Let us now look at some of the houses which stand not even in villages, but quite alone, or in groups of two or three, amid the fields. Beside this road we have a short row of cottages clothed with creepers, like the church that we saw just now, each with its little garden in front. Do you see the labourer’s wife standing at her door with a child on her arm and a dog at her feet? It is from thousands upon thousands of such little homes as these, that have come the soldiers and sailors who have fought for England, and the workmen who have worked in the factories and have made England the great industrial and commercial country which we know.
15.
A Country Inn.
Next we have a little inn by the roadside with a cart stopped beside it. The dog is waiting for his master, the carter, who has gone within to talk and rest and drink.
16.
Mapledurham House.
Such is the quiet life of the humbler people in the country parts of England. But here and there through all the land there rises also the country home of a rich family. Of all the features of England, perhaps the most beautiful and the most indicative of peace and strength and wealth, are these country houses of the upper classes. We have one here surrounded by perfect trees and by spreading lawns of thick short green grass.
17.
Interior at Long Marston, Charles I. kitchen.
Many of these houses are old, and have been little changed, though well cared for, during several generations. This, for instance, is a kitchen in one of them dating from 250 years ago. Do you note the great beam of oak which supports the ceiling? Oak is an English tree which, like teak in India, gives a timber as strong as iron.
18.
Knole House.
Here is another and yet grander house, surrounded by one of those noble parks of which you heard in the last lecture.