and came and took me by the hand
and led me out on to the terrace above the river to a little table under the
boughs where my bread and milk took the form of as dainty a breakfast as any
one could desire and then sat by me as I ate And in a minute or two Dick and
Clara came to me the latter looking most fresh and beautiful in a light silk
embroidered gown which to my unused eyes was extravagantly gay and bright
while Dick was also handsomely dressed in white flannel prettily embroidered
Clara raised her gown in her hands as she gave me the morning greeting and said
laughingly »Look Guest you see we are at least as fine as any of the people
you felt inclined to scold last night you see we are not going to make the
bright day and the flowers feel ashamed of themselves Now scold me«
Quoth I »No indeed the pair of you seem as if you were born out of the
summer day itself and I will scold you when I scold it«
»Well you know« said Dick »this is a special day all these days are I
mean The hayharvest is in some ways better than cornharvest because of the
beautiful weather and really unless you had worked in the hayfield in fine
weather you couldnt tell what pleasant work it is The women look so pretty at
it too« he said shyly »so all things considered I think we are right to
adorn it in a simple manner«
»Do the women work at it in silk dresses« said I smiling
Dick was going to answer me soberly but Clara put her hand over his mouth
and said »No no Dick not too much information for him or I shall think that
you are your old kinsman again Let him find out for himself he will not have
long to wait«
»Yes« quoth Annie »dont make your description of the picture too fine or
else he will be disappointed when the curtain is drawn I dont want him to be
disappointed But now its time for you to be gone if you are to have the best
of the tide and also of the sunny morning Goodbye Guest«
She kissed me in her frank friendly way and almost took away from me my
desire for the expedition thereby but I had to get over that as it was clear
that so delightful a woman would hardly be without a due lover of her own age
We went down the steps of the landingstage and got into a pretty boat not too
light to hold us and our belongings comfortably and handsomely ornamented and
just as we got in down came Boffin and the weaver to see us off The former had
now veiled his splendour in a due suit of working clothes crowned with a
fantail hat which he took off however to wave us farewell with his grave
oldSpanishlike courtesy Then Dick pushed off into the stream and bent
vigorously to his sculls and Hammersmith with its noble trees and beautiful
waterside houses began to slip away from us
As we went I could not help putting beside his promised picture of the
hayfield as it was then the picture of it as I remembered it and especially the
images of the women engaged in the work rose up before me the row of gaunt
figures lean flatbreasted ugly without a grace of form or face about them
dressed in wretched skimpy print gowns and hideous flapping sunbonnets moving
their rakes in a listless mechanical way How often had that marred the
loveliness of the June day to me how often had I longed to see the hayfields
peopled with men and women worthy of the sweet abundance of midsummer of its
endless wealth of beautiful sights and delicious sounds and scents And now
the world had grown old and wiser and I was to see my hope realised at last
Chapter XXII
Hampton Court
And a Praiser of Past Times
So on we went Dick rowing in an easy tireless way and Clara sitting by my side
admiring his manly beauty and heartily goodnatured face and thinking I fancy
of nothing else As we went higher up the river there was less difference
between the Thames of that day and Thames as I remembered it for setting aside
the hideous vulgarity of the cockney villas of the welltodo stockbrokers and
other such which in older time marred the beauty of the boughhung banks even
this beginning of the country Thames was always beautiful and as we slipped
between the lovely summer greenery I almost felt my youth come back to me and
as it I were on one of those water excursions which I used to enjoy so much in
days when I was too happy to think that there could be much amiss anywhere
At last we came to a reach of the river where on the left hand a very pretty
little village with some old houses in it came down to the edge of the water
over which was a ferry and beyond these houses the elm meadows ended in a
fringe of tall willows while on the right hand went the towpath and a clear
space before a row of trees which rose up behind huge and ancient the
ornaments of a great park but these drew back still further from the river at
the end of the reach to make way for a little town of quaint and pretty houses
some new some old dominated by the long walls and sharp gables of a great
redbrick pile of building partly of the latest Gothic partly of the
courtstyle of Dutch William but so blended together by the bright sun and
beautiful surroundings including the bright blue river which it looked down
upon that even amidst the beautiful buildings of that new happy time it had a
strange charm about it A great wave of fragrance amidst which the limetree
blossom was clearly to be distinguished came down to us from its unseen
gardens as Clara sat up in her place and said
»O Dick dear couldnt we stop at Hampton Court for today and take the
guest about the park a little and show him those sweet old buildings Somehow
I suppose because you have lived so near it you have seldom taken me to Hampton
Court«
Dick rested on his oars a little and said »Well well Clara you are lazy
today I didnt feel like stopping short of Shepperton for the night suppose
we just go and have our dinner at the Court and go on again about five
oclock«
»Well« she said »so be it but I should like the guest to have spent an
hour or two in the Park«
»The Park« said Dick »why the whole Thamesside is a park this time of
the year and for my part I had rather lie under an elmtree on the borders of
a heatfield with the bees humming about me and the corncrake crying from
furrow to furrow than in any park in England Besides «
»Besides« said she »you want to get on to your dearlyloved upper Thames
and show your prowess down the heavy swathes of the mowing grass«
She looked at him fondly and I could tell that she was seeing him in her
minds eye showing his splendid form at its best amidst the rhymed strokes of
the scythes and she looked down at her own pretty feet with a half sigh as
though she were contrasting her slight womans beauty with his mans beauty as
women will when they are really in love and are not spoiled with conventional
sentiment
As for Dick he looked at her admiringly a while and then said at last
»Well Clara I do wish we were there But hilloa we are getting back way«
And he set to work sculling again and in two minutes we were all standing on
the gravelly strand below the bridge which as you may imagine was no longer
the old hideous iron abortion but a handsome piece of very solid oak framing
We went into the Court and straight into the great hall so well remembered
where there were tables spread for dinner and everything arranged much as in
Hammersmith Guest Hall Dinner over we sauntered through the ancient rooms
where the pictures and tapestry were still preserved and nothing was much
changed except that the people whom we met there had an indefinable kind of
look of being at home and at ease which communicated itself to me so that I
felt that the beautiful old place was mine in the best sense of the word and my
pleasure of past days seemed to add itself to that of today and filled my
whole soul with content
Dick who in spite of Claras gibe knew the place very well told me that
the beautiful old Tudor rooms which I remembered had been the dwellings of the
lesser fry of Court flunkies were now much used by people coming and going
for beautiful as architecture had now become and although the whole face of
the country had quite recovered its beauty there was still a sort of tradition
of pleasure and beauty which clung to that group of buildings and people
thought going to Hampton Court a necessary summer outing as they did in the
days when London was so grimy and miserable We went into some of the rooms
looking into the old garden and were well received by the people in them who
got speedily into talk with us and looked with politely halfconcealed wonder
at my strange face Besides these birds of passage and a few regular dwellers
in the place we saw out in the meadows near the garden down the Long Water as
it used to be called many gay tents with men women and children round about
them As it seemed this pleasureloving people were fond of tentlife with all
its inconveniences which indeed they turned into pleasure also
We left this old friend by the time appointed and I made some feeble show
of taking the sculls but Dick repulsed me not much to my grief I must say as
I found I had quite enough to do between the enjoyment of the beautiful time and
my own lazily blended thoughts
As to Dick it was quite right to let him pull for he was as strong as a
horse and had the greatest delight in bodily exercise whatever it was We
really had some difficulty in getting him to stop when it was getting rather
more than dusk and the moon was brightening just as we were off Runnymede We
landed there and were looking about for a place whereon to pitch our tents for
we had brought two with us when an old man came up to us bade us good
evening and asked if we were housed for that night and finding that we were
not bade us home to his house Nothing loth we went with him and Clara took
his hand in a coaxing way which I noticed she used with old men and as we went
on our way made some commonplace remark about the beauty of the day The old
man stopped short and looked at her and said »You really like it then«
»Yes« she said looking very much astonished »dont you«
»Well« said he »perhaps I do I did at any rate when I was younger but
now I think I should like it cooler«
She said nothing and went on the night growing about as dark as it would
be till just at the rise of the hill we came to a hedge with a gate in it
which the old man unlatched and led us into a garden at the end of which we
could see a little house one of whose little windows was already yellow with
candlelight We could see even under the doubtful light of the moon and the
last of the western glow that the garden was stuffed full of flowers and the
fragrance it gave out in the gathering coolness was so wonderfully sweet that
it seemed the very heart of the delight of the June dusk so that we three
stopped instinctively and Clara gave forth a little sweet O like a bird
beginning to sing
»Whats the matter« said the old man a little testily and pulling at her
hand »Theres no dog or have you trodden on a thorn and hurt your foot«
»No no neighbour« she said »but how sweet how sweet it is«
»Of course it is« said he »but do you care so much for that«
She laughed out musically and we followed suit in our gruffer voices and
then she said »Of course I do neighbour dont you«
»Well I dont know« quoth the old fellow then he added as if somewhat
ashamed of himself »Besides you know when the waters are out and all
Runnymede is flooded its none so pleasant«
»I should like it« quoth Dick »What a jolly sail one would get about here
on the floods on a bright frosty January morning«
»Would you like it« said our host »Well I wont argue with you
neighbour it isnt worth while Come in and have some supper«
We went up a paved path between the roses and straight into a very pretty
room panelled and carved and as clean as a new pin but the chief ornament of
which was a young woman lighthaired and greyeyed but with her face and hands
and bare feet tanned quite brown with the sun Though she was very lightly clad
that was clearly from choice not from poverty though these were the first
cottagedwellers I had come across for her gown was of silk and on her wrists
were bracelets that seemed to me of great value She was lying on a sheepskin
near the window but jumped up as soon as we entered and when she saw the
guests behind the old man she clapped her hands and cried out with pleasure
and when she got us into the middle of the room fairly danced round us in
delight of our company
»What« said the old man »you are pleased are you Ellen«
The girl danced up to him and threw her arms round him and said »Yes I am
and so ought you to be grandfather«
»Well well I am« said he »as much as I can be pleased Guests please be
seated«
This seemed rather strange to us stranger I suspect to my friends than to
me but Dick took the opportunity of both the host and his granddaughter being
out of the room to say to me softly »A grumbler there are a few of them
still Once upon a time I am told they were quite a nuisance«
The old man came in as he spoke and sat down beside us with a sigh which
indeed seemed fetched up as if he wanted us to take notice of it but just then
the girl came in with the victuals and the carle missed his mark what between
our hunger generally and that I was pretty busy watching the granddaughter
moving about as beautiful as a picture
Everything to eat and drink though it was somewhat different to what we had
had in London was better than good but the old man eyed rather sulkily the
chief dish on the table on which lay a leash of fine perch and said
»Hm perch I am sorry we cant do better for you guests The time was
when we might have had a good piece of salmon up from London for you but the
times have grown mean and petty«
»Yes but you might have had it now« said the girl giggling »if you had
known that they were coming«
»Its our fault for not bringing it with us neighbours« said Dick
goodhumouredly »But if the times have grown petty at any rate the perch
havent that fellow in the middle there must have weighed a good two pounds
when he was showing his dark stripes and red fins to the minnows yonder And as
to the salmon why neighbour my friend here who comes from the outlands was
quite surprised yesterday morning when I told him we had plenty of salmon at
Hammersmith I am sure I have heard nothing of the times worsening«
He looked a little uncomfortable And the old man turning to me said very
courteously
»Well sir I am happy to see a man from over the water but I really must
appeal to you to say whether on the whole you are not better off in your
country where I suppose from what our guest says you are brisker and more
alive because you have not wholly got rid of competition You see I have read
not a few books of the past days and certainly they are much more alive than
those which are written now and good sound unlimited competition was the
condition under which they were written if we didnt know that from the
record of history we should know it from the books themselves There is a
spirit of adventure in them and signs of a capacity to extract good out of evil
which our literature quite lacks now and I cannot help thinking that our
moralists and historians exaggerate hugely the unhappiness of the past days in
which such splendid works of imagination and intellect were produced«
Clara listened to him with restless eyes as if she were excited and
pleased Dick knitted his brow and looked still more uncomfortable but said
nothing Indeed the old man gradually as he warmed to his subject dropped his
sneering manner and both spoke and looked very seriously But the girl broke
out before I could deliver myself of the answer I was framing
»Books books always books grandfather When will you understand that
after all it is the world we live in which interests us the world of which we
are a part and which we can never love too much Look« she said throwing open
the casement wider and showing us the white light sparkling between the black
shadows of the moonlit garden through which ran a little shiver of the summer
nightwind »look these are our books in these days and these« she said
stepping lightly up to the two lovers and laying a hand on each of their
shoulders »and the guest there with his oversea knowledge and experience
yes and even you grandfather« a smile ran over her face as she spoke »with
all your grumbling and wishing yourself back again in the good old days in
which as far as I can make out a harmless and lazy old man like you would
either have pretty nearly starved or have had to pay soldiers and people to
take the folks victuals and clothes and houses away from them by force Yes
these are our books and if we want more can we not find work to do in the
beautiful buildings that we raise up all over the country and I know there was
nothing like them in past times wherein a man can put forth whatever is in
him and make his hands set forth his mind and his soul«
She paused a little and I for my part could not help staring at her and
thinking that if she were a book the pictures in it were most lovely The
colour mantled in her delicate sunburnt cheeks her grey eyes light amidst the
tan of her face kindly looked on us all as she spoke She paused and said
again
»As for your books they were well enough for times when intelligent people
had but little else in which they could take pleasure and when they must needs
supplement the sordid miseries of their own lives with imaginations of the lives
of other people But I say flatly that in spite of all their cleverness and
vigour and capacity for storytelling there is something loathsome about them
Some of them indeed do here and there show some feeling for those whom the
historybooks call poor and of the misery of whose lives we have some inkling
but presently they give it up and towards the end of the story we must be
contented to see the hero and heroine living happily in an island of bliss on
other peoples troubles and that after a long series of sham troubles or
mostly sham of their own making illustrated by dreary introspective nonsense
about their feelings and aspirations and all the rest of it while the world
must even then have gone on its way and dug and sewed and baked and built and
carpentered round about these useless animals«
»There« said the old man reverting to his dry sulky manner again »Theres
eloquence I suppose you like it«
»Yes« said I very emphatically
»Well« said he »now the storm of eloquence has lulled for a little
suppose you answer my question that is if you like you know« quoth he
with a sudden access of courtesy
»What question« said I For I must confess that Ellens strange and almost
wild beauty had put it out of my head
Said he »First of all excuse my catechising is there competition in
life after the old kind in the country whence you come«
»Yes« said I »it is the rule there« And I wondered as I spoke what fresh
complications I should get into as a result of this answer
»Question two« said the carle »Are you not on the whole much freer more
energetic in a word healthier and happier for it«
I smiled »You wouldnt talk so if you had any idea of our life To me you
seem here as if you were living in heaven compared with us of the country from
which I came«
»Heaven« said he »you like heaven do you«
»Yes« said I snappishly I am afraid for I was beginning rather to
resent his formula
»Well I am far from sure that I do« quoth he »I think one may do more
with ones life than sitting on a damp cloud and singing hymns«
I was rather nettled by this inconsequence and said »Well neighbour to
be short and without using metaphors in the land whence I come where the
competition which produced those literary works which you admire so much is
still the rule most people are thoroughly unhappy here to me at least most
people seem thoroughly happy«
»No offence Guest no offence« said he »but let me ask you you like
that do you«
His formula put with such obstinate persistence made us all laugh
heartily and even the old man joined in the laughter on the sly However he
was by no means beaten and said presently
»From all I can hear I should judge that a young woman so beautiful as my
dear Ellen yonder would have been a lady as they called it in the old time and
wouldnt have had to wear a few rags of silk as she does now or to have browned
herself in the sun as she has to do now What do you say to that eh«
Here Clara who had been pretty much silent hitherto struck in and said
»Well really I dont think that you would have mended matters or that they
want mending Dont you see that she is dressed deliciously for this beautiful
weather And as for the sunburning of your hayfields why I hope to pick up
some of that for myself when we get a little higher up the river Look if I
dont need a little sun on my pasty white skin«
And she stripped up the sleeve from her arm and laid it beside Ellens who
was now sitting next her To say the truth it was rather amusing to me to see
Clara putting herself forward as a townbred fine lady for she was as wellknit
and cleanskinned a girl as might be met with anywhere at the best Dick stroked
the beautiful arm rather shyly and pulled down the sleeve again while she
blushed at his touch and the old man said laughingly »Well I suppose you do
like that dont you«
Ellen kissed her new friend and we all sat silent for a little till she
broke out into a sweet shrill song and held us all entranced with the wonder of
her clear voice and the old grumbler sat looking at her lovingly The other
young people sang also in due time and then Ellen showed us to our beds in
small cottage chambers fragrant and clean as the ideal of the old pastoral
poets and the pleasure of the evening quite extinguished my fear of the last
night that I should wake up in the old miserable world of wornout pleasures
and hopes that were half fears
Chapter XXIII
An Early Morning by Runnymede
Though there were no rough noises to wake me I could not lie long abed the next
morning where the world seemed so well awake and despite the old grumbler so
happy so I got up and found that early as it was someone had been stirring
since all was trim and in its place in the little parlour and the table laid
for the morning meal Nobody was afoot in the house as then however so I went
out adoors and after a turn or two round the superabundant garden I wandered
down over the meadow to the riverside where lay our boat looking quite
familiar and friendly to me I walked up stream a little watching the light
mist curling up from the river till the sun gained power to draw it all away
saw the bleak speckling the water under the willow boughs whence the tiny flies
they fed on were falling in myriads heard the great chub splashing here and
there at some belated moth or other and felt almost back again in my boyhood
Then I went back again to the boat and loitered there a minute or two and then
walked slowly up the meadow towards the little house I noted now that there
were four more houses of about the same size on the slope away from the river
The meadow in which I was going was not up for hay but a row of flakehurdles
ran up the slope not far from me on each side and in the field so parted off
from ours on the left they were making hay busily by now in the simple fashion
of the days when I was a boy My feet turned that way instinctively as I wanted
to see how haymakers looked in these new and better times and also I rather
expected to see Ellen there I came to the hurdles and stood looking over into
the hayfield and was close to the end of the long line of haymakers who were
spreading the low ridges to dry off the night dew The majority of these were
young women clad much like Ellen last night though not mostly in silk but in
light woollen most gaily embroidered the men being all clad in white flannel
embroidered in bright colours The meadow looked like a gigantic tulipbed
because of them All hands were working deliberately but well and steadily
though they were as noisy with merry talk as a grove of autumn starlings Half a
dozen of them men and women came up to me and shook hands gave me the sele of
the morning and asked a few questions as to whence and whither and wishing me
good luck went back to their work Ellen to my disappointment was not amongst
them but presently I saw a light figure come out of the hayfield higher up the
slope and make for our house and that was Ellen holding a basket in her hand
But before she had come to the garden gate out came Dick and Clara who after
a minutes pause came down to meet me leaving Ellen in the garden then we
three went down to the boat talking mere morning prattle We stayed there a
little Dick arranging some of the matters in her for we had only taken up to
the house such things as we thought the dew might damage and then we went
toward the house again but when we came near the garden Dick stopped us by
laying a hand on my arm and said
»Just look a moment«
I looked and over the low hedge saw Ellen shading her eyes against the sun
as she looked toward the hayfield a light wind stirring in her tawny hair her
eyes like light jewels amidst her sunburnt face which looked as if the warmth
of the sun were yet in it
»Look Guest« said Dick »doesnt it all look like one of those very
stories out of Grimm that we were talking about up in Bloomsbury Here are we
two lovers wandering about the world and we have come to a fairy garden and
there is the very fairy herself amidst of it I wonder what she will do for us«
Said Clara demurely but not stiffly »Is she a good fairy Dick«
»O yes« said he »and according to the card she would do better if it
were not for the gnome or woodspirit our grumbling friend of last night«
We laughed at this and I said »I hope you see that you have left me out of
the tale«
»Well« said he »thats true You had better consider that you have got the
cap of darkness and are seeing everything yourself invisible«
That touched me on my weak side of not feeling sure of my position in this
beautiful new country so in order not to make matters worse I held my tongue
and we all went into the garden and up to the house together I noticed by the
way that Clara must really rather have felt the contrast between herself as a
town madam and this piece of the summer country that we all admired so for she
had rather dressed after Ellen that morning as to thinness and scantiness and
went barefoot also except for light sandals
The old man greeted us kindly in the parlour and said »Well guests so
you have been looking about to search into the nakedness of the land I suppose
your illusions of last night have given way a bit before the morning light Do
you still like it eh«
»Very much« said I doggedly »it is one of the prettiest places on the
lower Thames«
»Oho« said he »so you know the Thames do you«
I reddened for I saw Dick and Clara looking at me and scarcely knew what
to say However since I had said in our early intercourse with my Hammersmith
friends that I had known Epping Forest I thought a hasty generalisation might
be better in avoiding complications than a downright lie so I said
»I have been in this country before and I have been on the Thames in those
days«
»O« said the old man eagerly »so you have been in this country before
Now really dont you find it apart from all theory you know much changed for
the worse«
»No not at all« said I »I find it much changed for the better«
»Ah« quoth he »I fear that you have been prejudiced by some theory or
another However of course the time when you were here before must have been so
near our own days that the deterioration might not be very great as then we
were of course still living under the same customs as we are now I was
thinking of earlier days than that«
»In short« said Clara »you have theories about the change which has taken
place«
»I have facts as well« said he »Look here from this hill you can see just
four little houses including this one Well I know for certain that in old
times even in the summer when the leaves were thickest you could see from the
same place six quite big and fine houses and higher up the water garden joined
garden right up to Windsor and there were big houses in all the gardens Ah
England was an important place in those days«
I was getting nettled and said »What you mean is that you decockneyised
the place and sent the damned flunkies packing and that everybody can live
comfortably and happily and not a few damned thieves only who were centres of
vulgarity and corruption wherever they were and who as to this lovely river
destroyed its beauty morally and had almost destroyed it physically when they
were thrown out of it«
There was silence after this outburst which for the life of me I could not
help remembering how I had suffered from cockneyism and its cause on those same
waters of old time But at last the old man said quite coolly
»My dear guest I really dont know what you mean by either cockneys or
flunkies or thieves or damned or how only a few people could live happily and
comfortably in a wealthy country All I can see is that you are angry and I
fear with me so if you like we will change the subject«
I thought this kind and hospitable in him considering his obstinacy about
his theory and hastened to say that I did not mean to be angry only emphatic
He bowed gravely and I thought the storm was over when suddenly Ellen broke
in
»Grandfather our guest is reticent from courtesy but really what he has in
his mind to say to you ought to be said so as I know pretty well what it is I
will say it for him for as you know I have been taught these things by people
who «
»Yes« said the old man »by the sage of Bloomsbury and others«
»O« said Dick »so you know my old kinsman Hammond«
»Yes« said she »and other people too as my grandfather says and they
have taught me things and this is the upshot of it We live in a little house
now not because we have nothing grander to do than working in the fields but
because we please for if we liked we could go and live in a big house amongst
pleasant companions«
Grumbled the old man »Just so As if I would live amongst those conceited
fellows all of them looking down upon me«
She smiled on him kindly but went on as if he had not spoken »In the past
times when those big houses of which grandfather speaks were so plenty we must
have lived in a cottage whether we had liked it or not and the said cottage
instead of having in it everything we want would have been bare and empty We
should not have got enough to eat our clothes would have been ugly to look at
dirty and frowsy You grandfather have done no hard work for years now but
wander about and read your books and have nothing to worry you and as for me I
work hard when I like it because I like it and think it does me good and
knits up my muscles and makes me prettier to look at and healthier and
happier But in those past days you grandfather would have had to work hard
after you were old and would have been always afraid of having to be shut up in
a kind of prison along with other old men halfstarved and without amusement
And as for me I am twenty years old In those days my middle age would be
beginning now and in a few years I should be pinched thin and haggard beset
with troubles and miseries so that no one could have guessed that I was once a
beautiful girl
Is this what you have had in your mind Guest« said she the tears in her
eyes at thought of the past miseries of people like herself
»Yes« said I much moved »that and more Often in my country I have seen
that wretched change you have spoken of from the fresh handsome country lass to
the poor draggletailed country woman«
The old man sat silent for a little but presently recovered himself and
took comfort in his old phrase of »Well you like it so do you«
»Yes« said Ellen »I love life better than death«
»O you do do you« said he »Well for my part I like reading a good old
book with plenty of fun in it like Thackerays Vanity Fair Why dont you write
books like that now Ask that question of your Bloomsbury sage«
Seeing Dicks cheeks reddening a little at this sally and noting that
silence followed I thought I had better do something So I said »I am only the
guest friends but I know you want to show me your river at its best so dont
you think we had better be moving presently as it is certainly going to be a
hot day«
Chapter XXIV
Up the Thames the Second Day
They were not slow to take my hint and indeed as to the mere time of day it
was best for us to be off as it was past seven oclock and the day promised to
be very hot So we got up and went down to our boat Ellen thoughtful and
abstracted the old man very kind and courteous as if to make up for his
crabbedness of opinion Clara was cheerful and natural but a little subdued I
thought and she at least was not sorry to be gone and often looked shyly and
timidly at Ellen and her strange wild beauty So we got into the boat Dick
saying as he took his place »Well it is a fine day« and the old man answering
»What you like that do you« once more and presently Dick was sending the
bows swiftly through the slow weedchecked stream I turned round as we got into
midstream and waving my hand to our hosts saw Ellen leaning on the old mans
shoulder and caressing his healthy applered cheek and quite a keen pang smote
me as I thought how I should never see the beautiful girl again Presently I
insisted on taking the sculls and I rowed a good deal that day which no doubt
accounts for the fact that we got very late to the place which Dick had aimed
at Clara was particularly affectionate to Dick as I noticed from the rowing
thwart but as for him he was as frankly kind and merry as ever and I was glad
to see it as a man of his temperament could not have taken her caresses
cheerfully and without embarrassment if he had been at all entangled by the
fairy of our last nights abode
I need say little about the lovely reaches of the river here I duly noted
that absence of cockney villas which the old man had lamented and I saw with
pleasure that my old enemies the Gothic castiron bridges had been replaced by
handsome oak and stone ones Also the banks of the forest that we passed through
had lost their courtly gamekeeperish trimness and were as wild and beautiful
as need be though the trees were clearly well seen to I thought it best in
order to get the most direct information to play the innocent about Eton and
Windsor but Dick volunteered his knowledge to me as we lay in Datchet lock
about the first Quoth he
»Up yonder are some beautiful old buildings which were built for a great
college or teachingplace by one of the mediæval kings Edward the Sixth I
think« I smiled to myself at his rather natural blunder »He meant poor
peoples sons to be taught there what knowledge was going in his days but it
was a matter of course that in the times of which you seem to know so much they
spoilt whatever good there was in the founders intentions My old kinsman says
that they treated them in a very simple way and instead of teaching poor mens
sons to know something they taught rich mens sons to know nothing It seems
from what he says that it was a place for the aristocracy if you know what that
word means I have been told its meaning to get rid of the company of their
male children for a great part of the year I daresay old Hammond would give you
plenty of information in detail about it«
»What is it used for now« said I
»Well« said he »the buildings were a good deal spoilt by the last few
generations of aristocrats who seem to have had a great hatred against
beautiful old buildings and indeed all records of past history but it is still
a delightful place Of course we cannot use it quite as the founder intended
since our ideas about teaching young people are so changed from the ideas of his
time so it is used now as a dwelling for people engaged in learning and folk
from round about come and get taught things that they want to learn and there
is a great library there of the best books So that I dont think that the old
dead king would be much hurt if he were to come to life and see what we are
doing there«
»Well« said Clara laughing »I think he would miss the boys«
»Not always my dear« said Dick »for there are often plenty of boys there
who come to get taught and also« said he smiling »to learn boating and
swimming I wish we could stop there but perhaps we had better do that coming
down the water«
The lockgates opened as he spoke and out we went and on And as for
Windsor he said nothing till I lay on my oars for I was sculling then in
Clewer reach and looking up said »What is all that building up there«
Said he »There I thought I would wait till you asked yourself That is
Windsor Castle that also I thought I would keep for you till we come down the
water It looks fine from here doesnt it But a great deal of it has been
built or skinned in the time of the Degradation and we wouldnt pull the
buildings down since they were there just as with the buildings of the
DungMarket You know of course that it was the palace of our old mediæval
kings and was used later on for the same purpose by the parliamentary
commercial shamkings as my old kinsman calls them«
»Yes« said I »I know all that What is it used for now«
»A great many people live there« said he »as with all drawbacks it is a
pleasant place there is also a wellarranged store of antiquities of various
kinds that have seemed worth keeping a museum it would have been called in
the times you understand so well«
I drew my sculls through the water at that last word and pulled as if I
were fleeing from those times which I understood so well and we were soon going
up the once sorely becockneyed reaches of the river about Maidenhead which now
looked as pleasant and enjoyable as the upriver reaches
The morning was now getting on the morning of a jewel of a summer day one
of those days which if they were commoner in these islands would make our
climate the best of all climates without dispute A light wind blew from the
west the little clouds that had arisen at about our breakfast time had seemed
to get higher and higher in the heavens and in spite of the burning sun we no
more longed for rain than we feared it Burning as the sun was there was a
fresh feeling in the air that almost set us alonging for the rest of the hot
afternoon and the stretch of blossoming wheat seen from the shadow of the
boughs No one unburdened with very heavy anxieties could have felt otherwise
than happy that morning and it must be said that whatever anxieties might lie
beneath the surface of things we didnt seem to come across any of them
We passed by several fields where haymaking was going on but Dick and
especially Clara were so jealous of our upriver festival that they would not
allow me to have much to say to them I could only notice that the people in the
fields looked strong and handsome both men and women and that so far from
there being any appearance of sordidness about their attire they seemed to be
dressed specially for the occasion lightly of course but gaily and with
plenty of adornment
Both on this day as well as yesterday we had as you may think met and
passed and been passed by many craft of one kind and another The most part of
these were being rowed like ourselves or were sailing in the sort of way that
sailing is managed on the upper reaches of the river but every now and then we
came on barges laden with hay or other country produce or carrying bricks
lime timber and the like and these were going on their way without any means
of propulsion visible to me just a man at the tiller with often a friend or
two laughing and talking with him Dick seeing on one occasion this day that I
was looking rather hard on one of these said »That is one of our forcebarges
it is quite as easy to work vehicles by force by water as by land«
I understood pretty well that these force vehicles had taken the place of
our old steampower carrying but I took good care not to ask any questions
about them as I knew well enough both that I should never be able to understand
how they were worked and that in attempting to do so I should betray myself or
get into some complication impossible to explain so I merely said »Yes of
course I understand«
We went ashore at Bisham where the remains of the old Abbey and the
Elizabethan house that had been added to them yet remained none the worse for
many years of careful and appreciative habitation The folk of the place
however were mostly in the fields that day both men and women so we met only
two old men there and a younger one who had stayed at home to get on with some
literary work which I imagine we considerably interrupted Yet I also think
that the hardworking man who received us was not very sorry for the
interruption Anyhow he kept on pressing us to stay over and over again till
at last we did not get away till the cool of the evening
However that mattered little to us the nights were light for the moon was
shining in her third quarter and it was all one to Dick whether he sculled or
sat quiet in the boat so we went away a great pace The evening sun shone
bright on the remains of the old buildings at Medmenham close beside which
arose an irregular pile of building which Dick told us was a very pleasant
house and there were plenty of houses visible on the wide meadows opposite
under the hill for as it seems that the beauty of Hurley had compelled people
to build and live there a good deal The sun very low down showed us Henley
little altered in outward aspect from what I remembered it Actual daylight
failed us as we passed through the lovely reaches of Wargrave and Shiplake but
the moon rose behind us presently I should like to have seen with my eyes what
success the new order of things had had in getting rid of the sprawling mess
with which commercialism had littered the banks of the wide stream about Reading
and Caversham certainly everything smelt too deliciously in the early night for
there to be any of the old careless sordidness of socalled manufacture and in
answer to my question as to what sort of a place Reading was Dick answered
»O a nice town enough in its way mostly rebuilt within the last hundred
years and there are a good many houses as you can see by the lights just down
under the hills yonder In fact it is one of the most populous places on the
Thames round about here Keep up your spirits Guest we are close to our
journeys end for the night I ought to ask your pardon for not stopping at one
of the houses here or higher up but a friend who is living in a very pleasant
house in the MapleDurham meads particularly wanted me and Clara to come and
see him on our way up the Thames and I thought you wouldnt mind this bit of
night travelling«
He need not have adjured me to keep up my spirits which were as high as
possible though the strangeness and excitement of the happy and quiet life
which I saw everywhere around me was it is true a little wearing off yet a
deep content as different as possible from languid acquiescence was taking its
place and I was as it were really newborn
We landed presently just where I remembered the river making an elbow to the
north towards the ancient house of the Blunts with the wide meadows spreading
on the righthand side and on the left the long line of beautiful old trees
overhanging the water As we got out of the boat I said to Dick
»Is it the old house we are going to«
»No« he said »though that is standing still in green old age and is well
inhabited I see by the way that you know your Thames well But my friend
Walter Allen who asked me to stop here lives in a house not very big which
has been built here lately because these meadows are so much liked especially
in summer that there was getting to be rather too much of tenting on the open
field so the parishes here about who rather objected to that built three
houses between this and Caversham and quite a large one at Basildon a little
higher up Look yonder are the lights of Walter Allens house«
So we walked over the grass of the meadows under a flood of moonlight and
soon came to the house which was low and built round a quadrangle big enough to
get plenty of sunshine in it Walter Allen Dicks friend was leaning against
the jamb of the doorway waiting for us and took us into the hall without
overplus of words There were not many people in it as some of the dwellers
there were away at the haymaking in the neighbourhood and some as Walter told
us were wandering about the meadow enjoying the beautiful moonlit night Dicks
friend looked to be a man of about forty tall blackhaired very kindlooking
and thoughtful but rather to my surprise there was a shade of melancholy on his
face and he seemed a little abstracted and inattentive to our chat in spite of
obvious efforts to listen
Dick looked on him from time to time and seemed troubled and at last he
said »I say old fellow if there is any thing the matter which we didnt know
of when you wrote to me dont you think you had better tell us about it at
once or else we shall think we have come here at an unlucky time and are not
quite wanted«
Walter turned red and seemed to have some difficulty in restraining his
tears but said at last »Of course everybody here is very glad to see you
Dick and your friends but it is true that we are not at our best in spite of
the fine weather and the glorious haycrop We have had a death here«
Said Dick »Well you should get over that neighbour such things must be«
»Yes« Walter said »but this was a death by violence and it seems likely
to lead to at least one more and somehow it makes us feel rather shy of one
another and to say the truth that is one reason why there are so few of us
present tonight«
»Tell us the story Walter« said Dick »perhaps telling it will help you to
shake off your sadness«
Said Walter »Well I will and I will make it short enough though I
daresay it might be spun out into a long one as used to be done with such
subjects in the old novels There is a very charming girl here whom we all like
and whom some of us do more than like and she very naturally liked one of us
better than anybody else And another of us I wont name him got fairly bitten
with lovemadness and used to go about making himself as unpleasant as he could
not of malice prepense of course so that the girl who liked him well enough
at first though she didnt love him began fairly to dislike him Of course
those of us who knew him best myself amongst others advised him to go away
as he was making matters worse and worse for himself every day Well he
wouldnt take our advice that also I suppose was a matter of course so we
had to tell him that he must go or the inevitable sending to Coventry would
follow for his individual trouble had so overmastered him that we felt that we
must go if he did not
He took that better than we expected when something or other an interview
with the girl I think and some hot words with the successful lover following
close upon it threw him quite off his balance and he got hold of an axe and
fell upon his rival when there was no one by and in the struggle that followed
the man attacked hit him an unlucky blow and killed him And now the slayer in
his turn is so upset that he is like to kill himself and if he does the girl
will do as much I fear And all this we could no more help than the earthquake
of the year before last«
»It is very unhappy« said Dick »but since the man is dead and cannot be
brought to life again and since the slayer had no malice in him I cannot for
the life of me see why he shouldnt get over it before long Besides it was the
right man that was killed and not the wrong Why should a man brood over a mere
accident for ever And the girl«
»As to her« said Walter »the whole thing seems to have inspired her with
terror rather than grief What you say about the man is true or it should be
but then you see the excitement and jealousy that was the prelude to this
tragedy had made an evil and feverish element round about him from which he
does not seem to be able to escape However we have advised him to go away in
fact to cross the seas but he is in such a state that I do not think he can go
unless someone takes him and I think it will fall to my lot to do so which is
scarcely a cheerful outlook for me«
»O you will find a certain kind of interest in it« said Dick »And of
course he must soon look upon the affair from a reasonable point of view sooner
or later«
»Well at any rate« quoth Walter »now that I have eased my mind by making
you uncomfortable let us have an end of the subject for the present Are you
going to take your guest to Oxford«
»Why of course we must pass through it« said Dick smiling »as we are
going into the upper waters but I thought that we wouldnt stop there or we
shall be belated as to the haymaking up our way So Oxford and my learned
lecture on it all got at secondhand from my old kinsman must wait till we
come down the water a fortnight hence«
I listened to this story with much surprise and could not help wondering at
first that the man who had slain the other had not been put in custody till it
could be proved that he killed his rival in selfdefence only However the more
I thought of it the plainer it grew to me that no amount of examination of
witnesses who had witnessed nothing but the illblood between the two rivals
would have done anything to clear up the case I could not help thinking also
that the remorse of this homicide gave point to what old Hammond had said to me
about the way in which this strange people dealt with what I had been used to
hear called crimes Truly the remorse was exaggerated but it was quite clear
that the slayer took the whole consequences of the act upon himself and did not
expect society to whitewash him by punishing him I had no fear any longer that
the sacredness of human life was likely to suffer amongst my friends from the
absence of gallows and prison
Chapter XXV
The Third Day on the Thames
As we went down to the boat next morning Walter could not quite keep off the
subject of last night though he was more hopeful than he had been then and
seemed to think that if the unlucky homicide could not be got to go oversea he
might at any rate go and live somewhere in the neighbourhood pretty much by
himself at any rate that was what he himself had proposed To Dick and I must
say to me also this seemed a strange remedy and Dick said as much Quoth he
»Friend Walter dont set the man brooding on the tragedy by letting him
live alone That will only strengthen his idea that he has committed a crime
and you will have him killing himself in good earnest«
Said Clara »I dont know If I may say what I think of it it is that he
had better have his fill of gloom now and so to say wake up presently to see
how little need there has been for it and then he will live happily afterwards
As for his killing himself you need not be afraid of that for from all you
tell me he is really very much in love with the woman and to speak plainly
until his love is satisfied he will not only stick to life as tightly as he
can but will also make the most of every event of his life will so to say
hug himself up in it and I think that this is the real explanation of his
taking the whole matter with such an excess of tragedy«
Walter looked thoughtful and said »Well you may be right and perhaps we
should have treated it all more lightly but you see Guest« turning to me
»such things happen so seldom that when they do happen we cannot help being
much taken up with it For the rest we are all inclined to excuse our poor
friend for making us so unhappy on the ground that he does it out of an
exaggerated respect for human life and its happiness Well I will say no more
about it only this will you give me a cast up stream as I want to look after
a lonely habitation for the poor fellow since he will have it so and I hear
that there is one which would suit us very well on the downs beyond Streatley
so if you will put me ashore there I will walk up the hill and look to it«
»Is the house in question empty« said I
»No« said Walter »but the man who lives there will go out of it of
course when he hears that we want it You see we think that the fresh air of
the downs and the very emptiness of the landscape will do our friend good«
»Yes« said Clara smiling »and he will not be so far from his beloved that
they cannot easily meet if they have a mind to as they certainly will«
This talk had brought us down to the boat and we were presently afloat on
the beautiful broad stream Dick driving the prow swiftly through the windless
water of the early summer morning for it was not yet six oclock We were at
the lock in a very little time and as we lay rising and rising on the incoming
water I could not help wondering that my old friend the poundlock and that of
the very simplest and most rural kind should hold its place there so I said
»I have been wondering as we passed lock after lock that you people so
prosperous as you are and especially since you are so anxious for pleasant work
to do have not invented something which would get rid of this clumsy business
of going upstairs by means of these rude contrivances«
Dick laughed »My dear friend« said he »as long as water has the clumsy
habit of running down hill I fear we must humour it by going upstairs when we
have our faces turned from the sea And really I dont see why you should fall
foul of MapleDurham lock which I think a very pretty place«
There was no doubt about the latter assertion I thought as I looked up at
the overhanging boughs of the great trees with the sun coming glittering
through the leaves and listened to the song of the summer blackbirds as it
mingled with the sound of the backwater near us So not being able to say why I
wanted the locks away which indeed I didnt do at all I held my peace But
Walter said
»You see Guest this is not an age of inventions The last epoch did all
that for us and we are now content to use such of its inventions as we find
handy and leaving those alone which we dont want I believe as a matter of
fact that some time ago I cant give you a date some elaborate machinery was
used for the locks though people did not go so far as try to make the water run
up hill However it was troublesome I suppose and the simple hatches and the
gates with a big counterpoising beam were found to answer every purpose and
were easily mended when wanted with material always to hand so here they are
as you see«
»Besides« said Dick »this kind of lock is pretty as you can see and I
cant help thinking that your machinelock winding up like a watch would have
been ugly and would have spoiled the look of the river and that is surely
reason enough for keeping such locks as these Goodbye old fellow« said he to
the lock as he pushed us out through the now open gates by a vigorous stroke of
the boathook »May you live long and have your green old age renewed for
ever«
On we went and the water had the familiar aspect to me of the days before
Pangbourne had been thoroughly cocknified as I have seen it It Pangbourne
was distinctly a village still ie a definite group of houses and as pretty
as might be The beechwoods still covered the hill that rose above Basildon
but the flat fields beneath them were much more populous than I remembered them
as there were five large houses in sight very carefully designed so as not to
hurt the character of the country Down on the green lip of the river just
where the water turns toward the Goring and Streatley reaches were half a dozen
girls playing about on the grass They hailed us as we were about passing them
as they noted that we were travellers and we stopped a minute to talk with
them They had been bathing and were light clad and barefooted and were bound
for the meadows on the Berkshire side where the haymaking had begun and were
passing the time merrily enough till the Berkshire folk came in their punt to
fetch them At first nothing would content them but we must go with them into
the hayfield and breakfast with them but Dick put forward his theory of
beginning the hayharvest higher up the water and not spoiling my pleasure
therein by giving me a taste of it elsewhere and they gave way though
unwillingly In revenge they asked me a great many questions about the country I
came from and the manners of life there which I found rather puzzling to
answer and doubtless what answers I did give were puzzling enough to them I
noticed both with these pretty girls and with everybody else we met that in
default of serious news such as we had heard at MapleDurham they were eager
to discuss all the little details of life the weather the haycrop the last
new house the plenty or lack of such and such birds and so on and they talked
of these things not in a fatuous and conventional way but as taking I say
real interest in them Moreover I found that the women knew as much about all
these things as the men could name a flower and knew its qualities could tell
you the habitat of such and such birds and fish and the like
It is almost strange what a difference this intelligence made in my estimate
of the country life of that day for it used to be said in past times and on
the whole truly that outside their daily work country people knew little of the
country and at least could tell you nothing about it while here were these
people as eager about all the goings on in the fields and woods and downs as if
they had been Cockneys newly escaped from the tyranny of bricks and mortar
I may mention as a detail worth noticing that not only did there seem to be
a great many more birds about of the nonpredatory kinds but their enemies the
birds of prey were also commoner A kite hung over our heads as we passed
Medmenham yesterday magpies were quite common in the hedgerows I saw several
sparrowhawks and I think a merlin and now just as we were passing the pretty
bridge which had taken the place of Basildon railwaybridge a couple of ravens
croaked above our boat as they sailed off to the higher ground of the downs I
concluded from all this that the days of the gamekeeper were over and did not
even need to ask Dick a question about it
Chapter XXVI
The Obstinate Refusers
Before we parted from these girls we saw two sturdy young men and a woman
putting off from the Berkshire shore and then Dick bethought him of a little
banter of the girls and asked them how it was that there was nobody of the male
kind to go with them across the water and where their boats were gone to Said
one the youngest of the party »O they have got the big punt to lead stone
from up the water«
»Who do you mean by they dear child« said Dick
Said an older girl laughing »You had better go and see them Look there«
and she pointed northwest »dont you see building going on there«
»Yes« said Dick »and I am rather surprised at this time of the year why
are they not haymaking with you«
The girls all laughed at this and before their laugh was over the
Berkshire boat had run on to the grass and the girls stepped in lightly still
sniggering while the new comers gave us the sele of the day But before they
were under way again the tall girl said »Excuse us for laughing dear
neighbours but we have had some friendly bickering with the builders up yonder
and as we have no time to tell you the story you had better go and ask them
they will be glad to see you if you dont hinder their work«
They all laughed again at that and waved us a pretty farewell as the
punters set them over toward the other shore and left us standing on the bank
beside our boat
»Let us go and see them« said Clara »that is if you are not in a hurry to
get to Streatley Walter«
»O no« said Walter »I shall be glad of the excuse to have a little more of
your company«
So we left the boat moored there and went on up the slow slope of the hill
but I said to Dick on the way being somewhat mystified »What was all that
laughing about what was the joke«
»I can guess pretty well« said Dick »some of them up there have got a
piece of work which interests them and they wont go to the haymaking which
doesnt matter at all because there are plenty of people to do such easyhard
work as that only since haymaking is a regular festival the neighbours find
it amusing to jeer goodhumouredly at them«
»I see« said I »much as if in Dickenss time some young people were so
wrapped up in their work that they wouldnt keep Christmas«
»Just so« said Dick »only these people need not be young either«
»But what did you mean by easyhard work« said I
Quoth Dick »Did I say that I mean work that tries the muscles and hardens
them and sends you pleasantly weary to bed but which isnt trying in other
ways doesnt harass you in short Such work is always pleasant if you dont
overdo it Only mind you good mowing requires some little skill Im a pretty
good mower«
This talk brought us up to the house that was abuilding not a large one
which stood at the end of a beautiful orchard surrounded by an old stone wall
»O yes I see« said Dick »I remember a beautiful place for a house but a
starveling of a nineteenth century house stood there I am glad they are
rebuilding its all stone too though it need not have been in this part of
the country my word though they are making a neat job of it but I wouldnt
have made it all ashlar«
Walter and Clara were already talking to a tall man clad in his masons
blouse who looked about forty but was I daresay older who had his mallet and
chisel in hand there were at work in the shed and on the scaffold about half a
dozen men and two women blouseclad like the carles while a very pretty woman
who was not in the work but was dressed in an elegant suit of blue linen came
sauntering up to us with her knitting in her hand She welcomed us and said
smiling »So you are come up from the water to see the Obstinate Refusers where
are you going haymaking neighbours«
»O right up above Oxford« said Dick »it is rather a late country But
what share have you got with the Refusers pretty neighbour«
Said she with a laugh »O I am the lucky one who doesnt want to work
though sometimes I get it for I serve as model to Mistress Philippa there when
she wants one she is our head carver come and see her«
She led us up to the door of the unfinished house where a rather little
woman was working with mallet and chisel on the wall near by She seemed very
intent on what she was doing and did not turn round when we came up but a
taller woman quite a girl she seemed who was at work near by had already
knocked off and was standing looking from Clara to Dick with delighted eyes
None of the others paid much heed to us
The blueclad girl laid her hand on the carvers shoulder and said »Now
Philippa if you gobble up your work like that you will soon have none to do
and what will become of you then«
The carver turned round hurriedly and showed us the face of a woman of forty
or so she seemed and said rather pettishly but in a sweet voice
»Dont talk nonsense Kate and dont interrupt me if you can help it« She
stopped short when she saw us then went on with the kind smile of welcome which
never failed us »Thank you for coming to see us neighbours but I am sure that
you wont think me unkind if I go on with my work especially when I tell you
that I was ill and unable to do anything all through April and May and this
openair and the sun and the work together and my feeling well again too make
a mere delight of every hour to me and excuse me I must go on«
She fell to work accordingly on a carving in low relief of flowers and
figures but talked on amidst her mallet strokes »You see we all think this
the prettiest place for a house up and down these reaches and the site has been
so long encumbered with an unworthy one that we masons were determined to pay
off fate and destiny for once and build the prettiest house we could compass
here and so and so «
Here she lapsed into mere carving but the tall foreman came up and said
»Yes neighbours that is it so it is going to be all ashlar because we want to
carve a kind of a wreath of flowers and figures all round it and we have been
much hindered by one thing or other Philippas illness amongst others and
though we could have managed our wreath without her «
»Could you though« grumbled the lastnamed from the face of the wall
»Well at any rate she is our best carver and it would not have been kind
to begin the carving without her So you see« said he looking at Dick and me
»we really couldnt go haymaking could we neighbours But you see we are
getting on so fast now with this splendid weather that I think we may well
spare a week or ten days at wheatharvest and wont we go at that work then
Come down then to the acres that lie north and by west at our backs and you
shall see good harvesters neighbours«
»Hurrah for a good brag« called a voice from the scaffold above us »our
foreman thinks that an easier job than putting one stone on another«
There was a general laugh at this sally in which the tall foreman joined
and with that we saw a lad bringing out a little table into the shadow of the
stoneshed which he set down there and then going back came out again with
the inevitable big wickered flask and tall glasses whereon the foreman led us
up to due seats on blocks of stone and said
»Well neighbours drink to my brag coming true or I shall think you dont
believe me Up there« said he hailing the scaffold »are you coming down for a
glass« Three of the workmen came running down the ladder as men with good
building legs will do but the others didnt answer except the joker if he
must so be called who called out without turning round »Excuse me
neighbours for not getting down I must get on my work is not superintending
like the gaffers yonder but you fellows send us up a glass to drink the
haymakers health« Of course Philippa would not turn away from her beloved
work but the other woman carver came she turned out to be Philippas daughter
but was a tall strong girl blackhaired and gipseylike of face and curiously
solemn of manner The rest gathered round us and clinked glasses and the men on
the scaffold turned about and drank to our healths but the busy little woman by
the door would have none of it all but only shrugged her shoulders when her
daughter came up to her and touched her
So we shook hands and turned our backs on the Obstinate Refusers went down
the slope to our boat and before we had gone many steps heard the full tune of
tinkling trowels mingle with the humming of the bees and the singing of the
larks above the little plain of Basildon
Chapter XXVII
The Upper Waters
We set Walter ashore on the Berkshire side amidst all the beauties of
Streatley and so went our ways into what once would have been the deeper
country under the foothills of the White Horse and though the contrast between
halfcocknified and wholly unsophisticated country existed no longer a feeling
of exultation rose within me as it used to do at sight of the familiar and
still unchanged hills of the Berkshire range
We stopped at Wallingford for our midday meal of course all signs of
squalor and poverty had disappeared from the streets of the ancient town and
many ugly houses had been taken down and many pretty new ones built but I
thought it curious that the town still looked like the old place I remembered
so well for indeed it looked like that ought to have looked
At dinner we fell in with an old but very bright and intelligent man who
seemed in a country way to be another edition of old Hammond He had an
extraordinary detailed knowledge of the ancient history of the country side from
the time of Alfred to the days of the Parliamentary Wars many events of which
as you may know were enacted round about Wallingford But what was more
interesting to us he had detailed record of the period of the change to the
present state of things and told us a great deal about it and especially of
that exodus of the people from the town to the country and the gradual recovery
by the townbred people on one side and the countrybred people on the other
of those arts of life which they had each lost which loss as he told us had
at one time gone so far that not only was it impossible to find a carpenter or a
smith in a village or small country town but that people in such places had
even forgotten how to bake bread and that at Wallingford for instance the
bread came down with the newspapers by an early train from London worked in
some way the explanation of which I could not understand He told us also that
the townspeople who came into the country used to pick up the agricultural arts
by carefully watching the way in which the machines worked gathering an idea of
handicraft from machinery because at that time almost everything in and about
the fields was done by elaborate machines used quite unintelligently by the
labourers On the other hand the old men amongst the labourers managed to teach
the younger ones gradually a little artizanship such as the use of the saw and
the plane the work of the smithy and so forth for once more by that time it
was as much as or rather more than a man could do to fix an ash pole to a
rake by handiwork so that it would take a machine worth a thousand pounds a
group of workmen and half a days travelling to do five shillings worth of
work He showed us among other things an account of a certain village council
who were working hard at all this business and the record of their intense
earnestness in getting to the bottom of some matter which in time past would
have been thought quite trivial as for example, the due proportions of alkali
and oil for soapmaking for the village wash or the exact heat of the water
into which a leg of mutton should be plunged for boiling all this joined to
the utter absence of anything like party feeling which even in a village
assembly would certainly have made its appearance in an earlier epoch was very
amusing and at the same time instructive
This old man whose name was Henry Morsom took us after our meal and a
rest into a biggish hall which contained a large collection of articles of
manufacture and art from the last days of the machine period to that day and he
went over them with us and explained them with great care They also were very
interesting showing the transition from the makeshift work of the machines
which was at about its worst a little after the Civil War before told of into
the first years of the new handicraft period Of course there was much
overlapping of the periods and at first the new handwork came in very slowly
»You must remember« said the old antiquary »that the handicraft was not
the result of what used to be called material necessity on the contrary by
that time the machines had been so much improved that almost all necessary work
might have been done by them and indeed many people at that time and before
it used to think that machinery would entirely supersede handicraft which
certainly on the face of it seemed more than likely But there was another
opinion far less logical prevalent amongst the rich people before the days of
freedom which did not die out at once after that epoch had begun This opinion
which from all I can learn seemed as natural then as it seems absurd now was
that while the ordinary daily work of the world would be done entirely by
automatic machinery the energies of the more intelligent part of mankind would
be set free to follow the higher forms of the arts as well as science and the
study of history It was strange was it not that they should thus ignore that
aspiration after complete equality which we now recognise as the bond of all
happy human society«
I did not answer but thought the more Dick looked thoughtful and said
»Strange neighbour Well I dont know I have often heard my old kinsman
say the one aim of all people before our time was to avoid work or at least
they thought it was so of course the work which their daily life forced them to
do seemed more like work than that which they seemed to choose for themselves«
»True enough« said Morsom »Anyhow they soon began to find out their
mistake and that only slaves and slaveholders could live solely by setting
machines going«
Clara broke in here flushing a little as she spoke »Was not their mistake
once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living a life which
was always looking upon everything except mankind animate and inanimate
nature as people used to call it as one thing and mankind as another It was
natural to people thinking in this way that they should try to make nature
their slave since they thought nature was something outside them«
»Surely« said Morsom »and they were puzzled as to what to do till they
found the feeling against a mechanical life which had begun before the Great
Change amongst people who had leisure to think of such things was spreading
insensibly till at last under the guise of pleasure that was not supposed to be
work work that was pleasure began to push out the mechanical toil which they
had once hoped at the best to reduce to narrow limits indeed but never to get
rid of and which moreover they found they could not limit as they had hoped
to do«
»When did this new revolution gather head« said I
»In the halfcentury that followed the Great Change« said Morsom »it began
to be noteworthy machine after machine was quietly dropped under the excuse
that the machines could not produce works of art and that works of art were
more and more called for Look here« he said »here are some of the works of
that time rough and unskilful in handiwork but solid and showing some sense
of pleasure in the making«
»They are very curious« said I taking up a piece of pottery from amongst
the specimens which the antiquary was showing us »not a bit like the work of
either savages or barbarians and yet with what would once have been called a
hatred of civilisation impressed upon them«
»Yes« said Morsom »you must not look for delicacy there in that period
you could only have got that from a man who was practically a slave But now
you see« said he leading me on a little »we have learned the trick of
handicraft and have added the utmost refinement of workmanship to the freedom
of fancy and imagination«
I looked and wondered indeed at the deftness and abundance of beauty of the
work of men who had at last learned to accept life itself as a pleasure and the
satisfaction of the common needs of mankind and the preparation for them as
work fit for the best of the race I mused silently but at last I said
»What is to come after this«
The old man laughed »I dont know« said he »we will meet it when it
comes«
»Meanwhile« quoth Dick »we have got to meet the rest of our days journey
so out into the street and down to the strand Will you come a turn with us
neighbour Our friend is greedy of your stories«
»I will go as far as Oxford with you« said he »I want a book or two out of
the Bodleian Library I suppose you will sleep in the old city«
»No« said Dick »we are going higher up the hay is waiting us there you
know«
Morsom nodded and we all went into the street together and got into the
boat a little above the town bridge But just as Dick was getting the sculls
into the rowlocks the bows of another boat came thrusting through the low arch
Even at first sight it was a gay little craft indeed bright green and painted
over with elegantly drawn flowers As it cleared the arch a figure as bright
and gayclad as the boat rose up in it a slim girl dressed in light blue silk
that fluttered in the draughty wind of the bridge I thought I knew the figure
and sure enough as she turned her head to us and showed her beautiful face I
saw with joy that it was none other than the fairy godmother from the abundant
garden on Runnymede Ellen to wit
We all stopped to receive her Dick rose in the boat and cried out a genial
good morrow I tried to be as genial as Dick but failed Clara waved a delicate
hand to her and Morsom nodded and looked on with interest As to Ellen the
beautiful brown of her face was deepened by a flush as she brought the gunwale
of her boat alongside ours and said
»You see neighbours I had some doubt if you would all three come back past
Runnymede or if you did whether you would stop there and besides I am not
sure whether we my father and I shall not be away in a week or two for he
wants to see a brother of his in the north country and I should not like him to
go without me So I thought I might never see you again and that seemed
uncomfortable to me and and so I came after you«
»Well« said Dick »I am sure we are all very glad of that although you may
be sure that as for Clara and me we should have made a point of coming to see
you and of coming the second time if we had found you away the first But
dear neighbour there you are alone in the boat and you have been sculling
pretty hard I should think and might find a little quiet sitting pleasant so
we had better part our company into two«
»Yes« said Ellen »I thought you would do that so I have brought a rudder
for my boat will you help me to ship it please«
And she went aft in her boat and pushed along our side till she had brought
the stern close to Dicks hand He knelt down in our boat and she in hers and
the usual fumbling took place over hanging the rudder on its hooks for as you
may imagine no change had taken place in the arrangement of such an unimportant
matter as the rudder of a pleasureboat As the two beautiful young faces bent
over the rudder they seemed to me to be very close together and though it only
lasted a moment a sort of pang shot through me as I looked on Clara sat in her
place and did not look round but presently she said with just the least
stiffness in her tone
»How shall we divide Wont you go into Ellens boat Dick since without
offence to our guest you are the better sculler«
Dick stood up and laid his hand on her shoulder and said »No no let
Guest try what he can do he ought to be getting into training now Besides we
are in no hurry we are not going far above Oxford and even if we are
benighted we shall have the moon which will give us nothing worse of a night
than a greyer day«
»Besides« said I »I may manage to do a little more with my sculling than
merely keeping the boat from drifting down stream«
They all laughed at this as if it had been a very good joke and I thought
that Ellens laugh even amongst the others was one of the pleasantest sounds I
had ever heard
To be short I got into the newcome boat not a little elated and taking
the sculls set to work to show off a little For must I say it I felt as
if even that happy world were made the happier for my being so near this strange
girl although I must say that of all the persons I had seen in that world
renewed she was the most unfamiliar to me the most unlike what I could have
thought of Clara for instance beautiful and bright as she was was not unlike
a very pleasant and unaffected young lady and the other girls also seemed
nothing more than specimens of very much improved types which I had known in
other times But this girl was not only beautiful with a beauty quite different
from that of a young lady but was in all ways so strangely interesting so that
I kept wondering what she would say or do next to surprise and please me Not
indeed that there was anything startling in what she actually said or did but
it was all done in a new way and always with that indefinable interest and
pleasure of life which I had noticed more or less in everybody but which in
her was more marked and more charming than in anyone else that I had seen
We were soon under way and going at a fair pace through the beautiful
reaches of the river between Bensington and Dorchester It was now about the
middle of the afternoon warm rather than hot and quite windless the clouds
high up and light pearly white and gleaming softened the suns burning but
did not hide the pale blue in most places though they seemed to give it height
and consistency the sky in short looked really like a vault as poets have
sometimes called it and not like mere limitless air but a vault so vast and
full of light that it did not in any way oppress the spirits It was the sort of
afternoon that Tennyson must have been thinking about when he said of the
LotosEaters land that it was a land where it was always afternoon
Ellen leaned back in the stern and seemed to enjoy herself thoroughly I
could see that she was really looking at things and let nothing escape her and
as I watched her an uncomfortable feeling that she had been a little touched by
love of the deft ready and handsome Dick and that she had been constrained to
follow us because of it faded out of my mind since if it had been so she
surely could not have been so excitedly pleased even with the beautiful scenes
we were passing through For some time she did not say much but at last as we
had passed under Shillingford Bridge new built but somewhat on its old lines
she bade me hold the boat while she had a good look at the landscape through the
graceful arch Then she turned about to me and said
»I do not know whether to be sorry or glad that this is the first time that
I have been in these reaches It is true that it is a great pleasure to see all
this for the first time but if I had had a year or two of memory of it how
sweetly it would all have mingled with my life waking or dreaming I am so glad
Dick has been pulling slowly so as to linger out the time here How do you feel
about your first visit to these waters«
I do not suppose she meant a trap for me but anyhow I fell into it and
said »My first visit It is not my first visit by many a time I know these
reaches well indeed I may say that I know every yard of the Thames from
Hammersmith to Cricklade«
I saw the complications that might follow as her eyes fixed mine with a
curious look in them that I had seen before at Runnymede when I had said
something which made it difficult for others to understand my present position
amongst these people I reddened and said in order to cover my mistake »I
wonder you have never been up so high as this since you live on the Thames and
moreover row so well that it would be no great labour to you Let alone« quoth
I insinuatingly »that anybody would be glad to row you«
She laughed clearly not at my compliment as I am sure she need not have
done since it was a very commonplace fact but at something which was stirring
in her mind and she still looked at me kindly but with the abovesaid keen
look in her eyes and then she said
»Well perhaps it is strange though I have a good deal to do at home what
with looking after my father and dealing with two or three young men who have
taken a special liking to me and all of whom I cannot please at once But you
dear neighbour it seems to me stranger that you should know the upper river
than that I should not know it for as I understand you have only been in
England a few days But perhaps you mean that you have read about it in books
and seen pictures of it though that does not come to much either«
»Truly« said I »Besides I have not read any books about the Thames it
was one of the minor stupidities of our time that no one thought fit to write a
decent book about what may fairly be called our only English river«
The words were no sooner out of my mouth than I saw that I had made another
mistake and I felt really annoyed with myself as I did not want to go into a
long explanation just then or begin another series of Odyssean lies Somehow
Ellen seemed to see this and she took no advantage of my slip her piercing
look changed into one of mere frank kindness and she said
»Well anyhow I am glad that I am travelling these waters with you since
you know our river so well and I know little of it past Pangbourne for you can
tell me all I want to know about it« She paused a minute and then said »Yet
you must understand that the part I do know I know as thoroughly as you do I
should be sorry for you to think that I am careless of a thing so beautiful and
interesting as the Thames«
She said this quite earnestly and with an air of affectionate appeal to me
which pleased me very much but I could see that she was only keeping her doubts
about me for another time
Presently we came to Days Lock where Dick and his two sitters had waited
for us He would have me go ashore as if to show me something which I had never
seen before and nothing loth I followed him Ellen by my side to the
wellremembered Dykes and the long church beyond them which was still used for
various purposes by the good folk of Dorchester where by the way the village
guesthouse still had the sign of the Fleurdeluce which it used to bear in the
days when hospitality had to be bought and sold This time however I made no
sign of all this being familiar to me though as we sat for a while on the mound
of the Dykes looking up at Sinodun and its clearcut trench and its sister
mamelon of Whittenham I felt somewhat uncomfortable under Ellens serious
attentive look which almost drew from me the cry »How little anything is
changed here«
We stopped again at Abingdon which like Wallingford was in a way both old
and new to me since it had been lifted out of its nineteenthcentury
degradation and otherwise was as little altered as might be
Sunset was in the sky as we skirted Oxford by Oseney we stopped a minute or
two hard by the ancient castle to put Henry Morsom ashore It was a matter of
course that so far as they could be seen from the river I missed none of the
towers and spires of that once donberidden city but the meadows all round
which when I had last passed through them were getting daily more and more
squalid more and more impressed with the seal of the stir and intellectual life
of the nineteenth century were no longer intellectual but had once again
become as beautiful as they should be and the little hill of Hinksey with two
or three very pretty stone houses newgrown on it I use the word advisedly for
they seemed to belong to it looked down happily on the full streams and waving
grass grey now but for the sunset with its fastripening seeds
The railway having disappeared and therewith the various level bridges over
the streams of Thames we were soon through Medley Lock and in the wide water
that washes Port Meadow with its numerous population of geese nowise
diminished and I thought with interest how its name and use had survived from
the older imperfect communal period through the time of the confused struggle
and tyranny of the rights of property into the present rest and happiness of
complete Communism
I was taken ashore again at Godstow to see the remains of the old nunnery
pretty nearly in the same condition as I had remembered them and from the high
bridge over the cut close by I could see even in the twilight how beautiful
the little village with its grey stone houses had become for we had now come
into the stonecountry in which every house must be either built walls and
roof of grey stone or be a blot on the landscape
We still rowed on after this Ellen taking the sculls in my boat we passed
a weir a little higher up and about three miles beyond it came by moonlight
again to a little town where we slept at a house thinly inhabited as its folk
were mostly tented in the hayfields
Chapter XXVIII
The Little River
We started before six oclock the next morning as we were still twentyfive
miles from our resting place and Dick wanted to be there before dusk The
journey was pleasant though to those who do not know the upper Thames there is
little to say about it Ellen and I were once more together in her boat though
Dick for fairness sake was for having me in his and letting the two women
scull the green toy Ellen however would not allow this but claimed me as the
interesting person of the company »After having come so far« said she »I will
not be put off with a companion who will be always thinking of somebody else
than me the Guest is the only person who can amuse me properly I mean that
really« said she turning to me »and have not said it merely as a pretty
saying«
Clara blushed and looked very happy at all this for I think up to this time
she had been rather frightened of Ellen As for me I felt young again and
strange hopes of my youth were mingling with the pleasure of the present almost
destroying it and quickening it into something like pain
As we passed through the short and winding reaches of the now quickly
lessening stream Ellen said »How pleasant this little river is to me who am
used to a great wide wash of water it almost seems as if we shall have to stop
at every reachend I expect before I get home this evening I shall have
realised what a little country England is since we can so soon get to the end
of its biggest river«
»It is not big« said I »but it is pretty«
»Yes« she said »and dont you find it difficult to imagine the times when
this little pretty country was treated by its folk as if it had been an ugly
characterless waste with no delicate beauty to be guarded with no heed taken
of the ever fresh pleasure of the recurring seasons and changeful weather and
diverse quality of the soil and so forth How could people be so cruel to
themselves«
»And to each other« said I Then a sudden resolution took hold of me and I
said »Dear neighbour I may as well tell you at once that I find it easier to
imagine all that ugly past than you do because I myself have been part of it I
see both that you have divined something of this in me and also I think you
will believe me when I tell you of it so that I am going to hide nothing from
you at all«
She was silent a little and then she said »My friend you have guessed
right about me and to tell you the truth I have followed you up from Runnymede
in order that I might ask you many questions and because I saw that you were
not one of us and that interested and pleased me and I wanted to make you as
happy as you could be To say the truth there was a risk in it« said she
blushing »I mean as to Dick and Clara for I must tell you since we are going
to be such close friends that even amongst us where there are so many
beautiful women I have often troubled mens minds disastrously That is one
reason why I was living alone with my father in the cottage at Runnymede But it
did not answer on that score for of course people came there as the place is
not a desert and they seemed to find me all the more interesting for living
alone like that and fell to making stories of me to themselves like I know
you did my friend Well let that pass This evening or tomorrow morning I
shall make a proposal to you to do something which would please me very much
and I think would not hurt you«
I broke in eagerly saying that I would do anything in the world for her
for indeed in spite of my years and the too obvious signs of them though that
feeling of renewed youth was not a mere passing sensation I think in spite
of my years I say I felt altogether too happy in the company of this
delightful girl and was prepared to take her confidences for more than they
meant perhaps
She laughed now but looked very kindly on me »Well« she said »meantime
for the present we will let it be for I must look at this new country that we
are passing through See how the river has changed character again it is broad
now and the reaches are long and very slowrunning And look there is a
ferry«
I told her the name of it as I slowed off to put the ferrychain over our
heads and on we went passing by a bank clad with oak trees on our left hand
till the stream narrowed again and deepened and we rowed on between walls of
tall reeds whose population of reed sparrows and warblers were delightfully
restless twittering and chuckling as the wash of the boats stirred the reeds
from the water upwards in the still hot morning
She smiled with pleasure and her lazy enjoyment of the new scene seemed to
bring out her beauty doubly as she leaned back amidst the cushions though she
was far from languid her idleness being the idleness of a person strong and
wellknit both in body and mind deliberately resting
»Look« she said springing up suddenly from her place without any obvious
effort and balancing herself with exquisite grace and ease »look at the
beautiful old bridge ahead«
»I need scarely look at that« said I not turning my head away from her
beauty »I know what it is though« with a smile »we used not to call it the
Old Bridge time agone«
She looked down upon me kindly and said »How well we get on now you are no
longer on your guard against me«
And she stood looking thoughtfully at me still till she had to sit down as
we passed under the middle one of the row of little pointed arches of the oldest
bridge across the Thames
»O the beautiful fields« she said »I had no idea of the charm of a very
small river like this The smallness of the scale of everything the short
reaches and the speedy change of the banks give one a feeling of going
somewhere of coming to something strange a feeling of adventure which I have
not felt in bigger waters«
I looked up at her delightedly for her voice saying the very thing which I
was thinking was like a caress to me She caught my eye and her cheeks reddened
under their tan and she said simply
»I must tell you my friend that when my father leaves the Thames this
summer he will take me away to a place near the Roman wall in Cumberland so
that this voyage of mine is farewell to the south of course with my goodwill in
a way and yet I am sorry for it I hadnt the heart to tell Dick yesterday that
we were as good as gone from the Thamesside but somehow to you I must needs
tell it«
She stopped and seemed very thoughtful for awhile and then said smiling
»I must say that I dont like moving about from one home to another one
gets so pleasantly used to all the detail of the life about one it fits so
harmoniously and happily into ones own life that beginning again even in a
small way is a kind of pain But I daresay in the country which you come from
you would think this petty and unadventurous and would think the worse of me
for it«
She smiled at me caressingly as she spoke and I made haste to answer »O
no indeed again you echo my very thoughts But I hardly expected to hear you
speak so I gathered from all I have heard that there was a great deal of
changing of abode amongst you in this country«
»Well« she said »of course people are free to move about but except for
pleasureparties especially in harvest and haytime like this of ours I dont
think they do so much I admit that I also have other moods than that of
stayathome as I hinted just now and I should like to go with you all through
the west country thinking of nothing« concluded she smiling
»I should have plenty to think of« said I
Chapter XXIX
A RestingPlace on the Upper Thames
Presently at a place where the river flowed round a headland of the meadows we
stopped a while for rest and victuals and settled ourselves on a beautiful bank
which almost reached the dignity of a hillside the wide meadows spread before
us and already the scythe was busy amidst the hay One change I noticed amidst
the quiet beauty of the fields to wit that they were planted with trees here
and there often fruittrees and that there was none of the niggardly
begrudging of space to a handsome tree which I remembered too well and though
the willows were often polled or shrowded as they call it in that
countryside this was done with some regard to beauty I mean that there was
no polling of rows on rows so as to destroy the pleasantness of half a mile of
country but a thoughtful sequence in the cutting that prevented a sudden
bareness anywhere To be short the fields were everywhere treated as a garden
made for the pleasure as well as the livelihood of all as old Hammond told me
was the case
On this bank or bent of the hill then we had our midday meal somewhat
early for dinner if that mattered but we had been stirring early the slender
stream of the Thames winding below us between the garden of a country I have
been telling of a furlong from us was a beautiful little islet begrown with
graceful trees on the slopes westward of us was a wood of varied growth
overhanging the narrow meadow on the south side of the river while to the north
was a wide stretch of mead rising very gradually from the rivers edge A
delicate spire of an ancient building rose up from out of the trees in the
middle distance with a few grey houses clustered about it while nearer to us
in fact not half a furlong from the water was a quite modern stone house a
wide quadrangle of one story the buildings that made it being quite low There
was no garden between it and the river nothing but a row of peartrees still
quite young and slender and though there did not seem to be much ornament about
it it had a sort of natural elegance like that of the trees themselves
As we sat looking down on all this in the sweet June day rather happy than
merry Ellen who sat next me her hand clasped about one knee leaned sideways
to me and said in a low voice which Dick and Clara might have noted if they had
not been busy in happy wordless lovemaking »Friend in your country were the
houses of your fieldlabourers anything like that«
I said »Well at any rate the houses of our rich men were not they were
mere blots upon the face of the land«
»I find that hard to understand« she said »I can see why the workmen who
were so oppressed should not have been able to live in beautiful houses for it
takes time and leisure and minds not overburdened with care to make beautiful
dwellings and I quite understand that these poor people were not allowed to
live in such a way as to have these to us necessary good things But why the
rich men who had the time and the leisure and the materials for building as it
would be in this case should not have housed themselves well I do not
understand as yet I know what you are meaning to say to me« she said looking
me full in the eyes and blushing »to wit that their houses and all belonging to
them were generally ugly and base unless they chanced to be ancient like yonder
remnant of our forefathers work« pointing to the spire »that they were let
me see what is the word«
»Vulgar« said I »We used to say« said I »that the ugliness and vulgarity
of the rich mens dwellings was a necessary reflection from the sordidness and
bareness of life which they forced upon the poor people«
She knit her brows as in thought then turned a brightened face on me as if
she had caught the idea and said »Yes friend I see what you mean We have
sometimes those of us who look into these things talked this very matter
over because to say the truth we have plenty of record of the socalled arts
of the time before Equality of Life and there are not wanting people who say
that the state of that society was not the cause of all that ugliness that they
were ugly in their life because they liked to be and could have had beautiful
things about them if they had chosen just as a man or a body of men now may if
they please make things more or less beautiful Stop I know what you are
going to say«
»Do you« said I smiling yet with a beating heart
»Yes« she said »you are answering me teaching me in some way or another
although you have not spoken the words aloud You were going to say that in
times of inequality it was an essential condition of the life of these rich men
that they should not themselves make what they wanted for the adornment of their
lives but should force those to make them whom they forced to live pinched and
sordid lives and that as a necessary consequence the sordidness and pinching
the ugly barrenness of those ruined lives were worked up into the adornment of
the lives of the rich and art died out amongst men Was that what you would
say my friend«
»Yes yes« I said looking at her eagerly for she had risen and was
standing on the edge of the bent the light wind stirring her dainty raiment
one hand laid on her bosom the other arm stretched downward and clenched in her
earnestness
»It is true« she said »it is true We have proved it true«
I think amidst my something more than interest in her and admiration for
her I was beginning to wonder how it would all end I had a glimmering of fear
of what might follow of anxiety as to the remedy which this new age might offer
for the missing of something one might set ones heart on But now Dick rose to
his feet and cried out in his hearty manner »Neighbour Ellen are you
quarrelling with the Guest or are you worrying him to tell you things which he
cannot properly explain to our ignorance«
»Neither dear neighbour« she said »I was so far from quarrelling with him
that I think I have been making him good friends both with himself and me Is it
so dear guest« she said looking down at me with a delightful smile of
confidence in being understood
»Indeed it is« said I
»Well moreover« she said »I must say for him that he has explained
himself to me very well indeed so that I quite understand him«
»All right« quoth Dick »When I first set eyes on you at Runnymede I knew
that there was something wonderful in your keenness of wits I dont say that as
a mere pretty speech to please you« said he quickly »but because it is true
and it made me want to see more of you But come we ought to be going for we
are not half way and we ought to be in well before sunset«
And therewith he took Claras hand and led her down the bent But Ellen
stood thoughtfully looking down for a little and as I took her hand to follow
Dick she turned round to me and said
»You might tell me a great deal and make many things clear to me if you
would«
»Yes« said I »I am pretty well fit for that and for nothing else an
old man like me«
She did not notice the bitterness which whether I liked it or not was in
my voice as I spoke but went on »It is not so much for myself I should be
quite content to dream about past times and if I could not idealise them yet
at least idealise some of the people who lived in them But I think sometimes
people are too careless of the history of the past too apt to leave it in the
hands of old learned men like Hammond Who knows happy as we are times may
alter we may be bitten with some impulse towards change and many things may
seem too wonderful for us to resist too exciting not to catch at if we do not
know that they are but phases of what has been before and withal ruinous
deceitful and sordid«
As we went slowly down toward the boats she said again »Not for myself
alone dear friend I shall have children perhaps before the end a good many
I hope so And though of course I cannot force any special kind of knowledge
upon them yet my friend I cannot help thinking that just as they might be
like me in body so I might impress upon them some part of my ways of thinking
that is indeed some of the essential part of myself that part which was not
mere moods created by the matters and events round about me What do you
think«
Of one thing I was sure that her beauty and kindness and eagerness
combined forced me to think as she did when she was not earnestly laying
herself open to receive my thoughts I said what at the time was true that I
thought it most important and presently stood entranced by the wonder of her
grace as she stepped into the light boat and held out her hand to me And so on
we went up the Thames still or whither
Chapter XXX
The Journeys End
On we went In spite of my newborn excitement about Ellen and my gathering
fear of where it would land me I could not help taking abundant interest in the
condition of the river and its banks all the more as she never seemed weary of
the changing picture but looked at every yard of flowery bank and gurgling eddy
with the same kind of affectionate interest which I myself once had so fully as
I used to think and perhaps had not altogether lost even in this strangely
changed society with all its wonders Ellen seemed delighted with my pleasure at
this that or the other piece of carefulness in dealing with the river the
nursing of pretty corners the ingenuity in dealing with difficulties of
waterengineering so that the most obviously useful works looked beautiful and
natural also All this I say pleased me hugely and she was pleased at my
pleasure but rather puzzled too
»You seem astonished« she said just after we had passed a mill2 which
spanned all the stream save the waterway for traffic but which was as
beautiful in its way as a Gothic cathedral »You seem astonished at this being
so pleasant to look at«
»Yes« I said »in a way I am though I dont see why it should not be«
»Ah« she said looking at me admiringly yet with a lurking smile in her
face »you know all about the history of the past Were they not always careful
about this little stream which now adds so much pleasantness to the country
side It would always be easy to manage this little river Ah I forgot
though« she said as her eye caught mine »in the days we are thinking of
pleasure was wholly neglected in such matters But how did they manage the river
in the days that you « Lived in she was going to say but correcting herself
said »in the days of which you have record«
»They mismanaged it« quoth I »Up to the first half of the nineteenth
century when it was still more or less of a highway for the country people
some care was taken of the river and its banks and though I dont suppose any
one troubled himself about its aspect yet it was trim and beautiful But when
the railways of which no doubt you have heard came into power they would
not allow the people of the country to use either the natural or artificial
waterways of which latter there were a great many I suppose when we get higher
up we shall see one of these a very important one which one of these railways
entirely closed to the public so that they might force people to send their
goods by their private road and so tax them as heavily as they could«
Ellen laughed heartily »Well« she said »that is not stated clearly enough
in our historybooks and it is worth knowing But certainly the people of those
days must have been a curiously lazy set We are not either fidgety or
quarrelsome now but if any one tried such a piece of folly on us we should use
the said waterways whoever gainsaid us surely that would be simple enough
However I remember other cases of this stupidity when I was on the Rhine two
years ago I remember they showed us ruins of old castles which according to
what we heard must have been made for pretty much the same purpose as the
railways were But I am interrupting your history of the river pray go on«
»It is both short and stupid enough« said I »The river having lost its
practical or commercial value that is being of no use to make money of «
She nodded »I understand what that queer phrase means« said she »Go on«
»Well it was utterly neglected till at last it became a nuisance «
»Yes« quoth Ellen »I understand like the railways and the robber knights
Yes«
»So then they turned the makeshift business on to it and handed it over to
a body up in London who from time to time in order to show that they had
something to do did some damage here and there cut down trees destroying
the banks thereby dredged the river where it was not needed always and threw
the dredgings on the fields so as to spoil them and so forth But for the most
part they practised masterly inactivity as it was then called that is they
drew their salaries and let things alone«
»Drew their salaries« she said »I know that means that they were allowed
to take an extra lot of other peoples goods for doing nothing And if that had
been all it really might have been worth while to let them do so if you
couldnt find any other way of keeping them quiet but it seems to me that being
so paid they could not help doing something and that something was bound to be
mischief because« said she kindling with sudden anger »the whole business
was founded on lies and false pretensions I dont mean only these
riverguardians but all these masterpeople I have read of«
»Yes« said I »how happy you are to have got out of the parsimony of
oppression«
»Why do you sigh« she said kindly and somewhat anxiously »You seem to
think that it will not last«
»It will last for you« quoth I
»But why not for you« said she »Surely it is for all the world and if
your country is somewhat backward it will come into line before long Or« she
said quickly »are you thinking that you must soon go back again I will make my
proposal which I told you of at once and so perhaps put an end to your anxiety
I was going to propose that you should live with us where we are going I feel
quite old friends with you and should be sorry to lose you« Then she smiled on
me and said »Do you know I begin to suspect you of wanting to nurse a sham
sorrow like the ridiculous characters in some of those queer old novels that I
have come across now and then«
I really had almost begun to suspect it myself but I refused to admit so
much so I sighed no more but fell to giving my delightful companion what
little pieces of history I knew about the river and its borderlands and the
time passed pleasantly enough and between the two of us she was a better
sculler than I was and seemed quite tireless we kept up fairly well with Dick
hot as the afternoon was and swallowed up the way at a great rate At last we
passed under another ancient bridge and through meadows bordered at first with
huge elmtrees mingled with sweet chestnut of younger but very elegant growth
and the meadows widened out so much that it seemed as if the trees must now be
on the bents only or about the houses except for the growth of willows on the
immediate banks so that the wide stretch of grass was little broken here Dick
got very much excited now and often stood up in the boat to cry out to us that
this was such and such a field and so forth and we caught fire at his
enthusiasm for the hayfield and its harvest and pulled our best
At last as we were passing through a reach of the river where on the side of
the towingpath was a highish bank with a thick whispering bed of reeds before
it and on the other side a higher bank clothed with willows that dipped into
the stream and crowned by ancient elmtrees we saw bright figures coming along
close to the bank as if they were looking for something as indeed they were
and we that is Dick and his company were what they were looking for Dick
lay on his oars and we followed his example He gave a joyous shout to the
people on the bank which was echoed back from it in many voices deep and
sweetly shrill for there were above a dozen persons both men women and
children A tall handsome woman with black wavy hair and deepset grey eyes
came forward on the bank and waved her hand gracefully to us and said
»Dick my friend we have almost had to wait for you What excuse have you
to make for your slavish punctuality Why didnt you take us by surprise and
come yesterday«
»O« said Dick with an almost imperceptible jerk of his head toward our
boat »we didnt want to come too quick up the water there is so much to see
for those who have not been up here before«
»True true« said the stately lady for stately is the word that must be
used for her »and we want them to get to know the wet way from the east
thoroughly well since they must often use it now But come ashore at once
Dick and you dear neighbours there is a break in the reeds and a good
landingplace just round the corner We can carry up your things or send some
of the lads after them«
»No no« said Dick »it is easier going by water though it is but a step
Besides I want to bring my friend here to the proper place We will go on to
the Ford and you can talk to us from the bank as we paddle along«
He pulled his sculls through the water and on we went turning a sharp
angle and going north a little Presently we saw before us a bank of elmtrees
which told us of a house amidst them though I looked in vain for the grey walls
that I expected to see there As we went the folk on the bank talked indeed
mingling their kind voices with the cuckoos song the sweet strong whistle of
the blackbirds and the ceaseless note of the corncrake as he crept through the
long grass of the mowingfield whence came waves of fragrance from the
flowering clover amidst of the ripe grass
In a few minutes we had passed through a deep eddying pool into the sharp
stream that ran from the ford and beached our craft on a tiny strand of
limestonegravel and stepped ashore into the arms of our upriver friends our
journey done
I disentangled myself from the merry throng and mounting on the cartroad
that ran along the river some feet above the water I looked round about me The
river came down through a wide meadow on my left which was grey now with the
ripened seeding grasses the gleaming water was lost presently by a turn of the
bank but over the meadow I could see the mingled gables of a building where I
knew the lock must be and which now seemed to combine a mill with it A low
wooded ridge bounded the riverplain to the south and southeast whence we had
come and a few low houses lay about its feet and up its slope I turned a
little to my right and through the hawthorn sprays and long shoots of the wild
roses could see the flat country spreading out far away under the sun of the
calm evening till something that might be called hills with a look of
sheeppastures about them bounded it with a soft blue line Before me the
elmboughs still hid most of what houses there might be in this riverside
dwelling of men but to the right of the cartroad a few grey buildings of the
simplest kind showed here and there
There I stood in a dreamy mood and rubbed my eyes as if I were not wholly
awake and half expected to see the gayclad company of beautiful men and women
change to two or three spindlelegged backbowed men and haggard holloweyed
illfavoured women who once wore down the soil of this land with their heavy
hopeless feet from day to day and season to season and year to year But no
change came as yet and my heart swelled with joy as I thought of all the
beautiful grey villages from the river to the plain and the plain to the
uplands which I could picture to myself so well all peopled now with this
happy and lovely folk who had cast away riches and attained to wealth
Chapter XXXI
An Old House Amongst New Folk
As I stood there Ellen detached herself from our happy friends who still stood
on the little strand and came up to me She took me by the hand and said
softly »Take me on to the house at once we need not wait for the others I had
rather not«
I had a mind to say that I did not know the way thither and that the
riverside dwellers should lead but almost without my will my feet moved on
along the road they knew The raised way led us into a little field bounded by a
backwater of the river on one side on the right hand we could see a cluster of
small houses and barns new and old and before us a grey stone barn and a wall
partly overgrown with ivy over which a few grey gables showed The village road
ended in the shallow of the aforesaid backwater We crossed the road and again
almost without my will my hand raised the latch of a door in the wall and we
stood presently on a stone path which led up to the old house to which fate in
the shape of Dick had so strangely brought me in this new world of men My
companion gave a sigh of pleased surprise and enjoyment nor did I wonder for
the garden between the wall and the house was redolent of the June flowers and
the roses were rolling over one another with that delicious superabundance of
small welltended gardens which at first sight takes away all thought from the
beholder save that of beauty The blackbirds were singing their loudest the
doves were cooing on the roofridge the rooks in the high elmtrees beyond were
garrulous among the young leaves and the swifts wheeled whining about the
gables And the house itself was a fit guardian for all the beauty of this heart
of summer
Once again Ellen echoed my thoughts as she said »Yes friend this is what
I came out for to see this manygabled old house built by the simple
countryfolk of the longpast times regardless of all the turmoil that was
going on in cities and courts is lovely still amidst all the beauty which these
latter days have created and I do not wonder at our friends tending it
carefully and making much of it It seems to me as if it had waited for these
happy days and held in it the gathered crumbs of happiness of the confused and
turbulent past«
She led me up close to the house and laid her shapely sunbrowned hand and
arm on the lichened wall as if to embrace it and cried out »O me O me How I
love the earth and the seasons and weather and all things that deal with it
and all that grows out of it as this has done«
I could not answer her or say a word Her exultation and pleasure were so
keen and exquisite and her beauty so delicate yet so interfused with energy
expressed it so fully that any added word would have been commonplace and
futile I dreaded lest the others should come in suddenly and break the spell
she had cast about me but we stood there a while by the corner of the big gable
of the house and no one came I heard the merry voices some way off presently
and knew that they were going along the river to the great meadow on the other
side of the house and garden
We drew back a little and looked up at the house the door and the windows
were open to the fragrant suncured air from the upper windowsills hung
festoons of flowers in honour of the festival as if the others shared in the
love for the old house
»Come in« said Ellen »I hope nothing will spoil it inside but I dont
think it will Come we must go back presently to the others They have gone on
to the tents for surely they must have tents pitched for the haymakers the
house would not hold a tithe of the folk I am sure«
She led me on to the door murmuring little above her breath as she did so
»The earth and the growth of it and the life of it If I could but say or show
how I love it«
We went in and found no soul in any room as we wandered from room to room
from the rosecovered porch to the strange and quaint garrets amongst the
great timbers of the roof where of old time the tillers and herdsmen of the
manor slept but which anights seemed now by the small size of the beds and
the litter of useless and disregarded matters bunches of dying flowers
feathers of birds shells of starlings eggs caddis worms in mugs and the like
seemed to be inhabited for the time by children
Everywhere there was but little furniture and that only the most necessary
and of the simplest forms The extravagant love of ornament which I had noted in
this people elsewhere seemed here to have given place to the feeling that the
house itself and its associations was the ornament of the country life amidst
which it had been left stranded from old times and that to reornament it would
but take away its use as a piece of natural beauty
We sat down at last in a room over the wall which Ellen had caressed and
which was still hung with old tapestry originally of no artistic value but now
faded into pleasant grey tones which harmonised thoroughly well with the quiet
of the place and which would have been ill supplanted by brighter and more
striking decoration
I asked a few random questions of Ellen as we sat there but scarcely
listened to her answers and presently became silent and then scarce conscious
of anything but that I was there in that old room the doves crooning from the
roofs of the barn and dovecot beyond the window opposite to me
My thought returned to me after what I think was but a minute or two but
which as in a vivid dream seemed as if it had lasted a long time when I saw
Ellen sitting looking all the fuller of life and pleasure and desire from the
contrast with the grey faded tapestry with its futile design which was now only
bearable because it had grown so faint and feeble
She looked at me kindly but as if she read me through and through She
said »You have begun again your neverending contrast between the past and this
present Is it not so«
»True« said I »I was thinking of what you with your capacity and
intelligence joined to your love of pleasure and your impatience of
unreasonable restraint of what you would have been in that past And even now
when all is won and has been for a long time my heart is sickened with thinking
of all the waste of life that has gone on for so many years«
»So many centuries« she said »so many ages«
»True« I said »too true« and sat silent again
She rose up and said »Come I must not let you go off into a dream again so
soon If we must lose you I want you to see all that you can see first before
you go back again«
»Lose me« I said »go back again Am I not to go up to the North with you
What do you mean«
She smiled somewhat sadly and said »Not yet we will not talk of that yet
Only what were you thinking of just now«
I said falteringly »I was saying to myself The past the present Should
she not have said the contrast of the present with the future of blind despair
with hope«
»I knew it« she said Then she caught my hand and said excitedly »Come
while there is yet time Come« And she led me out of the room and as we were
going downstairs and out of the house into the garden by a little side door
which opened out of a curious lobby she said in a calm voice as if she wished
me to forget her sudden nervousness »Come we ought to join the others before
they come here looking for us And let me tell you my friend that I can see
you are too apt to fall into mere dreamy musing no doubt because you are not
yet used to our life of repose amidst of energy of work which is pleasure and
pleasure which is work«
She paused a little and as we came out into the lovely garden again she
said »My friend you were saying that you wondered what I should have been if I
had lived in those past days of turmoil and oppression Well I think I have
studied the history of them to know pretty well I should have been one of the
poor for my father when he was working was a mere tiller of the soil Well I
could not have borne that therefore my beauty and cleverness and brightness«
she spoke with no blush or simper of false shame »would have been sold to rich
men and my life would have been wasted indeed for I know enough of that to
know that I should have had no choice no power of will over my life and that I
should never have bought pleasure from the rich men or even opportunity of
action whereby I might have won some true excitement I should have wrecked and
wasted in one way or another either by penury or by luxury Is it not so«
»Indeed it is« said I
She was going to say something else when a little gate in the fence which
led into a small elmshaded field was opened and Dick came with hasty
cheerfulness up the garden path and was presently standing between us a hand
laid on the shoulder of each He said »Well neighbours I thought you two
would like to see the old house quietly without a crowd in it Isnt it a jewel
of a house after its kind Well come along for it is getting towards dinner
Perhaps you Guest would like a swim before we sit down to what I fancy will be
a pretty long feast«
»Yes« I said »I should like that«
»Well goodbye for the present neighbour Ellen« said Dick »Here comes
Clara to take care of you as I fancy she is more at home amongst our friends
here«
Clara came out of the fields as he spoke and with one look at Ellen I
turned and went with Dick doubting if I must say the truth whether I should
see her again
Chapter XXXII
The Feasts Beginning The End
Dick brought me at once into the little field which as I had seen from the
garden was covered with gailycoloured tents arranged in orderly lanes about
which were sitting and lying on the grass some fifty or sixty men women and
children all of them in the height of good temper and enjoyment with their
holiday mood on so to say
»You are thinking that we dont make a great show as to numbers« said Dick
»but you must remember that we shall have more tomorrow because in this
haymaking work there is room for a great many people who are not overskilled in
country matters and there are many who lead sedentary lives whom it would be
unkind to deprive of their pleasure in the hayfield scientific men and close
students generally so that the skilled workmen outside those who are wanted as
mowers and foremen of the haymaking stand aside and take a little downright
rest which you know is good for them whether they like it or not or else they
go to other countrysides as I am doing here You see the scientific men and
historians and students generally will not be wanted till we are fairly in the
midst of the tedding which of course will not be till the day after tomorrow«
With that he brought me out of the little field on to a kind of causeway above
the riverside meadow and thence turning to the left on to a path through the
mowing grass which was thick and very tall led on till we came to the river
above the weir and its mill There we had a delightful swim in the broad piece
of water above the lock where the river looked much bigger than its natural
size from its being dammed up by the weir
»Now we are in a fit mood for dinner« said Dick when we had dressed and
were going through the grass again »and certainly of all the cheerful meals in
the year this one of haysel is the cheerfullest not even excepting the
cornharvest feast for then the year is beginning to fail and one cannot help
having a feeling behind all the gaiety of the coming of the dark days and the
shorn fields and empty gardens and the spring is almost too far off to look
forward to It is then in the autumn when one almost believes in death«
»How strangely you talk« said I »of such a constantly recurring and
consequently commonplace matter as the sequence of the seasons« And indeed
these people were like children about such things and had what seemed to me a
quite exaggerated interest in the weather a fine day a dark night or a
brilliant one and the like
»Strangely« said he »Is it strange to sympathise with the year and its
gains and losses«
»At any rate« said I »if you look upon the course of the year as a
beautiful and interesting drama which is what I think you do you should be as
much pleased and interested with the winter and its trouble and pain as with
this wonderful summer luxury«
»And am I not« said Dick rather warmly »only I cant look upon it as if I
were sitting in a theatre seeing the play going on before me myself taking no
part of it It is difficult« said he smiling goodhumouredly »for a
nonliterary man like me to explain myself properly like that dear girl Ellen
would but I mean that I am part of it all and feel the pain as well as the
pleasure in my own person It is not done for me by somebody else merely that I
may eat and drink and sleep but I myself do my share of it«
In his way also as Ellen in hers I could see that Dick had that passionate
love of the earth which was common to but few people at least in the days I
knew in which the prevailing feeling amongst intellectual persons was a kind of
sour distaste for the changing drama of the year for the life of earth and its
dealings with men Indeed in those days it was thought poetic and imaginative
to look upon life as a thing to be borne rather than enjoyed
So I mused till Dicks laugh brought me back into the Oxfordshire hayfields
»One thing seems strange to me« said he »that I must needs trouble myself
about the winter and its scantiness in the midst of the summer abundance If it
hadnt happened to me before I should have thought it was your doing Guest
that you had thrown a kind of evil charm over me Now you know« said he
suddenly »thats only a joke so you mustnt take it to heart«
»All right« said I »I dont« Yet I did feel somewhat uneasy at his words
after all
We crossed the causeway this time and did not turn back to the house but
went along a path beside a field of wheat now almost ready to blossom I said
»We do not dine in the house or garden then as indeed I did not expect to
do Where do we meet then for I can see that the houses are mostly very
small«
»Yes« said Dick »you are right they are small in this countryside there
are so many good old houses left that people dwell a good deal in such small
detached houses As to our dinner we are going to have our feast in the church
I wish for your sake it were as big and handsome as that of the old Roman town
to the west or the forest town to the north3 but however it will hold us
all and though it is a little thing it is beautiful in its way«
This was somewhat new to me this dinner in a church and I thought of the
churchales of the Middle Ages but I said nothing and presently we came out
into the road which ran through the village Dick looked up and down it and
seeing only two straggling groups before us said »It seems as if we must be
somewhat late they are all gone on and they will be sure to make a point of
waiting for you as the guest of guests since you come from so far«
He hastened as he spoke and I kept up with him and presently we came to a
little avenue of limetrees which led us straight to the church porch from
whose open door came the sound of cheerful voices and laughter and varied
merriment
»Yes« said Dick »its the coolest place for one thing this hot evening
Come along they will be glad to see you«
Indeed in spite of my bath I felt the weather more sultry and oppressive
than on any day of our journey yet
We went into the church which was a simple little building with one little
aisle divided from the nave by three round arches a chancel and a rather roomy
transept for so small a building the windows mostly of the graceful Oxfordshire
fourteenth century type There was no modern architectural decoration in it it
looked indeed as if none had been attempted since the Puritans whitewashed the
mediæval saints and histories on the wall It was however gaily dressed up for
this latterday festival with festoons of flowers from arch to arch and great
pitchers of flowers standing about on the floor while under the west window
hung two cross scythes their blades polished white and gleaming from out of
the flowers that wreathed them But its best ornament was the crowd of handsome
happylooking men and women that were set down to table and who with their
bright faces and rich hair over their gay holiday raiment looked as the
Persian poet puts it like a bed of tulips in the sun Though the church was a
small one there was plenty of room for a small church makes a biggish house
and on this evening there was no need to set cross tables along the transepts
though doubtless these would be wanted next day when the learned men of whom
Dick has been speaking should be come to take their more humble part in the
haymaking
I stood on the threshold with the expectant smile on my face of a man who is
going to take part in a festivity which he is really prepared to enjoy Dick
standing by me was looking round the company with an air of proprietorship in
them I thought Opposite me sat Clara and Ellen with Dicks place open between
them they were smiling but their beautiful faces were each turned towards the
neighbours on either side who were talking to them and they did not seem to
see me I turned to Dick expecting him to lead me forward and he turned his
face to me but strange to say though it was as smiling and cheerful as ever
it made no response to my glance nay he seemed to take no heed at all of my
presence and I noticed that none of the company looked at me A pang shot
through me as of some disaster long expected and suddenly realised Dick moved
on a little without a word to me I was not three yards from the two women who
though they had been my companions for such a short time had really as I
thought become my friends Claras face was turned full upon me now but she
also did not seem to see me though I know I was trying to catch her eye with an
appealing look I turned to Ellen and she did seem to recognise me for an
instant but her bright face turned sad directly and she shook her head with a
mournful look and the next moment all consciousness of my presence had faded
from her face
I felt lonely and sick at heart past the power of words to describe I hung
about a minute longer and then turned and went out of the porch again and
through the limeavenue into the road while the blackbirds sang their strongest
from the bushes about me in the hot June evening
Once more without any conscious effort of will I set my face toward the old
house by the ford but as I turned round the corner which led to the remains of
the village cross I came upon a figure strangely contrasting with the joyous
beautiful people I had left behind in the church It was a man who looked old
but whom I knew from habit now halfforgotten was really not much more than
fifty His face was rugged and grimed rather than dirty his eyes dull and
bleared his body bent his calves thin and spindly his feet dragging and
limping His clothing was a mixture of dirt and rags long overfamiliar to me
As I passed him he touched his hat with some real goodwill and courtesy and
much servility
Inexpressibly shocked I hurried past him and hastened along the road that
led to the river and the lower end of the village but suddenly I saw as it were
a black cloud rolling along to meet me like a nightmare of my childish days
and for a while I was conscious of nothing else than being in the dark and
whether I was walking or sitting or lying down I could not tell
I lay in my bed in my house at dingy Hammersmith thinking about it all and
trying to consider if I was overwhelmed with despair at finding I had been
dreaming a dream and strange to say I found that I was not so despairing
Or indeed was it a dream If so why was I so conscious all along that I was
really seeing all that new life from the outside still wrapped up in the
prejudices the anxieties the distrust of this time of doubt and struggle
All along though those friends were so real to me I had been feeling as if
I had no business amongst them as though the time would come when they would
reject me and say as Ellens last mournful look seemed to say »No it will
not do you cannot be of us you belong so entirely to the unhappiness of the
past that our happiness even would weary you Go back again now you have seen
us and your outward eyes have learned that in spite of all the infallible
maxims of your day there is yet a time of rest in store for the world when
mastery has changed into fellowship but not before Go back again then and
while you live you will see all round you people engaged in making others live
lives which are not their own while they themselves care nothing for their own
real lives men who hate life though they fear death Go back and be the
happier for having seen us for having added a little hope to your struggle Go
on living while you may striving with whatsoever pain and labour needs must
be to build up little by little the new day of fellowship and rest and
happiness«
Yes surely and if others can see it as I have seen it then it may be
called a vision rather than a dream
Notes
1 Elegant I mean as a Persian pattern is elegant not like a rich elegant lady
out for a morning call I should rather call that genteel
2 I should have said that all along the Thames there were abundance of mills
used for various purposes none of which were in any degree unsightly and many
strikingly beautiful and the gardens about them marvels of loveliness
3 Cirencester and Burford he must have meant