12 SEPTEMBER 1891, Page 16

VILLAGE LIFE.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIB,—Your article in the Spectator of September 5th on " Village Life" is very true, and many statements can be proved at the present time, especially that relating to popula- tion. Go into the harvest-fields, and in place of the able- bodied men one used to find, we see mere boys. Labour is daily becoming scarce, and one of the problems of the day is, " How to retain the young men in the villages " for higher wages cannot be paid unless prices are better than they have been for the last ten years. The population of this parish in 1881 was 670, at the present time about 600. We may well wonder what is to be the future of the land.—I am, Sir, &c., AN EASTERN COUNTIES RECTOR.