- 2 days ago
Ep 7: July. Edith becomes involved in animal rights after being commissioned by Animal Friend magazine to create posters against animal cruelty traps and blood sports. It brings her into conflict with farmers after she discovers a puppy caught in one of their traps, and her father expresses his own concerns when he learns that she plans to make a speech in church at a meeting. Meanwhile Edith receives a letter from Ernest Smith, the man she met at the art exhibition, asking if he can come and visit her, throwing her into turmoil.
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00:00Gowan Bank, Olten, Warwickshire
00:17Nature Notes for 1906
00:21By Edith
00:25Be Holden
00:45To sit on rocks, to muse or flood and fell
00:49To slowly trace the forest's shady scene
00:52Where things that own not man's dominion dwell
00:55And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been
00:58To climb the trackless mountain all unseen
01:02With the wild flock that never need a fold
01:04Alone on steeps and foaming falls to lean
01:09This is not solitude
01:11It is but to hold converse with nature's charms
01:14And view her stores unrolled
01:17And the beginning of the Eng рек
01:22Basically
01:24To ascend
01:24Whoer
01:26Whoer
01:26Whoer
01:29Whoer
01:29Who
01:29Who
01:30Holes
01:32Who
01:32Who
01:33Oh, my God.
02:04July the 1st. Fine, but dull, with a breeze from the northwest.
02:10The Anglo-Saxons called July Moed Monad, or Mead Month, from the meadows being then in bloom.
02:19I can guess what time you stopped working last night.
02:21Oh, we need to. Thank you.
02:25Oh, what am I going to do? I've got all these pamphlets to get out.
02:29And now they want me to do a drawing for the magazine.
02:33Oh, and I'm terribly behind with my nature notes.
02:38We're already in July, and I've no idea what I'm going to use for a title page.
02:42This really is coming along beautifully.
02:45I just hope those girls of yours appreciate having such a teacher.
02:48I'm going this way.
02:57That's the long way. I'll get there first.
03:01July 7th. Cycle to Knoll through Whidney.
03:04The hedges are a tangle of wild flowers now.
03:08There is a fine show of wild roses.
03:10Both the earlier dog roses and the later white trailing variety are in full bloom.
03:19In many places, the hedges are festooned with wreaths of black briony and honeysuckle.
03:24The pale pink blackberry blossom and the large white masses of elder blossom are everywhere conspicuous.
03:38Climbing up the banks to meet them are tall purple foxgloves and nodding heads of grasses heavy with pollen mingled with purple and yellow vetches and clover blossom.
03:48There you are, Eleanor.
03:51Digitalis purpurea.
03:52Foxgloves.
03:53概���
04:0897.
04:10www.centralisps.eu
04:16www.centralisps.eu
04:18It's holding us.
04:48Oh, Eleanor. It's perfect. Just what I wanted.
05:08What is it?
05:09I don't know. I think we'd better find out.
05:18Now, I'll keep him calm.
05:29You help me with this trap.
05:32Come on, boys.
05:34All right?
05:36There.
05:37There.
05:41There.
05:41Now, then, what do you think you're doing, young lady?
05:46This is my land.
05:48So this is your doing, is it?
05:50This vile machine.
05:53Supposing it had caught a young child?
05:55A child would have been a trespasser, then.
05:57I think there's a limit to what the law will allow you to do to any trespasser.
06:01Children or dogs.
06:03Now, I recognize you, Miss Holden.
06:05You're the one pushing leaflets through my door saying it's wrong to hunt foxes and shoot pigeon.
06:10Which it is.
06:11Who says it is?
06:12Foxes kill chickens. It's their nature.
06:14And we hunt foxes and horseback. That's always been the way of it.
06:17Not everything that has always been is natural.
06:20You're on my land. Take yourselves off and don't come bothering me with all your talk.
06:23I have never been the bothering kind, but there are some things I will fight for.
06:27I'm not frightened of women's tongues.
06:29How many more of these murderous things have you got lying around?
06:32Me off with you!
06:34Come along, Eleanor. Let's get him home.
06:39Interfering school, mums.
06:49She'll be all right, poor little thing.
06:58I wonder who she belongs to.
06:59No one seems to have missed her.
07:01She doesn't look like a stray.
07:04I suppose we should put an advertisement in the local paper.
07:08She'll only be put down if we give her to the police.
07:10And if no one answers, we'll have to keep her.
07:15You know, handing out leaflets isn't going to stop this sort of thing.
07:18You know, you really ought to do something more.
07:31Come on, then, Jeannie. Come on.
07:33Up. Come on.
07:34Good girl. Good girl.
07:39Good girl, then.
07:42July the 11th.
07:44Went by train to Knoll and walked across the fields to Packwood.
07:47Hay-making was going on in most of the fields,
07:50but the grass was still uncut in the church meadows.
07:55Being low-lying and marshy,
07:57there were numbers of flowers growing among the grasses,
08:01quantities of the deep crimson heads of the great burnet.
08:06Dog daisies.
08:09Self-heal.
08:12Yellow rattle.
08:13Knappweed.
08:15Knappweed.
08:18Spotted orcis.
08:22And yellow and purple vetches.
08:28I picked a great bunch of quaking grass.
08:32Look.
08:33Aren't they beautiful?
08:35Mm, lovely.
08:36Passing through a cornfield,
08:42I noticed that nearly every stalk of wheat
08:44had the small bindweed twining closely round it.
08:49And here were quantities of corn crowfoot
08:51with its curious prickly seed vessels.
08:54Isn't the bindweed pretty?
08:56Yes, but it's no good for the poor farmers.
08:58Yes, but it's no good for the poor farmers.
09:02Time to catch.
09:06This way.
09:09This way.
09:13Oh.
09:15By the roadside, I gathered greater trefoil,
09:19white and pink mallow,
09:22St. John's wort,
09:24rose bay willow herb.
09:25Wodja manda,
09:32henbit nettle,
09:33woodruff,
09:34yellow vetchling
09:34and small scabious.
09:55I thought ideas were going to fail me this month.
09:56It was Eleanor.
10:08giving me the water lily that got me started again.
10:13There.
10:14Ah, yes.
10:15My dear,
10:16this is where your real talent lies.
10:17I'm sure you should let your colleagues on the animals' friend
10:20run their own campaigns.
10:20I had no idea you were so concerned, Father.
10:21Well, I worry a little.
10:22Evelyn and Effie have husbands to help them with their political enthusiasms.
10:28I'm not sure how I feel about you taking on the world single-handed.
10:35So, now you think sketching is safer.
10:37I'm not sure how I feel about you taking on the world single-handed.
10:42So, now you think sketching is safer.
10:44I'm not sure how I feel about you taking on the world single-handed.
10:49So, now you think sketching is safer.
10:54Your poor father thinks he's offended you.
10:55I told him it was all nonsense.
10:56I'm not sure how I feel about you taking on the world single-handed.
10:57I'm not sure how I feel about you taking on the world single-handed.
10:58So, now you think sketching is safer.
11:01Your poor father thinks he's offended you.
11:20I'm not sure how I feel about you, did you?
11:22I told him it was all nonsense and you'd probably already forgotten about it.
11:33He said you'd been doing beautiful work.
11:37Isn't it extraordinary?
11:39All these years and he's never taken my work seriously.
11:42Aren't you pleased?
11:44I can't understand what you all have against my speaking at the church hall tonight.
11:48But, Edith, it's so unlike you to begin behaving like this.
11:51The school parents won't like it.
11:54A lot of them enjoy a pigeon pie themselves.
12:00Of course, there's absolutely no question that I'm on your side, Edith.
12:03I hate blood sports.
12:05But standing up on a public platform and talking to all those people,
12:08aren't you nervous?
12:09Well, dear, could you please help me with this?
12:11I shall just have to think of the whole occasion as some particularly large class at school.
12:18That's all it is.
12:23Animals kill.
12:24Of course.
12:26I spend a great deal of my time in the countryside observing nature's way.
12:30But man has a soul.
12:33And that gives us all a different responsibility.
12:37Directly to God, I mean.
12:42How many of you know how these vile things work?
12:47Imagine those teeth biting into any creature.
12:51A dog.
12:52Or perhaps one day it will be a human child.
13:01But what has all this to do with hunting, I hear you ask?
13:03Why?
13:05Does it make it any better if you dress yourself up in finery
13:07before you chase some poor bushy-tailed creature to its death?
13:13I implore you to imagine what you are doing.
13:16Don't we all find cockfighting barbaric now?
13:21Don't we all hate the murder of bulls for show that goes on in less compassionate countries?
13:27Well, our red-coated hunts are no better.
13:35That's all I want to say.
13:37That's all you'll need to say.
13:39Then there'll be questions from the floor.
13:41You'll have them eating out of your hand.
13:43What a stir you've started, my girl!
13:55You're back!
13:57Father, you'd have been amazed!
13:59Just as I said, she had them eating out of her hand!
14:02Good strength!
14:04Tell us all about it!
14:06You must be partial.
14:09It's extraordinary, you becoming political!
14:11Not in the ordinary sense, Evelyn.
14:14Animals don't have foats.
14:16Nor do women yet, dear.
14:18I just want you to know that Frank and I are so proud of you.
14:21Of course.
14:23Well, I'm not yet sure it's me, really.
14:26I think I'll just take this off.
14:28Who knows, you may turn to other causes now the wish for reform is kindled.
14:32I'm not going to do very much, Frank.
14:34I can't be like you any more than you can be like me.
14:36We must all go our own ways, as Mother used to say.
14:46Winnie!
14:47Thank you, Father.
14:49What's worrying her, Winnie?
14:51It's Kenneth, of course. I should think that that was obvious.
14:54We had another of his odd postcards this morning.
14:57I'm afraid he must still be very low.
15:00I'm not denying he needed a rest.
15:02Bernard knew that.
15:04But there was no need for him to go to extremes.
15:07Well, I just hope Bernard isn't changing everything Kenneth believes in.
15:12We do all care for Kenneth, you know.
15:16Of course. I know that.
15:20And I'm sure Bernard won't go against his father's principles?
15:24No.
15:26And there is some good news.
15:29We're having Evelyn to stay with us again.
15:32While I go to Wales, climbing.
15:34So you'll be able to go out on walks together, as you used to.
15:37Now, you two, tell us about the meeting.
15:45What's that?
15:46A letter.
15:48For you.
15:50Why the mystery? Let me see.
15:54It's from that good-looking young man, isn't it?
15:57Ernest is just a friend.
16:06And so, if you will permit me,
16:09I should like to call on you at your home on my return in the second week of August.
16:13And hope you will be at home and willing to see me.
16:16I shall never forget our friendly walks.
16:19Friendly walks.
16:25Oh, Winnie.
16:26How I wish I had not arranged my trip to Scotland.
16:28It's so unfortunate.
16:29I shall be away the very weak Ernest plan to call.
16:32That's no problem, Edith.
16:34Why not put your holiday out for a week?
16:42Friendly walks.
16:44No, dear.
16:46All he intends is a simple social call, don't you see?
16:49He'd be amazed to hear I changed my plans for that.
16:52And why would he hear?
16:54Well, I should feel a perfect fool.
16:57What can I possibly expect?
16:58Another grey hair.
17:00You'll soon tweak that out.
17:02It's just one of many.
17:04And what it reveals is true enough.
17:05Well, we're both getting on.
17:06That's the truth of it.
17:07Are you both ready?
17:08Oh, no, not quite.
17:09Oh, this looks good.
17:10We're almost there.
17:11We're almost there.
17:13This is the place.
17:14Through the field.
17:15Yes.
17:16We leave our bikes here.
17:17This is the place.
17:18Through the field.
17:19Yes.
17:20We leave our bikes here.
17:21This is the place.
17:22Through the field.
17:23Come on, Jeannie.
17:24That's it.
17:25Come on, Jeannie.
17:26That's it, come on, Jeannie.
17:27Come on.
17:28Come on.
17:30Come on.
17:31Are you both ready?
17:32Oh, no, not quite.
17:33Oh, this looks good.
17:34We're almost there.
17:41This is the place.
17:42Through the field.
17:43Yes.
17:44We leave our bikes here.
17:46Come on, Jeannie.
17:52That's it.
17:53Can't have you wandering off on your own.
17:55I don't know what happened last time.
17:59I'd forgotten just how beautiful it is this time of year.
18:07Edie, must you go to Scotland?
18:12You know, I love Scotland.
18:14Why should I change my plans?
18:15Now, don't be cross.
18:16There's a good girl.
18:18Winnie tells me that charming young sculptor's coming over to see you.
18:21Oh, Winnie, once she gets an idea in her head.
18:26Come on, Jeannie.
18:34July the 21st.
18:36Cycle to Baddersley and walk from there to Balsall Temple.
18:39I knew the wild Canterbury bell, creeping Campanula,
18:43used to grow by the streams there years ago,
18:46and I was anxious to find it again.
18:48This is the place.
18:49You can't possibly walk through there.
18:52It's easy if you're bold.
18:53The tall spikes of purple bells were very conspicuous,
19:03growing in a deep ditch among masses of meadowsweet and nettles,
19:07into the midst of which I valiantly plunged,
19:10though the nettles met over my head
19:11and didn't fail to remind me of their presence.
19:14I told you, she won't hear of putting her holiday off.
19:20She is obstinate.
19:21Or frightened.
19:23We shouldn't push.
19:30I crossed the meadows to the bank of the little river,
19:33where the purple loosestrife, or long purples,
19:36was just coming into flower.
19:37There, too, I found some of the Blue Meadow Cranesbill.
19:47All along the stream were great quantities of water figwort
19:51and the pretty little unbranched burr reed
19:54with its balls of pale gold.
19:57The large water forget-me-not was rampant everywhere.
20:01And so, if you will permit me,
20:11I should like to call on you at your home
20:13on my return in the second week of August
20:15and hope you will be at home and willing to see me.
20:18I shall never forget our friendly walk.
20:20There you are.
20:43There you've got to.
20:45In one place, the bed of the stream
20:53was covered with yellow water lilies.
20:55I captured two of the blossoms
20:57and one of the broad, shining leaves
20:59that were growing near the bank.
21:07I saw a beautiful kingfisher skim across the water.
21:15This is a beautiful bit of country.
21:27Low-lying meadows with sedgy streams meandering through them,
21:32lined with beds of waterflowers and rushes.
21:35Along a lane just above Balsall,
21:43I came suddenly upon a great flock of meadow-brown butterflies.
21:48I had seen numbers of them all along the way,
21:51but here the air was thick with them,
21:53flying hither and thither.
21:56One side of the lane was bordered by a broad patch of meadow-grass
22:00and a steep bank,
22:02covered with henbit nettle and knapweed,
22:04and topped by a hedge of privet in full bloom.
22:12It may have been the strong scent of the privet
22:14which attracted the butterflies to the spot.
22:17Dear Mr. Smith,
22:30this is to let you know
22:31that I shall be away from home throughout August,
22:34so unfortunately we cannot meet.
22:37But I hope this finds you well.
22:40Yours sincerely,
22:42Edith B. Holden.
22:43Come on, Edith B.
22:52Come on, Edith B.
22:53Come on, Edith B.
22:54Miss Holden, isn't it?
23:11How wonderful.
23:12Do you know your speech the other night stirred up the whole neighbourhood?
23:15Oh, were people angry then?
23:17Angry?
23:18With the hunters?
23:19Yes, as we should be.
23:21You can have my subscription here and now if that's what you're collecting for.
23:24Thank you very much.
23:26I'm very grateful.
23:28You've given me new heart.
23:30The kushets cry for me.
23:44The lovely laughter of the wind-swayed wheat,
23:47the easy slope of yonder pastoral hill.
23:50The sedgy brook whereby the red kine meet and wade and drink their fill.
24:05Then the green rushes, oh so glossy green.
24:10The rushes they would whisper, rustle, shake.
24:13And forth on floating gores, no jewelled queen so rich,
24:18the green-eyed dragonflies would break and hover on the flowers,
24:23aerial fiends with little rainbows flickering on their wings.
24:27Just to say goodnight.
24:48You're looking very pretty tonight.
24:51Goodnight.
24:53Goodnight.
24:57July the 31st, close and sultry.
25:05This month bears the highest record for heat of any this summer.
25:09Oh, yeah.
25:17Yeah.
25:18Yeah.
25:19Yeah.
25:19Yeah.
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