e 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! I also asked if he had never tried to
establish, or advocated, or suggested to them any kind of reunions to
take place from time to time, or an entertainment or festival to
get them to come pleasantly together, making a brightness in their
lives--something which would not be cricket or football, nor any form of
sport for a few of the men, all the others being mere lookers-on and the
women and children left out altogether; something which would be for and
include everyone, from the oldest grey labourer no longer able to work
to the toddling little ones; something of their own invention, peculiar
to Norton, which would be their pride and make their village dearer
to them? And the answer was still no, and no, and no. He had never
attempted, never suggested, anything of the sort. How could he--the
squire! Yet he wrote those wise words:--

No nation can be truly great
That hath not something childlike in its life
Of every day.

Why are we lacking in that which others undoubtedly have, a something to
complete the round of homely happiness in our little rural centres;
how is it that we do not properly encourage the things which, albeit
childlike, are essential, which sweetly recreate? It is not merely
the selfishness of those who are well placed and prefer to live for
themselves, or who have light but care not to shed it on those who are
not of their class. Selfishness is common enough everywhere, in men of
all races. It is not selfishness, nor the growth of towns or decay of
agriculture, which as a fact does not decay, nor education, nor any of
the other causes usually given for the dullness, the greyness of village
life. The chief cause, I take it, is that gulf, or barrier, which
exists between men and men in different classes in our country, or
a considerable portion of it--the caste feeling which is becoming
increasingly rigid in the rural world, if my own observation, extending
over a period of twenty-five years, is not all wrong.

Chapter Eleven: Salisbury and Its Doves

Never in my experience has there been a worse spring season than that
of 1903 for th