OUR COMMON LAND
(AND OTHER SHORT ESSAYS).
OUR COMMON LAND
(AND OTHER SHORT ESSAYS).
BY
OCTAVIA HILL.
London:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1877.
[All Rights reserved.]
CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,
CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.
CONTENTS.
| I. | |
| PAGE | |
| OUR COMMON LAND | 1 |
| II. | |
| DISTRICT VISITING | 18 |
| III. | |
| A FEW WORDS TO VOLUNTEER VISITORS AMONG THE POOR | 46 |
| IV. | |
| A MORE EXCELLENT WAY OF CHARITY | 63 |
| V. | |
| A WORD ON GOOD CITIZENSHIP | 88 |
| [Pg vi] | |
| VI. | |
| OPEN SPACES | 105 |
| VII. | |
| EFFECTUAL CHARITY | 152 |
| VIII. | |
| THE FUTURE OF OUR COMMONS | 175 |
OUR COMMON LAND.
I. OUR COMMON LAND.
Probably few persons who have a choice of holidays select a Bankholiday, which falls in the spring or summer, as one on which theywill travel, or stroll in the country, unless, indeed, they livein neighbourhoods very far removed from large towns. Every railwaystation is crowded; every booking-office thronged; every seat—nay,all standing room—is occupied in every kind of public conveyance;the roads leading out of London for miles are crowded with everydescription of vehicle—van, cart, chaise, gig—drawn by every sizeand sort of donkey, pony, or horse; if it be a dusty day, a great dullunbroken choking cloud of dust hangs over every line of road.
Yet in spite of all this, and in spite of the really bad sights t