NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY } CALCUTTA } MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. MADRAS } TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TOKYO: MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED SMALL TALK AT WREYLAND BY CECIL TORR SECOND SERIES CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1921 CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY J. B. PEACE, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS PREFACE In case this volume should be read by anyone who has not read its predecessor, I am quoting these three paragraphs from that by way of explanation. And first, about the place itself, _Wreyland is land by the Wrey, a little stream in Devonshire. The Wrey flows into the Bovey, and the Bovey into the Teign, and the Teign flows out into the sea at Teignmouth. The land is on the east side of the Wrey, just opposite the village of Lustleigh. It forms a manor, and gives its name to a hamlet of six houses, of which this is one._ Secondly, about my writing all these things, _Down here, when any of the older natives die, I hear people lamenting that so much local knowledge has died with them, and saying that they should have written things down. Fearing that this might soon be said of me, I got a book last Christmas--1916--and began to write things down. I meant to keep to local matters, but have gone much further than I meant._ Thirdly, about my publishing what I had written, _I wrote this little book for private circulation; and it was actually in type, and ready for printing, before its publication was suggested. I feel some diffidence in inviting strangers to read what I intended only for my personal friends. But it all seems to hang together, and I have not omitted anything._ Since that was published I have gone on writing things down in the same way as before. And now I find that I have written enough to make another volume of the same extent; and I hope it is no worse. CECIL TORR. YONDER WREYLAND, LUSTLEIGH, DEVON. SMALL TALK AT WREYLAND II This valley has seen another innovation since I last wrote things down. An aeroplane passed over here, 9 September 1918. It was only a friendly aeroplane, just out for exercise; but nothing of the kind had ever been seen from here before, not even a balloon.