It is the overseers’ accounts which are really curious--those long lists of garments bought to clothe the paupers and their children, the old apprentice forms by which the children were placed out in service so soon as they were capable of earning a stray sixpence towards their own keep. Cruel as it seemed to be to send out such young children to work, it was, in reality, the kindest thing that could be done for them, for it gave them a chance of thoroughly learning a trade and so becoming independent and working for themselves. With all our modern Poor Law organization and schemes of education, I believe in the end we shall eventually return to the old system of juvenile apprenticeships--a far more practical method of teaching than any mere class instruction. Maybe a bundle of old papers are rolled together among the account books. These may be the orders for the removal of paupers back to the village they called ‘home,’ a custom first originated by some Acts of Parliament passed by Charles II. At the same time the parish officers were commanded and forced by penalties to provide for paupers removed back into their parish, and, to prevent fraud, written proofs as to the proper home or residence of the paupers had to be obtained and produced; these papers are called ‘settlements.’ Paupers are now removed back to the workhouse of their own district if they can prove a certain length of residence. The parish officers did their best for the welfare of their charges: they provided the old women with spinning-wheels, so that they could earn a trifle for themselves, while the men were set to work on the road; when failing in health they were tended by a parish nurse, and if sick the doctor saw them. Sometimes they were sent to Bath or Cheltenham to be cured by the far-famed waters. For many years these old annuitants lingered on, till we read the last entry paid for burying Goody or Goodman So-and-so. Any public event which required to be celebrated by the ringing of the church bells is sure to be mentioned among the ordinary expenses.