Explore "The Revolution in Tanner's Lane" by Mark Rutherford on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Occasionally, in the summer months, Tanner's Lane indulged in a picnic; that is to say, the principal members of the congregation, with their wives and children, had an early dinner, and went in gigs and four-wheel chaises to Shott Woods, taking hampers of bread, cake, jam, butter, ham, and other eatables with them. At Shott Woods, in a small green space under an immense oak, a fire was lighted and tea was prepared. Mr. Broad and his family always joined the party. These were the days when Dissenters had no set amusements, and the entertainment at Shott mainly consisted in getting the sticks for the fire, fetching the water, and waiting on one another; the waiting being particularly pleasant to the younger people. Dancing, of course, was not thought of. In 1840 it may safely be said that there were not twenty Independent families in Great Britain in which it would have been tolerated, and, moreover, none but the rich learned to dance.
No dancing-master ever came into Cowfold; there was no music-master there; no concert was ever given; and Cowfold, in fact, never "saw nor heard anything; " to use a modern phrase, save a travelling menagerie with a brass band. What an existence! How did they live? It's certain, however, that they did live, and, on the whole, enjoyed their life.