News from Nowhere was first published as a
serial in the Socialist magazine
Commonweal in 1890. It was republished in book form in a revised edition in
1892 and went though many reprintings after that. This text is taken from the
1908 reprinting by Longmans of London.
It is a book that is often ignored by Marxists and others who denounce it as
backward looking and it is indeed true that Morris' utopian vision is that of a
society which has in some sense reverted to an agricultural and handicraft one
and seems static. But activists among our readers will be astonished as the
insight of this middle aged and middle class English poet and artist in
chapter 17 or... (From: Marxists.org.)
I. Discussion and Bed
Up at the League, says a friend, there had been one night a brisk conversational
discussion, as to what would happen on the Morrow of the Revolution, finally
shading off into a vigorous statement by various friends of their views on the
future of the fully-developed new society.
Says our friend: Considering the subject, the discussion was good-tempered; for
those present being used to public meetings and after-lecture debates, if they did
not listen to each others’ opinions (which could hardly be expected of them), at
all events did not always attempt to speak all together, as is the custom of people
in ordinary polite society ... (From: Marxists.org.)
II. A Morning Bath
Well, I awoke, and found that I had kicked my bed-clothes; and no wonder, for it
was hot and the sun shining brightly. I jumped up and washed and hurried on my
clothes, but in a hazy and half-awake condition, as if I had slept for a long, long
while, and could not shake off the weight of slumber. In fact, I rather took it for
granted that I was at home in my own room than saw that it was so.
When I was dressed, I felt the place so hot that I made haste to get out of the
room and out of the house; and my first feeling was a delicious relief caused by
the fresh air and pleasant breeze; my second, as I began to gather my wits
together, mer... (From: Marxists.org.)
III. The Guest House and Breakfast Therein
I lingered a little behind the others to have a stare at this house, which, as I
have told you, stood on the site of my old dwelling.
It was a longish building with its gable ends turned away from the road, and long
traceried windows coming rather low down set in the wall that faced us. It was very
handsomely built of red brick with a lead roof; and high up above the windows there
ran a frieze of figure subjects in baked clay, very well executed, and designed
with a force and directness which I had never noticed in modern work before. The
subjects I recognized at once, and indeed was very particularly familiar with them... (From: Marxists.org.)
IV. A Market by the Way
We turned away from the river at once, and were soon in the main road that runs
through Hammersmith. But I should have had no guess as to where I was, if I had not
started from the waterside; for King Street was gone, and the highway ran through
wide sunny meadows and garden-like tillage. The Creek, which we crossed at once,
had been rescued from its culvert, and as we went over its pretty bridge we saw its
waters, yet swollen by the tide, covered with gay boats of different sizes. There
were houses about, some on the road, some among the fields with pleasant lanes
leading down to them, and each surrounded by a teeming garden. They were all pretty
... (From: Marxists.org.)
V. Children on the Road
Past the Broadway there were fewer houses on either side. We presently crossed a
pretty little brook that ran across a piece of land dotted over with trees, and
awhile after came to another market and town-hall, as we should call it. Although
there was nothing familiar to me in its surroundings, I knew pretty well where we
were and was not surprised when my guide said briefly, "Kensington Market."
Just after this we came into a short street of houses; or rather, one long house on
either side of the way, built of timber and plaster, and with a pretty arcade over
the footway before it.
Quoth Dick: "This is Kensington prop... (From: Marxists.org.)
VI. A Little Shopping
As he spoke, we came suddenly out of the woodland into a short street of handsomely
built houses, which my companion named to me at once as Piccadilly: the lower part
of these houses I should have called shops, if it had not been that, as far as I
could see, the people were ignorant of the arts of buying and selling. Wares were
displayed in their finely designed fronts, as if to tempt people in, and people
stood and looked at them, or went in and came out with parcels under their arms,
just like the real thing. On each side of the street ran an elegant arcade to
protect foot-passengers, as in some of the old Italian cities. About half-way down,
... (From: Marxists.org.)
VII. Trafalgar Square
And now again I was busy looking about me, for we were quite clear of Piccadilly
Market, and were in a region of elegantly-built much ornamented houses, which I
should have called villas if they had been ugly and pretentious, which was very far
from being the case. Each house stood in a garden carefully cultivated and running
over with flowers. The blackbirds were singing their best amid the garden-trees,
which, except for a bay here and there, and occasional groups of limes, seemed to
be all fruit-trees: there were a great many cherry-trees, now all laden with fruit;
and several times as we passed by a garden we were offered baskets of fine fruit by
... (From: Marxists.org.)
VIII. An Old Friend
We now turned into a pleasant lane where the branches of great plane trees nearly
met overhead, but behind them lay low houses standing rather close together.
"This is Long Acer," quoth Dick; "so there must once have been a cornfield here.
How curious it is that places change so, and yet keep their old names! Just look
how thick the houses stand! and they are still going on building, look you!"
"Yes," said the old man, "but I think the cornfields must have been built over
before the middle of the nineteenth century. I have heard that above here was the
thickest parts of the town. But I must get down here, neighbors; I have got to
... (From: Marxists.org.)
IX. Concerning Love
"Your kinsman doesn't much care for beautiful buildings, then," said I, as we
entered the rather dreary classical house; which indeed was as bare as need be,
except for some big pots of the June flowers which stood about here and there;
though it was very clean and nicely whitewashed.
"O, I don't know," said Dick, rather absently, "He is getting old, certainly, for
he is over a hundred and five, and no doubt he doesn't care about moving. But of
course he could live in a prettier house if he liked: he is not obliged to live in
any one place any more than any one else. This way, Guest."
And he led the way upstairs, and openin... (From: Marxists.org.)
X. Questions and Answers
"Well," said the old man, shifting in his chair, "you must get on with your
questions, Guest; I have been some time answering this first one."
Said I: "I want an extra word or two about your ideas of education; although I
gathered from Dick that you let your children run wild and didn't teach them
anything; and in short, that you have so refined your education, that now you have
none."
"Then you gathered left-handed," quoth he." But of course I understand your point
of view about education, which is that of times past, when ‘the struggle for life,'
as men used to phrase it (i.e., the struggle for a slave's ration... (From: Marxists.org.)
XI. Concerning Government
"Now," said I, "I have come to the point of asking questions which I suppose will
be dry for you to answer and difficult for you to explain; but I have foreseen for
some time past that I must ask them, will I 'nill I. What kind of a government have
you? Has republicanism finally triumphed? or have you come to a mere dictatorship,
which some persons in the nineteenth century used to prophesy as the ultimate
outcome of democracy? Indeed, this last question does not seem so very
unreasonable, since you have turned your Parliament House into a dung-market. Or
where do you house your present Parliament?"
The old man answered my smile ... (From: Marxists.org.)
XII. Concerning the Arrangement of Life
"Well," I said, "about those ‘arrangements’ which you spoke of as taking the place
of government, could you give me any account of them?"
"Neighbor, " he said, "although we have simplified our lives a great deal from
what they were, and have got rid of many conventionalities and many sham wants,
which used to give our forefathers much trouble, yet our life is too complex for me
to tell you in detail by means of words how it is arranged; you must find that out
by living among us. It is true that I can better tell you what we don't do than
what we do do.
"Well?" said I.
"This... (From: Marxists.org.)
XIII. Concerning Politics
Said I: "How do you manage with politics?"
Said Hammond, smiling: "I am glad that it is of me that you ask that
question; I do believe that anybody else would make you explain yourself, or try to
do so, till you were sick of asking questions. Indeed, I believe I am the only man
in England who would know what you mean; and since I know, I will answer your
question briefly by saying that we are very well off as to politics, - because we
have none. If ever you make a book out of this conversation, put this in a chapter
by itself, after the model of old Horrebow's Snakes in Iceland."
"I will," said I. (From: Marxists.org.)
XIV.How Matters are Managed
Said I: "How about your relations with foreign nations?"
"I will not affect not to know what you mean," said he, "but I will tell you at
once that the whole system of rival and contending nations which played so great a
part in the ‘government’ of the world of civilization has disappeared along with
the inequality betwixt man and man in society."
"Does not that make the world duller?" said I.
"Why?" said the old man.
"The obliteration of national variety," said I.
"Nonsense," he said, somewhat snappishly. "Cross the water and see. You will find
plenty of variety... (From: Marxists.org.)
XV. On the Lack of Incentive
to Labor in a Communist Society
"Yes," said I. "I was expecting Dick and Clara to make their appearance any moment:
but is there time to ask just one or two questions before they come?"
"Try it, dear neighbor - try it," said old Hammond. "For the more you ask me the
better I am pleased; and at any rate if they do come and find me in the middle of
an answer, they must sit quiet and pretend to listen till I come to an end. It
won't hurt them; they will find it quite amusing enough to sit side by side,
conscious of their proximity to each other."
I smiled, as I was bound to, and said: "Good; I will go on talking with... (From: Marxists.org.)
XVI. Dinner in the Hall of
the Bloomsbury Market
As I spoke, I heard footsteps near the door; the latch yielded, and in came our two
lovers looking so handsome that one had no feeling of shame in looking on at their
little-concealed love-making; for indeed it seemed as if all the world must be in
love with them. As for old Hammond, he looked on them like an artist who has just
painted a picture nearly as well as he thought he could when he began it, and was
perfectly happy. He said:
"Sit down, sit down, young folk, and don't make a noise. Our guest here has still
some questions to ask me."
"Well, I should suppose so," said Dick; "you h... (From: Marxists.org.)
XVII. How the Change Came
Dick broke the silence at last, saying: "Guest, forgive us for a little
after-dinner dullness. What would you like to do? Shall we have out Greylocks and
trot back to Hammersmith? or will you come with us and hear some Welsh folk sing in
a hall close by here? or would you like presently to come with me into the City and
see some really fine building? or - what shall it be?"
"Well," said I "as I am a stranger, I must let you choose for me."
In point of fact, I did not by any means want to be "amused" just then; and also I
rather felt as if the old man, with his knowledge of past times, and even a kind of
inverted sympa... (From: Marxists.org.)
XVIII. The Beginning of the New Life
"Well," said I, "so you got clear out of all your trouble. Were people satisfied
with the new order of things when it came?"
"People?" he said. "Well, surely all must have been glad of peace when it came;
especially when they found, as they must have found, that after all, they - even
the once rich - were not living very badly. As to those who had been poor, all
through the war, which lasted about two years, their condition had been bettering,
in spite of the struggle; and when peace came at last, in a very short time they
made great strides towards a decent life. The great difficulty was that the
once-poor had such a ... (From: Marxists.org.)
XIX. The Drive Back to Hammersmith
I said nothing, for I was not inclined for mere politeness to him after such very
serious talk; but in fact I should like to have gone on talking with the older man,
who could understand something at least of my wonted ways of looking at life,
whereas, with the younger people, in spite of their kindness, I really was a being
from another planet. However, I made the best of it, and smiled as amiably as I
could on the young couple; and Dick returned the smile by saying, "well, guest, I
am glad to have you again, and to find that you and my kinsman have not quite
talked yourselves into another world; I was half suspecting as I was listening t... (From: Marxists.org.)
XX. The Hammersmith Guest-House Again
Amid such talk, driving quietly through the balmy evening, we came to
Hammersmith, and were well received by our friends there. Boffin, in a fresh suit
of clothes, welcomed me back with stately courtesy; the weaver wanted to
button-hole me and get out of me what old Hammond had said, but was very friendly
and cheerful when Dick warned him off; Annie shook hands with me, and hoped I had
had a pleasant day - so kindly, that I felt a slight pang as our hands parted; for
to say the truth, I liked her better than Clara, who seemed to be always a little
on the defensive, whereas Annie was as frank as could be, and seemed to get honest
... (From: Marxists.org.)
XXI. Going up The River
When I did wake, to a beautiful sunny morning, I leaped out of bed with my
over-night apprehension still clinging to me, which vanished delightfully however
in a moment as I looked around my little sleeping chamber and saw the pale but
pure-colored figures painted on the plaster of the wall, with verses written
underneath them which I knew somewhat over-well. I dressed speedily, in a suit of
blue laid ready for me, so handsome that I quite blushed when I had got into it,
feeling as I did so that excited pleasure of anticipation of a holiday, which,
well-remembered as it was, I had not felt since I was a boy, new come home for the
summer holida... (From: Marxists.org.)
XXII. Hampton court and a
Praiser of Past Times
So on we went, Dick rowing in an easy tireless way, and Clara sitting by my side
admiring his manly beauty and heartily good-natured face, and thinking, I fancy, of
nothing else. As we went higher up the river, there was less difference between the
Thames of that day and Thames as I remembered it; for setting aside the hideous
vulgarity of the cockney villas of the well-to-do, stockbrokers and other such,
which in older time marred the beauty of the bough-hung banks, even this beginning
of the country Thames was always beautiful; and as we slipped between the lovely
summer greenery, I almost felt my youth come back to ... (From: Marxists.org.)
XXIII. An Early Morning by Runnymede
Though there were no rough noises to wake me, I could not lie long abed the next
morning, where the world seemed so well awake, and, despite the old grumbler, so
happy; so I got up, and found that, early as it was, some one had been stirring,
since all was trim and in its place in the little parlor, and the table laid for
the morning meal. Nobody was afoot in the house as then, however, so I went out
a-doors, and after a turn or two round the super-abundant garden, I wandered down
over the meadow to the river-side, where lay our boat, looking quite familiar and
friendly to me. I walked up-stream a little, watching the light mist curling ... (From: Marxists.org.)
XXIV. Up The Thames: The Second Day
They were not slow to take my hint; and indeed, as to the mere time of day, it was
best for us to be off, as it was past seven o'clock, and the day promised to be
very hot. So we got up and went down to our boat - Ellen thoughtful and abstracted;
the old man very kind and courteous, as if to make up for his crabbedness of
opinion. Clara was cheerful and natural, but a little more subdued, I thought; and
she at least was not sorry to be gone, and often looked shyly and timidly at Ellen
and her strange wild beauty. So we got into the boat, Dick saying as he took his
place, "Well, it is a fine day!" and the old man answering, "What! you
... (From: Marxists.org.)
XXV. The Third Day on The Thames
As we went down to the boat next morning, Walter could not keep off the subject of
last night, though he was more hopeful than he had been then, and seemed to think
that if the unlucky homicide could not be got to go over-sea, he might at any rate
go and live somewhere in the neighborhood pretty much by himself; at any rate,
that was what he himself had proposed. To Dick and I must say to me also, this
seemed a strange remedy; and Dick said as much. Quoth he:
"Friend Walter, don't set the man brooding on the tragedy by letting him live
alone. That will only strengthen his idea that he had committed a crime, and you
will ha... (From: Marxists.org.)
XXVI. The Obstinate Refusers
Before we parted from these girls we saw two sturdy young men and a woman putting
off from the Berkshire shore, and then Dick bethought him of a little banter of the
girls, and asked them how it was that there was nobody of the male kind to go with
them across the water, and where their boats were gone to. Said one, the youngest
of the party: "O, they have got the big punt to lead stone from up the water."
"Who do you mean by ‘they,’ dear child?" said Dick.
Said an older girl, laughing: "You had better go and see them. Look there," and she
pointed north-west, "don't you see the building going on there?"
... (From: Marxists.org.)
XXVII. The Upper Waters
We set Walter ashore on the Berkshire side, amid all the beauties of Streatley,
and so went our ways into what once would have been the deeper country under the
foot-hills of the White Horse; and though the contrast between half-cockneyfied and
wholly unsophisticated country existed no longer, a feeling of exultation rose
within me (as it used to do) at sight of the familiar and still unchanged hills of
the Berkshire range.
We stopped at Wallingford for our midday meal; of course, all signs of squalor and
poverty had disappeared from the streets of the ancient town, and many ugly houses
had been taken down and many pretty new ones ... (From: Marxists.org.)
XXVIII. The Little River
We started before six o'clock the next morning, as we were still twenty-five miles
from our resting-place, and Dick wanted to be there before dusk. The journey was
pleasant, though to those who do not know the upper Thames, there is little to say
about it. Ellen and I were once more together in her boat, though Dick, for
fairness’ sake, was for having me in his, and letting the two women scull the green
toy. Ellen, however, would not allow this, but claimed me as the interesting person
of the company. "After having come so far," said she, "I will not be put off with a
companion who will always be thinking of somebody else than me: the guest is... (From: Marxists.org.)
XXIX. A Resting-Place on
the Upper Thames
Presently at a place where the river flowed round a headland of the meadows, we
stopped a while for rest and victuals, and settled ourselves on a beautiful bank
which almost reached the dignity of a hill-side: the wide meadows spread before us,
and already the scythe was busy amid the hay. One change I noticed amid the
quiet beauty of the fields - to wit, that they were planted with trees here and
there, often fruit-trees, and that there was none of the niggardly begrudging of
space to a handsome tree which I remembered too well; and though the willows were
often polled (or shrowded, as they call it in the countryside), this... (From: Marxists.org.)
