God’s Country
(Specially written for “The Press” bu ARNOLD WALL.)
“G 0D made the conn- i try and man made the . ; town,” wrote William Cowper. That is one way of looking at it, but no particular country is indicated. “God’s Country” was the label stuck upon itself by the United States in 1865, and later this was extended to “God’s Own Country” about 1882 or, I should guess rather earlier. New Zealand followed and if I am not mistaken so also did various Australian states. Neither of these latter labels is, in my opinion, at all justified or admissible. In
fact, as I wrote years ago in “The Press,”
Who I wonder, filched away This blatant name jrom the U.S.A.
God’s Own Country! Where the pig grows jat and the parson thin And only the dogs have a sense of sin. God’s Own Country.
And so on, rather too fierce perhaps. There is a third and, I think, a beautiful version of this idea. This is the phrase used by John Hookham Frere—“the countries which God holds in his own hands.” He meant the wild unpopulated areas of the world such as the polar regions. He had in mind the great landowner who leased most of his properties to tenants but “kept a part in his own hands,” a home farm. Frere, 1769-1841, was a
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CV, Issue 30953, 8 January 1966, Page 5
Word Count
225God’s Country Press, Volume CV, Issue 30953, 8 January 1966, Page 5
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