less slippery. To help the desiccating process, some of the later climbers would contrive to carry some dry sand in their vest pockets and to scatter it in their upward trail. Nor were these sports and games confined to the male section of the multitude. Several of equal fun and ingenuity were provided for the fair sex both old and young. One of these was the oddest conceit I ever heard of, and I think our landlord must have originated it. This was a competition in which several old ladies contended with each other for the prize of a pound of tea by showing which of them could first eat a basin of soup with an awl!
Thus for a brawling, fighting, and drinking Sunday was substituted a Monday holiday with its roistering but not malevolent or mischievous fun. This change produced a very perceptible improvement in the morals and habits of the common people of the village and vicinity. At the time of our visit another transformation was at its first stage of operation upon them. Lady Stamford a few years ago erected very elegant and capacious school buildings, at the expense of over £2,000, for the education of the children of the village, and ever since has taken a lively interest in the institution. That most popular and useful entertainment, the Penny Readings, had been recently introduced, and so well attended at these school-rooms that on the last occasion the Earl
