like most other people. There was a church at Ilderton, but only two or three families went; the rest were Presbyterians; she should like to hear Mr Spurgeon preach; she had read his "John Ploughman's Talk," and thought he seemed to know all about agricultural life.
On I went until I reached Wooperton, where I was invited to rest by the postmaster. His home was the pink of neatness, but then he was an old bachelor. However, he gave a very different account of Northumbrian women to my old cottager. He had known women who had worked in the fields who were very clever with the needle, and good managers; still, he believed it a bad system for domestic life. There was, however, a true simplicity of character about these labouring girls. He spoke of some who would not look at a man in a superior position; were he worth hundreds, they would refuse him. He believed they were very happy. It was his opinion that in godliness and joy combined—
"The cottage leaves the palace far behind."
The people, he said, came on Sabbath for miles to their chapels in Wooler, Branton, and Glanton; but on sacramental days, which only occur three times a year—in March, July, and October—every one makes an effort to be present, and then the chapels are thronged.
Next day being Sunday, I had an opportunity of going to the chapel at Glanton. A more intelligent, earnest, serious congregation I never saw in my life. There was scarcely a listless or stupid-looking face among them all, the greater part being men between eighteen and fifty. The service was in no way attractive; the hymns were the Scotch paraphrase of the psalms, and the singing at times dragged heavily. But these people have a religion in which they believe, and which they themselves support. They do not go to church to receive a loaf, or a dole of flannel or money; on the contrary, they are expected to believe it is more blessed to give than to receive, and every Sunday round from pew to pew goes the collecting-box, and few, I venture to say, let it pass without a weekly offering. Nearly all the labouring people, shepherds and hinds, are Presbyterians, and not only attend a place of worship, but are generally communicants. In Wooler
