Chapter I: Front Matter

This etext was transcribed by Les Bowler

[Picture: ‘Homeward Bound’]

NEIGHBOURHOOD

A YEAR’S LIFE IN AND ABOUT

AN ENGLISH VILLAGE

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BY
TICKNER EDWARDES
AUTHOR OF ‘THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE’

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WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS

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NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
31 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET

1912

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CONTENTS

PAGE
INTRODUCTION xi
JANUARY 1
I. Hard Times—Wild Life and the
Frost—The Thaw at
Last—Solitude and a
Fireside—Cricket Music—Fiction
and Life—Wood versus Coal.
II. Truantry—Spring in
January—Wind and Sun on the
Downs—A Shepherd
Family—Brothers in
Arms—‘Rowster’—The
Folding-Call—Dew-Ponds and
their Making—The Sign in the
Sky.
III. The Starling Host.
FEBRUARY 27
I. The Village Green—Daybreak—The
Morning Dew.
II. Under the ‘Seven
Sisters’—Courting Days.
III. The Elm Blossom—A Wild
Night—By the River—The
Hazel-Wood—Meadow Life
IV. The Coming of the Lambs—Night
in the Lambing-Pens—The Luck
of Windlecombe—‘White Eye.’
MARCH 55
I. The Woodland Clearing—Rabbit
and Stoat—The Rain
Bird—‘Skugging’—The Lovers’
Tree—An Adventure in Forestry.
II. The ‘Sea-Blue Bird of
March’—The Old Ferryman.
III. Lion and Lamb—The Churchyard
Wall—Yew and
Almond-Tree—Evensong—A Prophet
of Evil.
IV. Wild March—Rejuvenation—On the
Downs—River and Brook—The Long
White Road—A Mystery of
Rubies—The Thrush.
APRIL 82
I. Sunday Morning—The Black
Sheep—A Song in the Wood.
II. Rain and Shine—The
Wryneck—Bees and Primroses.
III. Fulfilment—The Martins—The
First
Cuckoo—Bluebells—Swallows and
Nightingales.
IV. April on Windle Hill—Downland
Larks.
MAY 104
I. Busy Times—The Forge—Two
Ancient Families—The
Sweetstuff Shop—Silent
Company—The Three Thatchers.
II. The Long Back-Reach—In the
Willow Bower—A New Song and an
Old Story.
III. Whitsunday—God’s House
Beautiful—The Soul-Shepherd.
IV. Ringing the Bees—An
old-fashioned Bee-Garden.
V. Corpus Christi: an Impression.
JUNE 132
I. The Old Brier-Bush—Chaffinch
and Willow-Wren—The
Mowing-Grass—The First Wild
Rose.
II. The Sheep-Wash.
III. Rainy Days—Old Times and
New—The Reverend’s
Garden—Darkie and his Den.
IV. The Cotter’s Saturday
Night—The Cricket
Committee—Summer Gloaming.
JULY 161
I. Summertide—The Teasel
Traps—Bees in the
Tares—Poppies and Wheat—The
Oat-field—Swifts.
II. The Cricket Match.
III. Time and the Town—The
Beginning of Harvest-Sport and
Nature—In the Seed-hay—The
Storm.
AUGUST 189
I. The Tea-Garden—In Search of
Change—The Trippers—A
Mysterious Company.
II. The South-west Wind—Talk on
the Downs—In the Combe—A
Reconciliation.
III. Travellers’ Tales.
SEPTEMBER 210
I. Odd Man out—The Little
Tobacconist—A Talk by the
River.
II. The Waning Summer—Threshing.
III. Two Old Maids—The Minstrels.
IV. Autumn Dawn—The Cub
Hunt—Thistle-down.
OCTOBER 234
I. The Going of the
Martins—Spider-Webs.
II. A Legacy—The Caravan.
III. Gossamer—The Berry
Harvest—Autumn Changes—The
Brown Owl—Glowworms—Birds that
Pass in the Night.
NOVEMBER 257
I. The Colours of Autumn—The Ivy
Bloom—The Two Painters—A
November Nosegay.
II. Night in the Village—Tom
Clemmer—Dinner at the Farm.
III. Winter at Last—Capitulation.
DECEMBER 283
I. Gloom and Shine.
II. House-Bound—A Happy Village.
III. A Voyage down the Street—The
Beef Club Drawing.
IV. The Christmas-Tree—Voices in
the Night.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

HOMEWARD BOUND _Frontispiece_ OLD FRIENDS 28 SPRINGTIME 48 THE RINDERS 80 THE BEE-MASTER (_missing_) 122 THE SHEEP-WASH 146 SOUTHDOWN EWES 200 THE FERRYMAN’S COTTAGE 280