I Had Heard
Of The Rector Of One Of These Villages As A Rather Original
Man, And Went And Discussed The Subject With Him.
"It is
quite useless thinking about it," he said.
"The people here
are clods, and will not respond to any effort you can make to
introduce a little light and sweetness into their lives."
There was no more to be said to him, but I knew he was wrong.
I found the villagers in that part of the country the most
intelligent and responsive people of their class I had ever
encountered. It was a delightful experience to go into their
cottages, not to read them a homily or to present them with a
book or a shilling, nor to inquire into their welfare,
material and spiritual, but to converse intimately with a
human interest in them, as would be the case in a country
where there are no caste distinctions. It was delightful,
because they were so responsive, so sympathetic, so alive.
Now it was just at this time, when the subject was in my mind,
that the book of sonnets came into my hands - given to me by
the generous caretaker - and I read in it this one on "Innocent
Amusements":-
There lacks a something to complete the round
Of our fair England's homely happiness
A something, yet how oft do trifles bless
When greater gifts by far redound
To honours lone, but no responsive sound
Of joy or mirth awake, nay, oft oppress,
While gifts of which we scarce the moment guess
In never-failing joys abound.
No nation can be truly great
That hath not something childlike in its life
Of every day; it should its youth renew
With simple joys that sweetly recreate
The jaded mind, conjoined in friendly strife
The pleasures of its childhood days pursue.
What wise and kindly thoughts he had - the old squire of
Norton! Surely, when telling me the story of his life, they
had omitted something! I questioned them on the point. Did
he not in all the years he was at Norton House, and later when
he lived among them in a cottage in the village - did he not go
into their homes and meet them as if he knew and felt that
they were all of the same flesh, children of one universal
Father, and did he not make them feel this about him - that
the differences in fortune and position and education were
mere accidents? And the answer was: No, certainly not! as
if I had asked a preposterous question. He was the squire,
a gentleman - any one might understand that he could not come
among them like that! That is what a parson can do because he
is, so to speak, paid to keep an eye on them, and besides it's
religion there and a different thing. But the squire! - their
squire, that dignified old gentleman, so upright in his
saddle, so considerate and courteous to every one - but he
never forgot his position - never in that way!
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