THE DATE AND COAT OF ARMS OVER THE DOORWAY place to luxurious lounges, the shabby old library is gorgeous, and everything is brought up to date. But the villagers shake their heads, and are not altogether dazzled by the improvements in the house and garden. The old squire had spent the greater part of his day among them. They had seen him every morning as he rode round the place or as he drove off to administer justice from the magistrate's have been afraid to stop him in the road, or seek him out in his library, if they had occasion to need his help or advice. In the shooting season all the cottagers were sure of their gifts of rabbits; at Christmas time liberal portions of beef and plum pudding were distributed; and in the summer time came the flower show, with the sports, and the band, and the children's treat. The squire's lady had looked after the THE CHURCH, THE RECTORY, AND THE SCHOOLS MAKE AN IMPOSING LITTLE GROUP con Her old and the sick, to whom she gave freely of such gifts as blankets, baby-clothes, and good soup. To these might be added the good advice which she had also distributed freely, yet with such genuine interest in the persons cerned that, so far from offense being given, her intervention was considered in the light of a compliment. daughters had been no whit behind her. Save for six weeks spent in London during the season, or an occasional shooting party, they had lived quietly at home, with few dissipations beyond their hunting, the county balls, and the garden parties given by their neighbors. So they taught in the Sunday-schools and in the evening classes at the reading-room; they managed the Band of Hope and the Girls' Friendly Society; they trained the choir and looked after all the boys and girls, finding them places when they were old enough to leave home, and keeping in constant touch with them. And the squire's sons? Well, they would always be Master Jack, Master Ted, and Master Harry to the end of the chapter. In the holidays they were here, there, and everywhere, adored alike by the old women, the grooms, the keepers' beaters, and the village lads, and when they went back to school or college the place was declared to be "sadly still without them." Ay, and when Master Ted died of fever out in India the whole village was in mourning, just as, when Miss Ethel married the good-looking sailor son of a neighboring squire, every inhabitant gladly subscribed towards a beautiful MARKET DAY IS THE GREAT EVENT OF THE WEEK silver salver, and, in addition, dowered her with warm good will. So the old people shake their heads to-day and say, "Things aren't what they were." Master Jack has "done well for himself," of course, and smartened things up wonderfully, while his wife is a "finelooking lady enough," who wears dresses that cost a small fortune. But then they are so seldom at home, and when they are they have so much grand company that there is not any time for them to go in and out of the cottages. The Christmas gifts are made just the same, but the distribution of meat is presided over by the housekeeper, and the villagers miss the homely face and friendly. greeting of their old benefactress. Altogether something is lacking-that close personal touch, that intimate relationship, so hard to put into words, and yet so all-pervading. The position of the parson in the village depends to-day more on the extent of his own popularity than on his office, for he holds by no means an undisputed sway. Almost every village has its Nonconformist place of worship, though the church, the rectory, and the schools make an imposing little group. And who can ever adequately describe all the patient |