THE FUTURE OF HODGE.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Your article, "The Future of Hodge," in the Spectator of July 29th, encourages me to hope that you may find room for a story told, apparently in all simplicity, by a working man in a train to other working men. They were all crafts- men of sorts, streaming out on a Saturday afternoon to their homes in the villages surrounding a largish town which draws most of its workers from the agricultural population about. The talk turned upon employers, town or country. As a rule, no Americanised Irishman hates the Saxon more cordially than the escaped farm labourer his ci-dev ant master. "My father was a farm labourer," he said, "and thirty years in the same employ. When he was going to the workhouse he called us together and made us swear that we'd never bring up a son to work on the land. And we never did." Poor old Hamilcar ! It is a curious illustration of English country life. The first step towards keeping men on the land is to civilise their masters.—I am, Sir, &c.,
PRZESAG178.
[We have not been able to find room for the rest of our correspondent's letter.—ED. Spectator.]
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