CHAP. PAGE I. THE SOUTH COUNTRY 1 II. THE END OF WINTER--SUFFOLK--HAMPSHIRE 15 III. SPRING--HAMPSHIRE--KENT--SURREY 40 IV. AN ADVENTURER 61 V. SUSSEX 68 VI. A RETURN TO NATURE 73 VII. A RAILWAY CARRIAGE--SURREY--SUSSEX 95 VIII. JUNE--HAMPSHIRE--THE GOLDEN AGE--TRAHERNE 121 IX. HISTORY AND THE PARISH--HAMPSHIRE--CORNWALL 147 X. SUMMER--SUSSEX 180 XI. HAMPSHIRE--AN UMBRELLA MAN 186 XII. CHILDREN OF EARTH--HAMPSHIRE AND SUSSEX 196 XIII. AUGUST--GOING WESTWARD--HAMPSHIRE AND WILTSHIRE 210 XIV. AN OLD HOUSE AND A BOOK--WILTSHIRE 235 XV. AN OUTCAST--WILTSHIRE 245 XVI. THE END OF SUMMER--KENT--BERKSHIRE--HAMPSHIRE--SUSSEX--THE FAIR 255 Several short passages from this book have been printed in “The Saturday Review,” “The Nation,” “The New Age,” “The Daily Chronicle,” and “The Daily News,” and are reprinted by permission. THE SOUTH COUNTRY CHAPTER I THE SOUTH COUNTRY The name of “South Country” is taken from a poem by Mr. Hilaire Belloc, beginning-- “When I am living in the Midlands, They are sodden and unkind, I light my lamp in the evening, My work is left behind; And the great hills of the South Country Come back into my mind.”