Arthur Arnold

“ But even bachelors must sleep, though their bed-rooms are only to be found in all the uncomfortable nooks and corners of a house. However, we were all of us old campaigners, who had learned sufficient wisdom to make the best of everything, and those who were not in love were I dare say soon asleep. I was “fancy free,” although, when my servant awoke me in the morning, I found myself possessed with a hazy idea that I had been hunting with Miss Keith, and that it was rather unpleasant than otherwise to dispel the illusion. ”

“ Agriculture is not a manufacture, in which public favour will stir itself uninvited to mark out the greatest merit; true it is that a good farmer gets larger profits than the sloven, and a good master soon finds out the worth of a good ploughman. But we want to make good farmers and good ploughmen, and this can only be achieved by exciting a spirit of emulation. And these Associations have diffused agricultural knowledge among the farmers, and aroused a competitive spirit both among masters and men, without which there can be no progress in any branch of industry. ”

“ Just as we were about to expend the whole of our joint fortune upon the ticket, we discovered Geoffrey running up the road leading to the station, and waving his hat in a most reassuring manner. He had obtained the magnificent sum of twelve guilders, and left the watch in the honoured name of “John Russell.” Giving me and Fred one to amuse ourselves with, he and Tom took the train.
We soon spent our money in coffee and billiards, and again joined the élite of commercial Rotterdam at the table d’hôte, haunted with an uncomfortable consciousness that our bill was growing to alarming dimensions. ”

“ Danvers, Anton and Delapierre, in scarlet, buckskin, and top-boots, looked business-like to the last degree; while two youngsters, whom I have not before mentioned because they were only the “walking gentlemen” of the party, were scrupulously “got up” in costume something like what the hero of a play, were he at once a gamekeeper and a lover, would wear upon the stage. Irreproachable shooting-coats, spotless gaiters, and boots in which all the artist skill of a Hoby could not hide the strength, denoted that pointers and not fox-hounds were to be their leaders to-day. ”

“ One cannot expect, therefore, a great sensation when ploughs are to run for five hours, and when there is no possible advantage to be gained by one over another in the start. But for all this, the commencement of a ploughing-match is a very pretty sight. My host, the Squire, seated on his strong horse, and surrounded by his graceful staff—I think ladies never look to greater advantage than upon horseback—stood like a general at the saluting point, on the opposite side of the field to that on which the ploughs were drawn up. ”

“ My brother Geoffrey, who was at Oxford, had come down for a few days’ rabbit shooting, and brought his alter ego in the shape of Tom Tregan. Paynter had been invited to join us, and in this lonely, quaint old house, we were living the happy life of a reading party, without any reading to speak of.
We tired ourselves with dogs and guns over the frost-bound fields by day, and Mr. Peggs, the bailiff, used to say that he often heard Fred playing the old piano, and our voices joining in chorus, when the cawing from the rookery warned him it was time for farmers to be rising. ”

“ In giving judgment in the case of the northern fishermen, we feel the great need which exists for a larger knowledge of the natural history of fishes. The men engaged in the fisheries know nothing of it whatever. They will tell you, perhaps, that when the gulls are perched upon the high rocks, the herrings are far from land, and when these birds hover about the shore, that the fish are not a long distance off. Such rude wisdom as this is the extent of their fish lore. ”

“ I trust that no Dutch Hogarth has placed upon immortal canvas, a representation of our travelling costume as typical of our countrymen in general, for we rummaged the house, not for becoming, but for warm clothing, and were as regardless of the general effect as savages rejoicing in the possession of a drowned mariner’s wardrobe. ”

“ Miss Keith and I were at least well mounted; and, although I believe firmly that Rover knew how inexperienced I was, I think he was gratified by my confidence in him, for I only used the reins to check him to the pace of Miss Keith’s horse. We had passed ten or twelve meadows—since the leap—through more inviting gates, and had already left the bulk of the field behind. And now I caught sight of the fox and his pursuers, for we were gently descending over a great breadth of pasture to a ditch, which I could see made a long leap for the hounds. ”

“ As both codfish and herrings seek the shores in spawning time, it is more than likely that we catch them at the very time when we ought to leave them busily engaged in reproduction. The common assumption under which the fishery is at present conducted seems to be that there always were and always will be “as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it.” In future we must act with greater wisdom than this. It is not fair to lay all the blame upon the poor trawlers. They only follow the general opinion, that everything is fair in fishing. ”

“ They who know this busy, trading Dutch city as tourists, will feel that this compulsory sojourn was the greatest misfortune of our journey. Cut off eastern from western London, at the first of the bridges, and from Billingsgate to Blackwall you have the nearest representation which London can afford to Rotterdam. The streets of the Dutch city are wider, certainly, than those of Wapping, and often partly occupied by canals, which, to the credit of Holland be it spoken, are generally fringed with trees. ”

“ Every one was full of fun, and Miss Keith was laughing at a fancy picture of the battered condition in which I supposed I should return, when the grooms brought the horses to the door, and our host rose:
“Now then, ladies and gentlemen, our master’s very punctual—we must be off,” and, like a gallant old gentleman, he led Miss Morland to the door, and assisted her in mounting her horse. ”

“ Dutch vrows and Dutch mynheers doubtless have warm and honest hearts, perseverance, intelligence, and—after their own fashion—activity; Dutch pictures are full of quaint humour and homely interest; but descriptions of Dutch cities and Dutch scenery will never be acceptable unless they are microscopic, and we have not the materials for manufacturing a representation of Rotterdam in mosaic. ”

“ Linton.
“Nor I, but once or twice,” Miss Keith joined in.
“Nor I,” said their companion on the couch.
“Oh, as for you, Mr. Templar, I’ve already looked you out a horse, and I mean that you shall see a run, whether you can ride or not.”
“You must strap me on, then, Mazeppa-like,” I humbly replied, “for I am only a roadster, and might otherwise be left in the first ditch.”
“Oh, stuff an’ nonsense, sir; all you’ve got to do is to keep your hands low; don’t ride on your reins, and sit well back; my horse, Rover, will do the rest for you.” ”

“ We rode out of the gates, a goodly party,—four ladies and four gentlemen—with a groom, to return with Mrs. Linton and Miss Keith, if they preferred not to join the hunt.
The meet was at a certain toll-bar, where four roads joined, and, as we approached the place, horsemen became more and more numerous—in scarlet, in black, in brown and green coats, and upon horses of at least as many colours. At last we were moving along in a mass of very irregular cavalry, choking the narrow road and compelling observation of one’s neighbours. ”

“ The time will come, perhaps it is nearer than any of us suppose, when steam-ploughing will be general. No one as yet considers a steam-engine an eligible feature in a landscape; it seems a violent interruption to the settled calm of Nature. ”

“ For, if all the fish that swim could bring to life all the eggs they deposit—and if the produce of these were to continue the work of propagation in the same manner—we should find the sea gradually rising above our shores, and the dominion of the world slowly but surely passing to the fish themselves. ”

“ Our horses laboured up the ascent evidently a little tired by their long and heavy gallop; about half-a-dozen determined riders passed us as we were approaching the wood, where Danvers, with Lady Caroline, and a group of about a score, were standing still, their jaded horses, with outstretched necks and legs, steaming in clouds. The hounds were howling in the wood, and we soon heard that the fox had been run to earth and they disappointed of their prey.
“Well done, Miss Keith; and well done, Templar,” said Mr. Danvers, as we rode up. “You found Rover a good nag, didn’t you?” ”

“ Twelve calves lay dead of sea-sickness and salt water, and high up the funnel and the rigging were traces of the aspiring rudeness of the waves. Soon we gained the quiet waters of the Thames, and signalling a fishing-boat off the spot where we wished to land, lowered ourselves into the fishermen’s skiff, and rowed for the shore. ”

“ It is some ten years since we were there, but allowing for the lapse of time, if I were now asked for an opinion as to the chief feature of Rotterdam, my impressions would lead me to say,—Dutch cheese. Round and fiat they are rolling everywhere, over the quay sides into billy-boys and warehouses from country carts. The canal bridges are another and a less important feature of Rotterdam. ”

“ Some few farmers use deep subsoil ploughs, but this is a very expensive process, does not avoid the treading, and often has the effect of bringing to the surface a very inferior and unfertile soil. The steam plough passes over the surface, turning the earth in any required direction without ramming the subsoil, or disturbing those natural channels which surface water has worn through it in its passage to the drains. Miles upon miles of pretty hedgerows will in time be sacrificed to this iron idol; farms will increase in acreage and farmers in capital. ”

“ Templar will look well to you, I think I’d better ride on quickly, and tell Mr. Keith and all inquiring friends that there is no greater damage done than the rasping of those pretty hands, to say nothing of the torn habit and gloves.”
“I’ll take care of Miss Keith. Do ride on, Danvers, there’s a good fellow,” I said.
“Very well, I don’t doubt you’ll do your best to look after the forlorn Diana—I’ll push on.” And off he rode.
“Will you take my arm, Miss Keith, or will you sit on my horse; he is very quiet now, after his long run with such a weight on his back.” ”

“ The new system will push away the old, leaving, however, many small farmers who will plough with horse-power, and thresh their corn with a weapon the facsimile of that which might have been found on the threshing-floors of Bible history; but these time-honoured usages are doomed to pass out of fashion, and we must reconcile with our notions of rural life, farms become manufactories, and farmers manufacturers of food.
But we are forgetting the Oakford Agricultural Association. However, you will agree with me that there was no use in standing beside the ploughs for the next five hours. ”

“ Our party soon became separated, but I could see Anton and Lady Caroline ahead, and Delapierre riding near to Miss Morland. Danvers had taken up with some neighbours, and was somewhere close to the hounds. Miss Keith and I, with Mrs. Linton and the groom, were in the ruck of horsemen, in about the middle of the field.
I think I felt much as a man does who is going into battle for the first time—with no desire to turn back, but with something like a shrinking from the work before me. ”

“ Now at Oakford all the ploughs had four horses, and all were the heavy and old-fashioned, but very useful, Kentish turnrise plough, laying wide and deep furrows; but as they laid the subsoil bare, it was trodden into a hard floor by the sixteen hoofs moving in a very straight and narrow line, and leaving no part which, upon examination, would not be found to be as tight as though it had been puddled. The crop suffers greatly by this, and drainage is rendered to a large extent ineffective. ”

“ Although I had never sat a horse for a leap in my life, and had more than a suspicion that I should break my neck or something less important, I never felt more pleasurably excited than when the first whimper of the hounds announced that they had found, and my fair companion and I galloped up to take a better place in the run. ”

“ If this title suggests anything but the right man in the right place, it is no fault of mine. A bishop at a prize fight, a bull in a china shop, a fish out of water, or a nigger in the Senate of the United States, might perhaps, to an unreflecting person, seem equally at home. ”

“ Templar.”
“If it is selfish to centre one’s thoughts upon one individual; to love one person to the exclusion of all others; to know no pleasure in life except in the society of one single human being; if to love her with all my heart and soul and strength, and to feed continually upon the hope of being permitted to devote my existence to making her life happy; if, in short, dearest Miss Keith, to love—”
At this moment a loud halloo from Danvers startled us, and cut short my speech: he galloped up quickly. ”

“ Its ever-changing pictures of busy human life are to me a delightful study; but a fine autumn morning in the country, with every tree dropping diamonds of dew, where velvety meadows seem strewn with brilliants, beats it hollow. ”

“ After being made the subject of several scientific essays—which may have deserved more attention than they obtained—the declining productiveness of our sea fisheries has been taken up by those to whose warnings every one will listen. The fishermen of Northumberland and Durham have recently held large meetings upon the subject, and are unanimous in condemning the practice of trawling, as the main cause of the scarcity of fish. It is well for a class when the grievance of which they complain affects, as this does, the whole community ”