all go on, and think me a good fellow
notwithstanding my crotchets), I shall here shut up for the present,
and consider my ways; having resolved to "sar' it out," as we say in the
Vale, "holus bolus" just as it comes, and then you'll probably get the
truth out of me.

CHAPTER II--THE "VEAST."

"And the King commandeth and forbiddeth, that from
henceforth neither fairs nor markets be kept in Churchyards,
for the honour of the Church."--STATUTES : 13 Edw. I. Stat.
II. cap. vi.

As that venerable and learned poet (whose voluminous works we all think
it the correct thing to admire and talk about, but don't read often)
most truly says, "The child is father to the man;" a fortiori,
therefore, he must be father to the boy. So as we are going at any rate
to see Tom Brown through his boyhood, supposing we never get any farther
(which, if you show a proper sense of the value of this history, there
is no knowing but what we may), let us have a look at the life and
environments of the child in the quiet country village to which we were
introduced in the last chapter.

Tom, as has been already said, was a robust and combative urchin, and at
the age of four began to struggle against the yoke and authority of his
nurse. That functionary was a good-hearted, tearful, scatter-brained
girl, lately taken by Tom's mother, Madam Brown, as she was called, from
the village school to be trained as nurserymaid. Madam Brown was a rare
trainer of servants, and spent herself freely in the profession; for
profession it was, and gave her more trouble by half than many people
take to earn a good income. Her servants were known and sought after for
miles round. Almost all the girls who attained a certain place in the
village school were taken by her, one or two at a time, as housemaids,
laundrymaids, nurserymaids, or kitchenmaids, and after a year or two's
training were started in life amongst the neighbouring families, with
good principles and wardrobes. One of the results of this system was the
perpetual despair of Mrs. Brown's cook and own maid, who no sooner had
a notable girl made to their hands than missus was sure to find a good
place for her and send her off, taking in fresh importations from the
school. Another was, that the house was always full of young girls, with
clean, shining faces, who broke plates and scorched linen, but made an
atmosphere of cheerful, homely life about the place, good for every one
who cam