The Project Gutenberg EBook of Change in the Village, by
(AKA George Bourne) George Sturt

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Title: Change in the Village

Author: (AKA George Bourne) George Sturt

Release Date: December 13, 2008 [EBook #27518]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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CHANGE IN THE VILLAGE

BY

GEORGE BOURNE

NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
1912

_Printed in Great Britain by Billing & Sons, Ltd., Guildford, England_

TO

MY SISTERS

CONTENTS

I
PAGE
I. THE VILLAGE 3

II

THE PRESENT TIME

II. SELF-RELIANCE 21
III. MAN AND WIFE 38
IV. MANIFOLD TROUBLES 50
V. DRINK 65
VI. WAYS AND MEANS 79
VII. GOOD TEMPER 97

III

THE ALTERED CIRCUMSTANCES

VIII. THE PEASANT SYSTEM 115
IX. THE NEW THRIFT 127
X. COMPETITION 143
XI. HUMILIATION 151
XII. THE HUMILIATED 167
XIII. NOTICE TO QUIT 180

IV

THE RESULTING NEEDS

XIV. THE INITIAL DEFECT 193
XV. THE OPPORTUNITY 200
XVI. THE OBSTACLES 217
XVII. THE WOMEN'S NEED 229
XVIII. THE WANT OF BOOK-LEARNING 244
XIX. EMOTIONAL STARVATION 260
XX. THE CHILDREN'S NEED 272

V

XXI. THE FORWARD MOVEMENT 289

I

THE VILLAGE

I

THE VILLAGE

If one were to be very strict, I suppose it would be wrong to give the
name of "village" to the parish dealt with in these chapters, because
your true village should have a sort of corporate history of its own,
and this one can boast nothing of the kind. It clusters round no central
green; no squire ever lived in it; until some thirty years ago it was
without a res