LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2570, 3 July 1882, Page 4

LITERATURE.

A PILGRIM’S PROGRESS.

A gncu Yule and a fat churchyard, so they say. if the reverse bo tenable, this year the gieody maw of death will have only a meagre lining, fiuow has been lying on the ground a week, though it is but the 23rd of December. Not a heavy covering, impeding trafiio and mailing the town householder’s life a burden to him ; it is merely a sprinkling of two o' three inches, enough to hide the ridge aod furrow lines of ploughed fluids and to cap iho stunted hedges with white cr .wns. Oay and night it freezes tlightly, aud shouting children slide confi dcntly on tbo ice of shallow pools aud ditches. 'J ho prosperous fanners in the Market sq”ar! of Mul'iagftrl make much ado about nothing They arc clad in mighty ancestral greatcoats, heavily caped, and voluminous folds of woollen comforters oncircle their thick-set necks. Jolly laughter, issuing from deep cavities of chest, resounds on the frosty air, as they stamp their heavy boots on the pavement outside tbe Seraph Inn, declaring, with twangy emphasis, that this is a real old-fashioned Christmas time, such as w«a the established rule in the glorious days when they wore young._ The seasonable weather, as they call it, is cheery enough work for them, coming Into the town behind their swiftly trotting horses to buy their beef and the missis’s forgotten etoetras. This la a gala day of meetings. Greetings in the market place are for these men life’s greatest joys. You must understand that life is still a leisurely concern in the agricultural districts of Flatshiro. There arc largo tracts hero which the railway does not trespass across, and over which local gossip travels slowly. Most of those burly gentlemen go on their way homewardo ‘market merry,’ as their spouses are wont to specify a mood of hilarity engendered by overmuch imbibing of liquor. This afternoon of course it is ncceisary to be well fortified against the sharp air by an additional _ hot and strong beverage gulped down while sitting with the reins in hand, dome of them—those who live in the direction of Wiokham —pass forlorn tramps on the highroad before they branch into some byway. Bach vagrants are mostly men with every vestige of humanity worn out of their faces, men with the curse of Cain upon them, wlm are wanderers on the earth. The halo of incipient intoxication, perhaps, obscured the farmers’ perceptions, for they took no notice of such wayfarers, some of whom might have moved the hardest hearts to pity. It might bo that they wire too well accustomed to the sight of such travellers, or had suffered injury at their hands. Certainly they appeared dangerous customers to tackle, fflerce animals, with heavy jaws and lowering brows, who scowled at the well-to-do pnaaora-by, muttering savage enrs.s if gigwheels came too near them, They wear ragged clothes, they are unwashed, unkempt, and their etocklnglosn feet are invariably to be seen through slits and holes in their boots: Most of them ahullla along at a quick pace ; all with the same lung-dog look of suspicion cast from side to sido. Their hands are generally concealed In their pocketi. It is seldom that any of these disreputable pedestrians bear the burden of a cotton handkerchief at the end of a stick. That, indeed, would argue luxury in i-tbeir state of life, a disqualification for a pilgrim of this kind. More than they esa put on is unnecessary clothing, and the road is the provider cf meat and drink. Between begging, borrowing, and ttaaling they make little distinction, for an elaborate code of ethics dots not appertain to such intelligences. Occasionally a younger one than the rent is followed by a girl carrying a baby. She follows mostly in a dog like fashion, with a shanking look on her brntalisad features. Sho is faithful to her companion after her way ; but blows and curses will eventually shake her elf into same sink of iniquity. Such vagrants are ostensibly bound for the shelter of the casual ward. Wickham is a racing centre, and at certain times of the year large demands are made upon its nn'on. Towards evening the farmers, thtir wagoners, and local doctors are accustomed, to meet passengers of this degraded typo on that b eak highroad which for ten milts d:i vides wiih its white oh alky line the low hedges which intersect the country between Mu.imgfoid and Wiokham. Ten miles straight on end without a hamlet or village between tbo towns. Iheso ent • throat • looking individuals are not pleasant to encounter on a lonely road. However, the tales of violence trs few and far between, Ucoadoually an over-trustful wagoner has been roobed when giving a lift to some weary traveller, or a belated cot-i tager carrying heme her marketings has been sat upon and deprived of meritorious bargainings ; but tha thief generally gets eff tcot-free.

It 1s a costly matter for a farm laborer to lay a charge against such slippery customers, and ao increase of discretion is generally the only compensation acquired iu exchange for lost goods. The degraded wretches who live In this mysterious way, travelling from town to town, hunt mostly alone ; very occa eioaally they chum in couples for a day’s march. If no well-known haunts of iniquity offer, or if they have strayed beyond the purlieus of vice, they travel to the refuge their country boastfully affords them, and which they imprecate la foul language as a matter of course. They do not want to go there ; and if the favorable chance of an emp'y house or open back-door presents itself they will not go. They would prefer being sure of a bourne where they could lie and cheat with profit in grateful acknowledgment of benefits received. For gratitude Is ot all virtues the most anomalous, having no affinity with what it receives in most cases, in many being merely an. expression of contempt towards gullible understandings iheao tramps, the parasitical scum of the earth, flourish best in the fermentation of big cities, and In these agricultural districts they rind a sesut livelihood. Yet such wanderers are not altogether gone out of the way when they come to Wickham at some seasons. Low bookmakers, disreputable ostlers, and a tribe of hangers-on to racing stables justify their appearance there, and give them dishonest employment of many kinds. Still, at Christmas time it is not usual to encounter more than a few stragglers —men released from the county gaol, ne’er-do-weela who have been in the game county earning stray shillings in beatirg covers for big battues, and such like respectabilities.

The straight road between Mulllngford and Wickham was once the coach highway from London. Now a railway runs between the towns, and the tiaflic is considerably lessoned The white lino cuts the country as straight as a bird cau lly, and only a few slight undulations interfere with a direot view of Its coarse from end to enl.

The district is purely agricultural, and no manufacturing smoko sallies the air, which is always bracing. .As you drive you pass by many acred Helds of richly cultivated land. On the ploughed ground numerous coveys of partridges shelter in the furrows, aud from beneath the hedges hares start up in wild affright at the sound of wheels. Along the ooorso of the road Hooks of sheep are huddled in enlosures of hurdles, seeking with reiterated bleats to establish a complaint against frozsn turuipo. The shepherds' movallr huts, pa nted a dismal black, lend an increased appearance of desolation to the

landscape. For ia the background on either side of the roid dark wrola may bo seen, and these presumably shelter h mestoads aud park lands, for no visible habitations give conso la'ion of human v.cinily. At long distances apart tho.-o are, indeed, two cottages built close to the road. This a were onoo also turnpike harriers. They aro lonely homos in winter time, but tho dwe'lers In them are probably too poor to have any fear of rob bory or violence, Tho duik of the December even’ng has fallen rapidly, end with the decline of light the horse?’ hoofs, as they pas? along the highway, ring a degree sharper. Tho thermometer will register a harder frost to.n'ght than it has done yet

An old, old man limfing painfully along the road, is sensible of tho additional sharpnS3 in the air. 1 oig ago be was a shepherd, and his perceptions of weather sign* aro the list instincts to dio out of his mind He carries a stout stick, with a knobbed end wh : oh H’s into his horny palm ; but it does not seem to help his progress much. He ha; a patient look of endurance, though ho is lime, and one foot drags heavily behind the other.

A lifelong endurance it must have been to hove so indelibly stamped that quiet rasignti tion ou his furrowed face. Now and again

ho rests beneath soma stunted pollard growth in the he ', and rubs bln wrinkled old hands r lowly agdnst each other —hands wh'cb, even if you look closely at them, seem to have little resemblance to human members—such rc-int flesh, and can they have any blood '! Hi? clothing is clean end not at a 1 rigged, and he has been recently fhr.vad. The wonderful puckers and gathers about the neck and sleeves of his old fashioned a'nrok frock give evicienci of w- manly si ill, buepherds still wear this once universal garment iu this locality, though tho conning broidery and stitchinga are things cf the past. Tho old man carries no Lundla or other assertion of respectability. His name is Jonathan Sharpe. Since he loft the town at midday he has been overtaken by few foot passengers, for even the cottagers do their marketings by train or get a lift in a waggon. Borne of the passers-by question him and pass on indifferent to his tale, while others, after a close investigation of his appearance, forge ahead silently. (_Ta he continued ,)