By the
roadside you pass occasionally a mantled pool, where perchance ducks
or geese are enjoying themselves; and at times there is a pleasant
glimpse of farm-yard, with stacks and barns and stables. All things
as simple as could be, but beautiful on this summer afternoon, and
priceless when one has come forth from the streets of Clerkenwell.
Farmer Pammenter was talkative, and his honest chest. voice sounded
pleasantly; but the matter of his discourse might have been more
cheerful. Here, as elsewhere, the evil of the times was pressing
upon men and disheartening them from labour. Farms lying barren,
ill-will between proprietor and tenant, between tenant and hind,
departure of the tillers of the soil to rot in towns that have no
need of them--of such things did honest Pammenter speak, with many
a sturdy malediction of landlords and land-laws, whereat Sidney
smiled, not unsympathetic.
Danbury Hill, rising thick-wooded to the village church, which is
visible for miles around, with stretches of heath about its lower
slopes, with its far prospects over the sunny country, was the
pleasant end of a pleasant drive. Mrs. Pammenter and her children
(seven of them, unhappily) gave the party a rough, warm-hearted
welcome.
Pages:
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334