f Angles were distinguished as "North
folk" and "South folk," or _Norfolk_ and _Suffolk_. When you look on the
map and see the town of _Icklinghiam_ in the county of _Suffolk_, it
means that this place was once known as the "home" of the "Icklings" or
"children of Ickel," a clan which formed part of the tribe of "South
folk."

[Sidenote: The English nation, like the American, grew out of the
union of small states.]
In those days there was no such thing as a Kingdom of England; there
were only these groups of tribes living side by side. Each tribe had its
leader, whose title was _ealdorman_ or "elder man." [1] After a while, as
some tribes increased in size and power, their ealdormen took the title
of kings. The little kingdoms coincided sometimes with a single shire,
sometimes with two or more shires. Thus there was a kingdom of Kent, and
the North and South Folk were combined in a kingdom of East Anglia. In
course of time numbers of shires combined into larger kingdoms, such as
Northumbria, Mercia, and the West Saxons; and finally the king of the
West Saxons became king of all England, and the several _shires_ became
subordinate parts or "shares" of the kingdom. In England, therefore, the
shires are older than the nation. The shires were not made by dividing
the nation, but the nation was made by uniting the shires. The English
nation, like the American, grew out of the union of little states that
had once been independent of one another, but had many interests in
common. For not less than three hundred years after all England had been
united under one king, these shires retained their self-government
almost as completely as the several states of the American Union.[2] A
few words about their government will not be wasted, for they will help
to throw light upon some things that still form a part of our political
and social life.

[Footnote 1: The pronunciation, was probably something like yawl-dor-man.]

[Footnote 2: Chalmers, _Local Government_, p. 90.]

[Sidenote: Shire-mote, ealdorman, and sheriff.]
The shire was governed by the _shire-mote_ (i.e. "meeting"),
which was a representative body. Lords of lands, including abbots and
priors, attended it, as well as the reeve and four selected men
from each township. There were thus the germs of both the kind of
representation that is seen in the House of Lords and the much more
perfect kind that is seen in the House of Commons. After a while,
as cities and boroughs