Shropshire Routes to Roots

Children in wartime: Impressions of life in the country

A child's impressions of life in the country [Reproduced with kind permission of the Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser]

MY IMPRESSIONS OF LIFE IN THE COUNTRY

Life in the country impresses me as being very peaceful. One can sit in a field under a shady tree in complete quietness except for the singing of the birds and the rustle of the swaying boughs overhead. In the country there is not the smoky atmosphere of the city and it is much pleasanter to walk in fields with cows mooing and grazing on each side, than to walk along a grey dirty looking street, with litter thrown about the ground, and smoky houses for surroundings. It is lovely to wake up in the morning to feel the cool keen fresh air on one's face. In the autumn it is such fun to gather in the harvests and it is interesting to see the trees changing into their autumn dresses. There are not many heavy motor vehicles and speeding motor cars in the country and one can walk freely along the country roads without any cars hooting behind. The countryside population is very scattered but the people work very hard in order to produce vegetables, fruit and all kinds of other foodstuffs which they take to town and sell on market days.

- Sent by ELLEN HOWARD, aged 13 years.
39, Ivy Street, Birkenhead billeted
at 37, Orchard Street, Oswestry.

[Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser]