Edith Nesbit

In Homespun Edith Nesbit

In South Kent villages with names ending in 'den, ' and out away on the Sussex downs where villages end in 'hurst, ' live the plain people who talk this plain speech-a speech that should be sweeter in English ears than the implacable consonants of a northern kail-yard, or the soft one-vowelled talk of western hillsides. All through the summer nights the market carts creak along the London road; to London go the wild young man and the steady young man who 'betters' himself. To London goes the girl seeking a 'place.' The 'beano' comes very near to this land-so near that across its marches you may hear the sackbut and shawm from the breaks. Once a year come the hoppers. And so the cup of the hills holds no untroubled pool of pastoral speech