Ferns Hollow

Fern's Hollow

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fern's Hollow, by Hesba Stretton
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Title: Fern's Hollow
Author: Hesba Stretton
Release Date: October 10, 2005 [EBook #16853]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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HOLLOW ***

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FERN'S HOLLOW
By HESBA STRETTON
Author of 'Jessica's First Prayer,' 'Alone in London' 'Pilgrim Street,'
'Little Meg's Children' etc.

CONTENTS.
CHAP.
I. THE HUT IN THE HOLLOW II. THE DYING FATHER III.
STEPHEN'S FIRST VICTORY IV. THREATENING CLOUDS V.
MISS ANNE VI. THE RED GRAVEL PIT VII. POOR SNIP VIII.
STEPHEN AND THE GAMEKEEPER IX. HOMELESS X. THE
CABIN ON THE CINDER-HILL XI. STEPHEN AND THE RECTOR
XII. VISIT OF BLACK BESS XIII. THE OLD SHAFT XIV. A
BROTHER'S GRIEF XV. RENEWED CONFLICT XVI.
SOFTENING THOUGHTS XVII. A NEW CALLING XVIII. THE
PANTRY WINDOW XIX. FIRE! FIRE! XX. STEPHEN'S
TESTIMONY XXI. FORGIVENESS XXII. THE MASTER'S
DEATHBED XXIII. THE HOME RESTORED

FERN'S HOLLOW
CHAPTER I.
THE HUT IN THE HOLLOW.
Just upon the border of Wales, but within one of the English counties,
there is a cluster of hills, rising one above the other in gradual slopes,
until the summits form a long, broad tableland, many miles across. This
tableland is not so flat that all of it can be seen at once, but here and
there are little dells, shaped like deep basins, which the country folk
call hollows; and every now and then there is a rock or hillock covered
with yellow gorse bushes, from the top of which can be seen the wide,
outspread plains, where hundreds of sheep and ponies are feeding,
which belong to the farmers and cottagers dwelling in the valley below.
Besides the chief valley, which divides the mountains into two groups,
and which is broad enough for a village to be built in, there are long,
narrow glens, stretching up into the very heart of the tableland, and
draining away the waters which gather there by the melting of snow in

the winter and the rain of thunderstorms in summer. Down every glen
flows a noisy mountain stream, dashing along its rocky course with so
many tiny waterfalls and impatient splashes, that the gurgling and
bubbling of brooks come up even into the quietness of the tableland
and mingle with the singing of the birds and the humming of the bees
among the heather. There are not many paths across the hills, except
the narrow sheep-walks worn by the tiny feet of the sheep as they
follow one another in long, single lines, winding in and out through the
clumps of gorse; and few people care to explore the solitary plains,
except the shepherds who have the charge of the flocks, and tribes of
village children who go up every summer to gather the fruit of the wild
and hardy bilberry wires.
The whole of this broad tableland, as well as the hills, are common
pasture for the inhabitants of the valleys, who have an equal right to
keep sheep and ponies on the uplands with the lord of the manor. But
the property of the soil belongs to the latter, and he only has the power
of enclosing the waste so as to make fields and plant woods upon it,
provided always that he leaves a sufficient portion for the use of the
villagers. In times gone by, however, when the lord of the manor and
his agent were not very watchful, it was the practice of poor persons,
who did not care how uncomfortably they lived, to seek out some
distant hollow, or the farthest and most hidden side of a hillock, and
there build themselves such a low, small hut, as should escape the
notice of any passer-by, should they chance to go that way. Little by
little, making low fences which looked like the surrounding gorse
bushes, they enclosed small portions of the waste land, or, as it is called,
encroached upon the common; and if they were able to keep their
encroachment without having their hedges broken down, or if the lord
of the manor neglected to demand rent for it for the space of twenty
years, their fields and gardens became securely and legally their own.
Because of this right, therefore, are to be found here and there little
farms of three or four fields a-piece, looking like islands, with the wide,
open common around them; and some miles away over the breezy
uplands