They are pleasant days, when, if we will put up with a few
inconveniences, and live principally out of doors, we may see and hear
much that a railway traveller misses altogether. We shall not admire the
system of farming, as a rule (each farmer holding only a few acres); and
we shall find some of the cottages of the labourers very primitive,
badly built, and unhealthy, although generally neat; we shall notice
that the people are cruel, and careless of the sufferings of animals,
and that no farm servant knows how to groom a horse. We shall see them
clever in making cider, and prone to drink it; we shall see plenty of
fine, strong, rather idle men and women in the fields carrying
tremendous burdens, but hardly any children; they are almost as rare in
the country as a lady, or a gentleman. Indeed, in all our country
wanderings the 'gentry' make little figure, and appear much less
frequently on the scene than we are accustomed to in England. There are,
of course, _propriétaires_ in this part of Normandy who spend both
their time and money in the country, and are spoken of with respect and
affection by the people; but they are _raræ aves_, men of mark, like the
founder of the protestant colony at Beuzeval on the sea.

Nearly every Sunday after harvest-time there will be a village wedding,
where we may see the bride and bridegroom coming to take 'the first
sacrament;' seated in a prominent place in front of the altar, and
receiving the elements before the rest of the congregation, the bride
placing a white favour on the basket which contains the consecrated
bread, and afterwards coming from the church, the bride with a cap
nearly a foot high, the bridegroom wearing a dress coat, with a
tremendous bouquet, and a wedding-ring on his fore-finger; and, if we
stand near the church porch, we may be deafened with a salute fired by
the villagers in honour of the occasion, and overwhelmed by the
eloquence of the 'best man,' who takes this opportunity of delivering a