(To rax EDITOR or sax " Sescreasm."1 Sin,—Ae one who,
for thirty years past, has moved in and out of numerous villages, North, South, and in the Midlands, may I say with what enthusiasm I have read Lady Barrington's letter ? It points the way to rural contentment and happiness. My testimony is that of a minister of religion itinerating as a disciple of Wesley. It has been my privilege to observe apart from parochial prejudice. Let me pay a tribute to what I have witnessed of the painstaking and neighbourly attempts of
village clergymen to brighten and broaden the life around them. Nonconformist paetore, too, and squires and dukes and bountiful ladies and self-made magnates have struck a similar path. But scarcely anywhere have I seen a comprehensive and sustained answer to the deep social instincts of the people. A new day has dawned. The idea of Village Institutes as memorials of the war illuminates remote and isolated landscapes. Com- memorating the beloved dead, and the gallant who survive, they will inspire only brave and generous emotions. But the warning given by the Spectator in the footnote to Lady Barringtou'e letter most never be forgotten. " The ordinary rules and obligations of democratic citizenship a are essential quite as much in a hamlet as in a city.-1 am, Sir, Sc.,
90 Cheriton Road, Folkestone. J. Eownin HARLOW.
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