"Men Full of Ancient Skill Are Dying With Their Secrets."

Bates discusses the melancholy status of the "country craftsmen, blacksmiths and carpenters, coopers and hurdle-makers, thatchers and wood-turners, makers of skittle-balls, shepherd-hooks, baskets, bells, and cloth" who were "once the axes about which all village life revolved."

Bates had twice addressed the subject previously, once for John O'London's Weekly ('Crafts of Old England', December 4, 1936), and once for his Country Life column in The Spectator ('Country Crafts', 'Advice for Craftsmen', 'Lace-Making'. March 12, 1937, p. 473).

In the London Evening News (October 12, 1937, p. 8, attached).