Whether it were in consequence or in
spite of his political creed, I do not mean to give an opinion, though
I have one; but certain it is that he held therewith divers social
principles not generally supposed to be true blue in colour. Foremost of
these, and the one which the Squire loved to propound above all others,
was the belief that a man is to be valued wholly and solely for that
which he is in himself, for that which stands up in the four fleshly
walls of him, apart from clothes, rank, fortune, and all externals
whatsoever. Which belief I take to be a wholesome corrective of all
political opinions, and, if held sincerely, to make all opinions equally
harmless, whether they be blue, red, or green. As a necessary corollary
to this belief, Squire Brown held further that it didn't matter a
straw whether his son associated with lords' sons or ploughmen's sons,
provided they were brave and honest. He himself had played football
and gone bird-nesting with the farmers whom he met at vestry and
the labourers who tilled their fields, and so had his father and
grandfather, with their progenitors. So he encouraged Tom in his
intimacy with the boys of the village, and forwarded it by all means
in his power, and gave them the run of a close for a playground, and
provided bats and balls and a football for their sports.
Our village was blessed amongst other things with a well-endowed school.
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