The
door always opens directly into the kitchen, without any vestibule; and,
glimpsing in, you see that a cottager's life must be the very plainest
and homeliest that ever was lived by men and women. Yet the flowers
about the door often indicate a native capacity for the beautiful; but
often there is only a pavement of round stones or of flagstones, like
those within. At one point where there was a little bay, as it were, in
the hedge fence, we saw something like a small tent or wigwam,--an arch
of canvas three or four feet high, and open in front, under which sat a
dark-complexioned woman and some children. The woman was sewing, and I
took them for gypsies.
August 17th.--Yesterday afternoon J----- and I went to Birkenhead Park,
which I have already described. . . . . It so happened that there was a
large school spending its holiday there; a school of girls of the lower
classes, to the number of a hundred and fifty, who disported themselves
on the green, under the direction of the schoolmistresses and of an old
gentleman. It struck me, as it always has, to observe how the lower
orders of this country indicate their birth and station by their aspect
and features. In America there would be a good deal of grace and beauty
among a hundred and fifty children and budding girls, belonging to
whatever rank of life. But here they had universally a most plebeian
look,--stubbed, sturdy figures, round, coarse faces, snub-noses,--the
most evident specimens of the brown bread of human nature.
Pages:
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280