7 JANUARY 1899, Page 24

OLD AGE IN THE VILLAGE.

[To THE EDITOR OE THE "Spzerwros."] SIR,—My attention has just been caught by what seems to me to be a curious mistake in your otherwise strikingly truthful article in the Spectator of December 31st on " Old Age in the Village,"—where the author in a footnote to the sentence, " Pooer ole man, the childern calls un an 'ud-me- dud," gives " scarecrow " as his explanation of the word. Now, every East Anglian will readily recognise in "'nd-me-dud" the familiar "hod-me-clod," otherwise " dodman," the ver- nacular for "snail," an appellation more likely to have been bestowed by the children upon the poor worn-out old man, whose bent back and " doddering " steps would suggest the