duct rather than of intellect
and opinion. Nothing so definite can be said as to the effects of
newspaper reading and political excitement; nevertheless, I am conscious
of effects everywhere present. The labourers whose interests turn in
this direction seem to be treading in the footsteps of the skilled
artisans in the town, towards ambitions not in all respects identical
with those of the middle-classes. Of course the unskilled labourer
earning eighteen shillings a week has not equal opportunities with the
man who earns thirty-six; he cannot buy the newspapers and occasional
books to which the other treats himself and his children, and in general
he is less well informed. But the same grave and circumspect talk goes
down with the one as with the other; to both the same topics are
interesting.

And for me the probability of a development for our village labourers
similar to that of the town artisans is heightened, by recollection of
what artisans themselves were like, say a quarter of a century ago. I
knew a few of these very well. As craftsmen they were as able as those
of to-day; but their crafts had not taught them to think. While they
worked by rule of thumb, outside their work they were as full of
prejudices, and as unable to grasp reasons, as any of my village
neighbours. The most of them, in fact, had been born in villages near
the town, and retained a good deal of the rural outlook. Their gardens,
and the harvest--yes, and odd scraps of very ancient folk-lore which
they still believed--occupied an important place in their attention.
They had quite the old attitude towards their employers; quite the old
stubborn distrust of innovations in their work. When, however, you turn
to their successors, you find a difference. I will not say that they are
less able than their predecessors, or less trustworthy; but they have
broken away from all that old simplicity of mind; they are thinking for
themselves, and informing themselves, with an unresting and unhasting
interest, about what the rest of the world knows. It fills me with
shame, when I consider my own so much better opportunities, to find how
much these hard-working men have learnt, and with what cool tenacity
they think. Where they are most wanting is in enthusiasm and the hopes
that breed it; or say, in belief that the world may yet change for the
better--though here, too, political excitement is doing its fateful
work. I find them very jealous for their children