ceptible change in Stokebridge, a
change from which those interested in it hoped for great results.

The Bull-dogs and their kindred societies had set the fashion, and the
demeanour and bearing of the young men and boys was quiet and orderly.
In every match which they had played at rounders, football, and quoits,
with the surrounding villages Stokebridge had won easily, and never were
the games entered into with more zest than now.

The absence of bad language in the streets was surprising. The habit of
restraint upon the tongue acquired in the club-rooms had spread, and two
months after Jack's first proposal had been so coldly received, the
proposition to extend the fines to swearing outside the walls as well as
in was unanimously agreed to. The change in the demeanour of the girls
was even greater. Besides the influence of Mrs. Dodgson and her
assistant, aided perhaps by the desire to stand well in the eyes of lads
of the place, their boisterous habits had been toned down, dark neatly
made dresses took the place of bright-coloured and flimsy ones; hair,
faces, and hands showed more care and self-respect.

The example of the young people had not been without its influence upon
the elders. Not indeed upon the regular drinking set, but upon those who
only occasionally gave way. The tidier and more comfortable homes, the
better cooked meals, all had their effect; and all but brutalized men
shrank from becoming objects of shame to their children. As to the
women of Stokebridge they were for the most part delighted with the
change. Some indeed grumbled at the new-fangled ways, and complained
that their daughters were getting above them, but as the lesson taught
in the night-classes was that the first duty of a girl or woman was to
make her home bright and happy, to bear patiently the tempers of others,
to be a peacemaker and a help, to bear with children, and to respect
elders, even the grumblers gave way at last.

The very appearance of the village was changing. Pots of bright flowers
stood in the windows, creepers and roses climbed over the walls, patches
full of straggling weeds were now well-kept gardens; in fact, as Mr.
Brook said one day to the vicar, one would hardly know the place.

"There has indeed been a strange movement for good," the clergyman said,
"and I cannot take any share of it to myself. It has been going on for
some time invisibly, and the night schools and classes for girls have
given it an extraor