One pipe would lead to another. and one glass of
beer to another. The habit would be formed and at last all
his evenings and all his earnings would be spent in the
public-house.
She was right, and I had nothing more to say except to wish
her success in her efforts.
It is curious that the strongest protests against the evils of
the village pubic, which one hears from village women, come
from those who are not themselves sufferers. Perhaps it is
not curious. Instinctively we hide our sores, bodily and
mental, from the public gaze.
Not long ago I was in a small rustic village in Wiltshire,
perhaps the most charming village I have seen in that country.
There was no inn or ale-house, and feeling very thirsty after
my long walk I went to a cottage and asked the woman I saw
there for a drink of milk. She invited me in, and spreading a
clean cloth on the table, placed a jug of new milk, a loaf,
and butter before me. For these good things she proudly
refused to accept payment. As she was a handsome young woman,
with a clear, pleasant voice, I was glad to have her sit there
and talk to me while I refreshed myself. Besides, I was in
search of information and got it from her during our talk. My
object in going to the village was to see a woman who, I had
been told, was living there. I now heard that her cottage was
close by, but unfortunately, while anxious to see her, I had
no excuse for calling.
"Do you think," said I to my young hostess, "that it would do
to tell her that I had heard something of her strange history
and misfortunes, and wished to offer her a little help? Is
she very poor?"
"Oh, no," she replied. "Please do not offer her money, if you
see her. She would be offended. There is no one in this
village who would take a shilling as a gift from a stranger.
We all have enough; there is not a poor person among us."
"What a happy village!" I exclaimed. "Perhaps you are all
total abstainers."
She laughed, and said that they all brewed their own beer
- there was not a total abstainer among them. Every cottager
made from fifty to eighty gallons, or more, and they drank
beer every day, but very moderately, while it lasted. They
were all very sober; their children would have to go to some
neighbouring village to see a tipsy man.
I remarked that at the next village, which had three
public-houses, there were a good marry persons so poor that
they would gladly at any time take a shilling from any one.
