"
Certainly, the _soi-disant_ Christians who forcibly ejected Mr. Redhead
at Haworth, ten or twelve years before, held a very heathen brotherhood
with the _soi-disant_ Christians of Heckmondwike; though the one set
might be called members of the Church of England and the other
Dissenters.
The letter from which I have taken the above extract relates throughout
to the immediate neighbourhood of the place where Charlotte Bronte spent
her school-days, and describes things as they existed at that very time.
The writer says,--"Having been accustomed to the respectful manners of
the lower orders in the agricultural districts, I was at first, much
disgusted and somewhat alarmed at the great freedom displayed by the
working classes of Heckmondwike and Gomersall to those in a station above
them. The term 'lass,' was as freely applied to any young lady, as the
word 'wench' is in Lancashire. The extremely untidy appearance of the
villagers shocked me not a little, though I must do the housewives the
justice to say that the cottages themselves were not dirty, and had an
air of rough plenty about them (except when trade was bad), that I had
not been accustomed to see in the farming districts. The heap of coals
on one side of the house-door, and the brewing tubs on the other, and the
frequent perfume of malt and hops as you walked along, proved that fire
and 'home-brewed' were to be found at almost every man's hearth.
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