Oun group of cottages, clustering in a sleepy semi-circle round
the old Norman church and the mill, was consider- ably stirred by the invitation to receive, for a fortnight at a time through the summer, successive parties of little lodgers from the East End of London. On the whole, the proposition was very cordially entertained. Here and there a farmer might have some vague apprehensions of London arabs breaking down his fences, and careering among his young wheat and turnips ; or mysterious whispers about adding to the popula- tion of the parish" might suggest the fear that, in some way not yet explained, the novelty would " affect the rates ;" or, again, some newspaper-reader might be unable entirely to shake off the fixed impression that East London was a kind of focus of dirt and " epidemics." But, happily, most of our labourers and their wives were too simple to think of such things; they were poor enough to be glad of the small weekly payment of five shillings for each child ; they had confidence in the "young ladies " who were to be responsible for quartering the children upon them ; and they looked forward with real pleasure to playing the part of hosts to the Londoners. Of course, none were selected as hosts but those who might be thoroughly trusted to act fairly and kindly by the children, and to provide proper sleeping accommodation. This last was secured both by previous inspection, and by a " surprise visit " from a gentleman whose duty it was to report upon the subject to the managers of the " Children's Holiday Fund." That he happened to be an old friend of most of the London children, as well as of some of our cottagers, made his task a pleasant as well as an easy one.
So when all was arranged, on a showery Saturday morning in June, the young lady who was waiting for the children at our roadside station received from the smiling guard of the down train a large batch of return-tickets and a large consignment of merry, shouting, excited urchins and pale little girls, laden with all manner of odd bundles and bags, who proceeded to scatter themselves all over the line, and down every road but the right one, till the good-natured station-master and porter had enough to do to help them all into the waggons which were standing ready to take them on six miles to their destination. Here a group of country-women were ready to take each her own consignment of girls or boys to the farm or cottage where they were to lodge, with a cheery, " Come along, my dear ; you must be quite ready for your dinner," to some half-frightened little girl.
That afternoon, it was a sight to see the boys strolling about the fields laden with campions, cornflowers, and forget-me-nots, eager to know the names of each ; or teaching our schoolboys in the shady lane some hitherto unheard-of variety of leap- frog ; or watching the loud-humming threshing-machine, and asking "if that was the thing what made the honey ;" or, like one little fellow, lost in quiet delight at there being " so much sky." Our first Sunday was a fine one. All that had been said about it to the children was, " I dare say we shall see most of you some time to-morrow ;" and I don't think our parson was very sorry to hear that some of the boys, at any rate, had spent the morning hours in a good long ramble about the fields. Many of them, however, came with our own children to their little Sunday-school, and those who were lodging with families that attended church readily fell in with their ways. Indeed, so well-behaved were they, that we thought at first they had been picked out and treated to the country as a reward for good conduct; but we were assured that poverty and ill-health had the first claim, and that only in a few cases were some of the children of more respectable artisans ad- mitted, by special favour, to make up the number. We had a fresh group every fortnight, up to the end of August. The funds, I fear, would not hold out longer, and, indeed, our people could not undertake the responsibility of looking after them in the busy harvest and gleaning time.
The children who came to our village were all sent from one East-End parish; and this, I think, was good for us and for them. We had a considerable variety, indeed, even with this limitation ; the sharp young church choristers, who were delighted to take their places in our chancel, and make their trained voices heard among our rustic ones ; the model little girls of the Sunday-school, who surprised our children by the extent of their knowledge and the readiness of their answers ; the peaky little ones, pale and nervous, yet making friends at last even with the dreadful old turkey-cock on the farm, and crying to come back again when the fortnight was over; the genuine Cockney boy, turning "cart-wheels " unabashed on the Rector's lawn, or extemporising single-wicket with our own schoolboys in the glebe meadow ; the little black-eyed Jewess who brought to the rectory ladies her father's letter to her to be read (he could not write to her in English, and she could not read his German, so their intercourse must have been somewhat difficult),—these were some among the many types. I may mention that, bad as were some of their homes (so we heard), they were all, or nearly all, " Band-of-Hope " children ; and, in fact, we ended up their holiday by a visit from their " wardresses," which helped to explain to us a good deal of the children's happiness and good conduct. In the middle of the season, too, their Vicar came down and preached at our Parish Feast, and we soon found how heartily he was welcomed as an old friend.
The hosts (or rather hostesses) of the children were all of them more than satisfied with the experiment, and did more than keep to their bargain as to care and kind treatment. They sent the children home, in some cases, laden not only with flowers, but with eggs and farm produce, and in every case with happy, sunburnt faces ; many expressions of satisfaction with their good conduct, and wishes to see them again, reached us ; and the only case in which serious complaint was made was one in which it proved upon investigation that the enter- tainer (not one of our own people) had departed from the conditions agreed upon, so that another home had to be found for the child. Again, we are glad to hear of kindly letters of thanks coming from London parents to their country enter- tainers, in one case accompanied by a little present of clothing. We are sure that our neighbours will gladly look forward to another series of London visitors next summer, if only the " Children's Holiday Fund " is supported as it deserves ; and none who have seen its working will grudge it such support as they can afford to give.
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