Country Life
RURAL REVIVAL.
On the eve of Christmas two quarterlies reach me, both concerned wholly with country affairs. One is The Country- man, which, in its green covers, " annihilates all that's made to a green thought " ; the other the winter number of the Rural Industries Bureau. It is a real pleasure to see the economic, as well as spiritual, progress of The Countryman, which is " subdued to that it works in." In other words it is published from Idbury, near Kingham, a remote Oxford- shire village of fourteen houses or so, and carries with it the sense of the deep, deep country. The Rural Industries publish from 27 Bedford Square, London, and the address, though less attractive, is worth remembering by anyone who wants to know—and several of my correspondents seek this information—how to get in touch with real village craftsmen. Ironwork, woodcuts, wooden toys, weaving, spinning and dye- ing, gloves, baskets, leather work, artificial flowers, raffia work—all these and many more appear in the advertisement page ; and some of the advertisers are country guilds of rural craftsmen who keep traditional skill and preserve some of the medieval guild spirit. The reconstruction of country life has many active builders, among whom the editors of these two quarterlies, Mr. Robertson Scott and Col. Little, have now reached the rank of master.
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